D&D 3E/3.5 known-abusable 3.5 combos/techniques/etc.

[Ridley's Cohort]

If there are 15th NPC walking around in the world with nary a stitch of magic on them, I can see why it would be so easy to get people ready and willing to sign their life away to the cause of protecting my PC.

It hardly matters. The appropriate equipment for a 15th NPC is small potatoes on the budget of a 20th level PC. I am willing to cough up ~4%(?) of my wealth.

 

[mvincent]

From the core rules:
1) Hundreds of explosive runes and an area dispel magic
2) Dust of sneezing and choking (as mentioned)
3) Desecrate + Animate dead can allow for a 20 HD servant (titan skeleton?) at 5th level
4) Alter self and Troglodyte form (+6 Natural armor)
5) Spiked chain + enlarge (also with: improved trip, combat reflexes, etc.)
6) Fire seeds
7) Mnemonic Enhancer and a day to prepare
8) Permanent symbol (Persuasion, Sleep, Death etc.) tattooed on your hand
9) Gargantuan, permanently animated object with overland flight cast on it
10) Permanent greater magic fang (+5) on a monk
11) Anti-magic field and spell shaping
12) Rogue polymorphed into a hydra
13) Tan bag of tricks
14) Shrunken lead boulders (dropped from 10')
15) Scry/port
16) Strand of prayer beads purchased without bead of smiting

 

[Sejs]

From the core rules:
3) Desecrate + Animate dead can allow for a 20 HD servant (titan skeleton?) at 5th level

Assuming you have access to the corpse of a creature with 20 racial HD at level 5, and a really kickass onyx.

7) Mnemonic Enhancer and a day to prepare

Bah, that's not abuse, that's what wizards -do-. Wizards are all about planning ahead, knowing what you're getting into and loading up the appropriate spells. *nod*

8) Permanent symbol (Persuasion, Sleep, Death etc.) tattooed on your hand

One dispel magic later and you're out the symbol and upwards of 4,000 exp that was invested in the permanancy. Hardly cost effective.

 

[Plot-Device]

Take the Thrallherd that you can being taking at 6th level. Followers and whatnot show up in 24 hours, as does your cohort. They are completely j00r slaves. Demand the gear from the useless ones. Dismiss them. New ones show up in 24 hours. Repeat until you have as much gold as you like, or enough equipment to start a town.

Or

Hope you get a wizard cohort from thrallherd. Have him craft away all of his xp. When he gets to far behind, dismiss him, and get a new one. Better yet, sarcrifice him.

Thrallherd never takes penalties to leardership score.
Both of these are completely within the thrallherds flavor as well.

 

[mvincent]

Assuming you have access to the corpse of a creature with 20 racial HD at level 5

You just have to find the right graveyard ; )

Really though, animate dead can easily get out of hand, even if you only animate things your party kills.

Bah, that's not abuse, that's what wizards -do-. Wizards are all about planning ahead, knowing what you're getting into and loading up the appropriate spells.

A (for example) 14th level wizard could use mnenomic enhancer the day before an adventure to obtain an extra 20 3rd level spells (enough to say, give the whole party protection from every element, and still have a bunch of extra fireballs and such). You feel the writer's intended for this?

One dispel magic later and you're out the symbol and upwards of 4,000 exp that was invested in the permanancy. Hardly cost effective.

I typically use a ring of counter-spelling loaded with dispel magic, but even without, it can still be difficult to dispel something that has a decent caster level. And if the dispeller is high enough level to reliably dispel the symbol, I figure he could instead be using his action to cast nastier (save or die) spells on me anyways.

Other strategies to protect your investment:
1) Have a high level caster put a cheap 500xp permanent spell on you (it will be hit by an area dispel before your expensive one, saving it).
2) Spell-turning or rod of absorption should cancel out targeted dispels

 

[Stalker0]

The thing about the dust fo sneezing and choking people forget is that its an area centered on you!! So if you are not immune to the effects, you are just as screwed. Now, if you happen to be immune, then feel free to abuse

 

[Sejs]

A (for example) 14th level wizard could use mnenomic enhancer the day before an adventure to obtain an extra 20 3rd level spells (enough to say, give the whole party protection from every element, and still have a bunch of extra fireballs and such). You feel the writer's intended for this?

At 14th? 12, plus whatever bonus slots he's got for having a high int (generally 2 more, possibly 4 more depending on how you handle int items and spell slots). And at that point you're not looking at one day to prepare, you're looking at two.

Anyway, nah. I've had to deal with it as a DM and it did not break the bank.

 

[Emirikol]

Here are a couple for any level:

"tha cleric-psion" (or any divine-psion/erudite combo)
Psionics (any) in full plate with no penalty (and see prior)
"tha entangle"



jh

 

[Bad Paper]

Tanglefoot bags are overpowered.

 

[Emirikol]

Tanglefoot bags are overpowered.

Which brings us to the point:

Figure 75% of games don't go over about 12th level, what's broken beneath that so the rest of us can get some fixes? Obscure stuff where players just go out of their way to break the rules using strange high-level spell combos is probably less worrisome than a DM who's dealing with clerics using dancing shields and casting spells with his divine focus 'painted' onto his shield. That's stuff you need to house rule..the high level stuff is....less-encountered by the vast majority of us.

Here's another thing you need to get rid of : Vow of Poverty feat. Just say no.

Yes?

jh