D&D 5E Player angry about enemies climbing rope with Rope Trick

[dave2008]

So the ranger should know that the baddies could climb the rope as well, since it's not some super-rare thing. But the player didn't receive the benefit of the character's in-world knowledge, while the bad guys did.

Actually, from the OP, do we know that the player didn't know that. They player might have assumed they wouldn't, but did they really think the baddies couldn't climb a rope? I don't remember seeing that in the OP.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, it seems like a pretty obvious thing to happen, the Ranger obviously knows how his spell works, just has to read it, nothing says enemies can't follow you.

I feel like Air Bud rules shouldn't apply here.

 

[Charlaquin]

Most smart players that use Rope trick have a 5 foot length of rope to use to cast the spell. The spell descriptions says it can be cast on a length of rope UP to 60 feet.

Since the player doesn’t seem to have correctly understood how the spell works, I’m guessing they didn’t think to use a shorter rope either.

 

[James Gasik]

This conversation reminded me of something. In 4e, my Wizard had a utility spell I was rather fond of called Force Ladder. It conjured a ladder made of magical energy. I was always using it in strange ways, like as a bridge for example.

One time we were fighting an ooze that, when struck, spawned tiny ooze minions, so I said ok, I set my ladder against the wall and climb it, and I'll sit on top of it, with my back to the wall. The ladder couldn't fall over, so I figured that was a safe bet.

The DM is like, well, the oozelings climb up the ladder. "How, they have no legs, do they have a climb speed?"

And his response was, "the rules don't say creatures without limbs can't climb".

 

[Charlaquin]

the Orcs know magic happens and can see that their opponent has just climbed a rope - theres nothing to stop them climbing the same rope and assuming their target will be there at the top

Yeah, I often find that people play characters (and monsters) in very strange ways when they’re trying to emulate lacking a particular piece of knowledge.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Since the player doesn’t seem to have correctly understood how the spell works, I’m guessing they didn’t think to use a shorter rope either.

Why do you think they didn't understand how it worked? From the OP, this wasn't the first time they'd used the spell. In fact, it seems they used it often. I just don't think they were expecting half the encounter monsters to follow them up the into the portal.

I played in a game with a cowardly wizard who used this trick often. One person would put up a fog cloud and the wizard would cast rope trick and we'd all escape under the cover of fog. It backfired on us on two occasions. Not as bad as what's described in the OP. But pretty badly.

We had a barghast grab the rope before we had a chance to pull it up. Unlike the OP, it had no idea what the rope was since he hadn't seen us climb up into it. He let go and we pulled it up and he was super-annoyed. We then had to deal with the ambush afterwards.

I would 100% expect the enemy to follow someone through if they actually saw you cast it and escape through it. I'm not sure they'd understand that pulling the rope up would close it, though.

 

[iserith]

This is a game based on imagination. On childhood games of make-believe.

This means there are effectively limitless reasons why the orcs could or could not know something. Pick one that works for your group. Arguing over what a fictional orc would or would not know is really very strange to me.

 

[Charlaquin]

The fact that I agree with what the OP did doesn't mean there aren't other issues at the table.

But let's say there was no spell involved for a moment. The ranger is fighting in a familiar area and knows there's an attic access with one of those pull down ladders. He pulls the cord, climbs up into the attic and doesn't immediately pull the ladder back up.

Would it be bad DMing for the enemy to follow them up into the attic? I think it would be illogical for the enemy to not follow the ranger up into the attic in this scenario.

I don't see any difference just because it's a spell. However, I would warn the player that this would happen, that there's nothing stopping the enemy from following. In addition, if the entire group did manage to do a rope trick in full sight of the enemy, it's highly likely that intelligent enemies would just be given an hour to prepare defenses for the inevitable return. Intelligent opponents will usually use better tactics than video game AI enemies.

I don’t think simply having the monsters follow the ranger up the rope is the part most people are taking issue with. On its own I think that’s perfectly reasonable. But if it was done to “teach the player a lesson,” rather than because the DM thought that was genuinely how the orcs would react, that’s a problem. Regardless, it seems like the DM and the player had misaligned expectations, and that should be addressed, independently of whether or not either party’s tactics were sound.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I would 100% expect the enemy to follow someone through if they actually saw you cast it and escape through it. I'm not sure they'd understand that pulling the rope up would close it, though.

This is a game based on imagination. On childhood games of make-believe.

This means there are effectively limitless reasons why the orcs could or could not know something. Pick one that works for your group. Arguing over what a fictional orc would or would not know is really very strange to me.

I'm just trying to figure out what the player's thought process would have been. What did he expect fictional Orcs would do? Obviously, following him up the rope wasn't imagined.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think we missed this in the whole argument over the fairness of the whole thing, but... did that party just sit there for a whole hour (5e standard 'short' rest) waiting for the punishment squad to come out of the Rope Trick?