Tower of the Elephant question (Use rope skill)

Shonuff

Mongoose
In the Tower of the Elephant, the Tower is 150 feet high. A thief throws his grappling hook up and it catches the rim. They then climb to the top.

In the rule book, the maximum distance the hook can be thrown is 50 feet (Using the Use Rope skill).

Any suggestions as to how to make this work if I were to use a similar tower in my game?
 
I am fairly ceratin that that is based on the assumption that the rope is the standard 50ft length :wink: I see no reason why they couldn't throw the hook to the top of the tower if they have a 150ft of rope.

Of course the DC to do so will be absurdly high.... :twisted:
 
Try some time to throw a baseball onto a 15 story building. Now imagine it dragging a 150' of rope.
 
In the Howard book, the thief does it.

Thinking realistically - I doubted it was possible but I'm not exactly an experienced grappling hook thrower :lol:

I'm thinking just to simply lower the tower or set a really high DC like you suggested.
 
Here's an interesting link.

http://www.calgaryhighlandgames.org/heavyevents.htm

It talks about an event where guys try to throw a weight straight up (about the same weight as a gr. hook).

Well . . . :shock: . . . Not quite 150 feet up if you look at the results.
 
Shonuff said:
Here's an interesting link.

http://www.calgaryhighlandgames.org/heavyevents.htm

It talks about an event where guys try to throw a weight straight up (about the same weight as a gr. hook).

Well . . . :shock: . . . Not quite 150 feet up if you look at the results.

I don't think many grappling hooks weigh 58 lbs...
 
Read the description carefully in the Howard text and you'll notice something strange about the flight of the hook and rope when thrown by Taurus. From elsewhere in the story we see that unlike Conan Taurus has spent quite some time planning this job (he has lotus powder etc to take care of the lions). With regards to the rope the text says he went to great trouble to aquire the components to make it. I believe this was to give the rope magical propeties, these include bearing alot of weight, and give it the extra flight needed to reach the top of a 150 foot tower. Taurus even jokes about it being a lucky throw - lucky! more like miraculous. Taurus knows its not luck but the masquerade is wasted on Conan anyway - he just excepts what he sees without further questioning.
 
After reading over the Use Rope Skill, I belive that the rule is setting the maximum DC to 20 ,which is reached at a distance of 50 feet, not the maximum distence that you can throw a grapple. Note that the use rope skill does not take into account the Strength of a character who is throwing and it is not concievable that two characters one with a strength of 10 and one with an 18 are limited to the same ditance.

This is just my opinion on interpreting the way the rule is written.
 
Johannixx said:
Shonuff said:
Here's an interesting link.

http://www.calgaryhighlandgames.org/heavyevents.htm

It talks about an event where guys try to throw a weight straight up (about the same weight as a gr. hook).

Well . . . :shock: . . . Not quite 150 feet up if you look at the results.

I don't think many grappling hooks weigh 58 lbs...

58 lbs. . . Uh oh. I guess that's what I get for staying up until 3am reading stuff while dosed up with meds for a sinus infection. :oops:

--I appreciate everyone's feedback. Is there a calculation in the book or other OGL/d20 books that addresses maximum distance something can be thrown? I'm usually not so worried about details like this - I was just interested to know.
 
Gorden the Pict said:
Read the description carefully in the Howard text and you'll notice something strange about the flight of the hook and rope when thrown by Taurus. From elsewhere in the story we see that unlike Conan Taurus has spent quite some time planning this job (he has lotus powder etc to take care of the lions). With regards to the rope the text says he went to great trouble to aquire the components to make it. I believe this was to give the rope magical propeties, these include bearing alot of weight, and give it the extra flight needed to reach the top of a 150 foot tower. Taurus even jokes about it being a lucky throw - lucky! more like miraculous. Taurus knows its not luck but the masquerade is wasted on Conan anyway - he just excepts what he sees without further questioning.

I think our resident Pict has the matter at hand quite correct.
 
Shonuff said:
I appreciate everyone's feedback. Is there a calculation in the book or other OGL/d20 books that addresses maximum distance something can be thrown? I'm usually not so worried about details like this - I was just interested to know.

In the D&D players hand book it states that the maximum you can throw a weapon is five range increments, and a Projectile weapon (bow, sling, crossbow) is ten range increments. Mongooses Players Handbook and the Conan Rule book echo this.

Since Grappling hooks are thrown by swinging the grapple on the end of a short section (2 t0 3 feet) of rope while the rest of your rope is held, and then let go once sufficient momentum has be imparted, I would treat throwing a grapple as a sling give it a range increment of 15-20' (your choice) and go from there. IMO this is how they should have handle it to begin with.
 
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