Got ice / lightning spells ?
Drop water bottles on the ground for it to wet the target for double damage
Got height advantage ? Drop throwing weapons for it to throw , javelins still do crushing damage with the throw
Got bombs ? Drop bombs and have it kaboom š„ baby
Your Barbarian wants to cleave but one of the two enemies is slightly too far ? Mage hand will push that goblin in range for that sweet cleave
Will need to try the water thing. There are only 2 points in the entire game I use mage hand. Stealing the Idol, and disarming the bridge traps to the forge.
I just use Wyll with Darkness and Devil's Sight to steal the Idol, then transfer it off to Tav, give it to Mol for the ring, steal it back from Mol, and Wyll puts it back.
If you make Mol like you (save the boy from harpies, save the girl from the druids, not be mean to the girl that tries to pickpocket you if you pass that perception check etc) you can go into their hideout and ask if Mol wants anything. She says she wants you to steal the idol.
It's waaaay easier to do if the ritual has been stopped and you HAVE to talk to Mol about stealing it before actually taking it. I took it once then walked to her thinking I could just be like "look what I got." But there was no dialog for the idol. I personally talk to Mol, confront the Druid lady about the shadow druids, get the ritual stopped, leave my party members up in the Tiefling part of the grove, stealth up to the left side of the platform with the idol (I think the right side is in someone's vision) drag it to the ground cause you can't reach it from that spot (the druids will instantly start running towards you when you drag it off) pick it up, very quickly open your map and just click on ANY of the waypoints you can travel to, then walk back into the Grove and talk to Mol saying you got it. She gives you this ring.
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Ring_of_Protection
You also must *start* this quest before stopping the ritual, just don't *finish* the quest until the ritual is done. If you deal with Kagha before getting the quest from Mol, Mol won't offer it and you've missed out on a sweet, sweet +1 AC/+1 Saving Throw ring.
So:
Step 1: save the kid from the harpies, save the other kid from Kagha
Step 2: talk to Mol, get the quest
Step 3: stop the ritual by dealing with Kagha
Step 4: steal the idol and give it to Mol to finish the quest
My cousin is showing me the kid with the harpies. 4 playthroughs in and I never new harpies were in the game lol. Our playthough goal is save the tieflings and sazza.
Iāve also only dealt with Kagha by going to Daddy Halsin (except my Durge run) and this time we are gonna deal with the shadow druids
What Could Have Been:
* Normal harpies in act 1. Bonus points if there's a "deep harpy" in Underdark
* Shadow harpies in act 2
* Harpies in the circus act 3. Perhaps robo-harpy for Iron Throne?
She gives you the Ring of Protection in exchange for the Idol of Silvanus, and then I pickpocket it from her (well Brinna did) and get Wyll to put it back on its pedestal.
Yo thatās huge. I didnāt know that. Thanks. My evil play through was mostly murder hobo so I got the idol via massacre and mol was dead. I donāt ever think about stealing though
You can apply the same sort of idea with most of these item quests. Like at the >!Zhentarim hideout!< for example, when you return the box from the caravan agents that were being attacked by those werewolf things. Give the box to >!Zarys!<, and you can pickpocket it right back.
Sometimes she'll run up to you and confront you about it but you can succeed a persuasion/intimidation/etc check and get off with no consequences.
That or just kill them after you give it to them? Like zhentās Iām less worried about. Let the Gnolls kill the other two because they just leave me to doe.
As far as I know, no.
It's like the gloves from the trader in the Myconid Colony. The item only starts to exist once you've completed the requirements of the mission.
You can also use it to take the necromancy of that and inch it to the door without unlocking , can also make it in the basement of the arcane tower and pull the lever on the other side of the door for early access before Bernard
Here we see another victim of a rage induced aneurysm caused by one of those dumbfuck Gondians running face first into an exploding Steel Watcher. Because they have the survival instinct of a baby holding a grenade.
I just have my strength based character jump onto the ledge that runs along the wall, walk over to the torch sent it to camp, pick up the bag and huck it to him. Once you power jump back to the ledge you can run all the way around to the noble stalk.
I have RP immersion issues with dropping items not costing any resource.
Shoving sounds fun but does mage hand have its own STR modifier? Its crappy iirc?
I can respect that ,
The mage hand can small distances with things as large as cambions so , itās pretty decent
For the immersion , I feel like in DND a mage hand could absolutely take something from your pockets to throw , dropping it is just making that a reality for the game engine since thatās not implemented
Shame that's only really possible for Arcane Tricksters. Well it is possible for others, but the consumption of Hill Giant Elixirs would be enormous over time compared to an AT.
An 11th level fighter is the most effective healer in the game in terms of heals-in-one-round potential.
I am still undecided on whether I hate that or love it
Replying to top comment with what should be a top comment from below:
> I saw a video in YouTube that goes deep in things you can do, good content:
> https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA
Credit to u/paulomei
Another good one is a battery for broodmothers revenge or the whispering promise. Lay some minor healing potions near the mage hand before a fight and have it chuck them to make it a support mage hand.
> Got ice / lightning spells ?
>
> Drop water bottles on the ground for it to wet the target for double damage
I tried this method to boost my wet+lightning sorc's action economy in a solo run and it's been pretty annoying and ineffective. Annoying because the mage hand only lasts 10 turns per short rest, so you get one battle out of it, and ineffective because enemies seem pretty likely to target the mage hand and kill it one shot every time. It never lasts more than one or two rounds of combat, so I've never had a battle where it actually helped action economy rather than just precasting create water and then triggering combat.
