Silly 3.5 Core Tricks.

[Theli]

I'm starting this thread to discuss all the silly tricks you can do in core 3.5 that aren't readily obvious (or perhaps just not often utilized.) That give characters some kind of capability that you wouldn't expect. (Often through low-cost items that hardly anyone ever looks at.)

Stuff with a little utility, like getting one rank in Perform: Wind Instruments and grabbing the Pipes of Sounding, combined with some stealth or other skulduggery. (Caster Level 2 Ghost Sound at will for 1800 gp.) Or casting Animate Object on bolts to auto-reload and retrieve themselves. (Hands-free reloading. Can be made permanent.) Or casting (Permanent) Light on an Ioun Stone. (Hands-free torch.)

And really simple stuff, like warming, and enhancing, tea with Prestidigitation. Or pretending to be a wizard with a Hand of the Mage.

Or possibly broken stuff, like maxing cross-class Use Magic Device along with a couple of feats and/or synergies and/or magic items. (Here's to you, Giacomo.) Or using candle of invocation to gate a powerful entity. (Without getting into questionable infinite gate abuse.) Or maybe using an Eversmoking Bottle with a character build geared for sightless combat. (Again, Giacomo.) Or even Diplomacy twinking for instant hostile conversion. (Despite the capability for the DM to compensate for the badly written rules.)

Or techniques that have just been played out, like a MMM in a Rope Trick. Or just ways to beat them. (Really high spot check or See Invisible + really high jump or flight + Dispel Magic + rules lawyering.)

And then you have the kinds of things people buy if they have some gold to spare. Such as feather tokens. (Instant, and temporary, 50 gp anchor, 300 gp bird messenger, 200 gp wind fan, 450 gp swan boat, 400 gp tall oak tree (the sole exception with a permanent token effect), or 500 gp animated grappling whip.)

To keep things simple, in case more than a few people actually read this thing, please follow these rules:
1. Number any new contributions, in bold, and check if the contribution has been suggested already.
2. If there is a rules argument, briefly explain your position and let it drop. Please keep RAW/RAI/RAR debates to a minimum.
3. When contributing some information on a particular trick or technique, state it's number in bold.
4. Keep off-topic ranting/discussion to a minimum. On-topic is anything core 3.5 that a person new to DnD may not be aware of and is mildly interesting as a trick or technique. Core is defined as the core 3. (PHB, DMG, MM. Not any of the core sequels.)

To get it started, here is a list of everything I mentioned in this post:

1. Pipes of Sounding
2. Animated bolts
3. Lighted Ioun Stone
4. Prestidigitate tea
5. Hand of the Mage fakir
6. Cross-class Use Magic Device twinking
7. Candle of Invocation Gating
8. Eversmoking Bottle build
9. Diplomatic hostile conversion
10. MMM + Rope Trick
12. MMM + Rope Trick Countermeasures
13. Feather Token utility

[Keld Denar]

14. Immovable Rod. This thing is all kinds of useful. Use one to pin a door in place. Tie a rope to it and climb down something. Then, at the bottom, speak the command word so it falls to you to recover it. Position one low to the ground in a narrow hallway and it becomes a tripline. Cast invisibility on it (works on objects) and put it at any hight for a clothesline type blockade vs charging ceatures. Get 2 of them with different command words, and you can "climb" through space, simply by holding one in each hand, disengaging one, moving it above the other, and engaging it again. Get 4 and anchor the 4 corners of a piece of cloth with metal grommets in it. Its a hammock at any height with no need for poles. Suspend it way above the floor at ceiling level for an ambush platform.

[Attilargh]

Immovable rod doesn't have a command word, only a button. You have to rig some string to it to press the button if you want a remote-control one.

[Alex12]

15.Flesh to Stone, Transmute Rock to Mud, and a river.

16.PaO an Earth Elemental into a stone bridge over a chasm, then put an AMF trap at the center of the bridge.

[Mr. Friendly]

17. 1st level: spend 100gp (or more or less as applicable) to buy 2000 5cp 10' ladders. Remove the rungs from 2000 5cp 10' ladders. Sell the 4000 10' poles for 2.5sp each. Net profit: 900gp. (A little more if you want to debate the extra 2 lbs. of wood leftover from each ladder, which would result in an additional 2 gp by selling it as firewood; you also recoup the 100gp initial investment, so your total would be 1002gp; you can then repeat this an infinite number of times to have infinite wealth at level 1)

[mostlyharmful]

Hat of Disguise. 1800gp to be anyone for as long as you want, combine it with some ranks in disguise to change your voice and a campaign can be utterly derailed in minutes.

