Moral of the story: Every magic item is as broken as the Dungeon Master allows it to be! Yes, this does get pretty unhinged by the end. But isn’t that the true spirit of D&D? 😅 Let me know your thoughts on all of the above! Cheers.
well as someone who knows a fair bit about ships I can tell you a hole that small under the waterline is not that big of a deal on a galleon size ship but the guy who used the rod is probably not getting it back because in addition to the reflexes to grab it he also has to keep the water pressure from turning into a missile when he hits the button. Also a pirate without a ring of water breathing?
Coat an immovable rod with sovereign glue, let it get close to setting and push it into the back of a baddie in the vertical position and activate rod. Your very own Saw game. Win or die, you decide.
Immovable rod is anchored to the planet as a reference so that last example wouldn't have worked otherwise it'd anchor like that any other time it's used and kill everything around it.
See; there is a single, basic premise made in their logic that completely invalidates their entire argument. Yes, this world is about as large as Earth, but there’s one key difference: this world is flat! That’s why it’s the *plane* of existence? How does that work exactly? Magic; that’s how!
@golbez1583 well assuming standard dnd settings such as Forgotten Realms, Toril is a planet like earth and regular physics can be assumed to work unless otherwise stated. (Note: changing physics tends to create other player exploits, a few poor final bosses have lost their lives to creative players with better grasp of Newtonian physics then the DM)
Plus it can never be used for anything else at that point. If the immovable rod uses the universe and not the planet as a reference point, then it could only function as a projectile.
its better for the GM to let the rod be fixed into a position in 3d space then if you make the planet move and sun move and galaxy move then your never getting the rod back it would leave the orbit of the planet in a few seconds and never be seen again
Yeah, if that last example worked, then the exampke with the pirate ship wouldn't have worked. If the lurate ship example worked, then it means the rod locks itself in a position relative to the planet's core, meaning it travels with the planets rotation. If the orbital strategy worked, then the rod would basically be unuseable because it would sanic away every time you pressed the button
The rod assumes that the point of reference for its lack of movement is the planet, so the rod and the terrasque are both being carried by the planet at the same speed. So the last scenario obviously cannot work.
Yeah I would assume this is a “one time use rod” as the players are not gonna be able to catch the rod after it’s used. It depends on how you rule it. Earth is also moving through space very quickly as it rotates around the sun and our sun moves through space as it moves with our galaxy which is also moving. If you wanted to you could just rule, “you didn’t account for the movement of celestial bodies and the rod rips through you at 1.3 million miles an hour”
I am setting the rule that the point of reference for the rod is the person who pushes the button at the moment they press it. This opens up its own can of worms, but would need a lot more interesting thought on the part of the players to do horrible things with.
@@bearnaff9387 That would mean the rod simply follows the player to stay exactly where it was in relation to the player when he used it, making it mostly useless.
@@TroySavary Not quite? This formulation of the rod would adopt the straight-line movement of the user at the moment they pushed the button. Absent the space-bending effects of gravity, all movement is basically in straight lines, with net movement effected by gravity and, y'know, other objects. I probably won't adopt this version of the Immovable Rod after all, since no one wants to really measure complex velocity to figure out if the rod is moving relative to its surroundings.
Player 1: GM: "Oookay... this is different from how Immovable Rods usually work in this plane of existence - but if you insist, I'll allow it. Are you really sure that's what you want?" Player 1: "Hell yeah!" GM: "Okay... so as you click the button, the first thing you notice is a spray of pink mist and a streak of fire emanating from your hand due west - then a sharp pain shoots up your arm. You take... (rolls) 12 points of bludgeoning damage and 4 points of fire damage. As the pink mist settles to the ground, you notice that your fingers are no more - the rod must have taken them right off your hand, and either taken them with it or just straight atomized them. Oh, and as for the Tarasque, make a DC 30 Survival check to see if you are in fact precisely due east of the creature, and exactly at the same altitude." ... (1 in-game day later) ... GM: "While you're sitting at the inn, waiting for your contact - I need everyone to roll a D20 for me. Just a plain roll, this is just a matter of luck." Player 2: "Uh... okay... that wasn't so good. A nat 1 here." GM: "Nice! So... Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a streak of fire shoots through the commons room as the eastern and western walls explode with a deafening crack! There is no time to react, and Player 2 - you, having fumbled this roll, happen to sit right in the path of the fiery streak, taking 300d6 points of bludgeoning damage... do you insist that I roll for the damage, or shall we just call it 'more than enough'?"
@@Grugnak It wouldn't even work like that because the planet is also moving through space around the star, so it'd leave the atmosphere before a full day occurred. It also wouldn't come back in a year because the solar system is rotating around the galaxy and the galaxy is moving through space as well. IF it's just like Earth or our universe.
ehh the first one yes. the second one - the rod would be 1 day's orbital rotation around the planet's star away and 1 day's worth of the star's rotation around its galaxy's center, 1 day's worth of the galaxy's movement etc. it wouldn't be anywhere close in the same plane of space.
@@MrNb22 The player, by arguing "as long as I'm on the same elevation as the Tarasque and due east, the Immovable Rod should strike it", clearly establishes a frame of reference that, while not rotating with the planet, is still co-moving with the planet as a whole. Otherwise this method of aiming at the Tarasque wouldn't work either. So if that's what they insist on - that's exactly what I'll give them. Who am I to argue with the rules of magic.
It strikes the beast/ground/air with such force that it heats the air around it to thousands of degrees and kills you all. If it hits the ground, the resulting explosion causes a nuclear winter. Or did you think I didn't take physics? *Smirks at idiot player*
My group is full of a bunch of aerospace engineers and the DM specializes in astrodynamics so when we got the immovable rod we had to choose at that point which reference frame to fix it and then we could not change it later. So you essentially had to choose whether you were going to have a super-weapon or something that would be useful in a number of situations
Nice! If I used this item I think I would say the reference point is fixed to the nearest local apparent "ground" and call it there - activate it riding an airship, it stays stationary relative to the airship
I had similar idea, accept the I thought it could become immovable in relation to an object you can see at the time of its activation within some distance to prevent locking onto stars or other planets. I think this is great thing, that might even let you save friend from falling, or create carrying handle, or greap to hold onto something. Also great group for DND.
