Interposing Hand. The hand interposes itself between you and a creature you choose until you give the hand a different command. The hand moves to stay between you and the target, providing you with half cover against the target. The target can't move through the hand's space if its Strength score is less than or equal to the hand's Strength score. If its Strength score is higher than the hand's Strength score, the target can move toward you through the hand's space, but that space is difficult terrain for the target.
If I use Interposing Hand between myself and an enemy with a melee attack with a reach of 30 ft, can that enemy reach through Bigby's hand to attack me?
That ability from the spell does two things, both of which apply no matter the reach or range of a weapon or attack:
The hand provides 1/2 cover (+2 bonus to AC)
The hand prevents creatures from moving through it's space if they don't have a 27 or higher strength score
The hand is a Large sized thing (so takes up 10' square on a grid), so it will prevent any melee attacks from the marked creature that require the attacker to stand within 10 feet of you by default, unless the marked creature has the STR score to move through. 30 feet of reach means the creature does not have to enter or move through that space to attack you, so it would not stop the attack outright, you would though, have 1/2 cover just as if the attack was made with a ranged weapon.
Note that this is only against the marked creature the hand is interposing between, other creatures could attack you without the cover bonus (because the spell explicitly only grants the cover bonus against the creature marked).
Note that this is only against the marked creature the hand is interposing between, other creatures could attack you without the cover bonus (because the spell explicitly only grants the cover bonus against the creature marked).
Not exactly. The spell explicitly moves the hand to be between you and the target, even if the target moves, and explicitly also provides half cover against that target. A DM could rule that the hand always provides half cover against any attacks going through it, and that wouldn't violate any of the spell's text. It certainly appears to be physical enough to be hurt physically, and that's generally sufficient to provide cover - since it can be shot with an arrow, presumably arrows going through it have some chance of hitting it instead.
It's interesting that the [spell[Bigby's Hand[/spell] is a semi-permeable force construct, which specifically "does not fill its space." Icon is correct, that the interposing hand only interferes with its target creature, meaning other hands can walk through it, stand in it, attack through it, etc. without issue.
The hand is an object that has AC 20 and hit points equal to your hit point maximum. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends. It has a Strength of 26 (+8) and a Dexterity of 10 (+0). The hand doesn't fill its space.
Note that this is only against the marked creature the hand is interposing between, other creatures could attack you without the cover bonus (because the spell explicitly only grants the cover bonus against the creature marked).
Not exactly. The spell explicitly moves the hand to be between you and the target, even if the target moves, and explicitly also provides half cover against that target. A DM could rule that the hand always provides half cover against any attacks going through it, and that wouldn't violate any of the spell's text. It certainly appears to be physical enough to be hurt physically, and that's generally sufficient to provide cover - since it can be shot with an arrow, presumably arrows going through it have some chance of hitting it instead.
This is absolutely true that a DM can do this, and I would likely rule this way in-game because it makes logical sense, but it isn't the RAW, which only explicitly grants the cover against the targeted creature.
It's interesting that the Bigby's Hand is a semi-permeable force construct, which specifically "does not fill its space." Icon is correct, that the interposing hand only interferes with its target creature, meaning other hands can walk through it, stand in it, attack through it, etc. without issue.
The hand is an object that has AC 20 and hit points equal to your hit point maximum. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends. It has a Strength of 26 (+8) and a Dexterity of 10 (+0). The hand doesn't fill its space.
Not filling its space is not particularly meaningful. Almost nothing fills its space, although a gelatinous cube does. Before we dive into the RAW and everything goes pear-shaped, let me quickly cover some quick facts:
An object's space is not defined anywhere in the core rules. Only a creature's space is.
"Space" may be an overloaded term in general when playing on a grid, because a 5x5x5 grid cube may be referred to as a space. You can use the link above for this quote:
Diagonal movement can’t cross the corner of a wall, large tree, or other terrain feature that fills its space."
In context, "its space" here is referring to grid cubes - if you couldn't cross the corner of any physical object filling its own volume, which generally all objects do, you wouldn't be able to cross grass.
There are multiple ways an object can be referred to as incorporeal (at least as far as us players have accepted by consensus), and failing to fill its space is not one of them. Failing to occupyits space is one of them, because so many other rules reference occupied vs unoccupied spaces - for example, Misty Step can teleport you into a space if and only if it isn't occupied.
