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I play an Arcane Trickster rogue, and I'm a Forest Gnome, so I'm already Small, weighing in at 55lbs with my gear. I'm wondering whether, if I cast enlarge/reduce on myself to make myself smaller, I would be able to pick myself up with my mage hand and essentially fly with it while the spell is active.

I guess the meat of the question, then, is whether a tiny willing creature can be counted as an object to manipulate or carry.

V2Blast
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Jeff Nador
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3 Answers3

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Yes, you can do this

You can probably just do this outright (i.e., use the hand directly on yourself to move you off the ground and to fly you around places), but if your DM prohibits you from being able to do it outright (on the basis that the spell specifies it can move objects, items, and a couple other non-gnome things, but makes no mention of creatures) you can certainly do it with an appropriate prop (I recommend a broomstick as a matter of tradition, but you could just use your clothes).

Via reduce your weight as a gnome can be as little as 5ish (4.375) pounds. That leaves 5 pounds for a sturdy thing-to-ride-on, at which point you can fly. disadvantages include you can't take anything with you that has more than negligible weight, and your margin of error for butterflies and such landing on your craft is pretty small. But it does work, and you can do it.

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Please stop being evil
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No, this is not possible

Even though your gnome weighs around only 7lbs while reduced, the limiting factor is that Mage Hand can only manipulate Objects.

A miniature you, no matter how willing, is not an object but a creature, so that would not be possible, by RAW.

In any case, a DM could be lenient and allow those antics, as per rule of zero/cool, but strictly speaking, you can't.

V2Blast
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daze413
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    This isn't a reasonable grounds for prohibition. You could easily get around this obstacle by moving your clothes with you in them, or a siv, or a mortar and pestle, or whatever else you feel like riding in. A broomstick perhaps. – Please stop being evil Sep 16 '17 at 06:18
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    I think it's a reasonable ruling. RAW, that sort of maneuver (moving someone's clothes) wouldn't be allowable against monsters, for the same reason you cannot disarm–it would be an attack, so it should not be allowed against self. But that's the strictest RAW interpretation. At my table, I'd allow it, since the gnome would be burning a second level spell, and could reasonably be considered grappled (someone else is doing your moving for you). – keithcurtis Sep 16 '17 at 06:27
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    I don't mind the grapple, since I wouldn't use this in combat anyways, considering it reduces my damage by 1d4 and imposes disadvantage on STR checks/saves. This was more of a way to avoid having to take Fly to get to hard-to-reach places, when Enlarge/Reduce can solve that problem and a whole host of others. My other option is to enlarge a Hawk Familiar and use it as a mount, which I'm not any more sure of than this. – Jeff Nador Sep 16 '17 at 06:37
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I would consider flight simply moving the hand, the fact that you're on the hand isn't an action of the spell.

Not that i'm an authority really, i do like playing around with words quite a lot however and i think this interpretation overlaps

A spectral, floating hand appears. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. It vanishes if it's ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use it to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet at a time. The hand can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds

Specifically because the hand is not manipulating the creature, it is moving and the creature is holding on

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Kristopher Donnelly
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