You can make it at rest in the inertial comoving frame of the player at the moment of activation. Although it will drift due to centrifugal force. On the equator of the Earth the acceleration is 0.033 m/s², so it will rise 3 m in about 13s (neglecting coriolis)
I GMd a party trying to escape from the underdark, they polymorphed into giant eagle, flew 55 minutes, planted the rod and tied ropes to suspend themselves long enough to short rest before continuing
@@I_Art_Laughing”HAH you think you’re in a galaxy right now?! The world which you perceive is currently taking place inside of the magic orb of an eldritch deity; the greater workings of which are purely simulated to appease the minor intelligences that reside within it. You are merely a mote of dust in a grander but equally insignificant glass ball, collecting dust on a shelf in a realm beyond your imagination!”
@@ekothesilent9456 simulated physics are just as good to my existence as real physics. It's not how the rules are enforced that matters it's THAT the rules are enforced.
My favorite Immovable Rod invention I've created was Dragon Ripper arrows. Basically, an ImRod with fletching, a good arrowhead, and a pressure switch over the button. You fire it at a flying dragon. Assuming you hit, it penetrates the dragon's wing or underbelly, its flesh activates the rod when it's nearly fully in, and the rod suddenly stops in the air. The dragon then has all of its flying momentum tearing against the rod, gutting it instantly.
I like it! Of course, if it hits the dragon on the tip of the tail, dragon will be annoyed and the arrow will stay in that spot in the air for the rest of time...
The best use of an immovable rod is the one for which it was obviously designed but no player ever uses it for. Construction material relativistically locked rebar to be specific. Didn’t you ever wonder how they supported all those wizard towers with their floors separated by open air with unconnected steps forming the stairs between them?
Great video! So hilarious you covered this item. I'm currently at the end of the third party campaign "Call From The Deep" and the Bard of the group took this item. We all raised out eyebrows because it seemed so random. I believe the DM let the length be 3 feet. I can't remember the exact details, but I believe he attached the rod to the ship's anchor, activated the rod, dropped said anchor and caused our ship to do an almost instant u-turn to which we were able to wreck the other ship. It was such an amazing sequence of events. So many uses for the item when you actually think about it.
I'm in a homebrew Spell Jammer game. One of the most heavily defended section of our ship is where we keep the runed glass casing of the "Non-consensual Emergency Brake" and there been a couple of ships that have seen its wrath. The DM might have come to regret my starting magic item I believe.
@@renookami4651 The name kind of stuck after I used it for the first time while aboard an enemy ship. I think I said something along the lines of "as I hop on my mount in the docking bay I activate the non-consensual emergency break!"
This is reminding me heavily of a certain Mel Brooks movie. I'm guessing the only time you use the "non-consensual emergency brake" is when you have to stop after going straight to... LUDICROUS SPEED!
9:11 they are immune to bludgeoning from nonmagic WEAPONS, as the DM you can simply say that since the immovable rod is labeled a magic ITEM and not a magic WEAPON it would be immune to the damage
Even better. The rod just sat there, doing nothing. The Tarrasque just ran into an object at 9000 feet/second. Therefor it doesn't matter if said object was magical, as there is nothing magical about running into a wall. That's just physics. Also the rod is now destroyed, because it too just took 360d6 damage.
Or: you only asked about the lenght of the day, not where the sun rises. Turns out this world rotates in the opposit direction compared to earth. You get impailed by your own rod and are k!lled immediately as your courps flys away, making resurection impossible. Roll up a new character. And given the obvious danger of this Item, as just demonstrated by your dea!h, a new law has been passed, declaring this item to be to dangerous for civilian use, thus all immoveable rods are now banned in this world and it is basically impossible to get one.
I love creative uses to items, the immovable rod isn't a problem, it's the funnest solution. Locking an opponent underwater is a creative way to kill a boss for sure and should be encouraged.
It's definitely fun, but I could see how some players would feel left out in that situation. Some people want to contribute to the fight and if 90% of a climactic encounter was solved by one member, then I imagine some people could feel jipped. I'd be cool with it, because it's an insanely novel and funny. It would get lame if every boss was cheesed with the IR, though.
@@NicholasW943 Exactly, it's an idea worth rewarding, but making it a one hit boss kill is too much imo. Like the captain realising they're defeated and using sending or other nonverbal communication to bargain their life or destroying the ground beneath them with magic to escape but dealing a significant amount of damage to themselves. Managing fun player ideas is like playing with kids, you don't want to be a buzzkill, but you're the responsible one. Edit: typo 😅
Or just have him do a dex check to move out from under the rod. Nothing says he must be completely pinned. Just that the rod itself can't be moved@@sarowie
On the Tarrasque: "You damned well know that's not what the game creators meant by being fixed in space. Try to Rules Lawyer me again and your character is facing an unstatted deity"
I'd say this reading of "fixed in space" opens the player to a monkey's paw wish. The planet isn't just spinning around it's axis in a circle around the star, it's spiraling around the star as the star spirals around the galaxy's center, which is likely also moving through space in the universe, so the rod is just as likely to slam down into the ground or off into the atmosphere as it is hit the Tarrasque, depending on the relative movement of everything through space. So roll a d4, 1- the rod hits the Tarrasque as intended, 2- the rod falls to the ground and stops moving as the planet has more than 8,000 pounds of force behind it, 3- the rod flies off into the sky in a random direction, or 4- the rod flies off in the direction of the player, catching them and immediately launching them into space if they weight less than 8,000 pounds.
@@KAPsub2 An Immovable rod may become "immovable" but is it impervious to damage? The shell of a tarrasque is notoriously hard (in what most call first ed- needed a +5 weapon to hurt it, or was that the shell could be used to make a +5 weapon or armor, also it might have required a wish to make it stay dead). A little wear and tear from previous "overuse" and zipping along to crash into something made of a much harder material would simply destroy the rod with little notice from the tarrasque. Heck the first example of sinking a ship may also seriously damage the rod and it might become a rod of "maybe it's" immovable.
