Steel_Wind
Legend
Stalker0 said:
/me laughs
It's a family channel.
To all the Boy Scouts: What can you do with rope?
- Thread starter Stalker0
- Start date
/me laughs
It's a family channel.
Let's think of it this way - with enough rope, you can lash together more than a lean-to. You can build a whole bloody house, complete with hinged doos and shutters. All it takes is enough skill, proper materians, and time. I wouldn't reccommend multiple story structures, unless your rope was really good.
So, it isn't so much what can you do, as what can't you do...
So, it isn't so much what can you do, as what can't you do...
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
The Shaman said:
Wonder what percentage of posters get the reference? -Hyp.
Lost in the woods, need rope... Find some nettles, boil them, eat them, and take the fibrous "strings" out. DC:15 Rope Use to weave the fibers into rope.
Cut some saplings for poles, lean two long ones towards each other (so it's wider at the top than the bottom), tie some crossbars to both sides, and you have a ladder...
.../____\
../______\
./________\
/__________\
(The slant is to keep the bars from pulling downwards, when you put your weight on them).
......................................................................... /_/|
Building boxy structures... Huts, four-sided towers, etc.|_||
............................................................................... _
Building frames. A litter/travois to carry someone on, etc. |X|
Taking a bunch of de-barked logs, and building a stockde.
ooo
||||
Setting up a Deadfall (DC:15 Survival), where something falls over on top of'em; Simple Snare (DC:2), "Jerk'em Off Their Feet By Whatever's Caught" Snare (DC:15), A "Sharpened Limb That Hits'em Like A Morningstar" Trap (DC:15), or a "Drop The Lid When They're In It" Pit Trap (DC:15). You can also combine a "Jerker" and some sharpened limbs to jerk them INTO the spikes... "SNAP! Whooooooosh-SPLAT!" Then there's the ever-popular "Spiked Deadfall", where the big, spiky log, with sharpened limbs, comes swooshing down outta the branches, and impales anyone along its path... Obviously, it is hanging from a rope!
Need to climb, but the odds are low, and no one has gear? How far you can throw a grapnel is based upon Rope Use, not BAB, so your PC will pro'ly be the best... Climbing a knotted rope is easier than a regular one. Also, he should be able to rig up a climbing harness for the +2 Circumstance Bonus out of a 10' piece. Also, if climbing a pillar or tree, you can put a piece around the other side, lean back, hang onto it, position your feet, then jerk the rope up, move feet, jerk rope, move, jerk... and thus climb the pillar/tree with a +2 Synergy Bonus for 5+ ranks of Rope Use...
Note: Most of this (except for the traps stuff) is in the rules... The traps stuff is just my take on it, based (in part) on the Detect Snares and Pits spell description. Unless you need to throw a grapnel a looooooong ways, don't put more than 13 ranks in Rope Use... With DC:15, you can tie any knot, and you'll get at least a 1 on the roll, plus your stat add. Check with your GM, and his/her interpretation is what counts.
You will want high Climb, Survival, and Rope Use, as well as (depending upon GM) some Craft (Trapmaking). (Based on their interpretation, you may not be ABLE to make traps... The DMG says one WEEK and 1,000 GP per CR of the trap! This is a personal hangup, of mine!)
Some GMs may also tell you that you need Craft (Carpentry or Woodworking), for example. You'll just have to check with them, talk to them, and work out how you'll do it.
Building a suspension bridge isn't beyond possibility... although you'll need to add a good timber saw to your equipment list (to make boards). I suppose you could do it with logs, too, but it's trickier to walk on, that-a-way!
There was a recent thread, just a few days ago, about building a raft... Somebody with Search want to find a link to that? ===>
Survival shelters, and just plain rigging a tent, can be done with Survival or Rope Use, either one.
I think 5+ ranks of Rope Use gives a +2 Synergy Bonus to Escape Artist (to help offset the -10 penalty for being tied)!
Some Indian tribe also had a whole system of telling a story through knots... Sending messages that way might be cool, but... who would read it?
Honestly, I think hitting something with a Lasso or grapnel should be handled by BAB, not Rope Use, and that it (Rope Use) should be removed from the game. It is never worth the investment in skill points, IMHO. PCs should just be assumed to be capable of tying the proper knots!
Cut some saplings for poles, lean two long ones towards each other (so it's wider at the top than the bottom), tie some crossbars to both sides, and you have a ladder...
.../____\
../______\
./________\
/__________\
(The slant is to keep the bars from pulling downwards, when you put your weight on them).
......................................................................... /_/|
Building boxy structures... Huts, four-sided towers, etc.|_||
............................................................................... _
Building frames. A litter/travois to carry someone on, etc. |X|
Taking a bunch of de-barked logs, and building a stockde.
ooo
||||
Setting up a Deadfall (DC:15 Survival), where something falls over on top of'em; Simple Snare (DC:2), "Jerk'em Off Their Feet By Whatever's Caught" Snare (DC:15), A "Sharpened Limb That Hits'em Like A Morningstar" Trap (DC:15), or a "Drop The Lid When They're In It" Pit Trap (DC:15). You can also combine a "Jerker" and some sharpened limbs to jerk them INTO the spikes... "SNAP! Whooooooosh-SPLAT!" Then there's the ever-popular "Spiked Deadfall", where the big, spiky log, with sharpened limbs, comes swooshing down outta the branches, and impales anyone along its path... Obviously, it is hanging from a rope!
