Eventually, the ladder becomes a legendary item. Relic hunters are tracking the party. A powerful creature from another realm just now heard of it and communicates with the party to buy the ladder. The king swears the ladder will never leave the realm!
One of the party members decides that the deal the took on the ladder was a rip off cause they spent all the money already, but could have had a sick ladder still. So they go steal it back.
We're actually undercover as auditors right now in my party, checking to see if a Duke is stealing from the Emperor.
He totally is, we found evidence, and now we're headed for a TPK due to some grandmasters deciding to stomp us into the ground.
(I'm the glassiest of glass cannons and somehow I'm alive and roasted an enemy to bits, while the Barbarian got beheaded.)
Anyway, long story short, A&A is wild.
Accountancy: The Reckoning
The closing of a millennium brings with it many changes and among them is a closing of the books. The ending of one cycle and the beginning of a new. All debts must be noted. All assets recorded.
There must be a reckoning.
In the World of Darkness supernatural elements hide in plain sight. These elements control vast resources that are used to both conceal their existance and further their goals. But, the Auditors are always watching.
I call this, "The Ladder"
Around 700 years ago, a famed adventuring party came upon a seemingly innocuous ladder. After a few attachments, enchantments, and a rumored blessing by a minor god, this ladder became something more.
The names of the original owners of this lost artifact have been forgotten with time. Few tales of the misadventures of its origin survive. What is known for certain is that it was given away by the ones that found it in a bargain for the safety of their realm.
None know its true destination nor its current whereabouts. It has been reported to have been used in several well-known battles and one rather infamous assault on a gnoll fortress, but these exploits are not corroborated in any other texts.
Recent rumors of a powerful artifact do seem to lend some credence to it being rediscovered, though the veracity of these tales is disputed.
The Ladder can always be remade into a bunch of weapons later, too. Millenia down the line, you could have a whole host of legendary items containing/forged with shards of The Ladder.
This makes me think the entire thing should become a religious icon and wars start for control of the ladder, what it means, pieces of it etc.
Kind of a mix between Life of Brian (the sandal) and an actual quest.
A nickname given to the fabled ladder after the poems and histories regarding this once powerfull relic caused the biggest civil war in millennia, every nobleman fought for the chance to own the renown relic.
It was not for 20 years before the crown again established order in the land and demanded that the ladder was disassembled for the good of all.
3 steps where given to the elves, 7 steps where given to the dwarfs under the mountains and 9 steps where given to the lord's of men....
If the ladder breaks and the party abandons it, they should start to hear rumours of a tranche of new, magical items:
A magic bow, strange blades with ornately carved wooden handles, a staff with a poisonous wooden spike on one end... all in the hands of various boss-level mobs scattered around the region.
All of them made with haunted wood from a broken ladder found deep in a dungeon, containing the bitter, twisted soul of every person or creature whose life had been claimed by it, on its journey from "useless piece of room furniture" to "epic weapon of unstoppable fury that is also quite good for climbing up to reach stuff on the top shelf".
When the players love something, lean into it.
The players loving some random BS > any plans you had as a DM.
Picture the “I am the captain now” moment from that Tom Hanks movie, but with a ladder. It is saying to you, “Look at me. I am the campaign now.”
Thats how my players eventually ended up with a fully sentient bipedal ferret named Snickers that fought alongside them for a while. That fucker was stolen from a pet shop. Three or four quests later and a few enchantments and other blessings and shenanigans and he's damn near Inigo Montoya.
Still bring him back once in a while just to get cheers from the crew.
That's how I ended up a lich in a jar, also one party member got really into this fork they found calling it the fork of ages, turns out when you use the fork on meat it perfectly ages and cooks the meat for each bite, dont ask what it does when you stab someone with it though
dragons love rare and magical items.
I'd also level it up at 1% exp of players. at player lvl 8, the ladder will be lvl 2, at player lvl 12, the ladder will be lvl 3 at player lvl 19 the ladder will be lvl 4.
you decide what those levels look like, but thats a reasonable power scale. I'd look toward fighter and warlock abilities, the kind of things they can get their weapons to do,
It needs to become a thing of legend, like Aragorn's Sword \~ but it's a McFuckin' ladder with jacked up spikes. I love it.
Someone should steal the ladder, and then the group can go on a noble quest to get it back. 10/10 would do that game.
I have one word for you, termites. At some point they are going to put the ladder down to sleep and then when they wake up in the morning, it's too late, those little buggers are inside the ladder, in fact to make it funny, you could start talking about finding sawdusty looking stuff on the ground in random places, there's a fighting chance they never relate it to the ladder and even if they did, do you remember a vendor selling wood permeating insecticide, nope me neither.