So we can have a whole discussion about whether or not Bigby's Hand is supposed to occupy its space (as Guardian of Faith does) or not (every DM I've ever met has treated Mage Hand as not occupying its space, despite no text in the spell saying so, because it's referred to as "spectral"). That's fine. But the statement that it doesn't fill its space tells us almost nothing. The only rules reference anywhere to objects filling their spaces has a trash can not filling a space, and you can take cover behind a trash can.
Does Bigby's Hand stop attacks from reach weapons?
No Bigby's Hand never stop attacks as it doesn't provide total cover. It provide half cover against the target (and no one else) that can attack you. The target must have a reach of 15 feet or more to be able to make a melee attack against you.
Not filling its space is not particularly meaningful. ...
If Bigby's was meant to be a hand-shaped physical force for all other creatures and objects interacting with it (a hand-shaped and manipulatable Floating Disk type of effect with some combat applications), it sure went out of its way to avoid saying that, and also included "doesn't fill its space" and "against the target" language as a misleading red herring. If it was meant to be a "shimmering translucent force" that interacts only with its specific target, it sure said exactly the right things to convey that to a casual reader. So if forced to pick between the interpretation that treats the spell's language as competent, vs. the interpretation that treats "doesn't fill its space" as a trick, then I know which one I would find more reasonable...
It's interesting that the Bigby's Hand is a semi-permeable force construct, which specifically "does not fill its space." Icon is correct, that the interposing hand only interferes with its target creature, meaning other hands can walk through it, stand in it, attack through it, etc. without issue.
The hand is an object that has AC 20 and hit points equal to your hit point maximum. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends. It has a Strength of 26 (+8) and a Dexterity of 10 (+0). The hand doesn't fill its space.
Yeah I found this out the hard way after using Interposing Hand in a hallway to block several guards. All but one just strolled right through. I get it from a balance perspective, but I'd almost rather it not even be an option the way it is now because it totally fails in what would seem to be a pretty reasonable scenario for a big blocking hand.
Alternate question: If the target is 3 squares (15 feet) away from the caster and move diagonally 1 square by the hand, how you guys think the hand would react? It wouldn't have enought unoccupied space to interpose itself....
Its got huge 5-10 foot long fingers, don't it? And again, it doesn't fill its space, so it has no problem overlapping with you or with the enemy creature to remain interposing. Although created in an unoccupied space, it need not remain unoccupied, since it isn't a creature and also explicitly describes not filling its space.
Alternate question: If the target is 3 squares (15 feet) away from the caster and move diagonally 1 square by the hand, how you guys think the hand would react? It wouldn't have enought unoccupied space to interpose itself....
Are you asking what happens if the creature that can't move within 10 feet of the caster moves within 10 feet of the caster? Because... It can't.
The hand doesn't have a turn or an action economy. You can only control it on your turn, but with interposing hand, it automatically moves when the target does.
Alternate question: If the target is 3 squares (15 feet) away from the caster and move diagonally 1 square by the hand, how you guys think the hand would react? It wouldn't have enought unoccupied space to interpose itself....
Are you asking what happens if the creature that can't move within 10 feet of the caster moves within 10 feet of the caster? Because... It can't.
The hand doesn't have a turn or an action economy. You can only control it on your turn, but with interposing hand, it automatically moves when the target does.
The hand doesn't prevent movement around its space, only within it. Since that diagonal square is unoccupied, if the target can move there, the hand would still be interposing and providing cover while the target would be 10 feet of the caster and able to attack it. That's why i mention it.
Alternate question: If the target is 3 squares (15 feet) away from the caster and move diagonally 1 square by the hand, how you guys think the hand would react? It wouldn't have enought unoccupied space to interpose itself....
Are you asking what happens if the creature that can't move within 10 feet of the caster moves within 10 feet of the caster? Because... It can't.
The hand doesn't have a turn or an action economy. You can only control it on your turn, but with interposing hand, it automatically moves when the target does.
The hand doesn't prevent movement around its space, only within it. Since that diagonal square is unoccupied, if the target can move there, the hand would still be interposing and providing cover while the target would be 10 feet of the caster and able to attack it. That's why i mention it.
But the hand automatically moves to prevent the target from entering that space.
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If I use Interposing Hand between myself and an enemy with a melee attack with a reach of 30 ft, can that enemy reach through Bigby's hand to attack me?
