D&D General Has Tiny Hut actually affected your game? Or has it otherwise mattered?

[TorgoTheWhite]

To me, wasting spell slots on all this ticky-tacky pre-scouting conditions is a risky proposition... It is not "intelligence" of the monsters you should be concerned about as much as the unpredictability. I guess you can have players that love their Rube Goldberg setups though.

The spell has been impactful in my game for avoiding exhaustion levels, and to speed up the whole "nightwatch" conversation. Fortunately my players avoid using it as a combat spell. My players wouldn't waste their time perfectly setting up a spell with a 1 minute casting time on a variable importance encounter (which could be a social encounter that you now prep-burned a spell on)... and full rest is SUPER Important in my game.Punishment for frivolous use would come later in the grind when I give no obvious breakpoints and it would be nice to cast that one spell for the thing it is more intended for

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It doesn't take a hive mind for the patrol to be told "There have been reports of a small invading force, keep an eye out for anything weird. Whoever it is took out several of our patrols already so don't try to deal with it yourself." Even if it's not anything that formal, news of an enemy wiping out whole groups and slaughtering everyone would still spread like wildfire. You have to basically assume mindless automatons or completely autonomous units that never communicate with each other for it not to happen.

But since they are not a hive-mind, they don't know exactly how many opponents they are dealing with. They only know someone intruded and killed a bunch of their guys, and can't be found right now. They don't know if the opposition is a generoic heroic adventuring party of 3-5 people, or a raiding party from the rivaling orc gang or an advance guard of the Imperial Army.

So it is not enough to say "Tiny Hut". They need to figure out what else is there ,or they risk running into an ambush. Right now, they are sitting in their own fortifications, a place they know very well ,and they presumable have prepared to defend itself, and they could boost their defenses. Going out and running an assault on a suspected enemy encampment where they haven't determined the strength yet is a bad idea.

And of course... if the enemy has such a strong force, it's definitely a wise idea for the party to retreat now into a tiny hut, before their fighting calls all the enemies to attack them inside their own turf.

 

[AlViking]

But since they are not a hive-mind, they don't know exactly how many opponents they are dealing with. They only know someone intruded and killed a bunch of their guys, and can't be found right now. They don't know if the opposition is a generoic heroic adventuring party of 3-5 people, or a raiding party from the rivaling orc gang or an advance guard of the Imperial Army.

So it is not enough to say "Tiny Hut". They need to figure out what else is there ,or they risk running into an ambush. Right now, they are sitting in their own fortifications, a place they know very well ,and they presumable have prepared to defend itself, and they could boost their defenses. Going out and running an assault on a suspected enemy encampment where they haven't determined the strength yet is a bad idea.

And of course... if the enemy has such a strong force, it's definitely a wise idea for the party to retreat now into a tiny hut, before their fighting calls all the enemies to attack them inside their own turf.

They don't know exact numbers they just know to be on alert. It's not an issue if the hut is not noticed, but then the hut wasn't needed for defense in the first place.

Even if the enemy had no clue they were under attack, if they're on patrol in the back 40 and notice this magical dome what do you expect them to do? Ignore it? Stand in a circle around it while they get killed off?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

They don't know exact numbers they just know to be on alert. It's not an issue if the hut is not noticed, but then the hut wasn't needed for defense in the first place.

Even if the enemy had no clue they were under attack, if they're on patrol in the back 40 and notice this magical dome what do you expect them to do? Ignore it? Stand in a circle around it while they get killed off?

What would you do as a player if you find a Tiny Hut near a village that was recently raided?

I think I would try to observe. Search for tracks around it. I would spend some time investigating to figure out what I got here. Once I have gathered some information, I'd make a decision, probably head back to the village if I think I can't handle it and need reeinforcements, or go out to strike if I am reasonably sure it's something I can handle (or run away from if it turns out I can't.)

I am not going to immediately call the entire village to attack, leaving their valuables, supplies, children and non-combattants behind.

During that time, I would risk being spotted. During that time, the enemy might have time to perform a short or long rest, depending on what clues I can find, what distance I need to travel.

 

[AlViking]

What would you do as a player if you find a Tiny Hut near a village that was recently raided?

