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As far as I can tell we haven't had one of these threads in a while and they're always fun. So I'll get started.
1. Soap as glowing signage. Cast light on a bar of soap and then draw designs on dungeon walls, doorways and anywhere else you can think of that would benefit from a little extra light or an obvious marker that you've already been down a certain path. Also works great for finding invisible foes that can't fly if you apply it liberally to the floors.
2. Tents as makeshift parachutes/para-gliders. Stuck at the top of a cliff and the wizard didn't prepare feather fall? Worry not, your tent that you've totally been using while on the trail can actually come in handy. If it has rigid supports you can make a makeshift para-glider to help slow and aim your landing and if it doesn't, the extra drag from the tent's cloth should be enough to convince your GM to knock a couple d6s from your fall damage.
3. Sewing needle as compass needle. If you heat up a strip of iron until it's red hot it will polarize itself while cooling. If you align an iron needle north/south while doing this, you effectively create a compass needle, allowing you to continue to travel after losing your wayfinder.
What other neat tricks do people have?
Don't forget that some of this requires a) GM cooperation and/or b) an appropriate skill. (#1 for a), #2 for b).)
4. Food and drink. Because meeting people on the trail and offering to share a pot of tea (or better, that fancy elven tea) is a good way of breaking the ice and helping to get either a +2 to your Diplomacy check (because RP) or simply straight-out shift their attitude towards you a level or two. Having a good-sized Bag of Holding and/or a Portable Hole that carries what amounts to a kitchen inside (chest of food, chest of cooking gear) is tons better than a ring that keeps you alive, or a spoon that stirs up a potful of crappy gruel.
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5. Door as improvised tower shield. I have a character famous for that.
6. Rope as ... frickin' near anything. It's a belt, it's a lasso, it's a replacement bowstring.
7. Flask of oil (1 pint) + Tindertwig + twine; makes a cheap alchemist's fire that will continue to burn in a square, albeit for less damage.
8. Waterskin; it's a big opaque container. if you have problems with bandits at low levels, it makes a great place to store your emergency money.
9. Canvas; Your DM wants an excuse for how you're carrying around that bunch of swords and spears you've been collecting from enemies? wrap them all up in a sheet of canvas and tie it to your mule's back.
10. Hourglass; specifically the funnel-like glass bits. they're wonderfully useful for funneling alchemical acids into locks, delicate trap mechanisms, etc, for funneling water into small holes that might have poisoned needles waiting to stab you (poisons can be washed off after all), and for making sure you don't lose track of time when you're on watch duty.
11. Butterfly net; never worry about fighting pixies and grigs again
12. Periscope; the working man's Arcane Eye
13. Bellows, sneezing powder, half of an hourglass; funnel the sneezing powder into the bellows until sufficiently full, then insert end of bellows under the door of a room containing enemy nostrils. finally, repeatedly work the bellows for 3-6 pumps, then enter room. wet rags for breathmasks may be useful.
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14. Candles can be used to draw on stone walls, measure time in one hour increments, provide the poor man with his fancy wax seals, plug up holes in a boat, and uhh...oh, provide a light source, I guess. What's the cost? 1 copper. What's the weight? Negligible. Buy as many as your GM will tolerate and stuff them into your backpack. It's really not a huge deal if some of them break, either.
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15. Trail rations can be used to insult banquet hosts and potentially save you from getting poisoned by said banquet host.
16. Animal companions as a food source. People seem to forget that by definition animal companions are not normal animals, but magically enhanced slaves and therefore there should be far fewer social taboos on having one for lunch (especially if you're a ranger or hunter and not a druid). You get a new one for praying for 24 hours and rangers and hunters don't have the nature reverence stipulation to their casting that druids do and hunters actually gain a bonus from killing off their companion.
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Those rangers and hunters would be hunted down by an army of druids.
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Those rangers and hunters would, at least in my game, discover that having willingly and repeatedly abused a sacred charge, they had lost a class ability until they had shown a true reversal in their attitudes. And then they might receive the blessing of an atonement.
17. Antitoxin to mitigate the effects of alcohol (before it's consumed. It's not a hangover cure, that's lesser restoration.)
