"Oh yeah, never thought of that"

[Warwidowhammer]

Since I've seen this done on another forum, with some success. I thought i would give it a go here. It's simple really. I would like you(Yes you) to tell us all useful tips and tricks you do in game.

For example,

Flour: Yes, fantastic for cooking. But ever consider it a cheap mans dust of appearance?

A shield: When staying at a tavern. Rest your shield against the door in case anyone decides to come calling. Saves casting an alarm spell if you ever had it at your disposal

So that's just a few ideas to think about. I would love to hear more from you guys and gals

[Saint GoH]

Buy a ladder, cut it in half, sell the 10 ft poles for profit?

But seriously. We've had a lot of ingenious things in my campaign. Someone used a goblin corpse to "sweep" for traps once. Our Minotaur companion was hurling our gnome (wearing spiked full plate) as a weapon every so often. PC's often carry around bags of chalk or flour for poor man's see invisibility, and the drunken master would break wine bottles he finishes and use the shards as caltrops.

[Percival]

Speaking of 10 ft poles:

Used one as a reach weapon with my drunken master monk. Unarmed damage + extra for using something that isn't even a weapon FTW.

Also:

At one point, our neutral cleric who commanded/rebuked had a skeleton under her control. We were all 1st level still, maybe second. We make camp one night, and none of us wanted to keep watch. She gives her skeleton the very basic command "wake us up if you see anything"

So... half the night goes by uneventfully when suddenly we are awakened by the skeleton smacking its sword against a tree. Because it saw a deer. Not quite what we had in mind :P

Undead - The poor man's alarm spell.

[druid91]

Flour makes a very big boom if used right.

[Welknair]

Flour makes a very big boom if used right.

I remember that Mythbusters...

And dogs are great for finding invisible nasties.

[Joshinthemosh]

I had a Dragonborn in a 4e game that bought all the alcohol he could in the last town we stopped in. We had to barricade a broken down castle later in the campaign. We used the whiskey to set the entire entrance hall on fire. After he froze the hallway to get them prone.

[Vknight]

A seeker in 4e had a thing for bedrolls and bodies and using them as thrown weapons, after lightning them on fire.

[rayne_dragon]

Every item listed in any (core) book has a practical application in game.

Every mundane item in a room has a potential use; if it is light enough that you don't have to record a weight for it: take it.

AD&D has a random harlots table. Use this fact to astound and confuddle people less D&D-savvy than you.

Also: if there is any reason you might need a table for it, there was probably one for it in AD&D.

[BenTheJester]

Every item listed in any (core) book has a practical application in game.

Every mundane item in a room has a potential use; if it is light enough that you don't have to record a weight for it: take it.

AD&D has a random harlots table. Use this fact to astound and confuddle people less D&D-savvy than you.

Also: if there is any reason you might need a table for it, there was probably one for it in AD&D.

Well they have that book for a reason
Yes, I know it's an april's fools joke

[Occasional Sage]

Darkness/Daylight/etc. cast on a palm-sized rock. Rock rolled in mud and dried. Use as a grenade.

[Daftendirekt]

Darkness/Daylight/etc. cast on a palm-sized rock. Rock rolled in mud and dried. Use as a grenade.

Say, that's neat. Or just keep it on your pocket and keep your hands clean :P

[Moose Man]

the omni-useful object: the door.
The joke started before i was in my current group. a character (dave, i think) insisted on kicking down doors. he had very high rolls on his doorkicking (Str) checks, and almost always got his foot stuck in the door. when he managed to dislodge his foot, he tried and tried again (taking 20) until he managed to actually knock it over w/out getting his foot stuck in it. by this time, it had several large holes in it and was not useful for anything. fell apart. the one time he actually knocked a door over without getting his foot stuck in it, one of the others (named Ironhide) took the door and used to
A)check for traps
B)Bonus to bull-rush (for awesomeness)
C)fun w/compliant oozes. (surfing)

[valadil]

Here's my best original one for 4e. Given the name and rough location (same city, maybe country if you're good) of a doppelganger or magically disguised person, you can use Animal Messenger as a tracking spell. Cast it on your mount or leashed pet. Tell it to deliver the message " " to the person you name. Follow the animal.

I tormented the dop in my part with this for 8 or 9 months before he figured it out.

[Daftendirekt]

the one time he actually knocked a door over without getting his foot stuck in it, one of the others (named Ironhide) took the door and used to
A)check for traps
B)Bonus to bull-rush (for awesomeness)
C)fun w/compliant oozes. (surfing)

What, he never used it as a tower shield?!

[Moose Man]

this was before i joined the party, so no creativity. [/@$$]

[Mr. Anon Omys]

Mooseman, you forgot TUW, who uses his adamantine door for mountain hammering down other doors, walls, and nasties. And TUW has not only used his adamantine door as a tower shield, he combined it with a stone door he carries to create total cover from a dragon. Never try to put an "unbreakable" door in the path of a stone dragon warforged warblade.

