Nonstandard Tactics

[The Sandman]

The purpose of this thread is as a place for people to either post their ideas for unorthodox ways of solving situations or for stories of PCs who actually did use unorthodox methods to solve a situation. Bonus points and possibly cake will be involved for any ideas that don't still involve killing something and stealing its stuff.

I'll start with two. The first idea is to either find, purchase or craft a Helm of Opposite Alignment, then capture the BBEG and jam it on his head in lieu of simply killing him. To make it easier, you could trick or mind-control him into putting it on himself, but the capturing option lets you potentially take twenty on his failing his will save against the Helm. Instead of another corpse, you have a new servant of good, something that should get you some bonus points from the powers that be.

The second idea is to try to convince a dragon, particularly a red dragon, to start some combination of a museum, library, and academy in the local town instead of continuing to pillage the area for loot. Play on its pride and vanity to convince it that while having a hoard for its own enjoyment is nice, it's even more fun to have that hoard in a form where a) it can show it off to everyone, b) it can easily convince people to add valuable items and organize its hoard for it in exchange for a number of coins less than the actual value of what's being added, and c) the people of the town will work to protect the hoard from adventurers, thieves, and other dragons rather than trying to kill the dragon and steal its stuff. Also introduce the dragon to both the joys of banking, which it would undoubtedly be good at. And convince it to use pork as a substitute for human meat most of the time, and to get itself appointed as the town executioner so it could get an occasional bit of human without having to actively hunt for it.

[valadil]

Well, this wasn't non violent but I'd argue that it didn't involve killing anyone since they were undead to begin with. It was one of those situations where I realized a potent spell combo midgame and it just kinda worked out perfectly.

My group was exploring an undead city to find the source of their magic. We entered a temple. The main hall had 6 or 7 doors leading in. A couple undead orcs attacked us and we dispatched them quickly. A couple more undead orcs flanked us. Then 16 undead orcs entered from the far side of the room.

Being the only mage around I dropped a Wall of Force to seal off the 16 on the other side. Before the wall went up however I moved my shiny new defenstrating sphere to the far side of the room. I hadn't used the sphere before and was curious to see how it would work out. I figured against a lot of little enemies one persistent damage spell was a good choice.

For the of you who don't know, the defenstrating sphere is kinda like a whirring ball of dust, with the occasional cartoon fist coming out. At least that's how I picture it. It sticks around like a flaming sphere. On a ranged touch attack it deals some damage. The victim makes a fort save to avoid going prone. If the enemy goes prone he makes another fort save. Failing that, he is tossed up in the air d8 * 10 feet in a random direction d6 squares away.

We quickly dealt with the remaining undead on our side of the wall. The rest of the combat looked like this: rest of group readies ranged attacks for my turn, I move the sphere, shout "pull!", the sphere flings an enemy up over the wall (it somehow worked out that every single enemy it launched went in the right direction to make it over, and usually 70 or 80 feet too), and the group makes him into a pin cushion. It was the kind of thing that it wouldn't have worked at all had we planned it that way. In the end though it turned a 16 vs 4 fight into 16 1 vs 4 fights.

[Saohc]

A not so long time ago I played a psion who acted like a wizard. Every one tried to stop him with dispelling and anti-magic, but they don't work on psionics.

Heck, I got manacles of anti-magic because our DM forgot(!!) I wasn't a mage.

[Dhavaer]

A not so long time ago I played a psion who acted like a wizard. Every one tried to stop him with dispelling and anti-magic, but they don't work on psionics.

Heck, I got manacles of anti-magic because our DM forgot(!!) I wasn't a mage.

This is why psionics/magic transparency exists.

[Curmudgeon]

I've got a nifty counter for a spiked chain tripping machine: a Rogue with decent Tumble and great Balance and UMD skills. Complete Adventurer has a rule that lets you substitute a Balance check in place of the Strength or Dexterity check to avoid being tripped. That same book has Sandals of Harmonious Balance, which give +10 to your Balance checks. The Rogue needs a wand of Grease (preferably with the Widen Spell metamagic feat pre-applied). The Rogue can get in close (within the 30' sneak attack range for missile weapons, or right up close for melee) while the Grease makes the tripper flat-footed if they don't have 5+ ranks in Balance. Commence sneak attack against the now nearly helpless opponent.

