(animated) D&D5E Mage Hand

[@andrewhess5342]

Using it to remove bolts from loaded crossbows is hilarious.

[@spikegilfer1997]

Devious bastard.

[@Fancymancer]

Holy crap that's genius.

[@guidojacobs2002]

Hm, would using it to move the trigger of a crossbow count as "attacking"?

[@Healermain15]

Not sure about pulling the trigger, but dropping a 9,9 pound rock on the tip to make it point directly downwards is totally allowed.

[@tiamat9874]

No, I think it means directly (like punching someone).

[@Kyowai]

Chaotic Stupid: All the treasure is mine! ...how do I carry this. Why are there bandits everywhere now?! Chaotic Evil: I need a meat shield and I can't wield swords.

[@ThatGamerDude9000]

Who needs to carry things when you have Mage Hand, or in case of bandits, Bigby's Hand.

[@Leftists_are_Losers]

@@ThatGamerDude9000 I don’t need to carry things when i have suggestion and/or dominate person and even one other person.

[@codyallen2838]

@@Leftists_are_Losers You'd get stomped without your party. Being Chaotic Stupid never pays off. The cr of the enemies around you would be too high for just one player.

[@Dragoderian]

I appreciate drawing the line between Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Stupid.

[@000Dragon50000]

Best bit of the video right there.

[@thomashearne4670]

Other uses for mage hand include: high fiving yourself when some one leaves you hanging, giving yourself a good ol' face palm while you are shackled, or when you really want to convey how much you hate some one, flip them off with three hands.

[@mestre12]

Jacob Fletcher now that is some good use

[@AGrumpyPanda]

Similarly, one of the best uses for minor image spells is to go full Zenyatta on someone and flip them off with *eight* hands.

[@robonerd125]

Alternatively, use Thaumaturgy to tell someone to go fuck themselves in the most badass way possible (eyes black with red pinpoint pupils, make your voice "boom", and create minor tremors) 60% of the time it works every time...

[@BVasquezp]

Don't forget the good old scratch your back were you cant reach.

[@WildPortraitArtist]

lmao

[@Blizzic]

There's something exceeding funny about the quote: "I knew that if Gideon touched the mold, he would die. I hesitated."

[@LeonJagerWulf]

At the time of this comment you have 69 likes. I cannot bear to break the sacred number.

[@catoticneutral]

Letting the mold kill him would have been a chaotic stupid move rather than chaotic evil because if a self-respecting evil wizard wants to get full use out of a magic sword he needs to make sure he has a skilled minion to swing it around for him.

[@Sagetower7]

Couldn't have put it better myself :)

[@eric_moore-6126]

That was what Zee was saying.

[@shii5795]

Naw. Let the mold kill him. Then animate dead and have a mold zombie armed with a magic sword.

[@wadespencer3623]

@@shii5795 A zombie is way shittier than even a low level martial class. They're not even better as minions because they're even dumber than your average barbarian.

[@alpha_tier]

The zombie wouldn't be nearly as skilled as the alive fighter.

[@Embara]

After my Wizard lost their right hand in a dodgy deal with a good ol riddles 'n' rhymes ethereal shopkeeper ("And in return, you lend me a hand..." "Ya ok sure, what do you want?") I asked the DM "I'm a super clever magic meddler, if I put enough time into it would I theoretically be able to make a magic hand? I'd take the Mage Hand cantrip that I already know and, using this power ring thingy we found as a power source, set up a mechanism of runes to create an arcane feedback loop, so once I use it as a focus to cast mage hand through, it keeps it going without need of my concentration and pours enough pure power into it to make it as strong as a real hand!" "Uh, yeah alright, but it's gonna take you like, let's say 10-int d100 hours to build." About 300 hours of working on the project later, I had a badass modified permanent Mage Hand using up our only magical artifact as a battery and was the proudest nerd.

[@parad0x448]

Your wizard is awesome.

[@bthsr7113]

I love it!

[@EvelynNdenial]

you should go back and demand that hand back since you only lent it to the guy. probably lost or broke it though, happens to everything i let people borrow.

[@liamfidller4319]

Congratulations your wizard is now also an artificer

[@codyallen2838]

That's a fun dm.

[@DimT670]

Pro tip: if you are small size, like a halfling or a cobolt, you can cast reduce on yourself, grab yourself by the scruff using mage hand and literally fly

[@ramirezthesilvite]

Kobold* :)

[@kellynolen498]

@@ramirezthesilvite Somewhere a small peice of sentient cobolt ore disagrees with you

[@stephenfurlong4230]

Nice idea Lorax.

[@AndrewArmstrong]

Lorax RP

[@lukerabon7925]

I like that this video has that visual that demonstrates the distinction between Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Stupid. Chaotic Evil: Well, I could keep all the treasure... but then I have to haul it all out mostly myself and without a warrior to protect me. He might be useful beyond that as well, letting me obtain more wealth. Chaotic Stupid: Yes, let them all go to their death! I might even slaughter them in their sleep! *dies to monsters when the other players refuse to help after he gets them all killed*

[@DimT670]

Both of the choices there were chaotic evil. One was for gain now and one was for gain later. He simply chose the more gain later. But choosing less gain now would have been absolutely valid

[@tears_of_asariel3198]

@@DimT670 yea.. but chaotic stupid gets the point across better, and is actually funny VS what you said

[@patrickanderson62]

The dead Dwarven soldier having a beard as a skeleton was a nice touch

[@SecretSwifty]

how know if dwarf if not have beard???

[@Lucitaur]

The most important lesson here is learning the difference between 'evil' and 'stupid' in roleplaying, tbh.

[@videogollumer]

Honestly, I'd say getting a player killed by withholding information would be more Stupid Evil than Chaotic Stupid.