18. Daggers are a tool first, a weapon second for most characters. Whether it's picking up something you don't want to touch, the minimum tool for many craft checks, an eating implement or just for random graffiti, a dagger is useful to have.
19. As well as the above, trail rations can sometimes be used to distract or even buy off animal-intelligence pursuers or random guard dogs.
dot
20. A sac of flour as the layman's glitterdust.
21. A blanket and a campfire are all you need to send long distance messages thanks to smoke signals. Be wary, potentially anyone can see what you're trying to say when communicating this way, smoke signals aren't exactly subtle.
22. A door as a weapon. I was had the luck to witness a unique event where a door got set on fire, ripped off its hinges, and used to club people until it broke.
23. Hammer as lockpicks.
24. The unconscious body of one of your party mates as a trap detector. Just toss him down the corridor.
25. "I set my 10 foot pole on fire and poke the angry mob with it"
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26. Hand or throwing axe. Who cares about d6 damage as a martial weapon, there's firewood to chop! Or doors! Or other stuff!
27. Honestly, I'd love to see someone carrying a gnome hooked hammer for the above reason. 'What, this? It's a little weird, I know, but it's come in handy for when I needed a hammer. Or a pick. Or both.'
Dot
28. One of characters used to carry around several vials of ink. Just in case I needed to really make my point clear that I didn't like someone (preferably at a fancy dinner gala). [10' ranged touch attack. "I don't much care for you. Now you're covered in ink." YOLO]
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31. Using a shield as a sled in snowy areas.
32. Metal shields also make pretty good woks.
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33. Using an enemy as a baseball bat. Or an ally, I won't judge.
34. Bows are incredibly versatile. Besides shooting things dead, you can also twist a stick through the string to make friction fires start much faster, unstring one end to create a fishing pole or help make a classic basket trap, unstring it completely for an impromptu garrote, or even use it instead of your enemy as a baseball bat.
35. Spare clothing. Besides being how not to suffer penalties on some survival checks, it can be used to clothe a scarecrow which may be used to convince some enemy you are where you're not, it can be used to confuse scent-based pursuit, and in one case I saw it was used to persuade an enemy that they were already dead (one mutilated corpse looks much like another.)
36. Incendiary materials; alchemists fire, lamp oil, torches etc. Sometimes the smart move is not to fight an enemy in their home. Setting the home on fire can make this smart move easier. Trying to smoke them out is the loot-friendly way to do this, but it's less reliable.
37. Everyday objects as minor artifacts. A Paladin//Monk of the Empty Hand gestalt can turn a regular mug into a +11 magic weapon as a standard+swift action. Oh the fun times that can be had with that.
38. Flour as an explosive. Flour is incredibly flammable but normally won't burn too strongly when packed down. Loose flour burns much faster and airborne flour actually burns fast enough to be considered an explosive. This is one of several reasons why working in a flour mill is dangerous, one spark can literally blow up the whole facility.
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39. Bedroll = quasit snare (and later Swiss Army Blanket). True story. PCs were being given all sorts of grief by a flying quasit. In a moment of desperation, one of the PCs pulled out their bedroll and attempted a jumping grapple check ... with a natural 20. Once entangled within the bedroll, the grappling PC kept maintaining the grapple while the rest of the party proceeded to pummel the quasit into quasit paste (albeit slowly due to DR and Fast Healing). That bedroll was retired immediately after but was the beginning of bedrolls being used for a variety of purposes through much of the rest of the campaign.
45. Mule
- Can carry supplies in
- Can carry treasure and bodies out
- Can be harnessed to drag things
- Can be harnessed to pull wagons, buggies, trevois, etcetera
- Can be ridden
- Can be used as partial cover, either standing, lying down, or dead on the ground
- Can be used as a trap detector (handle animal: 'push' it to walk down the corridor ahead of you)
- Can be used as bait/distraction for animal intelligence predators, especially if you cut it before slapping it's rump to send it off in a random direction
- Can be butchered for food
- Can be loaded up with massive amounts of oil (possibly with blasting or gunpowder, if your campaign includes such) and set alight for an in-town distraction or in-combat distraction (careful of the flying hooves)
46. Scroll tubes and scabbards (with the tip cut off) can be used as emergency snorkels.
47. Arts and crafts as a means of coping with trauma. Talked an NPC out of suicide by asking that he wait until he finished some origami. That extra minute or two that the he had to dissociate himself from the trauma was enough for him to calm down enough to reconsider.
