Climbing out of a pit in combat. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Climbing out of a pit in combat. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
kirezemog
06-24-07, 01:01 PM Hello. New to the board. I told the DM (who does not have a computer) that I'd ask how we should have properly handled the situation that came up tonight.

So, we have a five member party. Our cleric in full plate mail has highest AC, and our ranger with a +5 Dex bonus has the second highest. The ranger is also our most capable fighter so they are usually the first ones into a room. After that we have our monk. Behind him we have the Sorceress and me, the bard.

Anyways, on to the situation. The ranger failed to spot a trap and so opened a door. The floor fell out from below the cleric and ranger. They both blew their reflex save and fell 100' down. Both were badly banged up, but neither of them passed out.

After some cures and potions we worked on trying to get them out of the pit. The sorceress had a wand of levitation, so she used it on the cleric since his climb skill is horrible because of the armor. The ranger tied the rope he had to his arrow and shot it to the top of the pit. The monk grabbed the rope with the intention of tying it to something, but there was nothing close enough to the pit so he tied it to his waist and held it tight. There was a discussion of physics and weights and the such. The GM ruled that if the monk anchored himself, he could hold the rope, but not pull up the ranger. The ranger would have to make climb checked to get out.

So, everything is running smoothly so far. Now for the fun part. The door was now opened, and what should stumble out but an undead monster. It hops over the pit and attacks the monk. The DM ruled a concentration check (which he failed) so he slipped five feet and the ranger slipped down five more feet down the pit. Being the only one left not in a pit or strapped down, I pulled my sword and.....missed completely. The sorceress on the other hand lit the undead creature up with a fireball spell. It took another couple of rounds, but we ended up killing the undead and since combat was over, we were able to get everyone out of the pit.

So, we wanted to know the proper way to handle the whole pit climbing while in combat situation. Can someone pull the rope to lift the fallen friend to the top a la Fezzik in Princess Bride? If there is someone at the top trying to pull up the rope, does that increase the speed the fallen person (or elf in this case) climbs, or does it add a bonus to his climb check?
G_Mancer
06-24-07, 02:35 PM my group aws in a similar situation... sept our ropes had knots, which made it easier for the person climbing, but harder when the guy on top was pulling.

basically, both of our people who were climbing/pulling the rope made climb checks on they're turn and the guy climbing went up both the amount he climbed and the amount the guy puled him up.
Archangel_James
06-24-07, 06:24 PM The situation was handled perfectly. The DM made the right calls here, but I would have acted differently as a player...
was_fired
06-24-07, 10:11 PM Yep, your DM did a bang up job, and kudos to him of thinking of the Concentration Check. If you want to get technical he might have been a bit too nice to you guys since I doubt a rope could have been carried from an arrow, but if it was silk odds are I would have allowed it too. Plus it's not exactly something a DM would forbid in that sort of a situation as it would have just boiled down into a physics debate and made the game less fun in the end.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
kirezemog 06-24-07, 01:01 PM	Hello. New to the board. I told the DM (who does not have a computer) that I'd ask how we should have properly handled the situation that came up tonight. So, we have a five member party. Our cleric in full plate mail has highest AC, and our ranger with a +5 Dex bonus has the second highest. The ranger is also our most capable fighter so they are usually the first ones into a room. After that we have our monk. Behind him we have the Sorceress and me, the bard. Anyways, on to the situation. The ranger failed to spot a trap and so opened a door. The floor fell out from below the cleric and ranger. They both blew their reflex save and fell 100' down. Both were badly banged up, but neither of them passed out. After some cures and potions we worked on trying to get them out of the pit. The sorceress had a wand of levitation, so she used it on the cleric since his climb skill is horrible because of the armor. The ranger tied the rope he had to his arrow and shot it to the top of the pit. The monk grabbed the rope with the intention of tying it to something, but there was nothing close enough to the pit so he tied it to his waist and held it tight. There was a discussion of physics and weights and the such. The GM ruled that if the monk anchored himself, he could hold the rope, but not pull up the ranger. The ranger would have to make climb checked to get out. So, everything is running smoothly so far. Now for the fun part. The door was now opened, and what should stumble out but an undead monster. It hops over the pit and attacks the monk. The DM ruled a concentration check (which he failed) so he slipped five feet and the ranger slipped down five more feet down the pit. Being the only one left not in a pit or strapped down, I pulled my sword and.....missed completely. The sorceress on the other hand lit the undead creature up with a fireball spell. It took another couple of rounds, but we ended up killing the undead and since combat was over, we were able to get everyone out of the pit. So, we wanted to know the proper way to handle the whole pit climbing while in combat situation. Can someone pull the rope to lift the fallen friend to the top a la Fezzik in Princess Bride? If there is someone at the top trying to pull up the rope, does that increase the speed the fallen person (or elf in this case) climbs, or does it add a bonus to his climb check?
G_Mancer 06-24-07, 02:35 PM	my group aws in a similar situation... sept our ropes had knots, which made it easier for the person climbing, but harder when the guy on top was pulling. basically, both of our people who were climbing/pulling the rope made climb checks on they're turn and the guy climbing went up both the amount he climbed and the amount the guy puled him up.
Archangel_James 06-24-07, 06:24 PM	The situation was handled perfectly. The DM made the right calls here, but I would have acted differently as a player...
was_fired 06-24-07, 10:11 PM	Yep, your DM did a bang up job, and kudos to him of thinking of the Concentration Check. If you want to get technical he might have been a bit too nice to you guys since I doubt a rope could have been carried from an arrow, but if it was silk odds are I would have allowed it too. Plus it's not exactly something a DM would forbid in that sort of a situation as it would have just boiled down into a physics debate and made the game less fun in the end.