OMW to annoy my DM with this information.
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Looking at the strength of climbing gear this source indicates a modern climbing rope holds around 5500lbf.
From The Engineering Toolbox , manila hemp rope that can hold around that weight should be between 3/4 in and 13/16 in, or for the other europeans between 18 and 20mm.
This corresponds to a weight between 0.159 and 0.186 lbm/ft. For 50ft that is between 8lb and 9.3lb.
I say that 10lb is close enough.
Adventurer peers over the edge of the cliff, rope in hand, anchor tied. As he turns to descend, an OSHA inspector springs from the nearby brush:
"Good morning traveler, I trust that rope you are about to use for life safety has a 20:1 safety factor."
Begone, Inspector; you have no power here! For I am an independent contractor!
I don't play or understand the rules but can't you just get a ball of twine enchanted to be strong as spider silk?
I think you get monkeys paw "strong as spider silk" and you annoyingly tear through it when rummaging through your bag.
"Oops, guess you meant as strong by weight as spider silk! Har har har"
Of course you could. In most editions there is the alternative silk rope that weighs a lot less but costs more.
Working with the rules and your gm you could also make/buy magical rope that does what you say. Or a bag that infinitely spews out rope. Or something similar.
It is not like carrying weights is that big of an issue in most games.
Europeans, Asians, Africans, Australooceanians, South Americans and many North Americans
Especially if it has become wet. Hemp rope is a bugger in rain.
Common mistake. In D&D Hempen is a type of metal, not a plant.
(I made this up, and is exactly the kind of shit I'd off-the-cuff at my players when stuff like this came up ).
In the 2024 rules, rope:
- weighs just 5lb.,
- weirdly does not specify a length (so you always have enough??),
- and is a bit harder to burst (dc20 vs dc17), but you can now use Athletics instead of pure strength
oh, and the fancy Silk rope is no longer in stock.
Glad I'm not the only one who finds it odd that no length of rope is specified any more. Chains are the same way, you either have it or you don't apparently.
Had not looked at Chain yet. It requires the same dc20 check to break as you would need to break rope. wtf?
'Tis a very good rope
I am sometimes sad that I have only one updoot to give. In this case, I am bereft.
Man, the 2024 rules seem stupid. It's streamlined to the point of absurdity. Rope doesn't have length? What?
I don't know why people play D&D anymore. There are so many better systems now that aren't owned by the friends of the Pinkertons, WOTC. Pathfinder 2e seems like it'd be easy for most players to move to easily. Everything is better defined, so you don't have to memorize a ton of exceptions like 5e.
So I'm forced to use normal rope like some peasant?!??
Wait, you guys keep track of your carry weight?
Everyone gets mad at me for it, but yes, I have calculations both minor and major to make during our Dungeons & Dragons sessions.
No. It's too fiddly. If I wanted to play with spreadsheets I'd go back to work.
There's apps that keep track of inventory weight automatically
Yeah but that means asking the dm "Yo what's that weigh tho?" Every time you get a trinket, world ending spider, Frying pan, and ballista bolt :/. So you try an guess an the next thing you know you just kinda forget that inventory weight exists... Until the DM reminds you again
We also don't keep track of bolts or arrows. That one is a bit more controversial, but it's overhead that slows down the story.
I guess the best way to manage this is to just have cut offs:
Tiny and small objects are weightless
- So you can carry 9,000 marbles or arrows without worrying
- torches, lanterns, potions, scrolls, provisions, etc etc etc
Medium and higher objects weigh 1
- Bedroll
- Longsword
- Crossbow
- Mace
Large objects weigh 4
- Two handed bardiche axe
- Upper plate mail torso
- Lower body plate mail including sabatons
- Round shield
Huge objects weigh 8
- Tower shield
- Folding ballista
- Black cauldron
- Siege Bow
- Hand Cart
And then you give your character like a limit of, I dunno, 24.
You can carry three suits of plate mail and one tower shield before you've got a problem, ex.
Until theres bags of holding, yes and then if something is significantly heavy still yes.
It feels like playing Stalker.
Some people would rather play Campaign for North Africa than a roleplaying game.
I suddenly care as soon as a player character falls off the boat. 😈
It's how much weight it can hold, not how much it weighs..
Edit: oh, maybe I'm missing the DnD joke
I'm still missing it
The item in-game weighs 10lb, IRL less than 1. They're stealing our inventory space.
Yeah, sure, 800lbs is how many adventurers with gear climbing at once? An average sized dragon born carrying its capacity in equipment is 478 lbs per the tables in the 2024 phb. So, better hope you aren't in a hurry and need two people on the rope at once.
Oh and hope you don't need to pull your draft horse up a with it, as a small horse weighs 900lbs on its own.
You need heavy climbing rope, and that's gonna have a lift load of several thousand pounds. 10lbs for 50ft is about right. Here's a modern material rope that can carry 10,000 lbs. It weighs 10lb per 100ft. https://www.bluewaterropes.com/product/12-spec-static/
Hemp is gonna way significantly more than polyester with the same tensile strength.
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It's heavy duty rope, maybe?
Makes me want to weigh the tow rope I used to use for off road recoveries. I don't think it was 10 lbs, and I can't imagine needing heavier duty rope for much of anything in DND.
Dragon rodeos?
Dragon BDSM
Maybe ancient dragons? It was like a 15,000lb test rope.
That rope is probably not made of hemp. One of the top comments does out the math for hemp rope thick enough to be rated similar to modern climbing gear, and it came to around 9 lbs.
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That's dry hemp rope, it won't have that strength if it ever gets wet.
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