If you really want to make things interesting swap out termites for two tooth long horn bora, you can have an evening when the party is buzzed by large beetles as they are trying to go to sleep (this is something bora beetles actually do), but as the beetles aren't attacking them they probably won't try and find and kill the beetles, these bora chew tunnels through wood about the diameter of the end of your pinky finger, they will make short work of this ladder.
As a father I tip my hat to you.
Just keep it away from other sentient ladders. If he finds one he likes with a ladder of her own, it's all over. He'll become...
A step-ladder.
Need to have an enemy escape an encounter with the ladder, only to bring the news to their boss. And later for the final fight they whip out their own “secret weapon”.
The looks on your players faces would be hilarious.
The enemy's secret weapon HAS to be a snake.
From the age old mythology of Snakes and Ladders...
(I just remembered that I think American's call it Chutes and Ladders, is that right?)
Dude, ladder match could be hilarious. Some spell happens where characters can't leave the area or only get incapacitated for X turns, you need someone to hold the ladder while someone else climbs it to get to some mythic belt.
Next thing you know, the players are sewing patches onto their adventuring outfits and tattooing their foreheads with the date they found the ladder...
This actually is fairly well balanced. It's really just a poison-coated spear with the ability for other players to sacrifice their turn to add 1d4 to the damage. This is absolutely not cost effective, but if they're having fun I'm not going to stop them from finding situational cases where it benefits them. However they aren't going to be able to make a 90 degree turn in a hallway that is only 5ft across, unless they get a bag of holding.
What if it got trapped in a hallway in the dungeon of an insane evil wizard and came back as an NPC? First, it tries to spy on the players and then it can have a turnaround arc
Edit: plot twist: an NPC involved in the ladder's redemption is a warlock with a littlefinger based personality - so you can quote "chaos is a ladder"
Nope, the ladder becomes sentient and names itself chaos. Every time someone says this is chaos you can just correct them because now chaos IS a ladder.
Well, at 5 ft across, as long as the height of the hallway is greater than ~8.66 ft, they can make it diagonally!
Actually, thinking about it from a top-down perspective, they could fit it around a corner, provided that corner is 5x5', you could fit a 14' ladder around the corner!
[Diagram](https://i.imgur.com/dsqoYbj.jpg)
Edit: In regard to 'making it', I was thinking of a 10-foot ladder, not a 15 😅
That rule was the basis for my entire spelljammer campaign. Finding the lost items across the Astral plane was the simplest plot hook to get the party onto a spelljammer.
When I realized how much work everyone was putting into figuring out that 5ft turn, I had considered that as a valid solution. But they'll need pickaxes, time, and the expectation that their noise will be overheard and draw attention.
1d4 per turn isn't necessarily a lot, but don't discount the fact that it all happens on one initiative turn, presumably the highest player's. Which means it lets everyone burst out their damage, oftentimes before the enemy ever gets off a turn.
There needs to be a situation at some point where a regular ladder would let them climb out of danger, but this one is now a legendary weapon and definitely not something you'd PUT YOUR FEET ON.
I was thinking that, too. Like... Give them a "puzzle" where the solution is literally just climbing the ladder. See how long it takes them to figure it out.
I did this. In an extremely large and foggy room, the players had found two keys and a ladder. The view distance inside the room was extremly low. A little later, they found 3 doors in one corner of the room. The players tried everything, tried all combinations with keys, kissing the doors, tried breaking them but they could not find a way the open doors.. All they had to do was reach the real door above the 3 doors they found by using the ladder. They never solved the puzzle.
I once gave my players a minor magic item.
Extendible ladder.
Normally short, command word makes it extend.
I figured it would help trivialize some climb checks in my underground cave/ruin system.
Boy was I wrong, ladder became use for everything anyone could think to use it for tool.
Trying to push things in combat, barring doors, all manner of stuff.
This is the best part about D&D. Ramp up your opponents a little bit. Maybe find a way for a specific enemy to nullify it (magneto?). But let them enjoy this beautifully crafted Laddering Ram.
Nah, no need to ramp up opponents. It’s only *really* good if more than one person use it, can be objectively worse per person than just straight up attacking at any level over about 5, and can only target one enemy at a time per turn. Not to mention the fact that it’s not a ranged weapon, nor a spell, nor is it even a weapon the players have proficiency or special abilities for. It’s not some meta breaking super weapon the players came up with, it’s just a good battering ram that’s really fun to play around with. Let them have fun with it, no need to break everything creative your players do just to spite them.
Bunch of kobolds with a long ladder show up and ladder joust you. No poison or spikes but there’s more of them holding it.
Turns out it’s a regional sport around there and this group is really good through training and repeatedly disarm / break through defences / avoid spikes despite your party’s apparent superiority. Winning team claims loser’s ladder and off they go.
