Starting a new Very Low Magic setting, advice on mundane tricks/ideas.

[PureGoldx58]

Hello All,


A friend of mine that is new to DMing has decided to start an extremely low-magic setting and our regular group of folks are joining in on the fun. It is so low-magic that most if not all real casters are banned, as in all the major casters are banned and only the bard, pally, and ranger are allowed as "casters".

Since I'm probably the most experienced and knowledgeable player in our group (as well as the only one who seems to LIKE multiclassing) I have taken to the skill monkey/high damage/low hp/scout role. A few of us are just playing pure base classes, but I would be far too bored to do that. I'm playing one of my more lame builds Rogue/fighter/swordsage/invisible blade/whisper knife.

Now that the backstory/pretext is out of the way, I would like suggestions and advice on mundane means to do extremely interesting things. I have already loaded up myself on useful things, but I'm missing some items that do very interesting things. Basically if you can think of any useful items or items that do something amazingly fantastic/horrible/sticky I would absolutely love it! Feel free to discuss mundane item ideas and experiences as well. I also love stories as they usually give me good ideas for later.

Books allowed: 3.5 Core, PHB2, Complete series, and Tome of Battle, obviously.

 

[Razjah]

Well, you can use the terrain to do a lot. No, more than that. Seriously, tons of stuff.

Fight in a forest? Climb a tree and use a spear. Throw weapons/Shoot too! Roll rocks down a hill/mountain side. Swing from a tapestry. Use a fence or hedge as cover.

Get a rubber ball! Roll it down a hall in a dungeon and wait for a sound of splashing (water in a hole somewhere) or for the sound of the ball hitting a wall (gauge distance).

 

[Ragmon]

The only limit is the imagination.

Tho watch out for smart players who max out engineering and crafting...they have a plan. (well I would at least, in a mundane fantasy world)

Things that come to my mind:
- crafting traps
- creating high-tech gadgets and machines (steam engines and so on)
- animal training (you know that you can have 2 Rocs trained at low levels?!)
- the use of a Net at low levels (entangled without a spell).
- the rogue (tons of skills in a low magic world, well that is just me IMO skills wins over magic any day in 3.5 )
- if your going with low magic world but you did not house rule the casters then i would say, take the create magic item feats, and cover the market, or simply provide for your team.
- tons of little items in various books, I love the glass cutter, that and the hammock.
- mule = bag-o'-holding 1.0 (the mule can carry a lot of stuff)
- 10 foot pole, need I say more?
- salt is always useful.
- chalk, for those pesky mazes.
- oil, you can never know when you want to open a door silently.
- rope... you can never have enough rope.
- poisons
- science
- a good bluff check or diplomacy check can go a looong way.

Check out the equipment handbooks, they always have some fun none magical gear and items.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Train Animals. Ask if Dinosaurs exist in this campaign world. And Rust Monsters.

Ask if you can use the Lucid Dreaming skill.

Climb a lot. Being in the high ground is very useful.

Dig pit traps. Pit traps are awesome.

 

[PBEM66]

I like to use 'egg bombs', simply chicken eggs that are hollowed out and filled with flour. You can use them to uncover invisible creatures/objects, to make pursuers think you're poisoning them, or to allow a quick escape unseen. Also, the caltrop is your friend. Get bags of them and use them liberally. The same with clay marbles.

Check out screaming arrows: arrows that are veined to whine in the wind when shot. Several styles could serve as audible alarms or code. Likewise with arrows coated with sulfur and the like to create flares.

Acid. You can throw a flask of acid as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet. A direct hit deals 1d6 points of acid damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the acid hits takes 1 point of acid damage from the splash. Just be careful with it. Destroy chains/cells doors/siege weapons/traps/use as a missile weapon...

A hollowed dagger pommel could be used to store some emergency coinage, or bowstring, or skeleton key, or a vial of poison or acid...

Thunderstones -
You can throw this stone as a ranged attack with a range increment of 20 feet. When it strikes a hard surface (or is struck hard), it creates a deafening bang that is treated as a sonic attack. Each creature within a 10-foot-radius spread must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or be deafened for 1 hour. A deafened creature, in addition to the obvious effects, takes a -4 penalty on initiative and has a 20% chance to miscast and lose any spell with a verbal component that it tries to cast.

Since you don’t need to hit a specific target, you can simply aim at a particular 5-foot square. Treat the target square as AC 5.


[h=5]Tanglefoot Bag[/h] When you throw a tanglefoot bag at a creature (as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet), the bag comes apart and the goo bursts out, entangling the target and then becoming tough and resilient upon exposure to air. An entangled creature takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls and a -4 penalty to Dexterity and must make a DC 15 Reflect Save or be glued to the floor, unable to move. Even on a successful save, it can move only at half speed. Huge or larger creatures are unaffected by a tanglefoot bag. A flying creature is not stuck to the floor, but it must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be unable to fly (assuming it uses its wings to fly) and fall to the ground. A tanglefoot bag does not function underwater.

