Most ingenious uses of Spells

[Purple Cloak]

In my last campaign the wizard forgot to prepare feather fall and promptly got dropped by a flying kobold, so he used burning hands to slow his decent, this amused me so i let him take only half damage :smallbiggrin:

He did survive, no thanks to his next cunning plan of fireballing the kobold at point blank range :smallamused:

Has anyone else had player use spells in interesting ways?

[Azerian Kelimon]

...How the hell does Burning Hands slow your descent? I could see The Scorcher doing it, but burning hands?

[kentma57]

I could tell you a great story about "Umbral hands" a "flame sphere" and furniture, but...

[Purple Cloak]

The way i looked at it it seemed like the force of it would work in the same principal to a very weak jetpack, but I made it clear i'd only let him get away with that once.

[Seffbasilisk]

Major Image of a Wall of Force in front of a cliff. Bullrushing PC tried to 'Dungeoncrash' an NPC Goon into the Wall of Force. He had a few minutes to swear before making a new character.

[Azerian Kelimon]

The way i looked at it it seemed like the force of it would work in the same principal to a very weak jetpack, but I made it clear i'd only let him get away with that once.

Aaah. I get it now. I still think that's a job best left to The Scorcher, but it's understandable now.

[Swooper]

Major Image of a Wall of Force in front of a cliff. Bullrushing PC tried to 'Dungeoncrash' an NPC Goon into the Wall of Force. He had a few minutes to swear before making a new character.
Wait, how does that work? Wall of Force is invisible, so how can you make a Major Image of one?

[SamTheCleric]

He made a major image of a wooden sign that says "There's a wall of force right here!" ? :smalltongue:

[quiet1mi]

scaring the crap out of the players when i said i am using a monster manual 3 and sent a "shape shifting" glowing monster that was immune to all of their attacks... ( it was dancing lights)

the sorcerer in the group never thought it could be a spell so he never casted dispel magic or used spell craft...

[Talic]

Use Wall of Stone to block Antimagic Field.

[bosssmiley]

Chase scene, top of stairs, grease. Yeah.

So old it was new again. :smallbiggrin:

[valadil]

Came up with this by accident a couple months ago. Take a wall of force. Put 20 enemies on one side and 4 PCs on the other. Before the wall goes up, leave a defenstrating sphere with the enemies. On the sphere's turn, shout "pull!" as enemy flies up over the wall and players poke him full of ranged weapon ammunition. This turned a 20 on 4 fight into 20 1 on 4 fights. It was wonderful. (Yes I realize the sphere doesn't always launch and it doesn't always launch in the right direction (though players with readied actions can shoot airborne enemies if they fly high enough even if they don't land on your side of the wall), but in this case I did happen to roll in the right direction on all but 2 of the sphere's turns._

[JMobius]

Yesterday, I used Heat Metal to make a doorknob too hot for some pursuant guards to open.

[TheCountAlucard]

Good thing they didn't think to kick the door down, eh? :smalltongue:

[black dragoon]

Wall of blades plus several mezzoloths, oh and one good force push. The PCs had crab salad that night:smallbiggrin:
Do psionics count because I've seen a Pyromancer force push an incantefier into red mist. Admittedly there was some rule bending there but meh.

[Kami2awa]

Feather Fall to invade an enemy camp at the foot of a cliff by air-drop, casting Light around our heads at the same time to impersonate angels.

[Darkantra]

A roomful of kobolds who all took the Searching for the Dragon feat to get RoE as a 1/day spell. Needless to say they dined on a feast of barbarian that night.

Also, having a 5th level druid and cleric fill all their spell slots with Create Water to fill a pit trap that they then lured the BBEG into, since he was wearing full plate and the DM never thought to give him ranks in swim.

[KazilDarkeye]

I posted this on another thread, but I think it counts...



My group was trekking through Yuan-Ti Forest and had split into 2 parties. This story consists of one party:
NPC: Human (Archery) Ranger
My Friend: Duergar Barbarian
My Sister: Aasimar Bard.

They were walking along when they heard two voices calling out to them

Yuan-Ti: Tresspasserssssss will be killed...
Bard: Hey, they are about 180 f.t away, right?
Me (DM): Yeah, about.
Bard: So we can do stuff before they get here?
Me: Yeah, you could hide.
Barbarian: Not a bad idea.
Bard: I'm gonna cast some spells.
Me: Sure
Bard: First I'll cast Light on my headband.
Me: Right...
Bard: Next I'll cast Summon Monster to summon a Celestial Owl, and cast Light on it as well.
Me: Right....
Bard: I'll tell it to hold on to my back.
Me:O.K.....
Bard: Now I'm gonna use Bardic Knowledge. What's the name of a REALLY powerful angel?
Me: I dunno.....Celestius?
Bard: That's a boy's name.
Me: Fine.......Celestia?
Bard: Great. Now Bluff check (natural 20)
STOP! I AM CELESTIA!

.................................................. ...................................

<Yuan-Ti start bowing>

[Hunter Noventa]

Both of mine come from two different games, which involved fighting in two different arenas.

The first, I was a druid, now, this was a long time ago, before I ever knew abou things like Natural Spell and the like. BUt anyway, I was pited against some kind of magic user who had a whole ton of wands. Metal Wands. I cast Heat Metal. While his bandoliers heated up he kept playing with me, pelting me with Magic Missile. Then the DM said he basically burst into flames. It was fun.


The other one was a team battle, our ragtag group was up against a bunch of cavalry in a huge arena. The Pixie Warmage (This guy always had bizarre characters) Used his racial Permanent Image around the horses to create a field of spikes pointed at them, and the horses promptly refused to move at any reasonable speed.

