The Homer Simpson infini-sandwich

[Dalebert]

Mending can repair a tear or break no bigger than a foot. Could you eat out less than a foot from the middle of a giant subway sandwich and then cast Mending to fix it? If you cast Purify Food & Drink as a ritual every day on it, could you eat it forever?

[AvatarVecna]

Mending can repair a tear or break no bigger than a foot. Could you eat out less than a foot from the middle of a giant subway sandwich and then cast Mending to fix it? If you cast Purify Food & Drink as a ritual every day on it, could you eat it forever?

The purifying part seems valid, but there's a couple potential issues with the Mending part:

1) I could definitely see a lot of players and DMs I know saying Mending doesn't work on food, or at least shouldn't, which is a viewpoint I agree with. Still, I could see an argument being made, since it's still an object, but the point is that it's potentially contentious and would require having your DM on board with something that isn't really spelled out.

2) Even if we're agreeing that food is a viable target for Mending, I don't think it would result the way you're describing; Mending fixes breaks and tears, but it doesn't necessarily recreate lost materials. Rather, if an object is in, or almost in, pieces (and all the pieces add up to the whole object), Mending would allow the pieces (or almost pieces) to form a whole object once more, but it wouldn't replace missing pieces. Thus, Mending might not allow you to replace an eaten part of the sandwich, but if the sandwich wasn't cut the way you like it cut, you could use Mending to make it as if the sandwich was never cut (so that you could cut it the correct way).

That's my take on it, at any rate.

[RickAllison]

The purifying part seems valid, but there's a couple potential issues with the Mending part:

1) I could definitely see a lot of players and DMs I know saying Mending doesn't work on food, or at least shouldn't, which is a viewpoint I agree with. Still, I could see an argument being made, since it's still an object, but the point is that it's potentially contentious and would require having your DM on board with something that isn't really spelled out.

2) Even if we're agreeing that food is a viable target for Mending, I don't think it would result the way you're describing; Mending fixes breaks and tears, but it doesn't necessarily recreate lost materials. Rather, if an object is in, or almost in, pieces (and all the pieces add up to the whole object), Mending would allow the pieces (or almost pieces) to form a whole object once more, but it wouldn't replace missing pieces. Thus, Mending might not allow you to replace an eaten part of the sandwich, but if the sandwich wasn't cut the way you like it cut, you could use Mending to make it as if the sandwich was never cut (so that you could cut it the correct way).

That's my take on it, at any rate.

My take on the size limit was that it limits how long the tear can be. A stone wall that was cleaved through probably isn't going to be fixable by Mending (although there may be enough small tears that it could be possible). So while I think you could use it to reform a cut sandwich, it would not be able to bring back the eaten material.

[Dalebert]

I don't actually want to try this. I just think the spell is ambiguous enough and it's hilarious.

[Laserlight]

Mending can repair a tear or break no bigger than a foot. Could you eat out less than a foot from the middle of a giant subway sandwich and then cast Mending to fix it? If you cast Purify Food & Drink as a ritual every day on it, could you eat it forever?

My ruling would be "That's hilarious, so it works for you on that one sandwich, but does not create a precedent for anything else."

[twas_Brillig]

2) Even if we're agreeing that food is a viable target for Mending, I don't think it would result the way you're describing; Mending fixes breaks and tears, but it doesn't necessarily recreate lost materials. Rather, if an object is in, or almost in, pieces (and all the pieces add up to the whole object), Mending would allow the pieces (or almost pieces) to form a whole object once more, but it wouldn't replace missing pieces. Thus, Mending might not allow you to replace an eaten part of the sandwich, but if the sandwich wasn't cut the way you like it cut, you could use Mending to make it as if the sandwich was never cut (so that you could cut it the correct way).

This sounds like a stupid/great prank? Like, you piss off a gnome wizard and he makes it impossible for you to finish cutting your sandwich/carving your turkey/whatever. Like, it's a cantrip. He can keep this up all day.

