Dm “the evil cultists come at you, staffs raised” Cultist “how did you find this place, what are doing here!? Answer now! Player (looks at their bag filled with candles) “I’m...the candle man, I’m here to deliver your candles.” Dm “...roll deception.” Player (rolls) Cultist “...well why didn’t you say so, we need these candles for our rituals, come right in.”
@@brenta2634 oh he did. He forced me to roll numerous times trying to get me to slip up, since I was effectively bypassing the dungeon he had made. But between a high persuasion and deception skill, the fact that I was a sorcerer and the lucky feat, I was able to bullshit my way through. The best part was pushing the boss off the top of the tower and counterspelling his feather fall.
One thing a player (paladin) of mine did was during a stop in a small farming town on the way to a dungeon, he announced that he wanted to buy as many small livestock as he could get. Goats, pigs, and sheep, specifically. A couple quick decisions about how much would actually be available, and some steadily increasing prices as word spread of some moneybags not haggling over cost and he had himself over a hundred roughly evenly mixed between the three animals. He then bought all the rope he could find to string them all up on lead lines. Somewhat predictably, he laid in no feed for the animals, and lacked any proficiency in animal handling (a condition shared by the rest of the party). So during the two day trip to the dungeon, due to some lucky rolls, they only lost a couple dozen animals into the wilds. Mostly pigs and goats eating the ropes and breaking free. At the entrance to the dungeon, the paladin announces that he's going to summon his steed, and together they're going to drive the whole herd into the dungeon. Then wait 30 minutes. Well... fine. So the traps are pretty much all triggered, the ambush is ruined, and the bullette nursery isn't hungry anymore. Fair enough. Ran with it and had a couple of the humanoid cultists that were the objective of this adventure dead, sorta obviously from goat-related injuries. Then had the gargoyles in the back portion of the dungeon employ ambush tactics by throwing full-grown dead pigs down at the adventurers from 50 feet up. "You take 38 pig damage" was a satisfying line to say, I will admit.
Our group once turned the tide of a battle with two mundane items. A few months back, our party was hunting down a family of vampires in their manor. While searching the rooms, we just so happened to find two of them by literally opening a door to a room. Without thinking, my Rogue slammed the door and jammed it with a crowbar. This forced the two vampires to go through the second door to the room which also opened into a narrow hallway. And since our group was at the mouth of this hallway, it became a literal shooting gallery. Then a third vampire appeared and grappled our Warlock. But just as the Warlock was about to have his blood drained, he threw a bag of sand in the vampire's face and--thanks to a botched CON roll--actually blinded the vampire and escaped. What made it even funnier is that, several sessions earlier, our Warlock was conned into believing this sand was actually magic sand from a place that didn't actually exist, and he'd paid 200g for it.
As a parent, I confirm you can hear your kids. I had a friend (who is not a parent) visit. He noticed my front door had a loud squeak. He joked, "I've got some oil if you want me to fix that squeak for you." I immediately responded, completely serious, "No, I need that to hear if my kids are sneaking out." His look of shock and understanding said it all.
can conform the human ear can tune out certain sounds and be very actively focused on others more so when its used to a certain sound meaning something
So I've seen a flour fire in person. Was asked to start dinner shortly after getting home from a roadtrip by my parents. Apparently while I was gone something boiled over and was on the burner, which I didn't see when I went to boil water. It ignited, I moved the pot. My step mom says "throw some flour on it". What she meant was to dump the bag and smother it. What I did was throw a handful onto a small fire to create a big fire. She took the bag and smothered it, but it was too late: now everyone brings up how I set the stove on fire by boiling water
Exactly the flour essentially has to be aerosolized to burn the video link is a rocket upside down that's what blasts it apart. An arrow into a bag of flour is not going to do that.
Probably my favorite use of (mostly mundane) items was something inspired by a book in either the Sword of Truth series or the Wheel of Time series (I can't remember which). The group I was with was leading a small force to attack a larger, better equipped, and better trained force that had fortified themselves in a quarry. We didn't have much money, so we had to be clever. During the time before the planned attack (a couple days), I had my wizard go around town and buy cartloads of scrap glass. Then I found laborers and paid them to grind the glass into dust and put it in barrels for transport. Also bought a about five pairs of goggles and face masks (just cloth to wrap around the head, like a shemagh or something, nothing fancy) to equip the party with. Since I didn't have the spell I needed, I spent the rest of my gold on purchasing it and adding it to my spellbook. On the day of the attack, while we were getting ready, I instructed the archers in our attacking force to take the barrels of ground glass to the spots around the edge of the quarry that they'd be attacking from and then dump it out into piles. It wasn't windy, so I used my new spell to change that. I cast Gust of Wind and blew the ground glass into the enemy forces in the quarry, walking to each pile of glass and recasting the spell as necessary. My party was horrified at their nerdy wizard's actions, the DM (who I had discussed this idea with and gotten the go ahead for) was giddy at the chance to describe the horrors the cloud of glass inflicted upon the enemy army as it got in their eyes, mouth, and lungs. Once the (glass) dust had settled, our forces mercilessly descended upon the reeling army. My wizard got a long talking-to about war crimes after that battle. Stuff like that is what I love about D&D, the creativity that having a good DM allows for. ^_^
The wizard should get a nickname "lord of glass". Also, if Napoleon Total War is any indication, you can use clouds of quicklime to burn enemy's skin, lungs and morale.
Next time use pepper. Much cheaper, (can use smaller quantities to cover larger areas) and while not exactly damaging it takes just about anyone out of comission for several rounds/minutes. Coughing, choking, sneezing, and don't forget blind. Nevermind the horrible pain it would inflict. You can also use it for many applications, not just combat. Need to distract someone for several minutes? (Guards, merchants, etc) toss a small bag (with slits) of pepper in a room they're in, gust of wind, and they're completely out of comission. Works well to sneak past any number of otherwise problematic situations.
@@randalthor2859 Was at a college cafeteria one day and someone put a packet of Tabasco sauce in the microwave and set it on five minutes. Instant tear gas! We all fled. Now to just figure out how to do that in D&D
One of the players in a game I was DMing absolutely LOVED using common items. One time, the party was fighting a water elemental that was cleaning out some dirty glassware in the archmage's laboratory, & it dealt bonus acid damage because it was slightly acidified by the residue left in some of the old beakers. Our item-hoarding druid dropped a bunch of soap into an iron pot & threw the pot into the elemental, which neutralized the acid because the soap was lye-based. A few turns later, he cast heat metal on the pot, which dealt enough damage to straight-up evaporate the elemental.
If it was a one-shot or a low-seriousness campaign, I would have ruled that the soap breaks the water's surface tension and the elemental has to make a con save every turn or else it's just a puddle.
A player in my campaign took me totally by surprise. She had a cloak of useful items and used 2 different patches 1 turn after the other. The first turn she ripped off the patch that instantly creates a 10'x10'x10' hole in the ground causing 1 heavily armored knight to fall taking full damage. The other individual an archer made his saving throw and took half of the fall damage. Both of the enemies were in the process of getting out of the hole when her next turn came. She ripped off the patch the creates a 10'x10' iron door and threw it on top of the enemies as they were attempting to get out crushing them.
Sacks. Lots and lots of sacks. They costs almost nothing, weigh almost nothing and can be used to blind and gag pesky spellcasters, carry loot, obfuscate suspicious items/people etc.
...we may or may not have put our drunk & unconscious barbarian in a sack so the goliath could carry him, and then may or may not have shoved the sack down the dungeon steps to check for traps...
I own a bakery, airborne wheat particulate is flammable. So using a concussive spell (thunderwave etc) to disperse flour and then dropping a low level fire spell could theoretically have a larger blast radius. The expansion rate from the linked clip is due to the explosion happening in a closed space.
That's a good way to collapse the dungeon. Airborne particulate matter explosions are no joke. I lived near West, Texas for a spat and saw the hole that explosion left.
@@ianmorse9381 I worked in WestISD for two years, and even after the new school building was stood up, the rest of the town still had some damage to some of the buildings.
Once, in a campaign, we were going through a particularly difficult dungeon, when my character suddenly said, "If only we had a ladder that last room would have been a piece of cake." The rest of the dungeon was completed by the entire party noticing that quite literally every challenge we faced would have been solved if we only had a ladder. To this day I find myself buying ladders on all my characters.
Note on caltrops: My rogue had an upside-down bag of them on his belt tied with a quick-release knot. The DM let me scatter them as a bonus action, even as a disengage combo. Saved my ass a good couple of times!
A couple months ago, I was invited to participate on the first adventure from "Tales from the Yawning Portal", the DM warned us that he had made light minor changes to make the dungeon more difficult. While we were having pre-dungeon buying, both the party and the DM laughed at me for buying 3 sacks of flour. I laughed at the DM when he pulled out a beholder, and he got blinded on first turn because of getting two pounds of flour to the eye.
Why the hell would any DM make Takes from the Yawning portal harder? Does he hate his players? Our group used tales of the yawning portal as our filler adventure if people would be missing the main campaign and we had... Sooo many deaths. Unless you wasted the flour on that fungal growth that looks like a beholder that is in the ... Second or third module in the book.
My dad taught me about flour bag bombs... They had some flour fights at college, you make a cut on the side of the bag, throw it, it explodes in a cloud of flour. Now, if you shoot a flaming arrow into that...
[Fighter thinks his scabbard is 1/3 of the way filled with oil, but the impish Halfling has switched the fighter's oil with sovereign glue. (Let's see if he notices)]
I think it goes without saying that every pc needs a dagger. SOO many uses aside from a weapon at any given moment. Cutting rope/line? dagger. Skinning the Beast of Balroth to bring his hide back as proof to the village elder? Dagger! Breaking into a small cott's barn to escape a thunder storm? Dagger! It can be used to cut dried beef or vegetables for fireside stews. There are so many uses! My go to starter kit option for a level 1 starting campaign was always: 1 Dagger 1 Backpack 1 Bed Roll 1 Blanket 1 Fish hook and line 1 Flint and steel 1 Common Lamp 2 Oil 4 Days Trail Rations 1 Waterskin Then I always advised Players to get some kind of paper, chalk or charcoal, a mirror, Caltrops, rope and a crowbar as soon as possible.
Silvered dagger all the way. Same for cold forged steel, if that’s a common item... you never know when you encounter that one beastie immune that’s immune to just about everything. Probably to be purchased after a few adventures...
Great gear coices. But daggers and knives are different blades for different purposes . The best knife for a mediaeval type character that could be used as a weapon and tool is the Seax from Northern Europe .
_Finally_ a list of *normal* items. I can't tell you how many videos I've gone through with people constantly talking about magic items when I want info on the mundane stuff. I think I've only found *_3_* videos including this one.
A note on masks: it's worth having if you're going into an area full of Beast-type monsters that are ambush predators. They generally don't like attacking when they think their prey is aware of them, so putting a mask on the *back* of your head would be really useful in situations like that. People do this in real life, notably in areas of India with high tiger populations. Or you can just do the samurai thing and wear a daemonic-shaped mask for combat.
Flour has been my number one since I started playing DnD. My DM’s have stopped putting invisible enemies in front of me because of it. My first DM loved invisibility on his enemies though, so in his game I bought a gold’s worth of flour- about 50 pounds- and gave it to the barb to hold. Every time invisible things started to hit her, she would take out the flour and wait for me to cast Shatter on the inside of the bag. She was always fine except for that one time, and we jokingly fight ‘flour spirits’ to this day.
I Love to play druids and my odd go to was always a bag of seeds. Ever cast Entangle in the middle of a Dungeon? Peeved off my Rulemonger of a brother EVERY TIME! First time he refused to let me play druid I opted for a Rogue and kept a bag of marbles and a bag of caltrops. He had an absolute melt down after our first fight.
It seems to me that once the flour touched the invisible creature it would become invisible. Otherwise you'd have invisible people walking around in visible clothes.
@@deanlol Sure, so you aim your attacks at the enemy-shaped lack of flour dust in the flour cloud in front of you. Just gotta make sure it's not an insanely thick cloud.
My group encountered a non-violent ghost who could not speak but could interact with items. He had valuable information so they used the bell to have him ring once for "yes" and twice for "no" as they asked yes or no questions.
I had to laugh at your description of uses for rope. A near direct quote from me to the DM from our latest session. Me: "I'm taking the four unconscious bandits and tying them up." DM: "So you are cutting your rope?" Me: "No, I am binding the first ones hands behind his back, giving two feet of length, and tying his ankles together, then five feet of length to the next bandit's hands, bound behind his back, then two feet to the ankles. Rinse and repeat for the final two bandits. A total of 7 feet of length per bandit, let's say a foot and a half spent at the wrists and ankles for a total of 10-feet per bandit, I should have 10-feet left loose, which I will use to tie to a nearby beam or tree."
Takes more rope than you might think to effectively bind someone's hands, then bind those hands to the ankles. If I used that little, my partner would NEVER stay bound.
Okay, so I got curious, busted out the rope bag and measured and tested with a foot-and-a-half length on my tiny-wristed girlfriend. I could literally ONLY tie a square knot with one loop around her wrist and she was out of it in literally two seconds. It literally required 8 ft of rope to do a basic single column. If you're not doing it properly, you might be able to get away with 4 feet, but I'd give a bonus on a check to escape that. Ideally a proper double column should be used to bind two extremities together. It takes way more rope than you'd think to actually bind a person.
@@dustinflowers1914 tieing a criminal was generally done with 30 ft, but a spindle of thread is a surprisingly effective binding and there's plenty of length there
reminds me of a story: a guy wanted to do some bondage play. his girlfriend was reluctant, but finally agreed IF he only used ONE length of rope. he showed up with a 100-foot rope...
Instead of tying hands and both feet, tie one hand, leave only an inch or two, then one foot, then the other hand. Really hard to walk, and using less rope.
4:20 Small correction/comment: You only achieve an 8:1 mechanical advantage if you put them in parallel (2 separate tackles attacked to different points of the load, which gives [4:1]*2), when you need to balance the load due to size. If you put them into series (one tackle attached to the next), then you gain a 16:1 mechanical force against whatever the rope is tied to.
As a parent, I agree 100% But also there's the added bit of a known sound being an effective alarm. Meaning - you know if you hear the bell something is going on! That said - DM's could have villains stalk their party and at night intentionally/ carefully (maybe mage hand) set off the alarm to keep the party ragged and tired... 😂🤣😴
If the party is up against pros, I could see something like this for a couple days if they're stuck on the road. Hit em on night 3 when they're tired. Night one and two deliberatly find and ring the bell. Then show up on the third night, quiet as air, and hit them with the surprise round as they're about to nod off.
As a single father of a little girl, I’ll add that when there’s an unusual sound at night [read: sound from daughter at odd time] I’m so immediately alert that there wouldn’t even be a surprise round... /yes,, I know, no surprise round in 5e
I have a solid go-to dungeon delving tool that my experienced characters always bring- A clay quart jug packed half with marbles and half with caltrops, with the spaces between filled the rest of the way with oil. Better than a wall in your pocket.
Best moment in yesterday’s game... I run a weekly game for my son and his friends, all ages 14 to 18. I was running behind on final touches to the game plan so I started the weekly Zoom session this video This inspired the party (four level 5 fighters and one level 3 Bard NPC) to make a bunch of mundane common item purchases before leaving town for a full day of travel. Cut to the chase... an hour or two from their destination they get pulled into a ranged-only battle with 5 humanoid enemies flying around using giant bats as mounts. The pilots are dropping “bat swarm bombs” (wicker baskets that break open when dropped from 30ft)... it’s chaos. Last PC in first round thinks a moment... Marcus - Fighter5: “How high is my nearest target flying?” Me/DM: “about 30ft elevation and closing fast” Marcus: “I pull out my new grappling hook I just bought and try to aim for the bat” Me: (blown away) “Gents, you now have the rule of cool on your side. Marcus has inspiration on this throw” Long story short, Marcus successfully hooked the bat and brought it down, killing the previously injured rider (a Scout) instantly with fall damage, and dealing critical fall damage to the bat. The bard NPC went next and killed the downed bat with one poke of his rapier. I Never once pulled out the rule book to check how it should be done by RAW and I don’t plan to. It was such a cool moment to witness the thought process and see everyone’s reactions as Marcus announced his grappling hook idea. It inspired more creative plays through the end of the encounter and my son is still talking about it today. Thank you @Taking20. I plan to start every session with a short but useful D&D how to video from now on.
And this is what this kooky but amazing game is about. Not the rules and rule management. It’s about the fun and silly things that can happen. Keep up the inspirational play.
OMG my daughter has a tiny bell on her door that alerts everyone in the house that she’s up and running. From dead sleep to frying pancakes in an instant.
Adventuring kits are usually worth every copper... I was gonna say twine, pepper (to throw off the trails of creatures tracking you by scent...), an iron pot, a donkey, & a porter or two to carry all your gear, or to maybe double as a cook, guide, sage, or even guard...
Speaking of how rich the players can get, after my group killed a young blue dragon (and became famous for it) a crime syndicate became EXTREMELY interested in the party, focused on stealing that treasure horde for themselves. They didn't use brute force but clever tactics to pull a heist on the party.
@@patrickduffin7912 Both. They used 3 agents to attempt to get the treasure. A gorgeous lady spy that came to the PCs for help with an Oni that was secretly preying on the townsfolk (the criminals new about the oni and used him as bait). She slowly seduced and befriended the party and learned that they kept huge portion of their treasures in a magical bag! (A bag of holding). She left the party in good terms and informed the guild about the bag, 2 other agents worked together to steal the bag by creating a replica bag (a normal bag that looked identical) they followed the pcs around for a short while and swapped the bags during a tough combat encounter against a group of evil knights. The warlock that had the bag went down to 0 hp and they used magical darkness to conceal the area and go in and out and swap the bags. It took the players a long time to figure out what happened to their bag of holding. Eventually they found and took down the criminals and recover SOME of their treasure back.
@@Ulrican414 Sounds Like a fun time. I'm hoping one day we'll do a campaign that just centres around a steampunk-ish setting, with a group of mafia bosses at war with each other over something. But I'm fantasising too much, quarantines a bitch.
Ulrican414 See that’s a good way to get them to turn evil though because now they hate people and have good reason to say torture the shit out of someone especially depending on the races of those characters Dragon born in dwarves would undoubtably kill someone over any amount of stolen gold and I imagine goblins and orcs with torture someone just for shits and giggles
@@charlottewalnut3118 Um, if they have the propensity to do that, they were already evil. Seems like a really extreme reaction to being stolen from... going straight to full-on hatred, murder and torture over lost gold? That's a really shallow interpretation of the "dwarves love gold" trope. Plus, personally I don't think they'd have the reputation for being a lawful good society if they go full murderhobo when wronged.
Lanterns. Two weeks ago my party used Dancing Lantern to animate a lantern and float it through the gun port of a pirate frigate and drop the lantern in the middle of their powder stores. I imagine you could do something similar with Mage Hand as well. Apparently lanterns are tac-nukes in the right context. Also seeing things is cool I guess.
Any mundane item, literally ANY, can be pretty useful when you have high sneak and invisibility. In a recent session of mine, the party needed to sneak into this rogue Lord's keep to, and I devised a devilish plan to get rid of the guards by the door: I had our Necromancer friend cast invisibility on me, then took our Paladin's gauntlet and a torch. With the torch lit and holding the gauntlet out in front of me (while invisible) I approached the guards directly. I mustered the biggest voice I could, and said something along the lines of "Your actions will not go unpunished, foul sinners! Let justice cleanse to you!" Then charged them. Seeing a floating, flaming gauntlet, they ran like chickens, thinking the aspect of Helm was about to turn them to mulch. Then, my party just strolled right on in.
Pitch! This is literally the single most versatile item I've ever had. It can glue stuff, burn stuff, you can mix it with straw and sulfur crystals for toxic fumes, i've used it to make copies of keys in it's solid form (imprint ->lost from out of wax ->lead copy key), you can apply it to a sheet of paper to put over a glass window so there's no noise when you push it in, you can use it to waterproof stuff and my personal favorite: trap a fire mage in a blanket soaked with hot pitch and sulfur grounds -> instant human torch. And if he's fire resistant, ask your DM if he's resistant to suffocation and toxic fumes. I never leave my base of operations without my trusty barrel of pitch.
If the mage is resistant to fire damage then it wouldn't be that difficult for him to hold his breath then use an action to cast prestidigitation and clean the pitch off of him. Even if he's not he's receiving a bit of extra damage before cleaning the pitch off. It's a great idea, but I think your dm let you off easy.
"By the way, 6 pitons with 3 pieces of fishing line in between them would trip a minotaur that was chasing you. Hello, proned and surprised target, I'd like you to meet my friends- advantage, extra attack, and SURPRISE MOT--" love it
Our DM once had us in a city with a strange mist hiding weird demons in it attacking the populace. We gathered information to show it started from the mage tower in the centre of the city, but the closest bridge crossing the river/moat that protected the inner city had collapsed. There were 2 others, but one was on the other side of the city, and the nearest one to us was deep in the market district which was hardest hit. We definitely didn't want to go there. So we used the crowbars and woodcarvers tools to wedge out a door from one of the abandoned houses and fashion a raft and some oars so we could cross the moat. The DM threw his notebook of encounters into the bin.
Boondock Saints- [Picking out weapons and gear] Connor: You know what we need, man? Some rope. Murphy: Absolutely. What are you, insane? Connor: No I ain't insane, Charlie Bronson's always got a rope. Murphy: Whaaaat? Connor: Yeah, he's always got a lot of rope strapped around him in the movies, and they always end up using it. Murphy: You've lost it, haven't you? Connor: No, I'm serious. Murphy: That's stupid. Name one thing you'd need a rope for. Connor: You don't ****in' know what you're gonna need it for, they just always need it. Murphy: What's this 'they' shit? This isn't a movie. Connor: [picks up a large knife from Murphy's bag] Oh...Is that right, Rambo? Murphy: All right, get your stupid ****ing rope. Connor: I'll get my stupid rope. I'll get it. There's a rope right there! LATER Murphy: Ah, **** you! I'm not the rope-totin'-Charlie-Bronson-wannabe who's gettin' us ****in' lost! (After falling through a vent in the cieling tied to the rope and killing nine men) Connor (Mocking Murphy) Well, name one thing you're going to need the stupid ****ing rope for.
Presumably, since the compass and map would work, the worlds of D&D would function (geographically) the same as Earth, more or less... SO you can also just use an analogue time-piece (pocket watch, for instance)... Point the hour hand toward the sun, and directly between that and "12 o'clock" is due South (if you're on the northern hemisphere of Earth) and it's due North (if you're on the Southern hemisphere)... You can also (so long as you're above ground/outside) jam a stick in the ground, and put a stone at the end of the shadow it casts... Wait a while, and come back to set another stone where the shadow ends (since over time it will move)... Drawing a line from the first stone to the second, you'll have your East to West direction, with the first stone at the Westward end of the line... A second line at 90 degrees from the first, will be the North/South line, and from East (the first stone) you'll be able to tell where North is pointing... At night (in case you wonder)... You can find a star to substitute for the sun, laying under the stick you jammed into the ground, and setting the first stone under your head when lined up with the star by sighting at the end of the stick... again... give it some time (20 minutes is enough)... and repeat, as with the sun and shadow method, creating the East-to-West line, and negotiating the North/South line from it the same as before... This process can also be done with a string tied to the stick, so you get a more precise and accurate "reading"... pulling the string tight to your cheek where you "line up" by sight on your chosen star... It doesn't even matter which star in the sky you pick, only that you are capable of discerning which star you chose for the second time around to get your second stone laid... and make an adequate East-to-West line. This is all helpful for both Players and GM's, because as easy as it sounds, there are lots of little ways to screw it up... BUT these "tricks" really work, and were (are?) taught to special forces personnel for field survival. Just in the case you're in the field, and you break or lose your compass, you don't have to be hopelessly screwed... There are lots of ways to keep track of distances, too. Things like counting the beads in a "dog tag chain"... OR moving some ubiquitously carried item from one pocket to another for every "X" number of paces... It's important to point this out as part of navigation, because you need more than direction to get to where you're going if you're trying to use a map... Direction is only about half of the answer. It's also useful to know that "barring injury or incident" the average human can travel about 4 miles per hour (8 ish Km/hour) over uneven terrain... SO knowing your likely average speed "in game terms", you can "rough" guess the distance travelled based on hours of walking... A horse may be faster if you "push" or coax it enough, but a liesurely horse doesn't guarantee more efficacy or speed in travel. Most people who do ride, don't often press their animals to do more than a reasonable walk. The convenience of a beast is simply NOT having to walk at all. There were "specifically" bred horses for riding, and they had a special gate... BUT this might be superfluous to someone unless they're THAT fascinated by horses and history. Anymore, the horses are bred as much for color or special traits (thoroughbreds for racing, for instance) that aren't so useful... It's not so much to travel, and a well gaited horse isn't much of a selling point like "gets along with people"... or "even tempered"... etc. ;o)
Was playing Out of the Abyss with friends a few years back as a Kensei Monk, and the number of times my Caltrops damage killed enemies (including legendary laired creatures) was, tbh, unfair to the rest of the party. Don't underestimate what throwing a few Legos on the ground can do to your foes.
@@DanSolowastaken Ball Bearings and Mage Hand for the win all day long. Mage hand is also good for yanking flaming brands out of the fire onto a well-thrown vial of oil. You can also use it to start a fight in a tavern by spilling drinks onto the "wrong people." I LOVE Mage Hand. I even used it to throw a vial of acid taken from our packs (which were sitting on a table) onto a lock in the city jail so we could escape the town.
I have a sort of homebrew version of "pocket sand" for one of my characters. I wanted to make a sort of duelist character who used a rapier, but I wanted to give him a little more historically-accurate power than if he just used a rapier by itself. There are several historical examples of using offhand weapons/tools while dueling, including daggers, cloaks, and even lanterns. He's a Rogue Swashbuckler who uses rapier and dagger fighting most of the time (Dual Wielder feat), but on his first turn in combat instead of drawing the dagger with his sword he unties the fencing cape (think Ezio's half-cape from Assassin's Creed) that he always wears and throws it into the face of an enemy. Mechanically it's exactly the same as a net except it causes the Blinded condition instead of Restrained, and it requires the enemy to make a Dexterity check to escape instead of a Strength one. It's a neat little practical reason for him to wear the cape instead of it just being a fashion choice. It's also a great way to up the chances of him being able to use his Sneak Attack on his first turn due to attacks on a Blinded creature having advantage.
I made an item that I called a Light Bomb. A cast metal cube 1" on all sides; the actual metal used doesn't matter much, but lead works fairly well). Cast a Continual Light spell on the metal cube. With clay that's used for making ceramic items, form a sphere around the metal cube, making sure that all of the metal is sufficiently covered so that you can't see any light leaking out. Fire up that bad boy in a pottery kiln & it's ready. So the party is sneaking around under the cover of darkness (natural or magical) & they can detect a group of guards blocking the way forward but need to better determine what species/monster, they are. Throw the Light Bomb against a hard surface (brick, rock, tree trunk) near them so that the ceramic sphere shatters (ceramic has a horrible saving throw vs. crushing blow). At the very least, you should be able to startle most monster or humanoid types with the sudden sound & burst of light for a round or two, plus you can more easily identify them. With some monster-types, a sudden bright light may even temporarily blind them & your party can pepper them with ranged weapons and/or spells. This is particularly efficient if the party is staying outside of the range of the Continual Light spell's area of effect. Once it's all over said & done, you can retrieve the light cube & make another ceramic cover for it later. It's probably a good idea to start out your journey carrying a few of these.
We did something similar in a 2nd Ed game I was in, but we we used sling bullets covered in clay, and we made a lot of them during downtime. Annoyed our foes to no end with that.
Did you get that from the Drizzt novels or Forgotten Realms setting rules, or come up with it yourself? Pretty sure this was described as a Drow equipment thing back in the day, because they're super sensitive to light.
Can't believe you didn't mention oil. It costs basically nothing, and can be used to make impromptu fire arrows/weapons, or can simply be thrown at enemies to make them extra vulnerable to any type of fire damage (you can even ignite them with a simple Prestidigitation). Works on invisible targets too. Splash oil in their general direction and start swinging your torch around. Not only are they going to end up being visibly on fire, but they are taking flame damage every round. Also works great for making effective "walls" in the middle of combat. Are you being chased by kobolds down a tunnel? Throw oil down and light it, making a roaring fire behind you. Kobolds and other low intelligence creatures aren't going to willing walk through flames to chase you.
In my first dnd game I did exactly that! We were fighting an assassin who knew greater invisibility and was nuking the hell out of our party. I just managed to hit him with oil and light him on fire and managed to turn the fight around. Everyone was mad that I "burned down a city block" but hey, means and ends.
@@shrowhurter3508 If it is a special higher cost oil I would allow it. Physics, fire, standard chemistry still applies for all of the basics. Dream it up all you want but best to make your PC's pay for these 'fantasy' items. Otherwise I have found PC's accumulate way too much gold. After a few levels it gets out of hand. Try dipping an arrow in straight up motor oil and then firing it 200' into a target and let me know how that works for you. Burning oil sliding down the shaft (insert beavis laugh) to your bow string and fingers, then released prematurely (butthead laugh), and a poorly shot arrow that is blown out by the wind velocity. Go buy some burning arrow magic items or magic oil.
@@Thisdown That also makes a lot of sense and shows experience as a real stuff, not just a game mechanic. After some villain uses the trick against the party, if they're smart and savvy enough, they will find out how it works and start using it as well. Voila, experience - they learned something.
A signet ring/wax seal. It's the safety vest+hard hat of D&D. Need to get in somewhere? Act like you own the place, show them an 'official' document, act like a grade A Karen, tell then you will have their head or whatever. Royalty gets away with shit because people fear consequences. Abuse it!
@@mordokai597 Don't even need forgery. Just flash the seal really quick and put it away. If they ask to see it again, yell at them for daring to question your authority.
Wow. You guys must have some pretty laid back DM's that are never going to make an NPC that may be even slightly curious about your 'air tight' plans lol
@@zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0 This is a thing in real life, it's actual psychology but it tends to work for more 'medium risk' things. Like you're never going to be able to sneak into the FBI HQ with it but if you're just trying to get in somewhere a Hard hat, a high vis vest and clipboard can usually get you somewhere. Hell just acting like you belong can often get you somewhere. This tends to work more if you're in a pair. That way just walking, talking and pointing to things often gets people to assume that you're meant to be there (it helps if you do some very basic research into things like plumbing, building any field like that). So if the party is just trying to get in somewhere that lots of people go in and out of but requires security checks (like the basic kind, not indepth security checks). Running up to the guards, flashing the signet/scroll with a wax seal on it and saying "Look I'm really sorry but these just came in, I've got to get them to X (if the characters have done their research they should know of a low ranking government official/courtier who deals with all the boring ass low grade correspondence that courts/royalty deal with), It's urgent..." Most people in the real world will just shrug and go "yeah sure..." since it's not a huge security risk but it gets them in to the palace and probably in such a way that the Guards, when asked, will remember someone being rushed through but probably won't remember your face. Now if they're trying to say, get in to the inner courts of the palace with direct contact with the King/Queen and try this bluff thing...yeah that's not gonna work, those courts are close knit and messengers are usually required to wait outside or pass the message to someone else who will then bring it to the royals attention.
@@luketfer That's great until one guard does their due diligence and says prove it cause he's not risking his fictional paycheck so he can continue to provide for his fictional family.
My group, to the ammusement of our DM decided that instead of walking down this hill covered in gravle, we would jump on out shileds and ride down like riding a sleigh. Now our party is known as The Shield Riders.
It's cliche for a reason. Hooded cloak keeps you dry in rough weather and it lets you wander around town with weaposn and armor without causing a stir.
The first time my players got to explore the town I had set up, they all wanted to go find a particular musical instrument. The session almost ended in a weird note where one of the players got bored and agitated (I DM for a group of middle school boys) , but they brought them selves together and played music in the town square. I made them make a performance check and they rolled real high. Everyone was ecstatic, and now they are going to form a band together and perform when they aren’t adventuring. So for my my group musical instruments are the must have mundane items.
Same for us furry parents. Ill sleep through howling and barking, but the second i hear a door creak, im at the door before my dog can even take another step
the druid in the game im running carries around a basket of apples that she bought for an incredibly low price, and just beans enemies on the head with them. it's not incredibly effective, but it's pretty funny
In one of my early games our party was tasked with going to a small island town and to set up an ambush to catch and kill/capture a group of pirates that had been making their way down the river for the last few weeks. While my party went off to convince the local blacksmith (whom was a insane, mutated man whom resembled a charger from L4D except even more blood thirsty) to distribute weapons and whatnot I went about setting up defenses (my character was a cavalier as well as a tactician). I went around gathering up a bunch of random stuff around town and had the towns people help out, DM had me roll to see how many traps I could get up before nightfall (which was when the pirates would be raiding the town) with advantage given I was spending all my prep time on it. Two nat 20's later and the area around the town was turned into a demented Home Alone fiasco. Pitchforks set up to spring out when stepped on, hay bails lined up that we would roll down the hills, several spring loaded axes and hatchets dotted throughout the field, and to top it off a 15ft deep deadfall trap set up on the main road to the town proper filled with whatever was left over that was pointy and could be stuck in the ground. Half the invading force never reached the small palisade we had set up, the rest we rushed down and finished off without to much issue. We took one of the skiffs the pirates had landed with and proceeded to row out to the ship to finish off the threat. Saddly I died in the final fight, not even an extra DM reroll could save me. The dice give and the dice taketh, though my companions did come out victorious.
During my first campaign of DnD my party and i were in the dungeon fighting undead, our wizard dropped from full to nothing after a missed con save from something none of the rest of the party could see. Next round a Bodak rounded the corner behind our fighter who succeeded on his save. When his turn came around he used his bedroll from his explorer's pack and tackled the Bodak to the ground before it could look at anyone again. The reaction of the table and dm when the fighter asked if he could use his bedroll to wrap around the Bodak was priceless.
Something often overlooked: A sling Costs and weighs basically, nothing. Easily concealable. Gives you a ranged bludgeoning damage type with free ammunition that can be used with a shield. Can be used to throw small objects of all sorts further than you could throw them yourself. Not the most important thing, but if you're proficient in them and not carrying one, you're adventuring wrong.
This, one of my first looted items was a sling and it's always been useful for hitting buttons, pinging off suspicous statues, distractions via firing at a bush or surface near someone and a whole lot of other shenanigans
Proper lead balls for the sling are a little heavy and rocks are improvised ammunition, so they do less damage. Still, you add your Str modifier to damage and can use it to throw Thunderstones and maybe other alchemical items further. Yep, definitely worth it for adding a ranged attack to just about any class.
Some physics/chemistry funfacts: Flour by itself is not even that flammable But just by being a very fine powder it becomes an easily underrated explosive ...also a risk to your respiratory sistems as some particles are too small to be filtered and you might end up choking on flour ...or drownig in flour?
I've played First Edition AD&D since 1980 . One of the most overlooked items is the silver mirror . It can used to look around corners . If the DM allows , can be used as a weapon and/ or defense against gaze attackers .
Oil is one of the best equipments pieces you can buy. It only costs 1 sp, and creates a environmental hazard doing a constant 5 fire damage, with no save. This is far superior to Alchemist's Fire which costs 50 gold, and needs an attack roll. For the cost of one flask of Alchemist's Fire, you can buy 500 flasks of oil. A Bag of Holding can hold up to 500 pounds, and 64 cubic feet. 500 pints is only 8.35503 cubic feet. Assuming lantern oil weighs as much as petroleum, then 500 pints only weighs about 460 pounds. What you do is have the Sorcerer cast fly. He hovers into whatever area you want to booby trap with the Bag of Holding, and upends it. The oil will then spread out into a 2500 square foot area. The Sorcerer then comes back, and waits. When the hoard rushes in, you the Sorcerer cast Firebolt with Distant Spell, and the whole area goes up in flames.
We were doing a campaign where we were trying to survive an Orc invasion. There were a ton of Orcs between us and where we needed to go so we used the nearby 1 person wide ravine to funnel them into a kill zone, with our party up on the canyon walls but me on the ground as the cork because I had the highest AC. Our fastest member went and... "enticed" them with an arrow to the face of one of the orcs and lured them into the canyon. As soon as the first Orc was in front of me, in went the caltrops, oil and a torch. We killed ALOT of Orcs.
Don't forget the weight of the container. Most of my DMs have ruled a flask of oil is 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds per pint flask, and quart and gallon bottles are available. EDIT****** autocorrect.
Soap, I always bring soap as a player, make sure to wash myself as often as possible. Most people forget how bad a bite from a monster can be. If your DM isn't a plague and desease lover, soap can be used like chalk or candles minus the lighting up part as mentioned in the video. My second favorite item is flasks, bottles, vials and anything you can safely store a liquid or powder into. Once a player mixed lye, water a metal flagon to make a toxic, flaming bomb with the heat metal spell!
Another good use is soap coated weapons. The lye in the cuts should be 1 damaging and more important should force a con check to see if the sudden unexpected pain distracts them or makes them flee fearing poison. And it leaves a nasty scar so if they get away they'll still remember it.
Cord - ropes are often too heavy for low strength characters, so I often carry leather cord. 50' weights almost nothing and just as useful as rope in most cases -- binding people, trip lines, lowering reasonable loads, quick secure some door handles, etc. Collapsible Pole. Three 4' sections which can be connected together is easier to carry and more flexible than a 10' pole. Rollers, making a stretcher, etc. Rope Ladder. Knot and tie loops into a rope. 50' might only be 25' long, but much easier for others to climb. Canvas. Lighter than a tent, useful for simple shelters, "duck" blinds, stretcher, covering a cart, make sacks if needed, etc. Blankets. Lighter than a bedroll and a bit more flexible. Clothes. A common set and something presentable. Cloaks - Reversible. Have different colors. Useful city and outdoors, or for a quick "disguise" to people at a distance do not recognize you. Also, you can randomly swap with other party members such that enemies who encountered you before can't necessarily target the correct individual at range or in poor lighting. Weapons/Shield. If you are a rogue or wizard (and can spare the weight) carry a shield on your back and a big axe or longsword. Just don't equip them during a fight. People seeing you still assume you can use them and are some type of melee-type. You can give these to other party members if their weapons get lost, use the axe for firewood, use the shield to drag some crates, etc. Mules. For lower-levels and limited strength, bring one as it allows carrying so much extra gear. Trade Goods. Ale, wine, silver mirrors, rare woods, paintings, etc. are often easier to batter with in some areas and can be useful as gifts, bribes, etc. in ways coin might not. Ink, Quill, and Paper. I don't know how many times a party has said they write something down and then you ask if they have paper and quill and they don't. Slate. If you have chalk, a slate board is useful for simple notes, maps, etc. Grease. A small jar of lard or other material can use used for machinery, lighting fires, ad-hoc pullies (rope over a branch), etc.
Something often overlooked: A sling Costs and weighs basically nothing. Easily concealable. Gives you a ranged bludgeoning damage type with free ammunition that can be used with a shield. Can be used to throw small objects of all sorts further than you could throw them by hand. Not the most important thing, but if you're proficient in them and not carrying one, you're adventuring wrong.
@@dynamicworlds1 if you look at the players manual every character class has proficiency with Slings and high Dex bonus plus the archery fighting style and Sharp Shooter feat work with the sling and it's cheap!
Priest's Pack in my party. 2 dwarves in first session arrived and needed to case the jail. Paladin dressed up as a priest and set up a "The end is nigh" display to distract everyone, while the cleric checked out the jail while using Thaumaturgy: whispers, booms, tremors, etc. Each time she made noise, I had the other roll performance or persuasion and kept getting 18 and 19. When the cleric made her voice boom REPENT! everyone dropped to their knees and donated about 30gp total, nice start to the caper. I had a priest from the nearby cult ask on whose authority they preached this...Paladin nat 20s Relogion. So he quoted names, dates, sign, freaking star alignments and the priest left, probably to tell head cultists that the time is now. AMAZING session zero.
If you were playing the old school paladins, they were tied to religions. So they wouldn't need to dress up like a priest. I like a lot of 5e changes, but breaking that link is not one of them.
@@bloodygecko2577 Yes I know but I refuse to accept it and shall forever be angry when people try to Nat 20 their skill checks. It's 5% chance of god level intervention. Not on my watch!
@@arturaugustyniak9008 one of the reasons i miss ranks in skills, it wasnt a crit but it was still noteworthy, if i had a player nat 20 a skill they hadn't trained in they had a chance to get a free rank. wasnt much but sometimes a +1 is the difference between success or failure
A recipe book. You will be doing a lot of traveling and sampling of various cuisines. Get the recipe for a few of the special ones, then the next time you're at a tavern/pub/bar, trade the recipe for food/drinks/lodging. Or if you need to kill someone, edit the recipe a little and then trade it. Let's see, recipe calls for 10g of cyanide to enhance the flavors of the other spices, and an additional 50ml of dragon's blood to counter the lethal effects of the cyanide...sounds right to me!
This is a story from my first time playing DnD. As a fun little side trip at the start of the session, the DM brought us to a nicknack store owned by a gnome. One of our party members (A sorcerer) kept asking to buy the little gnome. She rolled for persuasion and rolled a nat 20. What ends up happening is a hilarious set of events that ends up in her purchasing a garden gnome from the gnome owner. Fast forward to our first encounter, and she rolled for first move. She decides to throw the garden gnome at the thug trying to confront us, and she rolls a nat 18. She rolls for damage, and rolls the highest number possible. She one shot the thug. Tl;dr Sorcerer asks to buy gnome, gets garden gnome, throws garden gnome at thug, oneshots thug.
One thing nearly every character in every game I've ever played has on them, and its useful in all three tiers of DnD: One bottle of high proof hooch. Social lubricant, quick bribe, insta firebomb, and alcohol does kill a lot of gross stuff you might encounter down in tunnels.
Had fighter who lost his weapons but had carpenter's/tinker's tools, and Tavern Brawler. Attachd grappling hook to small length of rope then attached that to pole. Now had pointy flail.
@@brenta2634 That's... a nonsense ruling. Even the rules for "improvised weapons" state that some weapons are "close enough" to the real thing that you'd get your proficiency and use the normal stat block for it, and if it's not a weapon in the "traditional" sense then you'd just not get your proficiency bonus and it'd do 1D4 damage. In the case of the double bladed staff (dagger knock off version) I'd just make him roll some kind of check every time he hit something to see if the daggers fell off, and if they did treat it as a normal quarterstaff. Or if he had woodworking tools/etc, he could make a crafting check to see if he could make a decent quality knock-off version, that might just require some upkeep every so often to prevent it from breaking or something. In the case of the "fake flail" above, the player has tavern brawler, which specifically gives him proficiency with improvised weapons so there's 0 justification for disadvantage, just a case for the weapon being prone to damage, or having the rope cut (flails usually just chains to connect the bits for this very reason), etc.
@@kedolan4992 I fully agree that improvised weapons should be used normally, and that since they are not specifically made for the rigors of combat, there should be a check to see if they break/dismantle in a hilarious fashion. I think that being proficient should mean you roll with advantage when determining if it breaks.
Dust explosions depend on air dispersion. So a bag of flour on the ground won't do much, but a bag of flower suspended and leaking certainly can. A bag of flower opened, tossed into the air, then ignited... now that's some fun shit. Also strictly speaking any fine powder can explode like that, it just takes more heat the less combustible the material is, and if your GM argues against them because of medieval setting, dust explosions have existed since people started storing grain, particularly in silos which were in use as far back as 800BC, ie pre-biblical times, and given that silos were the source of most dust explosions, it's very likely that the phenomenon was observed as far back as then. Additionally in a world where fireballs exist, a two stage explosive is child's play to understand by comparison, that is to say, dispersal followed by ignition.
Most silo explosions are extremely dangerous & destructive. The silo itself becomes an enormous bomb... I've heard they have a huge blast radius too...
Masks definitely! I played a Hafling character who was a Druid-barbarian that wore a tattooed human skull. Every time we went to battle I put that thing on, terrifying! I even tricked people and undead into thinking I was undead a few times. So many uses and great roleplaying moments from that one item!
One time when I was in a low level party, we had to dig up a treasure from next to an Owlbear's den. No one had a shovel, so I used my mess kit (metal bowl) to dig in a panic as the owlbear started to stir. Lesson learned. All my characters now start with a shovel or spade.
My most memorable character was a Dwarven fighter with a 20 con back in 2E days, he always carried a shovel. Whenever a new character got introduced to the group, and asked why, he'd say (7 charisma) "For burying new guys like you that don't make it".
It is important to note that the flour needs to be suspended in air, not just in a pile, to make the massive fireball. Quite dangerous when it happens, but you would need something to get the flour to be in a cloud (shatter, unseen servant throwing it, swinging down from ceiling, etc) This works with a number of substances, such as non-dairy creamer, saw dust (concentration of particles matter), and coal.
A bag of coal dust is procurable from nearly any blacksmith for literally nothing but the cost of sweeping it up from in and around the coal bin. This dust is also flammable when settled on an enemy as well. 1 scroll tube of coal dust thrown into the air+ 1 small spark from prestidigitation= unhappy room.
I watched this... and immediately made this list for my party's next time we are in a town or city: ( * = Item I included, that you did not include in this video) Rope * Grapple Hook Chalk Scroll Tubes * A map case * Climbing Kit Pitons Small Hammer (like from a climbing kit for example) Block & Tackle Colored Wax Candles * Several weights of paper from Onion Skin to Parchment Fishing Line Bell Bag of Flour Bag of Sand and/or Crushed Glass * Bag of Salt * Bag of Pepper Bag of Caltrops * Extra Money Pouch Creepy Wooden Mask * Fancy Wooden or Leather Mask * Hooded Cloak * Water-resistant leather bag/saddlebag/messenger bag/envoy's pouch * Several general purpose cloth sacks. * A compass * Signet ring * Wax seal kit
Uninspired, but I really love having a crowbar. Sure, same benefits can be applied with a party members help action, but the rogue is sometimes breaking into places on his own. Plus, not every door doors lock should be pickable. Sometimes, doors are just physically barred. Simple but effective.
Now I'm afraid of my party using the entirety of the dragon's hoard to buy only chalk. On another note I recently added homebrew duct tape to my Curse of Strahd campaign. I imagine if there were official rules for duct tape that would absolutely be on this list.
Duct tape would be top notch. You could use it for mending, as a plaster, to lock down wizards, to tie up enemies, as moderate torture, as a mask, to bind demons (because we all know duct is more powerful than any kind of magic) and probably a tonne more things I haven't thought of yet (this is just what instantly came to mind)
@@justanotherglorpsdaymornin5097 Or you could have a player get Sovereign Glue. It is literally the duct tape of D&D. Get a strip of cloth and its a tape. We are yet to find an equivalent to WD-40, though...
You'd be amazed at what some clever players could do with a wheelbarrow, flask of oil, torch and a black hooded cloak. (Referencing a movie called 'The Princess Bride'.)
As a parent it's usually silence that scares the shit out of me. Screaming and crying... don't bat an eyelash...when you hear "uh oh..." you go running...
a simple shovel. You'd be surprise at just how much treasure is actually buried. Plus, if you 'accidently' kill an innocent, you have the means to bury the body
I’d like to add a hand mirror to the list. I’ve had many times where using it to see around corners and behind me has proven useful. And on rare occasion reflecting light off the mirror for other random shenanigans.
two mirrors and a little carpentry work and you have a collapsable periscope box. Looking around corners is a snap, and you don't have to contend with a reversed image. I've used it to check outside while using Rope Trick, too.
A walking stick Use it to get dex advantage on rough terrain, get a small leather square, some string, a needle and turn it into a long range sling, get some rope and a dagger, and turn it into a spear Hella useful for anyone going long distance
Parchment paper and ink. Good god it's amazing for roleplay, and can in-character take down notes on enemy movements, weaknesses they observe, ect which can help if you need something/information without breaking character or meta gaming! I do this in my current Curse of Strahd campaign, also make for hilarious fits of 'crumpled paper lobbing at your cocky rangers head.' moments.
As a parent, I can absolutely confirm that tiny noises are enough to wake you. I would add, however, that any parent who's child has been vomiting all night knows that not only does the tiniest sound wake you, but you can jump into action before you're eyes are even fully opened.
For me, it's when I snap out of a deep sleep because I hear a cat making hurling noises near my head. I am just aware enough to flail my limbs about and get them to hwark up on the floor instead of my pillow.
Taking a page from the Dragonlance stories, my halfling rogue has five belt pouches. The four that are on his belt all contain cheap things (including a few copper coins and maybe a silver or two) while the fifth, with the majority of his money and also his thief's tools, is hidden under his armor. If you're in a game where there's any real possibility of NPC pickpockets, multiple pouches is a must
1. Druid sets reaction to cast heat metal 2. Put ball bearings inside a barely used tinder box 3. Throw the tinder box into the mouth of the white dragon 4. Have fun!
I like to equip all my characters with extra leather straps. Comes in handy for venomous effects, bindings, or just something to bite down on when you need to brace yourself for something intense. I had a character get into a boxing match. He used leather as a tooth guard. He won by shattering his opponent's teeth with a solid uppercut. Caused him uncontrollable pain, profuse bleeding and made him forfeit. If he'd had a piece of soft leather, folded over a few times, to place between his teeth, it would have saved him permanent damage and kept him in the fight. That same character later became a boss. Not BBEG, but not being able to speak clearly anymore and being permanently disfigured made him turn to the dark side extremely quickly. If my character had had a second piece of leather to offer him, we could have shortened our campaign significantly, and saved some perception rolls trying to understand wtf he was saying.
Magnifying glass - advantage for locks/traps "A magnifying glass grants advantage on any ability check made to appraise or inspect an item that is small or highly detailed." - Such as the inside workings of a lock or trap mechanism.
I often use a fullfaced helmet as bait when faced with a corner in a dungeon. using it on a stick or with mage hand to make it look like someone is locking around the corner, when screams or arrows follow the way is not clear
Thank you for this video, I've been espousing the virtues of mundane equipment for years and still my fellow players don't take heed. The number of times I've responded to someone going invisible by tossing a bag of flour in the air and shooting it open with a broadhead crossbow bolt and covered all of the room in flour to reveal their location is too many to count, and both chalk and candles have way more uses than people realize. Once we had creatures in a dungeon rubbing off my chalk trail, so I started dripping bright green hot wax into the little divots in the stone floors. Nothing's getting that out. And the whole flour bomb thing is absolutely a thing I've pulled many times. I love it so much. I've had three different parties all fear my baker cleric who bakes healing spells into cookies and blows people up with improvised flour bombs XD
Sadly (though fortunately for bakers), the key to flour exploding is that it needs to be spread into a cloud first. The video you linked, for example, had a rocket in the middle. It exploded, scattered the flour, THEN the flour caught fire. Hitting a bag of flour with a flaming arrow probably wouldn't work.
Yeah it's like not that flour is a bomb, but particulate matter that is flammable can do the boom or whatever. Like sawdust can do it too. Gotta be a cloud type thing.
Yeah, what you have to do to produce that effect is going to come down to what your DM thinks makes sense. Firebolt? Possibly. The best option is going to be a combo of one person tossing the flour into the air, and another igniting it.
Player: I'd like to buy four bags of caltrops please. Merchant: Oh, I AM sorry, but I'm afraid I'm sold out. Player: When do you think you might be re-stocked? Merchant: I'm afraid that won't be until next Thursday. Player: Oh. Dang. Well, thanks anyway. Merchant: Now, I DO have these bags of Lego pieces ...
One in our party has a crippling fear of water, so getting across the calm river was an undertaking. With axes, we chopped trees. With rope we built a raft. And with some mushrooms we'd earlier experimented with, we paralyzed our water phobic sorcoror to force over the river without setting fire to our raft.
And, finally, the one object I can think of that you didn't include in the video, spare sacks and bags. My goblin thief, Grabbins the Unwanted, managed to gather two extra days of rations just strolling around a busy tavern grabbing things off people's plates and trunchens while they were busy chatting with others. (Hey, he grew up having to fend for himself. If you weren't actively eating or guarding your food, you weren't eating and it was fair game.) The point is, you never know when you need an extra sack for stuff.
a sack full of empty sacks. need a counter weight for your pulley system? put some dirt in a sack. you need to make sure your prisoner doesn't know where you are taking him? put a sack over his head. you need to carry a prisoner who is incapacitated or uncooperative? stuff him in a sack. you need to carry loot back into town? sack. you need a weight to put tension on your tripwire? sack with dirt. you want to build a trap? make a sack full of rocks fall onto the victim. you need to deal bludgeoning damage to an enemy? use a sack full of coins. need to hide in a storage room? crawl into your own sack and wait in a corner. need to put out a small fire? throw a sack on it. need to hide your identity? cut two eye holes in a sack and put it over your head. your clothes get destroyed stolen or otherwise ruined? cut three holes into a sack and you are at least not walking around in your birthday suit. if you are faced with a problem and you can not think of a way to include a sack in it's solution, you are not thinking hard enough.
Healer’s kits + healer feat + thief rogue makes them a full on second healer for the party. 1d6 + 4 + #of hit die as a bonus action, plus the ability to bring someone up as a bonus action
Half of the brain remains active when sleeping in new environments as a dolphin-like defence mechanism so it's absolutely feasible that bells would wake them up
One thing I’ve always struggled to improve in DnD has been damage output from arrows other than using spells, magic items, or sneak attack. This video has given me the solution: flour + pouches + arrow = improvised explosive arrows. Combine with the having a separate small quiver for these and the spell Flame Arrows and you have an explosion on impact.
I bought an iron door to use as a weapon. I carry it around with me and I can set it down as a trap. Since I have the thaumaturgy spell, I can remotely make the door fly open, making for some fun encounters.
I once infiltrated an evil wizards tower by buying a hundred candles and posing as a candle delivery guy.
Where are the likes, this is amazing xD
Dm “the evil cultists come at you, staffs raised”
Cultist “how did you find this place, what are doing here!? Answer now!
Player (looks at their bag filled with candles) “I’m...the candle man, I’m here to deliver your candles.”
Dm “...roll deception.”
Player (rolls)
Cultist “...well why didn’t you say so, we need these candles for our rituals, come right in.”
I hope your DM made you roll a disguise check and at least one deception check.
@@crowsenpai5625 that is almost exactly what happened lol
@@brenta2634 oh he did. He forced me to roll numerous times trying to get me to slip up, since I was effectively bypassing the dungeon he had made. But between a high persuasion and deception skill, the fact that I was a sorcerer and the lucky feat, I was able to bullshit my way through. The best part was pushing the boss off the top of the tower and counterspelling his feather fall.
One thing a player (paladin) of mine did was during a stop in a small farming town on the way to a dungeon, he announced that he wanted to buy as many small livestock as he could get. Goats, pigs, and sheep, specifically.
A couple quick decisions about how much would actually be available, and some steadily increasing prices as word spread of some moneybags not haggling over cost and he had himself over a hundred roughly evenly mixed between the three animals. He then bought all the rope he could find to string them all up on lead lines. Somewhat predictably, he laid in no feed for the animals, and lacked any proficiency in animal handling (a condition shared by the rest of the party). So during the two day trip to the dungeon, due to some lucky rolls, they only lost a couple dozen animals into the wilds. Mostly pigs and goats eating the ropes and breaking free.
At the entrance to the dungeon, the paladin announces that he's going to summon his steed, and together they're going to drive the whole herd into the dungeon. Then wait 30 minutes.
Well... fine. So the traps are pretty much all triggered, the ambush is ruined, and the bullette nursery isn't hungry anymore. Fair enough. Ran with it and had a couple of the humanoid cultists that were the objective of this adventure dead, sorta obviously from goat-related injuries. Then had the gargoyles in the back portion of the dungeon employ ambush tactics by throwing full-grown dead pigs down at the adventurers from 50 feet up.
"You take 38 pig damage" was a satisfying line to say, I will admit.
(No hate intended) Love reading my average high school essays, can't even get away when under quarantine...
This is beautiful
Haven't played DnD for a loooong time but aren't the paladins restricted from having any money besides their upkeep?
@@wookim7287 hasn't been like that for many editions now.
@@wookim7287 In 5e, they can even be atheists
Don’t forget the use of scroll tube flashlight to get advantage on intimidation by holding it directly underneath one’s chin.
😆
🤣
Our group once turned the tide of a battle with two mundane items. A few months back, our party was hunting down a family of vampires in their manor. While searching the rooms, we just so happened to find two of them by literally opening a door to a room. Without thinking, my Rogue slammed the door and jammed it with a crowbar. This forced the two vampires to go through the second door to the room which also opened into a narrow hallway. And since our group was at the mouth of this hallway, it became a literal shooting gallery. Then a third vampire appeared and grappled our Warlock. But just as the Warlock was about to have his blood drained, he threw a bag of sand in the vampire's face and--thanks to a botched CON roll--actually blinded the vampire and escaped. What made it even funnier is that, several sessions earlier, our Warlock was conned into believing this sand was actually magic sand from a place that didn't actually exist, and he'd paid 200g for it.
200g ripoff worth it tho.
Ayyy!!!
@@Alliancelegacy Hay ur ded
200 gold for his life... maybe it was magic sand 🤔
As a parent, I confirm you can hear your kids.
I had a friend (who is not a parent) visit. He noticed my front door had a loud squeak.
He joked, "I've got some oil if you want me to fix that squeak for you."
I immediately responded, completely serious, "No, I need that to hear if my kids are sneaking out."
His look of shock and understanding said it all.
can conform the human ear can tune out certain sounds and be very actively focused on others more so when its used to a certain sound meaning something
I used chalk once to check if a mysterious liquid was acidic.
@@notsoaveragejoe2622 it was slightly acidic
@@caedenkniep3528 so is milk lol
@@realtaiter3991 damn hahaha
Someone! Anyone! Please help! Ive fallen and spilled my pineapple juice! Im melting!!!!
@@supremehare9893 T-T
You forgot ear plugs to block out the constant preaching from the Paladin.
or the flour explosions
WORRY NOT, THE RIGHTEOUS PROCLAMATIONS MY MIGHTY VOCAL CHORDS PRODUCE SHALL NOT BE STOPPED BY FEEBLE CORK ANYWAY
@@TheXell See what I mean people? Almost as annoying as the Bards poetry.
Don't forget the goblinoid/kobold player who just *has* to do a high pitched voice.
(Guilty)
Beeswax has many, many uses.
So I've seen a flour fire in person. Was asked to start dinner shortly after getting home from a roadtrip by my parents. Apparently while I was gone something boiled over and was on the burner, which I didn't see when I went to boil water. It ignited, I moved the pot. My step mom says "throw some flour on it". What she meant was to dump the bag and smother it. What I did was throw a handful onto a small fire to create a big fire. She took the bag and smothered it, but it was too late: now everyone brings up how I set the stove on fire by boiling water
Exactly the flour essentially has to be aerosolized to burn the video link is a rocket upside down that's what blasts it apart. An arrow into a bag of flour is not going to do that.
SO THATS HOW YOU MAKE WATER CATCH FIRE
A powder you can throw on fire to put it out it is baking soda and is quite effective, for a fire a wet towel usually works better though.
buy an electric kettle
@@ArgyleTurtle what if the impact of the arrow causes some of the flour to spray up into the air? Would that be sufficiently aerosolised?
Probably my favorite use of (mostly mundane) items was something inspired by a book in either the Sword of Truth series or the Wheel of Time series (I can't remember which). The group I was with was leading a small force to attack a larger, better equipped, and better trained force that had fortified themselves in a quarry. We didn't have much money, so we had to be clever. During the time before the planned attack (a couple days), I had my wizard go around town and buy cartloads of scrap glass. Then I found laborers and paid them to grind the glass into dust and put it in barrels for transport. Also bought a about five pairs of goggles and face masks (just cloth to wrap around the head, like a shemagh or something, nothing fancy) to equip the party with. Since I didn't have the spell I needed, I spent the rest of my gold on purchasing it and adding it to my spellbook. On the day of the attack, while we were getting ready, I instructed the archers in our attacking force to take the barrels of ground glass to the spots around the edge of the quarry that they'd be attacking from and then dump it out into piles. It wasn't windy, so I used my new spell to change that. I cast Gust of Wind and blew the ground glass into the enemy forces in the quarry, walking to each pile of glass and recasting the spell as necessary. My party was horrified at their nerdy wizard's actions, the DM (who I had discussed this idea with and gotten the go ahead for) was giddy at the chance to describe the horrors the cloud of glass inflicted upon the enemy army as it got in their eyes, mouth, and lungs. Once the (glass) dust had settled, our forces mercilessly descended upon the reeling army. My wizard got a long talking-to about war crimes after that battle.
Stuff like that is what I love about D&D, the creativity that having a good DM allows for. ^_^
Sword of Truth series. Kahlan used that tactic against Jagang's army
The wizard should get a nickname "lord of glass". Also, if Napoleon Total War is any indication, you can use clouds of quicklime to burn enemy's skin, lungs and morale.
Next time use pepper. Much cheaper, (can use smaller quantities to cover larger areas) and while not exactly damaging it takes just about anyone out of comission for several rounds/minutes. Coughing, choking, sneezing, and don't forget blind. Nevermind the horrible pain it would inflict.
You can also use it for many applications, not just combat. Need to distract someone for several minutes? (Guards, merchants, etc) toss a small bag (with slits) of pepper in a room they're in, gust of wind, and they're completely out of comission. Works well to sneak past any number of otherwise problematic situations.
As a DM, I'll always allow crazy shit if 1. It's actually feasible, and 2. creative enough!
@@randalthor2859 Was at a college cafeteria one day and someone put a packet of Tabasco sauce in the microwave and set it on five minutes. Instant tear gas! We all fled. Now to just figure out how to do that in D&D
One of the players in a game I was DMing absolutely LOVED using common items. One time, the party was fighting a water elemental that was cleaning out some dirty glassware in the archmage's laboratory, & it dealt bonus acid damage because it was slightly acidified by the residue left in some of the old beakers. Our item-hoarding druid dropped a bunch of soap into an iron pot & threw the pot into the elemental, which neutralized the acid because the soap was lye-based. A few turns later, he cast heat metal on the pot, which dealt enough damage to straight-up evaporate the elemental.
Soap really should apply a debuff to the water elemental.
If it was a one-shot or a low-seriousness campaign, I would have ruled that the soap breaks the water's surface tension and the elemental has to make a con save every turn or else it's just a puddle.
A player in my campaign took me totally by surprise. She had a cloak of useful items and used 2 different patches 1 turn after the other. The first turn she ripped off the patch that instantly creates a 10'x10'x10' hole in the ground causing 1 heavily armored knight to fall taking full damage. The other individual an archer made his saving throw and took half of the fall damage. Both of the enemies were in the process of getting out of the hole when her next turn came. She ripped off the patch the creates a 10'x10' iron door and threw it on top of the enemies as they were attempting to get out crushing them.
Those are indeed some very useful items! 😄
Sacks. Lots and lots of sacks. They costs almost nothing, weigh almost nothing and can be used to blind and gag pesky spellcasters, carry loot, obfuscate suspicious items/people etc.
I have 2 extra and a component pouch that hold components I don't even need just to have them on hand.
Yeah, I'm amazed this didn't make the cut. It was the second thing I thought of after rope when I read the title of the video.
I always carry at least three sacks; more if I play a thief- er, _rogue._
...we may or may not have put our drunk & unconscious barbarian in a sack so the goliath could carry him, and then may or may not have shoved the sack down the dungeon steps to check for traps...
Water proof sacks.. grat for carrying water, creating water (cleric), or transporting things
I own a bakery, airborne wheat particulate is flammable. So using a concussive spell (thunderwave etc) to disperse flour and then dropping a low level fire spell could theoretically have a larger blast radius. The expansion rate from the linked clip is due to the explosion happening in a closed space.
That's a good way to collapse the dungeon. Airborne particulate matter explosions are no joke. I lived near West, Texas for a spat and saw the hole that explosion left.
Prestidigitation+ bag of flour= fireball at first level.
@@ianmorse9381 I worked in WestISD for two years, and even after the new school building was stood up, the rest of the town still had some damage to some of the buildings.
We HAVE to stop in West anytime we roll south.
My wife's family is Czech
This is literally what happened in one part of Goblin Slayer.
Once, in a campaign, we were going through a particularly difficult dungeon, when my character suddenly said, "If only we had a ladder that last room would have been a piece of cake." The rest of the dungeon was completed by the entire party noticing that quite literally every challenge we faced would have been solved if we only had a ladder. To this day I find myself buying ladders on all my characters.
Good idea. But how do you transport them?
@@multivitaminsaft1997 Backpack.
Rope ladder, or folding?
@@ShlomeYT Folding
Elhonas Quiver 6 8ft quarterstaff long poles shaped who'sy whats 18 javelin length stuffs and 60 arrow length things as well + mend
Note on caltrops: My rogue had an upside-down bag of them on his belt tied with a quick-release knot. The DM let me scatter them as a bonus action, even as a disengage combo. Saved my ass a good couple of times!
A couple months ago, I was invited to participate on the first adventure from "Tales from the Yawning Portal", the DM warned us that he had made light minor changes to make the dungeon more difficult. While we were having pre-dungeon buying, both the party and the DM laughed at me for buying 3 sacks of flour.
I laughed at the DM when he pulled out a beholder, and he got blinded on first turn because of getting two pounds of flour to the eye.
Hopefully you used the third to blow it the hell up in a dust explosion?
Ah, another fan of Goblin Slayer. Creative uses for items is a really neat thing to see.
Why the hell would any DM make Takes from the Yawning portal harder?
Does he hate his players?
Our group used tales of the yawning portal as our filler adventure if people would be missing the main campaign and we had... Sooo many deaths.
Unless you wasted the flour on that fungal growth that looks like a beholder that is in the ... Second or third module in the book.
My dad taught me about flour bag bombs... They had some flour fights at college, you make a cut on the side of the bag, throw it, it explodes in a cloud of flour. Now, if you shoot a flaming arrow into that...
Flour is very useful. I still forgot buying it for my characters, but I want to have it to use on invisible fucks.
"Fill your scabbard about 1/3 full..."
Or... a scroll case?
Have your flash light and blind the fuckers twice xD
[Fighter thinks his scabbard is 1/3 of the way filled with oil, but the impish Halfling has switched the fighter's oil with sovereign glue. (Let's see if he notices)]
Draws sword and blinds opponent
@@backbyrd5147 you strike your opponent with your hilted piece of flat bar, as the sand has worn off the edge, roll 1d2 for damage.
@@Zraknul couldn’t that count as a mace then?
I think it goes without saying that every pc needs a dagger. SOO many uses aside from a weapon at any given moment. Cutting rope/line? dagger. Skinning the Beast of Balroth to bring his hide back as proof to the village elder? Dagger! Breaking into a small cott's barn to escape a thunder storm? Dagger! It can be used to cut dried beef or vegetables for fireside stews. There are so many uses!
My go to starter kit option for a level 1 starting campaign was always:
1 Dagger
1 Backpack
1 Bed Roll
1 Blanket
1 Fish hook and line
1 Flint and steel
1 Common Lamp
2 Oil
4 Days Trail Rations
1 Waterskin
Then I always advised Players to get some kind of paper, chalk or charcoal, a mirror, Caltrops, rope and a crowbar as soon as possible.
To quote Sinbad:
In the hands of an expert, a dagger has a thousand and one uses.
I always make sure my character has a dagger, or at the *very* least, a pocketknife
Silvered dagger all the way. Same for cold forged steel, if that’s a common item... you never know when you encounter that one beastie immune that’s immune to just about everything. Probably to be purchased after a few adventures...
Great gear coices. But daggers and knives are different blades for different purposes . The best knife for a mediaeval type character that could be used as a weapon and tool is the Seax from Northern Europe .
No 50 feet of rope? For shame
_Finally_ a list of *normal* items. I can't tell you how many videos I've gone through with people constantly talking about magic items when I want info on the mundane stuff. I think I've only found *_3_* videos including this one.
This is the best stuff imo the level of creativity in players to overcome obstacles!
D&d logs does a good one, but it is similar( but different) to this one just highly edited instead of floating head talking
A note on masks: it's worth having if you're going into an area full of Beast-type monsters that are ambush predators. They generally don't like attacking when they think their prey is aware of them, so putting a mask on the *back* of your head would be really useful in situations like that. People do this in real life, notably in areas of India with high tiger populations. Or you can just do the samurai thing and wear a daemonic-shaped mask for combat.
Flour has been my number one since I started playing DnD. My DM’s have stopped putting invisible enemies in front of me because of it. My first DM loved invisibility on his enemies though, so in his game I bought a gold’s worth of flour- about 50 pounds- and gave it to the barb to hold. Every time invisible things started to hit her, she would take out the flour and wait for me to cast Shatter on the inside of the bag. She was always fine except for that one time, and we jokingly fight ‘flour spirits’ to this day.
I Love to play druids and my odd go to was always a bag of seeds. Ever cast Entangle in the middle of a Dungeon? Peeved off my Rulemonger of a brother EVERY TIME! First time he refused to let me play druid I opted for a Rogue and kept a bag of marbles and a bag of caltrops. He had an absolute melt down after our first fight.
It seems to me that once the flour touched the invisible creature it would become invisible. Otherwise you'd have invisible people walking around in visible clothes.
Leland Wilson maybe footprints?
@@deanlol does that mean if you grabbed an invisible creature you would turn invisible too?
@@deanlol Sure, so you aim your attacks at the enemy-shaped lack of flour dust in the flour cloud in front of you.
Just gotta make sure it's not an insanely thick cloud.
My group encountered a non-violent ghost who could not speak but could interact with items. He had valuable information so they used the bell to have him ring once for "yes" and twice for "no" as they asked yes or no questions.
why not give the ghost chalk or charcoal?
@@TheDanlovejoy True
Toilet paper. Cant imagine high level characters being happy cleaning themselves with leaves and rags. No wonder prestidigitation is that useful.
This
You could always just carry three seashells instead.
@@harig55 he doesn't know how to use the three seashells.
Octavio Schultz prestidigitation
@@jimbillyjenkims How DO you use three seashells?
I had to laugh at your description of uses for rope. A near direct quote from me to the DM from our latest session.
Me: "I'm taking the four unconscious bandits and tying them up."
DM: "So you are cutting your rope?"
Me: "No, I am binding the first ones hands behind his back, giving two feet of length, and tying his ankles together, then five feet of length to the next bandit's hands, bound behind his back, then two feet to the ankles. Rinse and repeat for the final two bandits. A total of 7 feet of length per bandit, let's say a foot and a half spent at the wrists and ankles for a total of 10-feet per bandit, I should have 10-feet left loose, which I will use to tie to a nearby beam or tree."
Takes more rope than you might think to effectively bind someone's hands, then bind those hands to the ankles. If I used that little, my partner would NEVER stay bound.
Okay, so I got curious, busted out the rope bag and measured and tested with a foot-and-a-half length on my tiny-wristed girlfriend. I could literally ONLY tie a square knot with one loop around her wrist and she was out of it in literally two seconds.
It literally required 8 ft of rope to do a basic single column. If you're not doing it properly, you might be able to get away with 4 feet, but I'd give a bonus on a check to escape that. Ideally a proper double column should be used to bind two extremities together.
It takes way more rope than you'd think to actually bind a person.
@@dustinflowers1914 tieing a criminal was generally done with 30 ft, but a spindle of thread is a surprisingly effective binding and there's plenty of length there
reminds me of a story:
a guy wanted to do some bondage play.
his girlfriend was reluctant, but finally agreed IF he only used ONE length of rope.
he showed up with a 100-foot rope...
Instead of tying hands and both feet, tie one hand, leave only an inch or two, then one foot, then the other hand. Really hard to walk, and using less rope.
The problem with a whistle is enemies hear it too. Looking at you, Boromir. RIP.
4:20
Small correction/comment: You only achieve an 8:1 mechanical advantage if you put them in parallel (2 separate tackles attacked to different points of the load, which gives [4:1]*2), when you need to balance the load due to size. If you put them into series (one tackle attached to the next), then you gain a 16:1 mechanical force against whatever the rope is tied to.
I immediately paused the video and looked for this comment to make sure someone had said this. lol
So multiplied if next to, and exponential if in series. Got it
@@TrojanManSCP same
@@Axelovskji Added in parallel (4+4=8), multiplied in series (4*4=16).
@@tepesh0724 i meant as
parallel = 4*Y
series = 4^Y
Y is the amount of tackles
As a parent, I agree 100%
But also there's the added bit of a known sound being an effective alarm. Meaning - you know if you hear the bell something is going on!
That said - DM's could have villains stalk their party and at night intentionally/ carefully (maybe mage hand) set off the alarm to keep the party ragged and tired... 😂🤣😴
I'm stealing that idea
Add another on top of that from my mother: "when the kids have been quiet too long, you better start hunting them."
If the party is up against pros, I could see something like this for a couple days if they're stuck on the road.
Hit em on night 3 when they're tired.
Night one and two deliberatly find and ring the bell.
Then show up on the third night, quiet as air, and hit them with the surprise round as they're about to nod off.
As a single father of a little girl, I’ll add that when there’s an unusual sound at night [read: sound from daughter at odd time] I’m so immediately alert that there wouldn’t even be a surprise round...
/yes,, I know, no surprise round in 5e
@@bazzfromthebackground3696 wasnt this a tactic used in real history? im not sure who it was but i remeber reading about this somewhere.
I have a solid go-to dungeon delving tool that my experienced characters always bring-
A clay quart jug packed half with marbles and half with caltrops, with the spaces between filled the rest of the way with oil.
Better than a wall in your pocket.
You sadistic genius.
*Kneels*
Teach me your ways oh dark one.
You went to the kevin mcallister school of adventuring lol
Best moment in yesterday’s game...
I run a weekly game for my son and his friends, all ages 14 to 18. I was running behind on final touches to the game plan so I started the weekly Zoom session this video
This inspired the party (four level 5 fighters and one level 3 Bard NPC) to make a bunch of mundane common item purchases before leaving town for a full day of travel. Cut to the chase... an hour or two from their destination they get pulled into a ranged-only battle with 5 humanoid enemies flying around using giant bats as mounts. The pilots are dropping “bat swarm bombs” (wicker baskets that break open when dropped from 30ft)... it’s chaos.
Last PC in first round thinks a moment...
Marcus - Fighter5: “How high is my nearest target flying?”
Me/DM: “about 30ft elevation and closing fast”
Marcus: “I pull out my new grappling hook I just bought and try to aim for the bat”
Me: (blown away) “Gents, you now have the rule of cool on your side. Marcus has inspiration on this throw”
Long story short, Marcus successfully hooked the bat and brought it down, killing the previously injured rider (a Scout) instantly with fall damage, and dealing critical fall damage to the bat. The bard NPC went next and killed the downed bat with one poke of his rapier.
I Never once pulled out the rule book to check how it should be done by RAW and I don’t plan to. It was such a cool moment to witness the thought process and see everyone’s reactions as Marcus announced his grappling hook idea. It inspired more creative plays through the end of the encounter and my son is still talking about it today.
Thank you @Taking20. I plan to start every session with a short but useful D&D how to video from now on.
And this is what this kooky but amazing game is about. Not the rules and rule management. It’s about the fun and silly things that can happen. Keep up the inspirational play.
OMG my daughter has a tiny bell on her door that alerts everyone in the house that she’s up and running. From dead sleep to frying pancakes in an instant.
You had my vote at "the average party of murder hob... adventurers."
You forgot backpacks. The most important item of all time.
Adventuring kits are usually worth every copper... I was gonna say twine, pepper (to throw off the trails of creatures tracking you by scent...), an iron pot, a donkey, & a porter or two to carry all your gear, or to maybe double as a cook, guide, sage, or even guard...
Nah common clothes is more important
@@wlieb7017 not for a barbarian lol.
Isn't having backpacks implied? How else are you carrying that stuff?
Until everyone gets a bag of holding...which isn't a common item
Speaking of how rich the players can get, after my group killed a young blue dragon (and became famous for it) a crime syndicate became EXTREMELY interested in the party, focused on stealing that treasure horde for themselves. They didn't use brute force but clever tactics to pull a heist on the party.
Did they succeed? Or did the group kill them all?
@@patrickduffin7912 Both. They used 3 agents to attempt to get the treasure. A gorgeous lady spy that came to the PCs for help with an Oni that was secretly preying on the townsfolk (the criminals new about the oni and used him as bait). She slowly seduced and befriended the party and learned that they kept huge portion of their treasures in a magical bag! (A bag of holding). She left the party in good terms and informed the guild about the bag, 2 other agents worked together to steal the bag by creating a replica bag (a normal bag that looked identical) they followed the pcs around for a short while and swapped the bags during a tough combat encounter against a group of evil knights. The warlock that had the bag went down to 0 hp and they used magical darkness to conceal the area and go in and out and swap the bags. It took the players a long time to figure out what happened to their bag of holding. Eventually they found and took down the criminals and recover SOME of their treasure back.
@@Ulrican414 Sounds Like a fun time. I'm hoping one day we'll do a campaign that just centres around a steampunk-ish setting, with a group of mafia bosses at war with each other over something. But I'm fantasising too much, quarantines a bitch.
Ulrican414 See that’s a good way to get them to turn evil though because now they hate people and have good reason to say torture the shit out of someone especially depending on the races of those characters Dragon born in dwarves would undoubtably kill someone over any amount of stolen gold and I imagine goblins and orcs with torture someone just for shits and giggles
@@charlottewalnut3118 Um, if they have the propensity to do that, they were already evil. Seems like a really extreme reaction to being stolen from... going straight to full-on hatred, murder and torture over lost gold? That's a really shallow interpretation of the "dwarves love gold" trope. Plus, personally I don't think they'd have the reputation for being a lawful good society if they go full murderhobo when wronged.
Lanterns.
Two weeks ago my party used Dancing Lantern to animate a lantern and float it through the gun port of a pirate frigate and drop the lantern in the middle of their powder stores. I imagine you could do something similar with Mage Hand as well. Apparently lanterns are tac-nukes in the right context.
Also seeing things is cool I guess.
Any mundane item, literally ANY, can be pretty useful when you have high sneak and invisibility.
In a recent session of mine, the party needed to sneak into this rogue Lord's keep to, and I devised a devilish plan to get rid of the guards by the door:
I had our Necromancer friend cast invisibility on me, then took our Paladin's gauntlet and a torch. With the torch lit and holding the gauntlet out in front of me (while invisible) I approached the guards directly. I mustered the biggest voice I could, and said something along the lines of "Your actions will not go unpunished, foul sinners! Let justice cleanse to you!" Then charged them. Seeing a floating, flaming gauntlet, they ran like chickens, thinking the aspect of Helm was about to turn them to mulch. Then, my party just strolled right on in.
Pitch! This is literally the single most versatile item I've ever had. It can glue stuff, burn stuff, you can mix it with straw and sulfur crystals for toxic fumes, i've used it to make copies of keys in it's solid form (imprint ->lost from out of wax ->lead copy key), you can apply it to a sheet of paper to put over a glass window so there's no noise when you push it in, you can use it to waterproof stuff and my personal favorite: trap a fire mage in a blanket soaked with hot pitch and sulfur grounds -> instant human torch. And if he's fire resistant, ask your DM if he's resistant to suffocation and toxic fumes. I never leave my base of operations without my trusty barrel of pitch.
And yes, my DM gave me the stink eye for the whole rest of the session for one-shotting the BBEG.
If the mage is resistant to fire damage then it wouldn't be that difficult for him to hold his breath then use an action to cast prestidigitation and clean the pitch off of him. Even if he's not he's receiving a bit of extra damage before cleaning the pitch off. It's a great idea, but I think your dm let you off easy.
To my DMs that is a sign that says hit me with fire please. And sounds like you're carrying enough for it to end badly.
@@Zraknul I'll take "What's a pack mule" for $500, please. I ain't lugging around 50lbs of tar. I mean someone could set me on fire.
"By the way, 6 pitons with 3 pieces of fishing line in between them would trip a minotaur that was chasing you. Hello, proned and surprised target, I'd like you to meet my friends- advantage, extra attack, and SURPRISE MOT--"
love it
Yeah that was my favorite part of the Video....
You seem to have forgotten to include your towel...for shame traveler.
Not even any Peril-Sensitive Glasses™. Tsk, tsk.
Yeah, but you may end up changing from a D campaign to Sci Fi right quick if you do that.
^this guy’s^ a hoopdie frood...
BARBARIAN: THAT'S WHAT WE BRING SHEEP FOR... [picks up sheep & wipes his mouth on the sheep's wool, as if to make a point]
@@aliendingus1991 it was a reference on the off chance you didn't get it
Our DM once had us in a city with a strange mist hiding weird demons in it attacking the populace. We gathered information to show it started from the mage tower in the centre of the city, but the closest bridge crossing the river/moat that protected the inner city had collapsed. There were 2 others, but one was on the other side of the city, and the nearest one to us was deep in the market district which was hardest hit. We definitely didn't want to go there.
So we used the crowbars and woodcarvers tools to wedge out a door from one of the abandoned houses and fashion a raft and some oars so we could cross the moat. The DM threw his notebook of encounters into the bin.
Bah Ha Ha!!! Comedy gold! 🤣
Boondock Saints-
[Picking out weapons and gear]
Connor: You know what we need, man? Some rope.
Murphy: Absolutely. What are you, insane?
Connor: No I ain't insane, Charlie Bronson's always got a rope.
Murphy: Whaaaat?
Connor: Yeah, he's always got a lot of rope strapped around him in the movies, and they always end up using it.
Murphy: You've lost it, haven't you?
Connor: No, I'm serious.
Murphy: That's stupid. Name one thing you'd need a rope for.
Connor: You don't ****in' know what you're gonna need it for, they just always need it.
Murphy: What's this 'they' shit? This isn't a movie.
Connor: [picks up a large knife from Murphy's bag] Oh...Is that right, Rambo?
Murphy: All right, get your stupid ****ing rope.
Connor: I'll get my stupid rope. I'll get it. There's a rope right there!
LATER Murphy: Ah, **** you! I'm not the rope-totin'-Charlie-Bronson-wannabe who's gettin' us ****in' lost!
(After falling through a vent in the cieling tied to the rope and killing nine men) Connor (Mocking Murphy) Well, name one thing you're going to need the stupid ****ing rope for.
Such a great movie.
A map and compass.
“Can’t be lost except by magical means” eat your heart out ranger! You too worse use of a sixth level spell slot “find the path”
Caleb Widogast would like to know what time it is *precisely*, as well as in which direction is North *precisely*. Keen Mind for the win.
Magnetic fields.
I hope your DM made you make a survival check everytime you used it.
Sailor + Survival Skill. Possibly cartographer's supplies. Easy.
Presumably, since the compass and map would work, the worlds of D&D would function (geographically) the same as Earth, more or less... SO you can also just use an analogue time-piece (pocket watch, for instance)... Point the hour hand toward the sun, and directly between that and "12 o'clock" is due South (if you're on the northern hemisphere of Earth) and it's due North (if you're on the Southern hemisphere)...
You can also (so long as you're above ground/outside) jam a stick in the ground, and put a stone at the end of the shadow it casts... Wait a while, and come back to set another stone where the shadow ends (since over time it will move)... Drawing a line from the first stone to the second, you'll have your East to West direction, with the first stone at the Westward end of the line... A second line at 90 degrees from the first, will be the North/South line, and from East (the first stone) you'll be able to tell where North is pointing...
At night (in case you wonder)... You can find a star to substitute for the sun, laying under the stick you jammed into the ground, and setting the first stone under your head when lined up with the star by sighting at the end of the stick... again... give it some time (20 minutes is enough)... and repeat, as with the sun and shadow method, creating the East-to-West line, and negotiating the North/South line from it the same as before...
This process can also be done with a string tied to the stick, so you get a more precise and accurate "reading"... pulling the string tight to your cheek where you "line up" by sight on your chosen star... It doesn't even matter which star in the sky you pick, only that you are capable of discerning which star you chose for the second time around to get your second stone laid... and make an adequate East-to-West line.
This is all helpful for both Players and GM's, because as easy as it sounds, there are lots of little ways to screw it up... BUT these "tricks" really work, and were (are?) taught to special forces personnel for field survival. Just in the case you're in the field, and you break or lose your compass, you don't have to be hopelessly screwed...
There are lots of ways to keep track of distances, too. Things like counting the beads in a "dog tag chain"... OR moving some ubiquitously carried item from one pocket to another for every "X" number of paces... It's important to point this out as part of navigation, because you need more than direction to get to where you're going if you're trying to use a map... Direction is only about half of the answer.
It's also useful to know that "barring injury or incident" the average human can travel about 4 miles per hour (8 ish Km/hour) over uneven terrain... SO knowing your likely average speed "in game terms", you can "rough" guess the distance travelled based on hours of walking... A horse may be faster if you "push" or coax it enough, but a liesurely horse doesn't guarantee more efficacy or speed in travel. Most people who do ride, don't often press their animals to do more than a reasonable walk. The convenience of a beast is simply NOT having to walk at all.
There were "specifically" bred horses for riding, and they had a special gate... BUT this might be superfluous to someone unless they're THAT fascinated by horses and history. Anymore, the horses are bred as much for color or special traits (thoroughbreds for racing, for instance) that aren't so useful... It's not so much to travel, and a well gaited horse isn't much of a selling point like "gets along with people"... or
"even tempered"... etc. ;o)
Was playing Out of the Abyss with friends a few years back as a Kensei Monk, and the number of times my Caltrops damage killed enemies (including legendary laired creatures) was, tbh, unfair to the rest of the party.
Don't underestimate what throwing a few Legos on the ground can do to your foes.
*Toes
and then you cast Animate Objects on them and pull punches for the rest of the session to not OP things.
@@DanSolowastaken Ball Bearings and Mage Hand for the win all day long. Mage hand is also good for yanking flaming brands out of the fire onto a well-thrown vial of oil. You can also use it to start a fight in a tavern by spilling drinks onto the "wrong people." I LOVE Mage Hand. I even used it to throw a vial of acid taken from our packs (which were sitting on a table) onto a lock in the city jail so we could escape the town.
As a Soldier, I can verify that a small warning bell would wake you up in a makeshift camp if danger is likely.
I have a sort of homebrew version of "pocket sand" for one of my characters. I wanted to make a sort of duelist character who used a rapier, but I wanted to give him a little more historically-accurate power than if he just used a rapier by itself. There are several historical examples of using offhand weapons/tools while dueling, including daggers, cloaks, and even lanterns. He's a Rogue Swashbuckler who uses rapier and dagger fighting most of the time (Dual Wielder feat), but on his first turn in combat instead of drawing the dagger with his sword he unties the fencing cape (think Ezio's half-cape from Assassin's Creed) that he always wears and throws it into the face of an enemy. Mechanically it's exactly the same as a net except it causes the Blinded condition instead of Restrained, and it requires the enemy to make a Dexterity check to escape instead of a Strength one. It's a neat little practical reason for him to wear the cape instead of it just being a fashion choice. It's also a great way to up the chances of him being able to use his Sneak Attack on his first turn due to attacks on a Blinded creature having advantage.
Cool
I'm making a stage magician Rogue for an upcoming campaign. Definitely stealing this
I made an item that I called a Light Bomb. A cast metal cube 1" on all sides; the actual metal used doesn't matter much, but lead works fairly well). Cast a Continual Light spell on the metal cube. With clay that's used for making ceramic items, form a sphere around the metal cube, making sure that all of the metal is sufficiently covered so that you can't see any light leaking out. Fire up that bad boy in a pottery kiln & it's ready.
So the party is sneaking around under the cover of darkness (natural or magical) & they can detect a group of guards blocking the way forward but need to better determine what species/monster, they are. Throw the Light Bomb against a hard surface (brick, rock, tree trunk) near them so that the ceramic sphere shatters (ceramic has a horrible saving throw vs. crushing blow). At the very least, you should be able to startle most monster or humanoid types with the sudden sound & burst of light for a round or two, plus you can more easily identify them. With some monster-types, a sudden bright light may even temporarily blind them & your party can pepper them with ranged weapons and/or spells. This is particularly efficient if the party is staying outside of the range of the Continual Light spell's area of effect.
Once it's all over said & done, you can retrieve the light cube & make another ceramic cover for it later. It's probably a good idea to start out your journey carrying a few of these.
Don't even really need to fire it; clay dries pretty hard on its own! =^[.]^=
We did something similar in a 2nd Ed game I was in, but we we used sling bullets covered in clay, and we made a lot of them during downtime. Annoyed our foes to no end with that.
And there you have it... D&D has a flashbang. I'm doing this by the way.
Did you get that from the Drizzt novels or Forgotten Realms setting rules, or come up with it yourself? Pretty sure this was described as a Drow equipment thing back in the day, because they're super sensitive to light.
Can't believe you didn't mention oil.
It costs basically nothing, and can be used to make impromptu fire arrows/weapons, or can simply be thrown at enemies to make them extra vulnerable to any type of fire damage (you can even ignite them with a simple Prestidigitation).
Works on invisible targets too. Splash oil in their general direction and start swinging your torch around. Not only are they going to end up being visibly on fire, but they are taking flame damage every round.
Also works great for making effective "walls" in the middle of combat. Are you being chased by kobolds down a tunnel? Throw oil down and light it, making a roaring fire behind you. Kobolds and other low intelligence creatures aren't going to willing walk through flames to chase you.
Sorry but fire arrows don't work in real life. Other uses you reference are good.
@@Sarge395 Its DnD. thats the farthest away from reallife dude
@@shrowhurter3508 Yes but using real life flour physics but not real life arrow physics makes for some questionable physics.
In my first dnd game I did exactly that! We were fighting an assassin who knew greater invisibility and was nuking the hell out of our party. I just managed to hit him with oil and light him on fire and managed to turn the fight around. Everyone was mad that I "burned down a city block" but hey, means and ends.
@@shrowhurter3508 If it is a special higher cost oil I would allow it. Physics, fire, standard chemistry still applies for all of the basics. Dream it up all you want but best to make your PC's pay for these 'fantasy' items. Otherwise I have found PC's accumulate way too much gold. After a few levels it gets out of hand. Try dipping an arrow in straight up motor oil and then firing it 200' into a target and let me know how that works for you. Burning oil sliding down the shaft (insert beavis laugh) to your bow string and fingers, then released prematurely (butthead laugh), and a poorly shot arrow that is blown out by the wind velocity. Go buy some burning arrow magic items or magic oil.
I love this video. It's so intelligent... I'm taking notes... for my villains...
Same here!
These "tips for players" are the best kind of videos for DMs.
@@Thisdown That also makes a lot of sense and shows experience as a real stuff, not just a game mechanic. After some villain uses the trick against the party, if they're smart and savvy enough, they will find out how it works and start using it as well. Voila, experience - they learned something.
A signet ring/wax seal. It's the safety vest+hard hat of D&D. Need to get in somewhere? Act like you own the place, show them an 'official' document, act like a grade A Karen, tell then you will have their head or whatever. Royalty gets away with shit because people fear consequences. Abuse it!
Forgery kit FTW! Tonnes of useful stuff other than the wax/seals... Millions of uses for the gum Arabic alone xD
@@mordokai597 Don't even need forgery. Just flash the seal really quick and put it away. If they ask to see it again, yell at them for daring to question your authority.
Wow. You guys must have some pretty laid back DM's that are never going to make an NPC that may be even slightly curious about your 'air tight' plans lol
@@zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0 This is a thing in real life, it's actual psychology but it tends to work for more 'medium risk' things. Like you're never going to be able to sneak into the FBI HQ with it but if you're just trying to get in somewhere a Hard hat, a high vis vest and clipboard can usually get you somewhere. Hell just acting like you belong can often get you somewhere. This tends to work more if you're in a pair. That way just walking, talking and pointing to things often gets people to assume that you're meant to be there (it helps if you do some very basic research into things like plumbing, building any field like that).
So if the party is just trying to get in somewhere that lots of people go in and out of but requires security checks (like the basic kind, not indepth security checks). Running up to the guards, flashing the signet/scroll with a wax seal on it and saying "Look I'm really sorry but these just came in, I've got to get them to X (if the characters have done their research they should know of a low ranking government official/courtier who deals with all the boring ass low grade correspondence that courts/royalty deal with), It's urgent..." Most people in the real world will just shrug and go "yeah sure..." since it's not a huge security risk but it gets them in to the palace and probably in such a way that the Guards, when asked, will remember someone being rushed through but probably won't remember your face.
Now if they're trying to say, get in to the inner courts of the palace with direct contact with the King/Queen and try this bluff thing...yeah that's not gonna work, those courts are close knit and messengers are usually required to wait outside or pass the message to someone else who will then bring it to the royals attention.
@@luketfer That's great until one guard does their due diligence and says prove it cause he's not risking his fictional paycheck so he can continue to provide for his fictional family.
My group, to the ammusement of our DM decided that instead of walking down this hill covered in gravle, we would jump on out shileds and ride down like riding a sleigh. Now our party is known as The Shield Riders.
Never underestimate an angry artificer with some oil, fire, caltrops, and some prep time
Horrific
It's cliche for a reason. Hooded cloak keeps you dry in rough weather and it lets you wander around town with weaposn and armor without causing a stir.
Cloaks are great. They're like blankets you wear. Extremely multipurpose, too.
on second thought it's incredible my party of heavily armed non-humans in a racist town dont cause a stir whenever they're out and about
The first time my players got to explore the town I had set up, they all wanted to go find a particular musical instrument. The session almost ended in a weird note where one of the players got bored and agitated (I DM for a group of middle school boys) , but they brought them selves together and played music in the town square. I made them make a performance check and they rolled real high. Everyone was ecstatic, and now they are going to form a band together and perform when they aren’t adventuring. So for my my group musical instruments are the must have mundane items.
As a fellow parent I can confirm my son does the same he wqkes up opens his door and boom we are awake ⏰ just like an alarm
I do the same, but only if the kids open MY door. I'll sleep through murder screams If they're somewhere else in the house.
@@diechecker2016 You are probably like me, a parent of an older child.
Same for us furry parents. Ill sleep through howling and barking, but the second i hear a door creak, im at the door before my dog can even take another step
the druid in the game im running carries around a basket of apples that she bought for an incredibly low price, and just beans enemies on the head with them. it's not incredibly effective, but it's pretty funny
What’s the most damage she ever dealt with one
In one of my early games our party was tasked with going to a small island town and to set up an ambush to catch and kill/capture a group of pirates that had been making their way down the river for the last few weeks. While my party went off to convince the local blacksmith (whom was a insane, mutated man whom resembled a charger from L4D except even more blood thirsty) to distribute weapons and whatnot I went about setting up defenses (my character was a cavalier as well as a tactician). I went around gathering up a bunch of random stuff around town and had the towns people help out, DM had me roll to see how many traps I could get up before nightfall (which was when the pirates would be raiding the town) with advantage given I was spending all my prep time on it. Two nat 20's later and the area around the town was turned into a demented Home Alone fiasco. Pitchforks set up to spring out when stepped on, hay bails lined up that we would roll down the hills, several spring loaded axes and hatchets dotted throughout the field, and to top it off a 15ft deep deadfall trap set up on the main road to the town proper filled with whatever was left over that was pointy and could be stuck in the ground. Half the invading force never reached the small palisade we had set up, the rest we rushed down and finished off without to much issue. We took one of the skiffs the pirates had landed with and proceeded to row out to the ship to finish off the threat. Saddly I died in the final fight, not even an extra DM reroll could save me. The dice give and the dice taketh, though my companions did come out victorious.
During my first campaign of DnD my party and i were in the dungeon fighting undead, our wizard dropped from full to nothing after a missed con save from something none of the rest of the party could see. Next round a Bodak rounded the corner behind our fighter who succeeded on his save. When his turn came around he used his bedroll from his explorer's pack and tackled the Bodak to the ground before it could look at anyone again. The reaction of the table and dm when the fighter asked if he could use his bedroll to wrap around the Bodak was priceless.
Something often overlooked:
A sling
Costs and weighs basically, nothing.
Easily concealable.
Gives you a ranged bludgeoning damage type with free ammunition that can be used with a shield.
Can be used to throw small objects of all sorts further than you could throw them yourself.
Not the most important thing, but if you're proficient in them and not carrying one, you're adventuring wrong.
This, one of my first looted items was a sling and it's always been useful for hitting buttons, pinging off suspicous statues, distractions via firing at a bush or surface near someone and a whole lot of other shenanigans
The sling has the ammunition property meaning RAW you need a free hand to load it.
@@spiritguide4901 I mean you probably aren't using it in combat unless it's the only thing you can smuggle somewhere
Proper lead balls for the sling are a little heavy and rocks are improvised ammunition, so they do less damage. Still, you add your Str modifier to damage and can use it to throw Thunderstones and maybe other alchemical items further. Yep, definitely worth it for adding a ranged attack to just about any class.
I just cast magic stones and sling those around for boosted damage. Great at low levels just starting off.
Some physics/chemistry funfacts:
Flour by itself is not even that flammable
But just by being a very fine powder it becomes an easily underrated explosive
...also a risk to your respiratory sistems as some particles are too small to be filtered and you might end up choking on flour
...or drownig in flour?
I've played First Edition AD&D since 1980 . One of the most overlooked items is the silver mirror . It can used to look around corners . If the DM allows , can be used as a weapon and/ or defense against gaze attackers .
We used several in a 1e game to deflect light into a vampire's lair.
Oil is one of the best equipments pieces you can buy. It only costs 1 sp, and creates a environmental hazard doing a constant 5 fire damage, with no save. This is far superior to Alchemist's Fire which costs 50 gold, and needs an attack roll. For the cost of one flask of Alchemist's Fire, you can buy 500 flasks of oil.
A Bag of Holding can hold up to 500 pounds, and 64 cubic feet. 500 pints is only 8.35503 cubic feet. Assuming lantern oil weighs as much as petroleum, then 500 pints only weighs about 460 pounds. What you do is have the Sorcerer cast fly. He hovers into whatever area you want to booby trap with the Bag of Holding, and upends it. The oil will then spread out into a 2500 square foot area. The Sorcerer then comes back, and waits. When the hoard rushes in, you the Sorcerer cast Firebolt with Distant Spell, and the whole area goes up in flames.
We were doing a campaign where we were trying to survive an Orc invasion. There were a ton of Orcs between us and where we needed to go so we used the nearby 1 person wide ravine to funnel them into a kill zone, with our party up on the canyon walls but me on the ground as the cork because I had the highest AC. Our fastest member went and... "enticed" them with an arrow to the face of one of the orcs and lured them into the canyon. As soon as the first Orc was in front of me, in went the caltrops, oil and a torch. We killed ALOT of Orcs.
Don't forget the weight of the container.
Most of my DMs have ruled a flask of oil is 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds per pint flask, and quart and gallon bottles are available.
EDIT****** autocorrect.
@@sherylcascadden4988 I was imagining you dump bottle after bottle of oil into the Bag
Soap, I always bring soap as a player, make sure to wash myself as often as possible. Most people forget how bad a bite from a monster can be. If your DM isn't a plague and desease lover, soap can be used like chalk or candles minus the lighting up part as mentioned in the video.
My second favorite item is flasks, bottles, vials and anything you can safely store a liquid or powder into.
Once a player mixed lye, water a metal flagon to make a toxic, flaming bomb with the heat metal spell!
I never use my soap... my bard washes up after each battle using prestidigitation. He stays clean throughout each dungeon ;-)
Another good use is soap coated weapons. The lye in the cuts should be 1 damaging and more important should force a con check to see if the sudden unexpected pain distracts them or makes them flee fearing poison. And it leaves a nasty scar so if they get away they'll still remember it.
Cord - ropes are often too heavy for low strength characters, so I often carry leather cord. 50' weights almost nothing and just as useful as rope in most cases -- binding people, trip lines, lowering reasonable loads, quick secure some door handles, etc.
Collapsible Pole. Three 4' sections which can be connected together is easier to carry and more flexible than a 10' pole. Rollers, making a stretcher, etc.
Rope Ladder. Knot and tie loops into a rope. 50' might only be 25' long, but much easier for others to climb.
Canvas. Lighter than a tent, useful for simple shelters, "duck" blinds, stretcher, covering a cart, make sacks if needed, etc.
Blankets. Lighter than a bedroll and a bit more flexible.
Clothes. A common set and something presentable.
Cloaks - Reversible. Have different colors. Useful city and outdoors, or for a quick "disguise" to people at a distance do not recognize you. Also, you can randomly swap with other party members such that enemies who encountered you before can't necessarily target the correct individual at range or in poor lighting.
Weapons/Shield. If you are a rogue or wizard (and can spare the weight) carry a shield on your back and a big axe or longsword. Just don't equip them during a fight. People seeing you still assume you can use them and are some type of melee-type. You can give these to other party members if their weapons get lost, use the axe for firewood, use the shield to drag some crates, etc.
Mules. For lower-levels and limited strength, bring one as it allows carrying so much extra gear.
Trade Goods. Ale, wine, silver mirrors, rare woods, paintings, etc. are often easier to batter with in some areas and can be useful as gifts, bribes, etc. in ways coin might not.
Ink, Quill, and Paper. I don't know how many times a party has said they write something down and then you ask if they have paper and quill and they don't.
Slate. If you have chalk, a slate board is useful for simple notes, maps, etc.
Grease. A small jar of lard or other material can use used for machinery, lighting fires, ad-hoc pullies (rope over a branch), etc.
This is a GREAT list!
This
Something often overlooked:
A sling
Costs and weighs basically nothing.
Easily concealable.
Gives you a ranged bludgeoning damage type with free ammunition that can be used with a shield.
Can be used to throw small objects of all sorts further than you could throw them by hand.
Not the most important thing, but if you're proficient in them and not carrying one, you're adventuring wrong.
@@dynamicworlds1 if you look at the players manual every character class has proficiency with Slings and high Dex bonus plus the archery fighting style and Sharp Shooter feat work with the sling and it's cheap!
Great ideas. Leather cord can be used at the end of a weapon to prevent being disarmed or on an Immovable Rod as an attachment point.
Priest's Pack in my party. 2 dwarves in first session arrived and needed to case the jail. Paladin dressed up as a priest and set up a "The end is nigh" display to distract everyone, while the cleric checked out the jail while using Thaumaturgy: whispers, booms, tremors, etc. Each time she made noise, I had the other roll performance or persuasion and kept getting 18 and 19. When the cleric made her voice boom REPENT! everyone dropped to their knees and donated about 30gp total, nice start to the caper.
I had a priest from the nearby cult ask on whose authority they preached this...Paladin nat 20s Relogion. So he quoted names, dates, sign, freaking star alignments and the priest left, probably to tell head cultists that the time is now.
AMAZING session zero.
If you were playing the old school paladins, they were tied to religions. So they wouldn't need to dress up like a priest. I like a lot of 5e changes, but breaking that link is not one of them.
No natural 20s in skill checks. You either pass or not but you never crit.
@@arturaugustyniak9008 Lots of people don't care, my dm doesn't
@@bloodygecko2577 Yes I know but I refuse to accept it and shall forever be angry when people try to Nat 20 their skill checks. It's 5% chance of god level intervention. Not on my watch!
@@arturaugustyniak9008 one of the reasons i miss ranks in skills, it wasnt a crit but it was still noteworthy, if i had a player nat 20 a skill they hadn't trained in they had a chance to get a free rank.
wasnt much but sometimes a +1 is the difference between success or failure
A recipe book. You will be doing a lot of traveling and sampling of various cuisines. Get the recipe for a few of the special ones, then the next time you're at a tavern/pub/bar, trade the recipe for food/drinks/lodging.
Or if you need to kill someone, edit the recipe a little and then trade it.
Let's see, recipe calls for 10g of cyanide to enhance the flavors of the other spices, and an additional 50ml of dragon's blood to counter the lethal effects of the cyanide...sounds right to me!
This is a story from my first time playing DnD. As a fun little side trip at the start of the session, the DM brought us to a nicknack store owned by a gnome. One of our party members (A sorcerer) kept asking to buy the little gnome. She rolled for persuasion and rolled a nat 20.
What ends up happening is a hilarious set of events that ends up in her purchasing a garden gnome from the gnome owner.
Fast forward to our first encounter, and she rolled for first move. She decides to throw the garden gnome at the thug trying to confront us, and she rolls a nat 18. She rolls for damage, and rolls the highest number possible. She one shot the thug.
Tl;dr Sorcerer asks to buy gnome, gets garden gnome, throws garden gnome at thug, oneshots thug.
One thing nearly every character in every game I've ever played has on them, and its useful in all three tiers of DnD: One bottle of high proof hooch. Social lubricant, quick bribe, insta firebomb, and alcohol does kill a lot of gross stuff you might encounter down in tunnels.
Had fighter who lost his weapons but had carpenter's/tinker's tools, and Tavern Brawler. Attachd grappling hook to small length of rope then attached that to pole. Now had pointy flail.
I did something similar. Wanted a double blades staff but didn't want to buy one so tied some daggers to the staff and whacked people with it
I hope your DM made him roll every attack with disadvantage. Improvised weapons can't match the real thing.
@@brenta2634 That's... a nonsense ruling. Even the rules for "improvised weapons" state that some weapons are "close enough" to the real thing that you'd get your proficiency and use the normal stat block for it, and if it's not a weapon in the "traditional" sense then you'd just not get your proficiency bonus and it'd do 1D4 damage. In the case of the double bladed staff (dagger knock off version) I'd just make him roll some kind of check every time he hit something to see if the daggers fell off, and if they did treat it as a normal quarterstaff. Or if he had woodworking tools/etc, he could make a crafting check to see if he could make a decent quality knock-off version, that might just require some upkeep every so often to prevent it from breaking or something. In the case of the "fake flail" above, the player has tavern brawler, which specifically gives him proficiency with improvised weapons so there's 0 justification for disadvantage, just a case for the weapon being prone to damage, or having the rope cut (flails usually just chains to connect the bits for this very reason), etc.
@@kedolan4992 I fully agree that improvised weapons should be used normally, and that since they are not specifically made for the rigors of combat, there should be a check to see if they break/dismantle in a hilarious fashion. I think that being proficient should mean you roll with advantage when determining if it breaks.
Brilliant, Jason. Absolutely, brilliant.
Ah, flashbacks to the time my players lifted a ship out of water with 4 ships using a rope and pulley system. Whole underwater section, slipped.
Dust explosions depend on air dispersion. So a bag of flour on the ground won't do much, but a bag of flower suspended and leaking certainly can. A bag of flower opened, tossed into the air, then ignited... now that's some fun shit. Also strictly speaking any fine powder can explode like that, it just takes more heat the less combustible the material is, and if your GM argues against them because of medieval setting, dust explosions have existed since people started storing grain, particularly in silos which were in use as far back as 800BC, ie pre-biblical times, and given that silos were the source of most dust explosions, it's very likely that the phenomenon was observed as far back as then. Additionally in a world where fireballs exist, a two stage explosive is child's play to understand by comparison, that is to say, dispersal followed by ignition.
Most silo explosions are extremely dangerous & destructive. The silo itself becomes an enormous bomb... I've heard they have a huge blast radius too...
It has to be flammable dust, for example stone dust ground glass or sand wont' work.
Masks definitely! I played a Hafling character who was a Druid-barbarian that wore a tattooed human skull. Every time we went to battle I put that thing on, terrifying! I even tricked people and undead into thinking I was undead a few times. So many uses and great roleplaying moments from that one item!
One time when I was in a low level party, we had to dig up a treasure from next to an Owlbear's den. No one had a shovel, so I used my mess kit (metal bowl) to dig in a panic as the owlbear started to stir.
Lesson learned. All my characters now start with a shovel or spade.
My most memorable character was a Dwarven fighter with a 20 con back in 2E days, he always carried a shovel. Whenever a new character got introduced to the group, and asked why, he'd say (7 charisma) "For burying new guys like you that don't make it".
"I'd like you to meet my friends..." is the most funny line I've ever heard on this channel.
It is important to note that the flour needs to be suspended in air, not just in a pile, to make the massive fireball. Quite dangerous when it happens, but you would need something to get the flour to be in a cloud (shatter, unseen servant throwing it, swinging down from ceiling, etc)
This works with a number of substances, such as non-dairy creamer, saw dust (concentration of particles matter), and coal.
A bag of coal dust is procurable from nearly any blacksmith for literally nothing but the cost of sweeping it up from in and around the coal bin. This dust is also flammable when settled on an enemy as well. 1 scroll tube of coal dust thrown into the air+ 1 small spark from prestidigitation= unhappy room.
I watched this... and immediately made this list for my party's next time we are in a town or city:
( * = Item I included, that you did not include in this video)
Rope
* Grapple Hook
Chalk
Scroll Tubes
* A map case
* Climbing Kit
Pitons
Small Hammer (like from a climbing kit for example)
Block & Tackle
Colored Wax Candles
* Several weights of paper from Onion Skin to Parchment
Fishing Line
Bell
Bag of Flour
Bag of Sand and/or Crushed Glass
* Bag of Salt
* Bag of Pepper
Bag of Caltrops
* Extra Money Pouch
Creepy Wooden Mask
* Fancy Wooden or Leather Mask
* Hooded Cloak
* Water-resistant leather bag/saddlebag/messenger bag/envoy's pouch
* Several general purpose cloth sacks.
* A compass
* Signet ring
* Wax seal kit
Nice list. Commenting to check on this later.
Later.
Uninspired, but I really love having a crowbar. Sure, same benefits can be applied with a party members help action, but the rogue is sometimes breaking into places on his own. Plus, not every door doors lock should be pickable. Sometimes, doors are just physically barred.
Simple but effective.
Now I'm afraid of my party using the entirety of the dragon's hoard to buy only chalk.
On another note I recently added homebrew duct tape to my Curse of Strahd campaign. I imagine if there were official rules for duct tape that would absolutely be on this list.
Duct tape would be top notch. You could use it for mending, as a plaster, to lock down wizards, to tie up enemies, as moderate torture, as a mask, to bind demons (because we all know duct is more powerful than any kind of magic) and probably a tonne more things I haven't thought of yet (this is just what instantly came to mind)
@@justanotherglorpsdaymornin5097
Or you could have a player get Sovereign Glue. It is literally the duct tape of D&D. Get a strip of cloth and its a tape.
We are yet to find an equivalent to WD-40, though...
@@NothingXemnas isn't soveriegn glue a magic item though and you can't peel it off like duct tape
@@justanotherglorpsdaymornin5097 right. You would need universal solvent, the anti adhesive
@@jeffcasella1550 or a wish spell
You'd be amazed at what some clever players could do with a wheelbarrow, flask of oil, torch and a black hooded cloak.
(Referencing a movie called 'The Princess Bride'.)
On my best day, I could handle maybe ten.
Why, they could storm a castle if it were a holocaust cloak!
MonkeyJedi99 leaving twenty for me? At my best, I could never defeat that many. I need Vizzini to plan, i have no gift for strategy.
Why didn't you list that (the wheelbarrow) with our previous assets?
“The Dwead Piwate Woberts is here for your sooooooullllllll!”
As a parent it's usually silence that scares the shit out of me. Screaming and crying... don't bat an eyelash...when you hear "uh oh..." you go running...
Between tying up your enemies, tying up your enemies in a different way and tying up your enemies in a third way, rope just has so many uses!
a simple shovel. You'd be surprise at just how much treasure is actually buried. Plus, if you 'accidently' kill an innocent, you have the means to bury the body
Beware the guy who carries a shovel with him...Check!
I always state my spade is sharpened , useful make shift weapon
(not mundane but still heavily underated)what i read recently:
a bag of devouring
it is a portable guillotine that cleans up after itself
I’d like to add a hand mirror to the list. I’ve had many times where using it to see around corners and behind me has proven useful. And on rare occasion reflecting light off the mirror for other random shenanigans.
I buy hand mirrors too, but it's worth mentioning that thieves tools contain a small mirror on a stick that can be used in some of the same ways.
Made a gazer charm itself the other day. Left the mirror to it so it could admire itself.
two mirrors and a little carpentry work and you have a collapsable periscope box. Looking around corners is a snap, and you don't have to contend with a reversed image. I've used it to check outside while using Rope Trick, too.
A walking stick
Use it to get dex advantage on rough terrain, get a small leather square, some string, a needle and turn it into a long range sling, get some rope and a dagger, and turn it into a spear
Hella useful for anyone going long distance
"Name one thing you're gonna need the stupid rope for."
"Charlie Bronson's always got rope, and they always end up using it."
Parchment paper and ink. Good god it's amazing for roleplay, and can in-character take down notes on enemy movements, weaknesses they observe, ect which can help if you need something/information without breaking character or meta gaming! I do this in my current Curse of Strahd campaign, also make for hilarious fits of 'crumpled paper lobbing at your cocky rangers head.' moments.
As a parent, I can absolutely confirm that tiny noises are enough to wake you.
I would add, however, that any parent who's child has been vomiting all night knows that not only does the tiniest sound wake you, but you can jump into action before you're eyes are even fully opened.
For me, it's when I snap out of a deep sleep because I hear a cat making hurling noises near my head. I am just aware enough to flail my limbs about and get them to hwark up on the floor instead of my pillow.
@@MonkeyJedi99 literally lol'd at this
Taking a page from the Dragonlance stories, my halfling rogue has five belt pouches. The four that are on his belt all contain cheap things (including a few copper coins and maybe a silver or two) while the fifth, with the majority of his money and also his thief's tools, is hidden under his armor.
If you're in a game where there's any real possibility of NPC pickpockets, multiple pouches is a must
Our group calls that the 'sacrificial pouch'.
1. Druid sets reaction to cast heat metal
2. Put ball bearings inside a barely used tinder box
3. Throw the tinder box into the mouth of the white dragon
4. Have fun!
I like to equip all my characters with extra leather straps. Comes in handy for venomous effects, bindings, or just something to bite down on when you need to brace yourself for something intense. I had a character get into a boxing match. He used leather as a tooth guard. He won by shattering his opponent's teeth with a solid uppercut. Caused him uncontrollable pain, profuse bleeding and made him forfeit. If he'd had a piece of soft leather, folded over a few times, to place between his teeth, it would have saved him permanent damage and kept him in the fight. That same character later became a boss. Not BBEG, but not being able to speak clearly anymore and being permanently disfigured made him turn to the dark side extremely quickly. If my character had had a second piece of leather to offer him, we could have shortened our campaign significantly, and saved some perception rolls trying to understand wtf he was saying.
Magnifying glass - advantage for locks/traps
"A magnifying glass grants advantage on any
ability check made to appraise or inspect an item that is small or highly detailed."
- Such as the inside workings of a lock or trap mechanism.
I often use a fullfaced helmet as bait when faced with a corner in a dungeon. using it on a stick or with mage hand to make it look like someone is locking around the corner, when screams or arrows follow the way is not clear
Thank you for this video, I've been espousing the virtues of mundane equipment for years and still my fellow players don't take heed. The number of times I've responded to someone going invisible by tossing a bag of flour in the air and shooting it open with a broadhead crossbow bolt and covered all of the room in flour to reveal their location is too many to count, and both chalk and candles have way more uses than people realize. Once we had creatures in a dungeon rubbing off my chalk trail, so I started dripping bright green hot wax into the little divots in the stone floors. Nothing's getting that out.
And the whole flour bomb thing is absolutely a thing I've pulled many times. I love it so much. I've had three different parties all fear my baker cleric who bakes healing spells into cookies and blows people up with improvised flour bombs XD
Sadly (though fortunately for bakers), the key to flour exploding is that it needs to be spread into a cloud first. The video you linked, for example, had a rocket in the middle. It exploded, scattered the flour, THEN the flour caught fire. Hitting a bag of flour with a flaming arrow probably wouldn't work.
Yeah it's like not that flour is a bomb, but particulate matter that is flammable can do the boom or whatever. Like sawdust can do it too. Gotta be a cloud type thing.
Yeah, what you have to do to produce that effect is going to come down to what your DM thinks makes sense. Firebolt? Possibly. The best option is going to be a combo of one person tossing the flour into the air, and another igniting it.
Sorcerer with catapult, another casts prestidigitation
yep, a flaming arrow shot into a bag of flour would frankly do nothing.
gotta aerate it first.
@@NoodleKeeper Or quicken the Catapult spell.
Player: I'd like to buy four bags of caltrops please.
Merchant: Oh, I AM sorry, but I'm afraid I'm sold out.
Player: When do you think you might be re-stocked?
Merchant: I'm afraid that won't be until next Thursday.
Player: Oh. Dang. Well, thanks anyway.
Merchant: Now, I DO have these bags of Lego pieces ...
Player: “Sir! I’m not a *monster*!”
@@thezapdad LOL
Merchant: ‘ow about these 4 sided bone dice, then?
@@michealnelson5179 Oh, you ARE cruel, aren't you?
One in our party has a crippling fear of water, so getting across the calm river was an undertaking. With axes, we chopped trees. With rope we built a raft. And with some mushrooms we'd earlier experimented with, we paralyzed our water phobic sorcoror to force over the river without setting fire to our raft.
And, finally, the one object I can think of that you didn't include in the video, spare sacks and bags. My goblin thief, Grabbins the Unwanted, managed to gather two extra days of rations just strolling around a busy tavern grabbing things off people's plates and trunchens while they were busy chatting with others. (Hey, he grew up having to fend for himself. If you weren't actively eating or guarding your food, you weren't eating and it was fair game.)
The point is, you never know when you need an extra sack for stuff.
a sack full of empty sacks.
need a counter weight for your pulley system? put some dirt in a sack.
you need to make sure your prisoner doesn't know where you are taking him? put a sack over his head.
you need to carry a prisoner who is incapacitated or uncooperative? stuff him in a sack.
you need to carry loot back into town? sack.
you need a weight to put tension on your tripwire? sack with dirt.
you want to build a trap? make a sack full of rocks fall onto the victim.
you need to deal bludgeoning damage to an enemy? use a sack full of coins.
need to hide in a storage room? crawl into your own sack and wait in a corner.
need to put out a small fire? throw a sack on it.
need to hide your identity? cut two eye holes in a sack and put it over your head.
your clothes get destroyed stolen or otherwise ruined? cut three holes into a sack and you are at least not walking around in your birthday suit.
if you are faced with a problem and you can not think of a way to include a sack in it's solution, you are not thinking hard enough.
Healer’s kits + healer feat + thief rogue makes them a full on second healer for the party. 1d6 + 4 + #of hit die as a bonus action, plus the ability to bring someone up as a bonus action
Half of the brain remains active when sleeping in new environments as a dolphin-like defence mechanism so it's absolutely feasible that bells would wake them up
One thing I’ve always struggled to improve in DnD has been damage output from arrows other than using spells, magic items, or sneak attack. This video has given me the solution: flour + pouches + arrow = improvised explosive arrows. Combine with the having a separate small quiver for these and the spell Flame Arrows and you have an explosion on impact.
I bought an iron door to use as a weapon. I carry it around with me and I can set it down as a trap. Since I have the thaumaturgy spell, I can remotely make the door fly open, making for some fun encounters.
This is the best thing ever 😂