I loved the idea of hiding something in a hollow object, like a coconut maybe. Definitely going to try to use this at some point. Being able to cast mending is a really good way to gain a favorable reputation in towns and villages.
I do the 10' pole trick but cut the lengths down to 1', 2', 3', and 4'. This gives me the ability to mend the pole to be a greater variety of lengths as well as use the pieces as impromptu tape measuring devices.
This video is great, I personally would let a player use mending to repair cloa thing that has have holes put into it by fire and whatnot, it’s a cantrip not gonna break anything :p
A lot of these tricks to use mending are also great for dms to use as puzzles to give players with mending both a AH HA! moment and teach a new way to use the spell. This channel is great.
Never considered the idea of using Mending to cover up something hidden inside an object, will have to use that one. Also the idea of breaking an axle on something important. Our party has a really good cart (made largely in part by my Artificer), and while it does have Arcane Lock on every door and window, and a rather nasty beast of burden pulling it, having some extra insurance when leaving it behind in the wild or near a dungeon might help at some point
Depending on if hair is considered an object or living tissue, someone could use mending to cut off their hair or beard and reattach it later. Simply braid the hair or beard so it's more like rope and less like a million tiny follicles, use something like a ring to keep the hairs in their place, and then make a clean cut to. Then later you can use mending to reattach it. This could be used for disguises or perhaps used in RP like if a noble with long hair or a dwarf with a long beard has to leave home to fight, but their long hair/beard could be a hindrance in battle. So they have their hair cut in a specific way so they can go out to fight, but later they can return and have it reattached with mending. Or, it could be used to prove someone's identity (to an extent) where they have a lock of hair cut off and kept someone, then later they can return and have it reattached. Since mending can only fix things that were once the same object, if an imposter tried claiming to be the owner of the hair it wouldn't' mend. Of course, this would all depend on the DM.
i play in a game where we are all humans from the real world transported into the dnd world, this spell is invaluable for repairing my car that always breaks down
The obvious use is never mentioned... the party arrives in town you have several hours to kill, and you can either make a killing by announcing you will magically repair things that people bring you for a fraction of buying them new. Or you get the mayor and tell him to announce that for the next day you will magically fix what the people bring you if it can be so fixed and you will do it for free. I imagine you can either take credit yourself for this and have an entire village view you as a good guy who isn't afraid to waste a little magic on the common folk to make their lives easier. Or alternatively, you can let the mayor take credit at no cost to have a powerful ally.
There are lists for the uses of mending though at the tippy top is for Archers. Arrows break and generally you will loose about 50% at each table of those you recover. But if you mend them you can get back all (or almost all) of them. Also the better use is mending as a security device is to have a person that you will your players to meet send them a box with a twig (or dried leaf for the more nature feel) from a rare tree in the box. The contact has the other half. (This is better because leaves and tree branches are innocuous in natural and pre modern eras and no one is going to care about it.)
I have noticed a few hand wavy uses of this spell... so let's see how much this sticks to RaW (Rules as Written) or RoC (Rule of Cool). 0:50 - Tearing up documents. Well, first off... jigsaw puzzle. If you can mending it back together, so can they. But, this may interfere with their ability to identify it as worth looking at. However, it is a little suspect to have torn up a document and then kept it... why not discard it to compost or burn it to prevent restoration? That may make it worth them using a cantrip to check the document. It also depends on the DM's decision on one thing... does mending only work on something broken once? In other words, does breaking part of the broken thing result in preventing mending? Most DMs will say you can fix it, but I had one that ruled the second break renders it un-mendable by the mending cantrip. 1:07 - Snooping on secrets. Read mail, without leaving a trace. 1:28 - Unbreakable chains. I don't follow. So, you have a chain forming a loop. You break one link to open the loop, then wrap the captive in the chain... and mend the link back to complete the loop. Or... have a length of chain. Then wrap it around the captive, and padlock it closed. If they can flex or pry to break the padlock... they can also do that to break the chain. I'll just call this above my head. 1:42 - Broken 10ft pole. Makes it easier to transport. Mend it when need it. Okay... don't use it myself. 2:01 - Break up cumbersome loot. This still depends on the DM... some may rule that breaking into into multiple pieces renders it outside of mending ability to repair. So a statue smashed up for transport might be in too many pieces to repair. 