Hello! I've been trying to make a build that will have a lot of use of Mage Hand but I'm afraid I'm not 100% on the action economy on how to use it. The biggest question I guess is: do I get to do something with it immediately when I cast it?
I'm hoping to use Mage Hand with the feat Magic Trick to use Dirty Magic Trick and/or Ranged Aid. How exactly would this work? In addition, how would it work if I had the Swift Aid feat? Can I use Mage Hand with Spellstrike in this way? Or maybe Ranged Spellstrike?
Thanks for your help in advance.
Because it's a spell you have to concentrate on, whatever you are doing requires your standard action anyway. Of note is that the spell does not let you attack, which means you cannot aid with it short of the feat and swift aid is it's own action (as the bonuses are different, so it doesn't just replace/offer a new alternative to the normal aid another) so it wouldn't be able to be used with Dirty Magic Trick/Ranged Aid or any other Magic Trick benefits.
Just to point out a few things… making use of the abilities you qualify for from the magic trick feat does NOT require you to actually cast the spell unless specifically stated in the abilities description. When it comes to mage hand tricks, nearly all of them have no such requirement largely due to the fact that it is a cantrip and the effects are merely improvements upon common tasks. Powerful Hand and Reaching Hand are the only ones that actually require you to actively cast the spell.
That said… without casting it as a spell ranged aid will not count as a ranged touch spell for spellstrike. Not that it really makes any sense to use it with spellstrike in the first place…
As for the standard action economy of mage hand… if upon your initial cast of the spell you can choose to manifest the hand at your targets location thus allowing you to use an action right away, but moving the hand afterwards still costs you your move action and it doesn’t move very fast… and since it is a concentration spell you spend your standard action each round to maintain it… which basically means if you need to move the hand but arnt moving an object you may as well recast… some GMs may simply rule that moving the hand without an object is unrestricted so long as it remains in the spells range as a part of the standard action to maintain (since for most who can use mage hand this is not much different than just recasting it)
I think I meant spell combat instead of spellstrike. Could I potentially cast Mage Hand with spell combat, have the hand manifest on
or next to my target and use either Ranged Aid or Dirty Magic Trick during that action? I would then not concentrate on it, it would go away, then on my next turn using spell combat just do it again?
If you want to get the most out of a mage hand build I would take Aether Kineticist as your class. Their Basic Telekinesis functions as Mage Hand but allows you to lift 5lbs/2 levels and allows you to lift magical items as well (and can even function as a bowl to hold liquids).