What exactly are they? Are a piece of solid wood big enough to be a giant's quarterstaff, or perhaps telescopic metal, or like those folding tent poles?
What's your opinion?
Well they're only a few silver pieces, so I imagine them to be perhaps bamboo (for lightweight use) or maybe a couple of sections that hook together, like tentpoles.
And they are never more than 10 feet long. Ever.
They are lovingly crafted from the broken dreams of 3.5 monks.
They are lovingly crafted from the broken dreams of 3.5 monks.
You think they got the shaft?
A ten foot pole is a substitute for a hireling or summoned trapfinder.
They are lovingly crafted from the broken dreams of 3.5 monks.You think they got the shaft?
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.....
Very tall men, called something like Lech
In 0E ten foot pole was the trapfinder. :P
I hated the 10' pole so much I had a few home-brew dungeons with an entrance deliberately narrowed and kinked so you couldn't get them into the place...
They are a good (sometimes mandatory) mean to reach level 2.
useful at level 20, sometimes.
I'm quite shocked people think they are useless.
Can be used by a cheeky gnome hitting on women in a bar saying:
"You know, I have a 10 ft pole." and hoping that they believe something else.
Stolen from this video
Seriously though, it depends how creative you can be. Some people will look at the pole and think it's useless, some people will look at the pole and thing of a million and one things to use it for.
Crowbar for instance some people don't take, however I usually take it for if there is a high strength character and the only way through somewhere is to force the door open or there is no one with disable device to open the lock to a it becomes invaluable as it gives a +2 circumstance to strength checks to open things.
I wouldn't say the 10 foot pole is useless, it can be used as some people have ointed out to activate (and in cases like bear traps, disable them.
Depends from game style. I often ask exactly to my players what they are doing, an then roll the skill.
it depends from the how much time I want to spend on the scene, generally.
A ten foot pole is a substitute for a hireling or summoned trapfinder.
...and I start trapping my dungeons with burning hands spells *grin*
I usually go the telescoping pole route. Easy to carry, but still becomes a ten foot pole as needed. Run a rope of climbing down it with enough extra on the far end and you've essentially got s magical cherry picker/ man catcher.
Edit: because you can command it to tie, but it doesn't snake out on it's own.
I go hiking a lot. I use walking staffs both as a hiking aid and as a potential defensive tool to fend off dogs that insensitive arrogant pet owners allow to roam free on hiking trails.
I use six foot long straight shovel handles as my default walking staff.
A ten foot long straight shaft of wood would be a major problem to walk around with for any length of time. That's sticking more than four feet above most people's heads, and since you have to hold the bottom end off the ground to move, it's closer to five feet over your head. Walking through trees and bushes and stuff it is virtually impossible to avoid getting it tangled up or whacking your neighbor as you try to navigate. I wouldn't even dream of trying to walk around any indoor area with one.
To me 10 foot poles are almost a test of a player's willingness to actually examine their equipment and their character and at least attempt to do something remotely realistic in the sense of the most basic activity in the game, which is just simply walking around.
For those who talk about clever telescoping or screw together devices to create a 10 foot pole at need, I tend to only do that sort of thing if my character has a very high intelligence. My int 8 barbarian is simply not going to come up with something that clever, but my int 20 witch might.
Why carry 10 foot poles just carry a pole arm with reach. Then you can check for traps and attack with it.
Because a 10' pole is cheaper to replace if said traps snap it.
For those who talk about clever telescoping or screw together devices to create a 10 foot pole at need, I tend to only do that sort of thing if my character has a very high intelligence. My int 8 barbarian is simply not going to come up with something that clever, but my int 20 witch might.
But intelligence and cleverness aren't the same thing. They just look like it, and so it's easy to fool someone into thinking you are both if you aren't. Also, the easiest way to convincingly write/play a character more intelligent than you is to make them clever. Still. Not quite the same. After all, a low int ranger might still know enough about nature and wilderness to handle things through use of cleverness. A high int wizard may have no clue, but would be able to learn specific tricks from the ranger.
I hated the 10' pole so much I had a few home-brew dungeons with an entrance deliberately narrowed and kinked so you couldn't get them into the place...
LOL
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10-foot poles come in all shapes and sizes. Some are rectangular while others are triangular or cylindrical, yet others are flat, like some modern day measuring sticks. 10-foot poles are often collapsible (but not always), can be made of a variety of materials, and almost always have units of measurement written/carved upon them.*
* This information collected from various 10-foot pole entries in numerous roleplaying books and from discussions with game designers over the course of multiple editions.
