Unlimited? Wow. That really is stupid. (For those keeping score, I feel it was moderately important to call that out.) But I guess it lets the casters just keep mashing that cantrip button round after round like it was an arcade game.
The only real limit is time. Yes, you may mash the button. Yes, you can do this on cantrips that have casting times anywhere from one round (6 seconds) to Ten Minutes.
Yes, you have unlimited Mending (10 min. cast time) to prevent time from wearing or destroying knowledge conveyances, such as the written word.
Yes. The full ramifications of everlasting intel never fading from travel... is unexplored and considered a waste of a 'pew pew' cantrip slot. :rolleyes: Yes, unlimited Message, too. Yes, unlimited Move Earth (you can play "Dig Dug" now). Yes.
Exhaustion exists but is mostly unused (not explicitly RAW, not explicitly optional, just... there, rarely triggered in adventures and product), and sleep requirements sorta exist (except for Features that give rise to things like the Coffeelock), but otherwise: Yes, unlimited. :cool: One can now play Gauntlet with the wizard, just the like valkyrie! :rolleyes:
If a tabaxi rogue used stealth/sleight of hand to take the weapon and climbed the tree to leave it there, how would that be different? How are unlimited cantrips responsible for this? How would limited cantrips have fixed it?
The AL rules used to include a code of conduct ("Participants must not conduct themselves in a manner that is disruptive to the enjoyment or safety of others at the event") although it seems to have been left out in the current season. There also used to be a rule of "No Undermining Other Characters" (and not only in combat). But disruptive behavior is still subject to sanction (in game loss of renown benefits or even being booted from the table and losing rewards for the session).
In the example used the GM did invoke the AL charter. There is leeway for players to "play their PCs" until it is disruptive and the GM invoked the letter-of-the-law before having a chat afterwards (avoiding the "
But it's what my PC would do!" whinge mid-game). That does not stop passive-aggressive hell from happening. And it shows up even worse in home games without a strong GM laying down the law. And given I was helping cultivate a new batch of GMs with 5e's rise... I got to see
a lot of growing pains shit. :mad:
Rules cannot save from asshole.
But rules can embolden asshole to stink up a table. Not all GMs are ready to belt that ass tout de suite, nipping it in the bud, as it were. :p
As for your example: too much time and effort vs. the spell. Further -- and I have seen this too -- a rogue's climb cannot lift the desired object 25' straight up and off center of the caster in the plain air, playing the "Keep Away!" game. :mad: And given the known rules of vertical leap, this is not something to be solved handwavium. It is passive-aggressive PvP leading to aggressive PvP... and it costs the caster *
nothing* of their effectiveness. Because unlimited, y'know?
No, it's disruptive enough IME that for my games its unlimited-ness is automatically removed. Others may find excuses for it, but I've seen enough to confirm my suspicions: it's bad design for what I want to play.