Need to climb, but the odds are low, and no one has gear? How far you can throw a grapnel is based upon Rope Use, not BAB, so your PC will pro'ly be the best... Climbing a knotted rope is easier than a regular one. Also, he should be able to rig up a climbing harness for the +2 Circumstance Bonus out of a 10' piece. Also, if climbing a pillar or tree, you can put a piece around the other side, lean back, hang onto it, position your feet, then jerk the rope up, move feet, jerk rope, move, jerk... and thus climb the pillar/tree with a +2 Synergy Bonus for 5+ ranks of Rope Use...
Note: Most of this (except for the traps stuff) is in the rules... The traps stuff is just my take on it, based (in part) on the Detect Snares and Pits spell description. Unless you need to throw a grapnel a looooooong ways, don't put more than 13 ranks in Rope Use... With DC:15, you can tie any knot, and you'll get at least a 1 on the roll, plus your stat add. Check with your GM, and his/her interpretation is what counts.
You will want high Climb, Survival, and Rope Use, as well as (depending upon GM) some Craft (Trapmaking). (Based on their interpretation, you may not be ABLE to make traps... The DMG says one WEEK and 1,000 GP per CR of the trap! This is a personal hangup, of mine!)
Some GMs may also tell you that you need Craft (Carpentry or Woodworking), for example. You'll just have to check with them, talk to them, and work out how you'll do it.Building a suspension bridge isn't beyond possibility... although you'll need to add a good timber saw to your equipment list (to make boards). I suppose you could do it with logs, too, but it's trickier to walk on, that-a-way!
There was a recent thread, just a few days ago, about building a raft... Somebody with Search want to find a link to that? ===>
Survival shelters, and just plain rigging a tent, can be done with Survival or Rope Use, either one.
I think 5+ ranks of Rope Use gives a +2 Synergy Bonus to Escape Artist (to help offset the -10 penalty for being tied)!
Some Indian tribe also had a whole system of telling a story through knots... Sending messages that way might be cool, but... who would read it?
Honestly, I think hitting something with a Lasso or grapnel should be handled by BAB, not Rope Use, and that it (Rope Use) should be removed from the game. It is never worth the investment in skill points, IMHO. PCs should just be assumed to be capable of tying the proper knots!
Last edited:
BiggusGeekus said:
Agrred! I keep trying to tell WotC that!
BiggusGeekus said:
That was me, a long time ago, in another thread... I did that as a "one off", to show how it COULD be done (instead of the current "All knots are DC:15, regardless of complexity"), but didn't save a copy... I also suggested, there, that you be allowed to learn to tie X-many knots per rank (basically, that you can "Take 20" to tie, say, three or four knots per rank, starting with the simple overhand, granny, and square knots, and moving up from there). That would at least make "Knot Lore" more interesting... if not its use!
As someone else in that thread pointed out, "I tie a pair of prussics,..." (roll, roll), "then attach myself to the line with a double bowline!" (Roll!) is more complexity than we really need to get into...
There's such a thing as too much detail!
Macramé - While pot holders and art come to mind you also can make clothing from string and rope. 
Psychic Warrior
First Post
Well I did drop Use Rope from my game. Wasn't a big deal since no one had ever put a rank into it anyways.
Some of the suggestion here are quite ingenious in their application of Use Rope although many of them seem to me to be more about Craft(X) skills than actually using rope.
Some of the suggestion here are quite ingenious in their application of Use Rope although many of them seem to me to be more about Craft(X) skills than actually using rope.
You can make make shift armor and weapons. If you have ever been hit by a rope boat bumper they can hurt. You can actuall tie knots in a manner that you can make a failry stiff club. You can lash rope together to make armor sections that would protect as well as leather for a while.
You can laquer rope to make it quite hard and resilent. You can dress out other weapons by making grips and such as well.
Take a normal fairly straight stick add several layers of knotted rope to one end and use twine to shape a grip on the other and you have a nice mace. YOu could even lace in broken glass or spikes to make a morning star.
Later
For those that doubt these things are possible I have made some of them as a bored sailor with lots of rope at hand.
You can laquer rope to make it quite hard and resilent. You can dress out other weapons by making grips and such as well.
Take a normal fairly straight stick add several layers of knotted rope to one end and use twine to shape a grip on the other and you have a nice mace. YOu could even lace in broken glass or spikes to make a morning star.
Later
For those that doubt these things are possible I have made some of them as a bored sailor with lots of rope at hand.
Use Rope is one of those crossover/catch all skills to me, cowboys and sailors use rope and while it is a tool for work, it also became used as entertainment/hobby, just like a computer today.Psychic Warrior said:
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