- Checking the floor for traps
- Measure the dimensions of a room
- Check the depth of a pool
- Stir one's stew
- Balance oneself while tightrope walking
- Check for hotspots in volcanic areas
- Roast meat over a fire
- Use as a fishing rod
- Wedge a door shut
- Balance plates and other objects on top for a balancing act
- Pole vaulting
- Bracing a collapsing ceiling/structure
- Stopping a crushing walls trap
- Playing pool
- Inspect a small hole in the ground/wall for traps/creatures
- Knock something off a high ledge or shelf
- Push a small boat along a shallow river
- Best Little John at the Bridge
- Tie a white rag to it to make a flag of surrender
- Break down into smaller parts for use as a splint
- A walking stick or crutch
- Two together make the beginnings of a stretcher
- Testing a strange chemical for observable effects (such as sticking it into a suspected pool of acid)
- Warding off small animals such as wild dogs
- Improvised weapon
- Use as a lever
- With a pair of sacks and a fulcrum, you can make a makeshift scale
- An extension you can use to reach out to your friend hanging on for dear life on the ledge below you
- An eye gouger for a really tall enemy (such as a giant)
- The one thing that might keep you from getting swallowed whole
- Firewood
- Breaking a window pane rather than messing up your arm
- Drawing in the dirt
- Tie colored ribbons to the top and stick it in the ground for children to play with
- Push/move/manipulate something that is jut out of your reach
- Set in the crook of two trees to hang your clothes from
Only the imagination is the limit.
Let's add to this list and show that the 10-foot pole is anything but useless.
37. "Yep. He's Demogorgon*"
*he/she's actually, IIRC.
Ravingdork, my endless esteem.
If you had enough of them you could build a raft out of them. And lash stuff together like a tripod or make a bridge when combined with rope.
39. Jamming mechanical gears
40. To check a body to see if it a corpse or very much alive from a relatively safe distance
41. To hang curtains from to create a blind
42. To replace that missing pole in the cage that was lost when the monster broke out
43. To rap the knuckles and bottoms of unruly children
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It was quite useful in 1st to 2nd edition. Now it is pretty much useless, because everything is governed by specific skills, which wasn't really the case in 1st to 2nd edition.
You don't need the skill "Disable Device" to poke/spring some traps that you've found with a Perception roll. The 10 foot pole is FAR from useless. You're just not thinking.
I had a recurring NPC shopkeeper that occasionally got in odd and interesting items to sell to the PCs. One was essentially a 'masterwork' 10' pole. It was made of hollow metal, and separated into three 3 1/3 foot sections. It got bought in a heartbeat, and was much more useful than the gnomish 'camping bag' that had a zipper that got inconveniently stuck when the party was attacked by wandering monsters in the night.
One player bought an eleven foot pole. Why? Because there are some things you just won't touch with a ten foot pole.
Thank you for the examples Raving! :-)
I may be a number crunching min/maxer, but I still consider it shameful that so many "role"players don't bother to think creatively anymore.
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I may be a number crunching min/maxer, but I still consider it shameful that so many "role"players don't bother to think creatively anymore.
Well, it may have something to do with the system you started playing in. To me it was 3.0 edition. Nobody ever bothered to buy a 10 foot pole there. I understand from tales of oldschool players who started with 1st or 2nd edition, that a 10 foot pole was quite invaluable, especialy because there was no clear rule mechanics on finding traps (except for rogues and bards). In 3rd edition, there was search and disable device. And most parties worth their salt had a rogue in it, with maxed search and disable device.
Ravingdork, I'm surprised you're such a fan of the 10 foot pole. I figured you would just throw a non-optimized character at anything that's vaguely suspicious.
*pushes bard over the pit, who then clings to the opposing ledges with his fingers and toes*
Bard: Buy why!?
Min/maxer: It's all you're good for!
*walks across pit*
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I use International Standard measures.
So in my game, we only have 3-metre poles.
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There is a Facebook page O_o
44. Hoist your party gnome/halfling by the belt to peer over that high wall
45. add rope to two poles to make a ladder
I'm still 1 metre 8 centimetres short of that...I use International Standard measures.
So in my game, we only have 3-metre poles.
A pole is a pole, of course, of course,
And no pole can be 10 feet tall, of courseThat is, of course, unless the pole is the famous Mr. Wy (-soki).
Go right to the source and watch the pole
He'll be almost as tall as three-halves a horse.
He's bigger than a massive norse,
Talk to Mr. Wy.
People yakkity yak around and fall on traps all day
But Mister Wy will always probe the dungeon ahead of himself
A pole is a pole, of course, of course,
And this one's as tall as an oak, of course
You never heard of a 10-foot pole?
Well listen to this.
I am Mister Wy (and I'm 10 feet tall).
Removed a post. Please post nicely, thanks!