[Aleron]

Wizard in a previous campaign concocted a way to use the Minor Image spell to record something into a Gem or crystal (50 GP or more cost on the crystal) then allow it to project the image via command word. Used that to record some porn. Eventually sold said porn for a few thousand gold(he had quite a few crystals by this point). Used this technique to black mail a high ranking priest as well. :-P

[Keld Denar]

When facing a colossal sized darn crab,one of the PCs got grappled and was about to be taken away for some quiet snacking in the safety of the crab's lair. The wizard cast a Rapid Spell Summon Monster followed by a quickened Benign Transposition to swap the PC with a hapless celestial bison that had just popped into being. Poor crabby was sad when he got back to his lair right as the summon duration ended and the bison went home. PCs had already booked it to the toon of Brave Brave Sir Robin..

[black dragoon]

heh...heh..<.<...>.>
summon celestial thrush around a group of hungery Pcs. poor bird never saw it coming.
Thunderbolt from of an electro-mancer(homebrewed) and a WP-grenade on the BBEG. HE WAS NOT HAPPY. but,he was very crispy!:smallbiggrin:

[Triaxx]

Room full of Kobolds. Barbarian with Blind-fight. Light, and facing rules. Sorceror uses sudden quicken then casts two blasts of Magic Missiles. At the torches lighting the room.

[Soup of Kings]

We were in a church-type thing with a wooden stage at the front, fighting a Drow and a Duergar, both with class levels, and some assorted minions. The Duergar used Greater Invisibility and started taking potshots at us from the stage while we fought the Drow in the pews. After a few rounds of this, I asked for the description of the room again, and I promptly fireballed the stage. He ran away, screaming and burning, allowing us to finish off the Drow while he licked his wounds.

Not that ingenious, but still fun.

Another time, I had a Ring of X-ray vision and looked through a wall to spot a group of heavily armed, tough looking guards. I turned invisible, popped in magically, put some explosive runes on the door and popped back out, then knocked on the door to get their attention. Could have been more efficient, but damned if that wasn't fun too. Once the door splintered and they were all on their arses the fighter-types rushed in and mangled them.

[Swooper]

Room full of Kobolds. Barbarian with Blind-fight. Light, and facing rules. Sorceror uses sudden quicken then casts two blasts of Magic Missiles. At the torches lighting the room.
Actually, Magic Missile specifically says that it can't damage objects. :smalltongue:

[ahammer]

this one from hackmaster

a player used the cantrip shiftblame to make sure he was not pick leader

so much fun to be had with that spell

also so much fun with that wiz that only had a 3 str.

[Fizban]

Room full of Kobolds. Barbarian with Blind-fight. Light, and facing rules. Sorceror uses sudden quicken then casts two blasts of Magic Missiles. At the torches lighting the room.

So what happened? Barbarian shishkebab or kobold salsa? Considering that the sorcerer did nothing, but the barbarian wasn't hampered, your story has told us nothing. (Magic missile doesn't work on objects, and kobolds have darkvision. If the sorcerer's "brilliant" plan had worked, the barb would have been worse off.)

That said, points for trying to do control with magic missile.

[nargbop]

Fighting against the Best Liar in the World and an epic assassin ( who were enemies ) , one of my characters laid down a Great Thunderclap centered on himself. The baddies made all the saves, naturally, but my PC was deaf and thus immune to the Liar's Bluff-o-mancy.
It was all for nothing, because the Liar just cast Enslavement the next round anyway. I made it out of there only with a Tool of the Plot.

[Innis Cabal]

Disitnagrate on stalacties over Dragotha for the final killing hit

[Mad Wizard]

Actually, Magic Missile specifically says that it can't damage objects. :smalltongue:

Huh. I had never noticed that until you said that. Makes the spell a bit less fun IMO.

[Occasional Sage]

I wish I could claim that I've seen this in action, but the most I can say is that having seen the idea validated in the 3.5FAQ this is now one of the Goals Of My Gaming Life:

Cast Resurrection on the dragonhide armor of the BBEG. Sit back and watch the ensuing hilarity.

Edit to add: although I suppose the wizard's exotic wand components would be more likely to show up... can you imagine pulling out your Wand of Polar Ray, and have it suddenly become that white dragon you killed last year... only REALLY MAD now? :smallbiggrin:

[Scorpi]

It's not a spell but a Paladin's mount is great for interplanar corpse hiding...

[Blanks]

The problem with these kind of posts are that the stories almost never follow either RAW or RAI. That makes the possibilities for learning from them smaller :smallfrown:

But ofcourse, if you had fun and the DM allowed it, have fun, im not trying to be a killjoy :smalltongue:

[quiet1mi]

It's not a spell but a Paladin's mount is great for interplanar corpse hiding...

alright Mr.Rouge you found my corpse and resurrected me... your turn to hide your corpse and this time I will look for it...

[Triaxx]

Sorry. Computer cut off my post, and the Barbarian had Blindsense, not Blind-Fight.

Anyway, the magic missiles weren't targetted at the torches, but rather at the fire. DM ruled that fire was not at this time an object, but informed us the remainder of the dungeon was lit by lanterns. Anyway, the advantage shifted to the barbarian, since the hallway was lined with columns. He steps 5' into an alcove, and watches the Kobolds advance. Darkvision is great, but it can only see in straight lines. Blindsense see's around corners. Every time a pair of Kobolds advances, he uses an AoO on the leader, followed by his Cleave on the one behind it. Add the judicious use of Lightning Bolts, and the fight only lasted five rounds or so. Compared to the thirty or forty it would have taken.

[Last_resort_33]

Anyway, the magic missiles weren't targetted at the torches, but rather at the fire.

I cast Magic Missile
I attack the Light.

