Fun finds thread V3.0

[snakeman830]

Since the old ones are Read Only...

I came across this little tidbit while building an archer for a gestalt game.  Most of us know about the Teeth of Dhalev-Nar in Tome of Magic, namely for the couple of them like Lejare that are extremely useful.  However, what we overlook is the fact that they grant spell-like abilities, which is very different from normal item functioning.  Among other things, this means a Spellthief in the party means you have unlimited uses of the teeth.

[Fadier]

Someone should make a list of the previous 2 threads so we don't start to repeat ourselves.

[Soundwave]

Copying over what I can from the previous threads. I will try to put all the previous material in quote boxes etc but bear with me as I try to copy over as much material as possible.

ftp://neko.sovten.ru/ADND/Dragon%20Magazine/Complete%20Dragon%20Magazine%203.5%20Feats,%20Flaws,%20and%20Fighting%20Styles.pdf

Be it a favorite prestige class that is always forgotten, an amazing feat you find in Dragon Magazine, or even just a fun and silly feat in Sandstorm  Wink, we've all found these I think. You read it and your first thought is, "Oh man I have to tell somebody about this XXX..." well, this is where you tell somebody.

Why Champions of Ruin is one of my favorite books:
Best archery spells ever.
Arrowsplit turns an arrow into 1d4+1 arrows.
Shadow Arrow turns an arrow into 1d6 Str damage, no save.
Doublestrike Arrows lets every ranged attack count twice.

Thrall of Eltab PrC grants a Death Gaze as it's capstone. (20+Cha)DC Fortitude save or die, 30ft, never turns off, never become immune.

Hard to describe but Dendar the Night Serpent is one of the most intense monsters.

Kezef the Chaos Hound has perfect tracking. "...will never fail..." even across planes! He tracks by emotional scent!
Need to find somebody? Get one of these bitches.

Ever seen a (Ex) Destruction? Now you have. Ityak the Elf Eater. He even has DR 50/Epic and 40 tenaticle attacks with a 50ft range.

Dragon 357
Living Spell based PrC that gets one as a Familiar! Page 77
Feat to stack Wu Jen and Ninja levels for Ki! Page 86
Feat to stack Wildshape and Skirmish progression! Page 86
Plant Animal Companion? These issue has everything! Page 90

Dragon 316
Greater Knock? Yes! All locks within 20ft are open!

Dragon 320
Dwarves with an extra feat at level 1. Helll yesss.
Elves who lose a bunch to gain Weapon Focus for TWO of their racial proficiencies.
Gnomes who get Alertness in trade for a lot.
Halfling who get Dodge and ONE MORE FEAT for free at level 3. Must be Iron Will/Lightning Ref/Great Fort.
Humans who can trade skill points and feat for +2 to any ability score.Page 85.

Dragon 327
Option to spend more time crafting that Construct to remove Bezerk Mode.
And to add more arms.
And to add Int.
All page 72.

Dragon 329
Swarm Familiars. Nuff said. Page 98

Dragon 332
Stating out the process of turning dead dragons into boats. What can't WotC do? PAge 48
Eating Favored Enemies? There's a feat for that. Page 91 (Trophy Hunting)

Dragon 336
Variant Stunning Fists including the elusive (Ex) Dispel Magic

Dragon 342
Human Barbarian 2/Cleric 1/Fighter 2/Monk 2/Paladin 2/Ranger 2/Rogue 2/Sorceorer 4/Assasin 1/Shadow Dancer 2

This is an example NPC

EDIT MORE:
Dragon 345
Barbarian PrC that grants a Size category+ at the capstone. :-) @ base size Huge

Spend XP and Gold for really powerful Psicrystal abilities. Like Swift Action regaining focus or BFC.


Dragon 350
Soulmelds that grant the Swarm type and all day Levitate!

Dragon 355
Arcane Factories. Including reducing Divination XP costs by 25% or 10% faster Construct building.
http://i49.tinypic.com/ridmp3.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/220qyo.jpg


EDIT more again:
Stuff I'm stealing from the Free DnD Handbook
Aleithian Dwarf +2 Con/+2 Int/ -4 Cha Sounds like a great wizard to me.

[Bozwevial]

Probably already mentioned, but Champions of Ruin is also great for Bloodfreeze Arrows.

[Soundwave]

Chosen of tem-et-nu: probably the best feat known to man.  I mean, seriously.  Turn/rebuke hippos.

Now, I know what you're thinking - this is totally awesome.
This guy:

Is a real life dragon.  Dangerous, but not nearly as deadly as this guy:


Mistling fey: tons of LA, but being able to create living spells is really fun.

The Calzone Golem.

It has uncapped "temporarily gain AC when hit with magical fire".  Get a fiery burst reserve feat, and have fun with a 100 AC minion.

Forgot where I read about this one but Ferocity of the Sanguine Rage from Dragon Magic is a great Gish spell. Round/lvl for 1/2*CL moral bonus to all damage. And if you want, you can end the spell to gain the benefits of Truestrike. Simple and strong.

On of my favorite Monk feats I never see mentioned.
RING THE GOLDEN BELL
[GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike,
Stunning Fist, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), base
attack bonus +5.
Benefit: A number of times per day equal to 1 + your
Wisdom bonus, you may deal unarmed strike damage with
a successful ranged attack. This attack has a range increment
equal to 5 feet + 5 feet per point of Wisdom bonus. Normal
cover modifiers apply. This attack can deliver any effect your
unarmed strike can normally deliver, such as a stunning
attack due to the Stunning Fist feat.

Dragon #343, pg. 90: "Pious Extensions" articles - a series of articles giving bonus "divine" feats for the shugenja, favored soul, cleric, druid, and spirit shaman.  I like seeing feat support for the non-core options - shugenja can spend a feat to gain rebuke elementals, for example.

#327's Craft Construct options. It's a really overlooked option (due to massive XP expenditure in its creation, presumably) for PCs and one I've always loved - this just gives it a little more love that it doesn't really need, but is nice to have, especially the INT score option.

Another nice find is Rod of Animated Dead (Dragon #331, page 66). Five times/day 30-ft radius burst of "animate dead" with no material component cost - only up to 10HD per use and you don't get to control them. Just be flying or out of their reach and watch them wreak havoc - or just be fodder. Or combine with the feat that makes mindless undead ignore you and use it to assist in building an undead stronghold for cheap (24k gp for 50HD of undead/day).

