D&D 5E Toll the Chest

[iserith]

The adventurers enter a chamber, about 30 feet square, with a single chest in the middle of the room. There is nothing in the chamber that suggests anything weird is going on - it's pretty nondescript. The cleric's player, suspicious the chest might be a mimic, decides to cast toll the dead on the chest.

The DM knows the chest is, in fact, a mimic. Toll the dead only targets creatures.

Do you have any issues with the player's decision?

How would you resolve this as DM?

 

[Maxperson]

The adventurers enter a chamber, about 30 feet square, with a single chest in the middle of the room. There is nothing in the chamber that suggests anything weird is going on - it's pretty nondescript. The cleric's player, suspicious the chest might be a mimic, decides to cast toll the dead on the chest.

The DM knows the chest is, in fact, a mimic. Toll the dead only targets creatures.

Do you have any issues with the player's decision?

How would you resolve this as DM?

I would allow it. The targeting rules in Xanathar's on pages 85-86 allow for spells to target invalid targets. If it's valid, it works. If it's invalid, it fails and the slot is spent.

I would have allowed it anyway, but Xanathar's codified what I already did.

 

[aco175]

Is it the same as shooting an arrow at it, then I would all ow Toll the Dead.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hmm… Maybe it’s the M:tG player in me, but I want to say no; if you don’t know whether or not the “chest” is a creature, you don’t (know if you) have a valid target, and therefore can’t cast the spell. But that’s definitely contrary to the targeting rules in Xanathar’s Guide. On the other hand, if I try to imagine this actually occurring at the table, I don’t see myself telling the player “you can’t cast that because you don’t know if it’s a creature or not” in the moment. So I guess my real answer is I’d allow it, even if it doesn’t fit with how I feel like it “should” work in theory.

 

[Charlaquin]

Is it the same as shooting an arrow at it, then I would all ow Toll the Dead.

It’s not, because you can shoot an arrow at an object, but you can’t cast Toll the Dead on an object.

 

[Quickleaf]

The adventurers enter a chamber, about 30 feet square, with a single chest in the middle of the room. There is nothing in the chamber that suggests anything weird is going on - it's pretty nondescript. The cleric's player, suspicious the chest might be a mimic, decides to cast toll the dead on the chest.

The DM knows the chest is, in fact, a mimic. Toll the dead only targets creatures.

Do you have any issues with the player's decision?

How would you resolve this as DM?

First, I would ask: "Are you sure you want to cast toll the dead on the chest-you-suspect-is-a-mimic? Remember, if it is a creature, the sound of dolorous bells might attract unwanted attention." This may not be directly related to your line of inquiry, but it's really important to emphasize that there is a potential cost to the course of action.

Then, if they decided to proceed and the mimic is able to observe this hostile spell being cast, I would determine initiative. It's possible the mimic might even act first, attacking prematurely as it realizes its cover is blown. How that initiative is resolved is very much a matter to be tailored to each group - my way may not be your way - but I would say some manner of resolving initiative would be in order. (NOTE: there may be exceptions, for example a high level party encountering a single mimic doesn't really need to slow down to the micromanagement scale of initiative rolling)

And then, once toll the dead is cast on that player's turn, it would affect the mimic just as it would any other creature.

 

[Stalker0]

Sure....players are going to be paranoid sometimes, when you have had trap after trap sprung on you its no longer paranoia

 

[John R Davis]

Isnt that what EB is for, a detect creature cantrip!!

 

[Maxperson]

It’s not, because you can shoot an arrow at an object, but you can’t cast Toll the Dead on an object.

Xanathar's just fixed a silly rule. There's no good reason some spells can't target objects, just because they are written with "Creature" as the target type. They would just fizzle, because you can't charm a door knob.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You can cast Toll the Dead on anything. it just does nothing if it is an invalid target.

This is how I would deal with it:

Casts Toll the Dead on a chest. [fake roll] "Your spell has no effect on the chest."
Casts Toll the Dead on a Mimic. [hidden save succeeds] "Your spell has no effect on the chest."
Casts Toll the Dead on a Mimic. [hidden save fails] "the chest squeals in pain, roll for initiative."
Shoots an arrow at a mimic. [attack roll hits] "the chest squeals in pain, roll for initiative."