Fun with an Immovable Rod

[jagadaishio]

One of my friends, doubting the awesome might that is an immovable rod, is of the opinion that an immovable rod is useless as anything other than a door jam or a single stepping stone if used in quantities less than two. So, tell me, what creative things have you/would you do with a single immovable rod?

[Berserk Monk]

Question: what happens when an unmovable rod meets an unstoppable wand?

[WeeFreeMen]

I made a character for a 1 time session that revolved largely around arial combat.

Nothing says awesome like activating a immobile rod while being pursuit only to watch the rider of the opposing dragon (or even the dragon itself) slam into it full force.

ah good times.
Alternately, you can jump, activate, acrobatic jump, activate again. Until you reach the sky ;p
Fun for rouges with the drop cut or for snipers.
"Is that man standing on a cloud AND plugging an entire tree into my chest?"

:D

[jagadaishio]

I made a character for a 1 time session that revolved largely around arial combat.

Nothing says awesome like activating a immobile rod while being pursuit only to watch the rider of the opposing dragon (or even the dragon itself) slam into it full force.

ah good times.
Alternately, you can jump, activate, acrobatic jump, activate again. Until you reach the sky ;p
Fun for rouges with the drop cut or for snipers.
"Is that man standing on a cloud AND plugging an entire tree into my chest?"

:D

Hah, those are fantastic. Does anyone have any more?

[Signmaker]

A particularly crafty rogue can perch from one while invisible to snipe his enemies in to oblivion, while remaining out of range of scary swords and such.

Additionally, binding someone behind their back to the non-button end and then pushing the button. While hanging off a cliff.

The possibilities are ENDLESS.

[Shinizak]

This is only a bit of DM fluff, but you could make a castle (tower) with an all important weight focal point that keeps up the castle up. So your tower is taken by enemy forces, So what? You simply deactivate the rod and watch the tower crush your foes to death, EVERYONE'S HAPPY!!!

[DDRNick]

Get eaten by a dragon or any large+ monster that engulfs. Activate and escape.

[Hat-Trick]

Alternate on someone else's:

Activate to black a charge.

You can hang a rope from it to rappel up (if you're really good with a ranged weapon to hit the button) or down a cliff. Use it to hold up the ceiling so your adventurers are crushed if they try to take it. Someone said acrobatic jumps up, but if done right, it might slow a fall, might need a roll to do it.

[Ravens_cry]

This is only a bit of DM fluff, but you could make a castle (tower) with an all important weight focal point that keeps up the castle up. So your tower is taken by enemy forces, So what? You simply deactivate the rod and watch the tower crush your foes to death, EVERYONE'S HAPPY!!!

You would likely need more then one, as an immovable rod can 'only' support 8000 pounds.

[Sitzkrieg]

Grapple and pin a foe, press the rod into its wrists, and press the button! Permanent pin is perfect for interrogations.

[jagadaishio]

You would likely need more then one, as an immovable rod can 'only' support 8000 pounds.

Unless it's only holding up the 7,000 lb keystone to the arch integral to the building's structural integrity. With its removal, the keystone slides free and the building comes tumbling down.

[Milskidasith]

The problem with the immovable rod is that it requires a move action to activate/deactivate, so you can't really do much in the way of acrobatics.

However, with a homebrew "activating rods is a free action" thing (which kind of makes sense; pressing a button doesn't take as much time as running a few dozen feet), it would be awesome.

[Ravens_cry]

Unless it's only holding up the 7,000 lb keystone to the arch integral to the building's structural integrity. With its removal, the keystone slides free and the building comes tumbling down.

I am no engineer, but isn't there more force pushing on the keystone then simply it's weight?

[Shadowbane]

Question: what happens when an unmovable rod meets an unstoppable wand?

Nice.

I used the "make someone smash into it" trick in an aerial battle.

[WeeFreeMen]

I am no engineer, but isn't there more force pushing on the keystone then simply it's weight?

Ironically enough, not really.
Think of an Arch, the only forces present on the keystone is the downward pull of gravity, which in turn puts an outward force on the corners of the arch / stones. The break down of this comes to the downward but horizontal thrust of forces on the arch. So theoreticaly it could be possible to do the Keystone + Rod trick, however holding up the keystone wouldnt make much sense, as gravity / friction / mortar does the job just find.

Setting off a charge (Explosive Runes) on a Keystone would more than likely be the best option.

Now if were talking about Box's that is a whole different lesson.
Ciao.