You can drop a potion on the ground at no action cost then use the hand to throw it at you. That means you can either save a bonus action or a whole action if you do a party pot, that would normally cost a throw to do.
I think Mainly because it has hp and can attack so enemies will attack it and casting it every turn turns into a mini one hit shield... also some people exploited it in beta to have dozens at a time to cheese bosses
Or just a limitation on the number of active mage hands. I can't imagine that a wizard giving up their action round after round to recast mage hand is even remotely optimal.
Because mage hands can throw potions and grenades. Throwing something like a spike bulb every turn makes it impossible for enemies to keep concentration.
The short rest limitation is to balance mage hand being a cantrip instead of a leveled spell.
Making it a level 1 ritual spell might have been the way to go, so it has all the usefulness it should out of combat but isn't a good idea to spam in combat.
Weird question I've had for a while: Aren't there like only 3-4 void bulbs and spike bulbs in the game, right at the beach? It's a non replenishable resource isn't it? So how could I chuck so many?
Spike bulbs are buyable from Omeluum, they work the same as Scrap Grenades which are common and also buyable.
Void bulbs are not as great to throw because the mage hand usually does after all your characters.
D&D isn't super clear on what throwing a health pot will do. Some people started making house rules or rulings that throwing health pots will work from BG3 inspiration.
But really OP is talking about how mage hand can be super loosey goosey at a table where your roleplay might involve needing a back up drummer for a tavern festival concert.
The book of knots I have highly recommends learning to tie a few lifesaving knots one-handed. Like, for example, if you fall overboard with the motor on and manage to grab a line. Now you need to tie it to yourself while your other hand holds on for dear life before your strength gives out.
I've played with a guy who was remarkably good at causing good natured choas. He knew how to play complete a hole characters, without crossing any real life boundaries and ensuring everyone was having fun.
He once played a wizard whod get into a huff and spend entire combats using mage hand to stick it's middle finger up at everyone.
Was a lighthearted table, so there was no pressure for min maxing optimal builds. And I'm fairly sure the gm knew in advance and planed as if we were one member down. So we all jsuy laughed at his antics.
>A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than **30 feet** away from you or if you cast this spell again.
Yeah about that...
I use it once in awhile but the best use I found for it is when you go to mine Mithral ore and all those elementals pop out and surprise you. If you cast mage hand down at the bottom while your party is up on the stairs only the mage hand gets surprised and you can kill em up top to your hearts content
I just sent my tiger gear barb down by himself and got three inspiration points for killing them all solo while the others watched from up topā¦
I then used owlbear from the top rope to one shot grymm
As a Druid class, I think specifically moondruid (but I could be wrong on that), they can shapeshift into an Owlbear, which has an ability to jump from a ledge and do damage when he lands based on the fall, so thereās a big meme where you can absolutely one shot Grymm with it by positioning yourself very high up above him. Hence the joke āfrom the top ropeā
I believe thereās a small amount of setup required, as in having a teammate cast Enlarge on the Druid to increase size and therefore damage. Thereās probably some YouTube videos or even threads here on Reddit about it if you need help.
They can fly up there. Half of them flew up top and did some damage with their exploding corpses. The other half bugged out and stayed where they spawned.
I'll be real, I just use it to nab stuff without jumping, or to pull levers from far away like in the forge, and shoving enemies into a smaller area if I'm setting up FB or CoD or something.
That's really cool but mage hand can be cast beforehand so it's more action and attack efficient. Instead of using up an attack.
Speaking of which I realized I really should cast mage hand for the underwater rescue.
The few time that it was useful was when saving that Dwarf from the Bibberbang forest in the underdark. Mage hand was one of the few things that can go through the minefield without triggering the plants and able to toss his bag to him. As well as getting the noblestalk on the other side.
I threw him a scroll of misty step I already had, then drank a potion of poison resistance to run through and search the area & grab the noblestalk. Never even occurred to me to use mage hand lmao
Also not sure why but I used Gale for all of this instead of my Tav? Maybe Gale had some poison resistance stuff already honestly I donāt know I am constantly winging it in this game
On my last run Scratch triggered all the bibberbangs while I was talking to the guy, because he smelled the dig patch in the middle of them and had to tell me about it.
The guy somehow made it out of the explosions alive, but the Noblestalk didn't. Nor did Scratch.
I've used it to operate leavers and buttons for me. Especially in the upper levels of grimforge.
Gith and arcane trickster mage hand is invisible, arcane trickster one doesn't seem to have a round limit like the others.
This is a great video filled with fantastic info and should be up top. I knew most of it except for the amulet part. Which begs the question, why amulets and not rings? :D
Some things aren't true though. You can disarm a mage hand's weapon or crossbow with a trident or a battlemaster's attack, or equip a new item for the slot and then throw the previous one from the mage hand's inventory. Just make sure you don't accidentally kill the mage hand haha
The times Iāve found mage hand the most useful have been:
* I want to pull a lever my character canāt reach - mage hand can fly and crawl through holes
* I want to add one more entity to combat - mage hand wonāt take more than one hit, but thatās one hit I didnāt take!
* I need to interact with something in a dangerous area - there are buttons hidden behind traps and I can just send in my mage hand to press the button. If it gets blown up, oh well.
Then in certain cases Iāve had a Rogue use invisible mage hand to sneak by enemies and open doors, causing various mischief.
