Best creative use of an obscure or "weak" spell?

[CruelSummerLord]

Anyone can blow up their opponents with a fireball, or vaporize them with a lightning bolt. But what about spells like Dancing Lights, Darkness 15' Radius, or Wizard Eye, spells that only have indirect results?

Someone once posted a link to a webcomic where the PC mocked the guard for only using Dancing Lights, only to realize that he and the party were in deep minotaur business when the spell alerted all the guards in the complex. What seems like a worthless spell actually turned out to have a valuable tactical use.

Post the most clever and creative uses of spells most players would consider worthless, and how they helped the PCs.

 

[Dioltach]

One of my players used Feather Fall on enemies, followed by Gust of Wind (in 2E, there's no save against Feather Fall). On another occasion, an evil 18th level cleric rolled really poorly on a save v. polymorph and was turned into a fish and died some rounds later.

 

[Huw]

(Some of these examples are earlier editions, before certain spells got really reduced in flexibility)

• Levitate someone 1 foot above the floor. Leave them there 'till you're ready to deal with them properly.
• Polymorph Self into a fly. Land on victims head. Polymorph into a rhino.
• Passwall on floor beneath victim.
• Continual Darkness on a shuttered lantern. Instant directable darkness.
• Want to explore a new place unhassled? Disguise Self as a leper.

White Dwarf, back when it was a general RPG magazine, had a whole series of articles on interesting spell uses.

 

[Brimshack]

Passwall into the side of a ship.

 

[theskyfullofdust]

In a recent game we had used Mage Hand to open a door that let the wolves outside pour into a room of kobolds; the wolves were hungry, the kobolds weak fooder. Saved us dealing with them.

Using levitate on enemies was always a good trick: send them up & up until the spell wore off and watch them plummet.

 

[Fenes]

Two players once planned to have the mage cast firetrap on a small box or vial, tie a string to the lid or stopper, and have the fighter throw them, with the string tied to his harness, so that at the right distance the things would be opened when the string pulled taunt, and explode.

I don't remember if the DM disallowed that, or simply explained to the fighter what would happen if he'd met someone with mage hand, or stumbled.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

I once used a Helping Hand spell to locate a missing/lost person and lead him to safety.
It was the first time I ever used the spell, and I think it was the first time I ever even read the spell description.
It totally baffled the DM because the spell made a really hard part of the adventure really easy.

 

[Fenes]

I don't know how creative it is, since the spell is meant for it, but in one of my games a sorceror took "Sending" as a spell, and uses it to keep in contact with the other PCs as well as his henchmen and cohort (he runs a trading house), to get information before his competition does, direct his spies, and so on.

 

[rossik]

i have a dragon magazine with creative uses for spells (dont rememeber the number, have to check), but i rememeber one with light and a shiled.
cats it upon the shield and you will make hard time to the enemy to fight against you

 

[roguerouge]

This is more of a creative use of the leadership feat, but it involves teleport. In one high-level campaign, my rogue/sorcerer had the leadership feat and access to teleport. He set his minions, dwarves, to mining iron and making weapons under the guidance of his cleric cohort. Once that was going, he teleported to another party member's nation to speak with him. My character told him that he wanted an exclusive contract on iron with his nation at very reasonable terms. Being NG, the party member refused the sweetheart deal. My rogue/sorcerer then threatened to start giving away weapons for free in his nation until he got his contract. He had all these ordinary weapons that were worthless to him and more spell slots than he knew what to do with.

When the party member argued that was illegal, my character said, "What? You're going to outlaw gift-giving?"

Once we had to use transmute rock to mud to slide that same party member's castle off the side of a cliff, because it was occupied by powerful hostile baddies.

In 2e, create water created an absurd amount of water, so we would manifest it above villain's heads for temporary stun/humiliation effects. Our DM, who rewarded creative thinking, would have adventures where that low-level spell would save our bacon a couple of times a year.