As to just moving out of the way. Yes, I get that. Several people mentioned it. But in my games time doesn't stop when it moves to the next persons initiative. In other words the mage could continue to move the hand with the lantern to follow the guy wherever he went (within the 30' allowed by the spell) for the full minute.
That is not at all how combat works. Each round lasts 6 seconds. In that 6 seconds all actions by the players and enemies happen simultaneously. Let's say there is the Crossbowman, a Wizard using Mage Hand, and a Warlock. The Crossbowman is going to make an attack, the Wizard is going to summon Mage Hand, and the Warlock is going to Eldritch Blast. For flavor i'll narrate what happens in 6 seconds: The Crossbowman is hit by one beam of green energy while another beam narrowly misses him. A spectral hand brings a lantern into his face so he moves a few feet away from it and fires an arrow at the Wizard. Round is done. The Mage Hand can't continuously move with the Crossbowman in the same 6 second round.
Not a DM, but, Mage hand is slow and can only lift 10lb. Basically a child's strength, Wouldn't you give the enemy a reaction just to knock it out of the magic hand's grip with a weapon?
As to just moving out of the way. Yes, I get that. Several people mentioned it. But in my games time doesn't stop when it moves to the next persons initiative. In other words the mage could continue to move the hand with the lantern to follow the guy wherever he went (within the 30' allowed by the spell) for the full minute.
That is not at all how combat works. Each round lasts 6 seconds. In that 6 seconds all actions by the players and enemies happen simultaneously. Let's say there is the Crossbowman, a Wizard using Mage Hand, and a Warlock. The Crossbowman is going to make an attack, the Wizard is going to summon Mage Hand, and the Warlock is going to Eldritch Blast. For flavor i'll narrate what happens in 6 seconds: The Crossbowman is hit by one beam of green energy while another beam narrowly misses him. A spectral hand brings a lantern into his face so he moves a few feet away from it and fires an arrow at the Wizard. Round is done. The Mage Hand can't continuously move with the Crossbowman in the same 6 second round.
I'm really not sure what the point of your post is for 2 reasons. 1) the thread was labeled resolved. 2) I made it very clear that's NOT how time works in my games. Everything is fluid. My players around the table know this and it makes combat much more dynamic. So if you're trying to tell me I can't run my game that way then, frankly, you can get bent.
But I'll assume you're just trying to help so I'll respectively disagree. If the mage says he wants to stay hidden and make the mage hand do figure eights for the entire minute. Yes, he can do that. The mage hand will continuously move to make nice smooth figure eights. Combat is broken into rounds and turns to make it easier to manage but it doesn't mean that if someone does something that only takes 1 second they then stand their like a zombie for the remaining 5.
I'll give you a reason your logic falls apart. If the mage can't control the mage hand to move it with the attacker, then how does a fighter do it with their shield? A fighter doesn't have to say "I'm going to keep my shield in a place where it will deflect an attack" The fighter natural moves his shield to wherever it is needed, Whenever it is needed.
From SRD "In combat, characters and Monsters are in constant motion"
(I wasn't even going to respond to this but you caught me in a grumpy mood this morning and I couldn't let it go)
It's not my logic, it's RAW. And RAW time doesn't stop either, that was the point of my post. For your Mage Hand scenario: let's assume you want to allow the Crossbowman to move out of the way. In 6 seconds, the Mage Hand user summons Mage Hand, picks up a lantern, and moves it into the Crossbowman's face. The Crossbowman moves out of the way of it and fires an arrow. The round is done. Time didn't stop for anyone. It took 6 seconds for that narrative to occur and you're now onto the next round.
If you want to handle combat differently that is fine but if you wanted to handle it differently because you didn't like RAW, I wasn't sure if you understood RAW correctly and wanted to clarify.
Like I said I know the player will continue use mage hand for distractions which I think is a valid use. I want to make sure that it's not abused.
SInce you can use your Action to help an ally get advantage on an attack against a foe, I'm happy to let a caster use their Action to hinder a foe, giving them disadvantage.
It would take the mage's Action, however. You don't get to use mage hand to hinder a foe for free.