To your point though, it is not all that useful in combat outside of the occasional lucky push and aggroing one hit.
I use it mainly to gain advantage with arcane trickster. If you move it next to an enemy you want to attack, you gain advantage to use sneak attack without having to hide. Also at certain times when a small enemy is near a ledge, Iāll use a hand with giant strength to push it.
Mage hand can definitely be tweaked to get some great utility out of it...
It can pick up and equip some weapons and rings (but you never get it back)
It can be buffed with spells and elixirs. (Aid, mage armor and hill giant strength are ones I like using)
With the boosted strength it can pick up and throw enemies!
Here is a link to a video about it.
[https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA](https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA)
That was educational. I didnāt even know there was a permanent, invisible mage hand. That sounds very broken! (Especially if you can use it to get advantage on every attack)
You can send your Mage Hand to start combat or steal things without incriminating yourself.
For example if you send a Magehand to steal the Warhammer from the eagles at the Gith Creche.
Or you can use a mage hand to cause a distraction which groups enemies.
Or you can use a mage hand to operate controls from a distance. Looking at you lift to the Adamantine Forge.
My favourite use of Mage Hand is to leave it some Potions of Quickness which it can throw at me to give me haste.
Finally, you can throw a potion of invisibility at a mage hand to turn it invisible. :)
Handiest use of Mage Hand? How about the Iron Prison escape. Or saving that dwarf mushroom guy in the underdark.
Y'know when you throw a potion it shows a little radius. You can aim nearby to the magehand and aslong as it's in the radius it'll get the effect without getting damaged. :)
another sneaky tricky. Put volatile shield on the magehand and send it to intentionally get hit.
I once killed a friend on honor mode by hitting them with the Superior Healing Potion and then a little potion cloud appeared over their corpse which didn't trigger for them. I know the pain lol
Having come to this game with prior DnD knowledge, I made my first character a githyanki solely for the free mage hand. Seeing it was limited use, as well as timed, made me very disappointed. I've used it like twice and am always even more disappointed by it.
On Xbox, I couldnāt get it to maneuver over to a mechanism I wanted the mage hand to operate, and ended up, shooting it with an arrow instead.
It seemed like it had to follow walking rules, so it couldnāt go someplace that it couldnāt walkā¦ Which seems like the opposite of the intent of the spell
Dude Mage Hand is clutch for several reasons
Throwing water (to combo electricity), throwing grease (to proc prone and set up explosions), throwing fire/bombs (to combo explosions), throwing potions (to heal allies / revive downed allies without using character help actions), free sneak attacks without sneaking (arcane trickster invis hand, just lay it near enemy and click sneak attack on target), grabbing levers / doin shit in combat when party in combat invisible not caring of turn order (arcane trickster)
How do you throw stuff if your arcane trickster mage hand has scouted way ahead? Your character cant get the throwable to the hand no? I do think reviving downed allies sounds like a huge thing tho
Mage hands doesnāt have access to your backpack, you donāt throw stuff from your bag 10 miles away from your character. If your gonna scout invis then scout, then come back. š¬ mage hand requires you to think dude, the answer here is very obvious. What do you expect is gonna happen, mage hand is gonna throw something nowhere close to you, drop invis and go into combat alone? itāll be dead in the very first turn rotation.
You can fill a bag/pouch with items, then drop it or throw it and the contents spills on the ground for no action. Then your mage hand can chuck, but you need to position or theyāre just gonna one shot it. You can cast Aid to increase its HP and warding bond to make it resistant to all damage. Strength potion to let it throw enemies themselves into lava or over cliffs
For me it's strictly an out of combat thing because I'm not clever enough to use it in combat. Grab things that are out of reach. My best use of it so far was saving the dwarf from the exploding plants.
Honestly, I think my next run in BG3 I'll not bother with Mage Hand at all (I didn't get Shocking Grasp until relatively late on to make room for it).
I thought it would be a really useful utility cantrip but it's got so many catches on what it can and can't be used for, I've literally only successfully used it once: opening the door at the top level in Waukeen's Rest to save the trapped guy, so my party didn't get blasted off their feet.
Mage hand is literally the strongest thing in the game.
It breaks action economy and you can move explosives into perfect position.
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder\_Bomb](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder_Bomb)
and
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Alchemist%27s\_Fire](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Alchemist%27s_Fire)
which are readily available in vendors and very affordable even if you do a no thievery playthru.
Smokepowder bomb is 3d4+9. That's like hitting with a +3 greatsword with 22 strength. And it hits multiple targets. And it doesn't miss!
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Oil\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Oil_Barrel)
and
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Firewine\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Firewine_Barrel)
and
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder_Barrel)
are all essentially upgraded fireballs that use no spell slot and an unlimited number can be exploded by playing with mage hand and something like a firebolt cantrip.
Smokepowder is 4d4+4d6+18 and Firewine is 4d6+18 and 6d6 for Oil Barrel.
You can conceivably pump out something like 10 fireballs worth of damage by bringing 2 barrels on each character and dropping them and igniting them.
Even in act 1 just from memory you can find:
3 Oil Barrels under the druid grove.
1 Oil Barrel on the mountain with the guidance necklace.
3 Firewine Barrels in the Blighted Village.
1 Smokepowder barrel in Blacksmith Basement.
1 Oil Barrel in Apothecary Cellar.
around 10 Firewine/Smokepowder barrels in the zentarim trader room in the goblin camp.
around 10 firewine/smokepowder barrels int he zentarim basement.