On a more on topic note, a can of black paint and ranks in craft(painting) can be useful for messing with enemies, by painting holes all over the place. Drove a group I was DMing for crazy by having a pit painted on the floor.

[Greenish]

Flour: Yes, fantastic for cooking. But ever consider it a cheap mans dust of appearance?

Three words: Torch Bug Paste.

[Yora]

Buy a ladder, cut it in half, sell the 10 ft poles for profit?

But these poles are full of holes! You can't expect people to pay full price for that.

[Edhelras]

Those holes only makes it lighter to carry. Plus easier to affix stuff to the pole. You should charge extra for it!

[Dreadn4ught]

My group often fought wild animals. We were disappointed when we didn't get any loot from them, so we kept trying to cut various horns, tusks, or poison glands off of them. We had no idea there was a craft(taxidermy) skill.

[Daftendirekt]

My group often fought wild animals. We were disappointed when we didn't get any loot from them, so we kept trying to cut various horns, tusks, or poison glands off of them. We had no idea there was a craft(taxidermy) skill.

Haven't you played FFXII? Every monster drops SOMETHING that you can sell, even if it's just a bone.

[Tech Boy]

May not be very original, but in my last session, my rogue stole some very tough alcohol from one of the drunk party members, and used them as molotovs to take out about 5 kobolds.

Another time, my character purchased a large, 2ftx2ftx2ft glass jar type thing, with a lockable lid on it. I used for a mean party member after I shrunk them in size. Kept her quiet for a while.

[Dalek-K]

A character in my 4e game was a Bard and new to the game, they were in the town of Bacchus and he wanted to get a joint and said since it is a party town there should be pot (I was surprised he knew who Bacchus was). I allowed it... He turned it into a mowie-wowie bomb... Burt 5 or something is what I let it be... Gave huge bonuses to diplomacy during the effect but afterwards you had to eat...

Needless to say that town was destroyed and was the only town to have pot >.> ... Also the last time I let a user play in a game ...

3.5
My fav thing ever though was my CG Half elf cleric of Corellon helped kill a drow... After it died he didn't want anything to go to waste soo.. He made the skull of the drow into a cup... No not for drinking... Craft (Athletic Cup) is a good one to have some points in :)

The DM thought it was cool (thus corellon did too) although the party paladin tried to smite me a couple times (but I wasn't evil so it didn't do much) haha

[Daftendirekt]

Okay, here's the situation. Raptoran ninja, but only level 3 or 4 so I can't fly yet, just glide. Human fighter shield-basher. Dragonwrought kobold paladin/cleric. We need to take down an entire camp of goblins, including two tree-huts way up high.

Our kobold thought a Heward's Handy Haversack with every possible odd item he could think of in it was a good idea. So, we took out the several pints of oil he had, got a few mugs, filled them up, stuck fuses in, covered the tops, and voila. Grenades. My raptoran climbed up to the very top of the tree with the huts in it it, and jumped off. Glided all the way back down, lighting stuff on fire all the way. 'Twas pretty awesome.

[C.Penguin]

A rogue one of my players was running had this nasty habit of sneak attacking party members with bags of holding and tossing a bottle of air in after them until they could "learn to behave themselves."

[Lord Loss]

Lugging around a cart full of barrels of beer along with a half-dragon (or a pyromaniac) is a rewarding experience indeed...

[Daremonai]

to get the pyro drunk, I assume? Beer doesn't have nearly enough alcohol in it to burn.

[Occasional Sage]

Say, that's neat. Or just keep it on your pocket and keep your hands clean :P

Mud bothers your characters? Can you IMAGINE the things (s)he gets covered with during combat? Combat with oozes, and aberrants?!

to get the pyro drunk, I assume? Beer doesn't have nearly enough alcohol in it to burn.

Nor nearly enough alcohol in it to get you drunk.

[Necro_EX]

Those holes only makes it lighter to carry. Plus easier to affix stuff to the pole. You should charge extra for it!

Act now and I'll throw in this second, identical pole for only 2 more silver!

Buy both and I'll throw in these extra, shorter poles that can be affixed to the larger ones for FREE!

Yes, you heard me right, act now and you'll have both poles and a whole set of these small 'mini-poles' for the low, low price of only 4 silver!

Poke things, climb things, grab things, test doors and chests for traps, it's a staff, it's a flag pole, it's the amazing ANY-POLE!

[Triaxx]

Post 2 had a good idea. Goblin trap checker. My players did it one better. Adamantine Chain. Throw the body, and drag it back. Repeat.

Works well until the body gets crisped, then I get demands for more goblins.