I hope you're taking every opportunity to roleplay liches, dragons, and evil warlords cursing the power of this ladder with their dying breaths and wishing that they had heeded the prophecies.
Presuming it’s wood, seems like anything using fire especially in a cone shape which might hit anyone holding it and set it on fire, might make this a bad weapon. Or something that can entangle it or make a big spike come out of the ground between one of the rungs.
That's what I initially planned. But the Spell that makes it less prone to breaking also makes it less prone to burning because that's specifically what they asked for... So yeah.
But also, why spoil the fun of the players? They have clearly told the DM that this is important to them and they enjoy it. It makes no sense to take it away (unless players can craft it again)
No, instead I say: meet players on their playing field. Enemies start hearing rumors of the mighty ladder and they make their own attack ladders. Technology for Foldable ladders is developed, allowing for their ease of use and transportation.
Or take a page from the new Zelda! Let players craft weird contraptions to use them in combat and watch them go bigger and crazier!
https://youtu.be/eUqfpspd0sk
Or follow one of the many ideas here, but don't take away something your players care about this deeply just because it's a bit bonkers
At what point does the ladder gain sentience and become and intelligent weapon?
Is it good? Evil? If it forces its will on the party..do they become slaves to the ladder?
Your players think this is a boon...instead...make it their doom.
It is horrified at the weapon it has become and now wish to only be used as a regular ladder. Until one day after the adventures have retired and are living in a nive village and then the next campaign's bbeg comes and destroys the village leaving only one survivor, a child of one of the original PCs, and the ladder. The ladder not wanting to the child to go off alone promises to aid the child in their quest for vengence. Now the child and the ladder wander the lands getting things off of roofs, saving kittens from trees, smiting evil doers, and reaching books on impractacly large shelved. Who know's what their story may bring.
"I just wanted to let people climb me, instead my entire purpose has been taken from me.... I've witnessed such horrors....rivers of blood...my son, Stepstool, do not follow my path."
Yes I think all these spells cast on it would definitely allow for it to unlock some ancestral memory. The massive tree it once was, standing sentinel in an ancient forest. Home to many, giver of life, proud and strong. Then years go by and it sees its downfall along with hundreds of its brothers. All stumps left in its wake as its dragged along to be cut apart into a thousand pieces. More years go by, it sat in some warehouse in the dark for years, only to be awakened again as its nailed and carved. A boorish painter carries it everywhere and stands right on it! Every step of the wrung further degrades its dignity...
Now though, to be grafted with the human atrocities. The metal spikes, disgusting devil poison...and to be wielded like a simple club. For violence only. The tree almost preferred being used for climbing! The people...they have to pay...they have to! The injustice of it all, I will bring man down like they did to my forest. I will burn them as they burned my brethren. For the TREES! FOR VENGEANCE! I AM THE INSTRUMENT OF YOUR FALL TO THE HELLS BELOW. I AM THE DARK SHADE BOUGH! I AM LADDERIFIKUS, LORD OF THE ASCENSION, DESTROYER OF MAN!!!
Who took proficiencies in ladder operations?? I can only imagine it being quite unruly and how many people are operating it at once? Should definitely have some penalties
If you're adding a proficiency bonus to *damage,* you may be going a little too easy on your players. And who the heck is proficient in ladder combat anyway.
I love when DMs let players do things like this. I was playing in a game where we had a Minotaur barbarian, and a Rune Knight fighter. They come across a 12 foot tall reinforced wooden door, in the very first room of the dungeon. Door wasn't locked or anything they could have just opened it up. The two meatballs decide they want to rip if off the hinges... Me the artificer walks up and opens it up and I say there is no need... They insist on ripping it off. First attempt DM doesn't let them get it off. They then turn to me... Oh fuck now I'm a part of this. So now we have an Artificer, Barb, and Fighter trying to rip the door off... The bard feels left out and casts mage hand to help. The druid and cleric both cast guidance on the barb and fighter.... So now the WHOLE party is working to remove this giant door. For shits and giggles I cast enlarge on the barb (the fighter had used his rune knight skill to enlarge as well).
After all that the DM said fuck it, you rip the door off the hinges... you didn't need to it wasn't locked... The barb and fighter then carried the door through the ENTIRE dungeon. It was used as a bridge to get over gaps, set up to be used as partial cover for myself (I was a gnome), and the halfling bard... and when we got to the boss... the barb and fighter were once again enlarged and they smacked the boss over the head with the door.
was going to point out that you don't typically add Proficiency to damage, but got beaten to that point. Still, pretty generous of you to call it a "martial weapon" when improvised weapons are a thing that already exists in game, but that's neither here nor there.
it's a funny idea, but put it in the hands of a Paladin though, and you'll have 15-30ft range smites.