I think I would try to observe. Search for tracks around it. I would spend some time investigating to figure out what I got here. Once I have gathered some information, I'd make a decision, probably head back to the village if I think I can't handle it and need reeinforcements, or go out to strike if I am reasonably sure it's something I can handle (or run away from if it turns out I can't.)

I am not going to immediately call the entire village to attack, leaving their valuables, supplies, children and non-combattants behind.

During that time, I would risk being spotted. During that time, the enemy might have time to perform a short or long rest, depending on what clues I can find, what distance I need to travel.

PCs tend to be a different breed than just about anything else wandering around. They are typically the SWAT team and special forces which conditions people to act assuming that whatever the GM puts in front of them is a reasonable challenge.

But if I were in the military and spot what I suspect is an enemy encampment while knowing that an enemy has recently been taking out small units left and right? I'd contact the base and call in reinforcements. If I attempt to engage and half the team are casualties? I strategically retreat, aka run back to base as fast as possible which ruins their long rest if using the 2024 rules or my old house rule even if they catch me.

 

[Horwath]

It says that spell of levels 3 or lower cannot affect anything in it.
So would a fireball upcasted to 4th level be a great counter to it?

 

[FrogReaver]

PCs tend to be a different breed than just about anything else wandering around. They are typically the SWAT team and special forces which conditions people to act assuming that whatever the GM puts in front of them is a reasonable challenge.

But if I were in the military and spot what I suspect is an enemy encampment while knowing that an enemy has recently been taking out small units left and right? I'd contact the base and call in reinforcements. If I attempt to engage and half the team are casualties? I strategically retreat, aka run back to base as fast as possible which ruins their long rest if using the 2024 rules or my old house rule even if they catch me.

Apparently you have created leomunds diversion hut. Likely an even stronger spell than tiny hut ever was.

 

[AlViking]

Apparently you have created leomunds diversion hut. Likely an even stronger spell than tiny hut ever was.

What are the options? Ignore it? Spend hours investigating? Stand around while the characters wipe out the entire patrol?

There are so many variables and different scenarios. The enemy may not find the hut, they may find it 2 minutes before it expires, they may be mindless undead. I'm just answering the same question that repeatedly comes up while the only answer I get is "They notice the hut and take no effective action" or "They're wiped out by the characters and nobody realizes they're missing." That answer may be true some of the time but it will never be the answer all of the time in any game I've ever played in.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That must be nice.

I had a group recently that insisted on using it as an impenetrable fortress ALL THE TIME. They had various means of scouting forward - invisible familiars, various other things - which meant they would move up, drop the Hut and then use it as a fire base. It was being used constantly.

I have to ask, for those of you who don't see it all that often, how many full casters do you typically see in your group. In my last group, of the 5 PC's, 4 were full casters and 1 was a half caster. Three campaigns in a row. When you have groups that are that caster heavy, something like Hut becomes a real PITA.

My current group has 2 full casters of the 5 characters, and I don't think anyone took Hut, so, it's obviously not an issue.

If you keep running games where every group goes full caster heavy and uses their spells for everything... my guess is that your particular style of DMing makes those choices make the most sense. The players are taking what you are giving them. Now if you are generally cool with all of that, then great! But if these choices of character and their actions of using magic for everything are really starting to get on your nerves and you actually want to stop it... then at this point you should feel free to up the number of Dispels, Counterspells and massive amounts of Anti-Magic areas without guilt. At some point make them wish a least one or two of the players just went Melee. You've put up with this "All magic, all the time" style of game in service of being a "nice DM" this entire time... but if you feel they have been taking advantage of your goodwill and you've grown bored, then feel free to switch things up.

 

[SkidAce]

That must be nice.

I had a group recently that insisted on using it as an impenetrable fortress ALL THE TIME. They had various means of scouting forward - invisible familiars, various other things - which meant they would move up, drop the Hut and then use it as a fire base. It was being used constantly.

I have to ask, for those of you who don't see it all that often, how many full casters do you typically see in your group. In my last group, of the 5 PC's, 4 were full casters and 1 was a half caster. Three campaigns in a row. When you have groups that are that caster heavy, something like Hut becomes a real PITA.

My current group has 2 full casters of the 5 characters, and I don't think anyone took Hut, so, it's obviously not an issue.

Usually, in various groups over the years there has been one full caster wizard/mage per group.
Plus a cleric, then the usual roles get mixed around a bit.