Prestidigitation

[LokiRagnarok]

Hello, I recently started a bard, playing my first game of D&D, and would like to know what I can or cannot do with Prestidigitation. I am aware of rule 0, but I'd like to get a general grasp.



As far as I understand, Prestidigitation essentially allows me to use a mostly infinite number of tricks, which is only limited by the spell duration itself (ie an hour.) Is that correct?
Is using a trick a free action?
The rules specify I can create "small objects". What would be considered small objects? If I had to rule it, I would go with something like "an object you can easily fit into the hand of a Medium creature" or something along these lines.
Can I create more than one object at once? Say, create five or six small glass marbles which fit in my hand?
Can I dismiss the objects I create, or other effects?
I know it says it cannot disrupt concentration of spellcasters, but can I use it to block line of sight? Such as creating a blindfold which I put on the BBEG from behind while he is casting the last lines of his "kill everything in my sight" ritual?
More to the technicalities: Do I need V/S components each time I use a trick? Or would I be able to, say, cast prestidigitation, be bound and gagged five minutes later, then be still able to use the effects for the remaining 55 minutes?
Do I need line of sight to use the tricks? Ie, would I be able to create an object behind my back?

[ksbsnowowl]

The 3.0 book Tome and Blood had a fairly extensive list of things you could do with prestidigitation.

Here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20010707


Fun With Prestidigitation

The prestidigitation spell gives you the ability to perform minor magical effects for 1 hour. You can slowly lift 1 pound of material. You can color, clean, or soil items in a 1-foot cube each round. You can chill, warm, or flavor 1 pound of nonliving material. You can create small objects, but they look crude and artificial, and they are fragile. Any actual change to an object (beyond moving, cleaning, or soiling it) persists only 1 hour.

So, what's the use of prestidigitation? Actually, it's one of the handiest cantrips around.

Change: You transform one object of Fine size or smaller into another object of roughly the same size. The object can weigh no more than 8 ounces.

The change must be within the same kingdom (animal, vegetable, or mineral). For example, you could change a piece of paper into scrap of linen, and then change that into a rose. Likewise, you could change a coin into a ring. You could not, however, turn a strip of leather into a piece of paper.

Chill: You reduce the temperature of an object by about 40° F, but never below freezing (32° F). After an hour the object's temperature returns to normal.

Clean: You remove dirt, dust, and stains from floors, walls, dishes, windows, and the like, leaving these surfaces or objects spotless. You can clean an object with a volume of 1 cubic foot, or 1 square foot of the surface of a larger object, each round. The effect does not remove any foreign object of Fine size or larger. Dirt you remove is permanently gone, but objects you clean can get dirty again just like anything else.

Color: You bring color to an object. You can restore faded hues or give it a new color. If you add color, it must be from the visible spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, or violet). You cannot change an object's pattern, such as adding or removing stripes or polka dots, but you can change the color in a pattern so that, for example, a blue garment with white stripes becomes green with yellow stripes.

Dampen: You leave an object damp to the touch for 1 hour. Damp objects have fire resistance 2 while the effect lasts.

Dirty: You soil, spot, and sully walls, floors, dishes, garments, or the like, leaving them dusty, filthy, or stained. You can dirty an object with a volume of 1 cubic foot, or 1 square foot of the surface of a larger object, each round. Dirt you add remains after the effect ends, but objects you soil can be cleaned again just like anything else.

Dry: You remove dampness and excess moisture from an object. Moisture you remove does not return after the effect ends, but the object can become wet again just like anything else.

Firefinger: You cause a jet of flame up to 1/2 foot long to shoot forth from your finger. The flame is hot and ignites combustible materials. Lighting a torch with this effect is a standard action (rather than a full-round action), but lighting any other fire with it takes at least a standard action (DM's discretion).

Flavor: You give a substance a better, worse, or different flavor. You could, for example, make porridge taste like lobster bisque. You do not change the substance's quality or wholesomeness. Spoiled food remains spoiled, a poisoned drink is still deadly, and inedible material provides no nourishment -- you can make a twig taste like steak, but it remains a twig.

Gather: You neatly collect numerous objects. The objects you gather can be no larger than Fine size, no two items can be more than 10 feet apart, and their total weight cannot exceed 1 pound. You can place the gathered objects into a container you touch, or you can form a stack or pile that you touch.

You can gather selectively; for instance, you can pick up just the coins from an area.

Polish: You bring luster to a wood, metal, stone, leather, glass, or ceramic object. The object must be clean to start with. It remains shiny after the effect ends but can become dull again like anything else.

Sketch: You create a two-dimensional visual figment of whatever you desire. You can leave the image hanging in the air, in which case it is immobile, or place it on a mobile object, such as a shield. The image can be no more than 1-foot square, and it lasts a maximum of 1 hour.

