What is the "over the shoulder" rule?
"over the shoulder' rule is basically the idea that if you have an ally right in front of you between you and an enemy you can shoot at the enemy without granting the enemy cover because your essentially shooting over your allies shoulder.
this rule is so common in every group I have played with that I never thought to find it in the rules, when i looked for it today I could not find it in a search. I think the idea comes from this rule found at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat ranged attacks > shooting or throwing into melee
If your target (or the part of your target you're aiming at, if it's a big target) is at least 10 feet away from the nearest friendly character, you can avoid the –4 penalty, even if the creature you're aiming at is engaged in melee with a friendly character.
having said that. it may be just a common sense ruling that I am exploiting. If your standing behind your ally and some distance away from the both of you is an enemy the ally does not provide cover to the enemy. same can be said for a 3 foot wide 5 foot tall shield floating in mid air. you can stand behind the shield and shoot at some one some distance away on the other side of the shield without the shiled providing them cover. You however receive cover from the shield.
An interesting use for a Wondrous Item had to be from the Dwarven Rogue in the group, using an item others have mentioned before, the Immovable Rod, in this instance he character bought two or himself.
Things they have used the rods for...
1.) Climbing midair. (With at least 2), they get to the top, fasten on a rope and let the rest of the group head on up.
2.) Holding doors shut. Damn those things are hard to move if you cant reach it to push the button (such as from the other side of a door).
3.) When being 'Swallowed Whole', the beast that swallowed them having one heck of a time trying to move from the spot. (A tactic used intentionlly by the tough Party Barbrian who cuts his way out thanks to his excellent HP and nicely enchanted dagger).
4.) Using two, stringing a length of rope or wire between them to create a rudimentry 'tripping' hazard while he majority of the group rain down ranged attacks at charging (and sometimes tripping) foes.
Another item used by the same character is a Dust Of Dryness, but the character used it on an OOZE such as a Black Pudding and then it turned a nasty opponent into a VERY nasty thrown weapon....lol, pretty devastating when used against enemy mages or people who are poor with their Combat Manuver Defense rolls.
Bag of holding mass slave escape.
Long time ago in 3.0ed we had a mission to bring a few hundred halfling slave farmers accross the bad lands in enemy occupied territory. We pooled our money and bought 2 of the largest bags of holding and a partially full teleport staff, snuck into the stockade, halflings mass dove into the bags, sorc teleport to home, dump out the bags, teleport back to the stockade, rinse & repeat...
Spent alot of time discussion how many halflings you can stuff in a BoH before the first ones start suffocating. We ran out of teleports before we got them all out. But we only had to escort about a dozen that had actual class levels rather than a couple hundred level 1 commoners.
Short circuited the intended course of the campaign, but the GM seemed kool with it. He had not expected it. So we had to stop until he could figure out where to go from there.
Bag of holding zombie clowncar.
Controll/create all the undead you want and stuff them into a large bag of holding to take with you. They don't need to breathe so they're fine.
Reminds of a Knights of the Dinner Table plot line where the mercenaries they put into their Bag of Holding revolted and claimed independence -- and all of their stuff.
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The decanter could certainly be used as the basis for a crude jetski.... just don't fall off because it doesn't stop.
I've seen lots of creative uses for immovable rods. Probably my favorite was the guy trying to figure out what to do when the character his dragon had swallowed whole activated an immovable rod.
I suspect the reason the rod is as expensive as it is is due to it's many uses.
ow...it hurts just to think about that...eck...
on a related note, a decanter of endless water would've worked wonders there too...although it'd be a kamikaze mission, since the water pressure would most likely kill you...possibly...
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Water is actually mostly incompressible. As the water is released, it would expand any possible cavities, and then move on to opening an orifice. Even though most dragons would likely have massive jaw muscles, they can't compress an incompressible fluid. Water "pressure" is actually just a measurement of the flow of water. The more pressure is applied onto water, the faster it moves.
Immovable rods have got to be my favorite miscellaneous magic item. There are so many uses, and a creative player can really wring out the ideas with them.
Does anyone know exactly what sort of action spreading a Portable Hole to functionality is? I can't seem to find it on the PRD or SRD. I ask for the following idea.
I once had an idea for a character that used a Glove of Storing to 'store' his portable hole. Likely a rogue character that would spread it out in a dark hallway just around a turn, like a trap. Maybe hide out and do a bull-rush from behind the poor fella so they fall in :). Afterwords fold it up, store it, and dispose of the corpse when possible.
