A potion is a magic item. Mage Hand can't affect it. If an item is held, it is attended. Mage Hand can't affect it.
The target line: "one nonmagical, unattended object weighing up to 5 lbs."
You cannot use Mage Hand to effect an object being worn by, acitvely used by, or held by another person since those objects are considered "attended". So you cannot use the cantrip to grab an object from another's possession. If you wanted fine manipulation with an affect similar to Mage Hand, however, you should see the Arcane Trickster PC. It has a (SU) ability called "Ranged Legerdemain" which allows you to use an affect similar to Mage Hand for Disable Device and Slight of Hand.
The "Steal" combat manuever from the APG and PRD allows to take an item from another with a CMB check in combat, while the Slight of Hand skill will allow you to take something from someone who isn't aware of you. Those would be the methods you would want to look at for taking something from another.
Under the physical description of a potion the PRD describes the container as well, implying (to me at least) that it is considered a single item. I could easily see GMs ruling it either way though, and as a player would find sound logic in either line of reasoning. However I would encourage considering it a magic item so you don't run into unexpected problems down the road with spells like Shatter or Polymorph Any Object.
For sake of arguments lets say you can mage hand a potion. How are you going to open it at range?
However I would encourage considering it a magic item so you don't run into unexpected problems down the road with spells like Shatter or Polymorph Any Object.
Agreed.. we don't need the mage hander swiping the magical longsword off a Fighter's belt because the scabbard isn't magical.
I've treated it as the whole deal is magical, the liquid and the container. As Ringtail said, there could be some funny results (with Mage Hand and some other spells) if you choose to spit hairs on the constructions of objects in that way.
Keep in mind it's a level 0 spell, what you're looking for is the spell Telekinesis.
For sake of arguments lets say you can mage hand a potion. How are you going to open it at range?
Crack the end of the spout on the ground on the ground and skillfully lift it so only a minimal amount spills?
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Anyone have any input/thoughts on that?
As others have mentioned, mage hand doesn't work with magic items. I think the distinction, if it exists, between container and liquid is too fine for my thinking. It starts to get really grey if you were to tie a string around the potion and move the string. But, the spell is a cantrip; at some point that has to have some consideration in limiting use.
I will, however, share a tactic that my daughter used to use in low level games. Warning: what follows is unabashed geek parent pride, as she came up with this as an 8 or 9 year old and used it frequently to good effect. Grease to disarm opponent, followed by mage hand to slide the weapon away to avoid rearming. Or, fighter disarms and then wizard mage hands the weapon away. It only works with non magical weapons below five pounds, but is amusing as all get out. :)
To avoid munchkining we used to rule that mage hand simply could not be used in combat. But that created its own issues, so we are back to ruling on a case by case basis.
I like the grease/mage hand combo and would have no problem with that in my games.
I would probably rule that a typical stoppered potion bottle requires more than five pounds of force to remove the stopper, and that if you break it on the ground, you lose the potion. Of course that's all moot because I wouldn't allow moving or manipulating a potion anyway, I consider the container to also be magical for this purpose. If a player tried to argue that containers for magical items didn't take on the magic of their contents I'd argue that magical bows would not be able to impart their magic to normal arrows.
Probably the most ingenious attempt to use mage hand was by a wizard who attempted to use it to steal an opposing caster's spell component pouch. Clever.
Magehand is mostly a flavor spell. It's mainly for getting one's coat off a coatrack in dramatic fashion.
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Magehand is mostly a flavor spell. It's mainly for getting one's coat off a coatrack in dramatic fashion.
... And for getting the jail cell keys off the hook without having to rely on that scruffy little dog, a bone, and your Handle Animal Skill... ;)
For pouring potions, try the new Scoop cantrip in the Ultimate Cantrips blog article - you'd need to pour the potion into the 'scoop' first, but could then fly it over to your buddy to pour between his lips.