[@taurelith4867]

It ultimately depends on the goal of the character, if the sword was the evil character's ultimate goal for the campaign and he didnt want to have to share it or the rest of the riches i wouldnt necessarily call it stupid to just let another character die as long as that doesnt put you in danger as well. I personally dont like doing stuff like that because i care about the other players' enjoyment but i can see how it would make sense for a chaotic evil character or even a neutral character to let another pc die if it ultimately benefits them

[@videogollumer]

@@taurelith4867 Well, in this instance, I would say the choice is a question of evil rather than chaos. If Skenk knows that the moss will kill Gideon and doesn't tell him because he want's Gideon to die so he can have the treasure all to himself, that would be an act of evil because he's essentially setting Giddeon up for death for his own gain.

[@Vanlifecrisis]

I dont think the sword and treasure was skank's ultimate goal, so it benefits him more to have a badass wielding it for him as they go forward.

[@EnderSpy007]

Important note: The hand is always visible unless using the telekinetic feat or you are an arcane trickster

[@rainbowmothraleo]

Or gith

[@ls-wh9up]

It’s been two years and I just realised the inscription in the blade says ‘YOLO’

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

YOLO? Ha, not in D&D you don't!

[@edwinburton2832]

Only those aged and wise enough can see the inscription for what it truly says... fo-ho-ho...

[@christinefarrell6438]

This feels like it's pulling double-duty as an animated spell book and a bit of advice on "things to think about when you're playing the Token Evil Teammate so you're not infuriating for the rest of the table"

[@BraveLobster4567]

Step 1: Play gnome wizard Step 2: Be minimum weight for gnome Step 3: Cast "Reduce" on yourself. Step 4: Cast Mage hand. Ride flying hand. Step 5: Profit?

[@Morfeucomvoce]

but you can only move the hand 30ft from the original point it was spawned, isn't it?

[@theorangeslice9678]

@@Morfeucomvoce nope. You can't move it 30 feet away from YOURSELF. RAW mentions nothing about spawnpoint.

[@bratanchik228]

niiiiice

[@mme.veronica735]

Technically you could be a; Drow, Halfling, or Gnome because the reduce part of Enlarge/Reduce makes you weigh one eight so a Drow can weigh at least 77lbs divided by 8 is less than 10 so mage hand can carry you

[@simonwilliamson3684]

Just don't wear too much armor

[@EpicUltraKingSmizzy]

My party went through glitterheim. We came upon the shiny sword clutched by a skeleton. The room was so obviously a trap. I warned the wizard "do you have some means to grab the sword without entering the room?". "I have mage hand, but i'd rather not use a spell for something so simple." he replied. He entered the room, grabbed the sword, and took all but 5 of his health in damage... Mage hand is a cantrip... just use it next time.

[@Cheshiregrinn91]

lol I am a rogue with the feat magic initiate just so I could have mage hand (even though I am a thief and not an arcane trickster) exactly for moments like this. I wanna be able to fuck shit up on a safe distance

[@EasilyBoredGamer]

the thing about that, that I find so funny is, its a cantrip so it costs nothing to use.

[@RobMedellin]

I doubt that ever happened. Us wizard always want to use mage hand. Even if it obviously is a real chest because you just defeated a big monster guarding it: Mage hand.

[@incompetentnerd4051]

I mean, super cool as a character moment. It’s not even that it costs anything to use, he just thought his magic was above picking up swords.

[@bbrake]

I like how it wasn't the main point of the video, but justifying a Druid adventurer is SO hard from a role-play perspective! You love nature, you thrive in nature, and... you run around killing things for wealth, power, or to save those high-and-mighty kings in their smelly, intrusive cities?

[@thevoidcritter]

Personally, I just throw out the stereotypical hippie druid characterization entirely. You can still have a fun character who uses the exact same mechanics as the druid class, but who isn't a super druidy druid. 5e is very friendly to reskins and reflavoring.

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

It was an animated spellbook the whole time!? What a twist!

[@CastleGoCrash]

Bonus tech: if you are a gnome and use reduce on yourself you becone just light enough for a mage hand to carry you around, which is hilarious.

[@bthsr7113]

That... sounds useful,... or abusable.

[@BadOeynhausenLP]

If you were a gnome mage, could you carry yourslef?

[@CastleGoCrash]

yes, but you would have to use your action to do so

[@sadeknight9112]

Kyle Banister gnome monk, no equipment required

[@cephelos1098]

@@sadeknight9112 but now you need to burn a level or a feat for mage hand

[@H3xx99]

Well... If you're looking for friendship in Glitterhame, there is a Sucubus that would be REAALLY grateful if you let her out....

[@imhereforanime]

I lost it at, “Haha! It was an animated Spellbook the whole time.”

[@zenmanlovesgames9906]

I love the knowledge of the difference between Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Stupid

[@matthewgallaway3675]

Step 1: Play a Gnome. Step 2: Cast Reduce on self. Step 3: Carry self around with Mage Hand. Step 4: Profit.

[@madmanwithaplan1826]

i need to check the weight but dammit i think this will actually fucking work... i like it

[@Solnoric]

By the 5th Ed rules this could work so long as you're not too fat.

[@Mellion555]

The problem with that though is that the hand travels 30ft _away_ from the caster, since if it goes farther than 30 ft away it dissipates; this could be interpreted as the hand can only travel as far as it can get away from the one who cast the spell. Ergo, you could stand on it, but it wouldnt be able to travel anywhere because it cant get away from you. Of course, this is all at the DM's discretion so they can also rule that you can fly anywhere in a 30ft cube in any direction or travel at a speed of 30ft but must be no higher than 11 inches off the ground when doing so (and likewise reduce the travel speed for each foot you are off ground: 1ft off ground 29Spd 10ft off ground 20Spd, etc). Because I doubt that most DMs would just give the player unlimited flight and reach with a cantrip: that would be far too busted to allow, honestly.

