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)
More importantly can the Unseen Servant attack? The answer is no per part the spell description "...It has AC 10, 1 hit point, and a Strength of 2 and it can't attack".
If you REALLY want to have your Unseen Servant help in combat then you can argue the following as precedent case to your DM.
Refer to sage advice's ruling on the Find Familiar and Dragon's Breath combo. With sage advice saying that given there's no attack roll being made the dragon's breath is not an attack. Similarly the Unseen Servant is just applying force on the tripper and is not specifically aiming at a creature so is therefore not making an "attack". Given that we already have heaps of precedent cases where projectiles are being fired but not aimed at creatures (I'm talking about arrow/bolt traps) you can argue having the creature roll a DEX save IF you have something else aim the crossbow.
It's a long shot but at least there's references and precedent cases for you to make that argument.
Can I order my unseen servant to wake me up if I fall sleep by let's say the sleep spell?
Commanding the servant to stand in front of a caster is a great meat shield. They don't know its there and will hit it by accident with ranged spell attacks. If an enemy is casting fireball and doesn't know the servant is 5ft in front of him, he's gonna have a bad time.
It is not a wall but instead at most a slender humanoid force or "a shapeless" force, depending on if you focus on the actual spell description or the stat block. 'd say it is not a wall either way. I’d give it only a chance to block a fireball if the player was able to command the servant to black that caster and the servant had enough time to get there (and the caster didn't move at all before casting).
Also all these attempts to talk a DM into letting it attack with a crossbow when it explicitly says “it can not attack” are ridiculous. It literally says in the description it can’t do it.
Id' say sure it can pick up and even load, but unfortunately it can not aim so at bes the crossbow bolt will launch randomly and maybe it would scare someone away or distract them into thinking you are attacking from another direction (and maybe hit an ally). Letting a level one spell screw up the action economy for a whole gametime hour is a fast track to ruining the fun for all the other players, especially at level one.
I brainstormed on what this spell possibly could be used for in the game within the given limits and description. If the GM likes creativity (mine do), this spell is a good investment for the spellbook. Here are some ideas (on purpose there is no comedy) - I hope they inspire.
Assumptions based on the spell description:
- The servant will follow you around unless stated otherwise (it is a servant).
- The servant can use simple tools (can mend clothes, clean).
- The servant has some basic intelligence and can follow basic instructions without having every detail specified (“can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do,”, "lighting fires", "mending").
- The servant can identify simple things and do something with them ("fetching things").
Deception
Misdirection: Make a track with boots in a certain direction
Frame: place evidence of a crime in someone's possessions or home.
Pregnant: A bag with a servant inside and some liquid makes a fine illusion of a pregnant female (bag under the dress, the servant can “kick” if needed, even make the water break if gives a nail with it in the bag).
Trap
Lock a door when someone enters.
Place a noose around a sleeping foes leg, while you wait some feet away with the other end tied to a horse.
Strategy
Disarm1: Take weapons from people sleeping at a campfire.
Disarm2: Take arrows (ammunition) and/or loose weapons at a fortified position and throw them over the wall.
Surprise: Place a device in a campfire (gunpowder in a hollowed log, pinecones with resin, water).
Sabotage: Untie any rope on a sailing ship (catastrophe for sails). Release loose objects (cannons, barrels) on high seas. Put water on the fuses of canons or in gunpowder.
Outbreak: bring shit from the latrine and smear some of it on the bottom of jugs in the kitchen.
Disadvantage: nudge people aiming for a ranged attack at your party.
Trigger: may be able to trigger certain traps at a safe distance for the players.
Distraction: pat someone on the shoulder to make them look that way.
Buff
Armor: Hold a shield or improvised shield (log, chair, platter, small animal) between you and the enemy to give you cover when using your ranged attacks.
Aid: With creativity, it may be possible to get an advantage to a skill using this spell. Some sites claim Unseen Servant has a default skill set and can handle DC10, and the description does explain they can use tools. Example: making a dance performance, a blanket suddenly comes to life and dances with you (controlled by the servant, controlled by the dancing magician) = more interesting performance = possible advantage. Crafting something the servant can hold things steady for you. Athletics: swimming, it may give you a push. etc.
Hide
Cover and hide a fallen foe you cannot reach due to imminent threat.
Escape
The unseen servant is shapeless - and should be able to pass through bars and under doors keeping your trapped.
Means to escape: Bring the keys to a cell.
Climbing out of a place: Ask servant to take a rope, go to the ledge of the hole, secure one end of the rope on the ledge, throw the other end of the rope down.
Messenger: can send written messages for help.
Conditional
Haunting/stealing: Move an object when someone is not looking, and drop it somewhere where you can later find it.
Activation: Do something at a certain time (set fire to something, wake someone, activate a device, drop/throw/take/push something).
Backup: follow me at 30 ft distance with a dagger (an item that can be brought closer later and be used for an escape).
If/then effects
First aid: if I fall down, then put the contents of the red (healing) potion from my backpack in my mouth.
Alarm: if I am attacked, take my torch and swing it side to side (signaling my friends for help).
Survival
Get food and drink: sometimes food is out of reach or you are incapacitated/trapped.
Build
Work on a hole (pit, trench, grave, tunnel) in a soft material.
