I personally think that prestidigitation is more useful than minor illusion, both in and out of combat.
You can use the clean feature to clean yourself off after a combat If you'll need to see the king or something. You could roll for investigation to analyze a keyhole, then make the key. If you're short on money, you could make a couple more counterfeit ones. And my best idea, You can heavily soil someones eyes in combat, effectively blinding them for a couple turns, without a saving throw. That is, unless your DM makes him take a dex throw.
And with Minor illusion... You could make a wall to hide behind?
I'm not very fond with it, so is there anything I'm missing?
Neither of these spells is “better” than the other, especially given that no spell has a tangible effect in combat unless it’s written as such or the DM allows it to. Needless to say, most DMs, at least those who aren’t running total joke games, will not allow you to use a cantrip as a strictly better Blindness spell. That said, for out-of-combat utility, Prestidigitation is definitely the more versatile, and it’s the one I’d recommend, though rogues or illusionists might find Minor Illusion more to their taste! It’s all situational.
(Also, I’m afraid you can’t make a key with Prestidigitation, just a small illusion of one.)
Both are great cantrips. However, Prestidigitation is less effective in combat, but offers more 'flavor', where Minor Illusion is much more useful in combat.
Prestidigitation cannot be used to distract anyone during combat (that would have to be explicitly allowed in the spell's description), and any items you create only persist for 12 seconds (from casting the spell until the end of your next turn).
Minor Illusion can be used as cover to hide behind, so any ranged attacks can be made while 'unseen', granting advantage. The creature hiding behind the illusion would only have to touch it in order to 'see through' it.
Both have excellent use outside of combat, limited only by your imagination.
(Also, I’m afraid you can’t make a key with Prestidigitation, just a small illusion of one.)
You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.
I think the first part of that sentence means you can make a physical object some examples of which can be found HERE. No.56 is "an old key" so yes I think you can make a key. Now as to whether it will successfully open a lock, that might depend on some sort of skill roll.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
If you look at a cantrip like Light, it specifically describes how it can be used on an unwilling target. While your blinding idea is creative, it's definitely not going to be accepted at most tables due to a lack of this kind of language in the spell. Blindness/Deafness is a level 2 spell and requires a CON save - this gives you an idea of how costly a blinding effect is intended to be.
Something I really enjoy doing with Minor Illusion is replaying small images of big party wins. Recently we cleared out some trolls for a tribe of lizardmen, and back at their camp I made a small illusion to recount our victory (with only a little embellishment...). Since we couldn't communicate through language super well, it was an effective way to show them what we did.
I like both spells. I think they have different feels to them and so far my character concepts have pretty clearly favored one or the other, so I just pick based on who I'm playing.
I love the minor illusion movie idea, might have to steal that.
I think the presti. Blinding idea is great but I would probably make it so you would have to do a grapple check to touch their face in order to soil their eyes. You can pick up a first full of sand and throw it at someone to blind them but I think most dms would want a dex check or something so I think as long as there is some sort of check to blind someone that's ok.
I'm now questioning if I want blindness/deafness as a spell for my arcane trickster over taking a few pockets full of sand to throw in people's eyes
While many DMs allow 'movies' with Minor Illusion, per RAW you can only create the image of an object.
When you compare the spell description of Silent Image, it also becomes apparent that you are not meant to animate the image created with Minor Illusion.
Ah you are right. Well I guess you could still show an array of images like a slideshow. But you are right, it's not Star Wars holographic chess-level images.
Which do you think Is better?
I personally think that prestidigitation is more useful than minor illusion, both in and out of combat.
You can use the clean feature to clean yourself off after a combat If you'll need to see the king or something. You could roll for investigation to analyze a keyhole, then make the key. If you're short on money, you could make a couple more counterfeit ones. And my best idea, You can heavily soil someones eyes in combat, effectively blinding them for a couple turns, without a saving throw. That is, unless your DM makes him take a dex throw.
And with Minor illusion... You could make a wall to hide behind?
I'm not very fond with it, so is there anything I'm missing?
Neither of these spells is “better” than the other, especially given that no spell has a tangible effect in combat unless it’s written as such or the DM allows it to. Needless to say, most DMs, at least those who aren’t running total joke games, will not allow you to use a cantrip as a strictly better Blindness spell. That said, for out-of-combat utility, Prestidigitation is definitely the more versatile, and it’s the one I’d recommend, though rogues or illusionists might find Minor Illusion more to their taste! It’s all situational.
(Also, I’m afraid you can’t make a key with Prestidigitation, just a small illusion of one.)
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Both are great cantrips. However, Prestidigitation is less effective in combat, but offers more 'flavor', where Minor Illusion is much more useful in combat.
Prestidigitation cannot be used to distract anyone during combat (that would have to be explicitly allowed in the spell's description), and any items you create only persist for 12 seconds (from casting the spell until the end of your next turn).
Minor Illusion can be used as cover to hide behind, so any ranged attacks can be made while 'unseen', granting advantage. The creature hiding behind the illusion would only have to touch it in order to 'see through' it.
Both have excellent use outside of combat, limited only by your imagination.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I think the first part of that sentence means you can make a physical object some examples of which can be found HERE. No.56 is "an old key" so yes I think you can make a key. Now as to whether it will successfully open a lock, that might depend on some sort of skill roll.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I stand corrected! Though yeah, it’d be hard to make a key that actually fit the lock.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
If you look at a cantrip like Light, it specifically describes how it can be used on an unwilling target. While your blinding idea is creative, it's definitely not going to be accepted at most tables due to a lack of this kind of language in the spell. Blindness/Deafness is a level 2 spell and requires a CON save - this gives you an idea of how costly a blinding effect is intended to be.
Something I really enjoy doing with Minor Illusion is replaying small images of big party wins. Recently we cleared out some trolls for a tribe of lizardmen, and back at their camp I made a small illusion to recount our victory (with only a little embellishment...). Since we couldn't communicate through language super well, it was an effective way to show them what we did.
I like both spells. I think they have different feels to them and so far my character concepts have pretty clearly favored one or the other, so I just pick based on who I'm playing.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I love the minor illusion movie idea, might have to steal that.
I think the presti. Blinding idea is great but I would probably make it so you would have to do a grapple check to touch their face in order to soil their eyes. You can pick up a first full of sand and throw it at someone to blind them but I think most dms would want a dex check or something so I think as long as there is some sort of check to blind someone that's ok.
I'm now questioning if I want blindness/deafness as a spell for my arcane trickster over taking a few pockets full of sand to throw in people's eyes
While many DMs allow 'movies' with Minor Illusion, per RAW you can only create the image of an object.
When you compare the spell description of Silent Image, it also becomes apparent that you are not meant to animate the image created with Minor Illusion.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
Ah you are right. Well I guess you could still show an array of images like a slideshow. But you are right, it's not Star Wars holographic chess-level images.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
my dm let me uze dancing lights to blind a bugbear
K.D. Rey