[@rheyn8356]

@@Mellion555 Just for fair analysis, consider that Fly is a 3rd level spell, requires one action to cast, can be concentrated on for 10 minutes and gives a flying speed of 60 feet. This method to use mage hand to fly requires a 2nd level spell Enlarge/Reduce be cast on a creature max weight 80 pounds, causes them to have disadvantage on Strength checks and saves as well as deal 1d4 less damage on weapon attacks, requires 2 actions to set up and uses up your action every turn if you want to move (bonus action for Arcane Trickster Rogue), can be concentrated on for 1 minute, only gives a flying speed of 30 feet, and must remain within 30 feet of the caster (if you're trying to carry someone else). I think there's enough downside there to allow this use of mage hand and enlarge/reduce to effectively get a downgraded fly for a lower level spell slot.

[@davidstratton696]

Jacob K If u cast it on other people obviously, but the original comment is talking about casting it on yourself tho which means having it go 30 ft away from u won’t be a problem.

[@lexsamreeth8724]

Mage Hand is also useful for interacting with anything that causes your adventurer senses to tingle. A surprisingly intact rug in a long-abandoned, decaying fortress? Flip it over with mage hand to reveal covered pits, pressure plates, or the fact that it might be a Rug of Smothering. Sword surrounded by corpses? Mage hand. It might be hooked to a wire, or it might be cursed, so keep it bundled in cloth or locked in a box until you're able to tell for darned sure it's safe. Rogue low on health? Use a mage hand to open a door, and breath a sigh of relief as the poison needle in the handle stabs into incorporeal force, or as the magitech claymore mine on the other side blasts apart thin air. It's like the magic version of the old veteran's favorite dungeon-crawling tool, the ten foot pole.

[@Xeridanus]

Reminds me of one group of adventurers my friends played. They didn't have a rogue so they just used the Barbarian. He got sick of it or was too low on health at one point so they picked up a nearby log and used it to trigger the traps by rolling it down corridors and such. It worked so well they made it an honorary member of the party and carved ROGUE into it.

[@badideagenerator2315]

I'm now imagining a +1 ten foot pole.

[@wilkinscoffee4228]

​@@badideagenerator2315An 11 foot pole that weighs the same as a 10 foot pole.

[@SuperZez]

So we just gonna gloss over the fact that the runes on the blade are just YOLO?

[@TheEncouragementKid]

lol i came here to find this comment

[@tophattechpriest6218]

My party came across a tripwire. We spent 30 minutes figuring out what to do. The DM even went to the bathroom. We elected to jump over it. I had mage hand, scissors, and a mirror. I could have disabled it remotely. It still haunts me years later.

[@Autobalanced]

The tale and production value on this one was masterclass

[@xXFuzzeeXx]

Finally, someone who realizes that evil doesn't necessarily just mean betraying your party.

[@KW-de9sc]

It should always be “how low am I willing to go to get what I want.” Instead of just maniacally twirling your mustache and wondering who you can fuck over. If persuasion isn’t mind control and insight isn’t a lie detector, alignments shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

[@benjaminoechsli1941]

Evil is simply "I do what's in _my_ best interest," and Skenk was smart enough to realize that he needed his team alive. For now...

[@viggoasgarden7050]

*It was an Animated Spellbook the whole time!* I fucking love this channel

[@PewPew_McPewster]

As an Artificer, I was once presented with a spider-filled room with a potential treasure in it. I used Magical Tinkering to imbue a tile to emit a 5ft radius light, and I used Mage Hand to aggravate the spiders with the illuminated tile. I drew the spiders to a far corner of the room, used Mage Hand to retrieve the treasure, then used Mage Hand to shut the door behind us. Mage Hand FTW.

[@RedwoodTheElf]

Also, Mage Hand is a Cantrip, so you can use it as often as you like. Your mage never has to get his hands dirty.

[@FoxyGekkerson]

My favorite aspect of Mage Hand is what Arcane Tricksters can do with it. Mage Hand Legerdemain lets you stow and retrieve objects from containers worn or carried by other creatures, you can use Thieves’ Tools to pick locks and disarm traps remotely, perform any task using the mage hand without being noticed (by contesting your Sleight of Hand against the enemy’s Perception,) straight up turn the hand invisible, and the best part is, you can use your bonus action granted by Cunning Action to control the hand.

[@Emily12471]

I can't believe that this is where skenk mcgenk came from, and subsequently became pretty much the channel mascot

[@theflightlessalbatross3415]

I cannot begin to express my love of the name Skank McGank. What a hero

[@MatheusNiisama]

Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Stupid Surprisingly enough, some people cant tell the difference

[@mestre12]

Yeah, and main diference is: one is dead.

[@funnyblog100]

Chaotic evil the way I would play it is actually quite willing to work with others. They don't care about making friends but will stick around so long as they get in on that sweet sweet loot at the end of the day. I play it as more of a ruthless mercenary type. Someone who has no moral issue with sacrificing others for their own gain but at the same time they are smart enough to realize the benefits of having someone watch their back. They want to keep the party alive because they don't want to risk facing danger alone. You offer them promise of treasure and they will follow you to the ends of the earth so long as you deliver.

[@stevecooper6578]

I mean you can't attack with mage hand but if a maul or any 10 pound object were to magically float above the target and suddenly started falling onto their head it would be most unfortunate now wouldn't it?

[@herrabanani]

I've asked about this on a dnd discord and unfortunately they can make an easy acrobatics saving throw or take pitiful damage if you try this according to the rules as written. Still probably useful in some situations or if you don't want to spend a spell slot

[@alexrecrem9094]

Drop a 10lb blade from 30 ft on their head

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Think about it this way: Imagine firing a crossbow vertically upwards. The bolt is gonna go a long way before it comes back down Even with a sword, a strong warrior can throw it rather high into the air before it'll slow and fall. That's how much weaker gravity is compared to the force behind an attack. Now....a bottle of Acid or Alchemical Fire on the other hand....