(sorry)

[Worira]

Sorry. Computer cut off my post, and the Barbarian had Blindsense, not Blind-Fight.

Anyway, the magic missiles weren't targetted at the torches, but rather at the fire. DM ruled that fire was not at this time an object, but informed us the remainder of the dungeon was lit by lanterns. Anyway, the advantage shifted to the barbarian, since the hallway was lined with columns. He steps 5' into an alcove, and watches the Kobolds advance. Darkvision is great, but it can only see in straight lines. Blindsense see's around corners. Every time a pair of Kobolds advances, he uses an AoO on the leader, followed by his Cleave on the one behind it. Add the judicious use of Lightning Bolts, and the fight only lasted five rounds or so. Compared to the thirty or forty it would have taken.

Ruling that Magic Missile works on flames is absurd. First, fire is an object. It's a mix of plasma, gases and solids. Second, you don't put flames out by interfering the actual flame, you put them out by interfering with the fire's oxygen supply, fuel supply, heat, or ability to sustain a reaction. Shooting the flame does none of those.

Also, Darkvision sees around corners just as well as regular vision. And blindsense doesn't do it any better. It does, however, give the user a 50% miss chance and deny them their dex to AC.

[Talya]

Best use of Ghost Sound, ever:

My party of cutthroats, brigands, scallywags and general ne'er-do-wells was silently boarding the BBEG's lieutennant's ship, anchored a mile out to sea from Calimport. There was, of course, an unusually thick fog that night, and they slowly climbed the anchor-chain up the ship. Even the fighter made a decent stealth roll, the deckhands on duty made a decent listen roll, but weren't sure what they heard...



"I'm tellin' ya, I heard something."
"We're on a ship, there are always things to hear."
"Yeah, but this was different."
"I can't see anything."
"We'd be lucky to see our own feet in this fog..."

...until the party Samurai(OA)/Swordsage rolls a 1 on his move silently check.



There's a deafening silence after the racket caused by Gorotsuki's ill-conceived attempt at stealth, followed by a shout from the darkness.

"Told ya I heared sometin'."
"Who goes there? Sam, is that you? If you're drunk again..."

In steps Captain the Doctor François "the Undertow" von Hösen - Terror of the Tides, wArrrrlord of the Waves, and Holder of the Map to the City of Lost Treasures or Something Like That, a gnome swashbuckler-bard and self-styled pirate-captain of the party. Hearing the commotion, he quietly casts a cantrip. An eerie sound suddenly erupts from the other side of the ship.

"Moooooooooooo."


After some cries of alarm and confused expressions of disbelief, Captain the Doctor von Hösen continues with a bluff...in the voice of one of the sentries: "Dammit! Gnock it off with that cow sound! I'm gonna shank you but good if the boss comes up here to chew us out."


A voice booms out:

"Chew you out? I'm gonna feed ya to the lady's little pet if I find ya caused all this commotion. Where are ya? Yer not even at yer post...answer me!"


(Ghost Sound:) "Moooooooo."

Followed immediately by, (Bluff:) "Dammit Sam! I said cut that out!" The sound of two men having a scuffle ensues.

Gorotsuki the clumsy samurai attempts to sneak up some more and attack...


"What in the nine hells are ye doin' with a cow out here? Ye blubbering fools..."

Gorotsuki's blade snags in a loose peice of rigging. The attack, however, alerts the man.

"Boys! We be under attack! Sound the alarm!"

"By cows?" someone asks quizically.
Initiative, everyone.


Later, during combat...


Someone shouts into the fog, "Hey, I think I got it, now! Maybe we're being attacked by minotaurs!"

"Minotaurs don't moo. Perhaps they are minions of that Mulhorandi goddess, Hathor."

"Just because the Goddess has a cow's head doesn't mean their servants do as well."

"Shut up and fight, you minnow-brained harem-girls!"

[Shifty]

After being forced to leave his warhorse at the dungeon entrance, our party's charger/meatshield still brought his lance with him. Silly bugger, we all thought. What are you going to find to ride in a labyrinth? Two hours into the dungeon, we're at the top of a long incline with a very pissed off minotaur coming up from the bottom, and almost no rounds left in the artillery mage, except for one lowly grease spell. A brief moment of conferral, and the charger finds something to ride: his newly-greased tower shield. Killed the bovine brute in a hit. Of course, the charger sleeps with his lance now, but it was worth it at the time.

[Sir_Elderberry]

I wish I could claim that I've seen this in action, but the most I can say is that having seen the idea validated in the 3.5FAQ this is now one of the Goals Of My Gaming Life:

Cast Resurrection on the dragonhide armor of the BBEG. Sit back and watch the ensuing hilarity.

Edit to add: although I suppose the wizard's exotic wand components would be more likely to show up... can you imagine pulling out your Wand of Polar Ray, and have it suddenly become that white dragon you killed last year... only REALLY MAD now? :smallbiggrin:

Pity Resurrection is a ten-minute cast.

[monty]

Pity Resurrection is a ten-minute cast.

I'm tempted to do that, now. Since I'm playing a Shadowcheese Mage with Miracle, I could cast it in one round.

[Occasional Sage]

Pity Resurrection is a ten-minute cast.

Details. *waves hand airily* I'll find an application for it someday....

[Sir_Elderberry]

Yeah, I'm sure there's a way around that. I didn't have time to look for anything besides quickened spell, which doesn't apply.

[monty]

Without cheese, you could drop the cast time to 1 minute with Rapid Spell. Beyond that, I don't know.

[evisiron]

Hmm.

