This may have been discussed in the past, but I am unaware of how to properly operate this. If a player asks to destroy water and targets a creature or human and says "I wanna destroy the water in their body" what the heck do I do? Do I tell them to make an attack? Is their some kind of rule that says this is incorrect or cannot be done?
It says 'an open container' a body is not an open container. It inflicts no damage it's not meant for that. They get an A for effort, but a "no you cant".
This question pops up on occassion, and answers can vary but seems large majority DM's would say no. As Fatty pointed out, the simplest line of reasoning is the "container clause".
Another line of reasoning is that there does exist a spell Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting which more precisely does what the intent is (moisture/water inside a body), and as an 8th level spell so it also shows that using a 1st level spell Create or Destroy Water to get the same/similar result would be wildly unbalanced.
Edit: to put another way, we all love creative uses of spells it's fun, but if a spell isn't designed to do X because spell Z does it better and more specifically, and is a higher spell level, a cantrip or low level spell to do something bigger is very problematic from a balance (and material cost) perspective
To add to Johnwinstonh's reply and point about Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting, it's not like the water in your body is just pure water or that you have x gallons of water sloshing around in a hole in your stomach. For example, a lot of the "water" in your body is a part of your blood. So is the blood actually just water with some stuff in it? I think most people agree that it isn't.
So to answer your question, what you say to your player is "You can't. That's not how that spell works."
A spell that does not mention any kind of combat use will never ever be better at combat than a spell of that same level that specifically describes it's combat use. Often it will do absolutely nothing.
People tend to assume things that are not true.
There is no auto-hit without it being mentioned in the spell (Magic Missile). No "I drop it on them, of course it hits.", instead that is attacking with an improvised weapon.
Magic that affect objects does not affect creatures and vice versa.
Magic works by magic's rules, not science - no making lasers out of light spell, go look for something that mentions radiant damage
Non-combat is different - use and abuse any spell to do non-combat effects. In part because most spells are combat based, and the combat rules give a good concept of equivelent power.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
This may have been discussed in the past, but I am unaware of how to properly operate this. If a player asks to destroy water and targets a creature or human and says "I wanna destroy the water in their body" what the heck do I do? Do I tell them to make an attack? Is their some kind of rule that says this is incorrect or cannot be done?
It says 'an open container' a body is not an open container. It inflicts no damage it's not meant for that. They get an A for effort, but a "no you cant".
This question pops up on occassion, and answers can vary but seems large majority DM's would say no. As Fatty pointed out, the simplest line of reasoning is the "container clause".
Another line of reasoning is that there does exist a spell Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting which more precisely does what the intent is (moisture/water inside a body), and as an 8th level spell so it also shows that using a 1st level spell Create or Destroy Water to get the same/similar result would be wildly unbalanced.
Edit: to put another way, we all love creative uses of spells it's fun, but if a spell isn't designed to do X because spell Z does it better and more specifically, and is a higher spell level, a cantrip or low level spell to do something bigger is very problematic from a balance (and material cost) perspective
Boldly go
To add to Johnwinstonh's reply and point about Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting, it's not like the water in your body is just pure water or that you have x gallons of water sloshing around in a hole in your stomach. For example, a lot of the "water" in your body is a part of your blood. So is the blood actually just water with some stuff in it? I think most people agree that it isn't.
So to answer your question, what you say to your player is "You can't. That's not how that spell works."
Only about twice a week. No, you can't just kill someone with a cantrip that obviously should not be able to kill someone.
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
Basic rule:
A spell that does not mention any kind of combat use will never ever be better at combat than a spell of that same level that specifically describes it's combat use. Often it will do absolutely nothing.
People tend to assume things that are not true.
Non-combat is different - use and abuse any spell to do non-combat effects. In part because most spells are combat based, and the combat rules give a good concept of equivelent power.