You could reconstitute salads. Ungrate cheese. Ungrind pepper.

It's like the world's simultaneously best and lamest super power.

[Slipperychicken]

Mending can repair a tear or break no bigger than a foot. Could you eat out less than a foot from the middle of a giant subway sandwich and then cast Mending to fix it? If you cast Purify Food & Drink as a ritual every day on it, could you eat it forever?

"Break or tear", not missing parts.

That means no, it would not do what you describe.


This sounds like a stupid/great prank? Like, you piss off a gnome wizard and he makes it impossible for you to finish cutting your sandwich/carving your turkey/whatever. Like, it's a cantrip. He can keep this up all day.

Mending takes 1 minute to cast and is touch range. I'd hope it doesn't take you that long to cut up food. Either that, or just "accidentally" carve up his hands while he's touching the turkey, so you interrupt the casting.

Also a carved turkey, ground pepper, or salad would be a lot more than a single break or tear. It'd probably take all day to put a salad back together, and mending ground pepper would be like counting all the grains of sand in a beach... and then reassembling them like a jigsaw puzzle. In short, no, you couldn't.

[ClintACK]

... but if the sandwich wasn't cut the way you like it cut, you could use Mending to make it as if the sandwich was never cut (so that you could cut it the correct way).

That's my take on it, at any rate.

So, Mending is the fix for the pizza that was cut off-center -- using Prestidigitation to keep it hot while you work.

Add that to the real-world uses of D&D magic. :)

[Slipperychicken]

So, Mending is the fix for the pizza that was cut off-center -- using Prestidigitation to keep it hot while you work.

Add that to the real-world uses of D&D magic. :)

Now I'm just imagining some perfectionist dwarven baker-mage, making a cake for a big client and taking hours to measure the perfect angles at which to cut it.

[Pex]

The purifying part seems valid, but there's a couple potential issues with the Mending part:

1) I could definitely see a lot of players and DMs I know saying Mending doesn't work on food, or at least shouldn't, which is a viewpoint I agree with. Still, I could see an argument being made, since it's still an object, but the point is that it's potentially contentious and would require having your DM on board with something that isn't really spelled out.

2) Even if we're agreeing that food is a viable target for Mending, I don't think it would result the way you're describing; Mending fixes breaks and tears, but it doesn't necessarily recreate lost materials. Rather, if an object is in, or almost in, pieces (and all the pieces add up to the whole object), Mending would allow the pieces (or almost pieces) to form a whole object once more, but it wouldn't replace missing pieces. Thus, Mending might not allow you to replace an eaten part of the sandwich, but if the sandwich wasn't cut the way you like it cut, you could use Mending to make it as if the sandwich was never cut (so that you could cut it the correct way).

That's my take on it, at any rate.

Holy flashback. Now I'm remembering when I was somewhen younger than 6 years old, and I absolutely refused to eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich because my mom cut it into two triangles which she almost always did and I always complained about because I hated triangles and wanted it in rectangles. She had to make another sandwich and cut it into rectangles for me to eat, and there the triangle sandwiches stayed on the plate.

I'll eat triangle sandwiches today, but I still hate them. :smallbiggrin:

[AvatarVecna]

My take on the size limit was that it limits how long the tear can be. A stone wall that was cleaved through probably isn't going to be fixable by Mending (although there may be enough small tears that it could be possible). So while I think you could use it to reform a cut sandwich, it would not be able to bring back the eaten material.

Indeed, that was my take as well, at least in regards to both the word and intention of the spell.


So, Mending is the fix for the pizza that was cut off-center -- using Prestidigitation to keep it hot while you work.

Add that to the real-world uses of D&D magic. :)

Cantrips are awesome, its true.


Holy flashback. Now I'm remembering when I was somewhen younger than 6 years old, and I absolutely refused to eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich because my mom cut it into two triangles which she almost always did and I always complained about because I hated triangles and wanted it in rectangles. She had to make another sandwich and cut it into rectangles for me to eat, and there the triangle sandwiches stayed on the plate.

