Unexpectedly Useful Items

[AZNtrogdor]

in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, douglas adams goes through the many uses of the towel. that got me thinkin, is their any unexpectidly useful items in dnd that are like that (particularly inexpensive ones)?

For me, it would have to be a 30 ft coil of soft rope, it always seems to come in handy.

 

[The Shaman]

A sack of flour.

It can be used as a track trap to detect the passage of critters by spreading it on the floor, it can used like bread crumbs to mark a path (or escape route) through a dungeon or wilderness, it can be used to help detect invisible things, it can be used as a disguise against low Wis monsters ("I'm a ghooooooooossssst! Whooooooooooo!"), and it can be used to make yummy biscuits.

Mmmmmm...biscuits....

 

[Megatron]

10 foot pole.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

I had a character demand 65' rope whenever he was shopping. Isn't it amazing how so many pit traps are conveniently deeper than the standard 50' rope?

 

[Goblyn]

10 foot pole.

So useful that it transcends editions.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

So useful that it transcends editions.

That's funny; even as I read the thread title, that was what I was thinking. Our latest use for the wondrous device? In a not-so-serious game, it was used as the "STICK OF PAIN, LAMONT" for characters who flubbed up. Party members, cohorts, and animal companions who needed to be "re-educated" were introduced to its more retributive uses.

 

[Gruns]

Never leave home without...

A sack of marbles.

Later!
Gruns

 

[Orryn Emrys]

Do I perceive a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Dungeon in the making...?

Ahem... [bad british accent] According to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Dungeon, adamantium is, in fact, the third hardest non-magical material in existance... a distant second to whatever evil artifact your heroes happen to be attempting to destroy at the time, which is very close behind the bald pate of one Ungar Hammersmith, the only dwarf in Upper Galinor to attempt the Triple Lindy with a dry swimming hole... twice.[/bad british accent]

As an aside to the comment about the rope... One of our PC's is constantly getting bits of his rope cut off, and always seems to have only 47' when he needs 50....

 

[lonesoldier]

I would have to say: YOUR MOMMA!

or a writing set. That would be ink, an inkpen, parchment/vellum and a scroll case.

 

[boredgremlin]

Grappling hook. Necesary for climbing up walls, can be whipped out and hooked into protrusions with a reflex save if the character is falling, makes a handy club with a bonus to trip attempts, allows a player to whip his rope around a foes neck or legs. You can use it to throw a rope down a hallway and pull it back to set off traps, or whip it around corners to see if it hits someone hiding there. Lol when i am a player i never leave home without my trusty grappling hook.