1001 Uses for an Immovable Rod

[Xarls Taunzund]

After climbing a difficult slope, use one to attach a rope to for your less-agile friends. Faster and less noisy than hammering pitons.

Even better, if you have a party member that can fly, whether naturally or through the use of a spell or a magic item, have them fly up, activate the rod, tie the rope to it, done. In one campaign I played in, the party found a set of Wings of Flying in the same treasure as the Immovable Rod.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

You could use the rod for a safe fall. Just lick it on and off. This way you never fall more then 10 feet at a time. Its the slow way down for sure, but its safe. just keep clicking.

 

[Thurbane]

Hang it in mid air, at around head or neck height, render it Invisible, then taunt/trick an enemy into charging into it face first.

 

[Storyteller01]

If your the BBEG:

Hang out a window, attach noose, attach noose to killed character, repeat as needed...

 

[Harmon]

Set it in the middle of a 5' wide pit at chest level, then cast invisibility on it. Enemies jump the pit, slam into it, and slide off into the pit.

Like it

Hang all your dimensional items off of it just outside of your Rope Trick (if you keep track of things like that) some 30' in the area (or higher if you can).

Four of them make up corners to stretch rope about so that you can pin your horses inside while you are not mounted (reduces the need for hobbling and or tying your horse to a tree)

 

[Al'Kelhar]

You could use the rod for a safe fall. Just lick it on and off. This way you never fall more then 10 feet at a time. Its the slow way down for sure, but its safe. just keep clicking.

Two problems with this:

1. Having your arms ripped out of their sockets; and
2. activating a magic item is a standard action, so that's clicking the ol' rod on or off once every 6 seconds - or a drop at 1G of about 210 metres.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Moon-Lancer]

not with the prc, its a free action with that. are you telling me it takes you 6 secconds inbetween typeing each letter on a keyboard, or on a video game controler?

 

[Storyteller01]

Two problems with this:

1. Having your arms ripped out of their sockets; and
2. activating a magic item is a standard action, so that's clicking the ol' rod on or off once every 6 seconds - or a drop at 1G of about 210 metres.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

With two you can effectively climb down with the same effect. You'll need to make the skill check to hang on, but it would work.

 

[Felix]

are you telling me it takes you 6 secconds...

Activating it isn't necessiarly that simple. It's not a keyboard stroke, it's a Standard Action.

Thus, the rods in the chest from the example above would not perform the function as intended. The chest would be movable.

I'm rather suprised that you would rule this.

Yes, the "Immovable" Rod needs to move with a planet's rotation (unless the world is Flat and on the back of four elephants on the back of a turtle, but then it would need to move with him). But to zero-in its relative unmoveableness to anything, even anything "within reason", is a wonderful example of thinking too hard about it; it's an RPG, so rotational velocities shouldn't really enter the argument.

Yes, teleportation is a sticky subject, but I would be bold to say that because it's the rod that's immovable, it's only the rod that doesn't move and stays where it is when Teleport Object is cast upon it, or when someone is holding it and teleports (both when the rod is activated, of course).

That's the simple answer. Not hard to explain or intuit, as long as you're willing to put aside your Copernican physics when you make believe you're an elf.

 

[Storyteller01]

Activating it isn't necessiarly that simple. It's not a keyboard stroke, it's a Standard Action.

It's actually a move action:

Immovable Rod
This rod is a flat iron bar with a small button on one end. When the button is pushed (a move action), the rod does not move from where it is, even if staying in place defies gravity. Thus, the owner can lift or place the rod wherever he wishes, push the button, and let go...


From the SRD. Emphasis mine.