So, I am just pondering the effectiveness of Heat Metal, and I wonder whether there's an easy way to counter it - wearing a cloak!
The spell states "Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range.". I was planning a character who has a tendency to wear a large, hooded cloak for the majority of the time anyway (tiefling with low-profile horns, trying to pass as human), which would include wearing it over their armour. Provided the cloak didn't get tattered, would it be fair to state that the cloak prevents them from seeing the armour, thus making it immune to heat metal?
I certainly wouldn't have this work for "pick a target you can see" "ah, but you can only see my cloak!", but it seems to make sense that if the armour is hidden, then they can't cast heat metal on it?
I don’t think anyone could reasonably wear a cloak that both 1) conceals their armor such that it’s not a valid target for heat metal AND 2) allows them to fight effectively. Once you start doing combat stuff, the cloak is necessarily going to come open during many movements.
I don’t think anyone could reasonably wear a cloak that both 1) conceals their armor such that it’s not a valid target for heat metal AND 2) allows them to fight effectively. Once you start doing combat stuff, the cloak is necessarily going to come open during many movements.
That's fair, though what about if you were to simply wear an oversized shirt over the armour? It's effectively the same as wearing a jumper over a t-shirt, which completely hides the t-shirt (albeit a lumpy and probably far too warm arrangement).
Unless you're wearing metal boots, gauntlets, or a helmet, it's absolutely trivial to traipse around in a cloak completely concealing the metal you're wearing. Note that your forearms will 100% get exposed and depending on your cloak your upper arm may be exposed as well, and this also goes for your lower leg, so it's not just boots and gauntlets, a long sleeved metal shirt or full metal pants will be an issue. As an example, the Breastplate in the PHB could absolutely be worn under a cloak and no metal would be visible whatsoever, again assuming you got a proper cloak. The ones depicted in my screenshot, like my cloak, are wool - a cotton cloak is an awful idea, do not willingly wear one unless you have some miraculous way to never get wet, even when you sweat.
Unless you're wearing metal boots, gauntlets, or a helmet, it's absolutely trivial to traipse around in a cloak completely concealing the metal you're wearing. Note that your forearms will 100% get exposed and depending on your cloak your upper arm may be exposed as well, and this also goes for your lower leg, so it's not just boots and gauntlets, a long sleeved metal shirt or full metal pants will be an issue. As an example, the Breastplate in the PHB could absolutely be worn under a cloak and no metal would be visible whatsoever, again assuming you got a proper cloak. The ones depicted in my screenshot, like my cloak, are wool - a cotton cloak is an awful idea, do not willingly wear one unless you have some miraculous way to never get wet, even when you sweat.
This is exactly the sort of cloak I was imagining. IT won't hide a full suit of armour, but as you said, it would easily hide a breastplate of steel armour!
I certainly wouldn't have this work for "pick a target you can see" "ah, but you can only see my cloak!", but it seems to make sense that if the armour is hidden, then they can't cast heat metal on it?
It's hard to fully conceal significant armor without also significantly impairing mobility, but a chain shirt can certainly be hidden.
How about a programmed illusion covering the target's body?
A large, loosely fitting garment like a cloak, poncho, or caftan is the sort of thing you want to remove or tie up before trying to engage in combat or similar, or you'll get tied up in it (magic item cloaks presumably are good at staying out of the way, but that won't really help with the concealment part). I'm not sure if Programmed Illusion can actually be used to cover a person (it's limited to a five minute script) but it doesn't much matter since Disguise Self will and they both have the same limitation -- people who successfully see through the illusion.
You can also use general purpose vision blockers such as Fog Cloud or Darkness.
I don’t imagine a cloak would cover suits of heavy armor. I think a cloak could cover various medium armors though. if not a cloak, some sort of other garment could be relatively easily made.
Can a character take precautions to prevent them from being targeted by a(ny) particular spell? Probably. Will most characters (PCs or NPCs) do that most of the time? Probably not, unless they have an idea what's coming for them.
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So, I am just pondering the effectiveness of Heat Metal, and I wonder whether there's an easy way to counter it - wearing a cloak!
The spell states "Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range.". I was planning a character who has a tendency to wear a large, hooded cloak for the majority of the time anyway (tiefling with low-profile horns, trying to pass as human), which would include wearing it over their armour. Provided the cloak didn't get tattered, would it be fair to state that the cloak prevents them from seeing the armour, thus making it immune to heat metal?
I certainly wouldn't have this work for "pick a target you can see" "ah, but you can only see my cloak!", but it seems to make sense that if the armour is hidden, then they can't cast heat metal on it?
What do you think?
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I don’t think anyone could reasonably wear a cloak that both 1) conceals their armor such that it’s not a valid target for heat metal AND 2) allows them to fight effectively. Once you start doing combat stuff, the cloak is necessarily going to come open during many movements.
That's fair, though what about if you were to simply wear an oversized shirt over the armour? It's effectively the same as wearing a jumper over a t-shirt, which completely hides the t-shirt (albeit a lumpy and probably far too warm arrangement).
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Or a tabard, the most common thing worn on top of armour in the middle age movies :)
The armour covers your arms, legs, chest, and probably has a helm and gloves too - it will be difficult to cover ALL of those.
What kinds of cloaks are you people imagining?
Here are some actual humans in actual cloaks (in fact, I own a cloak of the same kind myself, it's in my closet right now, and I regularly engage in fake swordfighting while wearing it): http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oNsLNVR6L_4/TpY_3PQR1DI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Fny2GL3MWHw/s320/onlineslcloakfull.jpg
Unless you're wearing metal boots, gauntlets, or a helmet, it's absolutely trivial to traipse around in a cloak completely concealing the metal you're wearing. Note that your forearms will 100% get exposed and depending on your cloak your upper arm may be exposed as well, and this also goes for your lower leg, so it's not just boots and gauntlets, a long sleeved metal shirt or full metal pants will be an issue. As an example, the Breastplate in the PHB could absolutely be worn under a cloak and no metal would be visible whatsoever, again assuming you got a proper cloak. The ones depicted in my screenshot, like my cloak, are wool - a cotton cloak is an awful idea, do not willingly wear one unless you have some miraculous way to never get wet, even when you sweat.
This is exactly the sort of cloak I was imagining. IT won't hide a full suit of armour, but as you said, it would easily hide a breastplate of steel armour!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
It's hard to fully conceal significant armor without also significantly impairing mobility, but a chain shirt can certainly be hidden.
How about a poncho? A caftan? An aba?
How about a programmed illusion covering the target's body?
A large, loosely fitting garment like a cloak, poncho, or caftan is the sort of thing you want to remove or tie up before trying to engage in combat or similar, or you'll get tied up in it (magic item cloaks presumably are good at staying out of the way, but that won't really help with the concealment part). I'm not sure if Programmed Illusion can actually be used to cover a person (it's limited to a five minute script) but it doesn't much matter since Disguise Self will and they both have the same limitation -- people who successfully see through the illusion.
You can also use general purpose vision blockers such as Fog Cloud or Darkness.
I don’t imagine a cloak would cover suits of heavy armor. I think a cloak could cover various medium armors though. if not a cloak, some sort of other garment could be relatively easily made.
Can a character take precautions to prevent them from being targeted by a(ny) particular spell? Probably. Will most characters (PCs or NPCs) do that most of the time? Probably not, unless they have an idea what's coming for them.