What does Mage Hand Lergedermain do?

[Zeyo]

Like, I know what it's supposed to do in 5e, but what does it do in this game? Is it just mage hand but invisible? I'd experiment, but it's a short rest ability now for some ungodly reason.

[AsianGirlLover]

I guess mage hand was too op to just be a normal cantrip? It literally just lets you do anything and everything a normal character could do - at a distance.

[Zeyo]

Originally posted by AsianGirlLover:

I guess mage hand was too op to just be a normal cantrip? It literally just lets you do anything and everything a normal character could do - at a distance.

Definitely not anything. It couldn't attack, and it had a weight limit to what it could carry (I think I recall about 5 lbs). Not only that, but it was (normally) too clumsy for fine movements. It also (normally) cost an action to maneuver each turn. The whole point is to do things like fetch something light out of reach (like a set of keys while you're locked in a cell, for instance), or to activate simple devices from a safe distance (pull a lever, flip a switch, whatever). Lastly, it couldn't go more than 30 feet away from you, unless you spent a feat and a cantrip to double its range. A great utility cantrip, but nowhere near OP.

The point of mage hand lergedermain was to remove the clumsiness problem (so you could pick pockets and locks without being close to the scene of the crime), reduce that action to a bonus action so you could distract targets with it for a sneak attack, and make the mage hand invisible so nobody sees it coming. It was a massive component of the arcane trickster's whole kit and playstyle that's seemingly absent. And yet, they still make reference to being able to "do more" with it in the description, so I'm just wondering, what is "doing more" in this context?