(Not sure where this should be so I put it here...)

Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion is a home away from home or mansion away from home but... Most mansions have windows. And I'm wondering what the view within a pocket dimension would look like. Do all the windows have the view of what's outside the dimensional door? Is it blackness? The cloudy techno-color you see when the TARDIS is moving from place to place...

It's just not something in the spell description so I'm interested in what people think.

"Yes, my mansion has a Solarium." -- "Really? What's the view outside the windows?"

So a spell only gives what it describes, since it doesn't describe anything, the answer is "nothing".  If there are windows, RAW, it's to an empty void.  

For me?  Whatever the caster wants, as long as it's there from a pure flavor standpoint.  It might be a sunny day shining attempting to shine a light on the inside, but that light doesn't confer the benefits of actual daylight.  It might be the night sky filled with stars, but any individual with knowledge of the stars could easily see this isn't the sky from the plane they just came from.  It could be the looks of a thunderstorm, but you aren't hearing any sounds from the rain or lightning.  

Basically yes you can have "windows", they can't open and whatever is "outside" is just your choice so it's basically just a 3D painting. Anything about said "windows" or such are for you to choose or whatever. It's your mansion.

You could even go the extra mile and have the windows open up, it would just lead to a chamber that looks like the outside world. Or looks like whatever you want it to look like, I don't judge. Having a chamber be just like the void would be weird but hey you do you. 

edit: slight grammar fixes

Fair enough it never states how you go between rooms so you could argue you cannot have any sort of doorways or anything between rooms.

Edit: Do you really consider houseplants and the such, a yard, or whatever, to be outside the grasp or a magical spell which allows you to decorate whatever you want? It doesn't even say it has to be a mansion.

No he understood, he just has a more closed mind on how to interpret the spell. it's a little weird in D&D is normally all about "you can only do what is listed", however this spell breaks that slightly by just suggesting that you decorate it anyway you want. What qualifies a decoration isn't stated, and can kind of vary person to person.

Lyxen just feels as though a garden or wildlife (form of plants) isn't what he would consider decorations, even though there are many places with indoor gardens for decoration (as well as for being... a garden.) Also he disagreed with the window part, stating that nowhere does it say how you move between rooms, therefore having a window as a door wouldn't work if you can't have doors.

Personally I have a more open view and I see doors as a form of furniture, I mean, they are just as much of decoration/furniture as a table or bookshelf in my opinion.

Edit: Therefore, I have no issues with what I listed above. I consider all of it to fall under decorations/furniture. Some people may not, whatever works for their table.

"You can create any floor plan you like, but the space can’t exceed 50 cubes, each cube being 10 feet on each side. The place is furnished and decorated as you choose."

Per the rules as written, you can have the extra dimensional space appear how ever you choose. That includes windows that look at illusory landscapes if you desire. Any other interpretation is wrong. 

Quote from 4yulming4 >>

Basically yes you can have "windows", they can't open and whatever is "outside" is just your choice so it's basically just a 3D painting. Anything about said "windows" or such are for you to choose or whatever. It's your mansion.

You could even go the extra mile and have the windows open up, it would just lead to a chamber that looks like the outside world. Or looks like whatever you want it to look like, I don't judge. Having a chamber be just like the void would be weird but hey you do you. 

edit: slight grammar fixes

 I agree with this ruling.

It even allows the possibility of an open-air balcony, or a rooftop swimming pool. The extra-space "appears" to be outdoors, but the inhabitants are still inside the sealed space of a 50-cube sized holodeck.

Quote from Kotath >>

Quote from Lyxen >>

Quote from 4yulming4 >>

No he understood, he just has a more closed mind on how to interpret the spell. it's a little weird in D&D is normally all about "you can only do what is listed", however this spell breaks that slightly by just suggesting that you decorate it anyway you want. What qualifies a decoration isn't stated, and can kind of vary person to person.

Lyxen just feels as though a garden or wildlife (form of plants) isn't what he would consider decorations, even though there are many places with indoor gardens for decoration (as well as for being... a garden.) Also he disagreed with the window part, stating that nowhere does it say how you move between rooms, therefore having a window as a door wouldn't work if you can't have doors.

Personally I have a more open view and I see doors as a form of furniture, I mean, they are just as much of decoration/furniture as a table or bookshelf in my opinion.

Edit: Therefore, I have no issues with what I listed above. I consider all of it to fall under decorations/furniture. Some people may not, whatever works for their table.