A creature that is glued to the floor (or unable to fly) can break free by making a DC 17 Strength check or by dealing 15 points of damage to the goo with a slashing weapon. A creature trying to scrape goo off itself, or another creature assisting, does not need to make an attack roll; hitting the goo is automatic, after which the creature that hit makes a damage roll to see how much of the goo was scraped off. Once free, the creature can move (including flying) at half speed. A character capable of spellcasting who is bound by the goo must make a DC 15 Concentration check to cast a spell. The goo becomes brittle and fragile after 2d4 rounds, cracking apart and losing its effectiveness. An application of universal solvent to a stuck creature dissolves the alchemical goo immediately.


[h=5]Smokestick[/h] This alchemically treated wooden stick instantly creates thick, opaque smoke when ignited. The smoke fills a 10-foot cube (treat the effect as a fog cloud spell, except that a moderate or stronger wind dissipates the smoke in 1 round). The stick is consumed after 1 round, and the smoke dissipates naturally.

[h=5]Sunrod[/h] This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped, iron rod glows brightly when struck. It clearly illuminates a 30-foot radius and provides shadowy illumination in a 60-foot radius. It glows for 6 hours, after which the gold tip is burned out and worthless.


[h=5]Healer’s Kits[/h] It is the perfect tool for healing and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on heal checks. A healer’s kit is exhausted after ten uses. Without clerical magic, damage is harder to recover from.

You can use a scabbard with a hole at the bottom as a breathing tube, if needed.

You may be able to make a hang glider, if you need to descend a mountain in a hurry. (Take engineering skill).

 

[Dozen]

Craft and Knowledge checks are your best friends. Look around in real sources. I usually enhance my caster cheese with broken parts of reality, but they will work out without magic just fine.

And with magic rare, countering magic becomes harder as well; Figments and Glamers should be a lot more reliable than in the core setting.

Hello All,
"...bard, pally, and ranger are allowed as "casters". "

That might get a little boring. What about Binders, invokers, meldshapers, Hexblades? They are way outclassed by Bards in terms of versatility.

 

[PureGoldx58]

Craft and Knowledge checks are your best friends. Look around in real sources. I usually enhance my caster cheese with broken parts of reality, but they will work out without magic just fine.

And with magic rare, countering magic becomes harder as well; Figments and Glamers should be a lot more reliable than in the core setting.



That might get a little boring. What about Binders, invokers, meldshapers, Hexblades? They are way outclassed by Bards in terms of versatility.

I have as many knowledge checks as I can squeeze out of the build without focusing on it, because our parties generally heavily rely on those to advance plots. I know the whole Tome of Magic scares the DM and I didn't help it with a binder idea I mentioned to her once in passing. Hexblade, I don't know. I haven't asked and am considering it a possible addition later, just in case I don't feel like throwing my knives.


Edit: I AM a swordsage so I have "spells".

 

[PureGoldx58]

[MENTION=6727861]PBEM66[/MENTION]

Thanks for all the ideas, I forgot how useful smokesticks can be! I'm not the biggest fan of the tanglefoot bag and the other bag, it has always seemed either too weak or too easy for a situation, I don't like I win buttons ALL the time.

I've already taken many of the hiding spot stuff in the Complete Scoundrel, head to toe hiding something in and around every corner, crease, and orifice.

What book are Screaming Arrows in? The Magic Item Compendium? Or something else?

CALTROPS! How could I forget! I love those guys!

 

[Razjah]

Climb the monsters. Fighting a giant? Climb up him and stab him in the base of the neck (something like +4d6 damage or more) with a hard climb check and an increased AC. Think Shadow of the Colossus or Legolas taking down an Oliphant in the LotR films.

Smoke can do a lot in a world without magic or with limited magic. No supernatural winds to get rid of it- instant cover. Sneak around the enemy, set up some traps, flee, heal a buddy, grab a shield.

Tackle Attack! Grapple and Bullrushing are a lot better without flight and teleporting to ruin the fun.

Mounted combat, since it never really happens in games past level 5-6 since the PCs can fly or soon can.

Throw a flower pot out a window as a distraction, giving allies a surprise round (it worked in Rio Bravo staring John Wayne)

Read the Black Company books by Glen Cook and copy as much of that as you can! They are awesome books.

 

[PureGoldx58]

Train Animals. Ask if Dinosaurs exist in this campaign world. And Rust Monsters.

Ask if you can use the Lucid Dreaming skill.

Climb a lot. Being in the high ground is very useful.

Dig pit traps. Pit traps are awesome.

She's new to DMing, I didn't throw a Rust Monster at her when she was a player in my campaign. I won't as a player myself. No dinosaurs, I'm pretty sure otherwise I might have to force our ranger to take a certain raptor.

I plan on attempting to make as many traps as possible, counter trapping if you will. We enter a dungeon, I will lure all the minotaur into my sphere of annihilation!

I have a stance that allows spider climb 24/7 unless I'm knocked unconscious or dead, I plan to own the ceiling.