Two level ninja dip can get you an (Ex) Obscuring Mist that doesn't affect you. And it's a swift action. 1+Wis times per day.

Only lasts one round though. You can spend 2 attempts to make it last 2 rounds though. Or spend a feat to make it last 2 rounds normally and adds one attempt per day.

Trick:
invisible spell obscuring mist on a character with mindsight, especially when persisted. especially considering how many high level outsiders PERMANENTLY have see invis or true seeing. pit fiend, cripple thyself!

True, but if that's the case, Mind Blank would in turn hide you from Mindsight, would it not?

Anklebite is correct. Contructs and Undead have Telepathy, therefore, Telepathy isn't Mind-Affecting.

Cerebral Blind works too.

The only things that's harder to hide from? Simultaneous Touchsight and Trans-dimensional Touchsight. Short of shutting down the caster, me and Kell tried to break it but couldn't for sure. Cerebral Blind might break it, and the flavor text supports Hellbreakers breaking it. But those are both weak cases.

There's a spell that stops it called Telepathy Block (BoED, Bard/Cleric/Sorcerer/Wizard 5). No Save, No SR, and can be targeted on the enemy troop itself.

So, now the ultimate sneaker is an incorporeal/ethereal God-blooded (Vecna) Beguiler (ShS) Unseelie Fey Chameleon Dark Shadow-walker Shadow Lolth-touched Mulhorandi Divine Minion "Warlock" base class/"Hellbreaker" PrC with the "Darkstalker" feat, "Wall of Gloom" invocation to evade the "Touchsight" power, and plenty of Dust of Disappearance. (Did I cover all my tracks/traces?) OneWingedAngel would argue that you can use "Silent Image" to produce the same effect, obsolescing the other spell.

In fact, the stealthiest is to not exist via Shadow Discorporation of the Telflammar Shadowlord, but that has immediate downsides...

CAr, p.136, WoG invocation - http://yfrog.com/5gcar136invocations5p
Spell Compendium > page 233 > the "Wall of Gloom" spell - http://yfrog.com/5gspc233wogp

Master of the silent sound (dragon 297).

Looks like a typical "trade four levels of spellcasting for some useless abilities" class.


The capstone ability is a 1/day spell-like ability.
It replicates any spell of 9th level or lower.  As a full round action.  With CL = character level.   

For once, I actually can appreciate the whole "Dedicating my entire career to mastering this one abilitY" schtick of a PrC.  Get a squire of legend or something, or - better idea- see if you can put this on a spellthief, steal a mistling's "conjure living spell", and make any living spell you want.

[Soundwave]

Dragon 321 has a barber prestige class.

So you can be a bard/barber/barbarian bearing bardiches
SCM don't care about casting time or expensive components, right? Check out Dragon 309. In the 'Spells of War' section there are some spells that all have 1 minute+ casting time and usually expensive components.

But they're awesome. 150ft Obscuring Mist, 25 target Magic Missle, 60ft Fireball, 100ft by 20ft lightning bolt, 100ft Orb of Fire, 500 creature Blur, Summon Monster II (25 TIMES CASTER LEVEL amount of creatures, Mount (25 TIMES CASTER LEVEL amount), summon a 'Cheap Keep' from Strongholder's Guide.

Here's another small fun find: Anima Mage 10 lets you cast a spell 1/day as an immediate action, stilled and silent.  So the obvious thing to do is to find spells with long casting times and apply it to that.  I like the idea of an instantaneous Control Weather, but another useful spell might be Distill Joy from the BoED, with a casting time of 24 hours.  Every day, gain a tiny bit of free crafting experience for one split-second's action.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Apocolypse from the Sky.  Also a 24-hour casting time, but ending the world on somebody else's turn is just pure gold.

Power Crystals in Magic of Eberron. These incredible items are warforged components that can allow a psionic warforged to manifest a specific psionic power once per day, using their own power points. So they're like Rune Staffs, but only hold a single power each. They're also incredibly cheap (400 gp for a 1st level one).

Dragonlance: Holy Orders of the Stars!

The Bright Warden of Paladine is sweet! 3/5 divine casting, grants Divine Grace, and most importantly, FREE ACTION to spend a turn attempt to add Cha to saves and AC of all allies within 30ft. Lasts for Caster Level/rounds!
There is much more I will add later.

Untiring Form! You don't need to sleep for 1day/4 levels. But here is the big money...

   Creatures who cast spells are able to prepare spells and
spell slots normally even though they do not sleep. Spells
cast within the previous 8 hours still count against the total
number of spells that they can prepare, as they usually do.

Of course, you could get the same effect with the positive energy channeling feat from Kingdoms of Kalamar, and it'd last for ten minutes.

Dragon #357 > page 88 > Class Acts > Transversed Arcana > Eidetic Spellcaster > Level: 1st, "do not gain a familiar or the Scribe Scroll bonus feat", "You do not need a spell-book, either to record spells you know or to prepare known spells. You can learn spells normally, either through gaining levels in wizard or learning from other spellbooks, and you must pay all the normal costs for learning new spells (used instead in special incenses rather than inks), but you do not need to put them into a spellbook."

Vicon English Dictionary > "eidetic  [ei·det·ic || a?'det?k]
adj. pertaining to visual images (seen recently or long before) which can be recalled vividly and with great detail"

"olfactory  [ol·fac·to·ry || ɑl'fæktərɪ /ɒl'fæktrɪ]
n. sense of smell; olfactory organ
adj. related to sense of smell" (Vicon English Dictionary)

Caveat: the GM might have you require special incenses to prepare from as a fluff-prerequisite.

Wild Monk from Dragon 324
Monk with wildshaping

Trick:
The arrow spells from CoR are kinda shitty as actual spells, but they make amazing traps. Put arrowsplit into an auto-reseting trap on your bow with the trigger "when an arrow is fired from this bow'. For hilarity, make it a splitting bow. Now, whenever you make an attack, you get 10 (2 from splitting x 5 from arrowsplit). Do it with hand crossbows instead and TWF + rapid shot with them. Assuming +16 BAB, rapid shot, and full TWFing with two splitting hand crossbows of speed, you're looking at 10 attacks, each of which becomes 10, for a total of 100 attacks per round. Throw on a doublestrike trap and you can hit two targets with each attack.

