Bizarre Tactics & Combos

[Magic Rub]

Hello all and welcome. As you may have already guessed by the title this thread is about the odd, strange, & bizarre tactics & combo's you've used as PC's, or DM's. Please post your favourite tactics & combos here.

Let me start by telling you about of couple of my favourites.


Bizarre Tactic #1
Continual flame, Resistance, Resist Elements (cold)

When the PC's came across this simple, low level NPC Cleric they were themselves only very low levels. It was funny, they were so freaked out. They thought I had lost my mind sending some type of heavily armoured Quazi fire elemental after them, when they were still only simple low level smucks. The Cleric's armour, clothes, & weapons all had been permanently affected by a continual flame spell. Before the battle the Cleric cast Resist Elements (cold) on himself, & a resistance spell. Of course the PC's didn't let me down, their Attack plan was all based on ice & cold based attacks, everyone holding back to range to avoid the fire. Little did they know that if they had gotten close enough they would have been able to tell that this guy wasn't emitting heat. It took them a while to drop the cleric, & then even longer to get up the courage to search the still "burning" body. It was sweet.



Bizarre Tactic #2
Change Self (or equivalent "appearance altering" spell) preferably as a Spell like effect, or Supernatural ability. Shield, or some type of protection from Arrows spell or ability.

You use the Change Self ability obviously to hide the true Identity of Monster-X, use preferably a monster that is not easily hurt by Physical damage, a Troll with mage or cleric levels, a Shade (you get the idea). You also use the Change self ability to simulate Battle damage that the monster is not actually taking. Making the creature look more & more beleaguered & hurt. Drawing the PC in for what they think will be a bit of the ol' "kill n loot". When all the PC's are in tight you unleash an area effect spell, such as fire ball or cloud kill. If done correctly it can be very devastating.



Lets hear all of your nasty little tricks, from both PC, & DM's

 

[Drawmack]

Slippers of spider climb and a cloak of invisibility. Climb the wall and sneak attack, run away and do it again.

Unseen servent, ghost sound and continual light. When you spot some other adventurers or an adversarial party in the wilderness you case continual light on something. Have the unseen servent carry the item close to the adversaries then run in a different direction then the party. Use ghost sound to make it sound like it is a whole party of adventurers running. As the adversaries give chase you can loot them. At most they'll only leave a couple people to watch their stuff. I was in a party that did this and we got some really cool cause those guys were a few levels beyond us.

 

[Speaks With Stone]

I nearly did this the other night: We were in a crypt and outside were 3 spell casters. My familiar had been stationed outside and watched as they prepped hold person, magic missle and something else. So I was going to cast mage hand on an empty robe that we had used as a disguise earlier and have it "walk" to the door to draw all of those spells.

Sadly, one of the other characters didn't want to listen when I said, "Stay clear of the door." He got all of it in the face, so all I could do was drag him clear on my turn.

Another tactic that I'm working is after that debacle (we are now trapped in the darn crypt with around 100 baddies outside waiting on us. They sent in a negotiator to demand we surrender. Had I more time to prepare a good lie . . .

Sadly, I ran with the first thing that popped to mind. I told the negotiator that we had just opened a demon portal and that we intended to continue opening the gates spread around this ruin and they couldn't do anything to stop us. I bluffed him, but I don't think it will help. Since we have to explore a lot in this occupied city, I want to keep them from looking for us the right way. So I'm painting summoning/demonic gating/arcane symbols all over the room and using Nystuls Magic Aura to make them appear magical. I'm also going to make one that suggests teleportation. Then we will turn invisible and hopefully sneak out.

Hopefully.

Dang. That sounds down right weak now that I read back over it. We are in seriously deep and have very few prepped spells to handle the current situation> should be interesting

 

[Kyramus]

I'm designing a trap on a door that releases a spray of water at the opponents before letting loose a lightning bolt.

What i need to know is what happens with reflex saves ? AS water conducts electricity, what happens then? Do they even get a reflex save?

How about a rogue with evasion? Any ideas?

 

[Drawmack]

The assumption would be that they are in a puddle of water which does conduct electricity. I would have the lightening set to strike the puddle. Every one makes a reflex against the lightening.

 

[Vaxalon]

I'm designing a trap on a door that releases a spray of water at the opponents before letting loose a lightning bolt.

This again.

What i need to know is what happens with reflex saves ?

Reflex save for half damage.

AS water conducts electricity, what happens then?

They take damage.

Do they even get a reflex save?

Why wouldn't they?

How about a rogue with evasion?

He'd take no damage if he made his save.

Any ideas?

Here's the best idea you'll get today...

Don't assume that magic works like real world physics. In the long run it'll make your life as a DM a whole lot easier, and it will make your world a whole lot more interesting.

 

[Kyramus]

lol.

Sorry about the post if it looks inane. I was working on various parts of an adventure.

I took the border tower from the sword and fist and am reoutfitting it with baatezu denizens.

Kinda making a module out of it for my own campaign.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I should remember in my head when I do things that KISS works best. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

 

[Pielorinho]

Somebody pointed out once that if the lightning bolt spell worked like real live electricity, it would strike the ground directly beneath the caster's feet.

I inadvertantly came up with an interesting tactic the other day. Otiluke's resilient sphere is an offensive spell, right?

Well, not always. A wizard cast it on an enemy cleric, thinking it'd contain her. Instead, it enabled her to cast her various summoning spells and mind-affecting spells while being immune to physical attacks. When she was the only enemy left standing, she was able to plane shift away with impunity, notwithstanding the angry fighters flanking her.

Do other folks use this spell defensively? It seems to me that, especially in combination with a globe of minor invulnerability, it'd be a strong defense for some spellcasters. We'd never used it that way before, though.

Daniel

 

[Vaxalon]

I inadvertantly came up with an interesting tactic the other day. Otiluke's resilient sphere is an offensive spell, right?

Well, not always. A wizard cast it on an enemy cleric, thinking it'd contain her.

It should have.

Instead, it enabled her to cast her various summoning spells and mind-affecting spells while being immune to physical attacks. When she was the only enemy left standing, she was able to plane shift away with impunity, notwithstanding the angry fighters flanking her.

How did she get the Line of Effect to the spells that were outside the sphere?

From the SRD:
Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.

The character must have a clear line of effect to any target that the character casts a spell on or to any space in which the character wishes to create an effect. The character must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any spell the character casts. For bursts, cones, cylinders, and emanating spells, the spell only affects areas, creatures, or objects to which it has line of effect from its origin (a burst's point, a cone's starting point, a cylinder's circle, or an emanating spell's point of origin).

An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a spell's line of effect.

Such an opening makes a 5-foot length of wall no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a spell's line of effect (though the rest of the wall farther from the hole can still block the spell).

(EDIT: Added SRD quote)

 

[AuraSeer]

Well, not always. A wizard cast it on an enemy cleric, thinking it'd contain her. Instead, it enabled her to cast her various summoning spells and mind-affecting spells while being immune to physical attacks. When she was the only enemy left standing, she was able to plane shift away with impunity, notwithstanding the angry fighters flanking her.

Those spells should have fizzled. The cleric had no line of effect to targets outside the sphere.

The Plane Shift would still have worked, since it has touch range, and the ORSphere doesn't extend across planar boundaries. (Well, as a [Force] effect it does exist in the Ethereal, but IIRC plane travel and teleportation use the Astral.)