I’m not sure if I understand how this cantrip works. I really want to use it for silly things, like having my fun-sized -1 strength rogue smack a table indignantly, sending sparks flying everywhere and leaving a black mark on the wood, or sneaking up to a guard and soiling their pants, but that doesn’t really work, does it? My DM said that spellcasting breaks stealth, and that typically people can tell that I am casting something if I am casting something, so what would I even use this for, if I basically can’t use it to actually trick people? It wouldn’t even be possible to cheat at card games, since anyone could tell that I just did some magic. Am I missing something here?
It is just little tricks for entertainment/practice. So you could do the table smack, but it would be obvious you were casting a spell to do it, and the mark would fade after the spell wore off. It was never really meant to have serious utility. There are feats that can help remove component requirements, which could help with stealth, as it’s usually the verbal/somatic bits that give you away. That being said, being able to douse/light candles and lamps is pretty handy. You can temporarily mark locations or routes for allies, or use the same to confuse or mislead someone, at least within the hour duration. There are probably tons of more creative uses out there if you do a little forum digging.
Our mage used it to create an image of a scale on a wall in an orc cave, which has distracted them, allowing another character to telepathically convince orcs’ leader (an ogre) that he’s a champion of Kelemvor and needs to kill those orcs