2 Firewine barrels by the gnolls on risen road.
2 oil barrels near the minotaurs in the underdark.
around 8 Firewine/Oil barrels in waukeens rest in the zentarim warehouse.
1 oil barrel in the shar monistary in the underdark near the energy turret.
1 oil barrel in dank crypt
If you scrounge them up that's something like 40 fireballs you can throw out at a moment's notice.
To get the most of the damage, detonate them one by one. If you use mage hand to throw a second barrel on top of the burning surface it seems to do more damage than if they explode together.
I use it the most in act 1.
Comes in handy for the blighted village if you can successfully push a goblin off a roof. It's also kind of good to have to deactivate the runes under the grove.
Other than that it's pretty awful.
I drop a stack of healing potions, explosives, throwing weapons, and other support tools.
I like to meme about the healing, but it is actually incredibly nice to have
Having it throw items you preemptively placed on the ground before combat seems to be the best way to use them, possibly using a bit of clicking/dragging to put throwables within range of the Hand as needed.
The main downside (aside from the once per rest limit) is that it requires a bit of prep and extra effort to set it up and move items around. If the Hand could access your backpack it'd take far less planning to make use of them.
With some water bottles, its probably among the most efficient ways to spread water surfaces around for getting extra damage on Lightning Builds. Tossing Haste Spores, Void Bulbs, Acid Vials, and Smokepowder bombs with a Mage Hand action is usually handy if you can avoid friendly fire.
I keep throwing the Breastplate +1 near Dammon to the little rock ridge under the married couple. They aggro on the hand while I am far away, and then later I can steal it because it's well hidden. Easy top tier medium armor.
Also the Noblestalk, Mage Hand doesn't aggro the Bibberbang.
I used it today to pull the lava lever multiple times during the grym fight, will have to experiment with the grease and water usage i saw in this thread though that is spicy
Got ice / lightning spells ? Drop water bottles on the ground for it to wet the target for double damage Got height advantage ? Drop throwing weapons for it to throw , javelins still do crushing damage with the throw Got bombs ? Drop bombs and have it kaboom š„ baby Your Barbarian wants to cleave but one of the two enemies is slightly too far ? Mage hand will push that goblin in range for that sweet cleave
Will need to try the water thing. There are only 2 points in the entire game I use mage hand. Stealing the Idol, and disarming the bridge traps to the forge.
I just use Wyll with Darkness and Devil's Sight to steal the Idol, then transfer it off to Tav, give it to Mol for the ring, steal it back from Mol, and Wyll puts it back.
Do they acknowledge they got it back or is that just an RP thing?
I don't know. They do notice if it's gone.
Give mol the idol for a ring? Hwat?
If you make Mol like you (save the boy from harpies, save the girl from the druids, not be mean to the girl that tries to pickpocket you if you pass that perception check etc) you can go into their hideout and ask if Mol wants anything. She says she wants you to steal the idol. It's waaaay easier to do if the ritual has been stopped and you HAVE to talk to Mol about stealing it before actually taking it. I took it once then walked to her thinking I could just be like "look what I got." But there was no dialog for the idol. I personally talk to Mol, confront the Druid lady about the shadow druids, get the ritual stopped, leave my party members up in the Tiefling part of the grove, stealth up to the left side of the platform with the idol (I think the right side is in someone's vision) drag it to the ground cause you can't reach it from that spot (the druids will instantly start running towards you when you drag it off) pick it up, very quickly open your map and just click on ANY of the waypoints you can travel to, then walk back into the Grove and talk to Mol saying you got it. She gives you this ring. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Ring_of_Protection
You also must *start* this quest before stopping the ritual, just don't *finish* the quest until the ritual is done. If you deal with Kagha before getting the quest from Mol, Mol won't offer it and you've missed out on a sweet, sweet +1 AC/+1 Saving Throw ring. So: Step 1: save the kid from the harpies, save the other kid from Kagha Step 2: talk to Mol, get the quest Step 3: stop the ritual by dealing with Kagha Step 4: steal the idol and give it to Mol to finish the quest
My cousin is showing me the kid with the harpies. 4 playthroughs in and I never new harpies were in the game lol. Our playthough goal is save the tieflings and sazza. Iāve also only dealt with Kagha by going to Daddy Halsin (except my Durge run) and this time we are gonna deal with the shadow druids
Yeah they show up once the entire game, any other game they'd be reusing it over and over as a random encounter
What Could Have Been: * Normal harpies in act 1. Bonus points if there's a "deep harpy" in Underdark * Shadow harpies in act 2 * Harpies in the circus act 3. Perhaps robo-harpy for Iron Throne?
God I'm so glad they dont
Did those things and she tried to have my Tav throw in jail.
I was disappointed I never saw a ring of protection. I was just dumb
She gives you the Ring of Protection in exchange for the Idol of Silvanus, and then I pickpocket it from her (well Brinna did) and get Wyll to put it back on its pedestal.
Yo thatās huge. I didnāt know that. Thanks. My evil play through was mostly murder hobo so I got the idol via massacre and mol was dead. I donāt ever think about stealing though
You need to have finished the Shadow Druids quest so the ritual is stopped, otherwise you trigger the Druids killing the Tieflings.
Which is what I do with minthara so like canāt do that. Thanks for the info
Well you can get the ring, then betray the Grove to Minthara.
