Brainstorm Uses for the Summon Instrument cantrip

[davidvs]

The Summon Instrument cantrip can be lots of fun!

spell description wrote:

This spell summons one handheld musical instrument of your choice. This instrument appears in your hands or at your feet (your choice). The instrument is typical for its type. Only one instrument appears per casting, and it will play only for you. You can't summon an instrument too large to be held in two hands. The summoned instrument disappears at the end of this spell.

Let's make three ground rules.

1. Anachronisms are okay because Golarion is a big place, but let's not break what is established technology. No synthesizers.

2. An item only used in one specific performance is not generally accepted as an instrument. No cannon (from the 1812 Overture) and no balloons (from For Balloons and Motion).

3. The PC is not allowed to sit in the town square and bang longswords together for a week while sining to "make" longswords a valid musical instrument. No PC-defined instruments.

So, what fun and useful things can this cantrip create?

I'll start...

1. Want a quarterstaff and a light metal shield? How about some twine to tie up the villain after you fight him? Summon a washtub base.

2. Looking disheveled? Need some place to put your gum and something to fix your hair with? Summon a comb and wax paper.

3. Need to escape from prison? Unless it's a masterwork lock a few uses of summoning a saw should suffice.

4. Need to act drunk? Summon a whiskey jug.

5. Need to act elegantly drunk? Or just thirsty? Summon a crystal goblet partially full of water.

6. Need to create difficult terrain? Summon a glass harmonica.

7. Need to garrote someone? Summon a lute and remove a string.

8. Need to bludgeon someone? Summon a herald trumpet.

9. Need a reach weapon? Summon an alpine horn.

10. Need something metal, heavy,and aerodynamic for the barbarian to hurl? Summon a large cymbal.

11. Need fuel for a fire? Keep summoning wood blocks.

12. Need to drink soup? Summon a pair of spoons.

[Spanky the Leprechaun]

13. More cowbell.

[Writer]

Need to eliminate a threat fast? summon a piano to slow them down. that not enough? then certianly, the pipe organ from the local cathedral should do the trick.

I'm sorry, i've seen this done before, and thought it's not exactly RAI, it certianly is one of the funniest applications I've ever seen.

EDIT: ninja'd. Besides, this doesn't work in pathfinder.

[A highly regarded expert]

As a GM, I'd allow some of that. Items that aren't really musical instruments, like a jug, saw, or a washtub bass, are intended for other purposes, or are comprised of 2 or more items that in themselves aren't musical instruments.

A tuba would be fine, though, if brass horns exist in your game. Wound metal strings are not medieval nor renaissance. That's not to say they're not effective garrotes, but not as effective as modern piano wire. Wooden instruments would burn until the spell expires.

[davidvs]

Of course, a Bard 1 / Monk of the Empty Hand X with the trait Rough and Ready could have fun with almost anything...

Flurry of flutes!

[jasonfahy]

Breaking most of your rules for the sake of comedy:

Pianos!

[Oterisk]

Spanky the Leprechaun wrote:

13. More cowbell.

Yeah, if you got a fever.

[Tels]

Folk hero EL KABONG!! OLAYYEE!!

Next time I have a low level game in a city, there is going to be a robbery with El Kabong around and the PCs are going to witness El Kabong in action.

[Edit]BTW, a piano wouldn't work as the instrument must be handheld and can't be too large to hold in two hands.

[Black Powder Chocobo]

davidvs wrote:

Of course, a Bard 1 / Monk of the Empty Hand X with the trait Rough and Ready could have fun with almost anything...

Flurry of flutes!

My sifu happens to know a fighting flute form... of course he can't play it :P

Tels wrote:

Folk hero EL KABONG!! OLAYYEE!!

Next time I have a low level game in a city, there is going to be a robbery with El Kabong around and the PCs are going to witness El Kabong in action.

/shakefist

I was just about to post that... I actually had a gnome bard who did run around doing this. Well, until my GM was nice enough to give me Glove of Storing and an Adamantine Lute :P

[Tom Dlonge]

As a fairly new bard I have been asking about both defensive and offense ways to use this seemingly Gamebreaking Cantrip here is what (with some lucky rolls) I have gotten away with so far (or tried to)

-Summon Gong: I and my team set off an arrow trap in a 5' wide hallway, and lightning fast i yelled "Summon Gong" (rolled 18+mod) and got a gong (the diameter of my characters wingspan) made of bronze that blocked the attack entirely.
**note I have rolled too low on that trick and gotten finger cymbals... and an axe to the shoulder**
-Summon Great Bell: Classic cartoon move, my NPC dwarven sidekick and I have a move in which I summon bell on the head of the NPC within melee range of me, based on roll, it is now blind and if my dwarf lands a mace strike on the bell, they are shaken. Again, all depends on rolls.
-Summon Susaphone: bit of a crapshoot, but sometimes in a panic i summon this as a standard action and lob it towards the attacker. Skeletons/Zombies seems to always try to catch it and sometimes drop their weapons... not my favorite, but has been effective.

and last and probably impossible to pull off
-Summon X/Sonic Burst:
you cant really direct the instrument you summon, it poofs into existence in front of you and you grab it, BUT if you were to use say, Sonic wave/burst what have you as your second action you could (depending on the level of wtf your DM puts up with/rolls) propel said instrument fwd dealing physical dmg along with the d8 of sonic.

Worth a shot right? Am I crazy?

[Fromper]

Catch Off Guard feat - hit them with a banjo.

[ShagothK]

If my bard has sufficient Strength to lift it and the Catch Off-guard feat, can I summon a Piano then? How about I also crossclass titan barbarian.

[blahpers]

Sure, why not. Whether it's suitable for use as an improvised weapon is another story.

/"El KaBONG!!!"

[Spandox]

Can I summon a metal string guitar and then just take the high e string and garrot someone?

[Unbegreiflich]

ever since I joined The Comets our rise has been meteoric. We played our Starstone finale a millennia ago to a sold out crowd. Luckily by the time it gets to you the rock is two-handed in size percussion instrument but moving at 160000 mph. It's a blast.

“We'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.” Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I don't know why you'd summon a 20lb toy piano... but if you did a rubber rabbit on a guitar you'd be bach to a hare on a G string... takin it off you'd be thong gone...

[Niemand]

what about Ondatra Cat-tail flute or Glass harmonica or harp for Caydelyn *hic* Kaleian folks or the Hardart...

[Pizza Lord]

Summon bagpipes and inflate them as a flotation device or air bladder for extended underwater breathing.
Fill it with holy water or acid and use it as a squirt or spray weapon.. If it gets ruined, who cares, it's summoned.

Summon a hand-gong if you need an impromptu plate, disk, or buckler (GM discretion).

Summon a sousaphone (like a big, coiling tuba that goes around the body), and use it as a restraint on a prisoner. Like dropping a tire over their shoulders and upper arms.

[I grok do u]

Just summon a scalpel and remove splinters, fingers, or whatever!