D&D 5E Ruling Rope Trick

[Hexmage-EN]

New spell ruling questions, this time about Rope Trick:

• Is the portal that is generated intangible so that creatures and objects could move through its space?
• If cast while on or in a moving object, like a vehicle, will the portal stay in place or move along with the object?

I ask because a friend of mine once mused that, depending on how you rule it, Rope Trick could hypothetically be used for covert entry of vehicles. For example, set the portal at the elevation where you expect the interior of a carriage to be within the hour to drop in, or if on one ship being pursued by another ship cast the spell in the hold, climb in, and wait for the portal to be situated inside the other ship's hold before quickly dropping out. However, this would effectively mean it would be impossible to use Rope Trick to take a Short Rest inside something that is moving, such as a ship or something more fantastical like a flying fortress.

 

[Baron Opal II]

I've always played it that the portal is intangible once the rope is pulled into the space. Also, it does not move. In fact, I can't think of any of the extra-dimensional space spells that have portals that move.

 

[Oofta]

Whether it moves or not is a great question, and one there's not a simple answer to. Out planet is moving through space quite rapidly. You could say that gravity "anchors" the position, so it could also apply to some oddball cases like Spelljammer ships.

However, there are several spells that get wonky if you cast it on a ship sailing at see for example so there's no one answer. My ruling is that the platform is an inanimate object*, it has to be stable and at least 5 ft square. So can you put a ladder on it if the ride is smooth. So no for a horse, yes for a wagon.

So to answer your question in my game you could use it to get into the wagon (assuming you're on the road when you cast it) but not to jump ships. That, to me, is the best way to maintain the intent of the spell. Especially because once in a while the PCs could be in something that's moving even though they don't realize it.

*There could be exceptions to that like a living island or similar, but most creatures would not qualify not even gargantuan ones.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

This isn't a 5E source, but while looking around for opinions on this I learned that the Pathfinder 1E Skull & Shackles adventure path apparently included a ruling that Rope Trick would not move along with a ship. Not saying I agree with that, just that it's a ruling I found from a published product.

 

[ECMO3]

Whether it moves or not is a great question, and one there's not a simple answer to. Out planet is moving through space quite rapidly. You could say that gravity "anchors" the position, so it could also apply to some oddball cases like Spelljammer ships.

Yes, our planet is moving now. But everyone who understands science knows D&D worlds are flat and the sun, moons and stars rotate around them. Kind of like it used to be here on earth back in the old days.

In any case my ruling would be whatever makes sense at the time and I might even tell the players "you don't know" or make a DC 30 Arcana check to see if you know and finally it might be it is completely unpredictable, wormholes, bending time, and all that. Also don't forget to leave your bag of holding behind!

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I rule that if a moving object is large enough that you can have an encounter that takes place entirely on/inside it, then it's large enough that spell effects that target a location will move with it.

 

[Stormonu]

Yes, our planet is moving now. But everyone who understands science knows D&D worlds are flat and the sun, moons and stars rotate around them. Kind of like it used to be here on earth back in the old days.

Those who are familiar with Spelljammer know that ”Terra” being the center of the universe is only true for Oerth - the world of Greyhawk.

Which could actually provide an interesting conundrum when a mage with this spell moves between Greyhawk and Faerun if the DM had ruled it doesn’t move…

 

[Lanefan]

Interesting.

Ignoring planetary motion, I'd rule it stays where it is - meaning casting it while on a moving ship is probably a bad idea.

I had to rule similarly a while back on (Bowgentle's) Fleeting Journey* - if cast from a moving object such as a ship, do you return to the ship or to the actual point in space you left from. I ruled "point in space".

Which reminds me of another Rope Trick question that had our DM a bit stumped the other night: if someone is in a Rope Trick and uses an extremely magical weapon to (in this case accidentally) try to cut their way out, what happens? The weapon has stone-cutting as a property.

* - not sure this spell even still exists in 5e; it was a 2e invention, and IMO a really cool one.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

It's a really easy spell to weaponize. So while the spell itself doesn't say whether it moves with the surroundings, if it moves when cast on a horse/cart, the logistics (and surprise attacks! and escapes on a single vehicle!) of the world get even weirder.

The spell does however clearly say the portal is invisible. Nothing about intangible there, so I guess people can bump into it. Or even walk into the other-dimensional space through the portal by accident, since they are not attacks or spells... in theory, if not ever in practise, since the portal can be anywhere from a few inches to 60 feet in the air.

 

[Rabulias]

* - not sure this spell even still exists in 5e; it was a 2e invention, and IMO a really cool one.

I liked that spell. I know it never officially made it to 3.x, and it has so far not shown up in 5th edition as far as I know.