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View Full Version : The Big List of Broken Exploits (3.5)



Lysander
2010-03-12, 12:33 PM
What are some game-breaking exploits you've heard of? This is just a RAW discussion thread, not necessarily what a player should try or a DM allow.

Here are some of the better well known ones:

-Chain gating solars for infinite wishes
-Wall of Iron to create cheap iron as a trade good
-Create food traps

Dusk Eclipse
2010-03-12, 12:36 PM
Pun-Pun (sorry had to)
The save game trick (psionic)
There was a loop of infinite damage to your enemy and you, the catch you drown heal to avoid dying.

Gametime
2010-03-12, 12:38 PM
I'd be lying if I said I understood the rules behind it, but there was a build on BG that revolved around creating an infinite death loop to generate an infinitely high bonus to Knowledge skills and thus learn everything in the entire universe.

gallagher
2010-03-12, 12:40 PM
stone to mud/mud to stone is a fun combo that leaves most BSFs useless.

also, a fun one was turning the party rogue into a statue with flesh to stone, and then contingency stone to flesh him for later that evening after everyone was asleep. good way to infiltrate the huge mansion with a paranoid owner and steal everything

then, finally, a way to ruin a DMs big final battle: cast rope trick, then have rope trick contingencied for after you cast plane shift or something like that. then cast plane shift.

arguskos
2010-03-12, 12:45 PM
Where's Doc Roc, with his thread all about this? I'd go find it, but I'm kinda busy atm.

Rauthiss
2010-03-12, 12:46 PM
Step one: Buy a ladder for 5 cp. Break it into 2 10 foot poles.
Step two: Sell it as 2 10 foot poles for 4 sp, making a 700%...
Step three: ???
Step four: Profit!

Volkov
2010-03-12, 12:51 PM
Myconoid soul farm. Myconoids reproduce and gestate very fast, and one soul is worth 10 xp, so make a farm of myconoids and harvest them for souls for a never ending supply of XP that can rapidly gain you levels if you have enough. Also, you can make them worship you and become a god.

Thefurmonger
2010-03-12, 01:03 PM
Dont forget the D2 crusader.

Soranar
2010-03-12, 01:06 PM
summon instrument, a bard cantrip of all things (piano forte dropped on your head anyone?)

Frog Dragon
2010-03-12, 01:10 PM
Handheld instruments only. Doesn't work.

subject42
2010-03-12, 01:12 PM
Creating a wall of salt, crushing it down, then selling it as a trade good is a good way to wreck the economy.

Lysander
2010-03-12, 01:15 PM
Wizard cohort is a good exploit. Be a fighter with epic magic thanks to a mighty wizard who is oddly serving you instead of the other way around.

Opening up a hydra head meat burger joint :smallbiggrin:

Soonerdj
2010-03-12, 01:17 PM
Using PaO twice to make the duration permanent, Becoming a Beholder then putting out your central anti-magic eye and entering the Beholder Mage class.

Essentially it is "Screw RP, I want 9th level arcane casting with multiple spells per turn in only 9 levels"

Though I guess a certain unscrupulous wizard could do it, unfortunately you would be unable to interact meaningfully with anyone for the time you take the class.

Dr Bwaa
2010-03-12, 02:04 PM
I'd be lying if I said I understood the rules behind it, but there was a build on BG that revolved around creating an infinite death loop to generate an infinitely high bonus to Knowledge skills and thus learn everything in the entire universe.

You are thinking of the Omniscifer (http://web.archive.org/web/20061112212706/boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=546612).

Darrin
2010-03-12, 02:11 PM
Handheld instruments only. Doesn't work.

Handbells are handheld instruments. Get big/strong enough, and you can summon a 1-ton church bell as a handheld instrument.

Lysander
2010-03-12, 02:14 PM
There was that trick where you activate a field that drains health from everywhere around you and then stand on an ant hill. Each insect counts as a separate creature and provides zillions of temporary health.

unre9istered
2010-03-12, 02:16 PM
There was that trick where you activate a field that drains health from everywhere around you and then stand on an ant hill. Each insect counts as a separate creature and provides zillions of temporary health.

Pretty sure you wouldn't have line of effect to the ants underground.

