Roping through portals

[Bullgrit]

One of the wiser precautions when checking out a strange portal is to use a rope on whatever (whoever) you first send through.

What do you say happens to a length of rope when one end (tied to what/whoever) goes through:

1- a two-way portal linking two places on the same plane.

2- a two-way portal linking two places on different planes.

3- a one-way portal linking any two places.

In my years playing D&D, I've seen different DMs rule in different ways on these questions. For instance, I've seen the rope be severed by the portal; I've seen the rope be fine, but the people behind can't pull it (and what/who it is tied to) back out; I've seen the rope work just like through a normal doorway.

Bullgrit

 

[Kingreaper]

In 1 and 2, what happens to the rope= what would happen if the rope were in the location on the other side (for instance, a portal into an inferno would mean the rope gets burned)

in 3, it depends. I would rule it can't be pulled back, but doesn't get cut. Why? Because I like my portals to treat rope like they treat people, and I don't want people dying because they failed a DC 40 acrobatics/athletics check to pass through the portal without any parts moving backwards at any point.
Note: if you try and stand in such a portal, you will start to, gradually, find yourself feeling faint, getting pain from various limbs, etc. If you stand with your head halfway through... if you're lucky you'll fall FORWARDS, allowing your body and brain to start working properly again.
But seriously, don't stand halfway through a one way portal in my worlds.

 

[olshanski]

How do I adjudicate the following when I am GM? (characters test portal with rope)
1- a two-way portal linking two places on the same plane.
2- a two-way portal linking two places on different planes.
3- a one-way portal linking any two places.
4- a sphere of anhilation


1: rope goes back and forth, no problem
2: rope goes back and forth, no problem
3: rope cannot be pulled out until it gets to the half-way point, at which point the entire rope is pulled through faster than can be held, or it vanishes if it is tied-off. (this is a magic effect... once something is half-way through, it is all-the-way through... it is in an undefined state until it reaches the half-way point...)
4: rope is snipped off cleanly.

 

[Umbran]

For me, it isn't about what is on the two ends of the portals, but how the portal operates. There are, for me, typically three kinds of portals:

1) the kind that's basically a wormhole, so space is continuous between the two sides. It is more a door to another room than a "portal"

2) The kind that essentially teleports the person from point A to point B.

3) The kind that does some sort of "conversion" (say, a portal that opens onto a plane of energies that cannot be allowed to leak through, or something)

Portal type 1 can maintain a rope. Types 2 and 3 will not.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Can't give xp to umbran again for some time it seems.

Umbran's answer is very good because there is some consistent logic behind it.

 

[Bullgrit]

Portal type 1 can maintain a rope. Types 2 and 3 will not.

So what happens to the rope through Types 2 and 3?

Bullgrit

 

[Scribble]

So what happens to the rope through Types 2 and 3?

Bullgrit

Can't answer for Umbran, but his way of seeing it is the same as mine.

In case 2 & 3 usually the rope vanishes, and appears wherever the portal leads. (As would anything that touches the portal.)

2 & 3 for me are kind of like the start trek transporter beam. It's either there or on the other side.

 

[Celebrim]

1- a two-way portal linking two places on the same plane.

These places are connected by a non-zero length passage of astral space. A rope passed partway through the portal remains partly in the astral space and partly on this side of the portal. It is unharmed. A rope passed all the way into the portal 'slides' out of the portal on the other side of the passage. If the portal connects two places which are a very short distance apart and the rope is long enough, it might potentially cross the space and appear out the other side.

2- a two-way portal linking two places on different planes.

In most cases, as a above. It's possible though that the position on the other place is completely coterminus with this plane, as for example a portal to the ethereal plane or a portal to demiplane. In which case, the intervening space actually has zero length, and the rope comes out the portal on the other side (as would a hand or head stuck in the portal).

3- a one-way portal linking any two places.

As above, with the difference that once any part of the object 'comes out the other side', the entire object is now 'stuck' and can only be pulled back through by tearing it.

In my years playing D&D, I've seen different DMs rule in different ways on these questions. For instance, I've seen the rope be severed by the portal

This would seem to me to be too dangerous of a portal to actually use. If it can sever a rope halfway into it, what prevents it from severing a person halfway into it? I would tend to treat such portals as death traps, and possibly concealed spheres of annihilation.

I've seen the rope be fine, but the people behind can't pull it (and what/who it is tied to) back out; I've seen the rope work just like through a normal doorway.

I can see either of these depending on the circumstance. The first case would imply to me a one way portal. I would probably not go through such a portal until I obtained some information about where it went. The second would imply to me that if the rope came back intact, the portal was possibly (with normal precautions, like surviving a step into a vacuum) safe to investigate. If the rope came back wet, etc, it would obviously help me plan necessary precautions, and would tend to hearten me about the portal's safety and usability.

 

[Celebrim]

For me, it isn't about what is on the two ends of the portals, but how the portal operates.

Good point. When I here the term 'portal', I automatically assume something that is close to your type #1, but with different assumptions about how space works. Not also that all my portals tend to have the properties of your type #3 by default without performing what you call 'a conversion', in that they don't leak except under pressure and are usually designed to withstand typical ambient pressures on both sides of the portal. For gamist and simulation reasons, a leaky portal must burn itself out in a short period.

Your portal type #2 is what I think of when I think of 'teleport trap', and I agree generally with you on how it works. Generally, I consider teleporters to have one of two modes of operation:

1) Anything that they contain completely, they teleport. The idea is that there is a mystic cylinder of space defined by the effect. Once you are in that cylinder and the edges of the cylinder are unbroken, the teleport effect occurs. In this case, you can throw a rope into the space and nothing happens. You can actually 'disarm' the trap/portal by symbolically cutting it with a rope or other object. Teleporters of this type are usually designed for transportation, and are often visibly marked by a circle of some sort. They are easily 'closed' and difficult to activate accidently (especially if you know one is there). Teleporters of this type in my game would generally not allow saving throws. 'Poof', your gone.

2) Anything that touches the effect is teleported. These are are usually designed as traps, and so often not marked or have hidden triggers. If the rope (or 10' pole) touches the effect, 'Poof' it disappears. Because these are more dangerous, I might often allow a saving throw (including an attended object). If the saving throw was past, you'd feel something trying to pull the object away from you.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It is like fishing....

• It gets pulled - STR test to hold on, ROPE STR test to break or the line runs
• It is pulled out of the portal - STR test for every FOOT recovered, ROPE STR test to break and what ever is on the other end is pulled onto your side of the portal
• The rope breaks, ROPE STR test to break