History MundaneUtility / TableTopGames

** Many low-level 4[[superscript:th]] Edition rituals are like this, with a clutch of some useless in combat found in Dragon Magazines. Purify Water is one from the core rules. Repel Vermin is great for keeping away bedbugs (also handy if there's an outbreak of flea-borne disease), Fluid Funds (which breaks up change for you), etc.

** Depending on whether the GM allows it, it's apparently possible to do more damage than the many, many, ''many'' WMDs the setting is famous for with a tanker ship filled with promethium. Half a billion liters -> Fireball with more than 10 times the sun's diameter.

* In ''{{GURPS}}: Magic'', knowing really powerful magic almost always requires the knowledge of a bunch of simpler spells with more mundane uses (eg, to learn Volcano, you need to know things like Create Fire and Shape Earth).

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' spinoff ''DarkHeresy'', the Psyker's abilities allow them to do mundane things such as excel at basic tasks, cheat in card games, and plenty of other things you'd associate with telepathy, divination, pyrokinetics, telekinetics, and so on. Of course, this being 40k, it's risky enough that they usually don't bother...

* In Polish RPG [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryszta%C5%82y_Czasu "Crystals of Time"]] most magic items are protected against tampering by unauthorized entities. The protection makes the device explode with equivalent of 1kg of TNT per magic point when used by a person it's not attuned to. Since the price of magic items rises exponentially with their power, the bottom tier ones are very cheap. Obvious abuse: a cartload of cheapest magic talismans used as a nuke (although you need to find a sucker to detonate it).

* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' game ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' subverts this -- while it's possible to use magic for everyday chores, doing so is considered an (extremely minor) act of hubris and dings the KarmaMeter. Okay, you have to be a practical saint to actually lose Wisdom over it (to the point where another action that will ding your KarmaMeter is ''selfish thoughts''), but magic is also inherently risky due to Paradox, so using it for mundane purposes is likely to sting you in the backside.
** The previous game, ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' played this straight, though. Doubly so with Sancta, small personal areas where a mage could perform ''any'' of their own magic without risk of paradox.
** In ''Awakening'', Demesnes allow the same paradox-free effect as Sancta (though if a Sleeper sees it, all bets are off).
** Over in ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'', there's a group of Sin-Eaters known as Bonepickers that use their powers to make money. The good ones simply charge for their "drive ghosts out of your life" services; the bad ones will bind a ghost to a Ferrari and then offer to take away the "haunted car".
** Several Contracts (groups of magical powers) in ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' would work for this, especially using the Contract of Artifice to fix minor broken things and using the lesser clauses of the Contract of Elements to make the weather suit you, but nearly every Contract has one or two clauses with mundane utility.
*** One particular [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique goblin contract]] basically guarantees that any guess you make will be right. And you can use it without cost if you're using it to win at gambling.
* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign setting ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' is based on this: there's the Magewright, a special [=NPC=] spellcasting class designed to handle stuff ranging from city light poles to the [[CoolTrain Lightning Rail]].

** The long gone Imaskari civilization in the ForgottenRealms were rather fond of dimensional magic, to the point that one-way portals to the Elemental Planes of Water and Air for the sake of easy access to fresh water and air were common. In other words, they punched holes in space and time to other dimensions for tap-water and ventilation.

** Many low-level 4th Edition rituals are like this, with a clutch of some useless in combat found in Dragon Magazines. Purify Water is one from the core rules. Repel Vermin is great for keeping away bedbugs (also handy if there's an outbreak of flea-borne disease), Fluid Funds (which breaks up change for you), etc.

** The same idea was defied in Baldur'sGate, which is based off D&D: One NPC mentioned the reason they don't use the spell to cover their iron shortage is because it could just be dispelled, depriving them of anything made from it.

** One of the better-regarded third-party books for 3rd Edition, ''A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe'', was all about building a proper medieval tone and background into a fantasy setting, including extended discussions on how magic can integrate into all layers of society for greater utility.

