MacGyver solutions

[CursedRhubarb]

One of my favorite things to do between sessions (and my DM probably hates) is to try and come up with creative uses for items, or combinations of items, from the "Adventureing Gear" table on page 150 of the Players Handbook. I like to mix things up and do more than "I cast Eldritch Blast" every turn. We have an Evocation Wizard, let him blast away and I'll play havoc :D
This is also great for creative solutions for non combat scenarios.

Thought it would be fun to see what everyone could come up with.

So far in the current game I haven't gotten to use many but here are two to get us started:

Oil flask + sack or rope (pieces) = Napalm Molotov

Barrel + bunch of oil flasks + rope = Barrel Bomb (rolled it over a cliff into a group of mobs and DM granted Fireball damage, yay!)

[Aembrosia]

Playing in adventurers league faaar too often i see creativity getting shafted. So not a whole lot of exposure here.

We tried to invent the computer once using 10ft poles and tiny automatons that took commands to repeat and would absorb lightining and then attack with the absorbed lightning.

Pour a bunch of acid vials into one big vase. Throw it with catapult. Piss poor example but its all ive got.

We made scarecrows out of hay clothes and brooms, put some armor on them and waited for an enemy force to show up. Bluffing we had an army.

[Contrast]

I always like to say that every bit of kit is another skill or ability, you just need to wait for the right moment to use them :smallcool:

Candles are useful in that you get wax which can be melted, shaped, molded and rubbed/smeared on things. Also, a bit of string!

Chain and a padlock is useful in all sorts of circumstances to give you a grip on things, tie things to things, impromtu flail.

Fishing tackle gets you a rod for poking, silken line for tripwires, allows you to test large unknown surfaces using the bobbers, lead sinkers could be bagged up to form a cosh, netting could be a hammock or the beginings of a trap.

[CursedRhubarb]

Some good ideas so far. Here's a fee more I thought of:

If PCs wind up on the trail of a banshee candles can also be used for earplugs so you can't hear the wail. Recommend having your PC research them before doing so, or making a knowledge check to avoid metagaming it.

Sacks or spare clothes can be used to muffle noise when breaking things like a lock or glass.

Soak a rope in Holy Water and go all Simon Belmont on undead :D

Portable Ram + rope + block and tackle = swinging log trap. (Add pointy things for more effect)

Iron Pot = Helmet (great for getting shot out of a cannon)

Signal whistle + parchment (rolled in a cone) = fog horn (deafen enemies)

Soap = lubricant; apply to squeaky hinges, last five feet of a rope, or last few steps on a ladder

[ruy343]

Just a thought: the Thief archetype of the Rogue does this really well: they can use a bonus action to "use an object".

As for uses... most of my most recent character's crazy creativity comes from being a low-level wizard... and usually my ideas are situational anyways... Maybe:

Carry a spool of heavy wire in your pack, anchoring it between two objects on the battlefield (or anchoring it to your dwarf companion) to create tripwires (Sleight of Hand vs. Perception methinks) or to clothesline a would-be pursuer.

Use your tent as a makeshift net, staking down an end before you throw.

[UberN3wb]

I one of my characters is kind of based on this concept. Some of my favorite contraptions include a crossbow triggered by a tripwire, a concealed tent loosely staked over a pit trap, and a hunting trap with a vial of alchemist's fire.

[CursedRhubarb]

I one of my characters is kind of based on this concept. Some of my favorite contraptions include a crossbow triggered by a tripwire, a concealed tent loosely staked over a pit trap, and a hunting trap with a vial of alchemist's fire.

The tent and hunting trap I didn't even thing of. Brilliant too.

[Regitnui]

This is the sort of thing an Artificer class should encourage, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the closest thing I have is my players using a float ring (nonstandard object from 3.5, feather fall on four people) and a boat to float down from a cliff dressed as... Well, what Terry Pratchett's books termed "seamstresses".

[Contrast]

It's worth saying its possible to take this too far.

In a sci-fi game I was once playing in we were fleeing from a beast and had to make a split second decision to either try and escape using a lift shaft (the lift having fallen down or become inoperational somehow I think) or try and outrun the thing up the stairs. I turned to another player and thinking we could use a grapnel to traverse up the lift shaft quickly asked him if he had a grapnel and he said he did.

So we ran in the opposite direction to the stairs, the beast closing in on us with every step. We stumbled into the lift shaft and I turned to him with my hand out for the grapnel. He handed me a crossbow and asked if I had any rope as the beast slammed into the lift entrance way.

He has never quite lived that incident down.

[Pfhagthyeh]

With particularly hard fights coming up, it's better to get an ambush. My character devised a pretty clever method to lure dumb bosses into a world of hurt with minimal setup.

Jar of oil and steel ball bearings. I can't remember where, but somewhere I read that broken glass/ball bearings work like caltrops and cover a 5x5' space. You anger the boss (like a troll or something), and run out the door. They'll follow you, and at that point you shatter the jar behind you and get into position. The ball bearings coupled with the oil pretty much guarantees that the enemy'll trip, and at that point you throw a torch onto the flammable oil. Now you've got a fight starting with a prone boss taking 1d6 fire damage per round, and you can just tear them apart with ranged attacks.

[Gwiz]

As a DM I love and reward clever thinking, just don't expect all your weird inventions to work as intended all the time. ;)