Making Fun of Magic (part 4)

This is part 4 of my series where I explore magic in Dungeons & Dragons 5e that manages to be everything but magical. You can read the other posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. 

This might be my preachiest, nitpickiest, crotchetiest post in this series. It's also probably the last one in this series, so strap in. As I type this up I'm reminded of a quote from a wise and fictional warlord, "Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence." This is more or less applicable here, too, except we scratch out the word water, and we replace it with another equally important and massively essential factor in survival: shelter. 

Immortan Joe by Christopher Flork

That's right, I am now picking on those pesky magic spells that provide shelter and safety with no repercussions to millions of adventuring parties around the world. Specifically, the spells Rope Trick, Leomund's Tiny Hut, and Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. 

The thing is, I actually like these spells. They serve a very specific function: provide magical protection for one or more adventurers. If spells like Slow and Ray of Enfeeblement are utility spells that can be categorized as "debuffs", then we can think of spells like Rope Trick and LTH as "long-term area denial." They have some nice flavor in their own right creating fun, fantastical imagery as they take effect. Even the names seem to tease at an unspoken history or lore behind the creation of the spell to tickle the creative mind and beg for further inquiry should they so please. I just feel like they could be spicier. 

My main issue with these spells, comes from a mix of how some players end up using them and also how some dungeon masters struggle to deal with them. And, just to be consistent with the rest of the series, they are for the most part designed to not interact with a certain part of the game, but to wholesale skip the idea of random encounters through the night. It's a common enough trope, the whole setting up watch in shifts that even first time players will default to doing that in my experience whenever a long rest comes up. Taking turns, watching for animals and weird noises in the night. (And then there are those that play elves and warforged and get into semantic arguments about what is sleeping vs. resting vs. meditating et al, but we're not going to talk about them). 

There's nothing wrong with that (except for the fact that, even in the previously mentioned game of Spell Slots & Character Sheets, these don't even come with a cost thanks to being 'rituals'). If you're travelling the wilderness and exploring the countryside, the wizard now plays just as big a role as the ranger when it comes to telling the DM you don't want to have to care about survival and exploration. Just skip us to the next plot point please.

The other issue, however, is dealing with spells like LTH as a DM, which is a symptom of players using (or abusing, depending on your perspective) these spells in places any rational adventurer probably wouldn't use them IE middle of the dungeon, and dungeon masters trying to provide a gameplay experience that the players are either implicitly or explicitly conveying they don't want to play. Think about it, you're behind enemy lines, deep in dangerous and deadly territory. Why would you choose to sit in the same spot for 8 hours straight, unless you felt like you had a free pass to do so. 

A cursory search online will yield hundreds of forum posts of dungeon masters asking the rpg hivemind how to deal with players who "abuse" LTH and the like, which is compounded by the fact that the verbage for some of these spells is up for debate to the point where even the lead game designers can't seem to provide a consistent answer. 

In the future I might add to that discussion with ways I've encountered and subsequently dealt with overreliance on spells like that (as well as mistakes I've made in doing so). Quick note: just taking movement or flat out not allowing players to be half-in/half-out of spells like this will cut out a lot of headache. Remembering how long 8 hours actually is, and not allowing "resting" in dangerous areas filled with monsters and threats will probably also address 99% of common issues. Ok, I feel like I'm getting sidetracked. Let's mix it up. 

Rope Trick

Summons an intradimensional, extraplanar boggart. The rope is an aphrodisiac and entices the boggart to keep its mouth open for the players to take refuge in. Everything within the extradimensional cheek-pocket gets swallowed if you make the boggart angry, or if he runs out of rope to eat. Oh yeah, it eats the rope. May or may not burp you out into The Phlogiston, or wherever someone else summons it. 

Leomund's Tiny Hut / Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum

Calls forth the private astral beach-shanty getaway of some overworked, underpaid wizard chasing a pension. Has a chance of bringing that wizard along as well. Roll on a reaction table to see how he deals with annoyingly uninvited adventurers (who, for some reason, have access to his private astral beach-shanty getaway. Maybe it's an interdimensional time-share situation, and the property manager got the bookings mixed up; magic is tricky). Smells like cigar smoke and suntan lotion.

Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion 

All castings of the spell lead to the same extradimensional space, appearances and furnishings are retroactively decided by whoever showed up most recently. All staff and servant are bound by unbreakable magic contract to receive new guests with a highly choreographed and very loud song and dance number before providing accommodations, much to the chagrin of other guests using the space.

Alternatively, check out this post over at Goodberry Monthly for some other great ideas on how to use these spells.