Alternatively can be used for a wonderful storage method as everyone stated before... Lessee.. What was the cubic volume of a 6ft diameter, 10ft deep cylinder again? Easily retrievable with a Glove of Storing!
I dunno. I like my trap hole method. Have yet to see it done... makes you wonder what happens if you fold it up with people half-sticking out of it?
Edit: As for Ring Gates... It's a wonderful tactical device too, since it doesn't seem to need to be anchored. Have some melee fighter Florentine a ring-gate and his single weapon. Have the mage hold the other, and start lobbing close-range spells from range of sight.... Alternatively you could conceivably use it to help the rogue get some sneak attacks vs more than one target (also Florentine with his weapon and a ring gate). Instant transport of healing potions, and alchemist bombs....
I think I'm now in love with Ring Gates. Two characters with a Glove of Storing and half of a pair of Ring Gates? Oh the mischievous fun one could have....
Edit 2: How terrifying would a warrior (Paladin, Fighter, whatever) with a Ring Gate being Sovereign Glued to his shield with the exit point outwards, and any number of mages, alchemists, and archers sitting there with the other half? Spells have no weight, so I don't think they'd count towards the Gates limit of 100 lbs a day...
I may have to use that for a villain grouping in my upcoming campaign... Tower Shield fighter with several Ring Gates attached to his shield. Wicked.
Has anyone ever tried to use a Bag of Holding as a weapon by placing a portable hole inside the bag of holding to open up a portal to another plane?
Has anyone ever tried to use a Bag of Holding as a weapon by placing a portable hole inside the bag of holding to open up a portal to another plane?
Yes. Once, a loong time ago. We wound up in Asmodeus' bathing chambers, mid-bath....
Not a single combatant was left alive.
..I once had an idea for a character that used a Glove of Storing to 'store' his portable hole...
I don't hink you can do that.
I think if you put extradimensional things in other extradimensional things you get a big boom.
Glove of Storing does not create extradimensional space: it shrinks the item it stores down past diminutive.
And the only extradimensional spaces that create a big boom are the Portable Hole/Bag of Holding combo; other storage devices simply become inaccessible until removed from other extradimensional spaces (including rope trick, et. al.) -- no boom.
These are all hilarious. And I happen to have a pair of ring gates as the next game's prize...
A bag of holding of sufficient size makes a really effective camping tool, increasing safety and hiding you from intruders.
Why whatever do you mean? Well, tired of being waylaid, your camp attacked? Turn a few fluffy monsters into a nice pelt, a la sleeping bag. My char preferred manticore. Put most of sleeping bag into the bag of holding, now find a good spot. A small hole in the ground, a burrow near a creek, tree roots, a rabbit hole, up a tree. Tuck it in nice and cozy. Then climb in, and leaving your head and a bit of the pelt out, snooze away. Best to cover your head with light foliage or some sort of cover. Be in a spot that is really hard to get to, but which you can get out.
You are now tiny size. A head sleeping just outside a bag, a little bit of pelt around your head. You can make yourself very hard to find. This is what I did with a ninja character of mine when he was between jobs and out alone in Brevoy.
Has anyone ever tried to use a Bag of Holding as a weapon by placing a portable hole inside the bag of holding to open up a portal to another plane?Yes. Once, a loong time ago. We wound up in Asmodeus' bathing chambers, mid-bath....
Not a single combatant was left alive.
No one apologised and complimented his abs?
Had a mage in a game that was fond of Binding monsters into gems. For quite a while he was wandering around with fair collection of pokegems.
Then the party ended up making an enemy out of a powerful magic-hating kingdom.
After the kingdom attacked the wizard school he'd created the mage got pretty pissed. He created an explosive device packed with pokegems and adamantine shards and dropped it from about a mile over the kingdom's capitol.
Angry high level Monstersplosion.
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Some past shenanigans...
Using a rope of climbing to ensnare a sleeping ogre.
We used to create brooch of shielding bombs when they used to explode when their magic missile limit was reached. Just toss it at your enemy when it's got one missile left to absorb and dink! Instant megaexplosion.
Here's something my witch is thinking about. Beguiling Gift + Eyes of the Eagle with one lens removed. Instant stun for one round.
I once had a wizard whose only significant magic item was a "robe of useful items". After a particularly unsuccessful encounter he managed to delay the pursuing enemy by throwing the rowboat patch behind the party in a narrow corridor.