[@alexrecrem9094]

@@pavarottiaardvark3431 technically you could use it to poor oil as well. Its not directly harming anyone

[@franciscosolanille7397]

@@pavarottiaardvark3431 mage hand could pull triggers... Maybe you can get a pistol or a crossbow and lay waste, after all the hand is just manipulating an small object 😂😂😂

[@TheOtherKT]

I have a warlock that used Mage Hand for every conceivable scenario, especially for opening maybe-possibly-trapped doors and chests (he was paranoid like that). He and the rest of the party eventually took to calling the spectral entity "Handy" like some sort of ethereal pet.

[@catfoodbob1]

If dm ever let him empower that cantrip you could call it, Master Hand.

[@otakon17]

Kyler Thatch I am almost positive there is a more powerful variation of Mage Hand they could have used ALSO checking for possible mimics and traps is GODDAMN GENIUS.

[@JakesterPlays-ed6uq]

You may be thinking of Bigby's Hand +otakon17

[@Juniper_Rose]

"A HA! It was an animated spellbook the whole time!" You clever bastard!

[@rogueatlas14]

I played a arcane trickster so I could make 2 hands used both to hold two ends of a rope and tripped a creature off a cliff

[@kingsadvisor18]

Brilliant!

[@witheredrogue]

How? Are you multiclassed in sorcerer and twinspelled it

[@jonathansotelo4877]

Total of twenty pounds of force behind it, I think. Either way, ten pounds of force sounds more than enough to trip something over.

[@comunistbanana]

Arcane trickster isn't necessarily supposed to get 2 of them, but I like how creative you were with it anyway.

[@kingsadvisor18]

@@witheredrogue Well, according to the PHB, Arcane Tricksters gain an ability called Mage Hand Legerdemain. The hand is invisible except to you where the standard Mage Hand appears spectral. Can steal things from containers being held by other creatures And you can disarm traps and operate thieves tools with it. I would argue that you need two hands to use thieves tools so one could say the Mage Hand Legerdemain could form two. As a DM, I'd allow this so long as the two Mage Hands have to be within ten feet of each other

[@329link]

I remember using mage hand to take a goblin's bow before he could use it (not sure if that was actually legal, but it was our first campaign so w/e). The goblin was hopping around trying to grab the bow, which gave our rogue a good opportunity to eviscerate it (nat 20). I kept the bow for myself since I didn't have any ranged options otherwise and it went on to kill a bugbear.

[@AegixDrakan]

That is a HILARIOUS mental image. It's like playing with a cat, only the cat is green, angry and capable of curse words. XD

[@badjokezach6359]

If they bow weighed more than 10 lbs it wouldn’t be RAW

[@Steir12]

Unless you pry it out of creature's arm its all legal.

[@maanavganjoo6643]

I JUST noticed the sword has YOLO written on it.....

[@mildsatyr3731]

Curse you for pointing out this hilarity to me.

[@omfgmedic69]

Praise the comment section, I would've missed it :p

[@Eddie42023]

No, you're reading it backwards, it's clearly 0-7-0-and the greek letter Lambda. (jk)

[@maanavganjoo6643]

Like, I've watched this video the day it came out and at least 5 times since and I JUST noticed it 😂

[@TheNumb96]

My character was at a tourney and when the knight that had once incarcerated me was jousting i used mage hand to open the clasps of his saddle which got him skewered. Lovely spell.

[@Jorvalt]

It seems like the Bag of Holding was made 15 pounds for the express purpose of preventing casters with Mage Hand from using Bag of Holding nukes.

[@Kirby950]

We have rope technology

[@tanith117]

I wonder... Could multiple mages hands work together?

[@Kirby950]

USS Prinz Eugen How much does a mage hand weighs?

[@cheeselord3655]

But the haversack

[@jonathanwells223]

By the time you had nukes wouldn’t you just use Telekinesis?

[@msp654]

IVE BEEN USING MAGE HAND FOR MONTHS AND IVE NEVER THOUGHT OF USING A FUCKING ROPE GOD DAMN IT

[@renzosinche6540]

XD

[@therjschannel904]

Some creative uses for Mage Hand: 1- To remove arrows from an enemy crossbow and possibly give them to a crossbow wielding teammate 2- Use It to gather some simple twigs around you and help start a campfire when your party starts their long rest 3- have it disarm an enemy wielding their crossbow, swords, daggers, etc. technically not an attack and even better if the weapon is still in reach of the creature whose item you stole may have to waste an action just to get it back, OR if it dies and it’s weapon is still being held by your Mage Hand, one of your buddies can claim the weapon for themselves 4- have it open a door that you feel is booby trapped 5- have the Mage Hand give vulgar gestures at creatures to tell them how much you hate them

[@svenabel2987]

honestly, the last one is probably the most important one

[@kingwildcat6192000]

2 lol is not creative its "im too lazy to grab some twigs myself"

[@kingwildcat6192000]

also 3 needs to be clarified, to disarm someone who is wielding a weapon requires it to be an attack though you could argue with your dm why removing a sword from someones pocket is not

[@tiaxanderson9725]

DMG pg. 271 allows you to disarm an opponent with an attack, forgoing the attack roll vs AC and the damage for an attack roll vs STR athletics or DEX acrobatics to have the target drop their weapon. But it's clearly an attack which PHB pg. 256 clearly forbids. Which I feel is a fair restriction considering the Battle Master needs a whole maneuver to not do it the standard way.

[@RedwoodTheElf]

Number 5 is "Bigby's Insulting Digit", a cantrip that can be cast by anyone with fingers.