 
As I mentioned before, I have a tendency to be careful about spell effects. In play, I can be fairly generous in terms of interpretations, as long as I don't think it will lead to problems.

But for example allowing vegetation leads to interesting problems, for example, can a wood elf hide in them ? That is opening one can of worms. But then there is the problem of blocking doors if they exist, with what strength, the locks, how difficult they are to pick, etc.

This is why it's better, in general discussion, to restrict oneself to the basic english description of that furniture, decoration, doors and windows are. But then again, in your own campaign, or indeed mine, one can be more generous, as long as one understands where it can lead.

 

You sound like you cannot handle anything more complex than empty spaces. You really expect someone would cast mansion for some somehow non-trivial game of hide and seek? If you are worried about the strength of doors or people breaking windows, why are you not worried about the strength of the walls?

You are inventing problems.

Personally I see internal doors as part of the layout. If someone said 'I'll build you a house, whatever floor plan you want,' they would not normally add in separately, 'but no doors!' or alternatively 'but doors cost extra!'

 Floorplans include doors, often signified by a quarter-circle (or an eighth-circle), representing the door itself and which way it opens.

Here is a typical floorplan for a home. Notice how a floorplan includes doors and windows (and I appreciate the toilet being far away from the bath!). Moreorless, a floorplan can include every kind of "installation" (permanent structural feature), and would include an indoor or rooftop swimming pool, balcony area, etcetera. Also notice how the floorplan tracks the heights of the ceiling, and floorplan can add layouts for other floors, like basement, attic, upper bedrooms, and so on.

Heh, I am having alot of fun thinking about what I want my Mansion to look like.

I like tall ceilings, so I am basically working with two floors, each being 40x40 with 15-foot ceilings. The shape of the 40x40 can be played with, such as 80x20. And if the ceilings are 12-foot, theres still room for a third-floor attic with a 6-foot ceiling, or so. Part of the upstairs will be an outdoor patio, with pool, a built-up tree garden, and pillars around, beyond which is a view of mountains and sea.

There is two cubes left over, perhaps to offset walls to expand certain rooms, or maybe even a secret room, or a panic room.

Huh, playing around with the design of the Magnificent Mansion, has a real AD&D 1e vibe to it.

Two things, one D&D is made based off common-word usage, not dictionaries. I admit that makes it impossible to discuss topics, since common-word usage changes person to person, so for the sake of these poorly defined terms, I'll just pretend D&D uses dictionaries for the argument.

Decoration: something that adorns, enriches, or beautifies (Merriam Webster)

Most dictionaries always has one definition for decoration that is something that serves as a ornament, which is defined as a something that adorns (makes more beautiful).

Yeah let's just say the definition for decoration is super up to interpretation even in a dictionary. If you can argue it makes your build more "beautiful" it's a decoration. Isn't arguing about super broad English terms fun?

Okay yeah I'm probably going to drop this argument, you can reply to me if you want, I'm just not a English major and don't really care to argue English semantics. Someone else can take my place.

Magnificent Mansion isn't really the type of spell you need to be getting a dictionary out for. It is clearly everyday idiomatic speech not definitive-restrictive legalese style speech.

Otherwise, the spell would be useless.

The spell doesn't say how much air there is. You don't get to choose what specific food is available or what quality or even a specific amount beyond a generic reference that can mean anything.

It says anything created by the spell disappears the instant it leaves the mansion. So what happens to the conjured food you've eaten when you leave? I mean food takes nearly two days to fully digest depending on what you eat and your body, so does that food just vanish from your insides when you leave? What about the broken down nutrients absorbed into your body and the new cells made from them and so on - all undone the instant you step outsode? It also says anything left in not made by the spell gets ejected - so, what about those turds when you've gone potty? Does every time the mansion spell finishes it leaves a big pile of the party's poopage on the floor?

The spell doesn't bother with these details because it's boring minutiae and utterly irrelevant. The idea is all they need to convey, which is an extra-dimensional space that only you and those you permit can enter and only you can open or the close the door which becomes invisible when closed. Beyond that and the space requirement, does the finicky minutiae of details like "what counts as furniture or decoration? let's consult a dictionary!" even matter? No. Not in the slightest. If it's just convenience and fun, have whatever you want. The obvious restrictions being things like "the personal diary of my enemy which I've never read" or "every spellbook in existence" and metagamey bullcrap would be the obvious no-go. But a pool? Sure. Windows? Fine. Gardens? Have at it!

