Prestidigitation - What do you do?

[Pyrrhus of Epirus]

Prestidigitation

Wizard Cantrip
At-Will ✦ Arcane
Standard Action Ranged 2
Effect:
Use this cantrip to accomplish one of the effects given below.​

✦ Move up to 1 pound of material.​

✦ Create a harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint music, or a strong odor.

✦ Color, clean, or soil items in 1 cubic foot for up to 1 hour.
✦ Instantly light (or snuff out) a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
✦ Chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 pound of nonliving material for up to 1 hour.
✦ Make a small mark or symbol appear on a surface for up to 1 hour.
✦ Produce out of nothingness a small item or image that exists until the end of your next turn.
✦ Make a small, handheld item invisible until the end of your next turn.​

Nothing you create with this cantrip can deal damage, serve as a weapon or a tool, or hinder another creature’s actions. This cantrip cannot duplicate the effect of any other power.​

Special: ​

You can have as many as three prestidigitation effects active at one time.​

I am curious what people are doing with prestidigitation. Personally I find it to be the most interesting aspect of being a wizard. ​

What is your GM letting you do?
What is fair and not OP? ​

Throw your thoughts here.​

✦Create a harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint music, or a strong odor.
- use this to occasionally shroud my face in shadows, I can see out, your can't see in.
✦Chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 pound of nonliving material for up to 1 hour.
- I make beer and wine taste better in bars, needless to say despite a charisma 13 I make friends easily
✦Make a small mark or symbol appear on a surface for up to 1 hour.
- maintain a small "tattoo" on my face representing my deity
- occasionally place humorous marks on others
- place a "seal" or mimics a seal on letters
✦Produce out of nothingness a small item or image that exists until the end of your next turn.
- made a ring appear on my hand to mimic a ring given to me by the local lord. suspected the original of being scryed upon and had to show up at a party wearing it.
- with the clause below I haven’t found much other use here yet.
✦Make a small, handheld item invisible until the end of your next turn.
- hid my wand once and the DM let me maintain the effect while we were being disarmed.​

 

[defendi]

The wizard in my party uses these all the time. He cleans with it a lot. He commonly makes the statement that if you aren't killing people with catrips you aren't trying hard enough.

I once tried to use the last effect to make the alarm bell of a bunch of monsters invisible, so they'd think it had disappeared. The initiative order made the action moot, though.

 

[wedgeski]

My wife plays the wizard in the party I DM and she uses this little gem all the time in Skill Challenges and so-on. Interesting uses so far include conjuring the floor-plan of a dungeon they had explored in the thick pile of an expensive carpet so as to impress a dignitary, and scattering the illusion of verdant green grass over a muddy field to convince an NPC that they could improve his crops if only he would help. All good stuff if you ask me. That and Mage Hand are her two most-cast spells.

 

[Lukeworm]

#Instantly light (or snuff out) a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.

My wizard used this at the first encounter in scales of war to help stop the tavren fire. This and the light cantrip can be useful in a campaign where light, darkens and visability plays a part.

 

[amysrevenge]

My warforged wizard, on a quest to become human, uses Prestidigitation to provide the illusion that he eats, drinks, and... fulfills the "output" requirements of digestion.

He also uses it to generate breathing sounds during the day, and snoring sounds while "resting".

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I designed a "players pursued by bad guys through the sewers" mini-adventure to emphasize the need-for-speed in getting through obstacles.

I introduced fairly simple traps and obstacles that would normally have low DCs that were pushed higher because they were encrusted with sewer filth (like the portcullis controls being filled with foul).

The party wizard busted out with Pretidigitation (for the first time) to clean everything up and I rewarded them with lower DCs as the result.

DS

 

[Pyrrhus of Epirus]

Interesting uses so far include conjuring the floor-plan of a dungeon they had explored in the thick pile of an expensive carpet so as to impress a dignitary, and scattering the illusion of verdant green grass over a muddy field to convince an NPC that they could improve his crops if only he would help.

What kind of size limitation is reasonable for such illusions?
For instance, say a wizard was being chased, ducked into an alley, could he prestidigitation an illusionary outcropping of a wall to cover him?

 

[Starglim]

What kind of size limitation is reasonable for such illusions?
For instance, say a wizard was being chased, ducked into an alley, could he prestidigitation an illusionary outcropping of a wall to cover him?

I'd probably allow effect #2 (a sensory effect) to produce a momentary sweep of shadow or fog, granting enough concealment for him to make a Stealth check against a pursuer running past who didn't know exactly where he went. An illusionary wall is well beyond the scope of the other uses of the cantrip that have stated sizes. Blocking vision through an arrow slit or similar might be OK.

 

[wedgeski]

What kind of size limitation is reasonable for such illusions?
For instance, say a wizard was being chased, ducked into an alley, could he prestidigitation an illusionary outcropping of a wall to cover him?

I would not allow that exact use, no. However, I might consider a momentary distraction or some other effect which would give her a bonus to a Bluff/Hide combo, depending on the circumstances. As always considerations would include: balance (is she treading on another class's toes), pressure (how much time does she have to think about it), and stress (what are the consequences of failure, how much jeopardy is she in?). I also put a strong emphasis on the spell's contribution to the overall fun and coolness of the game, but that's completely circumstantial, and reliant on the degree of buy-in from the rest of the players.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I allow it to be used whenever it makes the situation more fun for the player... usually it occurs during the social/rp situations, but would allow it in combat/chase situations if it added to the excitement factor. If what he proposes seems cool, I say 'yes'... and don't worry at all about "over-powering" or any crap like that.

Because frankly... I'm the DM. Things are only ever "over-powered" when I let them be over-powered. And I don't let things be over-powered because I'm a good DM and know what I'm doing. Any so-called "exploits" a player might have the audacity to try and get away with can easily be nerfed by intelligent dungeonmastering.