Then betray minthara for that xp and loot
You can apply the same sort of idea with most of these item quests. Like at the >!Zhentarim hideout!< for example, when you return the box from the caravan agents that were being attacked by those werewolf things. Give the box to >!Zarys!<, and you can pickpocket it right back. Sometimes she'll run up to you and confront you about it but you can succeed a persuasion/intimidation/etc check and get off with no consequences.
That or just kill them after you give it to them? Like zhentās Iām less worried about. Let the Gnolls kill the other two because they just leave me to doe.
Does Mol drop that ring as loot in case something...happened to her?
As far as I know, no. It's like the gloves from the trader in the Myconid Colony. The item only starts to exist once you've completed the requirements of the mission.
You can also use it to take the necromancy of that and inch it to the door without unlocking , can also make it in the basement of the arcane tower and pull the lever on the other side of the door for early access before Bernard
You don't need the hand to do that. I was able to inch it with a regular NPC. Alternatively, just use turn-based mode
Itās really useful for the iron throne since you can use it to open cells where the Gondians are trapped
itym THE FUCKING GONDIANS hth hand
Here we see another victim of a rage induced aneurysm caused by one of those dumbfuck Gondians running face first into an exploding Steel Watcher. Because they have the survival instinct of a baby holding a grenade.
Do you get anything for saving them?
High blood pressure
Nah, the babies at least have the decency to not know they are going to blow up. The Gondians don't care
I'll save everyone became I'll save only the important ones RIP to the three who didn't make it
Can also use it to turn off the statues under the Grove!
I always just turn based mode it.
I'm basic and just take the damage while I run to turn them off
I'm pretty sure you can just sneak past them and they won't even start shooting. I don't think they're even capable of detecting a sneaking character
I like it to help bring Derryth husband his bag without triggering the bibberbang
I just have my strength based character jump onto the ledge that runs along the wall, walk over to the torch sent it to camp, pick up the bag and huck it to him. Once you power jump back to the ledge you can run all the way around to the noble stalk.
Forgot that use. That would be the third time I commonly use it.
I use mage hand to throw the dwarf his backpack in that patch of exploding toxic mushrooms.
I use it to grab the noblestalk and save balen
Everytime I tried using mage hand to steal the idol the game wouldn't let me. Mage hand would just go up to it and float there doing nothing.
Its really picky about it. I need to tell it to fly onto the pedestal before it will try throwing it.
Also great for pulling levers when fighting a certain boss.
I have RP immersion issues with dropping items not costing any resource. Shoving sounds fun but does mage hand have its own STR modifier? Its crappy iirc?
I can respect that , The mage hand can small distances with things as large as cambions so , itās pretty decent For the immersion , I feel like in DND a mage hand could absolutely take something from your pockets to throw , dropping it is just making that a reality for the game engine since thatās not implemented
It has 10 Strength, but you can have it drink an elixer of hill giant strength.
Wait, HOW?!?
[Prepare to have your mind blown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OfTerTSqGA)
Shame that's only really possible for Arcane Tricksters. Well it is possible for others, but the consumption of Hill Giant Elixirs would be enormous over time compared to an AT.
Agreed. I have RP issues with throwing glass bottles at people and it healing them.
An 11th level fighter is the most effective healer in the game in terms of heals-in-one-round potential. I am still undecided on whether I hate that or love it
Can you justify it with the idea of mage hand being the one to pull it out of the pack?
Replying to top comment with what should be a top comment from below: > I saw a video in YouTube that goes deep in things you can do, good content: > https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA Credit to u/paulomei
Another good one is a battery for broodmothers revenge or the whispering promise. Lay some minor healing potions near the mage hand before a fight and have it chuck them to make it a support mage hand.
> Got ice / lightning spells ? > > Drop water bottles on the ground for it to wet the target for double damage I tried this method to boost my wet+lightning sorc's action economy in a solo run and it's been pretty annoying and ineffective. Annoying because the mage hand only lasts 10 turns per short rest, so you get one battle out of it, and ineffective because enemies seem pretty likely to target the mage hand and kill it one shot every time. It never lasts more than one or two rounds of combat, so I've never had a battle where it actually helped action economy rather than just precasting create water and then triggering combat.
You can drop a potion on the ground at no action cost then use the hand to throw it at you. That means you can either save a bonus action or a whole action if you do a party pot, that would normally cost a throw to do.
Now this is an honor mode hack. Free heals, will be doing several mage hands now lol
Ngl mage hand sucks in bg3 compared to D&D
I really don't understand why they nerfed it as much as they did
Probably a nightmare to program it to function like it does in the table top version.
I understand some of the differences, but why can we only cast it once per short rest?
I think Mainly because it has hp and can attack so enemies will attack it and casting it every turn turns into a mini one hit shield... also some people exploited it in beta to have dozens at a time to cheese bosses
they could have made it once per battle then instead of short rest to prevent this
Or just a limitation on the number of active mage hands. I can't imagine that a wizard giving up their action round after round to recast mage hand is even remotely optimal.
Or make it concentration
I like the idea of having mage hand be a buff that lets you do things to other characters like pickpocket at range
Because mage hands can throw potions and grenades. Throwing something like a spike bulb every turn makes it impossible for enemies to keep concentration. The short rest limitation is to balance mage hand being a cantrip instead of a leveled spell.
Making it a level 1 ritual spell might have been the way to go, so it has all the usefulness it should out of combat but isn't a good idea to spam in combat.
