What have you used a 10 foot pole for? Please share your expericences

[Maggan]

As a companion piece to the other 10 foot pole thread, I'm starting one to ask all of you what you have used your 10 foot poles for?

Poked buttons? Thrust it through dark portals? Sounded depth in black wells? As a tent pole?

Please share your experiences of the 10 foot pole!

/M

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My honeymoon.

 

[demiurge1138]

Light spell on-a-stick. Keeps from having to poke your arm, or worse, your head, into a small, dark hole.

Once, we opened a door and found the room empty, but with a weird shimmering distortion. Poked the ten foot pole in. Good idea - we'd found the gelatinous cube alcove.

Demiurge out.

 

[Crothian]

Pressing buttons, tapping on floors and walls and ceilings, using it as a lever, wedging it in as a closeline or for climbing aid, fishing pole, barring a door, pole vault, weapon (great for duels!!), balancing pole, balance beam, anchor point...we got a lot of use out a of ten foot pole, and we broke a lot of them.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I ran a Samuri dwarf once who was by-the-book, retentive, repressed, dour, letter-of-the-law, kill joy and unyelding and he kept one on up his...

...never mind.

 

[T. Foster]

Mostly prodding and probing things from a (somewhat) safe distance -- mysterious pools, piles of rags (or even piles of treasure), holes in the ground, webs on the ceiling, etc. A spear also works for this but 1) a 5-7' spear doesn't allow quite as much distance between you and whatever it is you're poking (if something bad happens the difference between being 3' away and 7' away can be crucial), and 2) if you're using a spear this way and it gets broken or ruined you're out a weapon (which especially sucks if it was a magic spear...).

Using a pole to trigger pits and other traps is less popular, both because tapping with a pole may not be enough to trigger the trap, and also because ideally you don't want to trigger the trap at all -- using a 10' pole to snag a tripwire that raises an alarm, or to depress a pressure-plate that releases poison gas into the room isn't much help to the party...

 

[Mycanid]

My honeymoon.

Sigh ... I figured something like this was going to come from somewhere. Mammals! (The fungus shakes his cap from side to side.)

ANYway, back to the subject in question. Our group found the ten foot pole very helpful in outdoor adventuring settings ... like swamps and such. T. Fosters descriptions of poking into pools, dark places, etc. were very useful out there. We also would cast a light spell on the end of one, as olthers indicated. (Although I never had the occasion of the gelatinous cube alcove like demiurge did.)

Once our thief-acrobat used one to vault over a lengthy chasm so we could tie a rope to the other side and get the rest of us across. Another time our magic user cast an enlarge spell on one so we could walk across another chasm on a strong'ish walkway, etc., etc.

Underground or indoors we did not get as much use out of it ... except in places like Acerak's Tomb of Horrors.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Testig weak floors, poking into pools of water, casting light on the end to light up said pools of water, poking monsters through the basr of cages, pole-vaulting over chasms, securing a rope at the top of a chasm to climb down, tying to a dagger to make a makeshift spear, tying to a cloak to make a makeshift sail for a rowboat, pushing pressure plates, breaking glass vials in White Plume Mountain, poking chests to make sure they aren't mimics, poking plants to make sure they aren't assassin vines, poking giant underground mushrooms to make sure they aren't myconids, stiocking into the mouth of dragons or dinosaurs to prop their jaws open, balancing while walking across a rope bridge ...

 

[Mycanid]

...poking giant underground mushrooms to make sure they aren't myconids...

HEY! - Was that YOU doing that?

 

[merelycompetent]

All of the above plus (apologies if I'm repeating): Pushing doors open/shut without touching them, tying a torch to it to burn out webs and spiders from a safe distance, used to safely drop a noose around a critter's neck to capture it, prodding room furnishings/clothing to see if it's occupied (found a ghost masquerading as a bed sheet that way once - didn't end well), brace against walls closing in once (didn't work well) and a second time with a metal-reinforced pole (worked somewhat better), improvised weapon when caught by surprise, fuel for a desperately-needed fire, tripping critters as part of an ambush, climbing aid (lean against wall with 1 PC bracing while the agile thief swarms up the sloped pole), lever to lift up various room furnishings, poking the mysterious glowing crystal skull on the black onyx pedestal, and many, many, many other uses that I can't remember.

I've also played, and played with, characters who made modifications to ye olde 10' pole: 5' metal pole (mithril, IIRC) with a spike on one end and a grappling claw on the other; a sectioned pole (each section was 3' long, capped on one end with a metal screw/bolt, and on the other with a screw/bolt hole) with lots of spare sections (as in, bag of holding full of them and all were lost to an opportune casting of warp wood by an enemy druid); pole with a secret compartment in it for storing valuables; and the infamous "Pole of Force!" created via use of a glassteel spell, to name some. The Swiss Army Rod still makes me snicker