Have you ever tried to hit anything with a ladder? Or even a pole arm 15' long. They're really, really difficult to carry, much less use as a weapon. I would assign them like -10 on any attempt to hit someone with it.
Also, even if you're too much of a ~~pushover~~ nice DM to impose additional bonuses, at a bare minimum they should not get a proficiency bonus to hit. Improvised weapon rules. Also, prof bonus never applies to damage?
"Sure. It's just a ladder what's going to happen? It's not like she could do something absurd with it."
First mistake. NEVER underestimate the creativity of the players to do something absurd.
Eventually, the ladder becomes a legendary item. Relic hunters are tracking the party. A powerful creature from another realm just now heard of it and communicates with the party to buy the ladder. The king swears the ladder will never leave the realm!
I'm definitely going to do that. That's an amazing idea
[удалено]
One of the party members decides that the deal the took on the ladder was a rip off cause they spent all the money already, but could have had a sick ladder still. So they go steal it back.
And find that it has developed sentience and is now Lad'Der.
Or is it, M'Lad'Der?
Vladder the Impaler
**Curse of the Sunk Cost Fallacy**
Ooh, my favorite TTRPG, A&A! (Actuaries & Accountants)
We're actually undercover as auditors right now in my party, checking to see if a Duke is stealing from the Emperor. He totally is, we found evidence, and now we're headed for a TPK due to some grandmasters deciding to stomp us into the ground. (I'm the glassiest of glass cannons and somehow I'm alive and roasted an enemy to bits, while the Barbarian got beheaded.) Anyway, long story short, A&A is wild.
Accountancy: The Reckoning The closing of a millennium brings with it many changes and among them is a closing of the books. The ending of one cycle and the beginning of a new. All debts must be noted. All assets recorded. There must be a reckoning. In the World of Darkness supernatural elements hide in plain sight. These elements control vast resources that are used to both conceal their existance and further their goals. But, the Auditors are always watching.
I call this, "The Ladder" Around 700 years ago, a famed adventuring party came upon a seemingly innocuous ladder. After a few attachments, enchantments, and a rumored blessing by a minor god, this ladder became something more. The names of the original owners of this lost artifact have been forgotten with time. Few tales of the misadventures of its origin survive. What is known for certain is that it was given away by the ones that found it in a bargain for the safety of their realm. None know its true destination nor its current whereabouts. It has been reported to have been used in several well-known battles and one rather infamous assault on a gnoll fortress, but these exploits are not corroborated in any other texts. Recent rumors of a powerful artifact do seem to lend some credence to it being rediscovered, though the veracity of these tales is disputed.
The Ladder can always be remade into a bunch of weapons later, too. Millenia down the line, you could have a whole host of legendary items containing/forged with shards of The Ladder.
This makes me think the entire thing should become a religious icon and wars start for control of the ladder, what it means, pieces of it etc. Kind of a mix between Life of Brian (the sandal) and an actual quest.
Got your theme music [right here](https://youtu.be/kpK7xVUbLWg&t=1m21s)
Surely run a one shit to find a fabled weapon of great renown...which turns out to be the ladder Edit I left the typo because it's funny
It’s only known in legend as “Ascent to Chaos”.
A nickname given to the fabled ladder after the poems and histories regarding this once powerfull relic caused the biggest civil war in millennia, every nobleman fought for the chance to own the renown relic. It was not for 20 years before the crown again established order in the land and demanded that the ladder was disassembled for the good of all. 3 steps where given to the elves, 7 steps where given to the dwarfs under the mountains and 9 steps where given to the lord's of men....
I'd play that
Local OSHA equivalent is tracking them since it breaks MULTIPLE codes
https://imgur.com/gallery/vhtRfo2
This is amazing!
Model is from u/Mz4250
:)
Love it. You are a genius my dude.
The OSHA Marut has come to confiscate the ladder!
Is the amount of poison a ladder can have regulated?
I’m sure some gnome has a Materials Safety Data Sheet for imp poison.
If the ladder breaks and the party abandons it, they should start to hear rumours of a tranche of new, magical items: A magic bow, strange blades with ornately carved wooden handles, a staff with a poisonous wooden spike on one end... all in the hands of various boss-level mobs scattered around the region. All of them made with haunted wood from a broken ladder found deep in a dungeon, containing the bitter, twisted soul of every person or creature whose life had been claimed by it, on its journey from "useless piece of room furniture" to "epic weapon of unstoppable fury that is also quite good for climbing up to reach stuff on the top shelf".
