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 ).
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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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?
So I'm forced to use normal rope like some peasant?!??
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.
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?
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Europeans, Asians, Africans, Australooceanians, South Americans and many North Americans
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Wait, you guys keep track of your carry weight?
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.
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Until theres bags of holding, yes and then if something is significantly heavy still yes.
I suddenly care as soon as a player character falls off the boat. 😈
Some people would rather play Campaign for North Africa than a roleplaying game.
It feels like playing Stalker.
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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.
They again...
Jokes on y'all, I've already bought a Bag of Holding.
... FUCK, that was their plan all along!
Ahhhh, makes sense
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.
Oh it definitely isn't. Its a very modern purpose built rope that has no business being in DND. Its just the heaviest rope that I would have easy access to.
That's dry hemp rope, it won't have that strength if it ever gets wet.
I wouldn't call that rope to begin with. It's practically string. It may be strong, but I'd like to see someone try to climb it.
In DnD, if you're carrying rope, it's something you're expected to be able to use for something like climbing. Probably at least 3 or 4 times the diameter of that.
Idk man I've used that rope before for other stuff and it's kinda strong af
Yeah I meant climbing the rope itself. I know it's strong, but climbing a rope that thin is extremely hard, if not impossible, at least without tools.
a length of strong cord made by twisting together strands of natural fibers such as hemp or artificial fibers such as polypropylene.
Ropes have existed for like 5000+ years and I can assure you many cliffs have been scaled with less than what's pictured
Does REI exist in your campaign? Like can you get mass-manufactured products?
I'm talking about climbing the rope itself, not using it for safety. Like grappling to a roof or across a chasm.
It would be plenty strong, but you can't really grip something like that.
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