I've recently had the misfortune of my player's finding a rope of entanglement. I hate the damn thing but haven't been able to fairly dispose of it yet!
The rules for entanglement seem non-existant in both first and second edition rulebooks.
How do you treat entanglement? I feel to say the entangled parties are completely helpless makes the rope too powerful especially as there is no attack roll or chance to save.
In last night's session I imposed the following rule;
entangled victims canot move without magical means, they can attack anoyone within reach of their weapon but receive a -4 to hit and a +4AC penalty. Spell casting is not possible.
I think the holder of the Rope of Entanglement gets a normal THACO roll, but for base AC 10 (grappling) since armor doesn't help, modified for Dex and any protective items (Rings, etc). The "entangled" victim cannot move, defends and attacks at a penalty as you mentioned, if at all. Check out the description in the DMG for the magical item, as I think it gives some 'advice.' I could be wrong, though...
As for the 1st lvl priest spell, anyone in the area of effect must save vs spell or get entangled, for EACH ROUND they are within that area. Thereafter, I would allow the victim an Open Doors roll to break free, each round, til they are able to scramble out. I'd rule this is the ONLY action they can perform to get to safety (no dodging, defending, or attacking). You can modify based on the type of foliage that is grappling the victim...grass is easier to break and tear out in clumps instead of bushes, small trees, or big branches.
Nope, It just entangles stuff. There is no attack roll. Ropes of entanglement are very, very powerful, but are somewhat easier to than other things, because they are made of rope. The rope is susceptible to being cut by any edged weapon, but is also susceptible to magic- remember you item saving throw chart!!! Disintegration, acid, lightning, magical fire, and normal fire do bad things to rope, and most of those effects are readily available to even low-level characters. The best defense? SPREAD OUT SO THE ROPE CAN'T GET EVERYONE!!!
One bit that tends to confuse people is this:
"The rope is AC -2 and takes 22 points of damage to cut through; all damage must be inflicted by the same creature (not the one entangled)."
Don't read too much into that "same creature" bit. While horribly worded, the intent of the statement is that the 22 points of damage to the rope must all be done in the same place. You can have a lot of people cutting away at the rope at different places, but it will not be a race to see how quickly they can collectively do 22 points of damage in total to the rope, but a race to see which one does 22 points of damage to the rope - in the place that they each are cutting away at - first.
One other bit:
Q: If a character is held in a Rope of Entanglement, can he still cast a spell which requires a pointed finger?
A: He cannot cast any spells while entangled. Spell-casting requires absolute concentration. No other action can be attempted or accomplished while casting a spell, and it is not possible to cast a spell while otherwise engaged. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
That, 'stolen by a dog' option is quite doable - especially, if that 'dog' is a werewolf with several levels of Thief.
The players won't like just losing a magical item to a thief, so I suggest you have the werewolf Thief and his minions attack the PCs (maybe the PCs track them down) and use the Rope against them. Let them see how difficult it is to deal with. Maybe they'll even destroy the thing themselves! If not, they get it back, but the next NPC that finds itself on the entangling end of the PCs' rope will have no qualms about destroying it to escape its clutches. Thus, the PCs won't have a leg to stand on to complain when that happens.
Just expect one of them to then claim that he wants to create a Spiked Chain of Entanglement.
Hehe. That is always the thing. I have encountered a rope of entanglement twice as a player, and everything always revolved around beating the bad guys, but without having to destroy the ropes to do so (because we wanted them!). _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
When an Entangle (1st lvl clerical Plant Sphere) spell is cast, do all the plants in the area of effect writhe, move, and lash out for the duration of the enchantment regardless if something is present to 'attack,' or are they inert until something/someone blunders into their potential grasp?
The plants only entangle things in the area. If there is nothing to entangle in the area, they don't move. The plants react to anything entering the area of effect, but otherwise do not continuously writhe about. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
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