@@sertandoom4693 The 5e tarrasque is immune to nonmagical bludgeoning damage, so a magic rod should suffice to damage it in this edition. If we're talking about previous editions, resistance used to be damage reduction (for example DR 20 means it takes -20 damage from weapon attacks), but depending on the enchantment bonus and resistance, that DR can be ignored (so a +3 magic item counts as silver for like werewolves, even if it isn't actually made of silver). Similarly, magic items have higher hardness and hit points in comparison to their nonmagic counterparts, so the rod is more durable than a normal rod and would still deal damage before it breaks
@@KAPsub2 But is there a difference between a magic "item" and a "magic weapon"? If "it just has to be magic" then that is the rules related problem that gives a DM nightmares since many things are "magic" and most if not all can with "some" creative argument be used to stop pretty much anything. (I'd suspect that the rod would have a lower hardness than a magic weapon) In any case I'd rule that the max damage that the rod will do will be the max damage it can take after which it breaks (remember player has been abusing it and it likely already has damage). In "first Ed" if you didn't have that +5 weapon to hit something that needed a +5 weapon to hit you could put all the force you want behind it- nothing would happen- it was meant as the ultimate monster which I seem to recall reflecting spells. The end of a campaign monster where the party and the rest of the setting could die or the party wins and retires(those who make it). Just had a thought- wasn't the Tarrasque a size large? A human sized person pushing the button on a rod to use like this might need to aim higher or "zip right under him- The tarrasque pause for a second as it feels a breezy pass between it's legs"
@@sertandoom4693 The Tarrasque is the largest size category, which is why the player moved to a location at the same elevation as its head. The damage immunities for it say "from nonmagical attacks", which doesn't specify it has to be a weapon, but that argument makes sense. 1st edition seems to say it's immune to weapons that aren't at least +1 enchanted, while 3rd edition has DR 25/+5, meaning that you can hurt it you do more than 25 damage or if your weapon is at least +5 enchanted. As for the rod breaking, the broken pieces will still deal damage. Like a bullet that shatters after impact will still deal damage beyond the damage it had already done before breaking. The amount of damage will depend on how deep it needs to penetrate to fatally wound a creature, but dnd is not that specific and would be the wrong game system to use if you want to get that in the weeds with things.
Re-watching this I'm reminded of a fantastic plot point that my DM had. In order to craft an Immovable Rod, you must craft the rod *and* the 8,000 lb block that serves as its absolute reference point... If the rod is on another plane from its anchor or moving too quickly relative to the anchor, the rod doesn't activate. This became abused in entirely different ways.
Most of these issues are easily resolvable. 1, Below the waterline activation. a) the rod is embedded in the hull and cannot be removed easily. It will delay the sinking but not by much, the rod may well sink with the ship. b) Impalement may cause the button to be depressed deactivating it, or get buried in the hull and become undeactivatable temporarily I(see 1a). 2. Rod on pirates back. a) The rod wont move but the sand beneath the pirate will, the pirate wriggles free. b) The pirate is pinned in place but wriggles free anyway at the cost of heavy damage to himself. In both cases the pirate is still liable for a coup de grace, so use of the rod is valid, that being said the set up requires several actions and would likely require a rogue to pull off, who could just backstab instead. 3. Using rod for pit traps. This is valid and is what the rod is there to do. You have to be able to hold onto the rod though. 4. Cheating at arm wrestling You have braced your wrist against an immovable object, that is bad posturing as the barbarian is now leveraged full force focused against your wrist. If the cheat does not win the arm wrestle outright their wrist will likely be broken. 5. Cavalry trap. a) Use cheese wire, it is cheaper covers a wider area and more effective. It is also near invisible. b) The second cavalryman gets the expensive rod. 6. Pulley hoist. Another valid standard use of the rod as Gygax intended. 7. Bludgeoning damage bullshit. This simply does not work. Yes planets spin but the rod spins with the planet, it is immobile but relative to the planets position. This feature cannot be turned on or off. If you were to allow this then ANY activation of the rod will result in the user holding onto an object that suddenly accelerates to ridiculous speeds. Each any every attempt to use the rod will result in the user losing their hand to a spray of red mist, and also being subsequently unable to recover the rod because it has gone that way and is leaving fast. Also dependant on orientation it may and eventually will be hurtling into the planet or out into space. The former will destroy the rod the latter make it unrecoverable by anything short of a wish spell. Wording will also be important because the returned rod will otherwise still be moving and in an entirely random direction from the point of view of the user. Assuming the rob is sabotaged/modified to function as a one shot weapon in this way I would allow it, as it would be a clever way to tinker with the item, but it would require a safe trigger for the rod. However facing east will do jack, because the planet is not only spinning it is moving in its solar orbit. Most likely it will miss the terrasque entirely and an adventurer will need to make a very high (DC30?) intelligence test to accurately determine the heading of the planet in its solar orbit to have an opportunity to roll to hit. So the terrasque needs to be due east and the rod must be activated at the exact time of day when the heading of the planet matches the rotational orientation. Any error will result in an automatic miss, otherwise roll to hit as normal. Finally 8000lbs of pressure will not kill the terrasque and this rule means that the rod will disintegrate as it hits the terrasque's hide, lots of damage from the impact, but not enough penetration to lay low a divine monster. Frankly it is the wrong target. I would use a missile modified rod to take out city gates, you can run the maths on that in advance, activate the rod to see the rod and gates explode into fragments. Then send in your army. Also for the record when you add orbital velocity to rotational velocity for an Earth type planet the rod is moving approx 36000mph, not 1000mph, on activation. There is a good chance it will not even reach the gate as a single piece if at all. It would be a very short ranged weapon but potent in the correct circumstances. I assume I can ignore the direction of movement of the solar system, or the galaxy as that would be too distant for the item creators magic to touch. This and related magicks have built in stability if they did not then a hemispheric teleport will result in the traveller appearing upside down and travelling at 1800mph on an Earth equivalent world. This latter scenario is how I was introduced to this problem, and explains why portals need to be anchored with careful magicks. You cant just make a portal, you need to tune and stabilise the portal to stop it becoming a remote offal dispenser.
The last use i had happen in my game but it was a specific rod known as the “immaculate immovable rod” as soon as the button was pushed, it launched deep into space as it held its exact spot in the universe. There was a loud boom that deafened the party for a couple hours. Likewise there was a crcked variant that held its place above the core of the planet. There was a rod in dangerously low orbit for about 3 days before the party turned it off again doing a large amount of damage to anything it dug through
Fun fact! The universe expands (or 'moves') at the sped of light! If you did this and the inertial reference from was "The Universe", then the speed the rod would instantly reach would cause a violent string of nuclear explosions due to it's speed causing the air molocules around it to go through nuclear fusion.
Our party had and immoveable rod when we were running Tomb of Annihilation and it just saved our butts so many times- Some notable moments- stopping a number of trap mechanisms including a spinning fan blade, using it to repel down a pit, and holding up a collapsing ceiling. But the best use was when a T-rex swallowed our rogue and tried to run. Luckily the DM forgot that he was the one currently in possession of the rod, but the rogue remembered.
Simple solution. "so if we allow it to do this to the tarrasque, the god of time will have to rewrite history since you changed the dynamics of the rod, as such all your enemies you killed with it, will come back to life, and all the allies you saved with it, will be placed back in their prediciment. there is also a hidden DC on a D100 that you have to roll, I will tell you if the rod stays or not. (the dc is 100) if it is vanished away, you must 1v1 the tarrasque, and seeing as all the loot you got was a direct effect of the rods use, you will be using just starting class equipment. do you wish to roll the d100, or put that rod back in your bag of holding good sir?"
I remember a couple stories of the rod. I was running the Temple of Elemental Evil as my team used two rods to basically climb the air. It was slow but exciting. I remember another time they were getting chased down by an undead white worm behemoth. They put the rod sideways in the air and the work ate it... Ripping a massive hole in its back end! That was a cool scene.
Tarrasque scenario A tarrasque is immune to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage and also the rod would be gone any other time they used it and also also a tarrasque is heavier than 8000 pounds
in the dark days of 3.5 I was once swallowed whole by a t-rex. I activated an immovable rod in it's stomach, and then crawled out of it's throat. The old description of an Immovable rod was that the massive str check was to move it 10 feet. So the party just walked away. And a week later we came back to find a dead dino. It starved to death because it couldn't chase it's prey.
A huge/gargantuan creature absolutely weighs more than 8000lbs: take a ~300 lb medium-sized dino, large-size means x8 weight, huge size means x8 weight again = 19,200 lbs, meaning it would deactivate. Maybe some piercing damage, but still. People drastically overestimate how big 8000lbs is, or underestimate how much big things weigh.
@@goatmeal5241 So you are saying that the soft tissue of the stomach of the t-rex would be able to withstand a force of 8000lbs. And if it is the orientated with the top or bottom of the rod that is what presses against the side of the stomach. Then the 8000lb force the rod can withstand to move it would be on a smaller surface area. It would tear right through the side of the t-rex. Not to mention that the person swallowed must be going by the loony tunes version of getting swallowed. As the stomach is not an open space as cartoons would make one to believe.
My players once tried that last one. I told them that the rod disappears as they activate it. Because if the rod is not anchored to the motion of the planet, why would it be anchored to the motion of the sun? The sun orbits the galaxy at a speed of 75000 feet per second. That thing was out of the planet's atmosphere as soon as they activated it. One of the players just asked, "Do we get the nuclear explosion caused by an object moving that quickly in the atmosphere?"
Even better, our galaxy moves at about 2 million km/h according to some calculations. That's over 60 times faster than the orbital re-entry speed of the space shuttle. Both the rod's user and the rod itself would just melt instantly.
I love the idea of describing that -- "you press the button, and immediately you're temporarily deaf and blind (from a sonic boom and a photonic boom) and as you regain your senses, your wrist is a bloody stump, and there's a rod-shaped hole in the ground that you almost think you can see stars through... then the Tarrasque arrives"
I also really like the cube of force. Such a great utility item that is rife with possibilities. I'm not really an active player at the moment, but when I was I was able to reasonably convince DM's to let me use it in all sorts of creative ways. (it basically breaks the whiteplume mountain AL module in several glorious ways)
Events that didn't happen: Player: I activate the rod. DM: Okay. As you press the button, a series of morbid thoughts cross your mind. First, you never asked which direction the planet spins. Second, it occurs to you that the planet you're on is also orbiting a star, and that star is moving through the galaxy. You didn't factor this into your plan. Third, when the rod accelerates out of your hand, the friction is going to obliterate your hand, and possibly tear your arm off. Player:.. DM: The rod clatters harmlessly to the ground. Player: What? DM: Yeah. For the rod to come to a standstill, it has to shed all of its momentum. Given the speed you described, it would have to shed way more than 8,000 pounds of force. Wizards will often sell "truly immovable rods" to adventurers as a joke.
Situations like these are always difficult to deal with, it's understandable that some don't want to deal with them. But I've seen other DMs use things like Legendary Actions/Resistances to avoid "cheesing" a boss. At the same time I can see the virtues of players being resourceful and utilizing an item for an opportune moment. It's our job as DMs to think on the fly for wacky situations like these, it comes with the territory of narrating a tale of adventure. Expect the unexpected, and make the solution fun for everyone.
"You activate the rod, and it is fixed in place, relative to the planet. It floats there , unmoving, because everything on the planet is moving at the same speed. It is now the tarrasque's turn."
In the last scenario, the Immovable Rod is fixed in place relative to the planet. What it is not fixed in place relative to, is the planet’s rotation. Meaning that by your logic, the Immovable Rod would still fly and pierce through the tarrasque.
@@burgernthemomrailer Tarrasque got a critical. You are dead. While in the Aetherial plane you talk with the ghost of Steven Hawking. He reminds you that everything in the theater you were firghting in was not only moving through space but also rotating and the rod would not be fun if it didn't also move through space AND rotate with the rest of the world. He then passed you on to Jesus who sent you to the lowest of Hells for defying the DM.
Did a character once who used two buckler shields with IR's for the handles, and a 6 inch spike in front. He was able to put a charging Minotaur down by using his reaction to activate it before impact. He also uses them like jungle gym bars he can move, so can climb in mid air. And has turned them into make shift stepping stones between large gaps. My absolute fav though was when he got difinistrated off the tallest tower of an annoyed wizard. He activated one mid fall to swing back in the other direction and the second to correct trajectory.... Threaded the needle back through the window.... Planting both feet into the wizards chest, Difinistrating him through the opposite window. Wizard hadn't bothered to learn any movement spells.....
lol, that last one is fun, but if you also include a galaxy, it would fly off in a random direction based on where the planet is around the sun, and then again it would blast off in another random direction, based on which direction your galaxy is moving in relative to your position. So aiming it would be quite difficult. Also lets not mention it is likely out of scope of what the magic does.. Luckily magic in DnD has a tendency to do what you intent, so in all likelihood it wouldn't be affected by larger forces like the planet. Another fun one is using it as a way to take to the sky, you freeze it, pull up on it, unfreeze and swing your arm up and freeze it again, and keep refreezing it a little higher up each time. Granted your DM could rule you need to make an athletics check since it is an act of impressive strength
First one. You deactivate if before it goes out of your reach. It is now lodged in the hull of the ship Ishtar a small leak around it. DC 30 str to pull it out.
Combining two of the scenarios - the one that sunk the ship and the one with D&D earth spinning would quickly rid the player of their rod the first time they tried to mess around with reference frames to give the rod relative motion.
I think for the boat and the tarrasque you could just say the rod is stationary in the activating character's frame of reference - after all, it doesn't go flying off into outer space when they push the button.
You do have to be careful if you have the rod function that way, because then the rod will function as a battering ram. Ride towards the castle gate, activate the rod, then stop. Rod will continue forward and impact the gate with 8000 pounds of force.
As a player in 2e, we were being dived upon by a red dragon going for a bite. My Rogue character baited it and jumped aside at the last moment, revealing the immovable rod behind me. WHAM! Another time, in 3.5, I was DMing and a character got swallowed by a purple worm. She used a dimension door to get out, but not before setting up the immovable rod inside the beast which got horribly stuck. URK!!
As to the orbital strike, any, and I do mean any, previous adjudication which allowed the rod to stay in place above the ground for use, such as the pully for the pit, would immediately rule out the orbital strike option. (Any smart DM would anyway, because the rod becomes useless if you don't)
The orbital strike is essentially allowing the player to define a magical object. For example, if the DM decided that, when the immovable rod was activated, it shot off at the relative speed of the cosmic background radiation in a random direction, never to be seen again, the player would be rightly upset.
Okay, so we need to destroy something big. Maybe a castle wall or like the video said, a giant tarrasque - first we need an adamantine box. Not a big one, one square foot should be fine, it just needs to be open on one side. Next we need SEVERAL immovable rods. We're going to suspend the box at torso height facing the open side towards the target using the rods, making sure to place multiple at the back of it. Next we need our wizard to cast mass polymorph on a herd of cows, transmuting them into any insect that is easily catchable and put them all in a jar. Next we gently GENTLY place the jar inside the open side of the box. Lastly....the wizard drops focus. I call it, "The CowMeHaMeHa."
The problem with the orbital strike scenario is it would apply to every other use of the immovable rod, meaning if you're not standing in the right spot when you activate the rod, at best you may rip your arm out of your socket and worst you instantly become red mist.
6:48 oh my lord that would go so badly for him. The barbarian clearly isn't going to hold the rod, or they'd notice there's a rod, so now the barbarian has a hold of his wrist with the rest of his arm locked in place, assuming he anchored the rod in such a way that it braces his arm and doesn't just rip through his sleeve. If he's terribly outmatched in strength, the barb's going to destroy his wrist long before the rod gives.
These situations are only an issue if you have a highly permissive and unimaginative DM. Comments: 1st scenario: "So, you're now locked in the hold of a ship below the water line that is taking on water and will probably sink, with you still trapped in the hold, if you don't alert someone to come and fix the hole. But, regardless, a half-inch sized hole in the hull will cause the ship to take on only marginally more water than such vessels already take on during regular operation (these large wooden hulled ships are not entirely watertight, so are always in a state of taking on water), so there's a decent chance the bilge pumps that are regularly used by the crew will be able to handle the excess. You can try to make additional holes, but understand that each one will require a Dex check to deactivate the Rod before it's unreachable outside of the hull." 2nd scenario: "Roll to hit. If you fail, you do not adequately place the rod in an effective position. He's not just laying there waiting for you to do things to him. And, he won't necessarily need to make a Strength check to move the rod. He can make an Acrobatics check to try to squirm out from under it. Since he's not trying to move the rod, the DC will be far lower than 30. Since you state that you are intending to lean with all your force before activating the Rod, I would rule that the Acrobatics check DC would be equivalent to your Strength score." 3rd scenario: "So, you're just giving yourself a new special effect for your Dex save to avoid falling in the pit? Pressing the button while falling will not be automatic; you'll have to roll to maintain grip. If there's a pit and you succeed in the Dex save, you've activated the rod and are hanging by the rod. If you fail, you fail to activate the rod before falling. If the pit is deep enough that you don't hit bottom in the first second (~16 feet), I'll allow a second save to trigger the rod before hitting bottom; in such a case, you'd need to make a Str check to hang onto the rod due to the sudden deceleration." 4th scenario: "Up it's butt? Good luck with that. Roll to hit. You have Disadvantage since this is a called shot. Since the target is small, the enemy will get a large bonus to AC for the attack as well." 5th scenario: "The rod is 4 feet long. It is impossible for you to hide it up your sleeve." 6th scenario: "The rod is 4 feet long. That's enough to impact one of the riders since they are charging line abreast. Also, you're on foot. How exactly are you placing the Rod at chest high to a mounted person? These are warhorses, which are pretty big. The rider's chest will be roughly 8+ feet high, and the horses head would likely get hit before the rider. The rider would get a Perception check to notice the rod. If successful, he'll get a Handle Animal check to try to stop the horse before the collision." 7th scenario: "It's an improvised weapon that will do damage equivalent to a club." 8th scenario: "I mean, you could have driven a piton in the wall do accomplish the same effect, but the Rod will suffice." 9th scenario: "You've made a fundamentally incorrect assumption. This is a fantasy universe; this planet does not rotate. This planet is the center of the solar system, and the sun and everything else revolves around it. You place the Rod, and it sits there, exactly where you placed it." None of these take a huge amount of thought. I wrote this whole commentary while listening to the video, pausing to write each. Took me about 30 minutes total time, so about a minute or two of thought on each. My advice to DM's: Do not let your players pull out "wouldn't it be cool if...." scenarios trying to justify "creative" use of items/spells to give dramatically stronger than appropriate for their power level. No amount of imagination should result in a 1st level spell mimicking the power of a 9th level spell (I'm sure people can remember some of the absolute nonsense that was argued online for applications of Prestidigitation under Pathfinder 1e). An uncommon magic item shouldn't be allowed to mimic or exceed the power of an artifact. (Edited for formatting.)
My favorite use of the immovable rod is as a grappling hook with a rope of climbing. Just tie the rope over the activation just lightly enough so it doesn't activate and when you tell your rope to go up it will carry the rod with it. Once the rod is in a good place, Yank the rope which will activate the rod and now it is Tied to a fixed point in the sky for you to climb to.
The captain on the beach should be able to attempt a dexterity check to squeeze out of the rod's pin without requiring to move the rod itself. They could also dig out more room in the sand under them so the rod doesn't press as tightly anymore. That's also assuming there's no contested check to get the rod in the proper position before activating it.