2:10 - Hollowed out objects. More like using a hollow object to conceal stuff. Ex: If you break open a coconut, it contains fluid. You dump the fluid, it has not changed the structure... just the contents. Mend it closed. Ex: If you break open a watermelon. If is solid... soft material. You hollow it out, by removing structure. Does mending work? I guess it depends on if you consider mending to 'repair to prior state' or if it 'fuses it back together'. Because if it tried to return it to the prior state, there is material missing so it can't fix it. And if you put something in it, you are blocking an area that other material is supposed to be in. 2:23 - Secret pockets. Basically, craft something that is follow (or layered) and then break it open and then put something in to mend it closed. ex: Make a quilt, then slash one patch open, put a secret document inside, then mend it closed. 2:39 - Carriage Hobbling (aka: anti-theft device) Break something you can mend, like axel. Hope your cart thief doesn't also have mending... --- Rules 3:10 - List of things it can't fix. Note : Some DMs will include 'items broken more than once'. Others will allow spending a minute per layer of breaking. So those 3 pieces of 10ft pole could either be 3 pieces forever... or take 2 minutes (once per break) to fix. 3:20 - Can't target living. I would say, 'doesn't affect living'. But, tomato / tomato. 3:26 - Mending for corpse repair. 3:38 - Repair Arrows * stares * It's so obvious. I just have to ask how many broken ones I can find in a mend-able condition... maybe simplify to a markup on how many arrows are recovered. 3:45 - Each tear or break takes 1 minute. Or, the DM rules it can only mend something with a single break. But most will allow re-assembly of multi-broken... so you won't owe 10k gold for that vase you broke in the hallway on the way to the king's audience chamber. 3:59 - Cannot affix items with mending. 4:12 - Cannot create matter. If some material is missing... can't mend it. So even get the smallest of pieces of the king's vase. (DM might allow mending on location, and the magic finds the missing pieces for you. 1 minute to re-attach a grain of sand sized piece. Dust? 1 minute per particle.) --- Worth it? Video : Yes, in RP heavy. Not so much in combat focused campaigns. Multiple casters not needed. Me: Yes... so long as your DM isn't over strict about spell rules. Yes, I know that smashing open a rock technically will create shrapnel shards... but do I need to put every single piece back on? As for multiple casters... depends on if you want to speed up repairs of more broken things. I mean, a smashed statuette could become a group jigsaw puzzle party.
if it did not take a minute. In combat this would be deadly. still out of combat. This would be helpful. take a wooden plank .split it in 2. Place around object then mend. Now this is up to DM to chose what happens. it fails , stop mending at the object, it mend around the object or cut it though it to fully mend . The last one is the last thing DMs want to do straight out. I'll put some rolls or some thing in place because that is broken thing to give players. It pretty much make magical bolt cutters for the cost of a plank of wood or less. Beheading dragons in their sleep with thread would not be out of the question. Hell if you could find some thing so long. You could cut mountains in half. 2nd to last is not so bad but if you are doing money matter kind of stuff. This will throw a wrench into the works . player could make things by mending things around other things. handcuffs with not keys from slab of iron with a cut in it. make homes. Now the 2nd is weird. It can lead to trap making which can lead to a bunch of weird things t players will pull. lots scamming you could do with this one.
Yea, you'd still be able to mend it back to its original dimensions, but it takes n-1 minutes to repair a thing, with n being the number of rips in it. So if you tore a paper into 4 pieces, it would take 3 Mending casts to completely repair it. You can kind of imagine it as "how many pieces of magical tape would it take to put this thing back together?"
@@dndlounge ohhh, gotcha, I read it differently. I'm very new to spell casting and it's been ages since I've played dnd. I'm playing a trickery cleric now - so looking for ways to get the most out of RP and combat. This seems like a great option!
If the properties of an item are changed, can it reverse it. I.e. the gm says the plate armor was made brittle from extreme heat, can it make that like new again?
Actual thing that happened. Many years ago my mom was asked if she darn socks. Mom, "Yes I do. I hold up the sock and say 'You darn sock', throw them away, and then I go by another pair."
I loved the idea of hiding something in a hollow object, like a coconut maybe. Definitely going to try to use this at some point.
Being able to cast mending is a really good way to gain a favorable reputation in towns and villages.
I do the 10' pole trick but cut the lengths down to 1', 2', 3', and 4'. This gives me the ability to mend the pole to be a greater variety of lengths as well as use the pieces as impromptu tape measuring devices.
3:20 Gentle Repose -> Mending -> Revivify.
Back alley magic surgery.
That's...maniacally brilliant :D
This spell could make proficiency with a Forgery Kit much more useful!
This video is great, I personally would let a player use mending to repair cloa thing that has have holes put into it by fire and whatnot, it’s a cantrip not gonna break anything :p
A lot of these tricks to use mending are also great for dms to use as puzzles to give players with mending both a AH HA! moment and teach a new way to use the spell. This channel is great.
