Unseen Servant - Needs Retuning

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

The spell has a maximum duration of 1 minute, requires concentration in order to maintain/provide orders.

That maximum duration is pretty painful, considering it provides such minor tasks.

If the maximum duration is one minute then the spell needs to be a cantrip, so a caster can have their Unseen Servant provide all day cleaning services (even if it does leave them fatigued for doing so).

As is, why would any self-respecting spellcaster learn this spell, it would mean a maximum of 3-4 minutes cleaning per day. Barely enough time to clean your dishes, let alone cook breakfast.

[Ediwir]

Yup, totally needs returning. It's not about combat presence, it's about having a butler.

[Corwin Icewolf]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

The spell has a maximum duration of 1 minute, requires concentration in order to maintain/provide orders.

That maximum duration is pretty painful, considering it provides such minor tasks.

If the maximum duration is one minute then the spell needs to be a cantrip, so a caster can have their Unseen Servant provide all day cleaning services (even if it does leave them fatigued for doing so).

As is, why would any self-respecting spellcaster learn this spell, it would mean a maximum of 3-4 minutes cleaning per day. Barely enough time to clean your dishes, let alone cook breakfast.

and you have to concentrate on it. Having to sit there and focus on the unseen servant while it's doing my laundry is just ridiculous, at that point I might as well do it myself, I mean what self respecting wizard does their own household chores?

[Xenocrat]

They’re worried about trap defusing, not your laundry.

[LordKailas]

I think they unionized. they now refuse to work without supervision and will no longer work for more than 1 minute per casting.

I agree that the spell needs to go back to being the way it was. If they are worried about it being used for traps, just include language that makes them useless for that task. Instead of making them useless for all tasks.

[MarshallP]

I'm glad other people have noticed this. I looked at the spell today and I was shocked at how impractical it was to use. Ironically, I think by decreasing the duration so much, what they have done is made it so that the only people who will take the spell are the people who will use it to defuse traps. The people like me, who always took the spell for flavor and fun, probably aren't going to as much any more.

[Grimcleaver]

Yeah. Ditto.

Look at it this way, whoever picks this spell is intentionally forgoing combat effectiveness to some degree in order to do so. It's 100% about the roleplay satisfaction they get from the spell. So it'd be nice if the game met them halfway by rewarding that sacrifice with a lot of flavor and open-ended utility.

Same with quite a few of the standard of living spells...

[Doktor Weasel]

This one is pretty horrible. All the flavor uses of the spell have been nerfed into pointlessness. Apparently because people were sending them to trigger traps.

One suggestion I gave a while ago in another thread that was quickly buried is to make it a ritual. Most of the time I've encountered Unseen Servants it's usually a room or building that's got a permanent Unseen Servant effect to do all the mundane chores or serve guests. Why not make it a ritual that lasts weeks, months or even years and is locked to a location? That would stop the usage to trigger traps, and still let you have an unseen servant to do your laundry and serve tea. It also won't use one of your very few spell slots. This would however keep you from traveling with it. So no butler on the go.

The duration of spells in general need to be fixed. Concentration is pretty bad too. Just about every aspect of magic has been nerfed way beyond any reasonable point and should be restored.

[sherlock1701]

I'm running a campaign right now where the choir mage has unseen servant and uses it to trigger traps at times. It can't trigger every trap, and it doesn't necessarily circumvent them when it does. And, it gets dismissed if it takes an aoe for 6+ damage (likely if it's triggering a trap). But it's a useful option and a reasonable one, and I'm unsure as to why it's viewed as a problem.

[NorthernDruid]

As it is the spell isn't worth having printed in the book.

At least if they remove it there's a chance to ask your GM to port the spell over from PF1.