[Saph]

We quickly dealt with the remaining undead on our side of the wall. The rest of the combat looked like this: rest of group readies ranged attacks for my turn, I move the sphere, shout "pull!", the sphere flings an enemy up over the wall (it somehow worked out that every single enemy it launched went in the right direction to make it over, and usually 70 or 80 feet too), and the group makes him into a pin cushion.

This one's hilarious. Defenestrating Sphere is the best spell ever.

The Bard/Sublime Chord in our old group learned it and promptly started using it in every battle. He kept forgetting about the "throws target through a window" feature - the DM didn't, though. :)

- Saph

[mabriss lethe]

The party I was in (as a bard) ran through a particularly nasty dungeon full to the brim with the typical evil necromancer undead cannonfodder sort of fun. We finally get through to confront the head undead himself, a lich.

Before the DM can say "roll for initiative", I whip out the Charisma and go to town like Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking.

"Before we start making a mess in your charming abode, I just have to ask something. Just how often do you have to do this sort of thing? I mean, here you are, minding your own business, whiling away the centuries in arcane research on subjects that would probably blow my mind. How many times a year do you have to break up a bunch of semi-literate hooligans filled with righteous fury over what you're doing? How much time and resources do you waste dealing with these little irritations? I know, So far, you've handled all comers, but what happens if someone out there finally gets lucky. All of your work winds up splashed out with the chamberpots... Or worse yet, in the hands of some pimply faced novice of a wizard who wouldn't know genius if it snuck up behind him and clubbed him over the head. What you need, is some good PR....."

So instead of destroying a lich with dreams of world domination, we became the board of directors for The Afterlife Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the socially acceptable uses of necromancy in modern society. The lich used his undead to stamp out the local bandit problems, legislation was passed in the local villages and cities that gave tax breaks to families where a member of the household had signed away the rights to his body after death, giving the former BBEG raw materials in exchange for the extra unskilled labor his undead could provide.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

CG FTW!

Also, my DM no longer allows us to talk to the BBEGs for that reason.

[Jack_Simth]

Out of combat healing:
A Wizard (or Cleric, or Druid, or Sorcerer, or Bard, or Ranger, or any other class that can get a 4th level or better Conjouration(Summoning) spell known or prepared) taking the Summon Elemental reserve feat, and crafting a Vampiric weapon (magic item compendium). Summon an elemental, order it to sit there and take a beating, give the vampiric weapon to whoever needs healing and have them beat up on the elemental. Each hit against the elemental heals the wielder 1d6 hp. Limitless out of combat healing, by classes not normally capable of meaningful healing. You pretty much need a nongood party, though.

Arcane Trapfinder:
Take a Wizard, load him up with the Elemental Summoning and Invisible Needle (or other direct-damage) reserve feats, and have him Permanency Arcane Sight. Keep a Summon Monster VI and a reasonably high-level Force spell prepared (to power the reserve feats). Arcane Sight locates all magical traps without a roll (with the exception of traps specifically designed to counter the tactic - see Magic Aura). Have a medium Earth elemental preceed the party everywhere (Summon, order it to run ahead on your path... every round), and it sets off every trap that'll get you for walking that isn't magical before you reach it. When you find a trap, zap it until it's nonfunctional with the direct-damage reserve feat (you can skip the direct damage reserve feat by having another elemental do it). Likewise, you have an elemental open everything, and pick stuff up. Other casting classes can do this, too, although it's easiest for the Wizard due to the bonus feats and the availability of Permanency and Arcane Sight. Can be done at lower-levels with an Unseen Servant dragging a 100 pound bag of rocks, Detect Magic, and a mess of arrows ... although it's a lot slower and more resource intensive.

So instead of destroying a lich with dreams of world domination, we became the board of directors for The Afterlife Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the socially acceptable uses of necromancy in modern society. The lich used his undead to stamp out the local bandit problems, legislation was passed in the local villages and cities that gave tax breaks to families where a member of the household had signed away the rights to his body after death, giving the former BBEG raw materials in exchange for the extra unskilled labor his undead could provide.

You do realize that, depending on your DM's choice of "why" for the Animate Dead line having the [Evil] descriptor, you've just arranged for things to get very, very bad in the long run, right?

[mabriss lethe]

You do realize that, depending on your DM's choice of "why" for the Animate Dead line having the [Evil] descriptor, you've just arranged for things to get very, very bad in the long run, right?

"Everybody's got a mortgage to pay." - The Yuppie Nuremburg Defense