I was running a WotC adventure involving were-rat dwarves and an involuntary were-rat gnome. After the dwarves were defeated, the gnome tried to flee, but was caught. In his last round, he cast a Ventriloquism for a voice to say "Don't Hurt That Gnome". The players looked for the voice, and ruled it must have been the ghost of the Dwarf they were sent to help. This meant the gnome not only lived, but got cured and was able to translate the Dwarven messages so the quest could be completed.

When I told one of the players later she was kicking herself. :smallbiggrin:

[Triaxx]

I've never considered fire an object, but instead incorporeal. Which means magic missile would hit it. And I can't find anything in the RAW that prevents it.

[Worira]

Incorporeal and object aren't mutually exclusive, and you didn't address my other points.

[The Extinguisher]

Bardic Hiding. A spell which allows you to hide behind anything of any size as long as you actuallly try and hide behind it. Such as hiding behind a chair or under a small bed.

I used it to hide behind my captor's hand.

[SolkaTruesilver]

DM : The Red dragon is approaching the village, the bell rings to evacuate
Wizard: I go to the town center, well in evidence
(planning that the players would flee) DM: Ok.. eh.. the Dragon begins his approach. He gets a lot of speed going down
Wizard: I wait
DM: The dragon saw you! He is speeding toward you, he will breath flame at any moment..
Wizard: Is he in medium range?
DM: Err.. yhea
Wizard: I cast Wall of Force directly in his path

(the dragon was killed the neck broken)

[Deth Muncher]

DM : The Red dragon is approaching the village, the bell rings to evacuate
Wizard: I go to the town center, well in evidence
(planning that the players would flee) DM: Ok.. eh.. the Dragon begins his approach. He gets a lot of speed going down
Wizard: I wait
DM: The dragon saw you! He is speeding toward you, he will breath flame at any moment..
Wizard: Is he in medium range?
DM: Err.. yhea
Wizard: I cast Wall of Force directly in his path

(the dragon was killed the neck broken)

Please tell me someone yelled "OWNED."

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Low-ish level ship to ship battle. The bard Suggests that one of the enemy crew put out his torch in the "sand" (keg of gunpowerder) since fire is dangerous on a wooden ship. As a fun DM, it was my duty to go with it.


The party loved the fireworks, the enemy crew did not.

[Calinero]

Friend of mine was playing a battle mage, or something of the kind...and he was in quite a predicament. He had triggered a trap by rushing in to a room, which promptly closed on him. He was trapped inside, and small holes opened up in the walls. Water began pouring in and filling up the room. There was no way out, and to be honest, I'm fairly sure the DM was intending to kill the guy. However, my friend thought quickly, and used ray of frost. He froze the water in the holes, preventing them from filling up and drowning him. I'm not sure how he got out of the room, though.

[Innis Cabal]

wouldnt water pressure knock the ice out?

>.> <.< Just asking

[Xsjado]

If the magical freezing effect caused a block of ice to form on the other side of the hole as well then it would form an effective plug.

[Recaiden]

A summoned creature grappled a paragon enemy and dragged them both into a pit of lava, and the wizard capped the pit with wall of stone. The creature made it out right before it died and was easily killed.

[FlyMolo]

Ruling that Magic Missile works on flames is absurd. First, fire is an object. It's a mix of plasma, gases and solids. Second, you don't put flames out by interfering the actual flame, you put them out by interfering with the fire's oxygen supply, fuel supply, heat, or ability to sustain a reaction. Shooting the flame does none of those.

Also, Darkvision sees around corners just as well as regular vision. And blindsense doesn't do it any better. It does, however, give the user a 50% miss chance and deny them their dex to AC.

In Fairness, saying the Magic missile doesn't work on objects is absurd. Why not? It hits people. What's different? someone explain the difference between a person in full plate and a suit of full plate propped up. An animated full plate told to hold still and a suit propped up.

So I would totally allow this, because it is totally awesome. sometimes, you just have to unwind.

[SolkaTruesilver]

In Fairness, saying the Magic missile doesn't work on objects is absurd. Why not? It hits people. What's different? someone explain the difference between a person in full plate and a suit of full plate propped up. An animated full plate told to hold still and a suit propped up.

So I would totally allow this, because it is totally awesome. sometimes, you just have to unwind.

Sadly, I know a guy (who always says: I'm not a rule lawyer! A rule lawyer interprete the rules to favor himself, while I just use them exactly as they are written!)(but I have beaten him about 10 times to opposed Knowledge(D&D rules) check) who said "you have to target a person. That's how the spell was described!"

The guy didn't even accepted that I used Chain Scorching Ray (or Chain Magic Missile) since, as he says, you can only chain a spell with "1 target"

[drengnikrafe]

I was DMing a campaign, and when my PC who was a Monk/Psionic Warrior with Up The Wall told me he should be able to intimidate an enemy by running up the wall 60 feet and jumping towards them. I had to give him the bonus for it, because, honestly, if something did that to me I would be massively freaked out.

[Collin152]

I wanted to destroy something.
So I cast Reverse Gravity on a black hole.
I think the DM's brain broke, so it worked.
Also, reality was torn asunder.

[xPANCAKEx]

i think is a DMs job to make it fun for everyone, so unless you're playing with a hoarde of rules-laywers (wow, yawnfest that'll be), just chill, have some laughs, and if a pc comes up with something creative, reward them for it. Even if you apply the "ok - just this once" rule a lot, it will still keep them thinking.

hats off to the DMs already doing it

[Worira]

In Fairness, saying the Magic missile doesn't work on objects is absurd. Why not? It hits people. What's different? someone explain the difference between a person in full plate and a suit of full plate propped up. An animated full plate told to hold still and a suit propped up.

So I would totally allow this, because it is totally awesome. sometimes, you just have to unwind.

