This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless, Medium force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends. The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range. It has AC 10, 1 hit point, and a Strength of 2, and it can't attack. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends.
Once on each of your turns as a bonus action, you can mentally command the servant to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. The servant can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food, and pouring wine. Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.
If you command the servant to perform a task that would move it more than 60 feet away from you, the spell ends.
* - (a bit of string and of wood)
Can this make an auto crossbow float around and shoot?
Is the unseen servant sentient, does it know the languages of its creator? And how to play an instrument?
My thinking would be to use an unseen servant to write a letter, whilst the wizard is busy doing something else.
Or to play the drums whilst the bard is playing a solo with her lute.
One of my players (Wizard) has started using Unseen Servant (Ritual Cast) to basically create something that eats any traps set for them that are not recurring. Does an Unseen Servant actually apply pressure to the ground or is it floating? Thus, would it trigger a pressure plate or a trip wire? The spell specifically says Shapeless, so I assume it doesn't actually occupy space, but until clarification, I have been letting him use it as a trap destroyer (which is already getting annoying).
Typo in the material components: It's supposed to say "a piece of string and a bit of wood" not "a bit of string and of wood"
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Unseen Servant can't attack. Holding a crossbow and pointing it at something is technically attacking in my opinion, so no, it should not be able to do that.
I would rule that the unseen servant floats just above the floor, so it can't trigger collapsing floor traps or spike pits etc. It is a "Medium force" though, so a trap triggered by a string across a hallway for example would still go off. Any traps triggered by a sensor is a no, it's invisible after all. Unless it is a sensor that detects magic obviously.
Does the unseen servant have weight?
That is my friend, metagaming.
Unseen Servant has a strength score of 2. It can interact with objects or perform simple tasks that a human servant could do. Strength rules say you can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). Which would seem to give the Unseen Servant the ability to exert 60 pounds of force on an object. If that task involves stepping with 60 pounds of force on the floor, I don't see any reason why to not allow a clever use of the spell... or give it a 10ft pole and send it off like a blind man tapping the floor.
I like giving my unseen servant a couple of potions. This way I can heal anyone within 60feet as a bonus action or give them some other cool effect.
Best creative use I've seen of this spell was a Cleric who got access to it via the Magic Initiate feat. She managed to persuade the DM to her point of view on a few things, so there's some house rules involved... You'll see.
What we ended up with is an Unseen Servant given a standing order of, "Whenever someone not in the party starts to cast a spell, touch their butt." This invisible touch forces a DC 10 WIS save to not be distracted; failing the save causes the spell to be miscast.
The DC is low but the sheer number of rolls means it works often enough to be useful, and it's always funny when it works.
In my games, I use the construct "Living Unseen Servant" as a starting point and tone it down, slowing it to half speed, removing the slam attack, and rolling a 1 for HP. Any being that: has an INT of one, wouldn't be able to read or write; has a CHA of one, would have no sense of rhythm, melody, harmony or the performance skill. Also, the spell says it takes mental commands to control, so it doesn't actually need to know any language at all.
I would use this spell for: stirring a pot of soup, but still worry that it didn't slosh over the rim; mending clothing, but still worry that the arms or legs didn't get an extra stitch to make them smaller. In other words, this servant is an idiot and must be watched over almost constantly, but doesn't quite require spell 'concentration'.
What would you trust a party member to do with such a limited INT & CHA? ...That said, every DM and every game is different. Personally, I wouldn't trust an unseen servant to clap along with a bard competently , there's something shifty about a servant that you can't see...
If I am proficient in dragonchess set will my unseen servant be proficient too? Can I play chess against myself?
Or more practical if I have a class or racial bonus that gives advantage to a tool proficiency does the servant also have that bonus or no?
When it says it cannot attack, does that keep it from choking a player? Since it is more of a restraint.
Even if that didn't count as an attack pretty much any creature could break free of the choking since the unseen servant only has a strength of 2.
No, it is mindless. It can't do activities that require intelligence.
"This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless, Medium force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends."
No but it could carry spare loaded crossbows and reload them for you after you shoot
Hmm...hand the Unseen Servant a smoke bomb, or a wildfire flask, perhaps.
In case of emergency, order them to smash the glass.
Or just leave them holding a stick of dynamite and light the fuse...then run like hell.
...I am cruel to my Unseen Servant.
If they weren't using an unseen servant, they would use a mage hand or the classic 10 foot pole. This precaution only works until it doesn't. Some traps, especially magical ones, can only be triggered by a creature. The unseen servant is not a creature and won't trigger such traps, giving players the false belief that the way is safe.