Best use for flavour cantrips

[rollingForInit]

I wanted to see what the best uses you've used (or would like to) for the more flavourful cantrips that don't do much for combat. Cantrips like: Control Flames, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Druidcraft, Dancing Light, Minor Illusion.

I know there's a lot written out there about prestidigitation in particular, but what about these other spells? Especially the new ones from Elemental Evil! What are some fun things you could see them used for?

For Control Flames, I thought about this: if you're a Fire Genasi, you get Produce Flame. Use Control Flames to increase its light. Now you've got a lightsource comparable to Light.

[Yorrin]

Shape Water has huge utility. Shape it then freeze it in place to create at least single-use items in just about any environment.

[Shining Wrath]

Minor Illusion can be very useful when trying to describe someone or something.

"Have you seen" waves fingers "a creature that looks like this recently?"

Using Dancing Lights to distract a sentry as the rogue approaches from a different direction is iconic. Orc / Hobgoblin afterlife has separate villages set aside for sentries who got their throats cut while staring at Dancing Lights. Souls that died with more valor and less stupidity come by and mock them for light entertainment.

I do hope you saw what I did there.

EDIT: And Gust is pretty handy when you want to remove the dust from the items on a table so you can see what they are before you touch them.

[SharkForce]

I wanted to see what the best uses you've used (or would like to) for the more flavourful cantrips that don't do much for combat. Cantrips like: Control Flames, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Druidcraft, Dancing Light, Minor Illusion.

I know there's a lot written out there about prestidigitation in particular, but what about these other spells? Especially the new ones from Elemental Evil! What are some fun things you could see them used for?

For Control Flames, I thought about this: if you're a Fire Genasi, you get Produce Flame. Use Control Flames to increase its light. Now you've got a lightsource comparable to Light.

pretty sure control flames is limited to non-magical flame. not that it should keep you from just lighting something on fire with produce flame, creating a nonmagical flame, and controlling that... just saying, there's a bit more steps involved :P

[rollingForInit]

pretty sure control flames is limited to non-magical flame. not that it should keep you from just lighting something on fire with produce flame, creating a nonmagical flame, and controlling that... just saying, there's a bit more steps involved :P

Nowhere does it state that "Produce Flame" creates a magical flame. It just says that it creates a "flickering flame". As opposed to, say, Continual Flame which explicitly says that while it looks like a real flame, it's magical.

Thought it'd be a neat trick to use two cantrips to emulate the effect of another. And to have your flame take on whatever colour you want, or have to appear as various shapes for pure flavour.

[SharkForce]

it's a flame produced by magic, that sits on your hand and doesn't burn it, and can be thrown. there really is no question as to whether produce flame is a magical flame or not.

it can start nonmagical fires. but it, itself, is very definitely magical.

[rollingForInit]

it's a flame produced by magic, that sits on your hand and doesn't burn it, and can be thrown. there really is no question as to whether produce flame is a magical flame or not.

it can start nonmagical fires. but it, itself, is very definitely magical.

Or it's just a flame that doesn't hurt you because you can control the heat it radiates, and you can throw it at people, where it hurts because it's ... fire. I'd say either intrepretation is equally valid, because there's no definition of "magical fire" in 5e. Let's not derail the thread with it. I would say that it Control Flames works on Produce Flame. You wouldn't. The idea would work for some, not for others.

[Chronos]

Mold Earth is extremely useful. The Excavate option lets you cover the battlefield with 5' pits and piles of dirt, which is pretty good battlefield control (especially if you have time to prepare the battlefield in advance). How long does it take a troop of soldiers to dig a trench-wall? You can do it quicker.

Minor Illusion is in some ways even better than Silent Image, since it doesn't need concentration and has no verbal component. Pop a cloud of fog right on top of you, and your enemies will take penalties trying to hit you, but you'll be unimpeded because you know it's an illusion and can see through it. If you need to sneak some place, create fake shadows or other obstructions to hide behind. Use a few castings to produce a false wall. Plus, of course, there's the option of sound: Make it sound like you've got reinforcements coming, for instance, and you might get some baddies to flee.

And using Shape Water to create ice sculptures never occurred to me; I'll have to remember that one.

