Dimension door while harpooned?

[Voadam]

In our high level game our elven archer just got hit by a tethered harpoon from a ballista as we attacked a demonic drow pirate ship. He's about to be dragged overboard as the other end is attached to a great big weight about to be thrown over the side. Our elf has a magic item that allows him to dimension door once per day.

If he uses it what will happen? Will the harpoon go with or stay behind? Will the attached rope and weight?

dimension door

Opinions?

 

[Folly]

Dimension Door states "You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load." "You can" suggests that the caster has the option of. Since the harpoon is an object, the caster would have the option of not bring it with him.

 

[Bladesong]

I can think of a number of ways this could play out. I have a different take on "you can", however; more like "you are allowed to" take more as long as it does not succeed the limit; I do not think it means the target may leave his clothes behind for example.

In any case, if the harpoon is attached and still under the weight limit, you could state that the harpoon and "so many feet of rope" travel with the character OR you could determine what the force exherted on the rope being pulled is (converting it to weight), and if it exceeds the weight limit, the character goes nowhere.
Another interesting twist would be that whoever is moving the weight is in indirect contact with the recipient of the spell and might be 'willing' to go along with the character.

Just rule on the fly, but be as logical as possible if asked how/why.

 

[mvincent]

If he uses it what will happen? Will the harpoon go with or stay behind?

From the 3.5 FAQ (if desired):
"Can you choose not to bring along an item you carry
when you cast teleport? If you’re manacled, can you teleport
out of the manacles?
The teleport spell states that you “can” bring along objects,
which indicates that it isn’t mandatory. Thus, a manacled
wizard could cast teleport to free herself from captivity."

 

[roguerouge]

For sheer humor, you've got to let the player yank the guy at the other end of the dimension door with him to the new locale. It's so limited and you can just say that the enemy chose to go along with you. May not be RAW, but it would be fun.

 

[NightCrawler]

I would let the player escape normaly acording to the FAQ section

 

[Bagpuss]

They can opt to leave the harpoon behind, clever use of the spell IMHO and so should not be penalised.

 

[MarkB]

If you want to have a bit of fun with the player, say that since he's using an item rather than casting the spell, and since the harpoon is embedded in him, he can't get selective - the only way he can be certain to leave it behind in that split second before he's yanked away is by choosing to not take anything with him.

That way, he ends up standing naked next to his fallen belongings.

 

[Shin Okada]

I'd allow it as per FAQ. Dimension Door is, in many cases, the only practical way for an arcane type character to escape from physical restrictions and grapples.