84 Damage At Level 1 // Weird Things You Can Do In DnD #shorts

A funky and totally overpowered combo / tutorial for any class or race in DnD, that basially breaks any low level game. Don't be angry at your DM for banning this, it's way too powerful for a fair and balanced game. Still... pretty cool though, right?

Links:

[DnDShorts]

*If you want to cheat on the acid cost at the price of restricting your build slightly, be a black dragonborn wizard/artificer, and make your own acid for free!*

Credit for this combo goes to *ThrobGoblin* on YouTube, which is where I first heard about this combo!!

FAQ: If acid weighs 1lb each, and you’re wrapping it in a mesh bag, wouldn’t that weigh ever so slightly more than 5lbs (the limit on catapult) Yes, if you're being absolutely presice it would. Just pour out the tiniest amount of acid from one vial if your DM needles you on this, or if you’re really worried, do it with 4 vials of acid and a rock for a little less damage.

FAQ: How do you know the vials will break? A vial is listed in the DMG as having an average of 2 hit points. Catapult deals a minimum of 3 bludgeoning damage even with the lowest possible roll, so every glass will shatter on impact.

FAQ: Wouldn’t this only deal 3d8 + 2d6 damage, because multiple effects don’t stack? Multiple *spell* effects don’t stack (so you can’t cast haste on someone twice for example) but acid damage is not a spell effect. I think it's pretty clear that getting hit by 100 bricks would hurt more than getting hit by just 1.

FAQ: I'm a DM and this feels overpowered, what do I do? Just make a rule that catapult ammo can only be "benign" objects! No alchemists fire or poison or acid vials, only rocks, bricks, bottles etc. which should clear it up. Catapult is still a good spell even at that level!

[DDCRExposed]

My friends used Catapult with the foldable boat. When the spell fired, they used the command word to turn it into the full size boat. The DM just glared... 🤣

[HORRIOR]

25 gp per bottle isn't all that cheap at level 1 though. Even with best possible starting gold, you would get only one shot.

[Johnrich]

Yeah, my DM would probably say, “you can’t stack acid damage like that.”

[TheWeirdsound]

Best build for this would be an Artificer. You get catapult naturally, so you save a feat. You can use an infusion to create an Alchemy Jug that can fill 2 empty vials (1gp each) with acid each day to save on costs starting at lvl 2. And you can take proficiency on Weavers or Leatherworkers tools so you can make your own mesh bags if the DM doesn't make them found in every town.

At low levels, before you can consistently afford to bring 5+ Acid Vials to every fight, it is smart to carry oil flasks if you have a party member with firebolt (as an Artificer you can also have that cantrip yourself if you want). Use your flasks as catapult ammo, and if the target survives, they are soaked in oil and can take 5 extra points from a follow up source of fire damage.

[Voltaic_Fire]

"Grognak, why are you carrying 50 vials of acid?"
"You'll see, oh yes you will see." (Evil grin.)

[derandere]

Sounds expensive but might be an impressive ace in the hole.

[CreamAle]

Just don't use the wrong Acid.. don't wanna be giving the npcs a good time instead of melted flesh.

[gatsuyatsu]

The dm proceeds to inflate the prices of acid in the world due to market demand 🥲

[marcoangelucci]

"It's very cheap"
I mean, maybe at level 10, but i remember my dm "you just fought whit a Chain-Devil, mm, you gained 4 gold" :_)

[iododendron]

Hm, maybe this is how we will kill Strahd. After all, we didn't create the 70 vials of holy water just for fun...

[somik-ix]

Me playing an artificier in an Icewindale campaign: Furiously taking note.

[BYERE]

So on one of my current characters, I took Catapult as one of his first spells.
In the first session, we invaded a pirate's submarine. The whole session, every spell I made that required a roll to hit missed, and those spells that required DC checks were passed by the target's rolls (so pretty much every attack I made was a total sh*tshow).

We end up fighting our way through a few pirates, and confront the captain in the control room. I pick up a metal mug from the floor and use it as my Catapult ammo. Just like every other attack, it completely missed the target and sailed right past the captain... but because it was moving in a straight line, it instead smashed into the control panel behind him.

At this point, I'm just generally angry with how bad my rolls had been, but I saw my opportunity...
On my next turn, I ran right past the captain, not even caring about his AoO, and instead target the broken control panel with a Shocking Grasp, short circuiting the systems and causing the ship to start sinking.

The first session of the game, and the only thing I managed to kill was the ship! It was GLORIOUS! XD

Also, I stole the captain's tricorn hat after the other players finished him off and we all scrambled to escape the sinking sub.

[michellealinateague]

Our DM loved this idea. He plans to use it against us next session

[artyyyr]

he succeeds on his dex save and you have wasted 5 Vials of acid 😅

[snarflcat]

That's 125 GOLD per ATTEMPT at a hit...which can entirely miss (and given grenade rules might even hit an ally or innocents). That's NOT CHEAP for first lvl characters that MIGHT START with 10 to 100 unspent gold.

[genostellar]

I recently learned about the spell Catapult and have been learning a lot of utility for it. Now it's on the same level as Fireball. Nice job.

[nodin]

I feel the "bag full of ..." + catapult needs to be explored more. If it's a bag full of swords, would it be the bag that caused the damage? Would it do extra damage as the swords hit. I demand a half hour video exploring these issues, and if there isn't a graph I will be angry.

[hugofontes]

13 to 84 damage, most likely about 45-52 damage
For about 100 gold, one spell slot and have the enemy fail a dex save
Sounds about balanced

[banette]

As a DM, I can say that catapult in any form is absolutely terrifying, so many enemies to that source physics crowbar.