[@danielleininger5422]

One of our players used it to lift the bar that was locking the door from the other side of the door.

[@CainLatrani]

And Critical Role took that personally...

[@jonathanwells223]

@@CainLatrani Oh what are they gonna do? Make me cringe to death with their awful acting skills?

[@CainLatrani]

@@jonathanwells223 Was there a point to this other than proving you're an ass?

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@jonathanwells223 Careful there edgelord

[@grrey_p]

0:23 when you like your beard so much it becomes apart of your skeleton

[@cryw1092]

That's just called "being a Dwarf". All dwarves keep their beards, even in death.

[@NoManLP]

Mage Hand is possibly one of the best utility spells a Rogue could ever want.....I mean wizard. *Rolls Bluff/Deception*

[@KraziEyevin]

Reminds me of Bilbo Stabbins, Wizard Extraordinaire! Between his Belt of Scorching Ray and his quiver of wands, nothing could stop him! Even as every companion he had died one by one...

[@PewPew_McPewster]

I'll square with you, I don't love Fireball the way I love Mage Hand. I check to see if I can resolve something with Mage Hand BEFORE I check to see if Fireball can solve it.

[@fangorn23]

now that IS true love. I'm not sure I could betray my fireball like that.

[@jwmmitch]

What? I thought it was obligatory to cast fireball first.... even before initiative sometimes. ... I'm going to have to check the rules to be sure

[@TheStarMachine2000]

One of my personal favorites is to constantly cast magw hand and use it as my own personalized familiar. Give it a personality, a mind of its own(even if you always control it), or even just use it to be silly, like patting the bandits on the shoulder while they lay in wait to ambush you.

[@whoxman1621]

What's your point, person within Fireball's distance?

[@KanuckStreams]

"...I hesitated..." was the best line. I also love that the "runes" read YOLO.

[@zavexcapricious2519]

Doctor Discord of course you do, such chaos is your bread and butter lol

[@silentjackm.d4490]

The best use I ever had for Mage hand outside of utility was a very unique situation where me and my party managed to sneak up on a dragon resting in its horde, for General context this dragon we've been chasing down for some time and we managed to track it back down to its hoard after several previous encounters. I just added the spell levitate to my roster and I have been constantly thinking of new ways I can apply it and in a stroke of inspiration I had a brilliant idea, the spell levitate can lift something up to 500 lb. We managed to find a chest from the dragon's horde that was about 400 odd pounds, I cast levitate and let It go as high as possible, this is where the fun begins. You see the rules say you can lift an object up to 20 ft in the air but it doesn't specify whether or not it will maintain that altitude if you were to do something like say push it over a cliff or if instead it will just float at the predestined height. My DM ruled that it would float at the same height at which I lifted it meaning that it wouldn't fall after I pushed it off a cliff. The dragon was roughly about 40 ft below us in a lower section in the cave it was using, I then casted Mage hand to push the floating chest over as far as I could which was just enough to be over the dragon's head. My DM ruled that based on how levitate works it technically made the chest weightless or at the very least light enough to give it a good push. From here you can imagine what happened the chest fell a total of 60 ft crashing directly into the skull of this sleeping dragon, I don't remember the specific number but it did well over 80 damage if I'm not mistaken and honestly I think I'm lowballing it. Not enough to kill the dragon but the pride I felt will never go away

[@estebanramirez1178]

This some Looney Tunes shit. I love it!

[@hoobar5331]

God dammit the sword says yolo

[@jesternario]

If only we knew how evil Skank would be. RIP Trevor. :p

[@hazmatter0634]

jesternario to be fair Gideon did help kill the shopkeeper during the spell components ep sp its more a look at the whole party

[@elliecraig8428]

What amazes me even more than your smooth animations is how frequently you put these out. I'm worried that you're not sleeping or something, usually animators need a million years to make videos, it being very time consuming.

[@khrystiandusombre7742]

Eli Craig mabey he is a literal animation mage

[@zeebashew]

Haha, no I just turn the internet off and force myself to sit at my desk for 10 hours a day during the week. It's a long workweek but it's not insane.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Six years back, this was your first video I stumbled upon... "Haha! It was an Animated Spellbook the whole time!!!" and I was immediately sold on your clever wit, the style of your animation... and I have been spending the past couple of weeks re-visiting the content of your channel. Sadly, I contracted sepsis about seven or eight months back. Memory wise, I lost everything - EVERYTHING - and it has been a VERY rough journey of nostalgia to regain lost memories... thank you, once again, for the many hours of enjoyment I experienced through your videos. Your videos have helped re-establish what I lost. I say that with no intention of mocking or speaking in jest. You really, REALLY were a stable point for me to work from. Glad to see you are still going strong with it. Edit: Best of wishes to you, and hoping to see more of yours in the coming years. Thanks once again!!! As soon as I am back in a position to support myself financially, I will definitely add myself to your list of paying backers. The very least I can do, I suppose, for all of the many hours I have seen of your content.

[@thewilltheway]

Take this as a warning everyone. This is the monkey's paw that will happens when people wish they could consume a piece of media for the first time again.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Yeah, some times, it doesn't work out so well. Others, like in this video, does fortunately work out for me. Best wishes to you.

[@evilssundee264]

So basically this is a party of a chaotic evil necromancer a neutral fighter in a lawful good druid

[@pyrobob5724]

Speaking of druids and mage hand... Be a vuman or Tasha's custom race, and pick telekinetic as your starting feat. This gives you an invisible, componentless version of mage hand. Use wild shape to turn into a creature that weighs less than 10 lbs. Since there's no components, you can use your mage hand while wild shaped, and since you weigh less than 10 lbs, you can pick yourself up. Even after you unlock flying forms, having the ability to invisibly manipulate small items in animal form is still incredibly useful.

