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View Full Version : Lethal uses of non-lethal spells/abilities



Chookster
2011-11-21, 05:26 AM
I'm curious about peoples lethal uses of traditionally non-lethal spells, after in a campaign the other day i killed a slaver with feather fall

(we were in a falling airship, the guy rocketed into the sky)

Any other funny/interesting examples? i'm sure you've all had some awesome uses here and there :)

Heliomance
2011-11-21, 05:58 AM
The knock spell opens stuck, barred, locked, held, or arcane locked doors. It opens secret doors, as well as locked or trick-opening boxes or chests. It also loosens welds, shackles, or chains (provided they serve to hold closures shut). If used to open a arcane locked door, the spell does not remove the arcane lock but simply suspends its functioning for 10 minutes. In all other cases, the door does not relock itself or become stuck again on its own. Knock does not raise barred gates or similar impediments (such as a portcullis), nor does it affect ropes, vines, and the like. The effect is limited by the area. Each spell can undo as many as two means of preventing egress.

Emphasis mine. Open up someone's chest.

supermonkeyjoe
2011-11-21, 06:02 AM
Cast Tasha's hideous laughter on someone who is swimming or a creature that's flying.

Eldan
2011-11-21, 09:07 AM
Quite a list of things on swimming people, really.

Sleep is pretty mean.

Ravens_cry
2011-11-21, 09:12 AM
Cast shrink object on a pool of lava, using the cloth option. Drop said cloth on a baddies head and dispel.
Now that's a Holocaust Cloak!

Ricky S
2011-11-21, 09:34 AM
A favourite of mine is to grease up an area and then cast gust of wind. I have pushed many enemies off a cliff or into a pit of spikes.

Anxe
2011-11-21, 09:43 AM
1. Web
2. Torch the web.

Eldan
2011-11-21, 09:50 AM
1. Web
2. Remove floor below web.

Titanium Fox
2011-11-21, 09:51 AM
Use Rope.
Dump person hogtied at DC 30 into a river.

Lord Il Palazzo
2011-11-21, 09:53 AM
As a fairly high level cleric in one campaign, I occasionally used Create Water as an attack spell. The spell doesn't say the water must be created in a container*. I would create about 250 pounds of water 50 feet in the air above an enemies head and just let it fall. If you're using the falling object rules as written, that's 5d6 damage from a level-0 spell that allows no saves or resistance. (My DM had it deal slightly less but with a little splash damage because it was a falling liquid rather than a solid object.)

*The rules say an object created by conjuration can't appear floating in empty space, but the description of create water does specifically say it can create water in the air (thus creating a "downpour".) Still, this was probably abuse.

The Reverend
2011-11-21, 10:09 AM
Sovereign glue is a favorite of mine.

Line the inside of a sack with it put over enemies head. Or slather it on your glove while they are sleeping and cover their mouths (make sure to put the fingers up their nose.

Pastry filled with sovereign glue.
Hand them a rope covered in glue...other end of rope is an anchor or heavy rock .

Ravens_cry
2011-11-21, 10:31 AM
Sovereign glue is a favorite of mine.

Line the inside of a sack with it put over enemies head. Or slather it on your glove while they are sleeping and cover their mouths (make sure to put the fingers up their nose.

Pastry filled with sovereign glue.
Hand them a rope covered in glue...other end of rope is an anchor or heavy rock .

If you can get them while they are sleeping, a quick coup de grāce would be much more certain.
Also, because of the speed of which sovereign glue dries, you would have to apply the glue and then hand them the rope. That would be a fairly difficult slight of hand check I would rule, and if you can get them to take something handed to them by you, there is so many ways to kill them.
Trust makes these things so much easier.

The Reverend
2011-11-21, 11:09 AM
Or a really good bluff check. And if I'm concerned about the use of sovereign glue as a weapon Im not playing a fighter or other combat class.

Did have a rogue in a party of mine who used to amuse himself by dipping the bladed of his daggers and arrows in sovereign glue so they couldnt just pull it out. dm almost lost it when he found the rules for harpoons.

eepop
2011-11-21, 11:24 AM
One noose made of mundane rope.
One magically summoned stool or platform that has a non-permanent duration.

Not sure whether its more torturous for them to know that the stool is summoned and wonder when its going to drop, or if its better for them to have no idea and just be sitting there for an hour or two in utter confusion as to why no one is coming to kick out the stool.

If you do this enough, some people may start to just kick out the stool from under themselves, if so, you can start having more fun by sometimes using a real stool instead of a summoned one.

DiBastet
2011-11-21, 04:52 PM
Now that's a Holocaust Cloak!

Now that's full of win.

Ksheep
2011-11-21, 05:14 PM
Teleport with the victim several hundred feet up, preferably over the ocean or a pool of lava. Cast teleport on yourself as you are falling, letting him fall to his death. May need to cast Dominate Person, Charm Person, or Glibness first so you can make the target willing.

Once I literally drove another PC insane with nothing more than ghost sound. Granted, we were in a plane of Insanity and after hearing the sound (my character chanting "One of us" over and over again), he imagined that he saw an army of my character marching toward him from one of the hallways leading into the room. If the others didn't intervene, he probably would have killed himself to avoid the incoming "army"

Yitzi
2011-11-21, 05:30 PM
As a fairly high level cleric in one campaign, I occasionally used Create Water as an attack spell. The spell doesn't say the water must be created in a container*. I would create about 250 pounds of water 50 feet in the air above an enemies head and just let it fall. If you're using the falling object rules as written, that's 5d6 damage from a level-0 spell that allows no saves or resistance. (My DM had it deal slightly less but with a little splash damage because it was a falling liquid rather than a solid object.)

*The rules say an object created by conjuration can't appear floating in empty space, but the description of create water does specifically say it can create water in the air (thus creating a "downpour".) Still, this was probably abuse.

The real reason that doesn't work is that your range is too small; Create Water has close range, so to make it 50 feet in the air you'd need to be over CL 20 (assuming you're standing a non-negligible distance away from the target so that you don't get hit too.)

Also, to make roughly 250 pounds you need to be roughly level 15, at which point 5d6 damage per round isn't such a big deal most of the time. (Obviously an enemy with extremely high AC and saves is a different story.)