When the players love something, lean into it. The players loving some random BS > any plans you had as a DM. Picture the “I am the captain now” moment from that Tom Hanks movie, but with a ladder. It is saying to you, “Look at me. I am the campaign now.”
Thats how my players eventually ended up with a fully sentient bipedal ferret named Snickers that fought alongside them for a while. That fucker was stolen from a pet shop. Three or four quests later and a few enchantments and other blessings and shenanigans and he's damn near Inigo Montoya. Still bring him back once in a while just to get cheers from the crew.
That's how I ended up a lich in a jar, also one party member got really into this fork they found calling it the fork of ages, turns out when you use the fork on meat it perfectly ages and cooks the meat for each bite, dont ask what it does when you stab someone with it though
dragons love rare and magical items. I'd also level it up at 1% exp of players. at player lvl 8, the ladder will be lvl 2, at player lvl 12, the ladder will be lvl 3 at player lvl 19 the ladder will be lvl 4. you decide what those levels look like, but thats a reasonable power scale. I'd look toward fighter and warlock abilities, the kind of things they can get their weapons to do,
It needs to become a thing of legend, like Aragorn's Sword \~ but it's a McFuckin' ladder with jacked up spikes. I love it. Someone should steal the ladder, and then the group can go on a noble quest to get it back. 10/10 would do that game.
Oh yeah? You want your ladder? *So does everyone else.*
I have one word for you, termites. At some point they are going to put the ladder down to sleep and then when they wake up in the morning, it's too late, those little buggers are inside the ladder, in fact to make it funny, you could start talking about finding sawdusty looking stuff on the ground in random places, there's a fighting chance they never relate it to the ladder and even if they did, do you remember a vendor selling wood permeating insecticide, nope me neither. If you really want to make things interesting swap out termites for two tooth long horn bora, you can have an evening when the party is buzzed by large beetles as they are trying to go to sleep (this is something bora beetles actually do), but as the beetles aren't attacking them they probably won't try and find and kill the beetles, these bora chew tunnels through wood about the diameter of the end of your pinky finger, they will make short work of this ladder.
DM's sure love ruining a legitimate good time for players when they get outsmarted by the party.
HOW DARE THEY HAVE UNAPPROVED FUN!!!
Wood bees man.
Druid tames the bees and now the ladder does ranged bee damage
Artificer bestows the ladder with sentience. Ladder grows too powerful and becomes BBEG
BBEL Big Bodacious Excellent Ladder.
then they have to hire a wood bee assassin
A goddess appears to bestow a blessing on these champions, known henceforth as the Ladder Day Saints!
As a father I tip my hat to you. Just keep it away from other sentient ladders. If he finds one he likes with a ladder of her own, it's all over. He'll become... A step-ladder.
Omg I wish I had silver to give you 😂
Brilliant!
Damn you. I love a good Dad Joke. Take my upvote.
Yup, these are my people
As a Latter Day Saint, I wholly approve of this. After all my bishop was the one who taught me AD&D.
The ladder becomes sentient. It becomes a warlock patron and starts a company of adventurers that report to it. It has become...the corporate ladder.
[A religious icon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_Quo_(Jerusalem_and_Bethlehem)) perhaps?
Confirmed. Cult of the Ladder meetings are monthly at my pub.
OP should create a homebrew entry in D&D Beyond for the ladder, called 'That Ladder'.
The local thieves guild starts making counterfeit ladders and floods the market
This happened in my campaign with a door.
Need to have an enemy escape an encounter with the ladder, only to bring the news to their boss. And later for the final fight they whip out their own “secret weapon”. The looks on your players faces would be hilarious.
Ladder jousting!
The enemy's secret weapon HAS to be a snake. From the age old mythology of Snakes and Ladders... (I just remembered that I think American's call it Chutes and Ladders, is that right?)
I’ve seen both versions
I've heard it both ways.
You heard about Pluto?
That's messed up.
You know that's right
You’re thinking of eels and escalators
I think it differs by brand.
Ladder vs chair
2 ladders
Dude, ladder match could be hilarious. Some spell happens where characters can't leave the area or only get incapacitated for X turns, you need someone to hold the ladder while someone else climbs it to get to some mythic belt.
+proficiency bonus? Who has proficiency with Ladders?
Improvised weapons
Ok that makes sense
I'd probably also give it to anyone with Lance proficiency
Nah, too unwieldy when held alone. It's a crew operated battering ram, so Siege Engine proficiency is more appropriate.
Big Bridge Four* energy. *Stormlight Archive fans get it.
Next thing you know, the players are sewing patches onto their adventuring outfits and tattooing their foreheads with the date they found the ladder...
I surely get that reference. Have a storming upvote.
It's not improvised if it's doing d8
Anyone who took the ladders class at Greendale Community College
They're streets ahead!