Yes, but you have half cover (assuming they are the target).
That ability from the spell does two things, both of which apply no matter the reach or range of a weapon or attack:
The hand is a Large sized thing (so takes up 10' square on a grid), so it will prevent any melee attacks from the marked creature that require the attacker to stand within 10 feet of you by default, unless the marked creature has the STR score to move through. 30 feet of reach means the creature does not have to enter or move through that space to attack you, so it would not stop the attack outright, you would though, have 1/2 cover just as if the attack was made with a ranged weapon.
Note that this is only against the marked creature the hand is interposing between, other creatures could attack you without the cover bonus (because the spell explicitly only grants the cover bonus against the creature marked).
Not exactly. The spell explicitly moves the hand to be between you and the target, even if the target moves, and explicitly also provides half cover against that target. A DM could rule that the hand always provides half cover against any attacks going through it, and that wouldn't violate any of the spell's text. It certainly appears to be physical enough to be hurt physically, and that's generally sufficient to provide cover - since it can be shot with an arrow, presumably arrows going through it have some chance of hitting it instead.
Spell for reference: Arcane Hand.
It's interesting that the [spell[Bigby's Hand[/spell] is a semi-permeable force construct, which specifically "does not fill its space." Icon is correct, that the interposing hand only interferes with its target creature, meaning other hands can walk through it, stand in it, attack through it, etc. without issue.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
This is absolutely true that a DM can do this, and I would likely rule this way in-game because it makes logical sense, but it isn't the RAW, which only explicitly grants the cover against the targeted creature.
Not filling its space is not particularly meaningful. Almost nothing fills its space, although a gelatinous cube does. Before we dive into the RAW and everything goes pear-shaped, let me quickly cover some quick facts:
Diagonal movement can’t cross the corner of a wall, large tree, or other terrain feature that fills its space."
So we can have a whole discussion about whether or not Bigby's Hand is supposed to occupy its space (as Guardian of Faith does) or not (every DM I've ever met has treated Mage Hand as not occupying its space, despite no text in the spell saying so, because it's referred to as "spectral"). That's fine. But the statement that it doesn't fill its space tells us almost nothing. The only rules reference anywhere to objects filling their spaces has a trash can not filling a space, and you can take cover behind a trash can.
No Bigby's Hand never stop attacks as it doesn't provide total cover. It provide half cover against the target (and no one else) that can attack you. The target must have a reach of 15 feet or more to be able to make a melee attack against you.
If Bigby's was meant to be a hand-shaped physical force for all other creatures and objects interacting with it (a hand-shaped and manipulatable Floating Disk type of effect with some combat applications), it sure went out of its way to avoid saying that, and also included "doesn't fill its space" and "against the target" language as a misleading red herring. If it was meant to be a "shimmering translucent force" that interacts only with its specific target, it sure said exactly the right things to convey that to a casual reader. So if forced to pick between the interpretation that treats the spell's language as competent, vs. the interpretation that treats "doesn't fill its space" as a trick, then I know which one I would find more reasonable...
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Yeah I found this out the hard way after using Interposing Hand in a hallway to block several guards. All but one just strolled right through. I get it from a balance perspective, but I'd almost rather it not even be an option the way it is now because it totally fails in what would seem to be a pretty reasonable scenario for a big blocking hand.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Alternate question: If the target is 3 squares (15 feet) away from the caster and move diagonally 1 square by the hand, how you guys think the hand would react? It wouldn't have enought unoccupied space to interpose itself....
Its got huge 5-10 foot long fingers, don't it? And again, it doesn't fill its space, so it has no problem overlapping with you or with the enemy creature to remain interposing. Although created in an unoccupied space, it need not remain unoccupied, since it isn't a creature and also explicitly describes not filling its space.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Are you asking what happens if the creature that can't move within 10 feet of the caster moves within 10 feet of the caster? Because... It can't.
The hand doesn't have a turn or an action economy. You can only control it on your turn, but with interposing hand, it automatically moves when the target does.
The hand doesn't prevent movement around its space, only within it. Since that diagonal square is unoccupied, if the target can move there, the hand would still be interposing and providing cover while the target would be 10 feet of the caster and able to attack it. That's why i mention it.
But the hand automatically moves to prevent the target from entering that space.