Rope Trick and Keeping Track of Time


Rules Questions


Ok, a question here... how does one keep track of time inside a rope trick spell ?

Even more so, how does one do it if he is sleeping inside the rope trick ??

.. I am willing to accept that the caster knows when his spell is about to end (and when it does actually end) but what happens if he is sleeping as well ?

I dont suppose he gets a wake-up call that his ropetrick is about to expire ..

I am asking this because if there isnt any way to actually keep track of time (or somehow know that your spell is ending while sleeping) then one could argue that rope trick can be used for an 8-hour rest at 9th lvl minimum, assuming that a tired adventurer will probably wake up on his own after about 7-8 hours of sleep.

Thanks in advance for any opinions !

Grand Lodge

Most people post a watch, even with a rope trick, as the rope can be spotted. The people on watch typically keep track of time (since they need their beauty sleep, too).


Perugrin Neveferin wrote:
O.. I am willing to accept that the caster knows when his spell is about to end (and when it does actually end) but what happens if he is sleeping as well ?

He gets that awful dream that he is falling - then the spell and and he really falls...

It's probably a good idea to have someone awake, as Thorkull said, keeping watch and watching time fly, just to avoid the sudden plummet to the ground.

But a more interesting question is, how DO adventurers keep track of time? A pocketwatch? Carry around an hourglass or a water clock? Burning marked candles (and do you do that in an enclosed rope trick?)?

Sure, outside, I suppose watching the moon and stars would work, but what about in a dungeon? Camping or not, how do adventurers keep track of time?

Dark Archive

Thanks DM Blake, I was about to ask that same question.

If you remove the rope trick, how does an adventure keep track of time?

I have seen survival checks for underground to make a guess as to what time it is (as it also covers figuring out north, etc), and I could see that for rope trick (peering out the opening to see where the shadows fall, etc).


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I assume spellcasters can tell when they're going to be able to get spells back. If we discard this assumption, wizards don't know when they have slept enough (ok, far-fetched) and clerics might miss their opportunity for prepping spells in the morning/noon/dusk/midnight (more plausible).

I don't know whether it's as silly as an internal alarm ("Time to make the donuts!) or somehow feeling a longing for communion with their deity, but I feel like there should be something.

Now as for casting those long-lasting spells right before the 8 hour window to be able to regain them in the morning, that might need skill checks to not do it way to early or just too late.


Berinor wrote:
Now as for casting those long-lasting spells right before the 8 hour window to be able to regain them in the morning, that might need skill checks to not do it way to early or just too late.

I'm not sure that's necessary. A caster could cast a very long duration spell, go to sleep, wake up refreshed and then prepare his daily spells, all the while his long-duration spell is still continuing. So for example, a 10th level wizard with Extend Spell could create a 20-hour Rope Trick if he wants to. He could do that right before bedtime, sleep 8 hours, wake up and prepare ALL his spells, filling every spell slot including whichever slot (3rd level) he used to create that rope trick, and that would have no bearing on the Rope Trick; it would continue for the remainder of it's 20 hour duration.


DM_Blake wrote:


It's probably a good idea to have someone awake, as Thorkull said, keeping watch and watching time fly, just to avoid the sudden plummet to the ground.

But a more interesting question is, how DO adventurers keep track of time? A pocketwatch? Carry around an hourglass or a water clock? Burning marked candles (and do you do that in an enclosed rope trick?)?

Sure, outside, I suppose watching the moon and stars would work, but what about in a dungeon? Camping or not, how do adventurers keep track of time?

If they are keeping watch, then it gets tricky with a wizard in the party. I am even willing to accept that 'keeping watch' counts for the 8hr sleep the wizard needs, as long as he sleeps during the last watch and prior to waking up and prepairing his spells.

This leaves us with the need for the other classes to be able to count time during their watch (inside the rope trick, or even outside in the open - not everyone has survival/dungeoneering abilities).

..oh I guess a minor small magic item to keep track of time shouldnt be that impossible/hard to find, maybe at a cost of 100gp or so.

-But- it still makes rope trick unusable for full rest until 9th lvl. Since at 8th there is simply not enough time for the wizard to fullfil his rest need. (a few minutes after climbing up to get ready for bed, a few before climbing down to wake up, get ready and avoid falling off .. and the actual act of climbing down.. Id say the wizard would need at least another hour of rest outside the 8th lvl rope trick)

Sczarni

I usually purchase an hourglass for each of my characters, although my Witch in PFS actually carries a Mithral pocketwatch (750gp, or 2 Prestige Points).

