Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Mage Hand - has anyone been able to use?

Mage Hand was shown early on by Swen, so I was excited to have it on my character. I have not been able to use it meaningfully in any situations and the AI often attacks it and kills it.

Anyone else had a situation where it was actually useful and not a gimmick?

I presume it's just a placeholder as it doesn't seem to interact with anything. After a few attempts I just avoid it now as it's a waste of resources.

Yeah, you can use it to steal that idol (still triggering whatever gets triggered by this). Also, you can use it to safely take that nasty book guarded by gargoyles spitting fire. You can't use it to pull a lever, which is a shame. That elevator in the Druid Grove just begs to be lifted by Mage's hand. I sincerely hope it is a bug.

I tried to use it to reach a vase that was out of reach of my characters. Nope, the Mage Hand wasn't going to move over terrain that my characters couldn't walk over. Hmmmm.

Yeah I finally had a chance to use it to reach something out of my chars range. Nope apparently you can only cast it on your own level. I could see this spell being a lot of fun if its gets hashed out and has enhanced functionality. I know its early access and I remind myself often. I envy people who can wait and play through. There was another discussion regarding mods. I kind of assume there will be a robust mod scene and also that some form of a DM mode with sandbox assets will be in the version that ships but correct me if i am wrong. I wish we knew what all the glorious fungi and minerals could do! Crafting looks to make a big comeback here and that is promising.

Considering that there are almost 100 mods on nexus at the moment, they won't be a problem.

Mage hand currently works very differently to D&D. If it worked properly it would be very useful. Mage hand is an ethereal extension of your hand and can only interact with objects or carry <10lb, it is immortal as it is ethereal. It has 30ft range and is visually obvious to anyone with eyeballs. Other variants like the Mage hand of ledger......skidum, can't say the bloody word nevermind spell it. Is the arcane tricksters mage hand that can to a whole bunch of interesting stuff like pick locks, disarm traps, pick pockets and has greater invisibility. The gith mage hand is a normal mage hand but invisible.

I used it to flick a spider off a rock it had become marooned on during the fight. THe spider was the last enemy left but I couldnt reach it or kill it. Mage hand to the rescue. Was very satisfying.

I found a good use for it yesterday ...

I was in an area with massive toxic gas clouds.

The Mage Hand (from Laezel) is not harmed by the gases.
Oddly enough, it also did Perception checks to spot the source (hole) where the poison gas comes from, which of course does not make sense, but it is currently implemented like a summon with Perception, like a short term Familiar.

It found the hole and I also used it throw a metal object to block the hole. Laezel was happy to avoid the damage.

nb : otherwise, it is an extra shove in BG3, which is OP and way beyond 5e rules (in which it cannot lift more than 10 lbs and it cost an Action in combat to use it! So, on the tabletop, it is mostly used out-of-combat to move things, trigger traps, at a safer distance).

I dunno, I've found it to be pretty handy so far.

There was one trapped chest that couldn't be disarmed, and would always explode when you opened it. I used Mage Hand from a distance to move the chest, which set off the trap without hurting us.

There was also a chest up on top of a stone column that was unreachable. Used Mage Hand to throw the chest down to a place where I could pick it up.

I use and abuse mage hand on a daily basis to shove enemies, throw objects, make trapped objects explode, move crates and stuff to impede the enemy´s movement or create barricades, move objects that are unreachable because sometimes is wonky, reaching pouches out of reach, move candles so I can take a dip to add 1d4 fire without using movement, etc.

I used it to rescue the mushroom hunter in the underdark by moving his backpack over to him. And then I used it to pick the fancy mushroom his wife wanted.

Reading this thread I understand I really have to use Mage Hand. Sounds like lots of fun.