Interesting build:

Glimmmerskin Halfling Dragonfire Adept 5/Nosomatic Chirurgeon 1
Feats
     1st   Draconic Heitage
     3rd   Lesser Dragonmark (Mark of Healing)
     6th   Draconic Breath
Invocations
     Enthralling Voice (6th level spell! for a lesser invocation!)

Can breath 12d6 breath weapons at will, at a 16+Cha DC. Best low level blasting I've seen in awhile.

I think I see what it is. Enthralling Voice is a SLA of 6th level, so you use Nosomatic Chirugeon to convert that into a Mass IMW, and then use Draconic Breath to turn that into a 12d6 breath weapon.

Dragon 315: Sha'ir
Charisma based super-prepared full caster. Casts off the sorcerer/wizard list as well as a bunch of cleric domains. Prepares spells as they are needed or wanted. Casts both arcane and divine spells RAW. Edit Ninja'd

Raptoran Sha'ir 10/ Skypledged 10
Cast all Sorcerer/Wizard, Cleric, and Druid spells whenever you feel like it.


Better yet is Sha'ir 8/Skypledged 7/Contemplative 1/Dweomerkeeper 4. All that and no-cost Wishes too!

Neat spell:
Has anyone mentioned Opalescent Glare (SpC 150) yet?

for a 6th level spell slot, permanently gain a gaze attack.

Something that I find fun, is using abilities that allow you to use knowledge skills "as if trained".

A few that come to mind are:

    Draconic Knowledge (invocation, Dragon Magic)
    Lore of the Gods (spell, Complete Champion)
    Lunatic Insight (feat, Heroes of Horror)
    Spelltouched - Breadth of Knowledge (feat, Unearthed Arcana)


(In honor of Bozwevial's avatar)... I kinda think of such a character as Dr. Who...  He knows just about everything.

Don't have Knowledge (history - ancient blah, blah, empire)?  No problem!

In a new area and need directions?  Knowledge (local - region specific) to the rescue!

I like the line from the description of the knowlegde skill in the PHB:  "With your DM's approval, you can invent new areas of knowlege."

Am I the only that finds this even remotely fun?  Can anyone else think of funky situations where a rare knowlegde would come in handy?

According to Sage Advice in Dragon #33 (apparently), elves and half-orcs do not have souls and thus cannot be resurrected. I know it's not from 3.5, but I propose this rule be considered for addition to the game.

I just found something really nice: the Maiming weapon enchantment.

Basically, whenever you critical, you roll a dice to determine your critical; a 1d4 for x2, a 1d6 for x3, and a 1d8 for a x4. Best of all, it's only a +1

Consider for a moment that Artificers have that one infusion called "Personal Weapon Augmentation, Lesser" (iirc); which grants a weapon your carrying a single +1 enchantment for minutes/level.

You can apply metamagic to infusions.

Basically, get a weapon made of Kaorti Resin, and use a Maximized Empowered PWA (Maiming); End result is a critical multiplier of 8+.5(1d8)

And if you extrapolate the table, you can combine this with Dragonsdoom (if your critical multiplier is X, then your critical multiplier is 2X-1) to get a critical range somewhere between 16 and 23! Or, you could reverse it and roll the equivalent of a d14 for the critical multiplier, but that is less nasty.

And then of course there is Crystal Weapon's Master, who can increase their critical multiplier by 1 1/2 levels of the class...

20 to 30 critical multiplier, anyone?

Of course, you would need serious tech to get the critical range wide enough to use this enough, but I'll leave that as a challenge.  Big Grin

By the way, a 20 critical multiplier is an extra 19d10 damage with a burst weapon, if you use the ones from the DMG.

Now, I'm pretty sure you can persist that 1st level infusion...

Maiming was updated in the Magic Item Compendium. It now deals (multiplier-1)*d6 extra damage on a critical hit.

Although, it reminded me of a funny little trick; namely, you can use a 3rd level spell to get a limited number of infusion types onto wands. Why? Because infusions count as spells, and that's all that Wand Modulation looks for. That and that it has no expensive components and is a level lower than the spell that is on the wand, but Metamagic Item to give the wand Heighten to 9th works quite well...

Who wants Personal Weapon Augmentation on a wand? I do!

Have to persist Wand Modulation to get good mileage, though...

Aumvar's Fragmented Phylactery Epic spell from Champions of Ruin

Lets you split your phylactery into a number of them equal to your casting modifier.
You can cast it multiple times, increasing your phylacteries by your casting modifier each time.
After a year of doing nothing but making phylacteries, you conquer your own small civilization, if you don't already have one, and make your phylacteries the local currency.  Smirk
This means that anyone trying to kill you will have to barter for/steal them all, which is especially amusing when they are paladins.
Of course you want to keep a couple hidden in various locations just in case. Or you could make your phylactery be a rock and scatter them to the ocean.

Fighter Variants out of Dragon 310. They gain a limited list of feats, different skills, and a set of special abilities to choose in the place of bonus feats. Two notably stick out: the Fencer, who, with denigrating banter, can reduce an opponent's base attack bonus; and the Pugilist, which can take shake it off to only be able to take non-lethal damage.

Anyway, upon rereading the human heritage feat...

You keep the traits held by all members of your old type.

So a necropolitan with human heritage, for example, would keep undead traits (including the d12 HD, negative energy healing and immunity to mind-effecting), but be humanoid.  I believe that would technically make you heal from both positive and negative energy, since negative energy healing is a trait, but positive energy damage is done on a spell-by-spell basis.

Pretty cool, actually, though you have to pick up the template at first level.

I just noticed you could technically use Insane Defiance by targeting yourself with a mind-affecting ability just to apply a -4 penalty to somebody's save, if you really have to. It's not great, particularly once immunity to mind-affecting effects becomes ubiquitous, since it deals a point of Wis damage and takes an immediate action, but it's a nice little (probably unintended) benefit to the feat.

There's a power in Dragon Magic called gemstone breath that grants you an honest-to-goodness breath weapon, usable once every two rounds.

Since it's an actual breath weapon AND a psionic power, both metapsionics and breath weapon feats work on it.

I'm making a build for this character based partly on this fact.


Note that psionic powers are all by defintion psilikes.  Transparency makes psilikes into spell-likes.