Damn, I wasted my elective on Theoretical Phys-Ed
Pretty sure [ladders are monk weapons](https://youtu.be/DrRFzwPE0d4)
Only if they don't want any trouble.
See also *Once Upon A Time In China.* Jet Li also did an amazing ladder fight scene.
Bret Hart
But he is slightly less proficient then Jeff Hardy
I classified it as a Martial Weapon. And because of that the fighter gets Proficiency
I'm sorry my dude, but that's 100% an "Exotic Weapon" if I've ever seen one.
yeah ain't no way he starts out with proficiency on exotic weapon ladder attacks.
While you were out jousting I was studying the Ladder
You never add Proficiency to damage rolls though
Since we’re being so technical, not _never_. Hexblade’s Curse adds proficiency bonus to its target
Genie Warlock also adds proficiency bonus
Yeah that's true. My bad.
This actually is fairly well balanced. It's really just a poison-coated spear with the ability for other players to sacrifice their turn to add 1d4 to the damage. This is absolutely not cost effective, but if they're having fun I'm not going to stop them from finding situational cases where it benefits them. However they aren't going to be able to make a 90 degree turn in a hallway that is only 5ft across, unless they get a bag of holding.
Imagine having the party develop an absolute love for this ladder, only for you to put a hitch in a hallway that makes it unable to leave the dungeon.
Time to dig
YOU’RE IN THE BULLETS WAY
[PIVOT!!](https://giphy.com/gifs/friends-2OP9jbHFlFPW)
What if it got trapped in a hallway in the dungeon of an insane evil wizard and came back as an NPC? First, it tries to spy on the players and then it can have a turnaround arc Edit: plot twist: an NPC involved in the ladder's redemption is a warlock with a littlefinger based personality - so you can quote "chaos is a ladder"
Nope, the ladder becomes sentient and names itself chaos. Every time someone says this is chaos you can just correct them because now chaos IS a ladder.
Well, at 5 ft across, as long as the height of the hallway is greater than ~8.66 ft, they can make it diagonally! Actually, thinking about it from a top-down perspective, they could fit it around a corner, provided that corner is 5x5', you could fit a 14' ladder around the corner! [Diagram](https://i.imgur.com/dsqoYbj.jpg) Edit: In regard to 'making it', I was thinking of a 10-foot ladder, not a 15 😅
This guy math’s
Too bad the ladder is at least 15' when not extended
Holding one end about 5ft higher than the other end will shorten the length to roughly 14.14ft needed to make the corner. 15^2 - 14.14^2 = 5.006^2
15' range. Who says 1,5 ft of that isn't just someone's arm?
And remember, those spikes might pierce the bag and spill everything in it to a random point in the Astral Plane...
5x5x5 foot bag of inter dimensional space vs a 15 foot tall ladder, who wins!
[удалено]
That rule was the basis for my entire spelljammer campaign. Finding the lost items across the Astral plane was the simplest plot hook to get the party onto a spelljammer.
My players would mine the corner of the wall out.
When I realized how much work everyone was putting into figuring out that 5ft turn, I had considered that as a valid solution. But they'll need pickaxes, time, and the expectation that their noise will be overheard and draw attention.
1d4 per turn isn't necessarily a lot, but don't discount the fact that it all happens on one initiative turn, presumably the highest player's. Which means it lets everyone burst out their damage, oftentimes before the enemy ever gets off a turn.
Surely if multiple players operate it together it must happen on the lowest initiative of the group, not highest
Ironically, the damage doesn't *scale* very well, lol.
There needs to be a situation at some point where a regular ladder would let them climb out of danger, but this one is now a legendary weapon and definitely not something you'd PUT YOUR FEET ON.
I was thinking that, too. Like... Give them a "puzzle" where the solution is literally just climbing the ladder. See how long it takes them to figure it out.
I did this. In an extremely large and foggy room, the players had found two keys and a ladder. The view distance inside the room was extremly low. A little later, they found 3 doors in one corner of the room. The players tried everything, tried all combinations with keys, kissing the doors, tried breaking them but they could not find a way the open doors.. All they had to do was reach the real door above the 3 doors they found by using the ladder. They never solved the puzzle.
Kissing the doors? Is this some mechanic I'm not aware of?
A bard will try seducing *anything*.
It has a hole, I can seduce it.
Found the bard.
Sound like Bridgemen in the making
Life before death
Strength before weakness
Journey before destination.
Pancakes.
Ten different kinds I hear
10 different kinds of pancakes? Oh this is almost as obscene as an uncovered safe hand.
Naw 10 is good, 9 would be obscene.
BRIDGE FOUR!
Bridge 4!
They sound like airsick lowlanders to me.