[@DashingSteel]

I don't know about you, but the image of a gracefully flying rat cracks me the fuck up

[@Lothmar22]

I remember the one time I ran that module I put a legit 'glitter ham' as a neat thing they could find. Basically It was a preserved haunch of meat you could use as a weapon that was big enough to eat from for several meals but every time you did you reduced the damage dice by one category.

[@davidenriqueaguilarmoo92]

Which module is it?

[@Lothmar22]

"The forge of fury" if I remember correctly..

[@davidenriqueaguilarmoo92]

Nice, now i have the second option about what to do with my newbies, if they somehow get rekt by the black spider, i throw then in "out of the abbys", if the win, forge of fury.

[@austinmonreal2331]

I think for the fascinating story, the cool macabre atmosphere and description around the sword and the fallen dwarf warrior, as well as that gorgeous art and animation, that this might be my favorite animated spellbook. And that's saying something because all of these are awesome.

[@DevinParker]

0:22-0:34 establishes the precise mixture of imagery, menace, and coolness that I always want to convey in my games. I need to master this style of narration on the fly.

[@superquantumunitintelproce5222]

*"Aha! It was an animated spellbook all along!"*

[@matanuskabutler7566]

I've watched every spellbook episode dozens of times over. Only JUST saw the YOLO on the sword...

[@MadelynePryorDidNothingWrong]

Same!

[@TheGuardDuck]

Oh wow... Lol.

[@shii5795]

Mage hand as a lazy Faerie, lay on it while it floats you along. A tensers floating disk trailing behind with your party being lazy.

[@JaelinBezel]

The Segway of DND

[@DarthMaskVG]

Just wanna say. The animation for this was truly top-notch dude. Well done!! Particularly enjoyed the walking scene at the end.

[@eliasaguirre5313]

You guys make great stuff! The animation/sound are fun and you've definitely got the voice for this. IT'S JOVIAL AND I LIKE IT.

[@dustinsmith2021]

Elias Aguirre it certainly is smile enducing.

[@ZEUZ123100]

I absolutely love mage hand in my last campaign it was a large white comical almost Michael Jackson type glove thats I used to mess with npcs, players, and normal mage hand stuff like open doors. But I would also use it to "help" pull down a draw bridge, it would walk beside me and shake the hands of npcs while I took deep exaggerating bows overall 10/10 would use again lol. Also I just found your channel and I love it!

[@josephmartins8882]

I am utterly impressed with how fast you are putting these out. The art style is so charming and the videos are so funny, captivating, creative, and educational. Keep this up I look forward to each new video each week!

[@jobisTheWorst]

I love how you’re able to piece together the story based off the characters that appears, and it’s also so sad when you see a character in a video but a companion is different like rip dude

[@crowsenpai5625]

One of my favorite ways i ever weaponized Mage Hand is with my Artificer/Rouge Kobold who would tinker up many gadgets and traps out of various bits of scrap and trap bits of any traps he disarmed from dungeon. His favorite things were bear traps and this gadget that weaponized Mage Hand used the lesser version of bear traps, mouse traps. Basically it’s a small bit of scrap and springs that would go over the neck of a vial of Alchemist Fire. When anything would touch the trigger, it would release the springs, sending a piece of metal swinging into the vial, detonating the Alchemist Fire. My Kobold would use mage hand to pilot vials of alchemist fire directly into enemies, this wouldn’t be with enough force to constitute a attack that would break the vial, but the small impact of making contact would set off the mechanism anyway, giving me undodgeable fire missiles. The metal mechanisms even survive the mini fireball and are reusable as long as we have more Alchemist Fire, and BOY did my Kobold have too much Alchemist Fire.

[@breloombossisboss6761]

Nice.

[@DashingSteel]

To be fair, if you have enough funds to buy that much alchemist fire then why not just buy spell scrolls or hire a mercenary that would attack enemies for you? 100gp per vial is a lot of money my guy

[@crowsenpai5625]

@@DashingSteel oh he didn’t BUY Alchemist Fire, he MADE it. (Although to be fair, it wasn’t ACTUALLY Shop brand Alchemist Fire, more like Kobold brand homemade Napalm, but functioned pretty much the same as Alchemist Fire)

[@ped3752]

@@crowsenpai5625 It's not that hard to make alchemist's fire too so it's a plus

[@lockskelington314]

Mage Hand+Rope with a slip knot+Levitate=Discount Flying.

[@nom1489]

Fun fact about mage hand! If your a gnome you can cast reduce on yourself and be carried by a mage hand.

[@penguinpirate8779]

Oh my god this has just opened up so many possibilities

[@nicholasturkovich5024]

This is only assuming you weigh 40 pounds or less and are not carrying any equipment or armour. However, that’s nothing a bag of holding can’t fix.

[@OxyWorgon]

WAIT! If you cast levitate you might be able to be pushed around by mage hand. Now you have a 2nd level fly spell that can move you up to 30ft horizontally and 20ft vertically. Sadly this does require your action to move horizontally. BUT! If you are an Arcane Trickster Rogue, “you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.” This could actually be very useful until you get 3rd level spells for fly. To add on to this, Pick Air Genasi and you get Levitate at LvL 1 and can do this combo from the start once a day instead of having to wait for LvL 7 to get levitate from Arcane Trickster Rogue. …Be sure to clear this with your DM first tho ofc… don’t be the guy that springs this on them half way into the first session. They might have some rule disagreements here with you, so clear it first… and just be polite. XD (…or just pick Arakocra…)

[@havcola6983]

@@OxyWorgon Levitate doesn't make you weightless. What you're suggesting would fall count as a normal "Push, Drag, or Lift" against your full body weight, which is probably more than 10 unless you're a tiny race or a small race under the Reduce effect.