So stick mortalbane onto that.


I'm surprised I haven't seen more about the Krinth (Champions of ruin)
LA+0, +2 con, -2 cha, immune to being shaken (tossing out most fear stacking), misc pointless benefits, and a single racial feat can make your familiar incorporeal (albeit with the hindrance that it has to stay within 30' of you).

More importantly, since the feat only gives you the ability to summon an incorporeal familiar (and explicitly doesn't change the state of your current familiar), a changeling with racial emulation could take the feat, summon something, and then switch to a different race while keeping their ghostly bird or whathaveyou

I know it's not a *new* find, but psianimate dead from Hyperconscious is an awesome power. The undead you make keep all of their Ex and natural abilities (though not class abilities), and they keep all of their ability scores except Con.

So if your party mates die, just psianimate them and have them walk themselves back to a cleric. If they die again, just psianimate 'em again.

Especially useful for thrallherds with a few stygian powers.


From Kingdom's of kalamar:
Child of the Earth    - Con bonus to saves, 1st level only feat
loyalty's reward    - gets or grants CUSTOM feat if leader or follower

I really like Loyalty's reward.  Thinking about making a "leader" type.

David

EDIT:  A Few more:

    Reserves of Strength, Dragonlance Campaign Setting, p87 - Lets you add +1 to +3 to CL, exceeding spell caps.  Does 1 - 5D6 damage or stuns for 1 - 3 rounds
    Transfer Essense - 5th level spell - - dragonlance, tower of high sorcerery - steal someone's CLs - use for long-term buffs
    Arcane Staff (Lesser/normal/greater) - 3rd/5th/7th level spell - dragonlance, tower of high sorcerery - store spells (from ability modifier to ability modifier + caster level) in levels of spells, up to 2nd level (or 4th/6th level)

A feat from Kingdoms of Kalamar:
Expert Tactician (that's the name, iirc): If your opponent is flatfooted at the end of your Full Attack, you get one free special combat action (trip, bull-rush, or the like). Kalamar has a special action, push: Strength vs. Balance check, if the opponent loses they are flatfooted.

Also, Vashars and Jerren can both get into Fiend of Possession with a single feat (Otherworldly). They are, I believe, the only humanoids with the Evil subtype.

(I'm posting the second out of memory, so...)

The Primary Contact feat (from Cityscape) grants you +1 skill rank above and beyond normal.

This is useful for entering PrCs early and qualifying for feats as well. Not much else, but still.\


Power surge and reserve feats. Not gamebreaking but it offers some variety.
Power surge and breath weapon. (But metabreath feats and spells already exist)
Any other suitable supernatural attacks that qualify?

Feat:

POWER SURGE [GENERAL]
You focus an additional burst of energy on one supernatural
special attack you possess, improving its potency at the cost
of decreased capacity.
Prerequisite: A supernatural special attack that you can
use at least three times per day.
Benefit: Choose one supernatural special attack that you
can use three or more times per day. You may apply any one
of the following improvements to that ability.
• Increase the save DC to resist the effect by +1.
• Increase the damage dealt by the effect by +1 per die.
• Increase the duration of the effect by 50% (not
applicable to any effect with an instantaneous
duration).
After using this feat, you must wait to use the
supernatural special attack for 1 round. If you must normally
wait to use the supernatural special attack, you must wait 1
round in addition to the normal period you would wait to use
the ability again.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time
you take this feat, it applies to a different supernatural special
attack.
Suggested Class/Race: Beholder
Dragon Magazine #: 313 (Eye Wares – Potent Powers of
the Beholders)


If in your game you can gain divine ranks by killing a deity or if you simple want to kill a god just for the hell of it,then Erbin is your choice....
He comes from the Deities and Demigods Web enchancment....
Ove version of him is a Rogue1/Fighter1 divine rank 1 demigod....
And he only has 30 hit points.......
He is even weaker than Imhotep....

I just found this in the link posted last page...

Feat:

CORRUPT SUMMONING [VILE]
Your summoned creatures become twisted and evil.
Prerequisite: Spell Focus (conjuration), Augment
Summoning, evil alignment.
Benefit: Each creature you conjure with any summon spell
gains the evil subtype, and creatures that are not already evil
in alignment become evil.
Dragon Magazine #: 347 (Princes of Elemental Evil – The
Archomentals)

How can we learn this as Malconvoker?

Dragonfire Strike, also known as "+1 damage per die of Sneak Attack thanks to that feat."

Also, Power Surge+Supernatural Spell=WIN!

Or, if you go epic, grab it for Cosmic Connection (Cosmic Descryer), and have some fun!

Another fun item is that contract from Complete (Arcane/Mage, can't remember): a reusable contract that causes anyone who backs out of their end of the arrangement to become blind, deaf, and mute.

It's cheap, and if you can't think of a way to abuse that, you need help...

One of the things I recently found in a dragon is the Dueling cloak.
Counts as light armor, wears like a shield, enchants like a cloak, can be wielding as weapon.
So for a bard its something that gives them no ASF as it counts as light armor.

I've got a book of feats as well, that give over a hundred different feats. Been trying to figure out how to actually use the infernal feats to make a comprehensive build.

Do you like buffs? Untyped bonuses to physical stats (+4)? Along with stuff like natural natural armor +6 (before enhancement), climb speed, and more? Duration day/level?

Say hello to Spider Curse (Spell Compendium).

Fun monster:

Everyone, I believe I found one of the strongest low HD undead to have join your undead army.

The Time Wight!

It's from the old Monster Mayhem articles on the Wizards site, and it has a couple of fun abilities...

-Haste and Slow 3/day each at CL 5
-1/week 35% chance to summon another Time Wight for 1 hour; summoned wight is allied to the summoner, and can't use his own summon ability.
-Constitution Drain and Spawn Making; Fort save 15 or lose 1d4 constitution.

Why are they so good for the low level Undead master?
They are a 5-HD undead that can haste themselves and slow your enemies, giving them advantage; they have a 7 out of 20 chance to summon another one, giving you even more of them for free, and the summoned ones still have the Constitution Drain, Spawn Making, and spell-likes!