This isn't some crazy, super-rules-lawyering RAW-adhering RAI-ignoring ruling, here: the spell says "Inanimate objects are not damaged by the spell." Asking the difference between creatures and objects is like asking why Shatter doesn't work on magic glass but does work on non-magical adamantine: it just does. Maybe the magical field interferes with the shattering energies, maybe Magic Missiles are actually emissions of alpha radiation, maybe they're actually targeting beacons for smiting by an oddly picky, inanimate-object-protecting god. Who cares? The end result is that Magic Missile doesn't damage inanimate objects.

[FlyMolo]

Oh yeah. The rules especially prohibit it. But why? So I rewrote them. I'm allowed to do that, I'm the DM. It's not even a problem, unless the PCs start to sunder bows and such. and even then. 1d4+1 against even wood has hardness 5? please. Unless you have weapons made of ice or something, don't be silly.

And reverse gravity on a black hole would just make things fly away from it uberfast, right? Or fling it up into the ceiling.

[Worira]

Blatantly breaking the rules is not an ingenious use of a spell, especially when all you're doing is screwing over your own team without hindering the enemies. This isn't like using a Scorching Ray on some water to boil it without calculating the exact damage, it's like using a Scorching Ray to freeze it solid. It's not ingenious, it's just cheating. It's like using Shatter on someone's bones. The spell just doesn't work that way.

[Sir_Elderberry]

And reverse gravity on a black hole would just make things fly away from it uberfast, right? Or fling it up into the ceiling.

Well, the black hole simply begins to push everything out with an opposite of the force it would exert on them normally. (This isn't necessarily uberfast. Black holes are no more powerful than any other body of the same mass, gravitationally.) As for the black hole itself, it's only holding together at such an amazing density because it's pulling on itself--reverse gravity would probably just destroy the black hole. Or something, I don't actually know the spell, just putting out what would I understand would happen if it all the mass in there started having repulsive gravity.

[Soup of Kings]

Bardic Hiding.

From Nymphology: Blue Magic?

That was a fun book. Never seen much practical use in my case, but good for a laugh.

[FlyMolo]

Well, the black hole simply begins to push everything out with an opposite of the force it would exert on them normally. (This isn't necessarily uberfast. Black holes are no more powerful than any other body of the same mass, gravitationally.) As for the black hole itself, it's only holding together at such an amazing density because it's pulling on itself--reverse gravity would probably just destroy the black hole. Or something, I don't actually know the spell, just putting out what would I understand would happen if it all the mass in there started having repulsive gravity.

Oh, of course. But they happen to have the mass of a hundred billion really huge things. Seriously. A lot. So, yeah, uberfast. Faster than the speed of light, really. If light can't get out, then when all that's reversed it could be ugly. Pretty from far away, though.

[Lycan 01]

Black Holes are scary. You get spagghettified... :smalleek:


I dunno why, but the whole "inverted black hole blows up reality" thing makes sense in my head. But that's probably just because its an awesome concept, and would be really hilarious to see happen in the middle of a game...

How did everyone react to reality shredding itself? "Wooooo, that was awesome! :smallbiggrin:" or "DUDE, WTF?! :smallfurious:"

[FlyMolo]

Blatantly breaking the rules is not an ingenious use of a spell, especially when all you're doing is screwing over your own team without hindering the enemies. This isn't like using a Scorching Ray on some water to boil it without calculating the exact damage, it's like using a Scorching Ray to freeze it solid. It's not ingenious, it's just cheating. It's like using Shatter on someone's bones. The spell just doesn't work that way.

If your fighter has blindsense you're really helping him, relative to everyone else. Well, if the enemies don't have darkvision.

Magic Missile does not work on objects for only one (OOC) reason: Ranged sundering with no attack roll. It's impractical anyway, which is why I feel fine allowing it to damage objects. If you cast animate object first, it's legal. No other spell allows scorching ray to freeze things. There's metamagic, but that's different. Shatter doesn't work on bones for one IC reason. You can't see someone's bones. And they're covered in rather squishy sound absorbing stuff.

You can allow shatter to affect bones RAW, but you need to cast Flay From Bones or something equally inventive. You can get scorching ray to freeze things, but you need metamagic. All you need to get magic missile to affect a torch is an animate object spell, that doesn't actually change the object. Unlike the previous examples. That's why it's different and that's why I'd allow it.

[BizzaroStormy]

If your fighter has blindsense you're really helping him, relative to everyone else. Well, if the enemies don't have darkvision.

Magic Missile does not work on objects for only one (OOC) reason: Ranged sundering with no attack roll. It's impractical anyway, which is why I feel fine allowing it to damage objects. If you cast animate object first, it's legal. No other spell allows scorching ray to freeze things. There's metamagic, but that's different. Shatter doesn't work on bones for one IC reason. You can't see someone's bones. And they're covered in rather squishy sound absorbing stuff.

You can allow shatter to affect bones RAW, but you need to cast Flay From Bones or something equally inventive. You can get scorching ray to freeze things, but you need metamagic. All you need to get magic missile to affect a torch is an animate object spell, that doesn't actually change the object. Unlike the previous examples. That's why it's different and that's why I'd allow it.
What if you want to cast shatter on a skeleton?

[FlyMolo]

What if you want to cast shatter on a skeleton?

I knew one of my players was going to get me. In short, yes. A bone at a time. Start with the fingers?

[Lycan 01]

Why not the lumbar vertebrae? That way he breaks in half?

Sorry, logical standpoint of view. Dunno if that works in DnD...

[FlyMolo]

Why not the lumbar vertebrae? That way he breaks in half?

