Hey there,
This tread is dedicated to all the small tricks that you use to surprise your dm in combat. Im currently playing a pure enchanter and obviously I'm rather useless in many combats.
Therefore I've specialised in small tricks that surprise my dm but possibly turns the tide of combat. I would like to hear if you have any ideas that might fall under this category.
Examples so far has been:
Scroll of benign transportation - To run through difficult terrain (fey bloodline) and then switch places with the slow moving tank.
Scroll of Explosive runes - Cast on paper then handed to bandits as papers worth seeing before they attack.
Scroll of obscuring mist - High initiative save the party surrounded by bandits with bows
there must be tons of fairly cheap tricks that will turn the tide of combat, so please don't hold back.
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How about using your charm spells or geas to gather intelligence? Charm a minion of the enemy and just ask some questions about what the party might face going against the BBEG. Charm makes them friendly and a good Diplomacy check makes them helpful. The lesser troops may still know some important information (like the red dragon outside the throne room, that they've been warned not to touch the altar in the chapel) or have them draw just a rough map of the dungeon or keep you want to enter. The party can adjust their strategies for the challenges (prepare cold spells for the dragon, etc.) ahead. Forewarned is forearmed. Keep comprehend languages handy in case there's no shared language.
How about casting dancing lights in a dungeon behind an enemy and calling out to your "allies behind the enemy" to flank them? Possible diversion material there.
Reduce person on ogres. Bring them down to your size (losing reach), lower their damage potential, and it doesn't really boost their AC too much (+2; size and Dex). That one is personal judgment; my players like to get in close and try to avoid reach attacks if they can. Losing reach and lowering damage may not be your party's cup of tea if it makes the ogre harder to hit.
One of my players loved to cast cloudkill in a room then stone shape or wall of stone the door closed. Let that clear a room out instead of wasting hp and healing in a battle. He also used stone shape to make impromptu cover for fighting creatures with reach (like ropers.
One of mine: Use rope trick to bypass sealed/locked/trapped doors. Cast it just on your side of the door near the ceiling, climb up, look through the 3x5 foot window to scout the adjacent room, lower the rope into the next room, and climb back down.
The player who loved cloudkill also came up with the ring of spell storing with antimagic field in it and given to the barbarian. The barbarian casts antimagic field on themselves, rages, and engages the enemy spellcaster.
I once used a simple light spell to scare off half of a party of bandits. That trick really only works at night though.
Our sorcerer likes using Enlarge person on our fighter, which is amusing.
That Benign transportation thing is genius.
Prestidigitation also has tons of uses, you just have to get creative.
Oh, scroll of halt undead is such a powerful scroll against mindless undead
Keep um coming! *reads the notes, jots them down in his DM book*
I used stone shape to create a hollow cylinder out of the floor stone and brought to the ceiling except for a small hole near the top to trap the werewolf we couldn't hurt inside. The DM allowed it a reflex save to jump out before the spell completed but it failed. . . . . then I used create water to fill the tube and drown it.
Then there is also the fun with
Me:"I cast Silence on the mummy lord"
DM:"The mummy lord saves"
Me next round: "I cast Silence on this rock I picked up, which is not a death scarab I might add>"
DM: *DM gives me a questioning look* Your a bard in a silence zone, your song stops working.
Me the third round: "+12 ranged touch attack to throw the silence stone into the debris 5 feet behind the mummy lord."
DM: . . . . my 12 level cleric mummy lord is now silenced and your song is back up . . .
I don't mean to be rude, but a lot of the suggestion here are the common accepted tactical usage of many of these spells and combinations.
Silence is always best cast on an object or ally rather than the enemy. It's a no save (because you didn't cast it on an enemy) way to remove their ability to cast spells, unless they have a habit of preparing silenced spells. If you have an ally who specializes in grappling this is an extra awesome tactic. Just watch a caster try to deal with being in a zone of silence and grapple.
Scroll of Halt Undead can be very powerful against mindless undead, but thats the point. However, even better is just plain Hide from Undead. Still no save for mindless undead and last much longer.
Enlarge person is commonly used on your big beefy martials. The ideas that sorcerers or wizard take this spell to use it on themselves make me laugh. Enlarge person is a debuff for most full progression arcane casters.