Another fun creature is the Gravbeast, because who can say no to a creature that gets 6 claw attacks on a full attack, all of which have their damage doubled, free tripping as a Huge sized creature (they are large sized, by the way) whenever they hit with a claw attack on a pounce as a free action? Or how about the ability to cast a weaker version of Reverse Gravity every 2d4+2 rounds? Or the fact that it can give itself a 50% miss chance against all non-ray ranged attacks for 6 rounds? And all the other nifty abilities that make this creature an awesome special mount for a Paladin of Tyranny.

Then there are the Transmutation spells from the Pets of Any Stripe Random Encounters articles; the first, Mind of a Beast, is a 4th level spell that replaces the mind of the target with that of an animal. You can apply Permanency; even funnier is its 7th level version, Mind of Another, which allows you to replace the mind of a creature with the mind of any of the following: aberration, animal, beast, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, or vermin. It can also be permanencied, and the prank potential is endless; I mean, is there anything funnier/more cruel than replacing the mind of the Paladin with that of the Tarrasque?

Monster Mayhem - Time Wight (3.0), Gravbeast (3.5)
Mind of a Beast/Another (3.0)

While we're at it, Alter Self/Polymorph into a Void subtype creature is like a poor man's souped up Superior Invisibility.

Another nice find is Rod of Animated Dead (Dragon #331, page 66). Five times/day 30-ft radius burst of "animate dead" with no material component cost - only up to 10HD per use and you don't get to control them. Just be flying or out of their reach and watch them wreak havoc - or just be fodder. Or combine with the feat that makes mindless undead ignore you and use it to assist in building an undead stronghold for cheap (24k gp for 50HD of undead/day).

There's also animating door (Shinning South 56).  It's only for 1d6+4 rounds, but it's unlimited use.  It doesn't even require an action, you just need to arrange for corpses to move through the door.

[Soundwave]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20020130a

Lingering Breath: If you decide to use it, your breath weapon 'lasts' another turn, so on your turn it does half its normal damage in the same area. SEEMS decent for a dragonfire adept. I wonder if Entangling Breath is pumped by it. It says "Each use of your breath weapon lingers until the creature's next turn, and those entering or staying within the area of effect on the second round may take damage (see below). Those using Lingering Breath must decide before breathing that they are using the feat, otherwise the breath weapon acts as normal. Damage done in the second round is reduced by half." I think that supports additional effects of the breath weapon going off again. Hello Gestalt Two-Headed Half-Dragon||DFA!

Note: It is 3.0, but I really doubt there's any errata for it, and it works fine in 3.5

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20021218a

Binding Chain of Fate: The ultimate lockdown? (With Will Negates  Big Eyes )


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20031231a

Muritho's Randomscatter: If it weren't 1 round/level, it actually seems like a decent defensive buff at low level.


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20040128a

Gaze Screen: Troll some Beholders, Basilisks, etc.


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20041215a

Nybor's Joyful Voyage: Just a fun trolling spell. Even the name says "U mad?"

Theller's Argauneau is a third level spell that lets you recover a spell slot of any level every time you cast it. The only problem is that it requires you to sacrifice a red dragon egg. Now you just need some way to get red dragon eggs (summoning perhaps), a dimensional pocket to store them in, and an item of it at will.
Also, you should totally bind an efreeti to get a rod with that spell in it.

Wait, but that egg is a material component.  So, if you make it a Spell Like Ability, you can cast it without worrying whatsoever about those eggs.  Nice!

JaronK

Then we get into that silly area about how long the eggs last. Or if a Red DWK can use it's own eggs.

either way, Quintessence will make it last a long time.


Just found an AMAZING feat in Fiendish Codex 2: Divine Defiance.  If you have Dispel Magic memorized (or the spell being cast), you can spend a Turn/Rebuke attempt as an immediate action to counter any spell or spell like ability being cast.  You have to make a Spellcraft check to identify the spell successfully when you do this. 

Is it just me, or is this a genuine caster killer feat? Combo it with Tenebrous as a Binder and now you can shut down casters rather decisively (since generally taking out their first spell really screws them).

This makes the old Binder 1/Archivist 3/Anima Mage 10/Tenebrous Apostate 5/Tainted Sorcerer 1 build that much more crazy.  The Cleric version ain't half bad either.

JaronK

A Ring of Spellbattle (MiC) is already an amazing item, and combos great with this feat.  It lets you counter (or redirect!) one more spell per day, automatically informs you of all casting within 60 feet, and gives you a free Spellcraft check to ID the spell being cast (meaning you effectively get two chances when using Dispel Magic).  As long as you can win at the spellcraft check, this will really shut down casters cold.

Plus, lots of higher level enemies like to start a fight by running up and using a single really nasty Sp ability.  Shutting down that one opening shot means a virtually guaranteed victory.

JaronK


Ring of Force Armor (MiC).
+5 armor bonus to ac (works vs incorporeal), deals 1d4 force each time you are hit by melee, and augments your own natural attacks (well unarmed attacks) with +1d4 force damage as well as basically Ghost Touch. Circumstantially useful, but it is a nice way to buff your Animal Companion (or pet monk) if you are questing against some shady undead.

Speaking of monk-like stuff. Flaming Fists is a 300gp potion printed somewhere that gives you flaming fists (+1d6 fire) for thirty rounds. If I recall right theres capsules to drin potions as a swift action printed somewhere. Heck of a lot better than buying a +1 Flaming Necklage Of Natural Weapons. Plus you never know when setting part of your body on fire could be handy. I give this one my full recommendation, if nothing else it can be a great practical joke to light the king's hands on fire at the end-of-adventure banquet in your honor and watch him burn the place down trying to put them out.


The Sibiex from FC1 is an outsider that can be summoned with Greater Planar Binding.  It has the ability to, 3/day, provide any fiendish grafts you want... explicitly free of charge.  It even specifically wants to do this for you.  You pretty much have to be evil to want these grafts, but some are quite nice, and all are permanent.  Consider such gems as the Charming Eye (you can see without penalty in all darkness, even magical darkness, no range limit... and you get a low DC charming gaze that'll be hilarious if someone rolls a 1 when trying to hit you), Membranous Wings that give cold and fire resistance 10 along with a flight speed, and a Frightening Eye that gives permanent See Invisibility along with a low DC fear gaze.

If you can Planar Bind one and you're evil, this is a complete no brainer.

JaronK

[Soundwave]

Im holding at the end of page 23 if anyone else would like to pick up where i left off. I will continue copying more later.