Sorry, logical standpoint of view. Dunno if that works in DnD...
The ribcage pulls itself along the ground and the legs run up and kick you in the shins. :smallbiggrin:

And no, it doesn't. Welcome to Limbo. I will be your server today, you may call me giant frog.

[Lycan 01]

Hm. Fun. So now I've got two enemies to deal with... Mental note: If I ever play DnD, don't try to break the skeleton's back...


Also, is that a Cowboy Bebop reference, or are you just going crazy on me?

[BizzaroStormy]

I knew one of my players was going to get me. In short, yes. A bone at a time. Start with the fingers?

No, you hit the skull, since the top is all one piece, and undead need their head to move, it seems like the best target. Hmm, that reminds me, we have someone in the group that can shatter at will...

[monty]

Oh, of course. But they happen to have the mass of a hundred billion really huge things. Seriously. A lot. So, yeah, uberfast. Faster than the speed of light, really. If light can't get out, then when all that's reversed it could be ugly. Pretty from far away, though.

I'm not sure that's how it works. We should start a new thread on this.

[FlyMolo]

No, you hit the skull, since the top is all one piece, and undead need their head to move, it seems like the best target. Hmm, that reminds me, we have someone in the group that can shatter at will...
The curse of inventive players! Agh. Who said this, anyway? They're immune to vorpal thingies, right? Yeah, only vampires are vulnerable. So you'd have a headless skeleton. No bite attack, on the plus side.

[llamamushroom]

My only inventive use of a spell was in a rock tunnel - the DM decided that he needed to extend the adventure by about 20 minutes, so our level 7-8 party met 3 easy swarms. I cast shift stone on the ceiling, bringing down the roof exactly over the swarms. It was quick and effective.

Also, does the Shift Stone spell mean 15' cubed per level? Because my PHB says squared, and that would be useless.

[SolkaTruesilver]

My party knew there was a dragon behind the next door, he was restrained there by the BBEG. The thing was, they wanted it's treasure.

It was a Young Adult Blue Dragon. Which, in retrospective, was probably a little too much for a group of 6 lvl 5 peoples.. But they got clever.

They took whatever they had remaining of exploding spheres (2x 3d6 damage), and they hide it on the corpse of one of the ennemy they previously killed. They fed it to the dragon (luckily, there was a feeding-system for the dragon). When the dragon was chewing on the corpse and swallowed it, the wizard and the cleric both cast "Shatter" on the exploding spheres.

(Off course, I made them make a "spellcraft" check so they could "aim" their spell well)

[ObsidianRose]

It's not that far from the intended purpose, but in our big plane-hopping campaign, I had a gnome sorcerer who worshipped the imaginary god of artillery, Howitzer.

Every day, he would use all of his spell slots for that level putting exploding runes on a single arrow. The arrow stayed with the barbarian.

At about 16th level, the party managed to piss off the githyanki lich queen, who personally came to attack us. Howitzer was killed in the ensuing battle, but before he did, he personally carried the arrow into the lich queen's square, mounted on his dire weasel. At point blank range, he cast dispel magic on himself, voluntarily failing every one of the checks.

Needless to say, the 200+ 6d6s of damage tore him, his weasel, and the lich queen apart.

[seedjar]

Ruling that Magic Missile works on flames is absurd. First, fire is an object. It's a mix of plasma, gases and solids. Second, you don't put flames out by interfering the actual flame, you put them out by interfering with the fire's oxygen supply, fuel supply, heat, or ability to sustain a reaction. Shooting the flame does none of those.

Now, Magic Missile dealing damage to flames is swinging pretty wide of the rules, but I think your reaction is a bit harsh. There's nothing to say that exinguishing a nonmagical flame is analogous to damaging it. I think of Magic Missile as the next step in spells that draw on Mage Hand (yeah, the schools don't match.) It's a more sudden, transitive effect, but I picture "a missile of magical energy" to be something with at least same physicality. There are good rules-based reasons why it shouldn't deal damage, but I've always imagined it would be associated with a gust of wind, rattling loose objects, etc., perhaps even leaving some extremely subtle, minor damage only discernable in a forensic capacity.
~Joe

PS - My good alternate-use spell(s) is Entangle/Plant Growth. My druid spends a lot of time being ambushed and besieged while traveling on boats, carraiges, etc. and has on several occasions saved the day with vines, fresh flowers, veggies, potted plants, etc., Wood Shape and a high Craft check. The party's ship is full of potted trees for quick patch jobs. Also, the exploding bridal bouquet was pretty much the best assassin tool ever.

[MammonAzrael]

No, you hit the skull, since the top is all one piece, and undead need their head to move, it seems like the best target. Hmm, that reminds me, we have someone in the group that can shatter at will...

There is a reason why Baleful Utterance is one of the most badass invocations ever conceived. :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

Oh, and on topic. I was playing a Druid. Party was raiding a goblin camp, so lots of mooks along with some tougher challenges. So I cast Entangle. Weeds, plants, and whatever else wrap around the subjects, holding them in place. Spike Growth on the plants Entagling them. Ow.

[Calinero]

Being able to make clever uses of spells is basically a prerequisite if you want to take the poltergeist class. You take two zeroth level spells and give them up permanently to give yourself a Supernatural ability based on what the two spells did. I gave up Detect Poison and Arcane Sigil to gain the ability to detect something called Taint, which is basically an arcane poison that eats away at your soul, and is in half the places we go to during the campaign. It should come in handy.

[GoC]

I'm not sure that's how it works. We should start a new thread on this.

Yes, light would accelerate away but the black hole is basically evaporating and disappearing in less than a millisecond so that's expected.

[mabriss lethe]

Bestow Curse: By RAW, it has the ability to create permanent open ended effects as long as they aren't more powerful than the other uses of the spell.