If an item can destroy a campaign, talk with the player on the side. 99% understand, as long as you let them do it once. But I’ve been DMing for 33 years. The reason I’ve lasted this long is because I love my friends and their shenanigans more than I love campaign planning.
Point One: For the Pirate Captain, the rod is immovable, the Captain is not. He is laying on sand, in the water, he can dex. check and move out from under the rod and run the player's character through with his cutlass of stupidity slaying. Since it remains stationary, it is not pushing down on him. Point Two: For the Tarrasque, The rod retains the momentum of the rotation of the earth, otherwise every time you set it, it would move away from you to the east.When you pushed the button, it would remain stationary, on the hill and the Tarrasque would crush you under foot, no save. Point Three: Mr. Player, you are being a D**k. Knock it off or find a different table. Problem solved. Point Four: Great Vid, how many of us have had to deal with this kind of player?
Agreed, though one point of clarification: the rod would be moving due _west_ relative to the earth if not in a geostationary orbit. For the DM - that calculation depends on where you are on the globe. Sure, if you were at the equator that is the correct speed, but this campaign is in the remote north, it will take four rounds to reach the tarasque.
for point one the player stated that he pushed down on the rod before activating and so if he pushed down hard enough it could trap him. someone would have to roll to see if it was pushed down hard enough in the right place so he couldn't move out but it could work.
@@jameshulse1642 as soon as the button is pushed, the rod freezes in place, so there is no continuing downward force (that would imply movement). Overruled.
@@Marcus-ki1en I was imagining a scenario similar to being trapped in a small tunnel. just because the walls don't move doesn't mean you aren't stuck. you would have to push down the rod fairly hard in a difficult to wriggle out of area (in between shoulder blades might work) to get the thing set up though.
So you place the rod as you said, press the button and (add dramatic pause here) it's gone, unlike the boss wich seems to be pretty alive and still raging. Than you realize it, in the heat of battle you made a brilliant plan and forgot one minor detail that spoiled it completly because you forgot that not only the planet does move in circles but the whole solar system the planet is in does move (similar to the one we live in) at an average speed of 448,000 mph (720,000 km/h) through the space and since you cant see a hole in the ground you probably stood on an angle that the rod just vanished into space, or at least it will be after your turn. Two birds, one stone.
My DM let me buy 5, I use them as a silly tool more RP. One example is I use it to pitch a hammock anywhere I like or such, or barricade a tavern bedroom when some of the party is going paranoid from being watched from something unknown, its a jojo based D&D so there is plenty of ways to get around them but we love the silly ideas we use them for. We've use them to pin down enemies but that is only after a lengthy battle and even then they can escape.
Easiest answer for most Rod questions is to note that it only stops to relative speed. No 'spin of the earth' or 'movement of the ship' as it freezes based on the movement of what it is currently contained in. If you jump in a moving vehicle, you come down in the same spot, you do not slam into the back of said vehicle. Same with the rod.
That's almost worse. Now you've got death spears and extremely powerful shoving tools. Imagine putting that horizontal and pushing it forward at 80+ mph in a hallway! Good luck arguing that most creatures could recognize what's happening, then deftly grasp that button and deactivate it before it plows into them and their buddies. Edit: it could also be used as a heavy duty elevator, scaling walls without issue. Simply stand up while holding the rod, activate the button mid-motion, and grip tight! Similarly could be used as a jack, albeit it can't stop. It just adds more options to an already extremely versatile tool, and doesn't solve any of its major weaknesses in the meantime. You can just run backwards in the ship and still accomplish the boat obliteration, though it won't be as graphic.
that last one assumes that the rod is immobile relative to the geometric center of the earth but doesn’t account for it’s spin, which is very arbitrary. it could just as well rocket into space the second it’s activated as the earth moves around the sun and the sun moves around the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy and the galaxy careens across the universe
Besides the more standard "Has the immovable rod ever worked like that before?" in regards to the tarrasque, if you really want to screw with them back, you could pull out that the Earth travels around the Sun at 67k mph, and the Sol System moves around the galaxy at 450k mph (using rough averages). They'll have no IDEA what direction that rod is going.
Couple of things to note. The very last example would not allow it and it go very differently than the player expected. If the premise is that the rod would stop in space and you take the rotation of the earth into consideration then 2 things would happen. 1) Every time the rod is used you would have to take the rotation of the earth in to consideration meaning the rod could not be used to hold thing in place. 2) He didn't take the rotation of the earth around the sun into consideration. This means the rod would crash into the earth faster than it's rotation and by placing the rod at chest height, he would mis his target entirely. Also, every time you use the rod, it would crash into the earth. The correct physics for the concept of the rod is that it would hold in space relative to it's position to the center of the earth when activated. Additionally, if you are going to keep using the rod to crash into things to damage them then you would also have to take into consideration the damage to the rod itself. When things collide both objects would take damage. Of course the amount of damage to each item would depend on the hardness of each item, but there would still be some damage to both items. Eventually the rod would be so damaged it wouldn't work anymore.
Give this to any character with sufficient acrobatics, and you've basically got magical monkey-bar assisted flight. If you're able to say _'screw frames of reference, i have a stick',_ you're able to do some pretty fun and physics approved things. :)
I lost my DM privileges when I used an illusion spell to trick the party into killing the actual family in a house, from which the remains were used to serve dinner to said party (ala Donner style), I called it "Baby Tips and Rice".... So yeah, no more DM'ing for me...
"The Villain, face down in the water puts his hands underneath himself and pushes up with enough strength to impale himself through the rod and off of it, taking critical hit damage from an improvised weapon, two d6... and that's nine damage... and then stands up thoroughly angry."
I feel that all the scenarios presented are very creative and fun ways to use the rod, except for the terrasque one. If any of my players came up with scenarios that creative, I would be not frustrated but impressed.
And thats why my homebrew rule with the rod states : The Rod Is somewhat bound to the next biggest solid! Mass near it (The Ground, the wall, the Boat or the Dragon and not the Universe!)
So, this is where you break out the standard DM response to players who have killed a Tarrasque: there's a high level evil wizard waiting in the wings who has researched a method of turning himself into a Tarrasquelich, and you've just provided him with the one material component needed, a Tarraque corpse.
Put the button on one end of the rod. If the the rod can move at a high speed, there is a chance the user pointed the button the wrong way. If they did, they lose a hand. If the user wants to use it as in the last example, the measurements are true reative to the sun and stars. Depending in the season, latitude, and longitude the rod could move in any direction. You could have it move relative to the nearest solid object. It becomes a very strong curtain rod.
