So the thread on whether Rope Trick is a heal spell is 180 replies and counting, this isn't that thread.
I actually looked at the spell for the first time in a while (none of my players took it) and, well, isn't it kind of absurd?
1. Strictly by RAW it doesn't actually provide a short rest. A short rest requires an hour or more of rest. Rope trick lasts exactly an hour, presumably including the time it takes to get inside the rope trick space (the spell doesn't say). Is it just a case of short rests used to be shorter (10 minutes in the playtest) and the designers never bothered to fix it, who knows?
- this isn't a big deal, just say the spell 1 hour duration starts when everyone gets in, handwave the extra couple of rounds etc. But the fact that it's ambiguous is annoying! Also, what happens if the wizard casts it and before the party can climb up they get into a fight (this is actually somewhat likely, you wouldn't cast the spell if the area was "safe). should we handwave it then too, or is the short rest blown? was the spell actually just intended to be a brief hidey hole and the short rest is incidental? Again very irritating.
But worse:
2. The party has to climb up to 60' of rope (regular presumably not knotted rope, and don't you even think of using a rope ladder though interestingly, rope isn't part of the material component) to get into the darned thing! If it's not near a wall, that's not easy!
That's just funny to me. Sure, the DM can be generous and just rule it's 1/2 or 1/4 automatic movement (which again eats into the 1 hour duration, probably a lot, but lets not go there?) but what if he rules it's a stressful situation and requires a DC 10 athletics check? There's a pretty good chance the party will be fumbling around for quite a while trying to get everyone up there!
And, I'm sorry, maybe it's mean - but if the party keeps using this spell - at some point, I'm having a villain be smart enough to shoot at them while their going up. Or more likely, wait for them and have archers shoot at them coming down!
Has anyone else been struck by the silliness or absurdity of this spell?
I actually looked at the spell for the first time in a while (none of my players took it) and, well, isn't it kind of absurd?
1. Strictly by RAW it doesn't actually provide a short rest. A short rest requires an hour or more of rest. Rope trick lasts exactly an hour, presumably including the time it takes to get inside the rope trick space (the spell doesn't say). Is it just a case of short rests used to be shorter (10 minutes in the playtest) and the designers never bothered to fix it, who knows?
- this isn't a big deal, just say the spell 1 hour duration starts when everyone gets in, handwave the extra couple of rounds etc. But the fact that it's ambiguous is annoying! Also, what happens if the wizard casts it and before the party can climb up they get into a fight (this is actually somewhat likely, you wouldn't cast the spell if the area was "safe). should we handwave it then too, or is the short rest blown? was the spell actually just intended to be a brief hidey hole and the short rest is incidental? Again very irritating.
But worse:
2. The party has to climb up to 60' of rope (regular presumably not knotted rope, and don't you even think of using a rope ladder though interestingly, rope isn't part of the material component) to get into the darned thing! If it's not near a wall, that's not easy!
That's just funny to me. Sure, the DM can be generous and just rule it's 1/2 or 1/4 automatic movement (which again eats into the 1 hour duration, probably a lot, but lets not go there?) but what if he rules it's a stressful situation and requires a DC 10 athletics check? There's a pretty good chance the party will be fumbling around for quite a while trying to get everyone up there!
And, I'm sorry, maybe it's mean - but if the party keeps using this spell - at some point, I'm having a villain be smart enough to shoot at them while their going up. Or more likely, wait for them and have archers shoot at them coming down!
Has anyone else been struck by the silliness or absurdity of this spell?