Tiny Hut: Not Only Jabba’s Ironic Nickname
Spell Level: 3
School: Evocation
Casting Time: 1 minute (ritual)
Range: Self
Duration: 8 hours
Components: V, S, M (a small crystal bead)
A 10-foot-radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above you and remains stationary for the duration. The spell ends if you leave its area.
Nine creatures of Medium size or smaller can fit inside the dome with you. The spell fails if its area includes a larger creature or more than nine creatures. Creatures and objects within the dome when you cast this spell can move through it freely. All other creatures and objects are barred from passing through it. Spells and other magical effects can’t extend through the dome or be cast through it. The atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry, regardless of the weather outside.
Until the spell ends, you can command the interior to become dimly lit or dark. The dome is opaque from the outside, of any color you choose, but it is transparent from the inside.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Undead monstrosities are closing in; the stench of rotting flesh encompasses your sense of smell, setting in a constant nausea. The sounds of their clattering steel and bone against stone echoes through the halls of the undercity. You’ve managed to sneak your way to the treasury, the dracoliches nest, where it lies in wait for you expectantly. But first, before rising to this epic climax, it's time for a break! Pull out your Tiny Hut, pop up on the couch, and get some well deserved R&R in your own private getaway, anytime, anywhere! If you’ve got a minute, you’ve got a long rest!
That, in essence, is my problem with Tiny Hut. It can suck the drama and tension of an adventure away in moments where players probably aren’t supposed to be long resting. It gives you an invincible little dome monsters can’t get in, but will certainly be waiting on the outside when you finish upon finding this suspicious little hut resting in their lair. It's a long rest shelter for a 3rd level slot, which can easily lead to hurt feelings and conflicts with a DM who works to challenge the group for taking this tactic.
When used fairly, Tiny Hut prevents some random encounters. Maybe you’re camping out in the wilderness and don’t want some wild owlbear stumbling across your camp, ruining your sleep. Tiny Hut is a ritual way to say “No thank you!” to these random, circumstantial encounters. With this scope in mind, Tiny Hut is decent at tables with lots of random encounters in a dangerous wilderness. I can appreciate it there.
Where I appreciate it a lot less is in the big thematic dungeons with raid bosses at the end you build towards. Tiny Hut can feel like an excuse to blow all your resources on the lead up fights because you “know” you’re getting a long rest out of Tiny Hut should you just get a minute of respite. It makes any place you can take a short rest long restable to many players. DMs may then have monsters take countermeasures, setting up traps or just lying in wait for the dome to eventually go away, but this can be contentious. Some players can feel that they’re DM wants to punish them for getting their stuff back, and is being mean by camping on top of the dome with a bunch of readied actions. A TPK is not out of the question when a dungeon boss gets every creature in the dungeon standing outside the dome with readied actions to massacre whoever’s in it when the wall comes down. They had eight hours to plan this, after all, which the party can watch get assembled around them. From there, you get an arms race like circumstance where the player’s unload everything they have the moment the walls come down, and the building collapses around them. It can be… confrontational.
I think most tables won’t have these problems with Tiny Hut, but some will. Be aware of the conditions and risks of it if you want to cast it. I’d highly encourage you to think of it more as a random encounter avoiding tool more than a long rest in a bottle you can pull out where, as the consequences can quickly outway the benefits. Said consequences have a tendency to be lethal. Tiny Hut is dangerous: use with caution.
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