JaronK
2010-03-12, 02:22 PM
Flowing Time Timeless Genesis
Haunt Shifting yourself into a statue + Harden
Thought Bottle + stuff that costs exp
Spellstich + Animate Dread Warrior
Runesmith + True Creation
Shadowcraft Mage + Major Creation + Black Lotus Poison

JaronK

Wings of Peace
2010-03-12, 02:45 PM
I'd be lying if I said I understood the rules behind it, but there was a build on BG that revolved around creating an infinite death loop to generate an infinitely high bonus to Knowledge skills and thus learn everything in the entire universe.

That my friend is the Omnifiscer. (http://web.archive.org/web/20071215083927/forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=546612) He's from back when Pun Pun was level 5 so the idea was the Omnifiscer would achieve omniscience, foresee Pun Pun and know the way to stop his rise.

Edit: Ninjad by Henry

The Glyphstone
2010-03-12, 03:07 PM
Pretty sure you wouldn't have line of effect to the ants underground.

So you spend a couple of move actions kicking the anthill up and zotting the bugs that surface.

BenTheJester
2010-03-12, 03:17 PM
Dont forget the D2 crusader.

I thought this was errata'd so it doesn't work anymore


Also,
I thought Consumptive Field could be abused to give you infinite CL, but reading the Spell Description, it clearly states that the bonus CL can't be greater than half your original CL...

faceroll
2010-03-12, 03:45 PM
Handheld instruments only. Doesn't work.

That's why you're playing an ogre bard :smallbiggrin:

Eurus
2010-03-12, 04:03 PM
I thought this was errata'd so it doesn't work anymore


Also,
I thought Consumptive Field could be abused to give you infinite CL, but reading the Spell Description, it clearly states that the bonus CL can't be greater than half your original CL...

Yup. And then you recast it with the new, higher CL. So if your base CL is 20, you cast Consumptive Field once on a bunch of dying chickens and buff your CL up to 30. Then you cast a CL 30 Greater Consumptive Field and buff your CL up to 45. Then cast a CL 45 regular Consumptive Field, and your CL goes up to 57 (since the +22 from this consumptive field overlaps the +10 from the first one). Then a CL 57 Greater to put you up to CL 70...

At least, I assume that's how it works. Never actually done it, obviously.

JeenLeen
2010-03-12, 04:06 PM
Maybe not on par with the stuff mentioned above, but: Dweomerkeeper for Wish as a xp-free SLA.

Eldariel
2010-03-12, 04:10 PM
Yup. And then you recast it with the new, higher CL. So if your base CL is 20, you cast Consumptive Field once on a bunch of dying chickens and buff your CL up to 30. Then you cast a CL 30 Greater Consumptive Field and buff your CL up to 45. Then cast a CL 45 regular Consumptive Field, and your CL goes up to 57 (since the +22 from this consumptive field overlaps the +10 from the first one). Then a CL 57 Greater to put you up to CL 70...

At least, I assume that's how it works. Never actually done it, obviously.

Consumptive Field shouldn't stack with Consumptive Field, by conservative reading at any rate. As such, you gain bonuses by your newer CL, but they overlap until they exceed the old ones. You cap out at exactly twice your original CL.

Ranos
2010-03-12, 04:10 PM
Diplomacy.

Lysander
2010-03-12, 04:11 PM
There's the exploding runes nuke - thousands of separate exploding runes inscribed in a single book. Toss it at an enemy, dispel and deliberately fail your check, and there's thousands of d6 in force damage.

And of course the Locate City Bomb, by which you add metamagic feats that add damage to spells to make a divination spell damage its target (I don't think RAW allows this if you read it finely enough but it's a famous exploit).

Dr Bwaa
2010-03-12, 04:14 PM
There's the exploding runes nuke - thousands of separate exploding runes inscribed in a single book. Toss it at an enemy, dispel and deliberately fail your check, and there's thousands of d6 in force damage.

Oooh, I haven't seen this before--I like it a lot. Just might have to buy one of those nice 15gp 100-page books for my Abjurant Champion (what with the swift-action Dispel Magic and all)... Seems a little dangerous to carry around though =P

Darrin
2010-03-12, 04:25 PM
I thought this was errata'd so it doesn't work anymore


Basset_King's 1d2 Crusader still works. Aura of Chaos + Imbued Healing (Luck). It kicks in around ECL 12ish, although with bloodline levels you can get it down to ECL 9ish.

