D&D General A thread about Rope

[Vaalingrade]

I have always wondered about D&D rope, why 50' and why is it so damn heavy. I would expect to get a couple of hundred feet of rope to weigh in at 10lbs or so.

I suspect someone was imaging the big, thick ship mooring ropes.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I suspect someone was imaging the big, thick ship mooring ropes.

Yes my experience was growing up on a farm. Less than about 100 meters of rope was not worth carrying around.

 

[aco175]

Yes my experience was growing up on a farm. Less than about 100 meters of rope was not worth carrying around.

I had a player who figured he could climb down the 50ft and then jump the rest and live. It was the extra 5d10 that he worried about.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I had a player who figured he could climb down the 50ft and then jump the rest and live. It was the extra 5d10 that he worried about.

Very D&D

 

[Vaalingrade]

So Google says 50ft of 1" natural fiber rope is 13lbs, so D&D might not be as drunk as expected on this one.

Just using really thick with 3 c's rope.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I was just watching Donny Yen using a short length of rope to tying an opponent mid battle (martial arts), I’d love to have rules for that, beyond just grapple.

I tend to list 50ft rope as standard gear, but sometimes 100 and use it for climbing, binding and carrying. i like lasoo as a ranged grapple and kusari-gama style

For 5e, I'd probably rule it a little bit like using a Net with the goal of restraining the opponent. In the midst of battle, I would call for an opposed Dexterity ability check (rather than the Net's attack roll) at disadvantage. The player could opt to apply Sleight of Hand if proficient. Disadvantage could be offset by someone helping, using inspiration, or maybe if already grappling.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

So Google says 50ft of 1" natural fiber rope is 13lbs, so D&D might not be as drunk as expected on this one.

Just using really thick with 3 c's rope.

I just looked up a store, units in metric but by my calculations 50 ft of 1" is 14lbs lbs and I would be of the opinion that 1" is probably a little excessive.
Looking up some formulas 1" manila rope has a breaking strain of nearly 9k lbs, half inch rope around a ton (2.2k lbs). I would not use less than half inch because smaller diameter is harder to grip. But from this site 12mm (close to half inch) (circa 2k lbs breaking strain) weighs in at 11kg per hundred meters.
So half inch would weigh in at 3.7lbs for 5O feet which seems more reasonable for my experience. So 200 ft would seem a reasonable load out.
You could probably manage a lot with lighter ropes but would need some additional specialised gear to get the most out of them.

 

[RealAlHazred]

This thread reminded me of an RPG sound mixer I use, called Softrope. From the "About" section:

Why the name Softrope?​

I wanted a word that would be fairly unique yet still RPG/DnD related. Surely I’m not the only DM to have a this happen in a situation where rope was required.

Player: “I’ve got some soft rope, will that do.”
DM: “WTF? Soft rope?”
Player: “Here on my equipment I’ve written, ‘Rope (S0ft)’.”
DM: Looks closely.
DM: Slaps player.

At the end of the day it was a choice between Softrope or 50ft Boots.

 

[LordEntrails]

I just looked up a store, units in metric but by my calculations 50 ft of 1" is 14lbs lbs and I would be of the opinion that 1" is probably a little excessive.
Looking up some formulas 1" manila rope has a breaking strain of nearly 9k lbs, half inch rope around a ton (2.2k lbs). I would not use less than half inch because smaller diameter is harder to grip. But from this site 12mm (close to half inch) (circa 2k lbs breaking strain) weighs in at 11kg per hundred meters.
So half inch would weigh in at 3.7lbs for 5O feet which seems more reasonable for my experience. So 200 ft would seem a reasonable load out.
You could probably manage a lot with lighter ropes but would need some additional specialised gear to get the most out of them.

That's all for modern rope. High quality by medieval standards. Hence the difference between normal D&D rope (hemp?) and silk rope.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

That's all for modern rope. High quality by medieval standards. Hence the difference between normal D&D rope (hemp?) and silk rope.

My data is for hemp. It is not going to be that much heavier for a given diameter.