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' provides quite a few mundane uses for the vampiric disciplines: for example, members of the [[TheGrotesque Nosferatu clan]] can use [[SuperStrength Potence]] for construction, tunnelling through solid rock with their bare hands to create new warrens BeneathTheEarth. The artistically-inclined among them, meanwhile, have been known to use it in sculpture.
** When not using their power of [[LovecraftianSuperpower Vicissitude]] to transform themselves into [[OneWingedAngel armour-plated killing machines]] or [[BlobMonster puddles of animated blood]], the Tzimisce clan use it to build and decorate their havens. Of course, because this is a ''fleshcrafting'' discipline, and because the Tzimisce have a very sick sense of humour, [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the building materials are invariably live human beings]]- which ''remain'' [[AndIMustScream alive and conscious even after their reconstruction]].
--> When you're safe in your own haven, surrounded by furniture you've built yourself — that's Metamorphosis. Right now, I'm into working with lots of different materials. [[BlackComedy Children's bones are very malleable]], but they don't bear much weight, [[CrossesTheLineTwice so you have to use a lot of them]]. I'm very happy with this fainting couch I just finished; it cries when you sit on it, but I'll show it to you if you like.
-->— Ahriman Berney-Scott, feng shui enthusiast

** In Polish RPG [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryszta%C5%82y_Czasu "Crystals of Time"]] most magic items are protected against tampering by unauthorized entities. The protection makes the device explode with equivalent of 1kg of TNT per magic point when used by a person it's not attuned to. Since the price of magic items rises exponentially with their power, the bottom tier ones are very cheap. Obvious abuse: a cartload of cheapest magic talismans used as a nuke (although you need to find a sucker to detonate it).

** Bo Levar, a minor [[PhysicalGod Planeswalker]] from the Invasion era, used his nigh-godlike Planeswalker abilities to smuggle goods.

** Bo Levar, a minor [[PhysicalGod Planeswalker]] from the Invasion era, used his nigh-godlike Planeswalker abilities abilities to smuggle goods.

** The Sultai Brood of Tarkir uses zombies for almost everything: there is, for example, a card depicting a zombie with a scroll case rammed through its skull to serve as a messenger, and another showing zombies being used to hold up bowls of fruit.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the case of several equipment cards from ''Innistrad'' block, which are [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220049 everyday]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222190 tools]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244766 farming]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220642 implements]] used by the otherwise helpless peasentry to defend themselves from the setting's zombies, werewolves, and vampires. As an added bonus, these equipment cards become stronger when wielded by humans.

** Speaking of psykers, the mightiest psyker in the galaxy is arguably Mr. Eldrad Ulthran of Craftworld Ulthwe. Canon has him using his powers of foresight to help guide Craftworld Ulthwe and preserve the Eldar species, such as [[MoralEventHorizon manipulating the rise of an Ork warlord so he ends up killing millions of humans in a series of bloody wars in the place of a handful of Eldar a couple of centuries down the line]]. {{Fanon}} on the other hand has him using his powers of foresight to plan out relatively harmless butt still humiliating pranks on both his enemies and his underlings, such as causing a huge convoy pile-up so that a Commissar's NiceHat falls neatly on his head, or manipulating shrapnel so it non-lethally knocks a Howling Banshee's BreastPlate off, or causing that domino effect that not only leaves Ursakar Creed's army utterly destroyed but does so in such a way that the burning wreckage spells out "CREED SUCKS" and can be seen from space.

--> [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=88810 "Kills and cooks your food in one easy stroke."]]

** Many low-level 4th Edition rituals are like this, with a clutch of some useless in combat found in Dragon Magazines. Purify Water is one from the core rules, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Repel Vermin is great for keeping away bedbugs (also handy if there's an outbreak of flea-borne disease), Fluid Funds (which breaks up change for you), etc.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'': it's a game with SwissArmySuperpower, and thus, all you need to do this is apply a little ingenuity.

** Since [=IndustrialMechs=] exist in the universe, with civilian standard equipment, using the military grade stuff in this way is probably a bit overkill (and likely to attract the wrong kind of attention). That being said, a recent rule book has stats for turning a short range missile launcher into a harpoon launcher. ''For Space Whaling''.

* The ''TabletopGame/NinjaBurger'' series has the deliverymen use their elite ninja skills to...deliver food. However, they need every bit of it.

* Though the hideous BioPunk {{Mons}} of ''TabletopGame/{{Mortasheen}}'' are usually used for battling, there are actually quite a few made mainly for mundane uses, such as [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/mowverkill.htm a lawnmower monster]], [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/septacle.htm a toilet monster]], [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/jitter.htm a narcotics-dispensing monster]] and [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/slimewinder.htm a sewer-cleaning monster]] amongst many, many others. Of course [[LethalHarmlessPower almost all of these monsters have a use in fights]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'': it's a game with SwissArmySuperpower, and thus, all you need to do this is apply a little ingenuity.