Interesting Character idea I'm not sure how to implement

[Phhase]

So, in an odd coincidence, I was thinking about how to use an Immovable Rod offensively (Barring stuffing it down something's throat) when the word "hangman" floated into my head, along with a drop of western flavor. Against the odds, the two bumped and shed a little spark.

Thus went my idea (Mostly 5e here):

Race: Human Revenant (For extra spooky Weird West flavor)
Class: Rouge/Wizard....? I'm not really sure.

This character's main weapon is a length of rope with an Immovable Rod on one end, and a noose on the other. He attacks by lassoing the target's neck, activating the Rod to fix it in place, then using a spell to blast the target backward until they meet rope's end. You could use the Spellblade to achieve this with the Spellweaving class feature (Thunderwave), or you could use an animated rope and some other spell as a wizard (suggestions appreciated). Thing is, I'm not even sure what kind of damage that sort of neck-breaking attempt would do. Any ideas?

Alternatively/supplementally, this character could also use various means to gain a ludicrous jump height and a high acrobatics skill, jump upwards very high, and set an Immovable Rod underneath themselves as a platform. They could then jump from Rod to Rod, creating a makeshift jungle gym in midair, tie animated ropes to the rods, and send them down to hoist up enemies and suffocate them (for which there are rules). This method has the thematic bonus of leaving spooky disembodied gallows in the wake of the character.

All that aside, this character obviously has an oversize preacher hat with a ludicrous brim that casts his face in shadow.

[NichG]

3.5:

Probably the most mechanically grounded way of doing this is something like bull rush damage + Dungeoncrasher, where the mechanical novelty is that you're providing your own walls. Maybe something that lets you also get sneak attack or death attack damage to emulate the effect of an anatomy-based critical hit. I don't know if there's a way to get sneak attack on a bull rush though.

Alternatively, refluff Explosive Spell metamagic combined with something that has a huge radius (the 'rope'). But this is a bit hot/cold - either the damage will just be 2d6 or you find a spell which the authors gave a huge radius because they thought it would be innocuous and break the damage scaling in half (Locate City...).

[Phhase]

I've heard of the Locate City nuke before, it's pretty funny.

Yeah, no, this hanging stuff is actually really complicated. I looked up if there are any rulings on how it works, and the best I found was CON/Instadeath + Suffocation. That seems a little much though? Perhaps a successful break renders unconscious and permanently paralyzes until healed.

[Great Dragon]

Class: Rouge/Wizard....? I'm not really sure.

Straight Warlock with Repelling Blast would be more effective, IMO.

Yeah, no, this hanging stuff is actually really complicated. I looked up if there are any rulings on how it works, and the best I found was CON/Instadeath + Suffocation. That seems a little much though? Perhaps a successful break renders unconscious and permanently paralyzes until healed.

As for the damage, I'd say either 4d6 or 6d6 blunt with Dex Save equal to the Warlock's DC for half damage, and a Con Save versus the Paralyzing effect.

[Jay R]

You don't necessarily have to throw the target backwards. Throw the lasso at a horse rider, wolf, or any other creature that performs a Ride-By action. Then push the button.

I want to shove one into the mouth of an enemy backed up to a wall, button first. When the enemy's head is pushed into the wall, the button is pushed, and it can't be pushed again until the wall comes down.

BY the way, does anybody have any interesting way for a DM to have the PCs discover an active one? I've considered having two just outside a high window of a castle, left there by a thief who was interrupted when he reached the window.

Or have one blocking a door that has a trapped undead on the other side.

[Phhase]

You don't necessarily have to throw the target backwards. Throw the lasso at a horse rider, wolf, or any other creature that performs a Ride-By action. Then push the button.

I want to shove one into the mouth of an enemy backed up to a wall, button first. When the enemy's head is pushed into the wall, the button is pushed, and it can't be pushed again until the wall comes down.

BY the way, does anybody have any interesting way for a DM to have the PCs discover an active one? I've considered having two just outside a high window of a castle, left there by a thief who was interrupted when he reached the window.

Or have one blocking a door that has a trapped undead on the other side.

The last scenario in the OP would leave a bunch just hanging high up in open air. Or, have just one with someone hanging from it. After all, instant gallows, no wood required! Pretty spooky. Alternatively, work them into a trap. Have like a laundry basket or a cage or something fall, then activate an attached rod. Another possibility is having a tile puzzle where each section of floor is held up over the hidden pit by a rod, which are deactivated based on some criteria or another. Or, just go overboard and have a room full of floating sh!t, the gimmick being that each has a rod attached to it somewhere.