If we assume all that about the prime material plane, we also have to assume that the planet we're on is constantly in orbit around the sun, and that the sun is orbiting the center of whatever galaxy it is in, and that the galaxy it is in is getting further away from most other galaxies. All at varying speeds. If the immovable rod isn't locked to the planet's reference, then there's no way any immovable rods are still on the planet. Either they'd work like you expect immovable rods do (thus no orbital strike) or they fly off into space the instant you hit the button, possibly dragging you with them as they rocket off at several hundreds of kilometers per second as they stay perfectly stationary relative the the center of the universe
We can also use it to climb a wall! Use it like a salmon ladder and activate and deactivate it each jump and you can reach the top. Some people on American ninja warriors can go like 9 feet in 2 seconds or so
As for the barbarian arm wrestling contest, the rod can withstand 8000 lbs of force, but your arm and wrist cannot. The barbarian crushes your arm against the rod. As the bones in your arm splinter, you hear a sickening snap as the barbarian rips your hand clean off your wrist.
First as a DM - if you deactivate the rod it won't do much damage to the ship. If you let it destroy the ship, the rod is effectively lost for the campaign, but you got your sinking ship. For the push into the ocean floor he doesn't need to move the rod, just wiggle out from under it, so that is a much simpler check. If the player argues, the bottom is sand and he can wiggle out by moving the sand not the rod. Sure it will take his entire turn to get out, but that's it, and taking a turn away is a good result. Last - The "Magic" of the rod locks its location relative to where you placed it on the planet, not relative to the universe, so it doesn't move.
I would also only say this works if they make a DC 45 dex saving throw to either snatch their hand away from the rod, and/or move their body entirely. Also, I'd have them make a DC 30 intelligence check. On success, I'd inform them that a 2 foot object accelerating from 0-1,000mph INSTANTLY would not only instantly generate an enormous sonic boom, it would flash a plasma bubble around it as the air is forced around it. Then a cavitation bubble would form as the air collapsed back in on itself. All in all, sure. You just created an orbital strike. But if you are extremely lucky you ONLY blew your arm off. But you probably just got confettied, flash-fried, and then smashed back into a singularity of original recipe adventurer.
In Shadowrun, there's the spell "physical barrier" which creates an immovable forcefield with a 2x2 m² area that can be shaped in any way the player wishes. As GM, the most important decision for this to work consistently is to check in which system of reference the barrier is "immovable" to, which is mainly limited by the frame of reference for the spellcaster themself and what they can see. If you're standing firmly on the ground, you can only cast it immovable relative to you. If you're moving inside the belly of the ship, you can only make it immovable in reference to the ship. If you can look outside, you can choose whether it should be immovable relative to the vehicle or relative to the world. But since you can't see the world spinning, looking down on the earth, you can't make it immovable in reference to the universe - thus Terrasque scenario avoided (as long as you're not in space).
Started a one (two) shot with one, given to me, not asked for. By the end of it, my fighter (don't judge, one of my first games) was using it to effectively fly, as our mages buffed me to the point of nearly never missing an acrobatics, stopping it in place, swinging off of it, deactivating it, then activating it again. God I love this item. The ones with the most options and consequences are the most broken, which is why they're always the most fun.
Here I was thinking the length limit was to stop someone from using a single rod as one rod rope trick with limitless range. In the drowning example, you could require a hit roll to pin the opponent. Also, in a beach setting under water the sand is loose and somewhat easily disturbed so a dex save could probably be used to get loose so it's not a guaranteed kill.
In the "orbital strike scenario", you have to consider that the planet does not only rotate, but also move around a star, so depending on the angles (which are in this case, of course, the DM's discretion), it would either shoot off into orbit right away or hit the ground, maybe burrow a few feet so it's hard to retrieve and then stop due to its maximum capacity.
Real quick, I rebuilt a character for a short game and I was given a large sum of money and access to some magical options. I rebuilt Harold and Harold is known for his tower shield. His tower shield does "Blinding Flash", and it also has a dagger scabbard sovereign glued to the inside surface and also it has an immovable rod glued to the handle of the shield. Once upon a time, for example, I shield bashed a mind flayer against the wall inside a (moving) ship, I pinned him against the wall of the ship and it started to crush him because of the immovable rod. I ducked down behind the shield so he couldn't do his magical touch attacks. Let off the blinding flash (remember mind flayers are from the underdark and are not dirunal) and fried his face. And that's when the dagger came out and I just started stabbing his flanks. So that dude had plot armor on. He was supposed to harass us on the ship, survive, and come back for the big final fight, so basically he was effed in the A and had to do an emergency teleport out of there and lived to fight another day.
Going from "the earth spins"... It also moves at tremendous speed through space. Meaning, if he wants to add "total stop" as opposed to "stop but moving along with planet", it would basicly just vanish and possible leave destruction behind.
For the Tarrasque - As a DM I would point out that the planet is also moving through space around the star and that star is moving around the center of the galaxy and that galaxy is moving as well. You have 6 seconds to figure out which direction your immovable rod will exit at. (Look at my watch)
Ruling: the reference frame is based on "what is down" (i.e. what is the dominant gravitational influence in the region). Which does lead to some interesting consequences if you use it on a Spelljamming ship, potentially, but probably not horribly game-breaking - and as one might expect some could be pretty darn useful, in a purely utilitarian way. But this provides fairly intuitive behaviors (and a relatively difficult time abusing it too badly). Also: the ship example is easy: when deactivated, either the rod A) has not yet penetrated the hull, in which case no big deal, B) has penetrated the hull but is partially or fully plugging the hole, or C) has fully penetrated the hull. If A then who cares, if C then no you aren't going to be able to reach through and grab it unless the ship is going so slowly that the rod would have just stopped it rather than breaking the hull, and if B then you'll need another dexterity check to avoid injury as the rod is forced back into the ship by water pressure (how much injury depends on how deep, don't try this very far down). And… the GM ruling that the ship is going to sink needs to read up a bit on naval reality. If it is a combat ship then it might actually withstand that amount of pressure, although *probably* not, but to get the force focused enough to punch a hole through is going to meal the hole is only a couple of inches across. That… isn't very big, especially not in relation to a ship large enough to be doing piracy. Which will also have plenty of capacity to move water out of the hold of the ship… and materials onboard to repair exactly this sort of damage. Or a caster who can just use 'mend'. If it sinks the ship, the captain would qualify instantly for running for "worst pirate ever". Probably "worst captain ever", period. But in all likelihood if the characters were that deep in the hold and punched a hole that couldn't be patched, the most immediate result would simply be the characters drowning, stuck in the brig while the ship as a whole stayed mostly afloat due to the timbers being at least somewhat buoyant (even if it might not be able to move very well).
