What was the best trick or special you ever encountered?


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Sorry, but what do you mean by "tricks" and "specials"? I've use Bill Webb's Book of Dirty Tricks for inspiration and also playing in games that use the card deck version. I think the golden rule of DM tricks is his advice to "build the story, don't screw the players."

One example I've used that was inspired by this book was to but an elaborate key in vault with treasure. It is very large, made with precious metals and decorated with gem stones and elaborate engravings. It is also 10 lbs in weight. It looks like a functional key but is just a ceremonial or art object, but players will often carry this keys around a dungeon a long time thinking it important.

One cursed potion I created, I called the Potion of Helloing.

I created a stack of 112 cards with various greetings, in various in-world languages. Some are simple one-word greetings, other are paragraph long poems. It would distract the PC giving some minor but annoying debuffs. Every now and then I would hand a greeting card to the player. I wrote more about it in a post to another thread The things we do for our players...

I don't know if these are the kinds of things you are looking for, or if you are thinking more about cool tricks and special strategies that players have come up with.
 


I had the PCs chase a nosferatu (a type of vampire, who didn't cast reflections in mirrors) into a pitch-black room where they could hear the sounds of a blazing fireplace. Naturally, they cast a dispel magic on the darkness spell in the room so they could see their foe...which allowed them to also see their own reflections in the mirror of opposition he had prominently displayed on the wall immediately across from them. They were pretty surprised to find themselves suddenly in combat not with just the nosferatu, but also four evil mirror duplicates of themselves as well!

Johnathan
 



A conditionally cursed Robe of Blending (3 speeds). It was sized for a Small creature. Anyone who activated it would gain the stealth bonus but if they were larger than Small it would deal damage as it sliced them down to size. It would only attune to Medium (4d6 damage) and Large (4d10 damage) creatures.

For monster powers, I ran a demon-hunter game back in the early 2000s. Some demons could infect a pack of animals. But instead of using a mob template, each time a pack member was killed the others got a buff as the demonic energy concentrated in the remainder.

If you are aware of the Fractal Golem, think that but backwards. Start with 8 possed 4HD small demon-coyotes. Kill one and the survivors all heal 4d10. Kill a second one and they grow +1 size to Medium, heal another 4d10 and gain +2 attack/+5 damage, +2AC, +1 to all saves and 4HD. Repeat until you get to a Huge 16HD demon-coyote.

It turns one encounter into a whole plot arc. Especially as the demon summoner, if they exist, will eventually lose control as the possesed creatures' HD got too high.

This also works for Undead like vampires. Imagine a vampire making empowered servants (Renfields) rather than spawn. Doing so weakens the vampire while they live but as their servants die, they reclaim their power and get stronger.
 


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