Clever uses of Rituals in Combat

[Myn]

Hey all, I had an interesting event happen in my game last session, and was curious if any of you wanted to share situations where rituals were used in creative and clever ways.

Long story short, the cleric in my party was able to use Purify Water against a Gelatinous Cube they had painstakenly trapped and captured. He rolled well and was able to purify all eight squares of it, destroying it. They then used Delver's Fire lit ontop of a Tenser's Floating Disk to move it around and evaporate the water, and collected the now hyper concentraited acidic residue from the cube; which I'm sure will be used in some esoteric way against me. I found it highly amusing and allowed all of it, the players had alot of fun.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

The PCs in my game knew they were going into a fight that featured a giant bunch of spider swarms, so they cast "Banish Vermin" near the monsters' lair, then lured them out.

The result was a burst 5 that the swarms could not enter. The PCs stayed in the area for most of the fight.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Don't know is this was 100% kosher by the rules--I could argue either way, honestly--but just last night, we had a little over an hour (in-game) to prepare for a major fight against devils. We cast Tenser's Floating Disk, then inscribed a Magic Circle on the disk, basically making a mobile protected platform for the wizard to ride on.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Even if it isn't kosher, you could make a disk of leather (or some other material) upon which a Magic Circle was to be inscribed, then levitate IT on the TFD.

Given time, GP and some ego, that leather disk could be made into a cushion, so the caster could spellsling with pinache.

 

[blargney the second]

It's a casting couch!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It just occurred to me...is TFD impermeable? Is it as much a force barrier as a Wall?

IOW, can it stop creatures from attacking from directly below it? If so, it has all kinds of applications that have yet to be realized.

For instance, if its impermeable, casting it and directing it over a hole that is essentially a perfect fit for it to go down makes it into a plunger capable of moving water or air...and I can see Dwarves and/or Gnomes using that as an engineering feature.

 

[Mouseferatu]

It just occurred to me...is TFD impermeable? Is it as much a force barrier as a Wall?

IOW, can it stop creatures from attacking from directly below it? If so, it has all kinds of applications that have yet to be realized.

For instance, if its impermeable, casting it and directing it over a hole that is essentially a perfect fit for it to go down makes it into a plunger capable of moving water or air...and I can see Dwarves and/or Gnomes using that as an engineering feature.

Well, there are limitations. It can't move more than 5 squares from the caster for more than 2 rounds, or it vanishes, and it can't go over a hole because it always remains 1 foot off the ground (so, by my reading, if you put it over a hole it would drop almost instantly to the bottom, and then vanish 12 seconds later).

Other than that, there are no rules given for how vulnerable it is, but (with a high enough Arcana check) it can support a ton of weight, so it's certainly got to be tough.

 

[vagabundo]

Don't know is this was 100% kosher by the rules--I could argue either way, honestly--but just last night, we had a little over an hour (in-game) to prepare for a major fight against devils. We cast Tenser's Floating Disk, then inscribed a Magic Circle on the disk, basically making a mobile protected platform for the wizard to ride on.

It does mention, "You inscribe a circle on the ground", in the magic circle ritual.

How did the platform work out in practice? It should have protected the wizard from all attacks - and lasts 24 hours until the disc winks out.

 

[Mouseferatu]

It does mention, "You inscribe a circle on the ground", in the magic circle ritual.

It does, and we thought about that. But our decision was that the use of ground had to be descriptive, not restrictive. Otherwise, you could never inscribe it on an interior floor (especially above ground level), or the deck of a ship, or anything like that.

But as I said, it can be argued either way, and that line would, indeed, be the crux of most such arguments.

How did the platform work out in practice? It should have protected the wizard from all attacks - and lasts 24 hours until the disc winks out.

It worked fine until one of the devils, who was of higher level than that allowed by the Arcana check, willingly took the damage to "pop" it.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Phantom Steed has been useful to us in combat. It gives a few rounds of extra movement. Since we usually rely on the steeds for overland movement, however, we tend to keep them out of combat.