48. Hands as shadow puppets. Some times you just need to sit back and relax you know? Other times you want to entertain the village children. Other times you just don't know what else to do with the severed limbs of the corpses you've desecrated.
49. Wooden objects as a spontaneous pile of weapons. Since clubs and quarterstaves are free, they have a DC 0 craft check meaning that they take literally no time to make according to the rules. This means that as soon as you have access to an appropriate amount of wood or other material that doesn't have an intrinsic gp cost you can immediately craft it into these weapons with zero time investment.
50. Don't have a caster to give you water on demand? Don't worry, if worst comes to worst you can always go full Bear Grylls. It might not taste great, but as long as you filter out the solid waste (a shirt over top of the collection vessel works well enough) it will keep you alive for substantially longer than going without water. If you have a good enough filter, it can almost entirely replace normal water consumption (see astronauts).
51. A telescope as a fire starter. Of course if you can find a magnifying glass instead it's a tad less unwieldy. Same principal either way. Depending on the lens you might have to knock it out of it's frame to get it to focus properly though.
52. Organs as a source of magical power or insight. Popular in history, popularish in Pathfinder magic, organs have been used for millennia by a vast array of civilizations to discern portents of the future, consumed as bodily enhancers (eat their heart to gain their courage) and even used in a variety of ways as aphrodisiacs.
53. Ever had to crawl inside a fresh kill to protect yourself from freezing to death in the arctic? Me neither, but it is definitely a thing many people have done. Even adventurers have to do it every now and again when they forget to prepare endure elements.
54. Wooden stakes as a means of communication. Write whatever you want on one and then leave it in a high traffic area, like say the local bounty hunter's office. Just stab your stake into their bounty board, someone will come and respond to it eventually. Right?
55. Tinder twigs straped to your shield when you have a flaming weapon can be used for on demand archer escape.
55. Tinder twigs straped to your shield when you have a flaming weapon can be used for on demand archer escape.
Smokesticks might work better...
56. Chickens (which cost but 1 GP each) can be thrown for momentary distractions, as well as making more of themselves in between throws!
Played a good chunk of Rappan Athuk with a Ranger that had the Chicken Infestated flaw. Good times, would recommend.
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Iron Spike already has 101 Uses .
But Spellcraft and some ordinary ink, draw a rune of x on your door, in front of your sleeping area, etc. Sentient foes will be suspicious at least, and maybe waste surprise on some verbal cantrips to detect or dispel a spell that doesn't exist!
Make threats with almost revealed sheets of fake runes, threaten to reveal or read them! (Easy discounts for the discerning murder hobo).
Plus, ink as camouflage, aid in making your Elf look like a Drow (wow, racist much), glowing ink and some fireworks to make Goblins worship you (who needs Magic eh?). Ink to change your scent, or blind a foe (better than sand as it doesn't easily wash off). Pour some on your hands to make them sticky (+ resist sunder? + to climb?).
All for the low low price of (free if you are brave enough to steal from your WIzard) 8gp an ounce, cheaper than scrolls.
Also, ruin your wizards scroll by splashing ink on them (hello new toon).
Ooo, steel potion bottles. I've always had 'alchemical fire arrows' - arrows w/ small vials of AF - as a set-up, but any nasty spell reduced into an oil or what-have-you ...
61? Books as door stoppers, wedges, fire starters, secret message passers and more! If you can't come up with a dozen uses for books, you're crazy!
62. A spell component pouch as food storage. Since you can pull an arbitrary amount of material out of a spell component pouch to prepare spells, you can pull an arbitrary amount of food out of the pouch if you feel like it. For a semi-comprehensive list of all the edibles you can pull out of the pouch, click here.
#62: Cheese. As a GM, would not allow; as a fellow player, would not allow either.
#62: Cheese. As a GM, would not allow; as a fellow player, would not allow either.
Considering how trivially easy it is to acquire food (a DC 10 Survival check, which you can take 10 in) even at 1st level, I wouldn't consider using a spell component pouch as cheese. Just different. And probably less sanitary.