Sheep Trap detecters. Cheap and post-fireball very flavourful. No more need to worry if the rogues rolled a 1.

[Alex12]

19Infinite-ammo Commoner Railgun, using quarterstaves and clubs as ammo

[Theli]

Re: 15. As per spell description:

This spell turns natural, uncut or unworked rock of any sort into an equal volume of mud.

And a stone statue, intact or otherwise, is far from natural.

Re: 16. Depends on the source of the earth elemental. If it's summoned, the summon will run out. If it's called...

Few if any creatures will accept a task that seems suicidal (remember, a called creature actually dies when it is killed, unlike a summoned creature).

Earth elementals have no real immunity to falling damage. They would have to be tricked into it. (I just want to polymorph you into a bridge so we can get across. I'll polymorph you right back safely. Honest!) Or you'd have to beat a hefty fortitude save. Either way, the elemental might not assist you in the follow-up for this trap. (Beating down those who triggered it.)

Re: 17. Arguments can be made about the value of a split ladder as two 10-foot poles. These are poles with holes cut into them and may not have the same quality as regular timber. That said, yeah...this was a classic 3.5 mistake. Horrible.

Re: 18b. Fellow party members make a more feasible source of such trap detectors.

Re: 19. The assumption is made that no city, or location, has an infinite, or even arbitrarily large, number of items. While it may be free to obtain, this is due to the player's own effort (Picking a suitable stick off the ground.) ...and the absurdity of charging for these items. Still, could have been dealt with better. Another classic mistake.

[Ganurath]

19. Stone to Flesh, Polymorph Any Object to turn the inert flesh into a regular corpse of your choosing (I prefer elves and orcs for this.) and Animate Dead without the hassle of killing for premium corpses.

20. Flesh to Stone, Stone Shape, and Stone to Flesh for the ultimate plastic surgery. I'm not sure how far your DM will allow abuse, but I see a great way to fight aging penalties for non-Monks/Druids.

[Keld Denar]

Re: 17. Arguments can be made about the value of a split ladder as two 10-foot poles. These are poles with holes cut into them and may not have the same quality as regular timber. That said, yeah...this was a classic 3.5 mistake. Horrible.

It could also be argued that since the ladder is held together by small pieces of cord (such as hemp, a naturally occuring plant fiber). That way, the 10 ft poles are not marred, except for some minor grooving. They would still be perfectly functioning and structurally sound. I mean, com'on, how often do you think you'd find a perfectly smooth round 10' pole for only 2.5s.

Re: 19. The assumption is made that no city, or location, has an infinite, or even arbitrarily large, number of items. While it may be free to obtain, this is due to the player's own effort (Picking a suitable stick off the ground.) ...and the absurdity of charging for these items. Still, could have been dealt with better. Another classic mistake.

Ah, but the core rules don't insinuate that. They only make note of the cost and time to create is a function of base PHB cost. Therefore, I can pull quarterstaffs out of my butt, or have them burst forth from my fingertips at a thought. Why I would want to do either is beyond me though.

And as for the commoner railgun, you'd have to have them all slap each other, so they would go into combat, roll initiative, and be able to ready actions. You can't ready actions out of combat rounds. Tell me how much sense that makes. I wonder if an item passed along on a commoner railgun would make a sonic boom. That would be neat.

[The Glyphstone]

21. ???

22. Profit!

23. (or 21). Dust of Sneezing+Choking, plus an Amulet of Adaptation. A cursed item with actual utility!

[Ganurath]

23b. Goblin on a string: Capture one of the cannon fodder opponents alive, tie some rope around their neck, and prod them along at crossbow-point. Odds are any traps they trigger won't have the party in the radius.

[Bender]

24 Pipes of the Sewers: 1d3 rat swarms as often as you want for 1,150 gp. A low level bard with decent cha has no chance of failing the DC 10 perform the first time/day, afterwards it becomes DC 15.
It is much better than the 2nd level spell summon swarm since you have full control over multiple swarms. And apart from summoning EL4 worth, it's perfect for springing traps.
There have to be rats nearby, so you are dependent on the DM for it to work

[Theli]

I mean, com'on, how often do you think you'd find a perfectly smooth round 10' pole for only 2.5s.

Probably the reason for costing 2 silver. :D (That's a bit much for a simple piece of timber, don't you think?)

Still, no arguments. Pretty much everything you said is valid by RAW, though far from valid by RAI, obviously.

Re: 23. (or 21). Dust of Sneezing+Choking, plus an Amulet of Adaptation.
Now THAT'S a neat trick.

