Sometimes you pick spells that you think you will never use. But this one time it was perfect. With a cool DM who appreciates creativity, I highly recommend trying once...if anyone else has done this let me know...the best part is the great success I had ultimately was a big fail if you skip to the end. We became trapped in a cavern that had a Fallen Aasimar who was playing a magic lute. 3 of 5 of use plus my Dog were charmed by him so I immediately went on the offensive. (Still not sure how my dog was charmed...but the DM did not say they were charmed so whatever...probably why it let my plan work.) He sent my 3 charmed allies to restrain me but I was 60 feet away and had a natural 20 on the initiative. I cast BA Expeditious Retreat, ran 30 feet grabbed a rope we had been using, cast Rope Trick, and on my next turn was firing crossbow bolts out the extradimensional space. Many spells need more detail. So DM allowed it. I also have infused magic bolts that release cantrips on hitting. Something my Artificer had worked on with great success. (But expensive so I only use when things really need to be killed, this was that time.) Needless to say, my first two shots were awesome and lucky. 3 combat rounds of fire, I got a Natural 20 with one Firebolt infused bolt and a regular hit with a Thunderclap. Missed twice with two others, and then hit with two Ray of Frost. (If a spell has saving throw the enemy gets the roll. He failed.) So my first attack did 15 with the Thunderclap bolt, 26 with Firebolt, 2 misses then 2 Ray of Frost hits for 21 and 22. He only took 16 damage from my companion who also saved from being charmed. Which makes 84% of the damage from my character. But...I killed the NPC that was going to help us with our escape from this dungeon...lol. Oops. A series of excellent choices on my part and luck ends up being the worst thing I could have done...
1. If you cast a spell as a bonus action, you cannot also cast a spell using your action. Best you can cast is a cantrip.
2. "Attacks and spells can't cross through the entrance into or out of the extradimensional space..." The spell description has plenty of detail.
3. Climbing up the rope would take twice your movement, so if the rope was more than 15 feet long, you wouldn't be able to clear the thirty feet to the rope and enter the extradimensional space in the same turn.
Even if you were able to get to the top of the rope, you can either pull up the rope, in which case you're stuck in the extradimensional space unable to cast spells or make attacks, or not pull up the rope, in which case you can leave the extradimensional space to attack, but the rope itself is a liability. The enemy can follow you up the rope into the extradimensional space (nothing prevents them from following), they can hold action to shoot you when you come out, or they can destroy the rope, either while you're hanging from it, in which case you drop to the ground and they can gang up on you, or while you're in the extradimensional space, forcing you to wait there for an hour, at which point you will fall to the ground and they can gang up on you.
Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon and those hideously overpowered cantrip-launching crossbow bolts. But yeah, changing Rope Trick so it does something ridiculously good that it specifically forbids is not 'creativity'.
I would hate to be at his table, it sounds like playing a computer game with all the cheats activated and having god mode turned on gets boring after about 15 minutes.
Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon and those hideously overpowered cantrip-launching crossbow bolts. But yeah, changing Rope Trick so it does something ridiculously good that it specifically forbids is not 'creativity'.
I would hate to be at his table, it sounds like playing a computer game with all the cheats activated and having god mode turned on gets boring after about 15 minutes.
I did not write my post correctly...I used one turn to cast expeditious retreat, run far away and grabbed the rope. The DM made me use an action to grab the rope. He is, in fact, strict. I used the following turn to cast rope trick and climb up inside. And yes the ceiling was only 30 feet high, needless to say. With expeditious retreat I could climb the full distance in one turn. The following turn was sticking out the space to fire. I got attacked when a charmed ally held his action to shoot at me when I popped out. So I was not shooting through the window. My apologies for not writing my post correctly.
Like I mentioned the spell needs better description: Rope Trick as it does not specify you can not stick out of the space revealing yourself, whether it is half cover, 3/4 cover etc...if spells are meant to be: "If something is not mentioned, it can not be done" Then it should be stated. DM's have table rules. I was creative and challenged when I made the infused bolts. I did not just get to have them. I had to pay for each and make DC checks to infuse them. As far as Cantrip infused bolts being OP. Arrow of Slaying are ridiculously overpowerful...6d10 damage is OP but specific to a type of creature so limited. A Cantrip infused bolt is not OP in the slightest. They are expensive, consumable and what Artificers do.
I am not sure what you are talking about with "Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon." Where is that coming from? The Artificer infusion "Repeating Shot" makes a crossbow magical and ignore the loading property. Using a crossbow is otherwise stupid and would make playing an Artificer boring. Otherwise, why play an Artificer? I can cast Firebolt at 5th level causing 2d10 damage. The Firebolt infused bolt only does 1d10 Fire damage plus the regular 1d10 bolt damage. A natural 20 gave me lucky 25 points of damage. (I probably could have clarified that.) My apologies for writing and not double checking my details to make sure they were specific. Needless to say, I am probably missing more details in what happened, but what I did was kick ass. Did not break any rules what so ever, and absolutely clever for the situation. The DM had to make a judgment call on the popping out of the space to fire, if you knew our DM, he is pretty strict. So we do not play in God Mode. Sounds like you could have asked questions, giving me an opportunity to explain better rather than making the comments you did.
