could you clarify somethiong for me?
To move the hand (up to 30ft) i would need to take a magic action. Does it mean that it's not following me? when i want to move 40ft in a round, I can't do so without loosing the hand? and when i dash i'm not able to move it along because i used up my action and cant take a magic action??

is that intended?

edit: 40ft movement should work by moving 20ft, taking magic action, moving another 20ft; but that works only for few rounds, since the hand can't keep up due to only one action=30ft. 

Quote from viruzz >>

could you clarify somethiong for me?
To move the hand (up to 30ft) i would need to take a magic action. Does it mean that it's not following me? when i want to move 40ft in a round, I can't do so without loosing the hand? and when i dash i'm not able to move it along because i used up my action and cant take a magic action??

is that intended?

edit: 40ft movement should work by moving 20ft, taking magic action, moving another 20ft; but that works only for few rounds, since the hand can't keep up due to only one action=30ft. 

You need to take a Magic action for the hand to do anything, including move. It does not follow you on its own. Yes, that's intended.

You can't take the Dash action and the Magic action in the same turn unless you have some ability that allows taking more than one action in a turn (e.g. the Fighter's Action Surge) or allows you to do one of those two things as a bonus action instead (e.g. the Rogue's Cunning Action feature, which allows Dashing as a bonus action).

Can mage hand apply rope / manacles / chain as per their 2024 versions (to a restrained / grappled etc enemy)?

Quote from JamieSP >>

Can mage hand apply rope / manacles / chain as per their 2024 versions (to a restrained / grappled etc enemy)?

Generally no, because those uses all require making an ability check, and the Mage Hand cannot do that (because it doesn't have ability scores).

The exception is if you are casting the spell as an Arcane Trickster Rogue. Arcane Tricksters have a subclass feature called "Mage Hand Legerdemain" which allows the hand to make Sleight of Hand checks using the caster's stats. This would allow binding someone using manacles or rope (though not chains, since they specify an Athletics check instead).

Can mage hand be used to apply the rope / mannacles / chain against an incapacitated enemy?

Quote from JamieSP >>

Can mage hand be used to apply the rope / mannacles / chain against an incapacitated enemy?

Again, no, because those uses all require making an ability check, and the Mage Hand cannot do that (because it doesn't have ability scores).

The exception is the thing I said was an exception before.

Mage Hand is a fantastic spell, but its restrictions are somewhat contrived. If a spectral hand were summoned that could manipulate up to 10 pounds at a time, there is no clear reason that the hand could not steal items, drop objects on people's heads, or otherwise aid in combat, except that "the rules say so". Here are some non-canonical reasons mage hand might follow the above rules, and some suggestions on what you could do in your Homebrewed DND games to make Mage Hand work a little smoother:

- Mage Hand can't interact with creatures or anything they're carrying at all, as the fabric of magic around the mage hand is tenuous, and living things disrupt its physical structure (solves the problem of mage hand being used to pick pockets but doesn't solve the problem of being able to drop things on enemies' heads). Mage Hand Legerdemain, used by Arcane Trickster Rogues, has more substance to it.

- Mage Hand can't move higher than the caster's height (solves the problem of being able to drop things on most enemies' heads, but still doesn't explain why mage hand couldn't pull the trigger on a custom light crossbow or trigger a trapping mechanism)

- Mage Hand is a gift from Rao, God of Peace (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) who watches everything it does and ensures that no action it takes directly causes pain.

All these reasons would work but are similarly contrived. So, my personal standpoint is that mage hand should always be able to pick pockets, drop things, and make similar indirect attacks with its limited strength. Mage Hand Legerdemain is still applicable, since it's invisible, and if that's not enough of a buff for Arcane Tricksters, you could let them use two mage hands at once or give their mage hand twice the carrying capacity. After all, since mage hand is already limited to a 30 ft. range, and it takes a player's whole action to operate, it's already kind of designed to act as a weaker, more accessible version of telekinesis for low-level players. I'm fine with that, and I don't think it breaks the game.