The Mage Hand spell can move items weighing up to 5 lb. Can I use it on a rope to grapple a foe? Or throw some dirt in a foe's face? Maybe throw something and break a caster's concentration?
Well, the spell can only target a single non-magical item of up to 5lbs so I'd say throwing sand is out. Actually, throwing in general seems to be out since it says that as a move action (about 3 seconds) you can move the object 15 ft. That's quite slow and would probably not be useful it terms of attacking someone.
As a DM, I'd be quite wary about giving the spell too much power (it's already extremely good for a 0th level spell). Remember, if PCs can do it, so can NPCs...
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The Mage Hand spell can move items weighing up to 5 lb. Can I use it on a rope to grapple a foe? Or throw some dirt in a foe's face? Maybe throw something and break a caster's concentration?Well, the spell can only target a single non-magical item of up to 5lbs so I'd say throwing sand is out. Actually, throwing in general seems to be out since it says that as a move action (about 3 seconds) you can move the object 15 ft. That's quite slow and would probably not be useful it terms of attacking someone.
As a DM, I'd be quite wary about giving the spell too much power (it's already extremely good for a 0th level spell). Remember, if PCs can do it, so can NPCs...
Well spoken, sir!
But NPCs can do it first only if the GM thinks of it first. I agree that it would not be useful for throwing something hard enough to inflict damage, but it might be able to annoy an opponent. In any case, all you would have to do is grab it, and then it would be an attended object, and so not subject to the spell.
The spell was extremely useful when we had to place objects correctly to avoid a trap. The wizard used mage hand to place the objects, and we were wrong the first time. But we were all safely out of range!
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Yep, placing objects is a good use. It could be used to drop oiil on an area of the ground with the intent to light it later, but I wouldn't allow it to make splash weapon attacks even if the item is just being dropped (it could completely avoid the range increment penalties for such weapons).
It does say the duration is concentration, so any other standard action taken in a round would disrupt the spell; keep that in mind.