D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Collection of Tactic & Strategies

[Greenfield]

Make sure that somebody *OTHER THAN THE CLERIC* carries a Potion of CLW. That way, somebody can get the party healer back on his fee when he goes down.

Teach the spell casters' players the following phrases: "Casting defensively!", and "Going to full defense". Eventually, somebody will close with them, and you'd like them to still be functional and alive. "Withdrawing!" is another good phrase for your Jolly Johny Tourist Guidebook to the Dungeons.

Potion or Ring of Invisibility for the healer. He can move around the battlefield gluing hit points on people and buffing them without drawing fire.

*HAVE WIZARD SPEND DOWNTIME MAKING SCROLLS* of utility spells. It lets him load up on buffing and kaboom spells, and still have access to Knock and Comprehend Languages and such when the occasion comes up.

Have someone like the BDF keep a set of lock picks hidden in his boot. When captured, they'll search the Rogue and take his tools, but they might miss the spare set in the fighter's footwear.

 

[frankthedm]

Spellcasters should "Delay" or "Ready" so they cast their "Save or Be Helpless" with a Tank or Rogue next to the spell's victim. Then the Tank / Rogue deals out a CDG before the victim can be broken out of the effect.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-le...-hold-person-two-saving-throws-per-round.html

 

[Axel]

I only have 1 thing to contribute to the list. Don't let 1 PC carry all the treasure, even if they do have the awesomely "big" Bag of Holding.

 

[aboyd]

• If you intend to multiclass, always make the skilled class be your first. The first level your character takes is front-loaded with all those skill points, which you never will get again in that volume. So if you are a fighter/rogue, first level should be rogue, to take advantage of the huge skill point payout.

 

[Magesmiley]

Invest in an extradimensional space to haul loot around. A portable hole is ideal, but a decent bag of holding works too.

If you have the weight capacity (such as via the above extradimensional space) and some spare funds, go through the equipment lists and buy some of the items that you don't use always, but which can be lifesavers in some situations.

Loot thoroughly, especially if you have something to carry it in. One often overlooked source of loot is the foes' weapons and armor. Many weapons and armor are worth more per pound than coins.

Spread duplicate resources around. Give the bard that cure light wounds wand rather than the cleric (who already has several ready to go).

Learn about some of the other maneuvers that you can perform when in combat. Aid another and fighting defensively come to mind in particular.

If your save DCs are not too good, spells to buff your allies are some of the best ones to take.

If there is a single foe surrounded by multiple attackers, make use of your 5' step to ensure that you and your allies gets a flanking bonus. Its usually possible for 3 attackers to use the 5' step in this manner to always get the flank bonus.

Take notes. A lot of people don't do this. That backstory and fluff that the DM is giving you often has clues in it. Similarly when you meet NPCs, keep track of who is who.

 

[Greenfield]

On a more general note, don't be afraid to have the party invest a bit to expand the spell caster's spell book.

I recall a campaign where the DM was being a stickler about carrying capacity, carrying feed for your horses, etc.

We frustrated him by pooling a bit of coin and buying our Wiz' a scroll of Shrink Item. That, and a chest that was 5 cubic feet.

Once the spell was in her book, she could prepare more or just bring it on finger. (The DM hated all forms of item crafting, and even made scroll paper hard to get and very expensive.)

Now we could carry our supplies for a few days and when we ran low, out comes the chest and we re-stock. Add whatever loot we'd gathered and zip it up again. And as levels went up we just got a bigger chest.

One oddity of the spell: An item, once shrunk, won't re-expand if there's no room for it to do so. That's so you can't use the expanding item to provide force for things like breaking down walls, etc. But if you take said shrunken item and store it in a piece of iron pipe, it will never expand until you take it out. The duration becomes effectively permanent, until you need the item.

So in our case, we could carry all the mundane adventuring supplies we needed, stored in as many chests as we liked, and it only consumed a spell slot when we needed to put it away again.

This is the budget form of Secret Chest, by the way!

 

[Empirate]

That's brilliant! Never thought about the expansion-hampering thing that way.

Our party Wizard uses Shrink Item mostly to bring along the comforts of his studying chamber (armchair, chest of books), as well as a big-ass mirror for Scrying.

Another interesting spell use: Mount provides a solid block of flesh between you and whatever you want to keep on the other side, that lasts hours/level. It also provides lots of carrying capacity.

 

[Greenfield]

We used to call that one "Wall of Horse".

A Mount spell can be an excellent trap detector. Just drive the Mount ahead of your party, and let him step on things, trip wires, etc. At low levels he may have more hit points than you do.

I think I'll abuse the hell out of Shrink Item with my next character. Make him like Henry Pym, of the Avengers. You know, always have a shrunken item for every purpose. 10 foot ladders, battering ram, a few miles of rope, a campfire, several hot meals, a dozen bowling balls (one at a time, of course), some empty barrels, a small stone wall or three, a stack of sand bags, a bathtub of hot water (complete with back brush and rubber duck), a pool of molten lava.

Note that things like campfires and pools of molten lava are problematic. They expand the moment you pull them from the container, once you've exceeded the spell's normal duration, so make sure you have some fire resistance ready.

Note to self: Store bowling balls and/or boulders in long thin pipes, suitable for use as blowguns. And be careful inhaling prior to shooting.

 

[Nimloth]

At low levels it is better to give some monsters (those with 3 or more attacks - like ghouls or trolls) an AOO rather than a full attack. You only have 1 attack per round anyway, so attack and move at least 10' more than the monsters reach. They get an AoO and then on their turn they have to move at least 10', so they only get 1 attack.

Can someone point me to the part of the SRD you are using to make Shrink Item "permenant".

 

[Greenfield]

...Can someone point me to the part of the SRD you are using to make Shrink Item "permenant".

As far as I know, there isn't one. Might be in an FAQ, or something by The Sage.

It's actually a DM's call, but consider the alternatives: The ability to use the expansion factor of a shrunken item as a driving force. The nearest examples are things like the Rod of Lordly Might, which says that the transformation to a ladder can be used to force open doors, with a +7 Strength modifier.

Shrink a sack of nails and store it in an iron pipe scored with lines. If the nails are allowed to expand in their tight confines, what happens? Can you say "Pipe bomb"? Considering that it's a 3rd level spell, I'd argue for Fireball type damage and area, with appropriate Reflex (Fortitude?) Save. But the ability to stockpile such things, then have them go off just because the caster tosses them on the floor makes them more than a little broken.

No DM in his or her right mind would allow such things.

The alternative is Henry Pym.