Shrink item spells, familiars as stealth bombers!!

[Brapps86]

I have come up with an idea that my DM has reluctantly approved as he cannot find an argument against it. My raven is now a stealth bomber when I cast invisibility that is :).

I am using Shrink item spell to shrink things like a boulder, tree, blazing tree log etc. I prepare these items by using my spell slots for the day when we are back at the town or resting up, I then use my raven familiar to drop these items on the enemies below. He is working out damage by looking at weapons (tree = club, boulder = hammer) and size categories and applies splash damage to certain objects. My dm ignores the distance it falls when working out damage but they remain on the battlefield and create additional obstacles/ rough terrain etc. My dm said that if I am to used shrunken items then I cannot use wands which I personally think make the familiar OP so I am happy with that

I used this for the first time last night to great effect. I have 4 shrunken items in my handy haversack and use a tree for the first time. it did 2 d8 damage with an area effect of 10ft radius and with half splash damage

Anyone think of a reason why this may not be allowed? we are playing using 3.5SRD rules PHB, book only as its our first ever game

[Geddy2112]

The familiar bomber is a classic play from Sun Tzu's, "The art of D&D". It just requires a bag of holding or handy haversack, some stuff, and a flying familiar and is perfectly legal. Logistically, the familiar needs to be able to carry the bag unencumbered, which should be easy. It also needs to be smart enough to open the bag on command, and since familiars are minimum intelligence 6 that is fine. Logistically they must also be able to open the bag, a bird should be able to use a beak or one foot to do so. You can alternate between dropping single items, or opening the bag and emptying the payload. The raven can be ordered to drop a pebble(boulder) on somebody's head, or take out a single item with its beak. This really becomes powerful when you get an improved familiar and it has magical flight, at will invisibility, hands, etc. Once they have hands, they can throw items with ease. If they are strong enough and you have the coin, have the familiar carry multiple bags.

At minimum, you don't even need shrink item. Just fill the bag with rocks, bricks, cookware, scrap metal, whatever you have on hand. Alternatively, you can fill the bag with sand, ash, or dirt for a cloud effect. In certain situations, you might want the bag filled with water.

Shrink item allows for more damage in the form of larger items, but you either need to be ready to use the command word while they are in the air, or lose out on falling damage of a larger item and let them enlarge when they hit the ground. A familiar can throw/drop an item that it normally would not be able to carry this way.

At higher levels, load that bad boy up with alchemical fire, or similar alchemical/magical items. In my last campaign, my pooka familiar unloaded about 1000gp worth of alchemical explosives on the final boss using this strategy.

[Âmesang]

I need to remember this with regards to one character's quasit familiar. :smalltongue: Then again I've also been thinking about shadow walking to d20 Modern's Earth and picking up a super watergun full of contact poison. Opening up a bag of holding and using it to "rocks fall you die" the enemies would probably be more allowable, though.

[Darrin]

Falling object damage can be a bit of a sore spot with some DMs, because if you go by just the Core rules, there's no way for the target to avoid damage. There's no attack roll or reflex save specified, you just pick a square and then calculate the weight and distance fallen. Max damage is 20d6, although it's not clear in Core if this max is on just the distance fallen or also the weight (Rules Compendium caps everything that 20d6).

If you have Heroes of Battle, you can use the aerial bombardment rules: an attack roll may apply, the target gets a DC 15 Ref save, and so forth, but the rules aren't always entirely clear. If a 15'x15' object scatters only 5', does it still hit? And so forth.

Feather Token: Tree or Swan Boat work well for this, because the DMG doesn't specify that they are command-word activated, so unseen servants, familiars, possibly even well-trained flying animals can activate them. A folding boat can also work, but your familiar needs to be able to speak the command word.

But yeah, talk this over with your DM before you try this trick. It may work once, but expect some house rules after that.