Do we have a dirty trick handbook?

[PhaedrusXY]

BTW, can anyone remind me why the Shadow Miracle trick needs a Shadowcraft Mage?

Tell me how else you can do it. The actual Shadow Evocation and Conjuration spells, and Shades, all specify exactly what levels of spells they can emulate. To generically emulate "1 level lower than the spell", you need the SCM class ability.

[RobbyPants]

That's the whole "dirty trick" thing.

I agree none of these should see the light of day in a game, but those feats allow non-damaging spells to deal damage, and there's nothing about Hindsight preventing it.  So even though the spell is meant to "view" back in time, the feats allow you to actually affect things back then.

Of course, this opens up whole cans of worms involving time travel and similar concepts.  If done properly, you can actually make your DM's head explode.

[ZeroSum]

What I'm saying is that Hindsight isn't saying that Detect Magic acts as if it occurred in the past -- it only says that you can use it while Hindsighting.  No part of Hindsight even indicates that the spell is equivalent to if you went back in time, only that you receive vision of the past and that if you include some type of ability that allows you to see magic it works to let you see the same way in your vision.

I'm saying the rules as written do not say you're casting Detect Magic in the past.  I'm not trying to make a balance or intent argument here -- just trying to say that I think this one looks like an "it doesn't say you can't," which is not RAW since the rules don't say I can't explode into a ball of flames that obliterates the Earth.

[Agita]

The Wire Hanger just reminded me of something else:

The Thief-Acrobat PrC from Complete Adventurer (page 83) gets an ability called Kip Up at first level. This ability allows you to stand up from Prone as a free action, rather than a move action. Dropping prone is likewise a free action. And since you can take as many free actions as you wish on your turn, you can now drop prone and stand up again unlimited times within six seconds. Great, so what?
So each time you drop and stand back up, your body moves a certain distance. If you keep looping prone-stand up-prone etc. enough times in a round (6 seconds), your body will eventually move faster than the speed of light. Going by the common theory that going faster than the speed of light allows you to travel back in time, we have now got ourselves a time machine out of a single level in a somewhat obscure PrC.

[Sunic_Flames]

Tumble DC 35. No need for class levels.

[Vidar]

The Wire Hanger just reminded me of something else:

The Thief-Acrobat PrC from Complete Adventurer (page 83) gets an ability called Kip Up at first level. This ability allows you to stand up from Prone as a free action, rather than a move action. Dropping prone is likewise a free action. And since you can take as many free actions as you wish on your turn, you can now drop prone and stand up again unlimited times within six seconds. Great, so what?
So each time you drop and stand back up, your body moves a certain distance. If you keep looping prone-stand up-prone etc. enough times in a round (6 seconds), your body will eventually move faster than the speed of light. Going by the common theory that going faster than the speed of light allows you to travel back in time, we have now got ourselves a time machine out of a single level in a somewhat obscure PrC.

If there would be any reason at all to do this, I'd go for "back on your feet" (skilltrick),[EDIT: or tumble DC 35 as Sunic mentioned, making more sense than what I said, damn you] which allows you to get up as immediate action after you fall prone for any reason, without AoO provoking. It'll only cost you two skill points instead of a complete build.

Appart from that: rl physics and d&d don't mix, there has been ample of talk proving this. That's like making a line of commoners passing a hammer so after 'n' commoners the hammer would have reached the speed of light and could obliterate anything that's standing in its way. Or immoveable rods that would stand still eventhough the world rotates "through" it. So there actually isn't any sort of trick about it.   But now you mention it, I would be (and Gawain and my gf would be too) thoroughly entertained if I took the skilltrick and started repeating endlessly: "I drop down and jump back on my feet!".

EDIT II: It just struck me...How in the nine hells did you get inspired to this by the clotheshanger?

[Sunic_Flames]

Skill tricks are once a combat or once a minute. That way doesn't work.

[Vidar]

Skill tricks are once a combat or once a minute. That way doesn't work.

I must admit defeat  :'(

[SorO_Lost]

Hello? "Dirty Trick".

You can see and hear into the past of your current location.
!=
You see an image/illusion/thingymajober of the past.

As a years based effect you see & hear the details of "scenes of great emotion" & "significant happenings" in a way that I'd fathom to be covered by the rest of the spell (see above). As for the whole death effect. Well, I can't help that I'm such a badass that my mere sight can kill babies and reanimate them into a new breed of zombie children.

@Vidar, Do you really want to know?

