DM's: How Do You Deal with Rope Trick?

[RJSmalls]

Since you cats have offered a ton of advice on my other spell-o'-the-day question (Improved Invisibility), I'd like to extend my begging to include another spell that gives me DM headaches.

Yep, it's that innocuous lookin' 2nd level Sor/Wiz spell: Rope Trick.

Leomund, eat your heart out. This 2nd level little bit of arcane tom-foolery allows the PC's to climb into an impregnable, damn-near undetectable, extra-dimensional space.

DM's - ever build a sprawling dungeon/cavern complex with multiple levels? Sure you have. Cackled evilly and scared your wife and children away as you realized the PC's would feel hunted the entire time they remained within your Edifice of Evil (TM)? I bet. And you didn't put a time limit on completion of the quest because, well, the Ancient Golden Globe of Garl has been sitting in mud for 3,000 years; what's another couple days gonna do.

And what do your PC's do? They become Rope Trickin' fiends.

Let me elaborate:

1) Fight.
2) Rope Trick.
3) Fight.
4) Rope Trick.
5) Really tough fight.
6) Rope Trick. Sorc pops head outside his own planar buble. Casts a New Rope Trick.

Yep, with an Extend Spell or two, a medium-level Sorc can basically Rope Trick the party for the rest of an elf's life. If you've got a priest to Create Food/Water, you're set. Bored - sure. But safe.

So...again, I appeal to the masses of DM's out there. Do you see the spell used frequently in your own campaigns? I hate having my PC's always at full strength going into every gosh darned encounter. Sure, I can have them harried and chased in some adventures, and I can have an element of 'beat the clock' in others, but the majority of the time they'll be able to safely reach full health/spells with a little 2nd level spell. It just doesn't sit well with me.

Damn Rope Trick! Damn it I say!

Sorry. Anyway, even those intelligent bad dudes who may know all about the powers of Trickin' da Rope still have to see the PC's climb into a spot in thin air. Or at least have to chase them into an empty room, check for Invisible folks (if they can; see my other post on these boards), and then decide that maybe the miscreants are playing cards in their own portable hole.

Do you see this used all the time? Should I worry about it? Or should I just bump EL's with this in mind? What did you do?

Again, I'd rather not debate the power of the spell, or compare it to higher level Leomund's spells. I'm mainly just probing you cats with much more experience than I to determine if this is just common in 3E games and, if so, does it warrant DM attention?

Vielen Danken,
RJ

 

[Drakmar]

well... I as the Dm.. I would make it possible to find the entrance with Detect Magic.

Better yet.. start having things like Phase Spiders attack them.. and other Extraplanar Scavengers.. things that are attracted to this bubble that keeps popping up. Otherwise.. Just start adding time limits. With Consiquences.. you don't save the maiden.. the villages refuse to have anything to do with you. that kind of thing.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

In the campaigns I've GM'd and played in, it's very common. In fact, as a GM, I encourage it. I want the players to be smart, and this spell gives them a chance to go all out, then break off and rest - not all the time, but often. When we ran through RttToEE, this spell probably saved us from TPK's more times than I can count (it's a loooong way back to town in that module).

That said, opponents can also use the spell. In addition, if the opposition suspects the pc's are hiding in a particular location, I can think of several nasty surprises they can setup just out of eyesight of the party (remember, they can only look straight down through a small opening). The first time they pile out of the rope trick to stumble across several glyphs should be priceless.

 

[Spikey]

Give the PCs a bag of holding. When an extra-dimensional space gets put inside another extra-dimensional space, baaaaaaaaad things happen.

 

[Victim]

I'm pretty sure the FAQ says that Rope trick is safe with other extradimensional spaces.

Our group used this alot, but not after every fight. We'd generally either Rope Trick or TP out of the dungeon when A) we were beat up and low on healing, or B) our 10 min/level buffs wore off - which usually wasn't important, because everything except taking 20 on searches goes by quickly.

Enemies with Detect Magic or Arcane Sight can spot the opening, and then Dispel rope trick, dumping the napping party on to the ground.

Rope Trick is also useful as a defense against Scry/Teleport attacks.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Spikey, there was a thread a few weeks ago that indicated that using bags of holding in a rope trick is okay - it's apparently part of the errata.

Also interesting, IIRC rope trick holds 8 creatures of the size of the caster - 8 colossal red dragons, anyone?

 

[dren]

Rope Trick Advice

RJSmalls , here a few things you could try.

1. Ethereal filchers that can lighten their loads while sleeping.

2. The spellcaster gets susceptible to an ethereal disease and has to make a will saving throw or starts to fade, as his spirit is slowly slipping into the ethereal from over-use of the spell.

3. It gets harder and harder to cast the spell, (the body is developing an immunity) and it requires an expensive or rare spell component in order to access the spell.

Regardless of what you do, make sure you give the players warning of the "potential" dangers. An older wizard may start to see the advance signals and gives them a heads-up. Make sure you give them a warning and don't do it too heavy handedly.

Hope that helps.

 

[Latency]

The group I DM I used the rules for air that the portable hole uses. No where in the spell description does it say that it will support life for the duration of the spell.

 

[dave_o]

I believe the text for Rope Trick says "putting extradimentional spaces into other extradimentional spaces is hazardous".

Ooo. Hazardous.

 

[hong]

Leomund, eat your heart out. This 2nd level little bit of arcane tom-foolery allows the PC's to climb into an impregnable, damn-near undetectable, extra-dimensional space.

DM's - ever build a sprawling dungeon/cavern complex with multiple levels?

Nope.

Cackled evilly and scared your wife and children away as you realized the PC's would feel hunted the entire time they remained within your Edifice of Evil (TM)?

Nope.

And you didn't put a time limit on completion of the quest because, well, the Ancient Golden Globe of Garl has been sitting in mud for 3,000 years; what's another couple days gonna do.

Well, you were stupid, weren't you?

If it bothers you that much, ban the spell. That's what I did; although in my case, being attacked at night is also a long and hallowed Ultima tradition. Although now the party knight is so paranoid about being caught out of his armour, he put the calling enchantment on it from DotF (teleports it on to him in 1 round).

Mind you, this is the same player who, in another campaign, bought a mithral chain shirt specifically to wear at night, when he wouldn't have his usual N buffups as N approaches infinity. We called them his mithral pyjamas.