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...because as written, it doesn't seem like I can do too much with it. I can:
- clean up an uncoiled rope into a nice, tidy (harmless) coil
- tie someone up at a very short distance (provided I make a ranged touch attack)
- try to trip someone (it doesn't say anything about CMB vs CMD)
- possibly untie somebody who's already been tied up.
What else can I do? What's the difference between "loop and knot" and "tie and knot?" How does the "trip line" option work, mechanically-speaking? Can I tie multiple people up with a single piece of rope (and how long does it need to be to do that)?
Animate Rope is pretty good, until you think about the fact that it uses up two full turns.
I have to:
You do have a great question, though, about multiple targets. On the one hand, the spell makes absolutely no provision for AoE attacks, so I assume that I can't throw a long rope at several people and tie up the two on the ends whilst tripping a third in the middle, all in one action. (She said wistfully, thinking of how the movies would do it.)
But it could be a very long rope -- 100' feet at only 10th level -- so it seems worth asking if I have to throw the whole rope at the first person, or just one end? It's important, because in the former case, I'm no longer holding the other end and have to go retrieve it in order to tie up a second person -- unbearably expensive.
But I'd like to say that I could still be holding the unused end of a long rope and could indeed throw it in the next round (standard action) at another foe and trip or entangle them (move action), double-dipping a potato chip, as it were. It would at least make the spell slightly less outrageously priced. (Two targets entangled for three full rounds of activity, rather than one for two full rounds.)
Simply put, I'm assuming that going for a third person in the middle makes trouble, regardless of the length of rope. But even given this voluntary reticence, how long does my rope have to be to pull off the double-dip? (I'll be adding the distance between the two targets, of course.) And why make the length of the rope dependent on level, if I can't manage two tie-ups?
In short, I also am very interested in what other people might say.
I would treat trip line as a trap with a reflex save (DC 15? Maybe?) to remain standing after moving through it if unaware of its presence. An acrobatics check to leap over it (dependent on height off the ground) or treated as rough terrain to more carefully step over/under it. But that is all how I'd run it - actual rules as you've noted are non-existent.
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I would treat trip line as a trap with a reflex save (DC 15? Maybe?) to remain standing after moving through it if unaware of its presence.
I'd like to believe the ability score my magic is based on would have something to do with the DC.
Understand I have something of an investment in answers: I'm playing a Wood Elementalist Wizard in "Rise of the Runelords" right now (and we've barely started), and I've also got a Psychic in Pathfinder Society that I've based off Freakazoid! fan-favorite Candlejack.
The trip line means you can command it to place itself in the path of a creature. If there isn't such a trap described in the DMG, it's up to the DM how that works.
There is another 1st level spell, hydraulic push, which gives a formula for the CMB for it's combat maneuver. Maybe use that one for maneuver applications?
Anyway, there are no spells around, that inflict conditions without some kind of check, sometimes two (bestow curse requires to hit and save). If in doubt, ask yourself if you are OK with the spell being applied to yourself in the manner you want to employ it.
Vatras, remember that this spell requires a ranged touch attack! Those typically do not require a save.
The primary use of the spell seems to be to give a target the entangled condition.
I would treat trip line as a trap with a reflex save (DC 15? Maybe?) to remain standing after moving through it if unaware of its presence.I'd like to believe the ability score my magic is based on would have something to do with the DC.
I originally envisioned it as being no different than a non-magically animated rope being tied between two trees, so wouldn't treat it differently as such.
But I guess one use might be 'throw one end at the tree and command it to tie to it' while you hold the other end - in which case maybe associate the DC with your strength, or CMB vs CMD with maybe a bonus to your CMB, at that point.
If you could provide a plausible reason why any bonuses would be tied to your caster stat or level, I'd be open to hearing such - but again, this is simply how I'd run it, and wouldn't expect any other GM to necessarily do the same. In PFS, prepare for wild differences from table to table.
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What do they mean by "loop and knot" as opposed to "tie and knot?"
Should I just try to claim I'm doing various plausible things with it, and see if that game's particular DM believes it can be done?
1) I think the idea behind "loop and tie" is of throwing the rope over to a tree across the gap or up to a protruding knob above the PCs' heads and commanding it to loop itself so everyone can climb up, now that I think about it.
2) Yes. No RAW are going to adjudicate getting across a gap or whatever like the above example. Who knows what odd thing an animated rope might come in handy for? Although I wish there'd been more consensus about the lack of a saving throw. As I've said, I'd be indignant if a GM made a saving throw after I'd spent all those actions and then succeeded in a ranged touch roll in order to achieve a simple trip. But if your GM does, well, I hope you're playing a wizard rather than a sorcerous type like my PC, who'd be locked in.
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...Although I wish there'd been more consensus about the lack of a saving throw. As I've said, I'd be indignant if a GM made a saving throw after I'd spent all those actions and then succeeded in a ranged touch roll in order to achieve a simple trip....
I should think that the RAW's statement of "none" under "Saving Throw" is a good enough tie-breaker (pun not intended) - even though there are other spells that list "none" under "Saving Throw" but mention a sub-effect that does call for one, those spells, in addition to being different in other ways, DO spell out the need for a saving throw in the cases they do - nonesuch stipulation here.
Besides, they can already try to escape with Strength checks and/or the Escape Artist skill.
@bitter lily:
*points to bestow curse, the cause ... wounds line, stunning barrier, touch of blindness, touch of bloodletting, arrow of law, blinding ray, deathknell (kinda), disfiguring touch, dread bolt, shard of chaos, shock arrow, spear of purity, contagion, black spot, poison, anything under Reach Spell does not lose it's save, and many more*
One should think it is either a save or a touch attack, but that is not true. Many spells require both, although the designers took care to hit the divine casters way harder with the nerfbat than the arcanes.
Anyway, I would not say that a touch spell does typically require no save, since I play divine casters and run against that all the time. And sure, our wizard does not have that problem...scorching ray, polar ray, enervation...all without a save, the lucky bastard :)