[SoD]

Not really a core trick, but something fun to do:

24 find an opponant with snatch arrows, put some soverign glue on an arrow and fire it at him. He grabs the arrow, and...voila! Your reoccuring villian has an arrow stuck to his hand!

[Theli]

25 Basic (and suboptimal) Core melee reach cheese build (Much like this, though not half-ogre: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0216.html)
Half-Orc Fighter 9
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Improved Disarm, Combat Reflexes
Let enemy approach to melee, trip as they cross outer range. (Or disarm if it makes sense to.) If successful or not, on your turn move 5 feat to the side, attack, move away. (Intended to exploit the chain's range as much as possible.)
Pick up barbarian levels for temporary boosts of strength and fast movement.
Pick up great cleave to lay waste to every minor opponent in a 10 radius area.
Get enlarge person for greater range.

Again, this is suboptimal. I know it's suboptimal. It's just meant to give an example of melee reach cheese.

[zaei]

26 Alchemical Substance Zeppelins.
Alchemical substances that come in flasks weigh 1 pound. Empty flasks weigh 1.5 pounds. Enough alchemist's fire in a light enough container will levitate, and you can conquer the skies!

[EL HUEVADOR]

And really simple stuff, like warming, and enhancing, tea with Prestidigitation.

HE'S FIRE NATION!

[Jannex]

26 Alchemical Substance Zeppelins.
Alchemical substances that come in flasks weigh 1 pound. Empty flasks weigh 1.5 pounds. Enough alchemist's fire in a light enough container will levitate, and you can conquer the skies!

Of course, you're just asking for the whole thing to Hindenberg. Alchemist's Fire, ya know.

[Hyfigh]

27 Wall of Iron + Fabricate
28 Wall of Stone + Stone to Flesh

[SoD]

Your arms been chopped off?

29 Flesh to stone on both peices. Pick up the broken off bit and hold it to the stump, cast stone to flesh, and poof! They're whole again.

30 Alternatively, awaken a statue, then stone to flesh.

31 Or, animate object on a statue (which, from memory, puts it under your controll, right?) then stone to flesh. And create a slave market!

[zaei]

Of course, you're just asking for the whole thing to Hindenberg. Alchemist's Fire, ya know.

Make it with Holy Water, and Kamikaze into the necromancer's hide out, and make him cry =]

[Chronos]

23b. Goblin on a string: Capture one of the cannon fodder opponents alive, tie some rope around their neck, and prod them along at crossbow-point. Odds are any traps they trigger won't have the party in the radius.

On the contrary: Odds are that any traps they trigger will have the party in the radius, but won't have the goblin in the radius. Who do you think put those traps there to begin with? And now you're giving him free access to the triggers, with all of the party conveniently right behind him?

[Irreverent Fool]

27 Wall of Iron + Fabricate
28 Wall of Stone + Stone to Flesh

28b Wall of Iron + Fabricate (nails) + Telekinesis. Unless your DM is keenly aware of the max damage by spell level tables, you do an awful lot of damage awful fast.

[tainsouvra]

28b Wall of Iron + Fabricate (nails) + Telekinesis. Unless your DM is keenly aware of the max damage by spell level tables, you do an awful lot of damage awful fast.

Telekinesis doesn't really work that way.

Violent Thrust:
Alternatively, the spell energy can be spent in a single round. You can hurl one object or creature per caster level (maximum 15) that are within range and all within 10 feet of each other toward any target within 10 feet per level of all the objects. You can hurl up to a total weight of 25 pounds per caster level (maximum 375 pounds at 15th level).

[Azerian Kelimon]

29 Get the cursed necklace. Go grapple the enemy, and put it on 'em. They be dead.

[Jannex]

Telekinesis doesn't really work that way.

So you could load up all the nails onto a tarp, and use Telekinesis on the tarp, raining them down onto your enemies in an area of effect?

[tainsouvra]

So you could load up all the nails onto a tarp, and use Telekinesis on the tarp, raining them down onto your enemies in an area of effect?

Unless your DM was exceptionally generous, a rain of non-propelled nails would just be annoying. The tarp would fling with potentially-damaging force, but the nails would just scatter wildly.

[Ganurath]

On the contrary: Odds are that any traps they trigger will have the party in the radius, but won't have the goblin in the radius. Who do you think put those traps there to begin with? And now you're giving him free access to the triggers, with all of the party conveniently right behind him?

It worked fine for my- Ah, now I remember! The goblin is unconcious, and being thrown at trap triggers before being pulled back with the rope.

[Hyfigh]

30 Summon Monster 7 for a Djinni. Have him use his major creation ability to create vegitable matter. (Similar in purpose to 28)