@sexy No I get that. And sorry if I was grumpy. (I did warn you I was atm) My point is if everything is happening simultaneously in that 6 seconds then while the crossbowmen is trying to move out of the way the caster is moving mage hand with him. They both have the same action economy. Unless the crossbowmen decided not to attack and use a Dash as his action to avoid it. That would be a different story. But the reason the thread was resolved was he wouldn't need to do that. He could use the one free interact with object and knock it out of the way.
But what I see in your scenario is that the crossbowmen has more action economy than the mage hand. If the caster is spending his whole action to keep the mage hand in position then why would the crossbowman be able to avoid it for any less than a whole action?
That is not at all how combat works. Each round lasts 6 seconds. In that 6 seconds all actions by the players and enemies happen simultaneously. Let's say there is the Crossbowman, a Wizard using Mage Hand, and a Warlock. The Crossbowman is going to make an attack, the Wizard is going to summon Mage Hand, and the Warlock is going to Eldritch Blast. For flavor i'll narrate what happens in 6 seconds: The Crossbowman is hit by one beam of green energy while another beam narrowly misses him. A spectral hand brings a lantern into his face so he moves a few feet away from it and fires an arrow at the Wizard. Round is done. The Mage Hand can't continuously move with the Crossbowman in the same 6 second round.
Not a DM, but, Mage hand is slow and can only lift 10lb. Basically a child's strength, Wouldn't you give the enemy a reaction just to knock it out of the magic hand's grip with a weapon?
I'm really not sure what the point of your post is for 2 reasons. 1) the thread was labeled resolved. 2) I made it very clear that's NOT how time works in my games. Everything is fluid. My players around the table know this and it makes combat much more dynamic. So if you're trying to tell me I can't run my game that way then, frankly, you can get bent.
But I'll assume you're just trying to help so I'll respectively disagree. If the mage says he wants to stay hidden and make the mage hand do figure eights for the entire minute. Yes, he can do that. The mage hand will continuously move to make nice smooth figure eights. Combat is broken into rounds and turns to make it easier to manage but it doesn't mean that if someone does something that only takes 1 second they then stand their like a zombie for the remaining 5.
I'll give you a reason your logic falls apart. If the mage can't control the mage hand to move it with the attacker, then how does a fighter do it with their shield? A fighter doesn't have to say "I'm going to keep my shield in a place where it will deflect an attack" The fighter natural moves his shield to wherever it is needed, Whenever it is needed.
From SRD "In combat, characters and Monsters are in constant motion"
(I wasn't even going to respond to this but you caught me in a grumpy mood this morning and I couldn't let it go)
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
It's not my logic, it's RAW. And RAW time doesn't stop either, that was the point of my post. For your Mage Hand scenario: let's assume you want to allow the Crossbowman to move out of the way. In 6 seconds, the Mage Hand user summons Mage Hand, picks up a lantern, and moves it into the Crossbowman's face. The Crossbowman moves out of the way of it and fires an arrow. The round is done. Time didn't stop for anyone. It took 6 seconds for that narrative to occur and you're now onto the next round.
If you want to handle combat differently that is fine but if you wanted to handle it differently because you didn't like RAW, I wasn't sure if you understood RAW correctly and wanted to clarify.
Do you resolve all actions after they've been declared at the end of each round to work it like that, Brian?
SInce you can use your Action to help an ally get advantage on an attack against a foe, I'm happy to let a caster use their Action to hinder a foe, giving them disadvantage.
It would take the mage's Action, however. You don't get to use mage hand to hinder a foe for free.
@sexy No I get that. And sorry if I was grumpy. (I did warn you I was atm) My point is if everything is happening simultaneously in that 6 seconds then while the crossbowmen is trying to move out of the way the caster is moving mage hand with him. They both have the same action economy. Unless the crossbowmen decided not to attack and use a Dash as his action to avoid it. That would be a different story. But the reason the thread was resolved was he wouldn't need to do that. He could use the one free interact with object and knock it out of the way.
But what I see in your scenario is that the crossbowmen has more action economy than the mage hand. If the caster is spending his whole action to keep the mage hand in position then why would the crossbowman be able to avoid it for any less than a whole action?
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Yes.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules