Creative Uses of Everyday Items <3.5>

[LichPrinceAlim]

What has been a usage of an item that was not only creative, but you remember as kind of cool?

for me, I have two...

In my old Eberron Gestalt game, a PC had obtained a butter knife, applied Vorpal to it, and killed my BBEG in one throw.

and in our most recent game, we had a warforged who combined several gallons of high-proof alcohol with both of our mages (namely me and my xdm) who turned alcohol, a torch, and control wind combined with slow burn into a makeshift flamethrower.

[reptilecobra13]

I had a 5th level factotum take down a 10th level fighter in about 4 rounds with a tanglefoot bag and half a dozen flasks of alchemist's fire.

In terms of even more mundane things, take down the BBEG with a bag of marbles.

[LichPrinceAlim]

I had a 5th level factotum take down a 10th level fighter in about 4 rounds with a tanglefoot bag and half a dozen flasks of alchemist's fire.

In terms of even more mundane things, take down the BBEG with a bag of marbles.

one PC killed a lv60 evil wizard with a Bag of Holding over his head...

[Sliver]

In my old Eberron Gestalt game, a PC had obtained a butter knife, applied Vorpal to it, and killed my BBEG in one throw.

For what purpose would one make a masterwork (300gp worth) butter knife?

[LichPrinceAlim]

For what purpose would one make a masterwork (300gp worth) butter knife?

I gave the players a masterwork butterknife as an early joke in the campaign...

[mackejn]

For what purpose would one make a masterwork (300gp worth) butter knife?

Apparently for making it vorpal and killing someone with it.

[LichPrinceAlim]

Apparently for making it vorpal and killing someone with it.

It was because one PC complained that I didn't give anything cool for encounters, so I had a Kobold Noble drop his masterwork butterknife he attempted to use on the PCs

[bobspldbckwrds]

at one point in one of my friend's games, after returning from a quick trip to mechanus, woo for a colapsing multiverse, i took out a bag of dirt that i had intended to give as a gift to a paladin (it seemed like a good idea at the time), and threw it at the invisible boss that was waiting for us, which caused his familiar to run, which caused an attack of oportunity, which lead to a cleave, which led to me having to quickdraw a cure light potion so that we could bring the enemy back for questioning.

[SilverStar]

How about turning fantastic items into everyday items?

Such as the BBEG's shield of Great Reflection into strawberry Jell-O.

Polymorph Any Object is an archmage's best friend.

[Panigg]

Feather token of the Boat + any form of fly + large group or camp of enemies = win.

Yes, we killed an entire camp of mages + guards with it. We never got another token afterwards.

[druid91]

Deadfall+ alchemists fire= fiery death.

you just trapped your opponent under a huge pile of wood and then lit it on fire.

[randomhero00]

Rope. Not only because it has a 1000 uses but because of an amusing incident.

A PCs died/retired so he made a new one. The way he was going to meet us was investigating a mysterious cave/hole (which the party was also doing.) It was near night when the party arrived and we decided to camp next to the hole and go in when it was day.

To be safe my character decided to cover the hole (like a web) with rope and bells to alert us if anything came out during the night. Rumors had told us that there was something dangerous living in it (and bandits were a problem in the area.)

The DM had already made it apparent that the hole was difficult to spot (falling in accidentally was part of the plot hook.)

The new PC comes in the early morning to investigate the hole. Metagaming wise, planning to join the party. But he rolled low for his perception...I think you can see where this is going.

New PC falls in said hole and again rolls low for an escape attempt. The bells alert the party.

Needless to say the party thought he was a murderous bandit trying to climb out of the hole and kill us...

[Stompy]

rope + animate rope = saved my character from falling off the infinite staircase TWICE >.>

[strider24seven]

A Potion of Reduce Person. Combined with two other size reducing spells on the Dwarf Barbarian, we managed to smuggle him into the BBEG's nose. Then the spells and potion wore off.

We killed the BBEG about 2 sessions early.
Death by dwarf.
His head asploded.
So did the DM's.

[Ashram]

In an earlier campaign I was in, we were going through the generic goblin cave at low levels, where upon our barbarian rolled a 1 in combat (But managed to not cleave his head off with his axe) and threw his axe out of reach. He looked around and picked up one of the tables that was nearby since we were in what basically amounted to the goblin's kitchen.

He then proceeded to bludgeon five goblins to death with their own kitchen table.

[Coidzor]

Apparently for making it vorpal and killing someone with it.

Chekov's Butterknife.

[cupkeyk]

After our first five levels, our stingey dm from an ad&d game waaaaay back in the nineties, finally decided that the level 5 party of four will get their first magical item: a myrlund's spoon.

Infuriated, we insisted on using the spoon as a weapon. as a tiny makeshift weapon, it dealt only 1 point of damage. All four of us took turns using it.

[kestrel404]

My favorite 'everyday items' for use in combat:
A bucket of pitch (the distilled resin from pine trees & other plants) - Poor man's napalm. Available since before roman times, possibly one of the ingredients in greek fire, used to make buckets and boats waterproof for most of recorded history. Once it catches fire, it burns like crazy (producing lots and lots of smoke, too) and you can't put it out short of smothering the flames. Dowsing with water won't work (although jumping in a pond will).

Salt & pepper - Fling either one in sombody's face and they're going to be blinded and probably disabled for a while. Don't combine them - it's actually less effective that way. Salt is naturally better for unnatural/mystical enemies (at least according to mythology), while pepper is better against humans/animals.

While marbles have already been mentioned, they get really, really nasty when combined with caltrops. In general, I feel caltrops are under-appreciated.

[strider24seven]

Caltrops are very unappreciated. I learned to love them because they are cheap, light, and really mess with your opponent. And yes, Marbles+Caltrops=An immobile non-Rogue. That's when you throw flaming pitch on them.

Remember, if you give a man fire, you keep him warm for the night;
If you set a man on fire, you keep him warm for the rest of his life!

[Irreverent Fool]

A friend of mine makes all of his characters carry around a bag of salt. He's done this since AD&D. Why? All of his characters -- whether the character is full aware of it or not -- have a phobia of giant slugs.

Well, at one point his character became trapped in some dungeon or another by a trap that instantly froze the knee-deep water the characters were wading through. They all had some form of darkvision, so nobody had a torch or any way to melt the ice until he realized he still had his bag of salt! He melted his way out and proceeded to chop the others free.

This isn't necessarily an 'everyday item' use, but in the campaign I'm currently running, the party acquired a decanter of endless water. A bit further along, one of the characters was struck by aboleth slime. They rigged up a helmet to hold the decanter to keep him wet.

obnoxious
sig

[shadow_archmagi]

My favorite cursed item is the helmet of endless water.

You strap it on, it becomes impossible to remove, and fills with water. Character drowns.

[strider24seven]

My favorite cursed item is the helmet of endless water.

You strap it on, it becomes impossible to remove, and fills with water. Character drowns.

I would have to say, IMO, that the helm of opposite alignment beats that. Torturing the BBEG by turning him good... and having him thank you for it!

The only problem with threads like these is that my characters already need multiple mules to carry their stuff at level one. By level 16, my first character, a Factotum, had 3 Handy Haversacks, a Belt of Many Pouches, and a large Bag of Holding. And 2 Gloves of Storing. And a cloak of weaponry. They don't need more stuff.

[LichPrinceAlim]

we created a frag grenade from a Bag of Holding filled with pitch and caltrops and dipped in alcohol. We then would drop it (while on fire) ontop of an enemy. needless to say, we dropped it on a white dragon...

[strider24seven]

Or you could just keep a Bag of Holding and Portable Hole in close proximity and Intimidate/Bluff your enemies into submission. Which one you pick depends on how deranged your character is.

[LichPrinceAlim]

Or you could just keep a Bag of Holding and Portable Hole in close proximity and Intimidate/Bluff your enemies into submission. Which one you pick depends on how deranged your character is.

or you tie them together and make a nunchucku of world ending...

and if you combine that with something that goes boom and you have a bad day on the way

[strider24seven]

or you tie them together and make a nunchucku of world ending...

Hey, you can't do that! The "World-Ending" Enhancement is way above your WBL!

[Caliphbubba]

I still play in an AD&D 2nd ed game once a month. Over the years the characters have aquired lots of crazy gear but very early in our lives as adventurers we ended up going into a deep swamp to an old over-run city infested with undead.

Our DM insisted on using super aweful fumble charts, and during a pitched battle with a dozen or so ghouls and ghasts our resident Drangonslayer with High Weapon Mastery, Two-handed Style Spec, and Weapon Spec with the Great Sword ended up cleaving off his own leg, while throwing the great sword down a flight of stairs.

He then picked up his own severed leg and beat the bejesus out of the remaining foes. somehow he convinced the DM that he should get to use the benifits of Two-handed Spec with his leg AND that because he has spent profiecencies on unarmed combat, that he was profiecent with his leg. lol

good times.

[Kobold-Bard]

I have 2:

Monk used a 10ft pole as a surfboard. He insisted we give him all of our d20's so his one didn't get tired (he had to roll a balance check every round for about 6 straight in game minutes to get all the way to the city).

Trenchcoat of Endless Useless Items: everything from lightbulbs to syringes to napkins, this thing just kept giving me crap. So I too it off, turned it upside down and shook it. Within a minute we had enough crap to build a dam.

[reptilecobra13]

My gestalt half-orc barbarian/dragon-shaman wields a scythe as his primary weapon. One day, around level 4 or 5, we were fighting a half-ogre sorc on a balcony conveniently located above a massive vat of acid. The party ranger/fighter and rogue/monk were going face to face with him, dodging fireballs, so I decided to try sneaking around on him from behind. He noticed me as I came around a corner, but at that point it was too late for him to stop my trip attempt...The ranger and rogue tried to grab him so that they could loot him, but he was too heavy and fell over the edge into the aforementioned acid. Then, just for sheer awesome, as he was crawling out of the acid and down to a handful of hit points, I raged, leaped over the railing, and landed with my scythe in his face.

[strider24seven]

I still play in an AD&D 2nd ed game once a month. Over the years the characters have aquired lots of crazy gear but very early in our lives as adventurers we ended up going into a deep swamp to an old over-run city infested with undead.

Our DM insisted on using super aweful fumble charts, and during a pitched battle with a dozen or so ghouls and ghasts our resident Drangonslayer with High Weapon Mastery, Two-handed Style Spec, and Weapon Spec with the Great Sword ended up cleaving off his own leg, while throwing the great sword down a flight of stairs.

He then picked up his own severed leg and beat the bejesus out of the remaining foes. somehow he convinced the DM that he should get to use the benifits of Two-handed Spec with his leg AND that because he has spent profiecencies on unarmed combat, that he was profiecent with his leg. lol

good times.

Come to think of it, are characters proficient with their own body parts in 3.5? I know that by RAW, monks aren't...

But do severed body parts count as simple weapons, natural weapons (if their your parts), or improvised weapons? My guess would be improvised, but then what type would they be? A Club? What if it's a skinny Half-Giant's forearm wielded by a Dwarf? Could it then be a Quarterstaff? What if you wanted to use his eyeballs as sling bullets? Are there rules for this?

[Evil laughter ensues...]