[Unbeliever]

I appreciate bringing the stuff over here, but I think we need some formatting to make it easier to read.  I'd probably suggest bolding each trick or fun find, and then having the explanation underneath it.  Like: 

Awesome Trick of Awesomeness
Requires: some stuff here, like that book you've never looked at. 
Trick Description


@Nosomatic Chirugeon-powered Breath Weapon
Do people think you could use metabreath feats on it?  How would that even work given that it doesn't have a recharge time?  Also, any additional ways to buff it or scale it up?  Besides the obvious get higher level invocations thing. 

[Soundwave]

Most definitely, I had figured formatting could wait until after the transfer though.

[Shadowhunter]

Thanks to Piggy Knowles I found this interesting 1st level spell:

Fengut
Illusion (Phantasm) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One living creature
Duration: 1d4+1 rounds
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

Fengut causes the victim's stomach to suddenly feel full and burbling with foul swamp mud. The rancid taste of rotting vegetation rises into the victim's throat and mouth, and his breath reeks of damp, rotting matter that is deep in the throes of putrefaction. The combined smell and taste is horribly nauseating to the victim, who becomes nauseated for the duration of the spell's effect. A nauseated creature cannot attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else that requires attention. The only action a nauseated creature can take is a single move action each round.

I dare say that's a good 1st level spell. Probably not for everyday use, much like Power Word: Pain.
But it sure looks good for its level to me.

Source:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20030706a

[Soundwave]

Déjà Vu
Telepathy [Mind-Affecting]
Level:    Psion/wilder 1
Display:    Mental
Manifesting Time:    1 standard action
Range:    Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target:    One creature
Duration:    1 round
Saving Throw:    Will negates
Power Resistance:    Yes
Power Points:    1

Your mental impulse forces the subject to repeat the actions it took on its previous turn. If the situation has changed in such a way that the subject can’t take the same actions again (if its foe is dead, or the subject has run out of power points, and so on), the subject stands still and takes no actions for 1 round. In any event, the subject can still defend itself, and it retains its Dexterity bonus to AC even if it stands still.
Augment

For every 2 additional power points you spend, this power’s save DC increases by 1.

Very handy to have, if situational.

[telehax]

Déjà Vu
Telepathy [Mind-Affecting]
Level:    Psion/wilder 1
Display:    Mental
Manifesting Time:    1 standard action
Range:    Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target:    One creature
Duration:    1 round
Saving Throw:    Will negates
Power Resistance:    Yes
Power Points:    1

Your mental impulse forces the subject to repeat the actions it took on its previous turn. If the situation has changed in such a way that the subject can’t take the same actions again (if its foe is dead, or the subject has run out of power points, and so on), the subject stands still and takes no actions for 1 round. In any event, the subject can still defend itself, and it retains its Dexterity bonus to AC even if it stands still.
Augment

For every 2 additional power points you spend, this power’s save DC increases by 1.

Very handy to have, if situational.

Depending on interpretation, you can cast it on people who've just spent their previous turn moving in to hit you. Then their next turn would be moving the same distance in the same direction, meaning they'd have to spend another turn after that trying to get back in position.

Of course, if your DM interprets the action as "moving close enough to attack X" instead of "moving Xft in Y direction" then this doesn't work.

[Soundwave]

Aquatic race
So in Monsters of Faerun there is an aquatic humanoid race called the Shalarin (pg. 76).  The PGtF web enhancement / monster update booklet says these guys are +0 LA.  It also gives them racial stat mods of +4 STR & DEX, +0 to everything else.  Wow, not too shabby for a +0 LA race.

But too bad they're aquatic and can't breath on dry land.  Oh wait, why not use the Amphibious template.  -2 DEX for air breathing is a pretty good deal.  So now you have +4 STR & +2 DEX on a +0 LA humanoid.

Throw on Dragonborn and now you've got +4 STR & +2 CON, can breath air or underwater just fine.

I'll take this guy over a Dragonborn Water Orc any day.  And chances are, if you have a DM that would actually let you use a Dragonborn Water Orc, he'll probably let you use a Dragonborn Shalarin.

Metaconcert
Also going to post this later in the Psionic Tricks section, showing once and for all that metaconcert is up there with greater metamorphosis.  I call it the Arcane Crescendo.

First we need a set of psionic powers to use our pp on.  The Shards of Leadership trick supplies this nicely, letting any character capable of acquiring a psicrystal ultimately snag every power in existence.  That said, we have no pp as of yet, save the 1-20 from either race or feat(s).  Enter mental pinnacle.  We now have an assload, particularly with a high CL, and at ML equal to our CL.  Now remember how we have all those powers?  Manifest metaconcert, and if you don't wish to conduct it, pawn it off on your shiny pet rock.  Congrats, you now have a massive reserve of powers known and power points disassociated with you, but no spells so long as mental pinnacle persists.  Well, dismiss it.  Remember, your power points are now in the metaconcert, so you have none to lose from ditching the spell (0pp-0pp=0pp).  End result?  All the goodness of psionic buffing and action rape on the chassis of a Wizard, without having the dicey mechanics and arguments involved with a Spell to Power Erudite, and better capability to optimize both sides, especially given that your only limitation to manifesting absurdly powerful powers is your CL, and there are a million and one ways to augment that.

Thoughts?

EDIT : Oh, and ensure the metaconcert is capable of using bestow power, as even unaugmented, once you have those 2 pp back from it after dismissing mental pinnacle, you regain ability to achieve psionic focus, allowing the full breadth of action abuse.

Free Sp abilities
One fun find is Extract Gift from Fiendish Codex 1.  Mostly it's worthless... it lets you gain enhancement bonuses to stats or competence bonuses to skills permanently, but the material costs are equivalent to just purchasing an item that gives those bonuses anyway and yet you have to pay exp as though you're crafting them while having to deal with Planar Bound demons at the same time... and the bonuses are capped by caster level.  But where it gets amazing is that you can use it with a Spell Stitched creature as an Sp ability, which makes it free.  Now Planar Bind some demons and get permanent bonuses... much better.  Note that you'll need a high HD undead to do this on, to get sufficient caster level.

JaronK

Exotic weapon
Fukimi-Bari, from Oriental Adventures and Arms and Equipment guide. They only have a range increment of 10 feet, deal 1 damage, and are exotic, but their description says they can be fired up to 3 at a time. There's no written limit to the amount of needles you can have in your mouth.

