This article and related video is part of a series where I give you three tips for your D&D game in three minutes or less. The intent is to help make your D&D game more fun, efficient, and hopefully memorable.
In this article, I’ll describe three things every character needs to carry with them on a D&D adventure with quick examples of why they’re useful. This article is also good for DMs, so they can get ideas for how to set up scenarios where players can use these tools to solve problems.
Ready? Here we go.
The first is oil. I personally find carrying flasks of oil to be one of those mandatory gear items that every character in the party should have at least one of. And here’s why.
Oil is not only a requirement for use in lanterns, but it can be used to set all kinds of things on fire. What’s extra cool about the flamable aspect of oil is that it sticks and keeps burning, typically for at least another round or two. This can help you escape an overpowered monster, or add to the pool of damage your party is dishing out.
Oil can be used as a lubricant on squeeky door hinges. It can make the floor slippery, which is handy when being pursued or when you’re using guerilla tactics in creative ways.
And DMs, it can fun to put a small cask or barrel of oil here and there within your adventure locations. Most videogamers know that if you shoot a flame spell at a barrel of oil it tends to explode. Fun times!
Number 2 is rope. The general rule is that the party should always have at least one 50 foot bundle of rope amongst them, but I’ve seen many situations where players needed more than that, so my recommendation is that at least two party members should carry it.
Rope is useful for climbing but even more useful for lowering down into unsafe or uknown areas. Rope makes crossing rivers safer. You can use it to tie up monsters or dangerous NPCs. I’ve seen players tie mundane objects to the end of their section of rope and then toss it forward into glowing portals to see if it’s dangerous for them to do so.
As a DM, some might call it sneaky but I like to throw in a chasm or other obstacle that’s 60′ across or deep, requiring the party to use two sections of rope tied together to overcome. It’s super simple to do that, but I’ve seen players get this sense of “Hey, I solved a problem!” feeling when they use two lengths of 50′ rope tied together.
Rope ties into the third equipment item I’m going to talk about, pun intended, which is…
Iron spikes. Characters can buy iron spikes with eye loops at the end, and then thread their rope through them. In that way, they can drive those iron spikes into tree trunks or cavern walls to add climbing capabilities or just to increase safety when traversing dangerous terrain.
Iron spikes can be used to wedge doors open or closed. They can be lashed to the end of a rope and then tossed into strangely carved openings in temple walls, or lowered down into wells to see how deep they are.
And my favorite use of iron spikes is to toss them to rust monsters to distract them while the wizard gets their Fireball spell ready.
