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

[Hussar]

@Hussar

Found solution. 3.5 spell, 4th level. Leomund's Secure shelter. Secure Shelter :: d20srd.org

I knew i read somewhere version that creates literal physical building. Good thing ChatGPT can search stuff.

I mean, yeah, that would be fine at 3rd level or maybe even 2nd level really. It's a small house. Perfect. It does what it's supposed to do - be a place to shelter from the elements while you rest. It's defensible, but, not invulnerable. I would have no problems with this spell at all. And, frankly, it's a lot more flavorful than a big energy dome. Maybe upcasting the spell provides more benefits - makes it bigger, a bit stronger, maybe it's hard to find, that sort of thing.

To me, yeah, this is exactly what these spells should be.

 

[occam]

I don't recall what the official stance is on that sort of thing. At least in my area, we were heavily encouraged to use "rules as written", and to only make rulings when there was no explicit developer guidance. What this resulted in was, any time I would make a ruling off the cuff, someone would instantly go to their phones to check the internet. I was pretty annoyed at the "it's a hemisphere, so it has a floor" ruling, especially since apparently Crawford initially said it didn't have one, then was like "wait, derp, read your own rules, it's a hemisphere so it does have one!".

Basically it comes down to, is LTH a hollow half-sphere (in which case it wouldn't have a floor) or does the spell effect take up the entire hemisphere. Context matters- if you had say, an offensive spell that said it's area was a hemisphere (I can't think of one, but we have cones and cylinders), then obviously anything in the hemisphere is affected. It's because we think of LTH as a sort of igloo of force that there is a disconnect.

On the other hand, I've heard arguments that it must have a floor because the spell enforces a comfortable temperature within it, which would be difficult if it were, say, erected on cold ground. Or what happens during heavy rainfall, where water would be absorbed into the soil, despite the spell stating the atmosphere inside the space remains dry?

I wanted to highlight a few things that I haven't seen brought up in the thread so far:

• While I get the interpretation of LTH not having a floor, since its effect is described as a "dome" (five times!) in the 2014 rules, one which exists "around and above you", in 2024 it's an Emanation, which extends its effect "in all directions". That is, it's a fully spherical area in 2024.
• On the issues of cold or wet ground noted above; again, in 2024, that's not a question. However, in 2014 rules, it says that the "atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry" (emphasis mine); it doesn't necessarily prevent the ground from being uncomfortable if it doesn't have a floor to it.
• Another note about the 2024 revision: spells of 4th level and higher can be cast into or out of the Hut, unlike in 2014. That gives more powerful creatures outside the Hut a way to affect those inside.
• LTH prevents "creatures and objects... from passing through it" (both 2014 and 2024). However, is gas an object? Presumably air passes through it. What about smoke, such as that from fires set outside the Hut to encourage those inside to come out? What about poison gas, like from a green dragon's breath? What about a troglodyte's stench? Etc.
• Actually, any dragon's breath, and similar effects, might work. Is fire an object, or cold, etc.? A dragon's breath is arguably not a "magical effect" in the way D&D normally uses that term, so wouldn't be blocked from entering the Hut. IOW, there might be ways to get at those inside the Hut that you haven't considered, even going by RAW.

 

[haakon1]

I have literally never seen it cast, in any edition, going back 46 years.

I’ve seen it. Environmental encounters - storm comes up in a mountain pass, Air Node is cold and windy - are things I throw at my players every once in a while.

That’s talking Leomund’s Tiny Hut and Leomund’s Secure Shelter in AD&D and 3x.

Not sure if it’s something different in 5e.

 

[Hussar]

I wanted to highlight a few things that I haven't seen brought up in the thread so far:

• While I get the interpretation of LTH not having a floor, since its effect is described as a "dome" (five times!) in the 2014 rules, one which exists "around and above you", in 2024 it's an Emanation, which extends its effect "in all directions". That is, it's a fully spherical area in 2024.
• On the issues of cold or wet ground noted above; again, in 2024, that's not a question. However, in 2014 rules, it says that the "atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry" (emphasis mine); it doesn't necessarily prevent the ground from being uncomfortable if it doesn't have a floor to it.
• Another note about the 2024 revision: spells of 4th level and higher can be cast into or out of the Hut, unlike in 2014. That gives more powerful creatures outside the Hut a way to affect those inside.
• LTH prevents "creatures and objects... from passing through it" (both 2014 and 2024). However, is gas an object? Presumably air passes through it. What about smoke, such as that from fires set outside the Hut to encourage those inside to come out? What about poison gas, like from a green dragon's breath? What about a troglodyte's stench? Etc.
• Actually, any dragon's breath, and similar effects, might work. Is fire an object, or cold, etc.? A dragon's breath is arguably not a "magical effect" in the way D&D normally uses that term, so wouldn't be blocked from entering the Hut. IOW, there might be ways to get at those inside the Hut that you haven't considered, even going by RAW.

If the atmosphere is "comfortable and dry", being filled with fire, smoke or poisonous gas is not what I would call comfortable and dry. Well, I suppose fire breath might make you really, really dry. If it keeps rain and snow out, why wouldn't it keep out things like fire and smoke? Up to the DM I suppose. Then again, how often are you chucking dragons at the party that this is actually an issue? I don't know about you, but, in 5e, I think I've used dragons probably less than a half a dozen times.

Like I said before, the spell is just too much of a PITA for me. If it's like Leomund's Secure Shelter - which is a physical house, then we don't need to play silly bugger guesswork games patching in rullings for stuff that we're basically just pulling out of our posteriors.

I honestly have no problem if Force as an energy source in the game were simply dropped entirely. Mage armor makes actual armor that mages can wear. It's not like wizards can't wear armor in 5e anyway. Shield is an actual shield - a big floaty shield that bumps your AC by 5 for a round. Why do we have Wall of Force anyway? What's the point? We have Wall of fire, ice and stone. That pretty much covers all the "walls" that you need. How is the game improved by adding an invulnerable, invisible wall to the wizard's spell list.

As far as I can see, Force is just the "energy that nothing resists" effect. Do wizards actually need that?

 

[Xeviat]

In my longest 5E game, which ran from 5th to 12th level, the party Warlock picked up Tiny Hut. It only got abused one time.

The players were running away from an encounter and dove underwater (they already had water breathing on the party). The warlock actually used a spell slot to cast it quickly instead of ritually, and successfully argued that "dry and comfortable" meant it would void the hut of water. I rolled a few checks to see if the lizardfolk were able to find them in the murky waters, and they got off scott free.