If 'up to three at once' applies to any attack action, and they are enchanted as ammunition, then sign me up for some +1 spell storing fukimi-bari. Rapid-Shotting and a high BaB means a lot of attacks, to the point that it may be profitable for an Artificer to pick up proficiency. Spell-storing!!!

Greater Teleport at will
Holy Transformation (SpC, pg. 116) gives you the [Archon] subtype.  The subtype indicates you can use Greater Teleport at will as a (Su) ability.  The spell is personal range, thus easily persistable.

extra dmg and bonus to hit
Speaking of undeath, I just noticed that Greater Divine Surge from ToB allows you to take up to your initiator level in con damage to do 6d8+2d8 per point and get +1 to hit per point.  Nothing stops you from being immune to this damage, so a 15th level Necropolitan Crusader can use this maneuver for +15 to hit and +36d8 damage.  Sadly it's a full round action that leaves you flat footed afterwords, but that's still impressive and a great way to finish off an enemy.  Add in Bloodline abuse for even more damage.

JaronK

Extra spell slot
The Extra Spell/Slot feats only specify that the spell/slot be below the highest level you can CAST. It never adds the note, "to the spells known/spells per day of the class that has the highest level of spell castable."

So, what does this mean? It means that you can essentially add one spell/slot to any one of your classes.

I want you to say hello to Ur-Priest as a source for early high-level spells on any list.

And there is always the fact that it says the highest LEVEL spell you can cast, so a Chameleon with some form of crazy Heightening could get a really high level spell/slot added to their focus.

I noticed this while trying to figure out a way to get the Arcane Recharge trick pre-11th level.

Interesting domain spell list
The Darkness Domain from Spell Compendium has some unique spell choices:

Blacklight (lvl 3): while wizard's get this, it's an Evocation spell, which is commonly banned. The ability to produce an area of darkness that only you can see through is super fun. Combined with Ebon Eyes, your allies can see through the dark too. Proceed to stomp the enemy, as they flounder blindly.

Armor of Darkness (lvl 4): Nice deflection bonus to AC among other benefits. +4 at first, and up to +8. Too bad it isn't easily persisted (range touch)

Darkbolt (lvl 5): Launch up to 7 bolts (CL/2 max 7) at living targets within a 60' radius (with a ranged touch atk). The damage is somewhat pitiful, but it causes daze for 1 round, if a Will save is failed. The spell implies that the save is forced upon every successful hit on a target, so you can focus fire. Iterative probability takes care of the rest.

Gestalt trick
Okay. Here's a little trick that's easy to use if you're in gestalt, though it requires a level dip in a manifesting class if you're not (or a 3 level dip, if you want to do it that way).

There's a feat in Hyperconscious called Skill Finesse that allows you to substitute your manifesting score for the normal ability score on a skill of your choice. Go illumian and use the sigil that allows you to use Strength as your casting/manifesting stat, and take Skill Finesse for a skill you'd like to be fairly high. Then take factotum 3 so you have Brains Over Brawn available. Now you have +Str and +Int to whatever skill you like. Very nice if you make use of PAO or Metamorphosis for a nice high Str mod.

Best if used with Concentration, especially given some of those Concentration-substitution maneuvers in ToB.

Interesting templates
Unseelie Fey, original printing Dragon Magazine #304 page 65.
The template lacks LA. Also so does the example creature it uses - the unicorn, which we know for a fact has a +4 (cohort) rating.
Page 64 contains a sidebar noting what is for players (literally named "for your character") which does nothing to talk about a PC obtaining anything personally, just as summons and cohorts. It is here than the 4HD Unseelie Fey Unicorn example is noted as being a 9th level cohort.

Fast forward a bit. Dragon Compendium Volume 1, page 222.
The template lacks LA. Noted example (gnome) maintains a +0 LA rating.

Useful items
    Energy Trap: A rather weak DD power for a manifester, but the secondary effects tied to each version of it are rather interesting since they last 1 round/level.
    Amulet of Peace: You guys know that Setting Sun counter that lets you use Sense Motive instead of AC? This is that effect in magic item form, except for Diplomacy, and it applies against Full Attacks! For 5000gp! Twice per day!

Dragonmarks
Spell Haven: From Dragonmarked, it requires a Dragonmark of any grade (Aberrant or True), but it's a lower-level Contingency. Even better, it doesn't override existing Contingencies. The downside is the spells you can use with it are limited by your Dragonmark's grade, to a maximum of 5th level for a Greater dragonmark. Oh, and it's open to Clerics and Bards, not just Sor/Wiz. I'll post the spell itself if asked, since it's a tad useful.

Prestige classes
I was just taking a peek through the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard when I stumbled across the PrCs.

    Serene Guardian: A Full BAB class that advances Monk abilites. Nothing really special because the class features are really weak (since they require you to hit a creature multiple times without killing it), but the Capstone is a monumental improvement over Quivering Palm (as in, actually useful if your DM doesn't let your Monk use Greater Mighty Wallop). But then there's the 9th level ability: You get a permanent Moment of Perfect Mind that triggers whenever you would fail a Will save. Yeah, effectively an EX Mindblank that still allows buffs!
    Solar Channeler: Exactly as it appears in EtCR, this class is garbage.
    Dark Scholar: 9/10ths Arcane advancement with UMD as a class skill, and really easy entry (10 ranks in one of three Knowledge skills, must have 4th level arcane spells, and must be Rank 9 in the Ebon Cabal (an alignment-neutral organization). While it isn't exactly good for all 10 levels, and the first level is the 1/10 I mentioned earlier, it's possible to get a permanent Silent Spell benefit on any spell you cast up to two levels below your highest (a Wizard 19/Dark Scholar 1 with this would be able to cast every 7th level or lower spell without verbal components, at no increased casting time or spell slot adjustment).
    Twisted Lord: About as bad as the Solar Channeler above.


But wait, there's more: Qualifying for these prestige classes gives you two free magic items (joining the Ebon Cabal also gives you a free 500gp diamond, which is a nice perk).