Like seriously, who the heck cares? It's not possible to abuse that stuff. If there's an enemy - they can't get in, so all they can do is wait to the end and ambush you, or just dispel it and trash you when you pop out. The enemy ain't gonna be foiled in either if you happen to have a room where you can walk on the ceiling or air-waltz in a room of dreamy lights.

It's your mansion, have your party and do as you want. Things like windows and pools are completely arbitrary with absolute zero impact on gameplay.

D&D isn't meant to be played with a dictionary, especially not if people are going to use it to apply utterly nonsensical, pointless, fun-breaking restrictions.

It's 7th level and temporary. This is the level of traversing all existence on a whim or doing veritable ****tons of damage or even infinite undead minions. I'm pretty sure some windows or a pool in your made-up mansion only you can access isn't some game-breaking unbalanced thing.

(Sorry this weird, dubya-tee-eff, 'but dictionary says' type argument you peeps have devolved into is frazzling my poor brain with its utter irrelevance and inanity. o.O This is not why spells are written they are, peeps, release that chokehold on the funsnake a little bit, sheesh XD). [Note: this is said more for humour although sentiment is genuine]

The word "floor plan" is an architectural term. It includes all non-movable features, including sinks, baths, and jacuzzis, saunas. swimming pools, and so on.

Wikipedia mentions: "In architecture, ... a floor plan is a drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. ... Floor plans may also include details of fixtures like sinks, water heaters, furnaces, etc. Floor plans may include notes for construction to specify finishes, construction methods, or symbols for electrical items."

A "floor plan" includes non-movable trees, while "decorations" includes movable plants.

Because the Magnificent Mansion provides real food, this food can come in the form of fruit growing on these conjured trees.

Here is a floorplan with an indoor pool.

Here is a floor plan with pool, water areas, and trees.

Notice the indoor trees that are part of the "floor plan".

Here is a floorplan with a rooftop deck, overlooking the outdoors. The "multipurpose room" seems like an entertainment room for bar and pooltable, or so on.

Whether plants are nonmovable installations that are part of the "floorplan" or movable furnishings that are part of the "decorations", either way, the plants are there.

The thread asked about windows, and the answer is yes. Windows are part of almost every floorplan. And their view would be whatever you want to see thru them.

Even a walled courtyard as a kind of open-sky backyard with a lawn, would be fine, as long as everything is within the 50-cube space.

The air is "clean, fresh, and warm". The word "fresh" implies the air is circulating. So open areas with a gentle breeze seem acceptable. "Fresh air" has an outdoorsy meaning, and at least implies one can open the windows to let the fresh air in.

Judging by the spell description, it appears one can spellcast a Magnificent Mansion inside an other Magnificent Mansion. Thus one can increase the amount of space available, albeit there is only "one entrance" to this added area. It seems the second casting is "inside" the first casting, thus everyone in both would be ejected when the 24 hours of the first casting runs out.

Some of the "servants" can take the "appearance" of animals, as household pets. These are "near transparent", so seem fey or shadow, but can be touchable and friendly.

A DM could have a weird fun dungeon, made out of Magnificent Mansions.

I feel the need to say that I didn't think it would create as contested a discussion as it did... I was just wondering what people thought a window looking into a pocket dimension would show.

Okay, plants are life forms and apparently "created lifeforms" are spectral in nature... So would that mean the house-plants/lawn/garden plants also be spectral in nature???

Paragraph three of the spell description: "A staff of 100 near-transparent servants attend all who enter. You decide the visual appearance of these servants and their attire."

A play on words I suppose, near-transparent = spectral.

While people are free to disagree with each other and discuss the nuances of spell wording, making attacks against each other is not acceptable. Keep things civil or the thread will be locked.

Quote from Garret_Cartwright >>

Okay, plants are life forms and apparently "created lifeforms" are spectral in nature... So would that mean the house-plants/lawn/garden plants also be spectral in nature???

There is general agreement that everything is a conjuration made out of magical energy. This conjuration has duration of 24 hours, after which it reverts.

However, the spell description makes specific distinctions.

• The "floor plan" and the way that it is "decorated" appear normal.

• The "servants" (and only the servants) are described as "near transparent".

• The "food" (and only the food) is treated as real food, whose consumption and benefits will endure beyond the 24 hours.