D&D General If you’ve been knocked out and wake up without your kit, how do you go about MacGyvering an escape?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Against the Slave Lords. The situation you describe is exactly one reason why I loved it.

Come to think of it, that may be when I started changing my way of thought on PC creation.

 

[jgsugden]

The answer: Have a good DM that makes sure that the story unfolding has elements that are fun for each of the players.

D&D in an RPG - a role playing game. Characters play a role in a story. The DM and players should be working together to make a fun game for everyone.

If your PCs end up in a jail cell and escape without gear, as a DM you need to make sure there are opportunities for each PC to do something useful until they can get back to full/good strength. You can't force the PCs to take advantage of the opportunities, and it is reasonable to have them figure out how to get to the opportunities, but they should be there to be found and not be too hard to find.

If you're an artificer without his tools, a wizard without his spellbook, a fighter without weapons, etc... and the DM took them away - and the DM leaves you trapped without any chance of having something fun to do - it is a good time to make some suggestions to the DM. If they don't listen ... well ... evaluate whether that is the right game for you.

 

[Mad_Jack]

We rip the gnome apart and use the bones from one arm and one leg to fashion tools and weapons for the party. And the barbarian wields the rest of the gnome's corpse as a club.

 

[Umbran]

We rip the gnome apart and use the bones from one arm and one leg to fashion tools and weapons for the party. And the barbarian wields the rest of the gnome's corpse as a club.

I think you greatly overestimate even the ability of an 18 Strength to dismember a body without tools.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think you greatly overestimate even the ability of an 18 Strength to dismember a body without tools.

First, you have to overcome the psychology of exerting yourself so much while handling a sentient being’s body. That’s not easy.

And bodies are designed not to come apart so easily. Unless decomposition has started or you’ve cooked the body a bit, dismemberment without tools is TOUGH.

 

[overgeeked]

So here's my question to the board: What is your backup plan? If you’ve been knocked out Chrono Trigger style and wake up in prison without your kit, how do you go about MacGyvering an escape?

Anything you can imagine that’s not the one-trick you’ve designed your pony character around. Try the door. Try the lock. Try the window. Try the bars in the window. Search the cell for anything useful. Look around for other prisoners. Improvise a lock pick and give it a shot. You’re not limited to just what’s on your character sheet. Search your spells known/prepared for anything without material components you could use. If there’s a druid, wildshape. If you’re high enough level, polymorph.

 

[MNblockhead]

In 5e, the Sorcerer Metamagic class feature "Subtle Spell" is helpful.

Players can also get creative in using the optional tool proficiency rules in Xanathar's to help.

 

[Fauchard1520]

I can't remember in which editions or if we even made this rule up but I recall specifically in 2E that if a spellcaster was knocked unconscious or dropped below 0 hp their memorized spells were wiped from the mind correct?

It's certainly an interesting rule. And kind of preferable to the "Lies of Locke Lamora" style solutions. I feel like any idiot in a fantasy world who captured a mage would know to go for the full Lavinia, but your maimed PC's player would be (rightly) upset about that. That in turn means you've got to build special "mage shackles" or "anti-magic prison cells" instead, and that can feel heavy-handed. This unconscious bit is crazy-punishing if you get hit with the wrong end of a sleep spell, but I do like that it solves the other problem.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

This is my que to finally post a thread titled 'Naked People' where we post stat blocks of our current characters without any accoutrement.

I'm serious.

I always suggest to my players that we write down our unarmored AC next to our armored AC. I do it and I believe it serves as a constant reminder that my character is more than an armed and armored killing machine.

 

[Voadam]

It came up for my high level fast talking 3.5 good viking wizard eldritch knight demon hunter and was a lot of fun.

While soloing I came upon an isolated town where I agreed to help an archivist and his party checking out a set of magical Standing Stones deal with some marauding hit and run master elves and their forest monsters.

At one point I got grabbed by a treant and beat into non-lethal unconsciousness while making protestations that I wanted to talk. Waking up tied up wearing just a loin cloth with all my magic gear in separate piles, including seeing my spellbook separated out. I have left over spells prepared but cannot cast any while bound. Deep in a forest secret elven druid lair. I thought "Great! Exactly where I want them." There were a couple wild elves (sniper-archer and druidess) and the Treant debating whether to kill me. Being helpless and non-threatening position I was able to hear them talk amongst themselves and then talk to them and figured out they were not actually bad guys and I did not want to kill them. I worked on them and convinced one I was a good guy and eventually they came around and decided to free me.

Woohoo MacGuyvering through Roleplay interaction!

That's when the archivist shows up with his minions to reveal he was actually a cackling badass evil demon worshiping warlock who had put an arcane mark on one of my items and used it to scry out the elves' hideout when I was captured. Being pinned down the Treant gets burned to ashes and the elves are slaughtered by the warlock's cat familiar turned catfolk scout and the archivist's human bard companion revealed to be an old nemesis of mine, Brok the bardic Vrock.

My viking was big and strong so I made round after round of strength checks against the vine bonds on my wrists and as team evil finished off the last elf and turned to me and my pile o magic items I got a natural 20 and burst the vines.

Woohoo! Brute force MacGuyvering for the win!

As all three turned to focus fire on me I figured I had one action before going unconscious again, so went over to the pile with my spellbook, component pouch, and teleported the house ruled 1 mile limit away to begin my one man viking wizard Rambo assault on the evil trio to take them down one by one as they continued their demonic magic researches on the Standing Stones.

A high level eldritch knight with nothing but an extensive spellbook can do a lot of MacGuyver Ramboing.