[Gnaeus]

Mold Earth is extremely useful. The Excavate option lets you cover the battlefield with 5' pits and piles of dirt, which is pretty good battlefield control (especially if you have time to prepare the battlefield in advance). How long does it take a troop of soldiers to dig a trench-wall? You can do it quicker.
.

Yeah, all my campsites are now surrounded by a 5 foot ditch and a 4 foot earth mound. All doable in well under 5 minutes.

[Icewraith]

I minor illusioned into existence the corpse of the character the (evil) party rogue had just been Suggestioned to betray, thus completing the task and ending the spell, while the actual character hid.

[jaydubs]

Minor Illusion:
-You now have a movie to go with your story. The troll was this ugly.
-Sing/play a duet with yourself.
-Advertising. Neon signs. Display your titles, achievements, etc. to potential customers.
-Mock people into attacking you. Images of them eating manure, caricatures, their significant other naked, etc.
-Design and planning. Interactive, three dimensional maps. Blueprints for things you want a smith/engineer to make.
-Background or theme music. Make the fight more exciting. The mood more romantic. Your entrance more dramatic.
-Pass messages, secret or otherwise. A 5 foot cube illusion can display an entire array of signal flags. Or spell out letters one at a time across great distances. Or secret symbology.

Prestidigitation
-Stay clean.
-Food tastes good.
-Clean people off and change their odor to screw with anyone trying to track you by scent.
-Light fires. Lots of fires.
-Since you can warm or chill things, you can effectively stay warm or cool in extreme temperatures. 10 warm/chill waterskins, pressed firmly against the body, can greatly help in a snow storm or desert.

[Tenmujiin]

This thread is kinda making me want to play the cantrip build posted a few days ago...

[rollingForInit]

This thread is kinda making me want to play the cantrip build posted a few days ago...

I'm planning a Lore Bard/Tome Warlock, who will, at level 7, have 9 cantrips. Minor illusion, prestidigitation, control flames, and thaumaturgy/shape water/mold earth. Among others. Really hyped about it now!

[diplomancer]

I once thought of a very neat Friends combo. If you disguise yourself as one of your enemies (preferrably with the Actor feat) and use Friends to get an advantage from another of your enemies, you will not only get what you want from this enemy, but he will become hostile toward the other enemy as well ;)

It looks to me like a great combo for the "social interaction" pillar. It is specially nice because it combines a "weak" feat with a "weak" cantrip to great effect.

[Chronos]

You're not the only one to have thought of that combo. I'm especially fond of it, because it turns the "drawback" of Friends into another benefit.

[Shining Wrath]

You're not the only one to have thought of that combo. I'm especially fond of it, because it turns the "drawback" of Friends into another benefit.

It's also possible to use Suggestion on an enemy caster and get him to cast Friends on your behalf.

[Naanomi]

I love mending. Mundane use... Fix shot arrows, ropes... Repair broken loot or antiques... Lots of sneaky uses as well: cover tracks by repairing the door hinge you broke or 'resetting' a trap after you clip the wire.

Can help with disguises as well: tear off your sleeves, so something bad, repair the clothes. Lots of general scam/charlatan scams too... Like agree to buy something you 'found broken' at a discount then fix is

[diplomancer]

[Quote] It's also possible to use Suggestion on an enemy caster and get him to cast Friends on your behalf.[\quote].

This is a nice idea as well, but it can only work if the other caster has Friends too (which, unless he is a sneaky bastard like us, he probably won't have). And if he doesn't have it you waste your Suggestion.

[Inevitability]

This is a nice idea as well, but it can only work if the other caster has Friends too (which, unless he is a sneaky bastard like us, he probably won't have). And if he doesn't have it you waste your Suggestion.

Maybe throw them a scroll of Friends first?

[Chronos]

Is there even such a thing as a scroll of a cantrip?

And even if the Suggestion does work, they could still disguise themselves (possibly as you) before casting it.

[Inevitability]

Is there even such a thing as a scroll of a cantrip?

And even if the Suggestion does work, they could still disguise themselves (possibly as you) before casting it.

Yes, there is.