[Vidar]

@Vidar, Do you really want to know?

Oh,I meant I didn't get why Agita got reminded about his trick by the clotheshanger. Then again... it just struck me that he mentioned that moving the speed of time would allow you to timetravel. Guess I was too focused on kipping up

[Negative Zero]

If you really want to screw up the time stream, get a few thousand followers from Leadership and get a log. Have the followers line up and ready an action to pass the log to the follower on their right. Give the log to the first follower. Due to the way D&D has time work during battle, all of these readied actions would happen, effectively instantly. One way or another, in under six seconds the log would have traveled thousands of yards. This gets you a railgun pretty easily, but amp up your follower count enough and you can break the speed of light with the log. You'd launch the log into the past. I don't know why you would do this, though.

[Agita]

Tumble DC 35. No need for class levels.

Right, or that.

[Vidar]

If you really want to screw up the time stream, get a few thousand followers from Leadership and get a log. Have the followers line up and ready an action to pass the log to the follower on their right. Give the log to the first follower. Due to the way D&D has time work during battle, all of these readied actions would happen, effectively instantly. One way or another, in under six seconds the log would have traveled thousands of yards. This gets you a railgun pretty easily, but amp up your follower count enough and you can break the speed of light with the log. You'd launch the log into the past. I don't know why you would do this, though.

Yes, look a few posts up where I said basicly the same.

[JaronK]

Well, clearly the "in conjunction" thing means that when you detect magic, you're detecting magic on the past (what else could it mean?)  Thus, the range of the spell exists and has all the normal rules,but in the past.  The tricky part is that you can use metamagic effects to actually alter the past.

JaronK

[Kuroimaken]

Ah, the commoner railgun. Always good to bring up...

[JaronK]

Oh yeah!  Forgot about that one.  Silly but fun.  I don't know if that even counts as a dirty trick... it's more just a hilarious rules quirk.

As opposed to the Arseplomancer, which is both a hilarious rules quirk and a VERY dirty trick.

Hmm, I dunno if this is a dirty trick (it's not broken) but it's a funny one at least:

The Soarwhale Blimp.

Just kill a Soarwhale, if you can find one, and turn it into a skeleton via Animate Dead (they have a lot of HD, so Dread Necromancers are best at this).  Now cover it in leather armour, and fill it with stronghold spaces.  Now you have a floating death blimp.  Permanent Reverse Gravity can help you get around weight limits.  Superpowered?  No.  But... death blimp!

JaronK

[Vidar]

Allright JaronK, stop teasing, tell me (or us) what the arseplomancer is.  My curiosity can't take no more!

[JaronK]

...you don't want to know.

Okay fine.  But it's quite simple, and HORRIBLE.

You remember the Exemplar?  Well, the main thing here is that the class has an ability where you can make any skill check and it counts as a diplomacy check.  Also, a DC 80 Escape Artist check lets this happen:

Okay, now you might get where I'm going with this, but it gets worse.  Check out this line from Righteous Might: 

If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, you attain the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using your increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process.

The burst DC of leather (which is stronger than flesh) is rather low, so the DC is quite low.

Put it all together in a character with the ability to make that DC 80 Escape Artist check, and you get a halfling who squeezes his entire body into a target's arse, instantly causing the target and everyone around to become a fanatical follower of the halfling.  Then the Halfling, using Still Spell, casts Righteous Might and explodes the guy from within, resulting in cheers from his new minions.  And now the Halfling strikes a heroic pose and flashes a big smile, cause you gotta land the dismount.

Best way to kill a BBEG ever.

...what?  You asked.

JaronK

[Shadowhunter]

 

Oh. My. God.

That is quite possibly the weirdest trick I've ever seen.

...

Yepp, weirdest one, for sure.

The mental pictures are... rather... uncomfortable. Yes, uncomfortable, let's call it that.
*shudder*

[Vidar]

 I caught on the moment I saw the 2" square mentioned, but still...wow...I'm thoroughly impressed. That's the most brilliant thing EVER! Have some +Fu for broadening my horizons.
 Where again can I find this exemplar, because from this day forward, every character I play shall have this trick!
Some questions:
It said you needed only half the DC for every size smaller than medium, thus only 40 will do? Still, how do you get high enough?
Also, the exemplar is only needed to make people go fanatical about you working your way up someone's ass? Just for the extra sick effect?   
Would this maybe work easier with wildshape (tiny) and then go back to medium?