I'll eat triangle sandwiches today, but I still hate them. :smallbiggrin:

Cutting bread slices into triangles results in two pieces that have a more natural tendency towards symmetry than cutting it into rectangles, but that's likely just me caring way too much about the way my sandwich is cut. :smallwink:

[JumboWheat01]

Who the heck cuts their sandwiches or eats out the center of a sub first? That's just madness! :smalltongue:

I've always read Mending as sort of the duck tap of cantrips, you can fix too broken halves together because they still fit that way, but if it's missing too much between the spots, it flounders.

[Dalebert]

Okay, so it doesn't replace lost material and won't work for this. I still picture some funny scenarios of a wizard or arcane trickster cutting a piece from a sandwich, stashing it, and the mending the two sides back together and hoping it goes unnoticed that the sandwich is shorter. I can picture it done with cutting a wedge from a cake too. That's a classic actually--just pushing the cake together at the wedge and smoothing out the icing.

[Grey Watcher]

This sounds like a stupid/great prank? Like, you piss off a gnome wizard and he makes it impossible for you to finish cutting your sandwich/carving your turkey/whatever. Like, it's a cantrip. He can keep this up all day.

You could reconstitute salads. Ungrate cheese. Ungrind pepper.

It's like the world's simultaneously best and lamest super power.


...

Mending takes 1 minute to cast and is touch range. I'd hope it doesn't take you that long to cut up food. Either that, or just "accidentally" carve up his hands while he's touching the turkey, so you interrupt the casting.

...

Clearly, what we need is a magic item. Something for Gnomish joke shops. Or possibly the Weasley twins.


Holy flashback. Now I'm remembering when I was somewhen younger than 6 years old, and I absolutely refused to eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich because my mom cut it into two triangles which she almost always did and I always complained about because I hated triangles and wanted it in rectangles. She had to make another sandwich and cut it into rectangles for me to eat, and there the triangle sandwiches stayed on the plate.

I'll eat triangle sandwiches today, but I still hate them. :smallbiggrin:

Heh, and that just reminds me of the time I threw a super hissy fit because the babysitter poured my cereal wrong. Yes, you read that right. Apparently it was super-important that the milk go on AFTER the sugar.

It's a wonder I survived to see elementary school.

[Christian]

Ungrind pepper.

This was my first thought when AvatarVecna mentioned this thread to me. Alas, by RAW, Mending repairs only 'a single break or tear' in an object. Black pepper flakes at standard grind fineness appear to be roughly 0.5x10-1 x 0.5x10-1 x 10-2 cm, so 2x10-5 cm2in volume; a teaspoon of ground black pepper has, therefore, roughly 10,000 flakes and would require about 10,000 castings of Mending to reconstitute the ~5-10 peppercorns those flakes were ground from. Yeah, it's a cantrip, but that's still several weeks of full-time work with that one-minute casting time. Biggest waste of time since ... since I figured all this out, probably.

[TentacleSurpris]

But you COULD take a big bite out of the middle of a cucumber or a sausage and Mend it?

[RickAllison]

But you COULD take a big bite out of the middle of a cucumber or a sausage and Mend it?

Only if you vomited up the undigested part of the food and Mend each saliva-covered chunk into place!

[Pex]

Clearly, what we need is a magic item. Something for Gnomish joke shops. Or possibly the Weasley twins.



Heh, and that just reminds me of the time I threw a super hissy fit because the babysitter poured my cereal wrong. Yes, you read that right. Apparently it was super-important that the milk go on AFTER the sugar.

It's a wonder I survived to see elementary school.

Well duh! The milk is what spreads the sugar around so every spoonful is sweet. Babysitters never know anything!

And parents wonder why kids don't like them.

[krugaan]

This thread is proof that if you add enough neuroses together, you get something wonderful.

Like Voltron, or something.

Or Captain Planet Megazord some other awesome robot made of smaller awesome robots..