D&D 5E Mage Hand and Trap Avoidance

[Charlaquin]

I hear yah, but feel its more like that.s reason for the roll, its uncertain. Indianna Jones had the right idea, but failed his roll.

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Sure; in this case there is both a significant chance of and meaningful consequences for failure, so a roll makes sense. But IMO this always has to be determined on a case by case basis.

 

[Charlaquin]

Perfect example of a good trap.

He fails the roll and what happens next is a series of obstacles that are triggered that he must outrun and dodge rather than immediately take damage from.

Though, most of those obstacles are just the “boring” one-off traps he already bypassed on the way in. In a D&D context this would be a pretty clever dungeon design; a sequence of easily detected and easily bypassed traps on the way to your goal, that you then have to deal with again under immediate and significant pressure on the way back out.

 

[TheSword]

Funny story, I used mage hand to trigger a trap last weekend. Unfortunately we we all still in range of it. Two lightning spheres later I know don’t move anything now unless it’s demanded.

 

[grimmgoose]

to me this doesn’t sound significantly different than exploring the dungeon with the characters physically present. And, if it isn’t interesting for your group… just skip the process of walking through each step and give the players a map. “After thoroughly exploring the dungeon with Arcane Eye, you determine that this is its layout.” Now looking over the map, interpreting it, and deciding on a plan for how to reach whatever their goal is becomes a whole group activity.

If you can't tell the difference between a flesh-and-blood character exploring a dungeon, instead of an invisible, flying eye that can pass through openings as small as 1-inch, then yeah - I guess it wouldn't be significantly different.

edit: I might've been a little harsh with that, so I apologize. My point being: arcane eye eliminates all risk. It kills tension. It becomes one person talking to a DM as they tour around a location, where there is no danger, there is no threat. To me, it is bad gameplay; bad design.

 

[aco175]

I hear yah, but feel its more like that.s reason for the roll, its uncertain. Indianna Jones had the right idea, but failed his roll.

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He did not fail, the DM just fudged the DC to make it more interesting, since he planned for the NPC to betray him.

 

[Distracted DM]

I've found Arcane Eye to be less of a mood killer than Mage Hand or the warlocks imp. The imp can open doors (at its own peril, but it has Stealth), and the arcane eye gets blocked by spaces smaller than an inch... Dungeon doors being swollen shut is a pretty normal trope, either that or the doors are just fairly flush with the floor. I'll certainly allow the spell to be a useful scout, but I haven't had the same complaints about it that players have had about the Imp.

 

[TiQuinn]

I've found Arcane Eye to be less of a mood killer than Mage Hand or the warlocks imp. The imp can open doors (at its own peril, but it has Stealth), and the arcane eye gets blocked by spaces smaller than an inch... Dungeon doors being swollen shut is a pretty normal trope, either that or the doors are just fairly flush with the floor. I'll certainly allow the spell to be a useful scout, but I haven't had the same complaints about it that players have had about the Imp.

Arcane Eye can also be stopped by Private Sanctum, which if it’s an important enough site or dungeon, it could very possibly have the permanent version.

 

[Smackpixi]

I see this has moved on from OP, but a couple thoughts.

The finding the trap and examining the corpse was all fun and engaging. But the climax of popping off the trap from across the room was boring and, like I said, since mage hand is a cantrip it did not even cost the PCs anything to do it. Boring.

I don’t see this as a problem, think of any movie where someone is disarming a bomb, cutting the blue wire is not a great exciting act, everything around it was though. And not every trap has to be interesting , ok to have some boring ones too. The boring traps make the interesting ones different and exciting. Also, just cause the solution is simple, doesn’t mean discovering it wasn’t. And even when acting on a thing at a distance removes danger to the PCs, doesn’t have to mean it removes danger to others, the treasure, or McMuffin.

Ooooh if you hate that, wait until they get arcane eye.

It just kills dungeon exploration. Had a player use it to map out an entire dungeon, and then afterwards he said, "this kinda feels like I'm cheating".

In no way does it. There’s plenty of ways to block it, especially at the level at which you get it, and, while it might figure out where all the walls are, all the creatures in the dungeon are on the move, and it can’t smell or hear, so, there’s always plenty more ways to reveal something.

 

[Gorg]

Didn't there used to be a spell, probably from 3e, that allowed you to deliver touch attacks with it? Spectral hand, maybe?

My only arcane caster in our 3e campaign is a Sorceror- and she doesn't know any touch attack spells. (thus, it has never come up) And a good thing, too- she can't hit the broadside of a barn- from inside of it. She has yet to hit anyone with acid splash or ray of frost- even though she casts them regularly...


Mage hand always struck me as a spell that could have been useful- if it had been allowed to be. I suspect it probably IS useful in some groups- that ignore the 10# stipulation. (a great example of D&D giveth, and D&D taketh away, lol) For example- it's the perfect thing for a mage that can't be bothered to get up and grab that book off the shelf, or that beaker o' stuff from the other side of the lab, or, or, lol.

 

[Distracted DM]

Didn't there used to be a spell, probably from 3e, that allowed you to deliver touch attacks with it? Spectral hand, maybe?

My only arcane caster in our 3e campaign is a Sorceror- and she doesn't know any touch attack spells. (thus, it has never come up) And a good thing, too- she can't hit the broadside of a barn- from inside of it. She has yet to hit anyone with acid splash or ray of frost- even though she casts them regularly...


Mage hand always struck me as a spell that could have been useful- if it had been allowed to be. I suspect it probably IS useful in some groups- that ignore the 10# stipulation. (a great example of D&D giveth, and D&D taketh away, lol) For example- it's the perfect thing for a mage that can't be bothered to get up and grab that book off the shelf, or that beaker o' stuff from the other side of the lab, or, or, lol.

It's plenty useful even with the 10lb limit