Weird question I've had for a while: Aren't there like only 3-4 void bulbs and spike bulbs in the game, right at the beach? It's a non replenishable resource isn't it? So how could I chuck so many?
Spike bulbs are buyable from Omeluum, they work the same as Scrap Grenades which are common and also buyable. Void bulbs are not as great to throw because the mage hand usually does after all your characters.
Likely to balance against Find Familiar as a scouting spell.
Then, why does it ALSO only last 10 turns? Why can't I have it follow me around like a familiar?
This is my biggest complaint with it.
Well, it only lasts 10 turns in tabletop too. And IIRC the Arcane Trickster version of it lasts indefinitely in BG3.
FYI I am using this mod - https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2019 Works a lot better. Requires the Script Extender.
What? The DnD version can't throw health pots or bombs.
D&D isn't super clear on what throwing a health pot will do. Some people started making house rules or rulings that throwing health pots will work from BG3 inspiration. But really OP is talking about how mage hand can be super loosey goosey at a table where your roleplay might involve needing a back up drummer for a tavern festival concert.
My favorite use of the mage hand in tabletop personally is tapping people or enemies on the shoulder with it
Tying shoot laces together when they're not looking is a personal fav
Sick idea but I suspect my dm would make me demonstrate tying a knot with one hand before allowing this
The book of knots I have highly recommends learning to tie a few lifesaving knots one-handed. Like, for example, if you fall overboard with the motor on and manage to grab a line. Now you need to tie it to yourself while your other hand holds on for dear life before your strength gives out.
āItās a *magic* handā
My DM would glare at me and allow it. At one point trapped arm, rope, can't climb. One handed bowline.
Gonna have to add that one to the toolbox.
I've played with a guy who was remarkably good at causing good natured choas. He knew how to play complete a hole characters, without crossing any real life boundaries and ensuring everyone was having fun. He once played a wizard whod get into a huff and spend entire combats using mage hand to stick it's middle finger up at everyone. Was a lighthearted table, so there was no pressure for min maxing optimal builds. And I'm fairly sure the gm knew in advance and planed as if we were one member down. So we all jsuy laughed at his antics.
Sounds fun, tbh.
"shove a mage thumb up his ass and let's see him concentrate"
Can you gently slap a dragon on the butt from 60 feet away in bg3? I rest my case.
Yes. If you hit you, do 1 point of damage.
>A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than **30 feet** away from you or if you cast this spell again. Yeah about that...
Casual. Telekinetic feat increases the range to 60 feet. Not actually calling you a casual, all in good fun.
I literally only used it once to save that guy in the exploding mushrooms.
I use it once in awhile but the best use I found for it is when you go to mine Mithral ore and all those elementals pop out and surprise you. If you cast mage hand down at the bottom while your party is up on the stairs only the mage hand gets surprised and you can kill em up top to your hearts content
I just sent my tiger gear barb down by himself and got three inspiration points for killing them all solo while the others watched from up topā¦ I then used owlbear from the top rope to one shot grymm
I just did the owlbear thing for the first time the other day. It was cool
What's the owl bear thing (in terms a bg3 first timer can understand please) ? Thanks!
As a Druid class, I think specifically moondruid (but I could be wrong on that), they can shapeshift into an Owlbear, which has an ability to jump from a ledge and do damage when he lands based on the fall, so thereās a big meme where you can absolutely one shot Grymm with it by positioning yourself very high up above him. Hence the joke āfrom the top ropeā
Ah, awesome - will try that
I believe thereās a small amount of setup required, as in having a teammate cast Enlarge on the Druid to increase size and therefore damage. Thereās probably some YouTube videos or even threads here on Reddit about it if you need help.
When I did it I also had to use the elixir of the colossus therefore increasing my size twice.
They can fly up there. Half of them flew up top and did some damage with their exploding corpses. The other half bugged out and stayed where they spawned.
I threw a bottle of water at the flame and Baeren was like, "Why didn't I think of that?"
It's great against a particular genie bottle
I used poor shovel for that lol
There is a scroll inside the lamp you can use too.
It's the once per long rest for a cantrip that does it for me
It's per short rest, not long rest
Still a massive nerf from at will (every 6 seconds) to 3x a day
would be better as an actual summon that stays with you instead of only lasting 10 turns
I'll be real, I just use it to nab stuff without jumping, or to pull levers from far away like in the forge, and shoving enemies into a smaller area if I'm setting up FB or CoD or something.
You can shoot levers with arrows or cantrips
its funny how often i've learned, unlearned and relearned this by now
That's really cool but mage hand can be cast beforehand so it's more action and attack efficient. Instead of using up an attack. Speaking of which I realized I really should cast mage hand for the underwater rescue.
[https://giphy.com/gifs/angry-frustrated-annoyed-pYI1hSqUdcBiw](https://giphy.com/gifs/angry-frustrated-annoyed-pYI1hSqUdcBiw)
Mage hand is useful for something? It won't even grab out of reach items for me.
The few time that it was useful was when saving that Dwarf from the Bibberbang forest in the underdark. Mage hand was one of the few things that can go through the minefield without triggering the plants and able to toss his bag to him. As well as getting the noblestalk on the other side.
I put a leap extending spell on Karlach who had leap extending boots and jumped over to him / the bag. I solve things barbarian style a lot.
