Skill / spell disparity observation: Minor Illusion vs. Deception / Actor.

[Aquillion]

Something mildly annoying I just noticed:

As written, you implicitly cannot use Charisma (Deception) to mimic someone's voice unless you have the Actor feat. Even if you do so, it requires an opposed roll, and there's no rules for throwing it. You also have to have heard them speaking for at least a minute.

Minor Illusion, on the other hand, allows you to mimic someone's voice, with no roll, at a range out to 30 feet.

That seems... unbalanced. It's only one application of Deception, but it's also only one small sliver of Minor Illusion's power; it seems weird that something that a skill can only accomplish with a feat backing it up can be done more easily and more reliably with an already-powerful cantrip.

[JackPhoenix]

Minor Illusion literally lists what ability check you have to do to recognize it's an illusion, and what the DC is.

Also, technically, it doesn't say you get to pick whose voice you're using. It could be totally random (but not your) voice.

[RSP]

Minor Illusion literally lists what ability check you have to do to recognize it's an illusion, and what the DC is.

Also, technically, it doesn't say you get to pick whose voice you're using. It could be totally random (but not your) voice.

“If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else’s voice, a lion’s roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose.”

“Someone else’s voice...or any other sound you choose” means you can pick whose voice you’re using.

To the OP: that’s magic though: it lets you do stuff that normally isn’t possible.

[JackPhoenix]

“If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else’s voice, a lion’s roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose.”

“Someone else’s voice...or any other sound you choose” means you can pick whose voice you’re using.

To the OP: that’s magic though: it lets you do stuff that normally isn’t possible.

Sure. You pick someone else's voice. You don't get to pick who that someone else is. It's not your voice, though.

[claypigeons]

Sure. You pick someone else's voice. You don't get to pick who that someone else is. It's not your voice, though.

Why wouldn't you get to pick a voice you've heard? It specifically doesn't say "a random voice."

If you choose to create muddy footprints, are they of a random creature, as well?

[RSP]

Sure. You pick someone else's voice. You don't get to pick who that someone else is. It's not your voice, though.

So if you create an object, it’s a random object?

Player: “I use Minor Illusion to create a 5’x5’ crate.”

JackPhoenix: “Okay, a chair appears.”

Player: “What? I said a crate.”

JackPhoenix: “The Spell doesn’t state you choose which object you create; just that you create ‘an object.’ This time, that object is a chair.”

You really think that how the spell reads?

[Naanomi]

I can use the actor feat without somatic and material components