Sounds like you could have asked questions, giving me an opportunity to explain better rather than making the comments you did.
We can only comment on what you've said, not what you might or might not have actually meant to say, taking you and your story as written rather than making assumptions one way or the other. And what you posted is borderline 'iddqd' territory.
if spells are meant to be: "If something is not mentioned, it can not be done" Then it should be stated
Very strongly disagree on this one. For example, Spare The Dying doesn't state whether or not it also makes you immune to dying from future damage, but it would be completely ludicrous to assume that it does. If you want every spell to list all the things it doesn't do then you'd need an entire book for every spell description.
Getting free half cover is better than having a third arm that holds a shield. Getting free three quarters cover is better than the effects of a caster burning their reaction and a spell slot on Shield every turn. Assuming that Rope Trick is able to confer either of these incredible benefits and they just 'forgot' to mention it in the spell description is naïve at best and disingenuous at worst. The intent of the spell is made very clear from the line about not being able to attack in and out of the extradimensional space - you're either completely inside it and neither of you can attack each other, or outside and both you and all your enemies can attack.
I was creative and challenged when I made the infused bolts. I did not just get to have them. I had to pay for each and make DC checks to infuse them. As far as Cantrip infused bolts being OP. Arrow of Slaying are ridiculously overpowerful...6d10 damage is OP but specific to a type of creature so limited. A Cantrip infused bolt is not OP in the slightest. They are expensive, consumable and what Artificers do.
A closer comparison would be to a +3 crossbow bolt, which gives +3 to attack and damage rather than +5.5 to single target damage (Firebolt bolt) or +3.5 AoE. (Thunderclap bolt) This +3 item is also in the Very Rare tier, so crafting just one of them would cost you 10,000 gold (using the more lenient XGE rules for creating consumable magic items) and take three months to complete. You've said elsewhere that your DM charges you a mere 50 gold, which is several orders of magnitude cheaper! If you're flinging these cantrip bolts around like confetti as described in your story, then the cost has not been made anywhere near prohibitive enough.
The fact that you've chosen to compare your cantrip bolts to a Very Rare magical item says it all. Yes, 6d10 (assuming they fail the Con save and are of the appropriate type) is conditionally better, but both +3 bolts and Arrows of Slaying are both far, far in excess of what you would expect your level 5 character to be using as ammunition! For comparison, my level 5 character, (albeit with a stingy DM, but you think yours is 'pretty strict' too, right?) has a single Common item. Not Uncommon, not Rare, and definitely not Very Rare.
I am not sure what you are talking about with "Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon." Where is that coming from?
According to your story, you have applied the infusion to a Vicious Crossbow, which is a magical item. It is stated no fewer than three times in the rules for infusing items that you can only infuse a non-magical item. Infusions seem to be intended to be a stopgap / replacement / alternative to magical items, they are not a way to further enhance them.
Sometimes you pick spells that you think you will never use. But this one time it was perfect. With a cool DM who appreciates creativity, I highly recommend trying once...if anyone else has done this let me know...the best part is the great success I had ultimately was a big fail if you skip to the end. We became trapped in a cavern that had a Fallen Aasimar who was playing a magic lute. 3 of 5 of use plus my Dog were charmed by him so I immediately went on the offensive. (Still not sure how my dog was charmed...but the DM did not say they were charmed so whatever...probably why it let my plan work.) He sent my 3 charmed allies to restrain me but I was 60 feet away and had a natural 20 on the initiative. I cast BA Expeditious Retreat, ran 30 feet grabbed a rope we had been using, cast Rope Trick, and on my next turn was firing crossbow bolts out the extradimensional space. Many spells need more detail. So DM allowed it. I also have infused magic bolts that release cantrips on hitting. Something my Artificer had worked on with great success. (But expensive so I only use when things really need to be killed, this was that time.) Needless to say, my first two shots were awesome and lucky. 3 combat rounds of fire, I got a Natural 20 with one Firebolt infused bolt and a regular hit with a Thunderclap. Missed twice with two others, and then hit with two Ray of Frost. (If a spell has saving throw the enemy gets the roll. He failed.) So my first attack did 15 with the Thunderclap bolt, 26 with Firebolt, 2 misses then 2 Ray of Frost hits for 21 and 22. He only took 16 damage from my companion who also saved from being charmed. Which makes 84% of the damage from my character. But...I killed the NPC that was going to help us with our escape from this dungeon...lol. Oops. A series of excellent choices on my part and luck ends up being the worst thing I could have done...
1. If you cast a spell as a bonus action, you cannot also cast a spell using your action. Best you can cast is a cantrip.
2. "Attacks and spells can't cross through the entrance into or out of the extradimensional space..." The spell description has plenty of detail.
3. Climbing up the rope would take twice your movement, so if the rope was more than 15 feet long, you wouldn't be able to clear the thirty feet to the rope and enter the extradimensional space in the same turn.