And well... then just word the suggestion as: 'quickly cast the Friends spell on your buddy'.

[Ralanr]

it's a flame produced by magic, that sits on your hand and doesn't burn it, and can be thrown. there really is no question as to whether produce flame is a magical flame or not.

it can start nonmagical fires. but it, itself, is very definitely magical.


Or it's just a flame that doesn't hurt you because you can control the heat it radiates, and you can throw it at people, where it hurts because it's ... fire. I'd say either intrepretation is equally valid, because there's no definition of "magical fire" in 5e. Let's not derail the thread with it. I would say that it Control Flames works on Produce Flame. You wouldn't. The idea would work for some, not for others.

If you can make fire with magic, it's magical fire. That being said, I see no reason why a dm wouldn't allow you to control your own magical fire from that cantrip.

If you start abusing it to control an enemy's magic fire then you'll either get it taken away or the enemy will do the same to you

It's tug of war! But with fire.

[Sabeta]

My Shadow Monk has had some fun with the Minor Illusion cantrip.
I walked into cult leaders lair, heard her reciting garbage poetry, and later used her voice to clear half a room of enemies.

Leader's Voice: "Leave quickly! I will handle this my self." It helped that I choose the sound's origin as where the leader was currently standing. Half the enemies ran away and didn't return until one of the guys realized he could hear fighting, and convinced his allies to return to the room. (This was the DM being slightly frustrated that I had used a flavor cantrip to take away the challenge of the dungeon's last encounter. We had managed to kill the half that stayed by the time they returned though, so the enemy DPR was still massively nerfed and helped us clear the encounter without much issue)

Combined with Pass without Trace there are probably tons of cool tricks I could pull on enemies. The only downside is that I have +0 to Int, so the spell save is really easy for most enemies to pass.

[Chronos]

The only downside is that I have +0 to Int, so the spell save is really easy for most enemies to pass.
Why would your Int be relevant? You have the spell as a monk, not as a wizard.

Although technically it doesn't actually say what your save DC is for Minor Illusion, since it doesn't use ki, all other spells cast by a monk use Wis as their casting stat.

[Joe the Rat]

Thaumaturgy is loads of fun when you're underground. You can cause harmless tremors... in the ground above you.

"I'ma gonna bring the roof down on you!" <wub><wub><wub><wub>

[ImSAMazing]

I wanted to see what the best uses you've used (or would like to) for the more flavourful cantrips that don't do much for combat. Cantrips like: Control Flames, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Druidcraft, Dancing Light, Minor Illusion.

I know there's a lot written out there about prestidigitation in particular, but what about these other spells? Especially the new ones from Elemental Evil! What are some fun things you could see them used for?

For Control Flames, I thought about this: if you're a Fire Genasi, you get Produce Flame. Use Control Flames to increase its light. Now you've got a lightsource comparable to Light.

When I was playing a NE lvl 1 halfelf/sorceror, we started in a small village. The village had 3 storage buildings, which we thought were full of gold. So we made plans to rob it, and the next night my job was to trick the guards, so the 2 others in my party, 2 mountain dwarf/barbarians could rob the place. I used minor illusion to trick the guards, I made a sound with the voice of the local prostitute screaming for help... All the guards ran to her house, it was the easiest rob ever...

[Inevitability]

When I was playing a NE lvl 1 halfelf/sorceror, we started in a small village. The village had 3 storage buildings, which we thought were full of gold. So we made plans to rob it, and the next night my job was to trick the guards, so the 2 others in my party, 2 mountain dwarf/barbarians could rob the place. I used minor illusion to trick the guards, I made a sound with the voice of the local prostitute screaming for help... All the guards ran to her house, it was the easiest rob ever...

I remember that. Why did I let you get away with that again? :smallannoyed:

[arrowstorm]

Mold earth is a very useful cantrip if you get creative. you can trap enemies in holes, break wagon wheels, build bridges, or just throw it around to try and hit anything that's invisible. My DM made a character that was an earth-elemental construct. It was made of dirt so I pulled it out of its armor. But I suppose most utility cantrips are this way but most adventures occur on the ground anyway.

