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kalleh
2008-12-31, 08:38 AM
Hey,

I've played D&D for half a year and always loved to pack a lot of mundane stuff to the dungeons with me. Obviously the Batman wizard has better tools but he's not always around! Dwarf fighters are the best MacGyvers in my opinion, for they can carry lots.

ITT we list awesome, non-magical items to have with you! I'll start with:

A LOT of string -the possibilities are endless with this, combined with other items. I have always some 50 meters of this with me

-A whistle & a bell -for example to place in front of a door, to communicate using signals etc

-A small pocket mirror -looking around corners, gaze attacks...

-Copper fishing hooks -always handy + fishing is awesome :smallsmile:

-Manacles -carrying at least one pair all the time, two is useful as well

-Spare cloth -handling hot things, shutting prisoners mouth with etc.. I talked my GM to give me a circumstance bonus to moving silently with these strapped around my feet :)

-A bag of flour -cheap, but heavy... throwing one of these to the place where the enemy vanished invisible is fun, even if you miss there are footprints to be seen

-A hatchet -Especially when swinging a mace for primary weapon!

-Empty vials-for the times when the fountain's water actually is useful

-Some oil -it's always useful to set stuff on fire easily

-A piece of chalk -to mark the walls with


I could keep on going but I want to hear what awesome ideas you have to bring to the dungeons with you! :)

Istari
2008-12-31, 08:40 AM
10 ft pole to search for traps

shaddy_24
2008-12-31, 09:18 AM
Crowbar: To help break down the door.

Caltrops: To slow down enemies.

Half the stuff from Dungeonscape: There's a lot in there. Including bouncy balls. I'm not actually sure when they'd get use, but carry a few anyway.

Fighteer
2008-12-31, 09:22 AM
Including bouncy balls. I'm not actually sure when they'd get use, but carry a few anyway.
Well, here is one possibility (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0448.html).

Perhaps not a completely mundane item, but holy water has some great uses.

Epinephrine
2008-12-31, 09:25 AM
Acid or Mineral Acid - ignores hardness, can let you quietly break chains/dissolve a lock/weaken a structure, etc. Technically an alchemical product, except that strong acids aren't exactly alchemical in nature, they're just chemical.

Tanglefoot bags. Always nice. Not super mundane, but pretty available.

Complete Scoundrel has a vine that requires no roots, and wilts in the presence of airborn toxins (I forget the name), but it's handy stuff (especially if there is a druid around, as it grows berries too).

Telonius
2008-12-31, 09:27 AM
-Spare cloth -handling hot things, shutting prisoners mouth with etc.. I talked my GM to give me a circumstance bonus to moving silently with these strapped around my feet :)


This fighter obviously knows where his towel is. :smallbiggrin:

herrhauptmann
2008-12-31, 09:28 AM
All the different tool kits...
There's an adamant hacksaw for like 300gp somewhere. Awesome at low levels when purchasing an adamant weapon is just not possible.
A lot of the stuff in 'song and silence' (3.0) is very useful. Especially for rogues, but anybody can use an ascender/slider for an extra +1 when climbing something with a rope. (Doesn't specify, but it shouldn't stack with a bonus from using a knotted rope)

sombrastewart
2008-12-31, 11:12 AM
Door wedges. Itty-bitty, don't take much space, and can buy you some time when you need it. I haven't tried finding them in adamantine yet.

Vexxation
2008-12-31, 12:04 PM
Crowbar: To help break down the Combine.

Fixed for the Free Man....
[/Vortigaunt]

Let's see, handy stuff...
Perhaps carry a few pulley riggings. Never know when you need to lift absurdly heavy stones or whatnot.

mabriss lethe
2008-12-31, 12:10 PM
A lot of the toys from dungeonscape. Yeah, I second that one. Door spikes.

Grell crystal from Lords of Madness is a lot of fun, great for creating pretty much anything you need in about an hour. Most of my characters carry at least a bag of it everywhere they go (except swimming.)

Tadanori Oyama
2008-12-31, 12:13 PM
You'll want empty sacks to contain various things, alot of MacGyver's tricks used contained reactions.

Also a constant heat source. Mundance would be matches (or flint if you don't have those) and candles.

Telonius
2008-12-31, 12:16 PM
1 pound of pepper. Good for throwing off the hounds if you're being tracked.

Malacode
2008-12-31, 12:20 PM
Can't go past a small sentient being trapped in a pocket dimension to which only you have access. Posession of materials to blackmail them into doing your bidding would be handy too.
Ok, ok, Paladins would lose all their class abilities for doing this, but a fighter? He's fiiine.

Izmir Stinger
2008-12-31, 12:21 PM
A hammer (if no suitable weapon is available) to drive in doorstops and overcome other obstacles.


Door wedges. Itty-bitty, don't take much space, and can buy you some time when you need it. I haven't tried finding them in adamantine yet.

They wouldn't be any better in adamantine. The effectiveness of a doorstop is dependent on it's friction coefficient with the ground, not its hardness. It is simply the nature of the wedge that even if the door is made of much sturdier materiel than the doorstop, the door will still break first if the friction cannot be overcome. If you manage to force open a door with a wedge under it, you do so by pushing the wedge (or breaking the door) not by crushing or otherwise breaking the doorstop. In fact, if you are driving it in with a mallet, a materiel that will deform slightly is preferable over one that will deform the door by being driven in. Unsanded wood works well, and rubber is best but not available in most campaign settings. Metal is a poor choice.

Izmir Stinger
2008-12-31, 12:25 PM
1 pound of pepper. Good for throwing off the hounds if you're being tracked.

They tried that on mythbusters. Real life hounds are not fooled. Fantasy hounds might be, but I think most DMs would rule that they are even better than real hounds.

Darth Mario
2008-12-31, 12:31 PM
They tried that on mythbusters. Real life hounds are not fooled. Fantasy hounds might be, but I think most DMs would rule that they are even better than real hounds.

The above is why you should never let your DM watch Mythbusters.

Dublock
2008-12-31, 12:40 PM
When I DMed for a group of friends who never ever played a game before, they were making characters and they were more excited by buying the mundane stuff then anything else lol. Although I am disappointed they never actually did anything (yet :P).

Personally I'm a fan of rope, and in some ways you tie something on the end of the rope and use it to detect traps as well.

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-12-31, 12:41 PM
Wooden Stakes. Many uses for these include:

* Wrapping a towel and dropping some oil on it for an impromptu torch

* Handy for dealing with any vampires you run across

*Spiking doors (see also wedges)

* Holding up tent lines

* emergency firewood

* trap creation (particularly when attached to rope and something you don't want to start moving at you)

Siosilvar
2008-12-31, 12:41 PM
This fighter obviously knows where his towel is. :smallbiggrin:

Froody. 10chars

KingGolem
2008-12-31, 03:32 PM
I can't believe nobody has yet to mention the Arms and Equipment Guide. It's got all kinds of neat mundane equipment, like bags of marbles, earplugs, glass cutters, magnets, periscopes, spray bottles, etc. You should check it out sometime, I think it has a lot of stuff you could use.