[@josephsawczyn1145]

I play in an AL game with a barbarian who collects the severed hands of mages and wizards. Then throws them at NPCs crying out "I use Mage Hand" XD lol ah what fun

[@voltsiano116]

Mad lad. XD

[@jamesm783]

yeah, I understand Skank here. good meatshields are hard to come by, you gotta protect your investments

[@crowsenpai5625]

Mages NEED their meat shields

[@SMon42]

My wizard got mage hand just to have a extra hand to use while eating. Ie, mage hand holds the drink.

[@KK25Gaming]

I know this upload isn't really recent, but I just wanted to add that it's worth noting that Arcane Tricksters (Rogue Subclass) have additional benefits to this spell, called Mage Hand Legerdemain. Includes invisible MH, using as a bonus action, and one or two other things, including the ability to disarm traps at a distance.

[@paneth8466]

Shrink+Gnome = Mage hand mount.

[@gygaxthecat2448]

dude these are SO GOOD. your comedic timing is brilliant. the animations are engaging and fun!

[@infinymagnus]

I like that glorious walk cycle animation at the end more than I would care to admit ^_^

[@dapperknight3420]

That twist though, definitely didn't expect it to be a spellbook. With that said though, I can't help but think of two people casting mage hand and just high fiving each other to distract someone or something.

[@parheliaa]

You can also flip the bird with Mage Hand, like every mature adventurer

[@piratekit3941]

I always have a party of... questionably intelligent people who never thought to use mage hand for anything other than REALLY dumb stuff. Nobody ever used it to trigger traps at range or grab questionable items. Always "I put a bucket on the guard's head" or "I poke the sleeping dragon in the nose, while I hide". Mage Hand has caused me mental trauma due to the triggering of awful encounters.

[@jonathanwells223]

Have you considered killing the liability of a wizard who does that until their player stops doing it?

[@piratekit3941]

@@jonathanwells223 Haha, it has happened. But they are a bit of a munchkin player so if they die, they basically come back twice as annoying. And even stupider than before. The player has a 'type', and that is 'socially stupid glass cannons'.

[@erikvale3194]

Somehow, I only just noticed the sword's engraving is Yolo.

[@josephperez2004]

Aptly found on a corpse 👍

[@goldskull9901]

The fact the sword says Yolo is great

[@CreatorCade]

How did I not catch that?

[@QuirkyView]

Rewatching this I don't know if I'd call that a choice between chaotic evil and chaotic stupid, I'd call it a choice between evil smart and evil dumb

[@jonathanwells223]

So it was between Chaotic Evil and Stupid Evil

[@jeremyw.5911]

For those looking to "Weaponize" this particular spell: 　 1st: (area of effect damage) 10lbs of whatever exploding potion combo's you can think of (drop the whole bag from 30 ft. up or shoot it (clockwork timer might work too if you have the skills). 　 2nd: (area denial) Drop a bag of Caltrops (10per lb.) between you and the enemy; or on the enemies position directly to trap them (probably give a good 10ft radius to them spreading out from that high up). 　 3rd: (area of effect damage/status effect) Bag of broken glass/daggers coated in poison... yes there is a pattern; drop it on a enemy from above or let it scatter along the ground for area denial. -Poison-covered broken glass raining from the sky vs. a paladin in plate armor might be iffy with their AC. But, someone wearing no armor or simple cloth/robes will likely be far more susceptible. 　 4th: (direct damage) get basic with it and drop a 10lb boulder from 30 ft. up in the air (or anything equaling 10lbs). 　 5th: (Indirect damage) Have it carry 10lbs of flaming garbage (logs, cloth, etc) and have it occupy the same space as the target. -The hand does not have HP (can't be attacked), cannot attack but can move into another creatures area every turn (presumably keeping up at 30ft a turn), and lasts for 1 minute (more than enough time to catch something on fire/or cause fire-based damage. 　 I would assume most DM's would have to agree that these are all within the capabilities of the spell. 　 How accurate, or how effective, these attacks are should be up to the situation of course and at the DM's discretion; but I would think that most might would require a Dex save of some sort if using it for direct damage.

[@Liesmith424]

The elder dwarven runic invocation: YOLO.

[@FriendlyKobold]

Liesmith it’s true he didn’t specify but perhaps he made a Knowledge check to identify the mold

[@IETass]

Ive used mage hand to stuff a ghostly hand in a caster's mouth to cancel spells with verbal components. Yes, we imposed a low DC DEX save to balance out countering spells with a cantrip. It's still jarring to suddenly have ghostly fingers in your mouth.

[@wyvern876]

I don't know why, but that animation at the end of Skank just grooving his way down the cavernous hallway, lookin like he's having a great time just tickles me.

[@ChibiGeeBee]

The hand appears at a point you can see within 30ft. Anywhere you can see. This means you can put the hand beyond a clear window, or behind that invisible wall of force, or even inside a pond or jar. The devious potential is AMAZING

[@EDoyl]

Those (apart from the pond) are all behind total cover. You can't cast spells through total cover (PHB 204).

[@timpind.8237]

I’ve watched this specific episode at LEAST six times already, because I just can’t get enough of these. Your voice is so soothing, your art is so nice to look at, everything moves fluidly, and I just learn so much from your episodes. From the moment I hit play, I enter a zen state, where I am just relaxed. It’s such a nice way to end a day for me. Thank you, Zee. Keep doing what you’re doing.

[@SuperJohn1011]

Skank mcgank is one of the best ocs

[@RaithSienar]

YOLO, truly the most powerful of Dwarven runic marks!

[@SMon42]

Must have cantrips for every character I make that can learn cantrips: Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, and if there's room, a offensive cantrip, like Fire Bolt or Chill Touch. But I have made characters with 0 offensive cantrips. Also, a feat or tome lock for Guidance and Thamatuegy, and maybe sheleleh if they use a quarter staff. Mage hand is especially important to one of my most recent characters, a Talking Skull who uses their mage hand to carry themself. And you can never go wrong with being able to make your water taste like juice, or instantly clean stains, which is why I love Prestidigitation.

