this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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My DMs always do this but often without understanding the rules I'm taking advantage of, such as using fire or improvised weaponry. Like, I know how the game is meant to work, and it has rulings for what I'm attempting. I know what I'm trying to do is pretty weird; but I wouldn't attempt it if I didn't think I had a decent chance of rolling high enough to succeed.
Like once in D&D we were attacked by a giant in a forest. It was sprinting at us, so I asked if I had enough time to get a rope tied across two trees to act as a trip wire. The other players and our DM, to this day, still act like this was a silly and stupid thing to try; despite the fact it worked and got the fucker prone allowing us to kill him super easy.
The only thing I've done other than that they constantly joke about is the time we were playing Shadowrun and while attempting to sneak into a facility, I failed a roll and was seen by a janitor. So I shot him and hid the body; no witnesses. I don't care if it was a janitor for the McDonald's across the street. He saw me.
@Kolanaki @The_Picard_Maneuver I guess, depending on *how* you went about setting up the tripwire, the question then becomes "Why didn't the sprinting giant stop sprinting when it saw a rope being dragged across a gap between two trees and become taut?".
Yeah, that setup *could* work, but in that timeframe, it feels like it was less plausible, as it would've worked better as a prepped beforehand trap.
I mean, I asked if I had time, DM said yes but what good would it do. Then I showed him the rule. He could have made the call I didn't have time, or rolled to see if the giant saw it.
The way I described what I'd do is that I tied 9je end of the rope to the base of one tree, then ran a circle around another to make it taught, then rolled a strength check while still holding the rope tight to make sure the giant didn't just walk through and pull it loose since I couldn't tie the second end down in time.
That thing with the rope and the giant literally has no rules associated with it though... that's just DM fiat. And I say that as someone who's done almost the exact same thing. Except in my case it was tripping a Kaiju-like monster in a city.
Depends on edition, there definitely was rulings for this in 3.5 (the edition that famously and infamously has a rule for everything), both in the Trapsmith class and as a Use Rope option, both use the Trip rules.
This exactly. We have only played 3.5, Pathfinder and Shadowrun in our group. So far. We keep making plans for a 5e campaign, but then someone's schedule changes. 🤷🏻♂️