By Robert Plamondon
First published in Different Worlds #17, December 1981.
Most players that have played D&D long enough can recite the magic item powers from memory, While 1 have never heard anyone say disgustedly, “Oh, it’s just another Throne of the Gods,” the appearance of an over-familiar magic item may induce terminal boredom in veteran players.
The standard cure for this malady has been to invent new magic items. While this works fairly well, it puts all the burden on an already overworked GM. The search of the clever player to find out every possible application of his magic items’ powers is much more creative. Many magic items and spells have some very powerful applications that never occurred to the game designers. Finding a new use for old magic is as useful as finding new mage and a lot less dangerous.
To illustrate this point, let’s examine some unusual applications that have been developed by my group of gamers.
Polymorph Others
Chris Cornuelle worked out the odd applications of this spell for the benefit of Magic-user, Eberhard Faber.
Take an orc, any orc. Charm it, then cast a Polymorph Other to change it into an ogre, gargoyle, dragon, or whatever strikes you (no pun intended). If the former orc retains its former orc mentality, it will still be charmed, and you have a powerful henchman. If it doesn’t, you will need to subdue it or cast a Charm Monster spell. It might die from system shock, so don’t try this on an orc you’re deeply attached to.
Assume you used a Polymorph spell to turn an orc into an unusually stupid Red Dragon, who was then subdued. How are you going to feed this monster? Easy. Take a cockroach and change it into an elephant. Even a dragon will have trouble eating more than one elephant a week, so you won’t be wasting too many valuable spells on maintenance.
Mirror of Life Trapping
This device captures anyone who gazes into it, and is usually used to capture monsters during melee. Another, lesser known, use is for transporting people or goodies. The compartments in a Mirror of Life-Trapping are extra-dimensional and non-spatial, and time does not pass for any creatures trapped inside (this is not mentioned in the Dungeon Masters’ Guide, but it is obvious when you consider that Mirrors lost for centuries still contain live monsters).
You can transport mercenaries or henchmen in the Mirror. You don’t have to feed them when they are in the Mirror, and they don’t take up any room or make any noise. When you want them, you can call them forth to fight for you, and when you are done, you send them back.
You can also put mortally wounded comrades in the Mirror. They will be in stasis until you find someone who can cure them. Victims of disease and poison will also appreciate being put in stasis while you run for help.
Equipment is trapped by loading it on a beast of burden and showing it the Mirror. These animals can be grossly overloaded, since they don’t have to support their burdens while in stasis. One of my characters used this trick to carry delicate wines, gourmet foods, a king-sized bed and a silk pavilion along with him on adventures.
Horn of Valhalla Plus Improved Phantasmal Force
This trick was thought up on a dungeon adventure when the party, battered and with few spells left, was trapped in a room by a Shambling Mound. One magic-user blew his Horn of Valhalla, and his six berserkers appeared. The Illusionist cast an Improved Phantasmal Force, creating a group of illusory berserkers who looked like the real ones. The real berserkers charged the Shambling Mound, and the fake ones followed.
When a summoned berserker is killed, he immediately disappears. When an illusory berserker is struck, he immediately disappears. In other words, the illusory berserkers behave just like real ones. This means that the creature being tricked doesn’t have a chance of figuring out what’s going on.
The Horn was blown and the spell cast out of the Mound’s sight. Ail it knew was that it was being attacked by an endless stream of berserkers. Soon the real berserkers were all dead, but the illusory ones continued to provide a distraction while the party whittled away at the Mound. Eventually, the Shambling Mound was dead and we escaped.
This is an example of cooperative magic use, an idea that needs to be explored more thoroughly. I have seen many battles where several spell-casters working cooperatively did an incredible amount of damage. On the other hand, I have also seen many, many battles where the spell-casters ignored each other and accidentally nullified each other’s spells. If you have ever tried to throw a lightning bolt while some idiot cast a Wall of Iron between you and your target, you know what I mean.
Animate Dead
Adventurers sometimes have to abandon the bodies of fallen comrades because they do not have the carrying capacity to haul them to the surface. If a Cleric casts an Animate Dead spell, however, the bodies become zombies, and can move under their own power. The animated corpses then march off with the rest of the party. The spell is later nullified and the fallen comrades are raised from the dead or at least decently buried.
Clerics with scruples can see that this unseemly use of their fallen friends is for their own good, or is if you don’t use the zombies for cannon fodder.
Conclusions
These are just a few examples of how magic items and spells can be used in unusual ways. Thinking up more is both entertaining and a good way to make your characters more effective. In the hands of a good player, a “ho-hum” magic item can become effective, and a powerful one awe-inspiring. And an ingenious magician can do a lot of things with even the simplest spells.
Memorizing spell descriptions and the Monster Manual will only get you so far. After that, you have to get clever.