63. A chair as a musical instrument. It'll probably just be a percussion instrument, but if there's enough flex you might be able to produce tones as well. You could even have a whole band going by grabbing different styles of chairs for different effects.
64. Your feline friend as an improvised towl. Cats also makes for a decent replacement for fabric softener, but not for detergent.
65. Chocolate to bribe the GM.
66. Automobile to take Players/DMs to outings for food, gaming supplies, and off-table adventures that extend friendships beyond the game. Taco Bell & Dew Run: Execute Order!
67. Transportation. Only at the middle levels are you going to have enough magical gear to lug around your other stuff. And if you need to, you can overturn your cart or wagon and use it as a makeshift barrier, wall, or whatever. Mules will serve the same purpose, and be even more mobile - but they have to be dead to be barriers. (Not that this would stop some people ...)
68. A permanent portable mage's mansion: if you can make it work and you can afford it, do it. Being able to have a movable mansion is a huge boon for adventurer's who are constantly on the move.
69. A masterwork musical instrument: people, and occasionally animals, tend to like music. While bards are great at using their performances to change peoples' minds, a non-bard can use music to integrate themselves with a community or to lift the spirits of other weary travelers.
70. A book of signatures: could be used for divination, even better if you get a bit of blood too. Useful for forging signatures too.
71. A locket: again, divination, just stick a lock of hair in there and you're good to go.
72. Handkerchief: same thing, divination.
73. A journal: use it to record your character's hopes and dreams before the GM crushes them.
74. Code-speech, particularly signing. Not really an object, more of an idea, and it may cost a skill point; however, being able to silently signal to your companions that someone's lying to them is a big thing. Also, SWAT tactics in dungeon crawls.
75. Net with bells on it. Drape it over your stuff, spread it across an open threshold, to alert yourself in a slightly more conspicuous way than a simple strand and bells. Or use it to train the rogue to be a better pickpocket. Better yet, use it to snare the rogue so they can't sneak away, or so that you can always find them. Silly rogues, nothing good /ever/ comes from sneaking.
76. An exotic saddle/large backpack: useful for carrying small party members around in if they don't have a mount. It also helps them for climb checks and possibly swim checks too.
77. A bucket. It can carry water and douse fires, drench people, or rehydrate people and animals alike. But wait, there's more! A bucket of crap makes for an even better time when thrown on someone, as does a bucket of piss. Use it like a basket to collect flowers or nuts or something equally annoying. Buckets also generally float, except when weighted. If it's a large bucket, incorporate it (and water) into your tort- interrogation tactics. A bucket of sand can douse fires better than a bucket of water.
78. A quarterstaff with a bunch of coppers/bits of metal attached. It would count as a weapon and (arguably) a lagerphone/percussive instrument. Who doesn't love two for one deals? For about the same price as a regular instrument too.
79. A handful of pebbles. Useful as sling ammo (at a negative), but also useful for casting light on. They can also be used to help determine depth or danger, or arranged to mark paths. They're free and usually readily available.
80. Chalk. Use it to draw, with all the obvious benefits, as a spell component, or grind it up and use it as poor people's glitter dust. With softer chalk, apply to hands to facilitate grip. Or blow it in people's face to make them choke and sneeze. Chalk, flour's inferior cousin.
81. A strong scent. Whether a civet cat or a skunk or some other critter (stinkbug), it can be used as a marker of a sort that people can't see - and don't always know why it's there. Drop it at the start of a dungeon so you can always know if there's a draft, and if so whether you've been cut off (because the draft is no longer pulling the scent in). Use it to mark turning points (okay, so we turned here, that scent is really bad). Use it as an attack, most animals run the hell away when they get hit with this sort of thing, and most sophonts are bothered to hell and back as well.
82. Glue Paper. Attach it to walls and write on them, use them as slightly more expensive dungeon markers, use them as intended to break glass without making too much noise, the list goes on.
83. Buying food. Not trail rations, but buying fresh food is always a good idea. Cheaper, better for you, and most importantly it can help with diplomacy when you need to be nice to a wayward traveler. They obviously would rather eat pork and carrots then trail rations.