[Capac Amaru]

Yeah, all my campsites are now surrounded by a 5 foot ditch and a 4 foot earth mound. All doable in well under 5 minutes.

Your party is going to be VERY easy to track. Just sayin. lol

[Easy_Lee]

I wanted to see what the best uses you've used (or would like to) for the more flavourful cantrips that don't do much for combat. Cantrips like: Control Flames, Mold Earth, Shape Water, Gust, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Druidcraft, Dancing Light, Minor Illusion.

I know there's a lot written out there about prestidigitation in particular, but what about these other spells? Especially the new ones from Elemental Evil! What are some fun things you could see them used for?

For Control Flames, I thought about this: if you're a Fire Genasi, you get Produce Flame. Use Control Flames to increase its light. Now you've got a lightsource comparable to Light.

You can light grease on fire, use minor illusion to grow impromptu horns or other body parts, use them to help you pull a con (people will believe you're an avatar of your deity if your eyes glow convincingly), things like that.

A lot of groups grant one flavorful cantrip to casters for free, since it's hard to justify things like prestidigitation in the face of cantrips like mage hand, shocking grasp, eldritch blast, or guidance.

[CantigThimble]

Thaumaturgy has been used on many occasions for the amplify voice effect. Negotiating at range, inspiring speeches, impersonating a dragon.

[Chronos]

Using minor illusion to grow horns would be exceedingly difficult to pull off, given that the illusion is unmoving. You could put a pair of horns on top of your head, but you'd have to keep your head perfectly still or you'd move away from them.

[Easy_Lee]

Using minor illusion to grow horns would be exceedingly difficult to pull off, given that the illusion is unmoving. You could put a pair of horns on top of your head, but you'd have to keep your head perfectly still or you'd move away from them.

Depends on whether its unmoving in relation to the ground or if it can be attached to a thing. It's a ruling, though I wonder how the spell would work if cast in a carriage.

[Tenmujiin]

Thaumaturgy has been used on many occasions for the amplify voice effect. Negotiating at range, inspiring speeches, impersonating a dragon.

Making yourself appear larger and shout louder "you shall not pass"

[Steampunkette]

Mold Earth: Instant Graves.

Need to dispose of a corpse? Pull the dirt out from under it, push the dirt back in the next round, and go about your business. Sure, if someone's looking for anything out of the ordinary they'll see it, but a casual scan from the battlements at night means they won't notice the bloody corpse in the street...

So long as you spend 2 rounds sticking it in a hole.

[Ashrym]

Subtle spell plus prestidigitation is a convenient way to get people to leave as the look and smell like they have soiled themselves.

[Stan]

There's many ways minor illusion can set up a trap. Illusions that make the unusual look normal are much less likely to be questioned than vice versa. Cast minor illusion as an enemy approaches to make a pit look like normal ground, make a doorway look like a wall, put 1-2 people sitting by the campfire while PCs are actually hiding for an ambush, cover a dead body with something mundane, and generally cover up any PC miscreant behavior.

[TurboGhast]

There's many ways minor illusion can set up a trap. Illusions that make the unusual look normal are much less likely to be questioned than vice versa. Cast minor illusion as an enemy approaches to make a pit look like normal ground, make a doorway look like a wall, put 1-2 people sitting by the campfire while PCs are actually hiding for an ambush, cover a dead body with something mundane, and generally cover up any PC miscreant behavior.

You can also trick someone into thinking you did something else that's magical. For example, you could trick a sorta allied foe into trying to ride a Tenser's Floating Disk across a gap when that's really just minor illusion. Other tricks like this exist, I just can't think of them all.

I know that Tenser's Floating Disk takes 6 ft of space, which doesn't fit in a 5 ft cube. Hopefully the target doesn't.

[TrollCapAmerica]

Im playing a LE Tiefling Fiend/TomeLock with the Noble background.who makes great use of Prestidigitation Thaumaturgy and Mending

Seriously imagine just how useful even minor effects like that at will could be in everyday life. Brush.your teeth hair and otherwise freshen up in the morning. Make absolutely certain your heard during a meeting meeting. Need glowing red eyes to make sure your point got across? No problem. Broke a pencil your glasses or a computer screen? Not a problem anymore