I had a fellow player messing with me and other player in intro game. I believe they were using Minor Illusion to talk to us ("whisper" as the spell is worded in the PHB). I'm a new player as didn't know how they were doing this at the time. An since we are all level 1 Minor Illusion is one of the only spells available to accomplish this task.
My question is was this spell being used as intended? The way i read the spell is you create a sound not convey conversational thought. And the wording whisper would indicate the volume level not an acctual coherent whispers.
But I'm not the DM so in the end this could be a mute point.
Compare it to Message which is also a cantrip and make a DM judgement call. Since they’re both cantrips I’d lean towards no, Minor Illusion can’t duplicate the effect of Message. But a 1st level illusion spell could easily duplicate the effect and it depends on exactly what the PC is doing with Minor Illusion.
You could use the spell to do that, but I'm doubtful how effective it would be. The caster must be within 30ft, and is waving a bit of fleece (or their spell focus) around in a noticeably magical fashion. That sort of behaviour should have anyone doubting the origin of the random whispers they are hearing. Message has a much larger range, and the whisper is heard only by the target, so it is a very different effect.
The player could also have been a Great Old One warlock. Their first level ability, Awakened Mind, allows telepathic communication to (no two way communication) any creature that speaks at least one language within 30'.
Well just an update. Spoke to the player and asked to see the racial abilities. BTW they are playing a Dhampyre with telepathy. not minor illusion. I was basing this original question off vampire skills.
Edit Clarification
This is "Silent Speech" racial ability from Ghostwise halfling race. Still I don't understand why the new race has this ability, I think the creator was confusing halfling with half-elf, but the DM signed off on the homebrew race anyway.
As long as the DM is okay with you, you can cast Minor Illusion and Message (while not in combat) and it can cause a message to be spoken in another person's head but with not your player's character's voice?
As long as the DM is okay with you, you can cast Minor Illusion and Message (while not in combat) and it can cause a message to be spoken in another person's head but with not your player's character's voice?
No, Message is in their head but with your voice, and Minor Illusion is an out-loud sound or voice, not in someone's head. But you could do Message trying to mimic someone else's voice talking in an NPC's head, and roll a Deception check for it...
As long as the DM is okay with you, you can cast Minor Illusion and Message (while not in combat) and it can cause a message to be spoken in another person's head but with not your player's character's voice?
Message isn't inside the target's head, which is why magical silence stops it. Message is a sound that's enchanted such that only the target can hear it. The sound is whatever message you whisper (the whispering is mandatory). Minor Illusion is also sound, but everyone can hear it. I'm pretty sure there's no universal consensus on whether or not Minor Illusion can convey words in a normal sense, as opposed to essentially Morse code.
As long as the DM is okay with you, you can cast Minor Illusion and Message (while not in combat) and it can cause a message to be spoken in another person's head but with not your player's character's voice?
Message isn't inside the target's head, which is why magical silence stops it. Message is a sound that's enchanted such that only the target can hear it. The sound is whatever message you whisper (the whispering is mandatory). Minor Illusion is also sound, but everyone can hear it. I'm pretty sure there's no universal consensus on whether or not Minor Illusion can convey words in a normal sense, as opposed to essentially Morse code.
Minor illusion gives examples of sounds, including 'your voice' and 'someone else's voice'. Words should pretty cleanly fall into those categories.
Minor Illusion also doesn't have a Vocal component... meaning that if you got stuck in an area of Silence, you could cast a Minor Illusion outside the area to yell for your party to come and help you (even if you can't hear the yell yourself.)
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Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
To add to the conversation, does this mean someone 40 feet away from the caster wouldn't be able to hear the sound, even if it was something as loud as a scream?
I had a fellow player messing with me and other player in intro game. I believe they were using Minor Illusion to talk to us ("whisper" as the spell is worded in the PHB). I'm a new player as didn't know how they were doing this at the time. An since we are all level 1 Minor Illusion is one of the only spells available to accomplish this task.
My question is was this spell being used as intended? The way i read the spell is you create a sound not convey conversational thought. And the wording whisper would indicate the volume level not an acctual coherent whispers.
But I'm not the DM so in the end this could be a mute point.
Compare it to Message which is also a cantrip and make a DM judgement call. Since they’re both cantrips I’d lean towards no, Minor Illusion can’t duplicate the effect of Message. But a 1st level illusion spell could easily duplicate the effect and it depends on exactly what the PC is doing with Minor Illusion.
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Oops. Reading Minor Illusion, it can be a voice. So as written the answer is yes, it will work.
Professional computer geek
You could use the spell to do that, but I'm doubtful how effective it would be. The caster must be within 30ft, and is waving a bit of fleece (or their spell focus) around in a noticeably magical fashion. That sort of behaviour should have anyone doubting the origin of the random whispers they are hearing. Message has a much larger range, and the whisper is heard only by the target, so it is a very different effect.
The player could also have been a Great Old One warlock. Their first level ability, Awakened Mind, allows telepathic communication to (no two way communication) any creature that speaks at least one language within 30'.
Well just an update. Spoke to the player and asked to see the racial abilities. BTW they are playing a Dhampyre with telepathy. not minor illusion. I was basing this original question off vampire skills.
Edit Clarification
This is "Silent Speech" racial ability from Ghostwise halfling race. Still I don't understand why the new race has this ability, I think the creator was confusing halfling with half-elf, but the DM signed off on the homebrew race anyway.
So to clairfy for anyone else interested:
As long as the DM is okay with you, you can cast Minor Illusion and Message (while not in combat) and it can cause a message to be spoken in another person's head but with not your player's character's voice?
No, Message is in their head but with your voice, and Minor Illusion is an out-loud sound or voice, not in someone's head. But you could do Message trying to mimic someone else's voice talking in an NPC's head, and roll a Deception check for it...
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Okay that could work, my pc has a +10 performance and deception so she should be fine lol
Thank you!
Message isn't inside the target's head, which is why magical silence stops it. Message is a sound that's enchanted such that only the target can hear it. The sound is whatever message you whisper (the whispering is mandatory). Minor Illusion is also sound, but everyone can hear it. I'm pretty sure there's no universal consensus on whether or not Minor Illusion can convey words in a normal sense, as opposed to essentially Morse code.
Minor illusion gives examples of sounds, including 'your voice' and 'someone else's voice'. Words should pretty cleanly fall into those categories.
Minor Illusion also doesn't have a Vocal component... meaning that if you got stuck in an area of Silence, you could cast a Minor Illusion outside the area to yell for your party to come and help you (even if you can't hear the yell yourself.)
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
To add to the conversation, does this mean someone 40 feet away from the caster wouldn't be able to hear the sound, even if it was something as loud as a scream?
They'd be able to hear it. The 30-foot range limits where the caster can make the sound appear to be coming from.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)