The fantasy universe of Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t always make sense for numerous reasons, least of all the monsters and magic that exist within it. This is a game where everyone moves on a grid and politely takes turns whenever a fight breaks out. The rules of the world exist to facilitate the experience of the players, and there are plenty of times when they fall apart when scrutinized.
The number one rule of D&D is to have fun. Discovering an inconsistency in the rules at the right time can lead to some hilarious moments. This can involve turning a joke class into an overpowered machine, using a magic item in an unexpected way to save the world, or winning a battle through a unique combination of spell effects. It’s best for the DM to let these moments play out naturally, let the players feel smart for discovering an exploit, and then getting everyone to agree to house rule the exploit away so that it doesn’t ruin the fun of future games.
The current edition of D&D is a lot more balanced than the previous versions of the game. A few exploits and overpowered tactics have cropped up, such as the Pixie polymorph spam of death, but these aren’t as prevalent as they used to be. The fact that the creators of the game can issue errata over social media means that problems can instantly be fixed. There were some exploits in the older editions of the game that resulted in some hilarious breaks in reality, and it’s a shame they were cut from the game.
Breaking The Economy With Walls In Dungeons & Dragons
There are several arcane spells that conjure walls made of specific substances, which are used by spellcasters to block enemies. The most famous versions of this type of spell are wall of fire and wall of force. In third edition, there were two variants of the spell that could break the economy of the world. The first was wall of salt, which conjured a wall of salt that remained on the battlefield. The issue with this spell was that salt was worth more than silver in the Player’s Handbook. This allowed players to essentially print money, by casting wall of salt and selling it in cities.
The other exploit involved wall of iron, which could be combined with the Craft skill and the fabricate spell to create armor and weapons that could be sold. The current edition of the game has bypassed the potential issues with these spells by not including them in the game, and by restricting the magical walls to substances like fire, which aren’t as easy to sell.
The Arrow Of Destruction Is A D&D Exploit That Should Return
There are few weapons as deadly in the history of D&D as the Arrowhead of Destruction. This is the fan-made name for an arrow that has a bag of holding and a portable attached to it. In the older editions of D&D, putting a portable hole into a bag of holding would cause a 10ft rift to open up that destroys everything in its radius. This effect has no saving throw and avoids spell resistance. If the player can pull off the shot, then they have weaponized death itself, where even the mighty Tarrasque can be taken down with a single arrow.
This exploit no longer works because the effect of putting a bag of holding into a portable hole has changed. In fifth edition, putting a portable hole into a bag of holding (or vice versa) creates a rift to the Astral Plane. Anyone caught in this radius is sent to a random place in the Astral Plane. This could still be deadly for the unlucky traveler, as they could easily be gobbled up by an Astral Dreadnought, but it’s not the guaranteed kill shot that it was in the past.
D&D Exploit That Should Return To 5e – Healing Shurikens
Rogues are usually expert killers, with their Sneak Attack ability allowing them to deal an incredible amount of damage each turn. There was a time when Rogues were some of the best healers in the game. In the third edition of D&D, it was possible to create shurikens with the spell storing enchantment. The party could cast cure serious wounds into the shurikens and give them to the swiftest party member. The shurikens were restricted to dealing one point of damage, but that’s all it takes to activate the item’s effect, as the recipient will receive the benefits of the healing spell. It was also possible to throw three shurikens in one action, turning the ninjas in the party into the best healers, as they could do it from behind the fighters.
This exploit no longer works in 5e, as the magic item creation rules are totally different and it’s not as easy or cheap to mass-produce items. It’s also no longer possible to put the spell storing enchantment into weapons, with the only item possessing the enchantment being a ring. The Artificer class has a power that can grant spell storing to an item, but it’s far more restricted than the old magic item version. There is also less of a need for Clerics to risk themselves on the front lines of combat, as the healing word spell allows them to heal from a distance, while still being able to cast a cantrip.
Turning Ladders Into Gold Is Another Exploit That Should Come Back To D&D 5e
One of the most ridiculous exploits in the history of D&D was so bad that it was missed in the upgraded version of its edition. In the third edition Player’s Handbook, there was an inconsistency with the price of ladders that could give players infinite money. This was the book where a 10ft ladder cost five copper pieces, while one 10ft wooden pole cost two silver pieces. The players only needed to buy a ladder, snap the rungs to make two 10ft poles, and sell them for more than what they purchased the ladder for. This exploit remained in the 3.5 edition of D&D, meaning that it had been missed the first time around. The current edition of D&D fixed this issue by making ladders more expensive than poles. The creators of Dungeons & Dragons should bring back the ladder loophole if only to let players act out a campaign where they are the first to discover the problem and become incredibly wealthy through their pole-making racket.