Never considered the idea of using Mending to cover up something hidden inside an object, will have to use that one. Also the idea of breaking an axle on something important. Our party has a really good cart (made largely in part by my Artificer), and while it does have Arcane Lock on every door and window, and a rather nasty beast of burden pulling it, having some extra insurance when leaving it behind in the wild or near a dungeon might help at some point
Depending on if hair is considered an object or living tissue, someone could use mending to cut off their hair or beard and reattach it later. Simply braid the hair or beard so it's more like rope and less like a million tiny follicles, use something like a ring to keep the hairs in their place, and then make a clean cut to. Then later you can use mending to reattach it. This could be used for disguises or perhaps used in RP like if a noble with long hair or a dwarf with a long beard has to leave home to fight, but their long hair/beard could be a hindrance in battle. So they have their hair cut in a specific way so they can go out to fight, but later they can return and have it reattached with mending. Or, it could be used to prove someone's identity (to an extent) where they have a lock of hair cut off and kept someone, then later they can return and have it reattached. Since mending can only fix things that were once the same object, if an imposter tried claiming to be the owner of the hair it wouldn't' mend.
Of course, this would all depend on the DM.
Definitely DM-dependent, but I love this idea as a poor man's disguise kit in a pinch
It's definitely nonliving matter, the problem is that each hair is a separate object....
i play in a game where we are all humans from the real world transported into the dnd world, this spell is invaluable for repairing my car that always breaks down
The obvious use is never mentioned... the party arrives in town you have several hours to kill, and you can either make a killing by announcing you will magically repair things that people bring you for a fraction of buying them new. Or you get the mayor and tell him to announce that for the next day you will magically fix what the people bring you if it can be so fixed and you will do it for free. I imagine you can either take credit yourself for this and have an entire village view you as a good guy who isn't afraid to waste a little magic on the common folk to make their lives easier. Or alternatively, you can let the mayor take credit at no cost to have a powerful ally.
I love the idea of hobbling your cart to avoid thieves
These are awesome ideas!
It would not work with ancient artifacts, though, if they were magic. Maybe that’s not what you meant?
I meant the "it belongs in a museum" type artifact more than the "let's use this magic sword to kill bad guys" type artifact :)
There are lists for the uses of mending though at the tippy top is for Archers. Arrows break and generally you will loose about 50% at each table of those you recover. But if you mend them you can get back all (or almost all) of them.
Also the better use is mending as a security device is to have a person that you will your players to meet send them a box with a twig (or dried leaf for the more nature feel) from a rare tree in the box. The contact has the other half. (This is better because leaves and tree branches are innocuous in natural and pre modern eras and no one is going to care about it.)
I like that, reminds me of a functional BFF necklace.
I have noticed a few hand wavy uses of this spell... so let's see how much this sticks to RaW (Rules as Written) or RoC (Rule of Cool).
0:50 - Tearing up documents.
Well, first off... jigsaw puzzle. If you can mending it back together, so can they. But, this may interfere with their ability to identify it as worth looking at. However, it is a little suspect to have torn up a document and then kept it... why not discard it to compost or burn it to prevent restoration? That may make it worth them using a cantrip to check the document.
It also depends on the DM's decision on one thing... does mending only work on something broken once? In other words, does breaking part of the broken thing result in preventing mending?
Most DMs will say you can fix it, but I had one that ruled the second break renders it un-mendable by the mending cantrip.
1:07 - Snooping on secrets.
Read mail, without leaving a trace.
1:28 - Unbreakable chains.
I don't follow. So, you have a chain forming a loop. You break one link to open the loop, then wrap the captive in the chain... and mend the link back to complete the loop.
Or... have a length of chain. Then wrap it around the captive, and padlock it closed.
If they can flex or pry to break the padlock... they can also do that to break the chain. I'll just call this above my head.
1:42 - Broken 10ft pole.
Makes it easier to transport. Mend it when need it. Okay... don't use it myself.
2:01 - Break up cumbersome loot.
This still depends on the DM... some may rule that breaking into into multiple pieces renders it outside of mending ability to repair. So a statue smashed up for transport might be in too many pieces to repair.
2:10 - Hollowed out objects.
More like using a hollow object to conceal stuff.
Ex: If you break open a coconut, it contains fluid. You dump the fluid, it has not changed the structure... just the contents. Mend it closed.
Ex: If you break open a watermelon. If is solid... soft material. You hollow it out, by removing structure. Does mending work?