Even if you were able to get to the top of the rope, you can either pull up the rope, in which case you're stuck in the extradimensional space unable to cast spells or make attacks, or not pull up the rope, in which case you can leave the extradimensional space to attack, but the rope itself is a liability. The enemy can follow you up the rope into the extradimensional space (nothing prevents them from following), they can hold action to shoot you when you come out, or they can destroy the rope, either while you're hanging from it, in which case you drop to the ground and they can gang up on you, or while you're in the extradimensional space, forcing you to wait there for an hour, at which point you will fall to the ground and they can gang up on you.
Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon and those hideously overpowered cantrip-launching crossbow bolts. But yeah, changing Rope Trick so it does something ridiculously good that it specifically forbids is not 'creativity'.
I would hate to be at his table, it sounds like playing a computer game with all the cheats activated and having god mode turned on gets boring after about 15 minutes.
Not sure why I can not delete this...
I did not write my post correctly...I used one turn to cast expeditious retreat, run far away and grabbed the rope. The DM made me use an action to grab the rope. He is, in fact, strict. I used the following turn to cast rope trick and climb up inside. And yes the ceiling was only 30 feet high, needless to say. With expeditious retreat I could climb the full distance in one turn. The following turn was sticking out the space to fire. I got attacked when a charmed ally held his action to shoot at me when I popped out. So I was not shooting through the window. My apologies for not writing my post correctly.
Like I mentioned the spell needs better description: Rope Trick as it does not specify you can not stick out of the space revealing yourself, whether it is half cover, 3/4 cover etc...if spells are meant to be: "If something is not mentioned, it can not be done" Then it should be stated. DM's have table rules. I was creative and challenged when I made the infused bolts. I did not just get to have them. I had to pay for each and make DC checks to infuse them. As far as Cantrip infused bolts being OP. Arrow of Slaying are ridiculously overpowerful...6d10 damage is OP but specific to a type of creature so limited. A Cantrip infused bolt is not OP in the slightest. They are expensive, consumable and what Artificers do.
I am not sure what you are talking about with "Not to mention applying an infusion to a magical weapon." Where is that coming from? The Artificer infusion "Repeating Shot" makes a crossbow magical and ignore the loading property. Using a crossbow is otherwise stupid and would make playing an Artificer boring. Otherwise, why play an Artificer? I can cast Firebolt at 5th level causing 2d10 damage. The Firebolt infused bolt only does 1d10 Fire damage plus the regular 1d10 bolt damage. A natural 20 gave me lucky 25 points of damage. (I probably could have clarified that.) My apologies for writing and not double checking my details to make sure they were specific. Needless to say, I am probably missing more details in what happened, but what I did was kick ass. Did not break any rules what so ever, and absolutely clever for the situation. The DM had to make a judgment call on the popping out of the space to fire, if you knew our DM, he is pretty strict. So we do not play in God Mode. Sounds like you could have asked questions, giving me an opportunity to explain better rather than making the comments you did.
I believe that you had a great rp moment. But to be true: it didnt have anything to do with the rules.
We can only comment on what you've said, not what you might or might not have actually meant to say, taking you and your story as written rather than making assumptions one way or the other. And what you posted is borderline 'iddqd' territory.
Very strongly disagree on this one. For example, Spare The Dying doesn't state whether or not it also makes you immune to dying from future damage, but it would be completely ludicrous to assume that it does. If you want every spell to list all the things it doesn't do then you'd need an entire book for every spell description.
Getting free half cover is better than having a third arm that holds a shield. Getting free three quarters cover is better than the effects of a caster burning their reaction and a spell slot on Shield every turn. Assuming that Rope Trick is able to confer either of these incredible benefits and they just 'forgot' to mention it in the spell description is naïve at best and disingenuous at worst. The intent of the spell is made very clear from the line about not being able to attack in and out of the extradimensional space - you're either completely inside it and neither of you can attack each other, or outside and both you and all your enemies can attack.
A closer comparison would be to a +3 crossbow bolt, which gives +3 to attack and damage rather than +5.5 to single target damage (Firebolt bolt) or +3.5 AoE. (Thunderclap bolt) This +3 item is also in the Very Rare tier, so crafting just one of them would cost you 10,000 gold (using the more lenient XGE rules for creating consumable magic items) and take three months to complete. You've said elsewhere that your DM charges you a mere 50 gold, which is several orders of magnitude cheaper! If you're flinging these cantrip bolts around like confetti as described in your story, then the cost has not been made anywhere near prohibitive enough.
The fact that you've chosen to compare your cantrip bolts to a Very Rare magical item says it all. Yes, 6d10 (assuming they fail the Con save and are of the appropriate type) is conditionally better, but both +3 bolts and Arrows of Slaying are both far, far in excess of what you would expect your level 5 character to be using as ammunition! For comparison, my level 5 character, (albeit with a stingy DM, but you think yours is 'pretty strict' too, right?) has a single Common item. Not Uncommon, not Rare, and definitely not Very Rare.
According to your story, you have applied the infusion to a Vicious Crossbow, which is a magical item. It is stated no fewer than three times in the rules for infusing items that you can only infuse a non-magical item. Infusions seem to be intended to be a stopgap / replacement / alternative to magical items, they are not a way to further enhance them.