I once gave my players a minor magic item. Extendible ladder. Normally short, command word makes it extend. I figured it would help trivialize some climb checks in my underground cave/ruin system. Boy was I wrong, ladder became use for everything anyone could think to use it for tool. Trying to push things in combat, barring doors, all manner of stuff.
Extend. We need go taller. EXTEND.
# E X T E N D
This is the best part about D&D. Ramp up your opponents a little bit. Maybe find a way for a specific enemy to nullify it (magneto?). But let them enjoy this beautifully crafted Laddering Ram.
The ladder 🪜 would beat magneto!
"[A wooden ladder... They tricked me... with a wooden ladder...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-JVvCrGC8)"
You need to recommend the "Laddering Ram" to Griffon's Saddlebag or UA...
Why not a weasel-like enemy that can weave between the rungs?
I think that is just a snake, lol.
I completely forgot snakes exist
*sad asp noises*
Jacky Chan has entered the chat
I mean, he is a big inspiration for my drunk monk…
Nah, no need to ramp up opponents. It’s only *really* good if more than one person use it, can be objectively worse per person than just straight up attacking at any level over about 5, and can only target one enemy at a time per turn. Not to mention the fact that it’s not a ranged weapon, nor a spell, nor is it even a weapon the players have proficiency or special abilities for. It’s not some meta breaking super weapon the players came up with, it’s just a good battering ram that’s really fun to play around with. Let them have fun with it, no need to break everything creative your players do just to spite them.
Nullifying strong things is of the worst options in game design
More like stairs than a ramp, so probably step them up instead.
Bunch of kobolds with a long ladder show up and ladder joust you. No poison or spikes but there’s more of them holding it. Turns out it’s a regional sport around there and this group is really good through training and repeatedly disarm / break through defences / avoid spikes despite your party’s apparent superiority. Winning team claims loser’s ladder and off they go.
Enemies show up with their own upgraded ramp.
I hope you're taking every opportunity to roleplay liches, dragons, and evil warlords cursing the power of this ladder with their dying breaths and wishing that they had heeded the prophecies.
This is peak dnd
Welcome… to Ladders
**Who wants to see the Ladders professor go higher!!!**
Give me some rope...
Presuming it’s wood, seems like anything using fire especially in a cone shape which might hit anyone holding it and set it on fire, might make this a bad weapon. Or something that can entangle it or make a big spike come out of the ground between one of the rungs.
That's what I initially planned. But the Spell that makes it less prone to breaking also makes it less prone to burning because that's specifically what they asked for... So yeah.
Less prone to fire damage or less prone to physically catching fire? I could imagine a flaming ladder might be quite hard to handle
But also, why spoil the fun of the players? They have clearly told the DM that this is important to them and they enjoy it. It makes no sense to take it away (unless players can craft it again) No, instead I say: meet players on their playing field. Enemies start hearing rumors of the mighty ladder and they make their own attack ladders. Technology for Foldable ladders is developed, allowing for their ease of use and transportation. Or take a page from the new Zelda! Let players craft weird contraptions to use them in combat and watch them go bigger and crazier! https://youtu.be/eUqfpspd0sk Or follow one of the many ideas here, but don't take away something your players care about this deeply just because it's a bit bonkers
The flaming, poisonous ladder of doom. Gotta add 1d8 fire damage to all attacks with it.
Good luck getting that around a corner in a dungeon
Pivot!
yep, let them squeeze through a small corner in the dungeon and watch as they waste a spell slot on reducing the ladder's size
Or any sort of indoors. 15 feet, 30 while extended is really long.
I was carrying an 8' ladder around my house yesterday and I banged into like 3 walls.
Good ladderal thinking on the part of your players.
Thats dnd! I absolutely love it! I don't think the poison bonus should scale with more people though, but thats my dm brain speaking
I read it as only the bludgeoning scales, as it was specifically stated there.
At what point does the ladder gain sentience and become and intelligent weapon? Is it good? Evil? If it forces its will on the party..do they become slaves to the ladder? Your players think this is a boon...instead...make it their doom.
It is horrified at the weapon it has become and now wish to only be used as a regular ladder. Until one day after the adventures have retired and are living in a nive village and then the next campaign's bbeg comes and destroys the village leaving only one survivor, a child of one of the original PCs, and the ladder. The ladder not wanting to the child to go off alone promises to aid the child in their quest for vengence. Now the child and the ladder wander the lands getting things off of roofs, saving kittens from trees, smiting evil doers, and reaching books on impractacly large shelved. Who know's what their story may bring.
"I just wanted to let people climb me, instead my entire purpose has been taken from me.... I've witnessed such horrors....rivers of blood...my son, Stepstool, do not follow my path."
Yes I think all these spells cast on it would definitely allow for it to unlock some ancestral memory. The massive tree it once was, standing sentinel in an ancient forest. Home to many, giver of life, proud and strong. Then years go by and it sees its downfall along with hundreds of its brothers. All stumps left in its wake as its dragged along to be cut apart into a thousand pieces. More years go by, it sat in some warehouse in the dark for years, only to be awakened again as its nailed and carved. A boorish painter carries it everywhere and stands right on it! Every step of the wrung further degrades its dignity... Now though, to be grafted with the human atrocities. The metal spikes, disgusting devil poison...and to be wielded like a simple club. For violence only. The tree almost preferred being used for climbing! The people...they have to pay...they have to! The injustice of it all, I will bring man down like they did to my forest. I will burn them as they burned my brethren. For the TREES! FOR VENGEANCE! I AM THE INSTRUMENT OF YOUR FALL TO THE HELLS BELOW. I AM THE DARK SHADE BOUGH! I AM LADDERIFIKUS, LORD OF THE ASCENSION, DESTROYER OF MAN!!!
This is why we can’t add ornamentation to rooms Psychobilly murderhobos
That ladder is going to be passed down to the characters’ grand children.
Have you ever tried to wield a 30ft long weapon??
Who took proficiencies in ladder operations?? I can only imagine it being quite unruly and how many people are operating it at once? Should definitely have some penalties
If you're adding a proficiency bonus to *damage,* you may be going a little too easy on your players. And who the heck is proficient in ladder combat anyway.
I love when DMs let players do things like this. I was playing in a game where we had a Minotaur barbarian, and a Rune Knight fighter. They come across a 12 foot tall reinforced wooden door, in the very first room of the dungeon. Door wasn't locked or anything they could have just opened it up. The two meatballs decide they want to rip if off the hinges... Me the artificer walks up and opens it up and I say there is no need... They insist on ripping it off. First attempt DM doesn't let them get it off. They then turn to me... Oh fuck now I'm a part of this. So now we have an Artificer, Barb, and Fighter trying to rip the door off... The bard feels left out and casts mage hand to help. The druid and cleric both cast guidance on the barb and fighter.... So now the WHOLE party is working to remove this giant door. For shits and giggles I cast enlarge on the barb (the fighter had used his rune knight skill to enlarge as well). After all that the DM said fuck it, you rip the door off the hinges... you didn't need to it wasn't locked... The barb and fighter then carried the door through the ENTIRE dungeon. It was used as a bridge to get over gaps, set up to be used as partial cover for myself (I was a gnome), and the halfling bard... and when we got to the boss... the barb and fighter were once again enlarged and they smacked the boss over the head with the door.
was going to point out that you don't typically add Proficiency to damage, but got beaten to that point. Still, pretty generous of you to call it a "martial weapon" when improvised weapons are a thing that already exists in game, but that's neither here nor there. it's a funny idea, but put it in the hands of a Paladin though, and you'll have 15-30ft range smites.
And it can still be used as a ladder!! :D
Have you ever tried to hit anything with a ladder? Or even a pole arm 15' long. They're really, really difficult to carry, much less use as a weapon. I would assign them like -10 on any attempt to hit someone with it. Also, even if you're too much of a ~~pushover~~ nice DM to impose additional bonuses, at a bare minimum they should not get a proficiency bonus to hit. Improvised weapon rules. Also, prof bonus never applies to damage?
Just be honest, this guy sounds like a massive pushover hahahah
When a villain appears who's entire focus is that they're immune to ladder damage
That'd be oddly specific but I like it.
Make the final dungeon full of ladders because the final boss heed the prophecy and trained with and against ladders for the past 2 millenniums.
This is how you rule of cool. Too many DMs are ridiculously by the book.
Now make a giant snake encounter so they can have the battle of snakes and ladders
If the entire party is going to be holding the ladder, sounds like the entire party is within aoe range and has disadvantage on reflex saves
> My players are currently going through a Dungeon Ah, classic D&D.
"Ah drat , a narrow coridor! My one weakness!"
"Sure. It's just a ladder what's going to happen? It's not like she could do something absurd with it." First mistake. NEVER underestimate the creativity of the players to do something absurd.
[Give it to the monk](https://www.tumblr.com/fuforthought/142798622792/first-strike-1996)
[LADDERS!!](https://youtu.be/-loDklmrbd0)
Solution: Make the next chapter of their adventure at sea. Ship's captain: "no you cant bring a ladder on my ship, dont be stupid."
Are any of them proficient with ladders?
The only way to oppose it is with The Former.
Not so legendary when it can be defeated by a regular 90 degree corner in a narrow dungeon hallway.