[@heilmodrhinnheimski]

Did you make Morte from Planescape Torment?

[@ScottIrving746]

Not having prestidigitation literally killed one of my characters. (Not really, it was a series of bad decisions I made, but having the damn spell would have helped). We had to cross a river, and I was in heavy splint armor. I fell into the river as I attempted to ford it and got stuck in the muck. I may have taken some drowning damage, I don't remember. But when I got out, the DM ruled that my armor was too dirty to properly function, having mud seeping through its joints and impacting its maneuverability. So I removed it and stored it while we continued because our sorcerer didn't have prestidigitation to clean it (We all yelled at him for that, that player had been known for a few boneheaded decisions, but none as bad as the Rogue who in hindsight was probably trying to get killed). We were ambushed by Gricks and instead of Misty Stepping free (As I was a Vengeance Paladin at level 5), I uh....didn't do that. I was quickly killed. HOWEVER, through a completely unplanned (by me) coincidence, my character had become Important (TM) by interacting with a jar full of darkness earlier on in a dungeon we'd explored. The jar "cursed" the person who stuck their hand in and activated the lever with an arm covered in shadows, but in reality was a blessing from a god. Specifically, Blibdoolpoolp the patron deity of the Kuo-Toa, whose city we were on the way to. And that's how my party got me resurrected for free after my own foolish decisions and our Sorcerer not having ONE OF THE BEST BASIC UTILITY SPELLS got me killed. That character went through some shit, he got petrified not long after lmao

[@unboundsoul3582]

The rope trick, as it were, literally blew my mind. I feel like d&d as a system so hardcodes things to have a purpose in battle, especially spells, so much so that I have a real hard time coming up with uses for things like illusions or mage hand. Thank you so much for this episode!

[@jackielinde7568]

Heck, there are (or at least were) rope based cantrips that mages could do, too.

[@benjaminrosiek5007]

this only really became an issue in later editions, with so much streamlining towards combat alot of the fluff was lost in the crunch. in 2.0, my near useless bard was the party face and no door was locked for him, one way or another; thanks mostly to ROLE-playing and not roll-playing. the trick is the DM is actually with you, not against you if you b.s. stuff to make a thing work, if it's good enough, the DM let's it slide, because he actually wants you to have thing, case not having thing screws over all the work he put into the game. In short, be creative.

[@CharalamposKoundourakis]

Ehhh all it takes is a bit of imagination and a tolerant dm.

[@TrigunnerX3]

The runes on the sword spell, "Yolo."

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

So, the Hand vanishes if it goes out of range; and if I had the hand holding an item that does damage to everything within five feet of it when dropped or set off, and sent the hand directly towards an opponent 35 feet away, the Hand discorporates, the object hits the ground and blows up/splashes everywhere/bursts into flames/etc without using an Attack. I feel like this would be harder to contest as the Hand is not actively throwing or dropping the object, it is simply popping out of existence and gravity is taking over the job.

[@javidproductions9353]

Would make sense. Although I suppose you'd need to find an item where the wording is favourable for this. Because if you're going to try to exploit the rules the DM can exploit them back.

[@Samagryn]

Hmm... Glyph of warding set to detonate when dropped, + an aoe spell stored inside?

[@javidproductions9353]

@@Samagryn "If you choose an object, that object must remain in its place; if the object is moved more than 10 feet from where you cast this spell, the glyph is broken, and the spell ends without being triggered. " Don't think that would work easily

[@Samagryn]

@@javidproductions9353 Okay, so cast it, have mage hand hold it, and proceed to run like hell.

[@javidproductions9353]

@@Samagryn it would seem holding it 5 feet above the ground and doing so would be a justifiable use of the glyph.

[@just_someone8968]

You could cast reduce on yourself and then use mage hand to be able to fly 30ft per turn

[@bastionunitb7388]

My new tactic to infiltrate dungeons

[@CultistaDeCrocs]

please let me play dnd with you

[@n.l.g.6401]

I currently have a revenant bard who pulls this stunt. Being a spectral entity with no body of his own save for the clothes he's wearing/bonded to (think Alphonse Elric from FMA, but a fancy jacket instead of a suit of armor), he literally hoists himself up by the pants and scoots around as he pleases. Anyway, that's how I got around my DM's "no flying speed on your ghost PC" rule. I'd already cleared the "he only weighs as much as his clothes" trait with the DM, so it's on them that they didn't see the troll physics coming. Muahahaha.

[@tajdyson1369]

If you weigh 80 lbs or less

[@DragonfameDracas]

I still think my favorite use of mage hand was when my party used it to open a sleeping vampire's coffin, take nine pounds of Alchemical bombs, silver dust, and holy water, float it across the most heavily trapped room we'd ever seen, and drop it on said sleeping vampire. The makeshift satchel bomb went off, causing the dazed, confused, and burning vampire to stagger into his own traps killing him near instantly and destroying his coffin.

[@Atariese]

I do this trick with alchemist fire all the time. Its always wonderful.

[@farribastarfyre]

I'm guessing the DM was either pissed that you dispatched the vampire so easily, or impressed by your clever plan.

[@Bluecho4]

The way I see it, people play DnD to have fun. If the party went to the trouble of figuring out a clever means of circumventing a combat encounter, and they enjoyed doing it, that's fine. No harm, no foul. The players had a good time, and that's all a DM should care about. Moreover, the DM can always get them next time.

[@nicholasvaultonburg9152]

These are so rapidly improving. In less than a year, these are easily some of the best DnD animated's around.

[@ArcaneBolt32]

"Haha! I fooled you all, it was a trick the whole time!" Snrk, it's great.