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View Full Version : Basketweavers taking on the Tomb



UglyPanda
2008-02-14, 10:08 PM
I'm of course talking about the Tomb of Horrors. I believe that if someone knew everything about the tomb in advance and allowed to optimize, they would be able to get through the tomb with a fifth as many fatalities. What if the character knew everything in advance, but couldn't play a class that capitalized on it? What if they were optimized for basketweaving, and basketweaving only? What if they weren't allowed to carry any items that weren't basket-related?

I'm not sure if it's honestly possible short of epic. I think throwing baskets at things would be a good substitute for ten-foot rods. But how would they survive encounters? Would they need some sort of steel basket?

loopy
2008-02-14, 10:10 PM
If you weaved your baskets out of Ironwood, perhaps. :smallbiggrin:

"Did I mention my baskets (of holding) carried SWORDS?" *pulls out small armoury*

Worira
2008-02-14, 10:16 PM
Honestly, not that hard. The Tomb is almost completely harmless if you know what will happen. That said, this (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-593140) bears mentioning.

BRC
2008-02-14, 10:18 PM
They make abunch of Deadly BASKET GOLEMS!

loopy
2008-02-14, 10:19 PM
Mighty Morphing Basket Weavers?

Guildorn Tanaleth
2008-02-14, 10:24 PM
Alright, I'm just going to have to ask this: what's the deal with basketweaving? Everyone always seems to mention it specifically as an example of a useless skill, yet I've never seen any indication as to why it's always basketweaving as opposed to, say, care & maintenance of 18th century wigs. Is there some pop culture reference or obscure comment in the PHB that I'm missing? Why are you people so obsessed with baskets & their creation?

Indon
2008-02-14, 10:24 PM
Well, the biggest danger of the tomb is traps, right?

Fight fire with fire (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/traps.htm) - basket traps! Just tons of baskets, all filled with various kinds of traps. (and some plentiful trap cheese, too, like an auto-resetting Basket of Cure <level> Wounds trap, used as helmet of course)

I think sufficiently wacky trap cheese could be used to compensate for most of the basket handicap, even without knowing what you're going to face, so long as you were extremely cautious.

UglyPanda
2008-02-14, 10:28 PM
I only used it because other people mentioned it today. It's most likely because of underwater basket weaving. Look if up on Wikipedia.
Let me rephrase my question. How hard is the tomb if none of your class features are specifically designed for it? What if you have no trapfinding, no healing, no magic weapons, and no magic. All you have is a bunch of baskets and the tools used to make them.

Indon
2008-02-14, 10:31 PM
What, you can't even build basket-constructing Artificers? Nuts.

So I guess the class choice is probably restricted to Commoner, which makes the prolific basket-trap strategy less viable.

Darrin
2008-02-15, 08:14 AM
Alright, I'm just going to have to ask this: what's the deal with basketweaving?

Well, to start with, it's an older pop-culture reference. In the 1950s, there was a series of movies based on Francis the Talking Mule, who can only talk to one person, Peter. Since no one believes him when he tries to tell people the mule can talk, he frequently gets sent to a phsychologist who has him take up "basket weaving" as a quiet activity to calm his nerves. It may have come from the military as a task that could be given to a soldier that was unfit or couldn't be trusted with anything more serious. It can be a euphemism for someone dealing with psychological problems, or as something to distract someone who is being silly or getting overly worked up over an irrational obsession.

As a spoof, someone on the WotC Character Optimization boards created a Basket Weaver's Handbook, which takes an in-depth serious but tongue-in-cheek look at how to optimize the Craft: Basket Weaving skill. Mostly it's a thought-exercise, but there are optimization tricks that can be employed to other concepts that want to maximize a particular skill (like, for example, Pun-Pun's DC 30 Knowledge: Religion check to summon Pazuzu).

So, in D&D/D20 parlance, "Basket Weaving" means you want to optimize something, but in a way that subverts or satirizes the goals of the game.

KIDS
2008-02-15, 09:11 AM
CO boards had a good build for a Basket Weaver who tied his enemies into Baskets and beat other enemies to death with them. I think it was like Monk/Drunken Master/Shou Disciple. There was also a Bloodstorm Blade/Chicken Infested Basket throwing build.

daggaz
2008-02-15, 09:25 AM
Never heard the mule story in my life but...

I think in this context they are actually going following the term "underwater basketweaving" which was the common way to ridicule all the useless elective classes you are forced to take in your first year of college.

As in "Hey, I just signed up for underwater basketweaving 101!"