These are just a few of the uses a warlock of mine cooked up. Some of the more creative ones actually made the DM burst out laughing (the - Wow! you're more twisted than I am- laugh)on multiple occasions.

Permanent Geas: Write a book of rules. Curse someone so that they are punished in one of the ways listed if they don't follow your rule book. The first rule is that defacing the rulebook or reading rules from a defaced rule book is against the rules. watch them slowly go mad inside a maze of red tape. Not as powerful as standard bestow curse, since only specific conditions trigger the curse but far more useful in non-combat situations.

Disguises: Curse someone with a hideous facial deformity. Cause them to age prematurely, etc.

The one rule the DM and I agreed upon was that if there was some circumstantial benefit that the target recieved (ie a permanent buff of some sort) there had to be an equally nasty side effect. It made it difficult to abuse, since the others would only consent to doing it when there was no other solution availible and would want it broken as soon as humanly possible.

[Purple Cloak]

Heres one my group an i discussed today, but havent implemented yet.

Before hunting for a vampire, find its coffin an fill it with water, the use bless water on it, afther that you hunt and vanquish the vampire, and when it returns to its coffin, it is killed horrably by the holywater :smallsmile:

Although i can see my players trying this now, or if i try it on them when they run they will find a way around it now :smallwink:

[brant167]

Keep it short there was a giant battle and after a long day of fighting my wizard only had very few spells left. He was still flying on his phantom steed looking for his allies after his battle. When, for once, he succeeded his spot check and saw a assassin sneaking up on the injured barbarian whom was patching up his wounds. I look at my character sheet and realize that the only spells I have fairy fire, alarm, and four summon mount spells left. In a round the assassin would finish off my very fatigued barbarian friend. So I did what any wizard would...cast summon mount 120 feet above the assassin. Saving the barbarian, but sacrificing a poor horsie.

[Purple Cloak]

So I did what any wizard would...

Well, not ANY wizard...

For example my evil wizard would likly have waited for the barbarian to die and THEN pulled a stunt like that, purly to havest their organs as spell components, yes the BoVD was a huge source used for him. :smallbiggrin:

Although yes, that is a rather interesting take on a summon spell, i'll have to remeber it. :smallcool:

[Blanks]

cast summon mount 120 feet above the assassin. Saving the barbarian, but sacrificing a poor horsie.Nice story, but I think you can only summon things onto solid ground...:smalltongue:

[Irreverent Fool]

Nice story, but I think you can only summon things onto solid ground...:smalltongue:

Specifically for that reason, noless.

A friend of mine was relating a story in which he had polymorphed an ally into something that had the ability to Swallow Whole while fighting a particularly nasty awakened Monstrous Spider Barbarian. As we all know, getting swallowed is not particularly deadly in D&D.

...unless you happen to cast Spider Climb, using the swallowed spider as a material component.

Material Component

A drop of bitumen and a live spider, both of which must be eaten by the subject.

A material component is one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the spell energies in the casting process.

[Collin152]

A friend of mine was relating a story in which he had polymorphed an ally into something that had the ability to Swallow Whole while fighting a particularly nasty awakened Monstrous Spider Barbarian. As we all know, getting swallowed is not particularly deadly in D&D.

...unless you happen to cast Spider Climb, using the swallowed spider as a material component.

...
Genius!
I love that spellcaster!
I love the people you play with!
I hate you for keeping them form me!

[Worira]

Hot damn! Now that's an ingenious use of a spell!

[Collin152]

Hot damn! Now that's an ingenious use of a spell!

Not to mention a reason not to take Eschew Materials.

[Soup of Kings]

A friend of mine was relating a story in which he had polymorphed an ally into something that had the ability to Swallow Whole while fighting a particularly nasty awakened Monstrous Spider Barbarian. As we all know, getting swallowed is not particularly deadly in D&D.

...unless you happen to cast Spider Climb, using the swallowed spider as a material component.

That guy wins the thread.
And he doesn't even know it.

[Jack_Simth]

Without cheese, you could drop the cast time to 1 minute with Rapid Spell. Beyond that, I don't know.
It's a touch spell. You cast it wherever you like, then hold the charge until you come across the BBEG, and apply it in one attack action (make it a full attack, if you miss on the first attempt).



Black Holes are scary. You get spagghettified... :smalleek:

Curiously, the bad stuff only happens to stuff you watch going into the black hole. The exact same equations that say things get superheated, torn into atoms, and crushed into lines when they fall into a black hole also say that when you fall into a black hole, nothing particularly notable happens.

Physics are fun....


I dunno why, but the whole "inverted black hole blows up reality" thing makes sense in my head. But that's probably just because its an awesome concept, and would be really hilarious to see happen in the middle of a game...


If you encompass the entire black hole, you'd get a rather nasty near-light speed explosion. And with the range on the spell... well....

Contingency might save you from it, though.

If you did not encompass the entire thing, it wouldn't be nearly so nasty.


How did everyone react to reality shredding itself? "Wooooo, that was awesome! :smallbiggrin:" or "DUDE, WTF?! :smallfurious:"
I once had all the earth vanish out from player's feet when they hit a particular artifact. One of them threw out a die saying "I DISBELIEVE"

Specifically for that reason, noless.

A friend of mine was relating a story in which he had polymorphed an ally into something that had the ability to Swallow Whole while fighting a particularly nasty awakened Monstrous Spider Barbarian. As we all know, getting swallowed is not particularly deadly in D&D.

...unless you happen to cast Spider Climb, using the swallowed spider as a material component.

... ouch.

[nepphi]

Playing a spy who was acting as a clerk while in fact he was an accomplished wizard, I personally researched -weaker- variant of Ghost sound, which included the caveat that it was only audible to a designated target.

