D&D 5E I'm the DM and a player is trying to abuse the Immovable Rod. Advice?

[BoldItalic]

Pre-17th century, physics was different. It was common sense, not mathematics, until Newton came along and ruined it.

Heavy things were exemplified by large rocks. It takes effort to move a large rock a few feet across level ground, and more effort to move it another few feet. Effort is in proportion to the weight of the rock, and how far you want to move it. Also, uphill is harder than downhill. Also, heavy things fall harder than light things. You know that if you stand under one and it falls on your head.

An immovable rod is as difficult to shift as a 4 ton rock but it doesn't fall down at all. This is easy to understand. It just doesn't like to be moved. It's stubborn.

Here endeth the physics lesson.

 

[Ovinomancer]

He wouldn't have to grip it. At that point it would be embedded somewhere within his body

Edit: Hmm. Twice as fast as not moving is how fast exactly? Isn't 2 x 0 still 0? Keep multiplying until you have 32 x 0 = 0.

Good catch on the zero thing, but the 250lbs barbarian need only be moving at 19mph to move the rod. That's a move speed of about speed of 140, so a dashing barbarian with expeditious retreat could do it.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Pre-17th century, physics was different. It was common sense, not mathematics, until Newton came along and ruined it.

Heavy things were exemplified by large rocks. It takes effort to move a large rock a few feet across level ground, and more effort to move it another few feet. Effort is in proportion to the weight of the rock, and how far you want to move it. Also, uphill is harder than downhill. Also, heavy things fall harder than light things. You know that if you stand under one and it falls on your head.

An immovable rod is as difficult to shift as a 4 ton rock but it doesn't fall down at all. This is easy to understand. It just doesn't like to be moved. It's stubborn.

Here endeth the physics lesson.

This is pretty much entirely wrong. You can use it, sure, but it's not historically correct at all.

 

[Skyscraper]

Have the "cult of the immovable rod" show up and berate him for abusing the rods, and demand that he turn them over. If he objects then they all attack with immovable rods, restrain the party and knock them out. When the players wake up the cultists are gone and have taken the rods with them, no trace of them will ever be found.

Lol. I've stropped reading through this thread after the somewhat... Hum... Surprising first message followed by this totally appropriate answer

To the OP is: are you kidding me? I mean, this guy is really trying to abuse immovable rods in several different campaigns including as DM? Or are you setting this up as an early April fool's day thread, hoping to get to the thousand replies by then ;-P

If this is serious, then just talk to the guy. Tell him, look, are you having fun? Cause no one else is, because of your immovable rod stunt. We don't want to get into why it should or should not work, you have your views, we do ours. The quesiont I have for you is: do you like sapping the fun out of the game for your friends? Yes? Ok bye, we'll play without you. No? Then, why don't you just stop. This game is not called Restraints and Immovable Rods; it is called Dungeons and Dragons. Please try to keep to the theme, and avoid trying to find the loophole in whatever item or rule you find to exploit a system to the detriment of an entire table of players that simply wish to have fun. If you can't figure this out, by all means feel free to find a table of players that appreciate this kind of gaming.

I've had much less extreme examples of playings that want to accomplish improbable stuff with items, in my gaming experience, and it was enough to not game with them.

 

[jayoungr]

Haven't read the whole thread, but has anyone mentioned swarms? (If so, disregard this post and move on. )

 

[transtemporal]

Anyone have advice?

The rods can't do the thing he wants them to do. The rods aren't hammers, and they aren't meant to be used as restraints, so reverse that. It's an innovative idea but it's basically just a cheap way to stunlock the monster.

If you want to offer him a more appropriate alternative for a monk, I had a DM once who had a ninja clan using pairs of these with martial arts. Those guys were a friggin nightmare.

 

[Lanliss]

Haven't read the whole thread, but has anyone mentioned swarms? (If so, disregard this post and move on. )

Not swarms I don't think, but some did mention Oozes.

 

[SkidAce]

He wouldn't have to grip it. At that point it would be embedded somewhere within his body

Edit: Hmm. Twice as fast as not moving is how fast exactly? Isn't 2 x 0 still 0? Keep multiplying until you have 32 x 0 = 0.

/whisper

I know, twas part of the humor, such as the monty python reference.

/wink

 

[ThePolarBear]

Now i'm imagining swarms of Immovable Rods and the Immovable Ooze. Brain please.

Edit: The Immovable Ooze, the best paperweight ever. I can see it on the Desk of every deviate wizard. Also useful to destroy those demonology papers just before some guest comes in unexpectedly. Or to get rid of the corpse of said guest.

 

[MrHotter]

There must be a 'how to exploit the rules with immovable rods' that this guy read.

As people have mentioned: enforce the 'action to activate' rule. It could be that it's not just pressing a button at the correct time while swinging the rod around as a weapon. It could take careful placement or manipulation of the rod in order to make it work. You could even say you need both hands to be able to activate the button while keeping it steady.

I'd also say that any attempts to modify the rod would break the enchantment. They can't just drill holes in the rod to attach a hammer head to it.