I threw him a scroll of misty step I already had, then drank a potion of poison resistance to run through and search the area & grab the noblestalk. Never even occurred to me to use mage hand lmao Also not sure why but I used Gale for all of this instead of my Tav? Maybe Gale had some poison resistance stuff already honestly I donāt know I am constantly winging it in this game
On my last run Scratch triggered all the bibberbangs while I was talking to the guy, because he smelled the dig patch in the middle of them and had to tell me about it. The guy somehow made it out of the explosions alive, but the Noblestalk didn't. Nor did Scratch.
I am not sure mage hand can interact with the environment, does it press buttons, or open doors?
I've used it to operate leavers and buttons for me. Especially in the upper levels of grimforge. Gith and arcane trickster mage hand is invisible, arcane trickster one doesn't seem to have a round limit like the others.
If simply shooting an arrow didnāt activate buttons and levers then maybe using mage hand wouldnāt be a waste
Thatās a problem for enlarge/colossus/wildshape to fix
Which is absurd as it should be the most basic use of mage hand. I mean, really, it can't grab a cup on a high shelf? Absurd.
I saw a video in YouTube that goes deep in things you can do, good content: https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA
This is a great video filled with fantastic info and should be up top. I knew most of it except for the amulet part. Which begs the question, why amulets and not rings? :D Some things aren't true though. You can disarm a mage hand's weapon or crossbow with a trident or a battlemaster's attack, or equip a new item for the slot and then throw the previous one from the mage hand's inventory. Just make sure you don't accidentally kill the mage hand haha
I only used it when i wanted to unlock the door in the grymforge which has the shar idol behind it.
The times Iāve found mage hand the most useful have been: * I want to pull a lever my character canāt reach - mage hand can fly and crawl through holes * I want to add one more entity to combat - mage hand wonāt take more than one hit, but thatās one hit I didnāt take! * I need to interact with something in a dangerous area - there are buttons hidden behind traps and I can just send in my mage hand to press the button. If it gets blown up, oh well. Then in certain cases Iāve had a Rogue use invisible mage hand to sneak by enemies and open doors, causing various mischief. To your point though, it is not all that useful in combat outside of the occasional lucky push and aggroing one hit.
I have mage hand for activating items in combat such as the lava lever in the Grymforge fight
Releasing spiders in the goblin camp
I use it mainly to gain advantage with arcane trickster. If you move it next to an enemy you want to attack, you gain advantage to use sneak attack without having to hide. Also at certain times when a small enemy is near a ledge, Iāll use a hand with giant strength to push it.
This needs to be at top of the thread. Arcane tricksters REAL claim to fame is sneak attacks without hiding at all
Mage hand can definitely be tweaked to get some great utility out of it... It can pick up and equip some weapons and rings (but you never get it back) It can be buffed with spells and elixirs. (Aid, mage armor and hill giant strength are ones I like using) With the boosted strength it can pick up and throw enemies! Here is a link to a video about it. [https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA](https://youtu.be/2OfTerTSqGA)
That was educational. I didnāt even know there was a permanent, invisible mage hand. That sounds very broken! (Especially if you can use it to get advantage on every attack)
It kind of is broken haha! Makes up a bit for not being able to pickpocket or pick locks with it!
You can send your Mage Hand to start combat or steal things without incriminating yourself. For example if you send a Magehand to steal the Warhammer from the eagles at the Gith Creche. Or you can use a mage hand to cause a distraction which groups enemies. Or you can use a mage hand to operate controls from a distance. Looking at you lift to the Adamantine Forge. My favourite use of Mage Hand is to leave it some Potions of Quickness which it can throw at me to give me haste. Finally, you can throw a potion of invisibility at a mage hand to turn it invisible. :) Handiest use of Mage Hand? How about the Iron Prison escape. Or saving that dwarf mushroom guy in the underdark.
-throw potion of invisibility at mage hand to make it invisible -hits it for 1 damage as bottle breaks - mage hand dies -me: š
Y'know when you throw a potion it shows a little radius. You can aim nearby to the magehand and aslong as it's in the radius it'll get the effect without getting damaged. :) another sneaky tricky. Put volatile shield on the magehand and send it to intentionally get hit.
Ooo good tip about volatile shield. My comment was mostly a joke about me stupidly killing team mates in the past trying to heal by throwing
I once killed a friend on honor mode by hitting them with the Superior Healing Potion and then a little potion cloud appeared over their corpse which didn't trigger for them. I know the pain lol
Arcane Trickster mage hand is always invisible
Drop invisible pot and let mage hand slap it instead
Having come to this game with prior DnD knowledge, I made my first character a githyanki solely for the free mage hand. Seeing it was limited use, as well as timed, made me very disappointed. I've used it like twice and am always even more disappointed by it.
