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As you can manipulate water within a 5 ft cube and most medium sized creatures can fit in that size space, can I manipulate their blood? I'd figured you could move the blood just the same as water and move the blood out of a creatures wounds, effectively making them die from blood loss. As well as being able to freeze the blood.

Shape water states,

You freeze the water, provided that there are no creatures in it.

As the blood is in the creature not the other way around, I figured it would work. But I wanted some other opinions to make sure my idea was plausible.

Can you could use Shape Water in such a way?

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No, this will not work RAW*

It's not water

Shape Water specifically states it only works with water (emphasis mine):

You choose an area of water that you can see within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube.

Had they wanted it to work with any other liquid, it wouldn't have used the term "water". Things that contain water are not the same thing, this is just about shaping water.

And you can't see it

In addition, there is the sight requirement. Blood in the body is not generally visible. Blood outside the body, but even if you allowed shaping that, it won't generally cause much harm (the harm's already been done). But that's also up to the DM as to what injuries are visible.

Either way, blood isn't water (isn't it thicker?) and you can't see it so shape water won't be able to be used with blood.

*There also aren't any rules regarding Creative Use of Spells, but it's very much going to be up to your DM if they do want to allow this. But I doubt a DM would be willing to give a cantrip the power level this might be.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Wouldn't that mean that the spell works on the water in the blood, leaving behind the non-water bits of blood? \$\endgroup\$
    – vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica
    Mar 6, 2019 at 16:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ @vicky_molokh: You're overthinking it. Or, rather, thinking too scientifically. A laudable talent in the real world, but not for a game with specific set of rules. As far as spells go (and all the rules, really), they need to be taken "as is", otherwise you risk rather a lot of rules-abuse! So here: water=water, blood=blood, water≠blood. \$\endgroup\$
    – PJRZ
    Mar 6, 2019 at 16:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch Nice revision, +1 already in the box. (chortle) \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Mar 6, 2019 at 16:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ Related Crawford tweet: "The create or destroy water spell can destroy up to 10 gallons of water in an open container. A water elemental is not water; it's a creature." \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Mar 7, 2019 at 0:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ Forget that you know blood is made of water, think more along the lines of "The world is made of the four elements, fire, wind, water and earth" or something like that and you'll see it's not the same thing at all. In some systems, in fact, blood is considered a unique element. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bill K
    Mar 9, 2022 at 2:49
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The spell specifically refers to water and does not mention any other liquid. Blood is mostly water, yes, but blood is not water. With that sort of leeway (particularly on a cantrip) you could end up with some truly terrifying power. This would enable you to manipulate most living things in the environment. I do not think that this is what is intended with this spell.

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Like it was said before, you could not pull blood out of a creature because you cannot see it.

You could freeze the blood. You could stop bleeding. You may argue to do this in order to stabilize a person dying with disadvantage if you don't have a medical kit. It won't do any damage though because you are only freezing the blood against their body and not freezing any body tissue. I mean people put ice against your skin to treat swelling and injuries... Direct ice to skin contact takes a long time to cause damage.

There is generally plenty water especially if you carry a flask or two around and keep a create water spell ready for special circumstances. There isn't any real advantage to using blood over water. Also, if there is a lot of blood in a fight you are probably near the end of it.

Probably the only thing you might use blood for is a very specific situation where you are in dire straights and have no water. Maybe you are stuck in a cell with no equipment and there is something you need to do like breaking an old weak lock. You pour blood into it from your body and then freeze it to try and weaken it before you bash it with a rock. Alternatively, you could have blood in the lock and when they unlatch it and then try to latch it again, you could try to freeze it before it latches all the way. It will be stuck and appear to be latched but it will only be frozen in place and in an hour it'll unlatch when it thaws.

Keep in mind it is a utility spell, not a combat spell. The most use you would get in combat would be trips, slips, falls, walls, and disarms. An example is, you could freeze a bloody sword if they missed and hit something and when it made contact you froze it. They would likely need to make a strength check to free the sword or just go to a different weapon.

Another situation might be that you lost your shield and are bleeding to death so you shape and freeze your blood into a simple round shield to give yourself what little protection you can.

It's mostly up to the DM though so the key is to make it fun. Don't abuse it and overuse it and hopefully they will give you some leeway.

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