Ropestaff

Ultimate Equipment Guide II

Author Greg Lynch, J. C. Alvarez
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

Ropestaff appears to be completely normal rope, though it does have an unadorned brass cap at each end. The rope can be coiled, tied into knots or hung from a tree. If the brass cap at one end is twisted two full turns, however, the rope springs into a perfectly straight, rigid staff, with the same hardness and hit points as steel. The only exception to this is that the rope cannot untie itself; if it has a knot in it, the rope will retain its original shape, though it will still become rigid. The ropestaff becomes flexible again when the brass cap at the opposite end is twisted two full rotations.

Ropestaff is sold in six-foot lengths, which is how it came by its name, as when rigid, the ropestaff is perfectly serviceable as a quarterstaff. Attempts to make a longer ropestaff have met with failure, as the alchemical processes that power a ropestaff are limited.

Ropestaffs can be (and often are) used in place of regular ropes or manacles to bind a prisoner, though care must be taken to ensure the prisoner cannot reach the brass cap that will make the ropestaff limber again. When used to bind a prisoner, then made rigid, the ropestaff is treated as having the exact same characteristics as a normal set of manacles, though the bonds of a ropestaff cannot be undone by a knock spell.

Ropestaff: 125 gp; 1 lb.