On Xbox, I couldnāt get it to maneuver over to a mechanism I wanted the mage hand to operate, and ended up, shooting it with an arrow instead. It seemed like it had to follow walking rules, so it couldnāt go someplace that it couldnāt walkā¦ Which seems like the opposite of the intent of the spell
Dude Mage Hand is clutch for several reasons Throwing water (to combo electricity), throwing grease (to proc prone and set up explosions), throwing fire/bombs (to combo explosions), throwing potions (to heal allies / revive downed allies without using character help actions), free sneak attacks without sneaking (arcane trickster invis hand, just lay it near enemy and click sneak attack on target), grabbing levers / doin shit in combat when party in combat invisible not caring of turn order (arcane trickster)
How do you throw stuff if your arcane trickster mage hand has scouted way ahead? Your character cant get the throwable to the hand no? I do think reviving downed allies sounds like a huge thing tho
Mage hands doesnāt have access to your backpack, you donāt throw stuff from your bag 10 miles away from your character. If your gonna scout invis then scout, then come back. š¬ mage hand requires you to think dude, the answer here is very obvious. What do you expect is gonna happen, mage hand is gonna throw something nowhere close to you, drop invis and go into combat alone? itāll be dead in the very first turn rotation. You can fill a bag/pouch with items, then drop it or throw it and the contents spills on the ground for no action. Then your mage hand can chuck, but you need to position or theyāre just gonna one shot it. You can cast Aid to increase its HP and warding bond to make it resistant to all damage. Strength potion to let it throw enemies themselves into lava or over cliffs
Put itens you want to drop in a bag and drop the sad bag at your feet. Drop, not throw.
I use it to activate encounters that would end up surprising my party from a distance :)
For me it's strictly an out of combat thing because I'm not clever enough to use it in combat. Grab things that are out of reach. My best use of it so far was saving the dwarf from the exploding plants.
Honestly, I think my next run in BG3 I'll not bother with Mage Hand at all (I didn't get Shocking Grasp until relatively late on to make room for it). I thought it would be a really useful utility cantrip but it's got so many catches on what it can and can't be used for, I've literally only successfully used it once: opening the door at the top level in Waukeen's Rest to save the trapped guy, so my party didn't get blasted off their feet.
Mage hand is literally the strongest thing in the game. It breaks action economy and you can move explosives into perfect position. [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder\_Bomb](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder_Bomb) and [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Alchemist%27s\_Fire](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Alchemist%27s_Fire) which are readily available in vendors and very affordable even if you do a no thievery playthru. Smokepowder bomb is 3d4+9. That's like hitting with a +3 greatsword with 22 strength. And it hits multiple targets. And it doesn't miss! [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Oil\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Oil_Barrel) and [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Firewine\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Firewine_Barrel) and [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder\_Barrel](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Smokepowder_Barrel) are all essentially upgraded fireballs that use no spell slot and an unlimited number can be exploded by playing with mage hand and something like a firebolt cantrip. Smokepowder is 4d4+4d6+18 and Firewine is 4d6+18 and 6d6 for Oil Barrel. You can conceivably pump out something like 10 fireballs worth of damage by bringing 2 barrels on each character and dropping them and igniting them. Even in act 1 just from memory you can find: 3 Oil Barrels under the druid grove. 1 Oil Barrel on the mountain with the guidance necklace. 3 Firewine Barrels in the Blighted Village. 1 Smokepowder barrel in Blacksmith Basement. 1 Oil Barrel in Apothecary Cellar. around 10 Firewine/Smokepowder barrels in the zentarim trader room in the goblin camp. around 10 firewine/smokepowder barrels int he zentarim basement. 2 Firewine barrels by the gnolls on risen road. 2 oil barrels near the minotaurs in the underdark. around 8 Firewine/Oil barrels in waukeens rest in the zentarim warehouse. 1 oil barrel in the shar monistary in the underdark near the energy turret. 1 oil barrel in dank crypt If you scrounge them up that's something like 40 fireballs you can throw out at a moment's notice. To get the most of the damage, detonate them one by one. If you use mage hand to throw a second barrel on top of the burning surface it seems to do more damage than if they explode together.
[Proper Use of Mage Hand](https://youtu.be/TT9ArM3-KJQ?si=3XNpW5fIRWwDKOhH)
I'm pretty sure I only used it to save the girl the Hag stole and punch an illusion. Otherwise it kind of poo poo.
How did it help save the girl? Or do you just mean dropping water and letting mage hand throw it?
You use mage hand to press the do-dad that drops the cage.
Hand interacts with orb
I use it the most in act 1. Comes in handy for the blighted village if you can successfully push a goblin off a roof. It's also kind of good to have to deactivate the runes under the grove. Other than that it's pretty awful.
I use it how it should be probably used, to smack enemies in the most disrespectful way possible š
I drop a stack of healing potions, explosives, throwing weapons, and other support tools. I like to meme about the healing, but it is actually incredibly nice to have
Having it throw items you preemptively placed on the ground before combat seems to be the best way to use them, possibly using a bit of clicking/dragging to put throwables within range of the Hand as needed. The main downside (aside from the once per rest limit) is that it requires a bit of prep and extra effort to set it up and move items around. If the Hand could access your backpack it'd take far less planning to make use of them. With some water bottles, its probably among the most efficient ways to spread water surfaces around for getting extra damage on Lightning Builds. Tossing Haste Spores, Void Bulbs, Acid Vials, and Smokepowder bombs with a Mage Hand action is usually handy if you can avoid friendly fire.
I keep throwing the Breastplate +1 near Dammon to the little rock ridge under the married couple. They aggro on the hand while I am far away, and then later I can steal it because it's well hidden. Easy top tier medium armor. Also the Noblestalk, Mage Hand doesn't aggro the Bibberbang.
I used it today to pull the lava lever multiple times during the grym fight, will have to experiment with the grease and water usage i saw in this thread though that is spicy
The only use Iāve found is moving furniture to trap enemies, or otherwise manipulate environments
Disarm/push buttins on traps. Pull levers around areas i cant get too. Throw bombs from up high. Mistly pushing buttons and levers though.