RAI/RAW Dancing Lights + Unseen Servant Combo?

Quote from Nanally_Colucci >>

So it looks like this just doesn't work at all. You cannot give the servant a command to follow. As a bonus action, you can command it to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. That's it. The spell does not suggest in any way that you can give it a course of actions to follow autonomously.

 The relevant text would be:

Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.

If the command requires more than one round to complete, this indicates that the servant will continue doing it autonomously

(As for the discussion of how you basically can't attack the servant with anything, the whole question does not need to be considered. Of course you can.)

Quote from jl8e >>

(As for the discussion of how you basically can't attack the servant with anything, the whole question does not need to be considered. Of course you can.)

It's in the category of "RAW is badly written, RAI is reasonably clear".

Unseen Servant has always been a weird spell to me. I was hoping for a better description in 5.5e, but no luck.

As mentioned by Pantagruel666, at least picking a location should work:

Choose a Target. Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.

This is an unofficial ruling from the Dev:

@JeremyECrawford An unseen servant is "an invisible, mindless, shapeless force" (from the spell). It's not a creature.
@atealein If it is not a creature, nor an object but a "force" why the specifics of the AC and hit points.. since most effects in the game damage creatures or objects only?
@JeremyECrawford It’s exceptional. Spells are tricksy that way.

Quote from Tarod_>>

This is an unofficial ruling from the Dev:

 That is a very Jeremy Crawford ruling.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Tarod_>>

This is an unofficial ruling from the Dev:

 That is a very Jeremy Crawford ruling.

 Right xD

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from Tarod_>>

This is an unofficial ruling from the Dev:

 That is a very Jeremy Crawford ruling.

It's a very Crawford way of saying "we f*cked up" without actually saying it.

Quote from jl8e >>

Quote from Nanally_Colucci >>

So it looks like this just doesn't work at all. You cannot give the servant a command to follow. As a bonus action, you can command it to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. That's it. The spell does not suggest in any way that you can give it a course of actions to follow autonomously.

 The relevant text would be:

Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.

If the command requires more than one round to complete, this indicates that the servant will continue doing it autonomously

(As for the discussion of how you basically can't attack the servant with anything, the whole question does not need to be considered. Of course you can.)

 

 But it can't move unless you take a Bonus Action, regardless of what command you give it. This spell needs a rewrite badly.

Quote from Nanally_Colucci>>

Quote from jl8e>>

Quote from Nanally_Colucci>>

So it looks like this just doesn't work at all. You cannot give the servant a command to follow. As a bonus action, you can command it to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. That's it. The spell does not suggest in any way that you can give it a course of actions to follow autonomously.

 The relevant text would be:

Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.

If the command requires more than one round to complete, this indicates that the servant will continue doing it autonomously

(As for the discussion of how you basically can't attack the servant with anything, the whole question does not need to be considered. Of course you can.)

 But it can't move unless you take a Bonus Action, regardless of what command you give it.

This spell needs a rewrite badly.

 It doesn't. It's fine.

This isn't Rules as Written; this is Rules as the Most Pedantically Restrictive Reading Conceivable.

Would the game be better if the rules were written in a more formal style? Maybe, but at the least, we'd have an easier time figuring out mechanics. I have certainly criticized 5e's style choices vigorously in the past.

But this? This is an open-ended ability. You cannot write it if formal mechanical terms.

Quote from jl8e >>

 It doesn't. It's fine.

 It really does need a rewrite. Probably to make it a construct with a low but non-zero Intelligence score, thus determining what its actual ability to interpret commands is.