This question comes from a recent scenario where after much traveling, we finally encountered the city we'd been traveling towards. Unfortunately, the city was blocked by a "shimmering magic field", and when we threw stones at it, they bounced off. Being from the city at war with this city, and with much of the party in clunky armor and strapped for GP, we did not want to either bribe or sneak our way through the singular opening on the West. Instead, I went to the border and cast Leomund's Tiny Hut with the party inside. The spell states that:
"Spells and other magical effects can’t extend through the dome or be cast through it."
The DM let the spell block the field, and then we went through into the city onwards, but as a part-time DM myself, I grew worried about the implications of a 5th level party being capable of breaching even the greatest of abjurations (the DM hasn't stated either way, but from my meta-knowledge, a field blocking a city is an obscure 10th level spell in Forgotten Realms). Is this how powerful Tiny Hut is, or is there something I'm missing?
I’d look at the wording 5th level Wall of Force to make a ruling on how the 3rd level Tiny Hut works and what it’s capable of. Wall of Force pushes any creature that’s in its area aside when it’s cast without doing any damage. It doesn’t say what it does when it intersects with a physical object though and it’s stronger than Tiny Hut. I’d say that Tiny Hut can’t be formed where a stronger magical wall is or where a physical wall is.
However that was a very creative approach. I’d be tempted to let it work once and say that the shell was strengthened after the breach was “felt” to keep that from working to let them out. That rewards them for their creativity without letting them use Tiny Hut to bypass every barrier that they run into.
"Spells and other magical effects can’t extend through the dome or be cast through it."
I believe this sentence is key. When it says no spells can extend through the dome - I'm assuming that means once it's completed. It never mentions anything about the dome being able to extend through other spell effects that are already in place.
I believe whether it would work or not would depend entirely on the spell it's trying to pierce. For a city-protecting shield I would say likely not. I would be very surprised if that spell doesn't explicitly say it stops things like that.
This question comes from a recent scenario where after much traveling, we finally encountered the city we'd been traveling towards. Unfortunately, the city was blocked by a "shimmering magic field", and when we threw stones at it, they bounced off. Being from the city at war with this city, and with much of the party in clunky armor and strapped for GP, we did not want to either bribe or sneak our way through the singular opening on the West. Instead, I went to the border and cast Leomund's Tiny Hut with the party inside. The spell states that:
"Spells and other magical effects can’t extend through the dome or be cast through it."
The DM let the spell block the field, and then we went through into the city onwards, but as a part-time DM myself, I grew worried about the implications of a 5th level party being capable of breaching even the greatest of abjurations (the DM hasn't stated either way, but from my meta-knowledge, a field blocking a city is an obscure 10th level spell in Forgotten Realms). Is this how powerful Tiny Hut is, or is there something I'm missing?
I’d look at the wording 5th level Wall of Force to make a ruling on how the 3rd level Tiny Hut works and what it’s capable of. Wall of Force pushes any creature that’s in its area aside when it’s cast without doing any damage. It doesn’t say what it does when it intersects with a physical object though and it’s stronger than Tiny Hut. I’d say that Tiny Hut can’t be formed where a stronger magical wall is or where a physical wall is.
However that was a very creative approach. I’d be tempted to let it work once and say that the shell was strengthened after the breach was “felt” to keep that from working to let them out. That rewards them for their creativity without letting them use Tiny Hut to bypass every barrier that they run into.
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I believe this sentence is key. When it says no spells can extend through the dome - I'm assuming that means once it's completed. It never mentions anything about the dome being able to extend through other spell effects that are already in place.
I believe whether it would work or not would depend entirely on the spell it's trying to pierce. For a city-protecting shield I would say likely not. I would be very surprised if that spell doesn't explicitly say it stops things like that.
Too late now though.
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