    Luminous Order, Rank 5+: You receive a Luminary Tabard, and can copy spells from any lower-ranked member of the order for FREE
        That Tabard BTW? 3,000gp for a +2 Resistance bonus on Reflex saves, and whenever you save against a Fear effect you heal equal to either the CL or HD of the source of the fear effect. While this doesn't sound like much, keep in mind that it triggers off of the Intimidate skill, and can be used infinitely!
    Luminous Order, Rank 9: Nothing much, just a Weapon of the Celestial Host.
        Any weapon with this ability ceases functioning and becomes temporarily nonmagical in the hands of an Evil wielder, meaning it's perfect if you hate having your weapon stolen. In anyone else's hands, it acts as a +1 weapon with two additional abilities: a +1 Shield bonus to AC, and it can shed light as a Bullseye Lantern, at will. This costs 4,000gp, and can be applied to any Two-Handed Weapon. What's more, it doesn't follow the normal Enhancement Bonus rules, so that 4,000gp doesn't screw up the +10 you want.
    Ebon Cabal, Rank 5+: You get a Robe of the Ebon Cabal, worth 3,000gp.
        Said Robe provides 5 Temporary Hit Points every 24 hours (lame) and a +1 Resistance bonus to saves against spells and spell-like abilities (decent).
    Ebon Cabal, Rank 9: You get one of the Rods of the Tower, valued at 7,000gp. You also get a 500gp Diamond.
        There are 4 of these little rods, each with three buttons. The first button on each rod can be used at will. The next two can be used 1/day each, and are fairly minor. Each rod turns into a +1 piece of equipment (Dagger, Short Sword, Buckler, or Spear, in order) when the first button is pressed.

        Button 2 casts a spell (Scorching Ray, Spider Climb, Invisibility, Scare, in order again). Again, this button only works 1/day.

        Button 3 casts another spell (Burning Hands, Expeditious Retreat, Obscuring Mist, or Ray of Enfeeblement, in order).


        So you effectively get a free 4,000gp. Considering it takes next-to-nothing to get to Rank 9 (no fees, no need to do any quests), this is just +4,000gp to your WBL at 2nd level.



There are a few other magic items in this book, but none of them are "freebies" like those four.

Knowledge related
Along the lines of stupid tricks, check out the Draconic Knowledge feat in Draconomicon.  Now, a Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold who put a 16 in Int qualifies for that feat at level 1.  This means you only need to roll a 3 to know "something with worldwide or planetwide significance" such as "world wide cataclysms" and you need to roll an 8 to know about "Something with regional significance, but long-lasting or with long-term impact" such as "Information about empires, wars, regional disasters..."

The relevance?  If you're playing in Eberron, you can make a character that's pretty much guaranteed to know exactly what caused the Day of Mourning (whether you need a 3 or an 8 depends on what you consider to be the scope of that event).  You can get a +5 to this if you put down your homeland as "Cyre" so that you have a lair in the Mournland.  You can also get a +1 to this check for every five ranks in Knowledge History.  Congrats, your first level character just broke the entire setting (second level if you wanted that extra +1).  Feel free to sell this information or do what you will with it.  More to the point, feel free to annoy the heck out of your DM by demanding he give a full explanation for what happened.

JaronK


Great utility item
Found a really good magic item in Eyes of the Lich Queen (an Eberron Module):

Quote
TELEPORT STONE
Price (Item Level): 2,250 gp (6th)
Body Slot: —
Caster Level: 6th
Aura: Moderate; (DC 18) conjuration
Activation: Standard
Weight: 1 lb.
Light shifts and bends through this fist-sized prism, which seems to hold an
image of a location within it.

A teleport stone transports its user and up to 50 pounds of additional weight to a location to which it is attuned, as long as that distance is within 900 miles. Attuning a teleport stone to a particular location requires 10 minutes, during which time the item must be at that location. The attuned location can be changed as often as needed, but once the item is used to teleport, it is consumed.

Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, teleport. Cost to Create: 1,125 gp, 90 XP, 3 days.

Flexible  casting
Saw some of the neat finds regarding the Villain Design Handbook and found one of my own:

KoK:VDH page 76, "Spell Swap [Metamagic Feat]": this feat lets a wizard, for an easily beaten spellcraft DC, spontaneously cast at-will. Further, though RAI is clear enough (i.e. clear enough that it can, in fact, be considered intended), the RAW leaves open a few critical issues: must the spell swapped in be from your spell list? must you know the spell to be swapped in? The text explicitly states it must be of the same level. It says nothing of spell source (arcane or divine), of spell list, of class, of being known. If you squint a little bit, wizards can now cast any spell of any level to which they have access (and have prepared spells).

To anticipate people citing the parenthetical remark about clerics, "much like clerics" is not grounds for claiming RAW as simile is not a useful logical determinant, nor should the parenthetical remark be considered at all as an assertion of rules since such remarks are semantically unnecessary, used for clarification, not for crucial elements, which rules certainly are in a game, as games are rules-based.

[bhu]

SOundwave do you have some sort of index of whats been done and what still needs done?

[Soundwave]

ive had a nasty fever the last few days i believe i left off a post 23 or or page 23 ? of the 2nd thread?

Im still a bit out of it but ill let you know as soon as im feeling a little bit better

[Mister Freeze]

Worship Istus or Lyrus and gives you access to the luck domain and destiny domain.  Luck gets your freedom of movement and miracle, destiny gets you choose destiny (rounds/level, roll 2d20s on all attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks), warp destiny (immediate action save reroll AFTER learning result, with a bonus equal to your CL, capped at 20), and omen of peril. 

Player's Guide to Faerun: weirdstone.  Shut down all teleportation, extradimensional travel, etherealness, scrying, and anything that mimics them in a 6 mile radius.  Can be activated and deactivated as you wish. 

[bhu]

ive had a nasty fever the last few days i believe i left off a post 23 or or page 23 ? of the 2nd thread?

Im still a bit out of it but ill let you know as soon as im feeling a little bit better

Cool.  I'll be ready when you heal up.

[Bastian]

I found something to revive an old invincibility trick. The hydra-Lumi trick was recently found to not work since Lumis are only immune to the decapitation effect of vorpal weapons, not the RAW method to decapitate a Hyrda. The Star Tortoise Shield from Dragon 335 (pg 70) doesn't have that weakness since it makes you immune to the decapitation effect of vorpal weapons and "similar effects."

[zook1shoe]

Some of the Dragonlance books have some amazing spells.

Mostly in Towers of High Sorcery

Edit: thanks for reminding me of the mouth darts