Prestidigitation

[Patlin]

Wow, and this thread is too late for inclusion in the "Most Overrated 'broken' things" thread from a little while ago!

Seriously, though, Prestidigitation can really do all that, and it's not a big deal. After all, everything the wizard did with it could be done by hand without much difficulty. Some tasks (cleaning, for example) might be a little harder, but others (lifting objects, for example) are actually faster and easier to do by hand.

Prestidigitation is 90% flash and only about 10% usefull stuff. It will rarely be as usefull to the player as detect magic or read magic, which are staple cantrips, and only competes with them y being more fun.

 

[UltimaGabe]

The aforementioned bottles were full of explosive liquid that went off when dropped. The items on the floor were magical gear dropped by NPCs nearby. Picking it up by hand would have been blatantly obvious but stuff sliding slowly across the floor of its own accord much less so. He gathered puddles of blood into floating globules to feed a minotaur. Of the four uses I've seen thus far, not one was something that could have been done without the spell.

Everything he did- with the exception of moving the magical gear, which I don't think Prestidigitation should have allowed- could have been done with Mage Hand, another 0-level spell, but Mage Hand would have done it much faster and much easier, with far greater range. That's cool that he used it to overcome some obstacles, but honestly, if the obstacles in your adventure can be overcome by Prestidigitation, you probably need to come up with more difficult obstacles. Once again, it's a cool spell, and definitely useful, but by no means powerful.

 

[Vegepygmy]

He cast it once and figures it lasts an hour - during which he can change targets and effects however he wants.

He's right.

Here's a nice little article on what you can do with prestidigitation: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20010707

 

[Darklone]

Coolest spell ever. My bard used it nearly exclusively.

 

[0-hr]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm glad that I decided to check here before complaining at the table (as it's clear my complaints would have been unfounded). Better to look like a fool in an anonmous forrum than at the gaming table

 

[Darklone]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm glad that I decided to check here before complaining at the table (as it's clear my complaints would have been unfounded). Better to look like a fool in an anonmous forrum than at the gaming table

Risking to repeat myself: Better to be a fool for five minutes than for the rest of your life