[1stEd.Thief]

As an engineer (seriously) I can say that one could make an immovable rod support a keystone brick that holds a structure together. Perhaps not the traditional archway keystone (I havn't done a FBD or any other "Knowledge (Engineering)" tasks) but definately possible.
Think of a mouse trap, and how much less force is required to hold the hold-down-bar than to hold the spring-loaded-mouse-killer-bar.

[Enguhl]

For the keystone trick, it would have to be rectangular, instead of the normal shape of a keystone (trapezoid? not sure on this). Or even upside-down from its normal shape/position for a guaranteed success.

[Vaynor]

You can use it to fall from very high up, just continuously activate and deactivate it until you're on the ground.

[Talic]

You can do a keystone/rod combo.

20,000 pound stone (yes, I know it's more than 8,000 pounds)

Weight split evenly between 2 architectural supports, and the rod (6667 or so pounds on each).

Architectural supports are able to support 8000 pounds. Any greater amount, and they'll (bow out/collapse in), allowing the keystone to fall, and then collapsing the structure. (Onset delay trap - 2 round delay, Never miss feature, cave-in)

Now, as long as the rod's in place, everything's fine. As soon as the rod is removed, each support must support 10,000 pounds, which it cannot do.

[Yuki Akuma]

Question: what happens when an unmovable rod meets an unstoppable wand?

The unstoppable wand bounces off the immovable rod and changes direction without altering its momentum.

Which is physically impossible, which is why there's no such thing... >.>

(Alternatively, the unstoppable wand exerts more than 8,000 pounds of force and the immovable rod turns out to not be quite so immovable.)

You can use it to fall from very high up, just continuously activate and deactivate it until you're on the ground.

You can only press the button once per round, as it's a standard action..

You fall 150 feet in the first round and 300 in the second.

You would rip your arms out of their sockets. :P

[Vorpal Soda]

Fire it out of a bow at someone who is running at you, button first. If it hits, it will stop them, and probably hurt.*



* I accept no responsibility for any character or player death that may arise from attempting the above action.

[SilverSheriff]

Teach him a lesson by shoving the Rod up his character's arse and activating it.

[Vaynor]

You can only press the button once per round, as it's a standard action..

You fall 150 feet in the first round and 300 in the second.

You would rip your arms out of their sockets. :P

Pfft, logic. It would have been a cool use, oh well.

[Pika...]

1. Get the rogue to sneak into the sleeping dragon's lair while it is asleep on it's horde.
2. Have him tie it's tale to the rod.
3. Proceed to loot quietly.
4. If/When the dragon awakes, run, then momentarily look back to laugh and ridicule.

[MichielHagen]

1. Get the rogue to sneak into the sleeping dragon's lair while it is asleep on it's horde.
2. Have him tie it's tale to the rod.
3. Proceed to loot quietly.
4. If/When the dragon awakes, run, then momentarily look back to laugh and ridicule.

5. Then proceed to bleed and cry as you realise the dragon is eating you after he has pressed the button to the rod.

BTW, i find the rules quite stupid.
The rod cannot hold a 8000 lbs rock.
An adult dragon can carry a 8000 lbs rock.
An adult dragon can drag along 5 x 8000 lbs rock.
But an adult dragon cannot move the rod.

[Ravens_cry]

5. Then proceed to bleed and cry as you realise the dragon is eating you after he has pressed the button to the rod.

BTW, i find the rules quite stupid.
The rod cannot hold a 8000 lbs rock.
An adult dragon can carry a 8000 lbs rock.
An adult dragon can drag along 5 x 8000 lbs rock.
But an adult dragon cannot move the rod.

He can make a DC 30 strength check to move it 10 feet in a round. Which if he can do the above feats of lifting, he could do easily. So hoard snatcher isn't quite as safe as he may think.

[MichielHagen]

He can make a DC 30 strength check to move it 10 feet in a round. Which if he can do the above feats of lifting, he could do easily. So hoard snatcher isn't quite as safe as he may think.

A huge creature with 32 STR has a heavy load of over 8000 lbs.
But he only has a 10% to move 10 feet per round. That does not sound "easily" to me.

[Talic]

Does that factor in the bonus that a dragon gets by virtue of being a quadruped?

[Lolzords]

You can only press the button once per round, as it's a standard action..

You fall 150 feet in the first round and 300 in the second.

You would rip your arms out of their sockets. :P

Actually you can press it twice a round, it's a move action. But your point still remains, his arms would dislocate if not get ripped off entirely.

[Dogmantra]

To keep people in the same spot, cut a hole in their stomach, place the rod inside, activate it, then cast regeneration on them. They can never move.