Thereby convinced the ruler of the kingdom (over about two months' dedicated effort) that he was hearing voices and going mad.

[FlyMolo]

Playing a spy who was acting as a clerk while in fact he was an accomplished wizard, I personally researched -weaker- variant of Ghost sound, which included the caveat that it was only audible to a designated target.

Thereby convinced the ruler of the kingdom (over about two months' dedicated effort) that he was hearing voices and going mad.

I distinctly approve. Well done.

Also that swallowed spider thing. Really awesome.

[Enlong]

I don't have anything as spectacular as the others here, but I do have one instance that I can remember.

OK, so we were a team going through a snow-blasted landscape, trying to reach this tower. I was a Warforged Artificer with a couple golems. First, we fought some freaky possessed dryads who were attacking this one lone dryad who had surrounded herself with a small ring of purified earth. The sorcerer fended them off by surrounding us with a Wall of Force (unbroken, vertical, but curved into a circle). Later, as we were going to the tower, the blizzard became too freaking nasty for us to continue. So, I cast Wall of Stone, and made us a big shelter, shaped like a pot-bellied stove, and set the Golems outside to guard. Then I used Minor Creation to make firewood. It lasted the whole night. The campaign died, but we planned to make our way to the tower (it was a short remaining distance) by making tunnels out of Wall of Stone.

[FlyMolo]

Yay turtling! I do the same thing in Age of Mythology, but with regular walls.

I discovered there's a cap on the number of towers you can build. I think it's 20 or so? I was going to make an impenetrable fortress.

[Eldritch_Ent]

Most ingenious uses of spells I've encountered was the fact a Wizard in the party (having had his Overland Flight dispelled then thrown off the edge of a floating island) had cast a wall of force, followed by a rope trick to save himself from lethal falling damage, and at the same time reprepare his spells..

He showed up just in time to rescue the rest of the party from an Execution the next morning.

[Typewriter]

I normally DM things, and I have a tendancy of doing crazy things as DM. When a friend of mine told me that he wanted to try DMing. He's kind of a rules-lawyer, and will argue the ability to do a lot of stuff that isn't explicitly listed as an ability (ie - no fire spell says it can boil water, so it cant). I told him I'd enjoy playing a character for a while, but that I was going to play an arcane caster. I told him that I'd be happy as long as he didn't arbitrarily stop me from doing things. Any type of explanation based off of rules, or physics, and I wouldn't complain if he stopped me from doing anything I tried.

He also agreed to let me play a Dvaati (Dragon Compendium), and was allowing flaws and traits from the Unearthed Arcana.

I end up going mystic theurge, and having a high Con as well as int and wis. I take feats for HP, and traits for HP.

As a Dvaati you only need one body free to cast, but your other body cant be doing anything. So one body gets covered in spiked full plate, spiked shield, and some type of weapon. Not especially strong, so it doesn't matter. And a very slow speed (heavy armor, and just naturally slow).

We're level 6 or 7, and I've been breaking my friends head with a lot of the stuff I've been doing, but he hasn't really disagreed with any of it. He just doesn't know what to throw at us anymore. So he throws Slaads at us. We're a bit underleveled for that.
ROUND ONE
Mage casts darkway behind the enemy, using two trees as its anchor points, then takes a move action to move away from the enemy.

ROUND TWO
Mage does a run action enhanced by some spell to make him faster far far away from Slaads.

ROUND THREE
Benign Transposition to switch the two bodies, so the armored one is now far away from the enemies

ROUND FOUR
I think the spell is called false gravity (where you can choose what surface affects you for gravity purposes), cast by the unarmored body, but transferred to the armored one (Dvaati power - best race ever). The armored/spiked body chooses the darkway that is connected between two trees as his surface for gravity.

I told my DM at this point that I didn't care what happened, just that I was 'falling' towards that wall, and that that Slaad was in my way. He told me to roll to hit the touch AC. I rolled a twenty, and confirmed the crit. My DM rolled a bunch of dice and just said, "Yeah, he's dead"

[Typewriter]

Another good way to break Dvaati involves the spells benign transposition and baleful transposition.

Send one body to the middle of the ocean, or to a dragons lair with a pissed off dragon. Or just to a jail cell.

Have one body seduce a guy you need to die (if you're trying to use benign) and convince him to let you use the spell on him. For baleful you just do it.

The great thing is though, that as a Dvaati you can transfer spells cast on one to the other body.

So you cast a spell that only has a small range, 100 feet or something, on this guy, but when he switches places with you, you transfer the effect to the other body. The spell has already been successfully cast, and is working, so now he's with the angry dragon, or the middle of the ocean.

[Leon]

Using a celestial badger to dig a boat off of a sand bank (repeatedly - they kept grounding it)

i Used Control Temperature to Snap freeze a construct snake that was rampaging through our Elemental Ship

[Enlong]

On the subject of ingenious spell use, there's one spell that I utterly despise for the reason that it nixes a bunch of uses for a low-level spell:

Incindeary Slime.
Why? Because its existance means that you can't set a Grease spell on fire, and it invalidates one of my coolest spell usages from when all of us my group were young and stupid.

So, I'm a Bard and just got into the Mage's guild; I'm trapped in the (literal) crossfire of two illegally dueling mages. So I cast Grease and their own fire spells torch the two of them in seconds.
And now Incindeary Slime wants to change all that by saying it's "Grease, but flammable". So grease isn't flammable? Man!

[Purple Cloak]

So grease isn't flammable? Man!

Well it dosn't strictly say it isn't in its discription... :smallwink:

I guess their are two options, one make sure the DM isn't aware of Incindary slime and if he is, convince him to let you anyway :smalltongue: