Rope trick in 5e is not a great spell, at least at first glance.
Its intended use is to give you and your party a place to rest safely for an hour.
Thus allowing for an easy short rest in areas where easy short rests are not a thing.
That said, the cost for that is using a second level spell, and there are many better spells as early as 3rd level.
Then, why is it good? Because it is a spell with large versatility that serves as a great panic button.
WHAT IS ROPE TRICK 5E?
Before we begin is important to understand what the spell is and does.
As such, I provided the spell which can be found on roll20.
You touch a length of rope that is up to 60 feet long. One end of the rope then rises into the air until the whole rope hangs perpendicular to the ground. At the upper end of the rope, an Invisible entrance opens to an extradimensional space that lasts until the spell ends.The extradimensional space can be reached by climbing to the top of the rope. The space can hold as many as eight Medium or smaller creatures. The rope can be pulled into the space, making the rope disappear from view outside the space. Attacks and Spells can’t cross through the entrance into or out of the extradimensional space, but those inside can see out of it as if through a 3-foot-by-5-foot window centered on the rope. Anything inside the extradimensional space drops out when the spell ends.
As you can see the spell seems rather limited as it creates a place that has no physical bearings to the material world and thus lacks many combat and utility needs.
That said below will go over general uses for the spell as well as why emergency spells are good.
WHY EMERGENCY SPELLS ARE IMPORTANT
Featherfall, Fireball, Misty Step, these are common emergency spells that are indispensable in crucial situations.
These are all indispensable because they are great in risky situations.
Falling from a 50 story building and about to plummet to your doom? Featherfall.
Surrounded by hordes of enemies and no way to take them all out one by one? Fireball.
In all these times they are great for certain situations that on the off chance happening are life saving.
Emergency spells are the quintessential part of spell casting because they can do what non spellcasters can do; significantly alter the area around them.
That is why the 5e rope trick is important.
This spell works great for escaping bad situations.
10 General Uses Of Rope Trick
Rope Trick has a plethora of uses, with too many to be listed in one article. As such, this will settle for 10 great uses.
- In a situation where your party can’t be seen? Use rope trick and hide from sight and still be able to see and listen into what is going on in a room.
- Your party needs to get to a spot 60 or less feet up in the air? Use rope trick and have a rope that can climb to any spot in an elevated position
- Need a safe place for your party to heal in combat? You guessed it, rope trick allows pesky dragon breaths and fireballs to not be able to hit the party or NPCs who are in need of healing or protection.
- Falling to your doom (like 500+ feet free falling)? Rope trick to stop your descent and give you an hour to fix the situation.
- Room filling up with poison or water and you need more time? What do you know! Rope trick for the win by going into an extradimensional space that is filled with clean fresh air.
- Want tactical cover in an empty room? Create a space for you to hide in with rope trick.
- Trying to hide questionably gotten goods? Then a small rope trick can be a perfect way to hide the items off your person if being inspected.
- Need to securely hold someone or something in place? Tie it up with rope and let the rope trick hold them there. (Great for interrogations over cliffs)
- Looking for a way to hide from those with detect magic, locate objects, or any other divination spells? Hop into your rope trick, pull the rope up and be immune to divination effects that require you on the same plane of existence.
- Need a safe place to do a short rest? Use the spell as intended and have a safe place to rest!
As you can see, rope trick is a great low level spell that allows you to teleport to a safer location. Much like the popular spell misty step.
Using 5e Rope trick In An emergency.
Now while not all of these are going to be crucial in a campaign, there is a common theme with its application.
That is, removing something from a situation.
Teleportation spells are great emergency spells as they often remove an item or person from a situation too dangerous for it.
The big downside to these spells is most are too high in their spell level or take too long to cast to use reliably.
Therefore, having a second level spell that will remove you from an area in a non permanent way is a perfect way to give your character enough time to build a permanent escape route, or remove themselves from an imminent threat.
In this way, rope trick is a great emergency spell to giving a character more time to remove themselves from a threat.
A few common examples of threats rope trick circumvents is:
- Divination spells as they target creatures on the same plane.
- Dragon breaths and other AOE attacks.
- About to be discovered by something that would kill you or severely harm you.
- Unknown Traps where something bad is about to happen.
- Surprise situations where the floor is lava or gone.
Again, while not all applications of avoiding a threat. This should get your brain thinking of what your caster can do when they can at will remove themselves from the material plane, or remove themselves from situations that can cause damage. For that reason, Rope Trick, has become a staple in my caster classes as a great way to give my party time to adapt and adjust to dangerous encounters.
Conclusion
As you can see Rope Trick has a large array of versatility to meet players needs.
It can: (1) remove your party from imminent threats, (2) allow your party to go unnoticed in many situations, and (3) be a great way to regain a short rest in dangerous situations.
Not only that but there are many more uses of the spell that are limited to only what your brain can come up with.
Making it a great spell for versatile players.
There are many spells that sadly just go under the radar for the flashy spells that are seen or bragged about in guide articles.
Hopefully, this article has shown you that just because it isn’t popular, doesn’t mean it is a bad spell.
For those that are curious what other spells have incredible uses for any campaign.
I suggest checking out top spells at 1st level for wizards.
It is perfect for learning cheap spells that are useful in all aspects of the game.
Let me know down below, what is your favorite spell that many don’t use and why?
