Uses for a flock of undead sparrows

[Human Paragon 3]

A flock of undead sparrows! What can't it do? Here are a few uses I've come up with so far:

1) Re-usable animal messengers with no limit on distance or duration
2) Order them to chirp when creatures approach
3) Have them flock opponents and use aid another action to boost your attack or AC


I'm looking for more creative uses. Hit me.

[Mordokai]

Scouts.

Disposable minions.

Great way to induce paranoia.

If you read Old Kingdom by Nix, gore crows may give you more ideas.

[Othesemo]

Take the corpsecrafter feat that makes your undead explode when they die. Have the flock of sparrows swarm a creature, and then use any area affect spell that deals 1 or more damage to explode them all, dealing 100d8 negative energy damage to the creature.

[Grinner]

Isn't there a spell that converts undead into negative energy? With the right feat, they could be mobile healing potions, assuming they're organized into a swarm.

Edit: I think the feat is Tomb-tainted Soul. Still trying to find the spell.

[Slipperychicken]

Bonuses to Intimidate. Concealment. Cover yourself in birds, become a mass of bones and feathers, look really cool. Swarms are immune to weapon damage, so you can wrap yourself in a swarm for protection. Use them as distractions. Perhaps they could pick you up and carry you around? Use them to troll/frighten people by having them caw incessantly, or just stand around looking creepy. They can also hold torches and other light sources for you.

They could help carry stuff like bags for you, or act as a transportation mechanism for huge quantities of Alchemist's Fire, Acid Flasks, Holy Water, Poisons, Caltrops, Tanglefoot Bags. Maybe using extradimensional spaces if your DM gets stingy on carrying capacity.

Congratulations, you can now call in airstrikes in dnd. You win.

[Necroticplague]

Monty Python skit re-enactment.
Use Haunt Shift so that most of your mundane equipment operates itself (or any magical equipment that works by manipulating something).
Corpse disposal method.

[Human Paragon 3]

Keep in mind these are sparrows, not crows. They're just little guys. You know, the tiny birds that pick up seeds and crumbs in the park. They won't be lifting anything.

[Igneel]

*A 'fly up to my girlfriend's window and tap on the glass to get her attention' aid? :smalltongue:
*Give them the Mob template [DMGII, pg 59] so they would literally be considered a Swarm, on account that Swarms don't really have a applicable template.
*Pending on situation, you can fill each of their little stomachs (or other body cavities) with objects like Alchemist Fire, or better yet Aboleth Mucus [Arms & Equipment] and kamikazi enemy's face/body to expose the substance. Various different substances could be used for different occasions if you have an adequate about of time to plan. Bombing a village that lives in trees? Alchemist Fire + Defoilator [Arms & Equipment, destroys normal plants] can easily destroy the trees. Ninja'd
*Distraction by tying little bells around their necks and have the swarm of bell totting sparrows fly around in several different directions.
*Destroy bread crumb trails left behind by stupid little boys and/or girls lost in the woods. :smallwink:
*Get enough of them, you can have effective cover from Line of Sight spells or attacks.
*When a spellcaster starts casting a Verbal component spell, have one fly down his throat! Then watch as he gags on the undead sparrow trying to wiggle its way down his mouth. :smallamused:
*Sell them to miners after disguising them as canaries. Miners go into mine and don't realize they hit a gas leak since the sparrows don't die. Go in with a gas mask and get some free undead miners.
*Pollute a water source for a city by having the sparrows bath in the water, or just outright float in it. Eventually their undead bodies should get a plague or two started.
*Street Magic show by showing them a dead sparrow that 'comes to life' for some Perform skill gold.

More to come as I think up more...

[SleepyShadow]

- Have them carry coconuts.

- Use them to provide shade on a sunny day.

- Use them to pay tribute to Alfred Hitchcock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjj32CavzU0).

[Slipperychicken]

Keep in mind these are sparrows, not crows. They're just little guys. You know, the tiny birds that pick up seeds and crumbs in the park. They won't be lifting anything.

A Haversack weighs 5lb, so that's a light load even if their Strength is 2. If they're Zombies (i.e. bits of flesh on them), they get +2 to Str. If their Str is 1 somehow, they can double up to carry one. You'll want to keep these guys in swarm-mode anyway so they're immune to weapon damage in case someone takes shots at the bag.


After the initial investment of 2,000gp for a Haversack, the maximum payload per sack is 120 Flasks, for when you want the target nice and crispy. For cheapsies, fill the sack with rocks. From the correct height, 120lb is gonna hurt.

[Grinner]

- Have them carry coconuts.

Those are African swallows. Though it has been hotly debated whether an English swallow could manage the same feat.

[SleepyShadow]

Those are African swallows. Though it has been hotly debated whether an English swallow could manage the same feat.

What if two carried it together? :smallbiggrin:

[nedz]

Yes but they'd have to make a sling of twine or something.

[avr]

If defending a base, set up traps which they can trigger as targets come in range. Bonus points for making it a trap they're immune to.

Continual flame makes one a mobile light source. From a distance it now looks like a lantern archon or will-o-wisp.

Ingested poison delivery mechanism

Cast Otilukes Resilient Sphere on one to block a passageway

Disguise them with illusion. There's probably a better option than Veil somewhere, but that option does let them look like /anything/. You, a red dragon, your enemies ...

The snitch in Necromantic quidditch (sp?)

[Mystify]

Have them swarm over something, putting it in shadow. Maintain the shadow until the plants in that area die. Use this as the most convoluted way to get rid of your annoying neighbor's prizewinning rosebush.

[Human Paragon 3]

Continual flame makes one a mobile light source. From a distance it now looks like a lantern archon or will-o-wisp.



Cast Otilukes Resilient Sphere on one to block a passageway



Brilliant! These are perfect!

[Saintheart]

What if two carried it together? :smallbiggrin:

It's at this point that coconut carpet bombing missions comes into the picture.

[gomipile]

How about an undead Flock of Seagulls?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Take the corpsecrafter feat that makes your undead explode when they die. Have the flock of sparrows swarm a creature, and then use any area affect spell that deals 1 or more damage to explode them all, dealing 100d8 negative energy damage to the creature.

I like this one. Alternatively, you could be a warlock with The Dead Walk, which from what I understand, lets you raise undead that explode after a few rounds.

[SleepyShadow]

It's at this point that coconut carpet bombing missions comes into the picture.

That's it! Not coconuts! Fire Seeds! Carpet bombing undead sparrow swarms raining fiery doom down upon the heads of the enemy!

[nedz]

Each pair of sparrows, carrying a minimal necklace of fireballs - with just one sphere, flies in a predetermined pattern. You blast one and the whole flock explodes in a chain reaction. A shapeable mini-meteor swarm.

[CTrees]

Yeah... I once had my PCs encounter a giant horde of zombie bunnies. They turned them into an explosive weapon of mass destruction.

It was pretty funny, actually.

[Mystify]

Take the corpsecrafter feat(its not corpsecrafter, but its in that line) to give them 1d6 codl damage on their attacks. Have them all make unarmed strikes, fishing for 20s, and become a persistent source of high damage output.