Summary
Dungeons & Dragonsoffers spellcasters a lot ofdifferent cantripsthat can fulfill all sorts of purposes. However, although some players may be more tempted to just take the cantrips that can deal some damage, there are quite a few cantrips that have far more utility than just killing off goblins. One of these is Prestidigitation, perhaps the most versatile spell out of them all, even spells of higher level.
However, not many know just how useful the spell can be. After all, it seems more focused on performing parlour tricks than anything helpful. But that’s where you’re wrong, as we have a few ways to make this cantrip one of the best spells in your arsenal.
8Culinary Delights
You Can Use Prestidigitation To Make Food Taste Better
When you’re always travelling, you’ll likely depend on the Cleric to create some food and water, which the spell admits tastes plain or perhaps you have some cooking utensils to try and cook something up. But you know what can help your character’s culinary skills? Prestidigitation.
With it, you’re able to actually change the flavour of the food you eat. This means that if you’re playing a chef or need to season up some rations, then you have a cantrip that can always do that and make it taste like whatever you want.
Use Prestidigitation To Make All Kinds Of Trinkets
If you have Prestidigitation, you may actually create a non-magical item for a short amount of time, so this works as long as it’sa non-magical trinketand it can fit in your hand. Do you know what item would be really useful? A key!
Instead of having to rely on a Rogue to pick your locks, if you’re able to see a key perhaps on a guard or anyone else, you can try and use Prestidigitation to replicate it. This way you can use the spell to keep this key and break into whatever you need to without anybody noticing.
6Cover Your Scent
Prestidigitation Can Help You With Hunting
A fun thing to do in a situation where you’re sneaking around is to use Prestidigitation to hide yourself. The cantrip lets you summon up non-harmful sensory effects like a scent and so if you’re in nature, why not use Prestidigitation to come up with a smell that’d be a repellent for common animals like wolves?
If you’re hiding, you could even make yourself smell like something that’s common in the area so it may help you blend in more to your environment, especially if you’re wary of other people looking for you.
5Distraction
This Cantrip Can Help You With Stealth Too
However, if we’re talking about using Prestidigitation for stealth purposes, then a distraction is easy. Prestidigitation also lets you create sounds as part of its feature of harmless sensory effects and the spell has a range of 10 feet.
This means you could use the cantrip to create the sound of faint footsteps in a different direction or muffled yelling that will make anyone nearby think it came from somewhere further away from yourself. It’s simple but also an effective way to help clear an area you’re hiding in.
4Makeshift Small Knives
Prestidigitation Can Also Make Weapons
Do you know what else technically counts as a non-magical trinket that you may fit in your hand? A small knife! It’s actually on the trinket table. So in case you need to cut some rope or find yourself unarmed, then you can use Prestidigitation to create a small knife and it will last until the end of your next turn, meaning you can use it for some attack on your next turn.
Now granted, this is probably better outside of combat, whether you need a knife for some kind of puzzle, like reflecting some light from it or just to cut something more carefully and more subtly than fire or some spell.
3Mark Your Path
This Cantrip Is Great For Dungeons
Now oftentimes, a common trope in dungeons is the maze. We’ve all been in some kind of labyrinth which requires you to mark down where you’ve been or pull a Theseus and leave down something like wool or rope so that you can track where you’ve been. But did you know Prestidigitation can help out too?
The spell allows you to mark surfaces and you can leave a maximum of three marks before one replaces the other. So in case you don’t have enough rope or anything to mark where you’re going, Prestidigitation is a helpful way to not get lost by marking your path.
2Helps With Poison
Poison Your Enemies With Prestidigitation
Say you’re in the scenario where you have to poison someone else, but they may be privy to the fact that their drink smells or tastes odd. Well, Prestidigitation can help with that. You can put poison in someone’s wine and alter the flavour so that the wine tastes the same or even more delectable, potentially making them want to drink more.
This is great for any campaigns that feature a lot of social drama and if a drawback to a poison is that it has a noticeable taste or odour, then Prestidigitation will be the perfect spell to help cover it up and use it on whoever you need to.
1False Runes
Use Spells To Trick Enemies With Illusions
If you’re still a little too low level to cast spells that can guard your base or just don’t have access to them, then use Prestidigitation. You could play a fun little social experiment where you mark the door to your party’s keep or home with similiar markings of a magic runeto make it look trapped.
This way it could ward off any intruders or funnel them to another entryway where you have an actual trap laid out. Either way, this is a little risky but it could just work until you get access to any spells that can actually guard your place.