There is also the Alarm spell.


Everyone keeps talking about rest. In game terms is it possible to rest without sleeping? I know I often rest when I come home from work by watching a TV show.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
DM_Blake wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Now as for casting those long-lasting spells right before the 8 hour window to be able to regain them in the morning, that might need skill checks to not do it way to early or just too late.
I'm not sure that's necessary. A caster could cast a very long duration spell, go to sleep, wake up refreshed and then prepare his daily spells, all the while his long-duration spell is still continuing. So for example, a 10th level wizard with Extend Spell could create a 20-hour Rope Trick if he wants to. He could do that right before bedtime, sleep 8 hours, wake up and prepare ALL his spells, filling every spell slot including whichever slot (3rd level) he used to create that rope trick, and that would have no bearing on the Rope Trick; it would continue for the remainder of it's 20 hour duration.

First, d'oh on wrong too!

Second, I think we're talking about different issues. I have no problem with a spell continuing when its slot has been refilled. Your example or permanent spells are obvious enough evidence that that's fine. I'm just saying that if a 10th level oracle has a bunch of slots left and decides they want to cast an hours/level spell at 8 hours and one minute before they prepare spells again, they should maybe have a good way of making sure they time it right or risk that the spell will either not be available in the morning (oops, you cast it 7 hours 55 minutes before) or have a significant amount of its duration expended (you cast it 9 hours before instead of 8 hours).

Arcane are less of a problem because if they estimated the time wrong and cast a spell at 12:10 instead of 11:59, they can just wait it out and prepare at 8:15 instead of 8 am. Divine casters don't have the luxury of preparing spells whenever it's expedient.

Grand Lodge

Actually, any prepared spellcaster can theoretically prepare spells at any time as you can leave spell slots open and fill them later at 15 minutes per spell, 1 hour max.

The question is when the spell slots renew. Clerics kinda get the raw end of the stick because their spell slots renew at a specific time, which is what Berinor was alluding to.

None of which is relevant to the OP. The answer is, if they don't have a timepiece of some kind they'll have to guess. Most GMs I know don't worry about it too much as in the grand scheme of the adventure a few minutes either way don't really matter most of the time. Do you track how long it takes to go to the bathroom, and where? Don't sweat the minutiae of rope trick too much. If it's not adding to the fun and adventure of the game, why bother with it?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Thorkull wrote:

Actually, any prepared spellcaster can theoretically prepare spells at any time as you can leave spell slots open and fill them later at 15 minutes per spell, 1 hour max.

The question is when the spell slots renew. Clerics kinda get the raw end of the stick because their spell slots renew at a specific time, which is what Berinor was alluding to.

None of which is relevant to the OP. The answer is, if they don't have a timepiece of some kind they'll have to guess. Most GMs I know don't worry about it too much as in the grand scheme of the adventure a few minutes either way don't really matter most of the time. Do you track how long it takes to go to the bathroom, and where? Don't sweat the minutiae of rope trick too much. If it's not adding to the fun and adventure of the game, why bother with it?

You are exactly right :-).

I agree with Thorkull that it's not a big deal and wouldn't stop my PCs from using it at 8 hours for sleeping. I agree with the OP, though, that because it takes time to get up into it, it technically would take at least 8 hours and one minute of duration to really get situated and sleep. Hence 9th level or 5th level w/ Extend. I would enforce that on my NPCs if they were using this plan.

As for knowing when it was going to end in-story, I'd say that the magic doesn't just suddenly go from full-strength to gone. While that works fine for shorter duration spells since they'll peter out in a time proportionally to their full duration.

I imagine it like a car sputtering as it runs out of gas. The space will start to waver. The window will shimmer. Something to illustrate that it's running out of juice. I'd give anyone awake a chance to notice it's running out, whether they're inside or outside, with a Spellcraft or something like that. If the caster has been using this for a long time, they may notice while they're asleep as the shaking jostles them or something. If not and they don't have a contingency in place, they'd have a chance to get unceremoniously dumped.

Silver Crusade

Clerics who miss their appointed time for prayer must do the preparation as soon as they can after that. So, if they oversleep, they just do it when they do finally wake up in the late morning... *yaawwwn*

Edit: spelling a pronoun >.<

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