Order something (stacking, pattern, sorting).
Camouflage something (camp, wagon, sleeping place, entrance).
Collect certain things to a specified place (berries, firewood, mushrooms, boots, books).
Treat something (tar a boat, paint wall, color fabric, oil a weapon, polish metal).
Practical
Capture pests in an area (spiders, mice, rats), and place them in a beholder (f. ex. large pot).
Search: find all loose coins in an area (f. ex. in an inn) and bring them to me.
Horror
Move a gutted animal, making it animated horror.
Haunting: Make it appear as someone invisible is moving about (open doors, press on stairs, move objects).
Poltergeist: touch someone when they are sleeping, or otherwise think they are alone and safe.
So question: The servant is invisible, right? And when the spell invisibility is cast on someone and they pick something up, the picked up thing becomes invisible too. So could it be argued that anything the servant picks up would become invisible?
But it could write the letter if the wizard was dictating.
No
Can I have more than one of these at once?
How do they interact with metamagic?
How intelligent are these?
Could I employ these as "workers" in my restaurant?
The unseen servant has a strength of 2, so it could drag an object of up to 60 pounds (like the body of a monster previously defeated) along the ground. If that body had enough weight to set off a trap, then it would do so - but it does require you to have an object to use. Since the unseen servant has no weight, I don't see it as being able to exert 60 pounds of force by tapping a 10' pole... it can't lean on the pole, and this is not the same thing physically.
If a trap is something like a super-sensitive tripwire, the unseen servant with a pole could potentially set it off - but remember, if it is dragging the pole across the ground, it will get snagged on every bump it comes across... if the tripwire required even a moderate amount of pressure, it might react as it would to a stair step or an uneven floor surface - by lifting the pole over it, without setting it off... if it can't do this, then any rocks on the floor would completely stop it. If it was a sensitive pressure plate, the unseen servant dragging a body could set it off. If it is a pressure plate that requires 75 lbs of force... unseen servant would have no way to trigger it. A lot of small monsters will make traps that require some amount of weight to set off (so they can safely walk across it, but a human-sized fighter in armor cannot).
Put it in a cloak, carrying a torch, and see if it gets shot full of arrows as it goes around a corner - that's perfectly legitimate.
You might want your restaurant to be a Mighty Fortress, 100 Unseen Servants you can have respond to customers and enough food to give 100 people 9 courses every day, I. E. 900 courses worth of food.
THIS IS GENIUS! I gave this to some of my earlier characters hoping I could have it drop rocks on monster’s heads or something, but when I found out that it couldn’t attack, I thought it was a waste of a spell. Now, with these ideas, I think I will get it again. It’s more of a utility spell, and a good one too.
Mobility Question:
Can the US ride on you or an ally?
Can you tell it to hang on to a familure and let the familure fly it somewhere within 60'?
Command Complexity Question:
Can you give the US "if then" commands? ex: If a party member falls, then give him a potion. If anyone comes down this hall, then rattle these pots together.
Form Question:
Can you dress your US in things? Can he wear a cape and hat? Can he carry a small bag with potions, torches, caltrops, ect?
No, it cannot attack.
I mean, yeah, if you want to expend a spell slot and wait the 10 minutes casting time rather than using a Mage Hand cantrip for free.
I've just realised a pretty awesome use for this spell. I'm playing a Wizard Character who's focusing on certain spells to make them OP and power-hungry ... which means i'm overlooking simple useful spells like Knock or Light. There are absolutely no stated conditions on this spell for conjuring the Unseen Servant, ' The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range'. It does not specify in any way if you need to SEE where you're casting.
Therefore, our party comes across a locked door or we're trying to break into an office of some kind. Conjure the Unseen Servant on the other side of the door, mentally command them to get the keys or turn the latch/lock, and Ta-Da you can get through (Assuming you don't have a Rogue that can lockpick for you)
I don't think that works based on the following RAW phrasing:
A Clear Path to the Target
To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can't be behind total cover.
If you place an area of effect at a point that you can't see and an obstruction, such as a wall, is between you and that point, the point of origin comes into being on the near side of that obstruction.
Going by its definition "The near side is the side nearest to the kerb" and applying it to D&D, I would argue that it becomes "The near side is the side nearest to the caster" ergo the Unseen Servant would appear between you/the caster and the wall.
Of course simplifying it to "You always need line of sight to what/where you're casting" because you don't know just what is behind the obstruction is a good alternative. As always: check with your DM.
What can this do you ask. These are some tips from an old school 1st edition player. -Carry a torch. -Cheat at darts, make darts fall out. -Close a door/window or make a cloak flutter. -Drag a bag of rocks 45' ahead of the party to set off traps. -Knock on a door. -Lift a skirt. -Place poison ivy. -Set up/take down camp. -Untie shoes or a buckle. -(Start a fight), Cause a drink to spill, but to get grabbed, and so on. -Set up twine and bell around camp for early warning.
Hmm...this feels a little self-contradictory to me. If US has sufficient strength to drag an object of 60 lbs., why doesn't it have sufficient strength to press a pole? I know if I personally poke a pole into the ground, I use arm strength, not necessarily body weight, to do so. Why should it be different for the US?