I guess it depends on if you consider mending to 'repair to prior state' or if it 'fuses it back together'. Because if it tried to return it to the prior state, there is material missing so it can't fix it. And if you put something in it, you are blocking an area that other material is supposed to be in.
2:23 - Secret pockets.
Basically, craft something that is follow (or layered) and then break it open and then put something in to mend it closed.
ex: Make a quilt, then slash one patch open, put a secret document inside, then mend it closed.
2:39 - Carriage Hobbling (aka: anti-theft device)
Break something you can mend, like axel.
Hope your cart thief doesn't also have mending...
--- Rules
3:10 - List of things it can't fix.
Note : Some DMs will include 'items broken more than once'. Others will allow spending a minute per layer of breaking.
So those 3 pieces of 10ft pole could either be 3 pieces forever... or take 2 minutes (once per break) to fix.
3:20 - Can't target living.
I would say, 'doesn't affect living'. But, tomato / tomato.
3:26 - Mending for corpse repair.
3:38 - Repair Arrows
* stares * It's so obvious. I just have to ask how many broken ones I can find in a mend-able condition... maybe simplify to a markup on how many arrows are recovered.
3:45 - Each tear or break takes 1 minute.
Or, the DM rules it can only mend something with a single break. But most will allow re-assembly of multi-broken... so you won't owe 10k gold for that vase you broke in the hallway on the way to the king's audience chamber.
3:59 - Cannot affix items with mending.
4:12 - Cannot create matter.
If some material is missing... can't mend it. So even get the smallest of pieces of the king's vase.
(DM might allow mending on location, and the magic finds the missing pieces for you. 1 minute to re-attach a grain of sand sized piece. Dust? 1 minute per particle.)
--- Worth it?
Video : Yes, in RP heavy. Not so much in combat focused campaigns. Multiple casters not needed.
Me: Yes... so long as your DM isn't over strict about spell rules. Yes, I know that smashing open a rock technically will create shrapnel shards... but do I need to put every single piece back on?
As for multiple casters... depends on if you want to speed up repairs of more broken things. I mean, a smashed statuette could become a group jigsaw puzzle party.
The use to rip documents or to reseal documents are genius
The cantrip will also work with wax seals or lead-wire peace bonds.
Great ideas!
if it did not take a minute. In combat this would be deadly.
still out of combat. This would be helpful.
take a wooden plank .split it in 2. Place around object then mend. Now this is up to DM to chose what happens. it fails , stop mending at the object, it mend around the object or cut it though it to fully mend .
The last one is the last thing DMs want to do straight out. I'll put some rolls or some thing in place because that is broken thing to give players. It pretty much make magical bolt cutters for the cost of a plank of wood or less. Beheading dragons in their sleep with thread would not be out of the question. Hell if you could find some thing so long. You could cut mountains in half.
2nd to last is not so bad but if you are doing money matter kind of stuff. This will throw a wrench into the works . player could make things by mending things around other things. handcuffs with not keys from slab of iron with a cut in it.
make homes.
Now the 2nd is weird. It can lead to trap making which can lead to a bunch of weird things t players will pull. lots scamming you could do with this one.
Cool! I thought it can only mend one break? Like, if you rip up your paper into more than two pieces, are you able to mend it back to normal?
Yea, you'd still be able to mend it back to its original dimensions, but it takes n-1 minutes to repair a thing, with n being the number of rips in it. So if you tore a paper into 4 pieces, it would take 3 Mending casts to completely repair it. You can kind of imagine it as "how many pieces of magical tape would it take to put this thing back together?"
@@dndlounge ohhh, gotcha, I read it differently. I'm very new to spell casting and it's been ages since I've played dnd. I'm playing a trickery cleric now - so looking for ways to get the most out of RP and combat. This seems like a great option!
If the properties of an item are changed, can it reverse it. I.e. the gm says the plate armor was made brittle from extreme heat, can it make that like new again?
If the DM is nice, you can repair a big object by using an hour and an arcana or tools check.
Oh definitely. It’s not even about being nice for me, more that I don’t wanna count how many individual breaks an object has lol
@@dndlounge you can make a ship in a jar whit this spell, I think I will homebrew a talent to make this cantrip do some verry fun stuff.
Great vid
Use the spell to disassemble a shop wagon, store it in a portable hole or box it up. Use mending to reassemble the wagon.
The "cannot create matter" means you can't darn your socks with it; which seems a shame.
You could even say that it's a...darn shame.
Actual thing that happened. Many years ago my mom was asked if she darn socks.
Mom, "Yes I do. I hold up the sock and say 'You darn sock', throw them away, and then I go by another pair."