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Baldur's Gate 3

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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What can you ACTUALLY use Mage Hand for? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Is it just me, or is Mage Hand useless? Like, impressively useless.

I'm new to DnD (and DnD-like games) so I could be in the wrong here, but every time I think of something that Mage Hand should be able to do, it just doesn't.

Want to pick up an unreachable item and carry it to me? No.

Want to loot an otherwise unreachable body? No.

Want to pickpocket someone without being caught? No. (Okay, I get that this one would be pretty broken, even in normal DnD this is sometimes disallowed)

Want to fly a few feet up and light an overhead brazier? No.

Want to do literally anything useful? No.

Want to squeeze through a small hole to see a room you've already looted? Sure!

I'm at the point where instead of trying to think creatively about how to use it, I just immediately write it off because it probably can't do whatever I'm thinking of. I am genuinely surprised when I find out Mage Hand can do something, and that's not a good thing.

The only idea I had that actually worked was using it to stealth the early phase spider section by just throwing the gem at the end backwards, then moving the hand in the opposite direction to draw aggro. That's literally the only "useful" thing I've done with it, and I've still not found a use for the gem.

So I ask, what have you done with Mage Hand that's actually useful?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It can't carry, but it can throw stuff from the ground. Came useful in one side quest.

Other than that, used it few times to pull a lever or such. Nothing terribly handy (sorry, not sorry)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Mage hand + levers in the end of Act 1 was super helpful to prevent one of my party from getting stuck, but aside from that - yeah I'm not sure about the usefulness.

As someone with minimal tabletop RPG experience (only Warhammer not D&D), I'm enjoying the crap out of BG3 but I feel I'm missing out on when to use spells and what spells should be used.

Sure there's a spell to go to a different plane after your attack, but like... should I use the scroll on that? What if I would need it later?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Same position here. After I finished my second playthrough I started a dnd campaign with some of my friends, we're all noobs.

I figured late into BG3 that if you need a scroll, use it. There aren't many spells in the game, odds are it'll drop or be sold by a merchant later. Besides, having less resources makes the game more fun.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

A lot of earlier scrolls also don't scale well, so that Melf's Acid Arrow that needed the right moment won't be any better than a typical action sooner than one would think. Definitely use 'em.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I used it to

  • Steal the idol of Sylvanus from the Emerald Grove without starting a fight.
  • Open doors attached to levers on the other side of gates or rooms I could otherwise see into, but not enter.
  • An extra bit of damage in combat; or to shove someone off a cliff from a distance.
  • Grabbing objects that for whatever reason was out of reach of my character (often something on the top of a high shelf).
  • Throwing things I can't reach.
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

We tried to use it to steal the idol from Sylvanus and they still attacked us. Not sure what we did wrong

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I once used it to throw an unreachable chest into a chaam out of spite...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Drop items like healing potions, bombs, etc. with one of your characters. Then use mage hand to throw it by right clicking the dropped items. It's like having a cheap (but weak) bonus healer shaped like a floating hand

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Mage hand is the kind of spell that is incredibly useful and dynamic in actual ttrpgs, and incredibly difficult to design around in a video game.

A GM is going to consider the distance and weight limits of the spell, and determine of it makes sense of not. If you stole The One Ring from Frodo, for example, the GM can pivot and make the world react to that.

The video game has to program all possible uses of the spell while also trying to keep a prewritten story on track. If you steal The One Ring from frodo, the game would have to reinvent the plot dynamically, which isn't really possible. The end result is that they have to severely limit the uses of Mage Hand.

Because Mage Hand is so potentially chaotic, it can't be as useful as it would seem. The same would go for the spells Fly and Invisibility. Imagine the Black Gate of Mordor. If there was a level 6 wizard, they could use fly + invisibility to get everyone safely over the wall. Now, sure, it would take a while waiting for spell slots, but this is supposed to be the most fortified pass in the entire world. Even GMs have problems with this. Suddenly every remotely secure area needs a mage on staff detecting intruders, or permanent enchantments. At that point, Fly might as well not exist.

Edit: I forgot that fly and invisibility both require concentration. Oops. Still, now you only need a level 6 mage and a level 4 mage, which is still pretty easy to pull off.