9:13 counterpoint, the rod's immovable status is relative to the movement of earth 6:49 counterpoint, the arm wrestle duel ends in a draw, but the barbarian crushes your arm against the rod. Barbarian rolls strenght
Thanks for this PSA. My DM nerf ruling: The rod also pushes anything in the way harmlessly out of the way, no damage, since it's not in the item description. Done.
I have used immovable rods to destroy DND campaigns for decades. From the simple one placed in the dragon tunnel a few cm higher than my own head level , followed by provoking the dragon to pursue in high speed, to other more complex shenanigans to derail giant mechanisms.
It's funny how in so many of these scenarios the rod is used in ways that deal incredible damage to things the rod collides into, but no one ever mentions that while the rod is immovable, it's not indestructible. Remember DMs, check the rules for hardness and item HP in your game, and always consider what material you allow the rod to be made of. Too much force enacted on the rod and the players end up with a very movable broken rod.
Lol trying to use the rod in that manner reminds me of the girl on a high dive board on a cruise ship wondering why the ship doesn't move out of the way on her way down and she hits the pool perfectly every time. (WHILE the earth is also rotating AND flying through space around the center of our galaxy.)
I had players being chased by a purple worm and there was a vertical 100 foot pit they had just climbed up, and they were chased back down it and decided to jump. Halfway down one used feather fall and placed an immovable rod halfway down the shaft. The worm came roaring down the shaft oblivious to the rod and gutted itself getting hung up on the rod.
If I'm the DM at the table and a player tries to use the planet's rotation around the sun to deal damage to a boss, I would say same thing like: "You all see a cunning look come into the eyes of Karplin the Bard. He quickly moves to the top of a hill west of the mosnter. With a smile on his face, he lifts the Immovable Rod over his head and shouts, "Tarrasque swallowed my Rod!" With a click of a button, a large explosion is heard. The impact throws you several meters back, and a cloud of dust covers the surroundings. The air becomes noticeably hotter, and it's difficult to breathe amidst the confusion. Little by little, you manage to get away from the dust and rubble and regroup. When the cloud finally settles, there is no longer any sign of the Tarrasque; it seems to have fled in fear of the explosion. But at the same time, you no longer find Karplin. Instead, there is a large crater where he stood, and in the center of that crater is a fissure that seems to extend indefinitely into the darkness. Sharplazan, the wizard, reported everything that happened to his master at the school of magic. The King even authorized an expedition of scholars to visit the crater and fissure since the tremor was felt even in the capital, hundreds of kilometers away. Many centuries would pass, and planar magicians would still try to decipher exactly what happened to Karplin. Some theorists suggest that he tried to use the Immovable Rod by associating its spatial immobility with the rotation of the planet. However, the magic is subtle, and its intricacies are difficult to understand. Magic operates based on perception, not physical laws. Possibly, when he used the Rod with this intention, he must have reinterpreted the magic, conditioning it to grasp a broader meaning of "immobility." However, it's not just our planet that rotates; it also revolves around the sun, which also seems to move... Karplin did not consider these factors in his calculations, but magic did. In this theory, the moment Karplin pressed the button, the resultant vectors of the overlapping movements (by simple bad luck) pointed downwards instead of at the Tarrasque, causing him to be propelled with such high speed that relativistic effects occurred. But this is just an extravagant theory. A more accepted explanation is that the Gods of Magic were irritated by the bard's arrogance and sent a large explosion that deeply cracked the land. However, what everyone agrees on, and what has gone down in the annals of history, is that whatever Karplin did was a pretty idiotic move."
I had telepathy so I got a set of immovable rods and used them as ladders to gain a height advantage. Also to barricade myself in in our ship's store room to nap. And sometimes steal stuff in said store room.
Funnily enough, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the specifics of completely stopping something. If you assume the rod is spinning with the Earth, it works as expected. If it is not stated what it stays immovable in relation to and leave the player to decide, using it on pretty much just anything far enough in the universe (and assuming it follows rotation of that thing) would give it positions it *should be* at that change faster than the speed of light allows for. The Immovable Rod, thankfully, has a limit preventing it from being an unstoppable force. That also means most of what I thought of wouldn't work with it. So it's not *completely* broken, just really very a lot.
ahem: "Captain Milkbeard uses his flintlock to shoot the button, freeing himself and taking your immovable rod." Alternatively: "After pressing the button, hoping the Tarrask gets splattered, you realize that the planet succeeds a DC 30 Strength check. Nothing happens."
"Okay...you can have an immovable rod, but it is only 3 inches long..." "That's so tiny!" "No...that's average...maybe even a bit large." "Are we still talking about....nevermind"
This is why most rule it to be only 1-2 ft long, and the anchoring is relative because magic (So in the ship example, it'd be anchored relative to the ship, and not the planet, but in the tarrasque example, it would be anchored relative to the earth) Also, if you allowed the tarrasque example, it would deal an equivalent amount of damage to the PC, as well as sending both the rod and the PC's (at this point) corpse flying into space (because they would not be able to release the rod in time)
Easy solution to a lot of these is to fix the rob to the current frame of motion. Although that's going to cause issues if it's not deactivated before the frame stops.
The question the DM has to ask is whether the planet is, itself, moving through space. If it is, then it's probably moving at an extremely rapid speed, which would mean that making the rod stationary with respect to the entire cosmos would essentially just cause it to (relative to the players) whiz off in a completely random direction at a velocity best described in terms of millions of miles per hour.
I feel like a lot of people forget that there is an actual button on the rod. A super easy solution for NPCs with an intelligence score more than an animal's would be to just push the button themselves and not be pinned by the rod anymore. Admittedly, this does sort of require the button to be in reach, so yes, don't make the rod more than 2 feet under any circumstances.
My DM just said he wants to eat a character. I dead fish stare at him. He then allows me to have an immovable rod. I dead fish stare at him. We ended this week's campaign with an adult green dragon staring us in the face demanding tribute. Next session I'm going to take my character and cover him with olive oil and spices.