Stitch: You magically sew seams in textiles or leather. You can create new stitching or repair old work. Unlike the mending cantrip, you cannot heal rips, holes, or tears (though you can patch or sew them together). If you have thread on hand, the stitches you make remain after the effect ends, but they are no stronger or weaker than normal stitching. You also can sew without thread, but then the seams last only an hour.

Tie: You magically tie a firm knot (as though taking 10 with the Use Rope skill) in a thread, string, cord, rope, or cable up to 10 feet long. You can knot together two such objects if they're within 1 foot of each other.

Warm: You increase the temperature of an object by about 40° F, but never above 140° F. After an hour the object's temperature returns to normal.

[Razanir]

It is minor wish. If you can't do it with prestidigitation, you aren't thinking hard enough

[Renen]

http://media.tumblr.com/b0004580021a34058903cd7e0f0f5890/tumblr_inline_mjx865Xyor1qz4rgp.jpg

[ksbsnowowl]

Hello, I recently started a bard, playing my first game of D&D, and would like to know what I can or cannot do with Prestidigitation. I am aware of rule 0, but I'd like to get a general grasp.

[LIST=1]
As far as I understand, Prestidigitation essentially allows me to use a mostly infinite number of tricks, which is only limited by the spell duration itself (ie an hour.) Is that correct?Correct. For an hour you can perform minor tricks, limited only by your available actions.

Is using a trick a free action?Using a trick would require concentrating on the spell. This is almost always a standard action.

The rules specify I can create "small objects". What would be considered small objects? If I had to rule it, I would go with something like "an object you can easily fit into the hand of a Medium creature" or something along these lines.The T&B list clarifies it as Fine objects. Somewhere in the MM there is a chart giving dimensions of creatures of a given size; that would be a good place to start.

Can I create more than one object at once? Say, create five or six small glass marbles which fit in my hand?Looks like yes.

Can I dismiss the objects I create, or other effects?The spell does not have the dismissable "(D)" tag in the duration line, so no.

[BWR]

In my PF game I just split the spell into several other 0th level spells because I got tired of the party's sorcerer ALWAYS casting the spell. I mean, she was casting at least 1 per half hour in game.
Then I reduced 0th level spells from at will to 3+mod/day, just to avoid the caster continually using magic ALL THE ****ING TIME.
Fine, she's Alphatian, but still.

[Tholomyes]

Mainly, just don't abuse it and most likely you'll be fine. It only really gets to be a problem when they do stuff like "I'm going to turn this copper Piece into a gold piece for an hour" where a nice DM will just rule that either a) you can't do that or b) the shopkeeper can tell it's been magically altered and kicks you out of his shop. A not-so-nice DM will have the Shopkeeper take the coin, realize an hour later that he'd been cheated, and send the town guard after you. And you'd better hope it wasn't a small town, where a) you won't be able to hide so easily, and b) the shopkeeper isn't just that nice old Mr Dhory, who everybody in the town knows and likes, because that'll get a nice friendly torch-and-pitchfork mob after you.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

1. Yes.

2. No, but you may get some wiggle room in non combat rp mode.

3. Sounds about right. Biggest thing I ever made was some pig ornaments about the size of kittens.

4. Yes, but crude could mean to irregular to really be called "marbles" also many DM's will rule that stuff made by Prestidigitation is really weak structurally, so they'll be crushed to powder rather than functioning as the item "marbles".

5. It probably takes a separate action.

6. Do you mean; could you make a blindfold then put it on him with physical force? If so, yes you could make a blindfold, but it would take a separate action from putting it on and putting it on would require a touch attack maybe even a grapple. Also in many games the created object will be weak, so it will be like sneaking up on someone with a toilet paper garrote. You'd be better off doing this mundanely since you might convince the DM to let you "draw" a piece of cloth off your robe as part of a move action or you could even use an empty sack.

7. Once cast it, you just do Prestidigitation.

8. By RAW, you have LOS to your own back due to the lack of facing rules.

[LokiRagnarok]

3. Sounds about right. Biggest thing I ever made was some pig ornaments about the size of kittens.

Just. why?


8. By RAW, you have LOS to your own back due to the lack of facing rules.
...:smallamused:


Thanks everyone!

[Chronos]

The group I'm in houserules that cantrips are free. One of those nice moments when I got to rage-face the DM was when we were dealing with a sentient skull that wanted to be paid before we could advance. We were playing along, but obviously none of us wanted to get closer to it than we needed to.

"OK, I move some coins over to the skull."
"What, just move them with your mind?"
"Yes, exactly."
"...Um, that doesn't work."
"It does when you've got Prestidigitation running."