Combat time

[nijineko]

i was playing in this one campaign where we had a converted 2nd ed wildmage in an otherwise 3rd ed game. half dragon wildmage to be exact. she had a few custom spells, our favorite was "summon whatchamacallit". basically it would summon any one random thing from the equipment tables plus normal weapons and armor tables. she also had managed to increase her wildsurge chance through a wish-true disciple of chaos.

anyhow, whenever she used that spell one of two thing invariably happened, without fail. it was downright creepy. either she surged and rolled lots of fire, or she got a piece of equipment that was exactly somehow useful for what the party needed right then. every single time. facing a river? managed to get a rowboat. in a priestess house, fireball and burned it down. at least we saved the priestess.... in the tomb of horrors right before that one door with the three holes in it? she rolled a longsword-the exact thing needed to fit the lock. getting chased? rolled a bag of caltrops. on and on and on....

she finally died when her curiosity and implusiveness got the best of her. but at least she died in a fitting fashion.

[tesral]

Many years ago in an AD&D 2e game I was running, I created and had the party acquire the Bag of Randomness. True to its name, whenever the bag was opened I would roll 1d100 to determine which of the 100 random effects would occur, from the trivial to the extraordinarily beneficial or detrimental. It was sort of my version of a Rod of Wonder and a Deck of Many Things all rolled into one. Some effects were purely for comic relief while others were more practical.

The Bag of Fish. A bag of tricks that didn't quite work as intended. The only thing you got out of it were random types and numbers of Fish. It could be useful. They delayed an opponent under a net full of Herring once. It was at least good for dinner.

[nijineko]

i knew of one fellow who had a bag of ice cubes. the dm thought that they were giving out a useless item. but then the party started making money off of iced drinks, and they may not be marbles or caltrops, but they work pretty good for all that anyway.

[tesral]

i knew of one fellow who had a bag of ice cubes. the dm thought that they were giving out a useless item. but then the party started making money off of iced drinks, and they may not be marbles or caltrops, but they work pretty good for all that anyway.

There is no such thing as a useless item.

[nijineko]

absolutely! i can (and have) found a useful misuse (or use) for every item i've ever been given. =D

[tesral]

absolutely! i can (and have) found a useful misuse (or use) for every item i've ever been given. =D

That's the spirit.

[cplmac]

There is no such thing as a useless item.

absolutely! i can (and have) found a useful misuse (or use) for every item i've ever been given. =D

That's the spirit.

Everyone all together now..."Think outside the box."

[StarLady98]

Everyone all together now..."Think outside the box."

Shouldn't that be "Think outside the book"?

[spotlight]

Talk about outside the book or box, years ago I started giving extra XP for those that found unusual ways to use their spells and other objects. Why use a fireball when an illusion of a fireball might scare away the enemy WITHOUT damaging the things they drop in their haste.

Of course, that is just a minor example. How about deliberatly missing a teleport (other).

[tesral]

Talk about outside the book or box, years ago I started giving extra XP for those that found unusual ways to use their spells and other objects.

levitation to kill a dragon

[Webhead]

levitation to kill a dragon

Pewter Figurine of Shaved Weasel Summoning to kill a dragon...

[tesral]

Pewter Figurine of Shaved Weasel Summoning to kill a dragon...

Most dragons I know would drop dead hearing the concept.

[Webhead]

Most dragons I know would drop dead hearing the concept.

Yes, even mighty dragons must bow before the terror of 500 really ticked off shaved weasels.

If the weasels hadn't killed it, I'm sure the shame would have.

[nijineko]

more of an rp thing, but my character blew a 4th level spell selection on hallucinatory terrain just so that they would have something relaxing to look at while they hid out in a rope trick between commando raids of a fortress. and then managed to find another use for it in combat a few sessions later. ^^

[tesral]

more of an rp thing, but my character blew a 4th level spell selection on hallucinatory terrain just so that they would have something relaxing to look at while they hid out in a rope trick between commando raids of a fortress. and then managed to find another use for it in combat a few sessions later. ^^

I always consdier my character's life when making spell and equipment selections. Combat is not my character's life. Indeed he would happily never fight another being again. Fate has not handed him that card, but he would be happy with it.