Google the "Campaign Smashers III (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868074/Campaign_Smashers_III:_The_stuff_that_completely_b reaks_the_game)" thread for a somewhat complete list of the more notorious game-breakers, although most of the links appear to be FUBARed.

Not on the list: Mirror Mephit/Simulacrum abuse.

Lysander
2010-03-12, 04:38 PM
Ice Assassin copy of a deity. Somehow get a deity's fingernails or hair and presto, you have a creature with divine powers at your beck and call for just 20,000gp and 5,000xp.

JeenLeen
2010-03-12, 04:42 PM
Ice Assassin copy of a deity. Somehow get a deity's fingernails or hair and presto, you have a creature with divine powers at your beck and call for just 20,000gp and 5,000xp.

A focus for one cleric spell is a reliquary worth (IIRC) 500 gp. A reliquary contains a relic, which in D&D could easily be a remnant of a deity.

Also, since there is no cost listed for a part of a deity, it is technically in your spell component pouch (insanely cheesey) and/or unnecessary if you have Eschew Materials (slightly less cheesey and more against the spirit of the spell.)

faceroll
2010-03-12, 04:43 PM
There's the exploding runes nuke - thousands of separate exploding runes inscribed in a single book. Toss it at an enemy, dispel and deliberately fail your check, and there's thousands of d6 in force damage.

And of course the Locate City Bomb, by which you add metamagic feats that add damage to spells to make a divination spell damage its target (I don't think RAW allows this if you read it finely enough but it's a famous exploit).

There are no rules that let you deliberately fail dispelling. One way is to get a scroll of dispel made by a 3rd level artificer, so the CL is only +3, and has no chance of dispelling your runes.

deuxhero
2010-03-12, 04:44 PM
Handheld instruments only. Doesn't work.

Unless you pair it with enlarge person...

Lysander
2010-03-12, 04:47 PM
There are no rules that let you deliberately fail dispelling. One way is to get a scroll of dispel made by a 3rd level artificer, so the CL is only +3, and has no chance of dispelling your runes.

Or use Erase instead. Or have someone else cast the dispel. As for transportation, you'd probably want to keep the book in a bag of holding so it couldn't be hit by enemy dispels prematurely.

lsfreak
2010-03-12, 04:51 PM
Or have someone else cast the dispel.

This is the best way, get a cohort or have the rogue UMD a 5th-CL scroll.

Godskook
2010-03-12, 05:05 PM
There are no rules that let you deliberately fail dispelling. One way is to get a scroll of dispel made by a 3rd level artificer, so the CL is only +3, and has no chance of dispelling your runes.

There's at least one, though I'll admit its rather indirect. Dispels have caster level limits. Explosive Runes does not(for dispel purposes). Simply ensure that your caster level is that high for each and every casting of Explosive runes(You'd need a CL of 20, which is doable quite a few levels before L20).

NEO|Phyte
2010-03-12, 05:05 PM
There are no rules that let you deliberately fail dispelling. One way is to get a scroll of dispel made by a 3rd level artificer, so the CL is only +3, and has no chance of dispelling your runes.

Or you can just cast the runes at full caster level, then the dispel at the minimum caster level needed to cast them (Citation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#casterLevel)), with the feat that lets you take 10 on caster level checks. Boom, fail. Even without the feat, the CL difference should still get you a decent boom.

Dr Bwaa
2010-03-12, 05:29 PM
Or you can just cast the runes at full caster level, then the dispel at the minimum caster level needed to cast them (Citation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#casterLevel)), with the feat that lets you take 10 on caster level checks. Boom, fail. Even without the feat, the CL difference should still get you a decent boom.

Arcane Mastery is the feat, and yes, this is what I was assuming the plan was (so you need to be casting Explosive Runes at CL16 or higher, since the minimum caster level for Dispel Magic is CL5. This is doable around level 9 or 10 without much cheese: (ioun stone (+1) +create magic tattoo (+1*) +Shieldstone Cavern (+1)(CM)+Spell Enhancer (+2)(SC)+Spell Power (+X) = +(5+X))).

*Or up to +3 if your DM allows it.

Eldariel
2010-03-12, 05:32 PM
Someone asked for it so here's the link to Jakeverse (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137447) where Doc Roc gathers some nice'n'handy tricksies.