The 10-foot pole, antithesis of what adventuring should be?

[Thunderfoot]

<SNIP
Real life rarely makes for an exciting game, I think. My goal isn't to recreate a historical game. Now, if you were playing in a game where the PCs are conquistadors hunting Aztec gold, then alright, you may have a point. But, that's not what I'm playing. The Fellowship didn't poke everything with a 10 foot pole when going through Moria, for example.
<SNIP>

And see where that got them.

Personally, I think that the views expressed so far are too polarized. TW obivously feels that if a 10' pole is brought along, it is use to poke everything in sight - while that is a possibility, I have never PERSONALLY witnessed a party do such.
The other view I'm getting is that the 10' pole is the greatest thing since the Ginsu... Aview I have never subscribed to.

The fact like all things lies somewhere in the middle - a 10' pole is wonderfully useful, but also a very FRAGILE piece of adventuring gear. While they can be used to poke suspicious areas to save on lost digits, arms and halflings, they can also be used as fulcrums to lift, medium sized objects that don't way too musch (the average pole should be about 1 1/4" across), torch holders in rooms with high ceilings (to thwart ambush from above), the excellent green slime killing pole (as demonstrated by P&P) and many others.

Carrying a 10' pole in a dungeon is problematic and best and impossible at worst. Ever try to manuever a 10' pole around a corner in a 5' hallway with 6' ceilings? As I have stated (and others) two 5' poles that can be lashed together with twine or screwed together by design are much more useful. And though in a forest you can try to hack down a few trees or fiind dead limbs for tent cross bars, carrying a few 10' poles (or several 5' poles, are much more useful and less time consuming.

A good DM will create obstacles that a 10' pole will be the BEST choice to thwart (not the only choice) and a good player will find ways to use to 10' pole other than a blindman's trap finder. This is what we term in gaming as ROLE-PALYING. As an old codger I am finding that often people will do what is more strategiclly advantageous and less character driven in games. Anyone that played with me during GenCon found out that I will do what is more story driven than smart. Why, because it is more fun to try than to succeed sometimes and it is more fun fail than to fall. If the 10' pole becomes the, must thwart DMs plans devise then I am in complete agreement with TW on his antethesis claim. If however, it is employed in a quirky and useful manner in a variety of situations without becoming a crutch, then I think TW has missed a great opportunity to expand his game into something magical.

Really, there is no right or wrong here folks - me I like my poles and twine, if you don't I feel for you. Just my two coppers.

 

[Slife]

In fact, why bother having equipment at all? Your character's a hero, so s/he should be able to complete the dungeon without relying on anything as boring as equipment. And carefully looking for traps is boring: your character's a hero, so s/he should be able to be as reckless as you like and not die.

Actually, dungeons are just too detailed and they take too long, and all that combat is boring too. Why not just have a table where you can roll to see how much xp you got, and then advance your character to the recommended wealth total for his/her new level? That's so much more streamlined.

Plus you can get your character to epic level in an evening's dice rolling. How cool is that?

Way too computer-gamey

 

[T. Foster]

I love 10' poles. I wish somebody in our party had one (my character can't, because he only has a 3 Str so carrying a 10' pole would probably drop him into the dreaded 3" move class). We've been exploring a series of caves for the last couple sessions and there've been numerous times when I thought/said "somebody should probe that with a 10' pole," but nobody has one (nobody even has a spear or pole arm). I think when we get back to town I'm going to hire a henchman to serve as pack-bearer and carry a 10' pole, iron spikes, a mirror, a bag of marbles, a ball of twine, spare torches, and all that other cool/useful miscellaneous adventuring gear that my guy's too much of a wuss to carry and none of the other players seem to appreciate the value of (yet)

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Eh, if a trap can be thwarted by a 10 foot pole, it generally may as well not exist. Wouldnt pit trap manufacturers begin putting pressure plates 10 feet in front of the trap anyways?

 

[Mallus]

I think the 10ft pole is antithetical to my prefered style play. Can't say about other peoples.

It does strike me, however, as a good poster-tool for a gameplay paradigm that I think is pretty limiting. Where the bulk of the games challenges come in the form of dungeon-elements that can be poked with said pole (or whacked with a greatsword).

For me, RPG's are all about new --and quite possibly absurd-- that the players can overcome and otherwise interact. I want to start with some vague notion of recreating the scenes of adventure film/fiction, and then barrel headfirst, uncontrollably, into the kind of bizarre derring-don't that's found in RPG action sequences.

Which is to say methodical dungeon delving is my least favorite part of the game.

My suspicion is that for some RPG'ers, 'methodical' has become synonomous with 'smart' and/or 'skilled'. I have to admit it; I don't pretend to an elf to show off how smart I am.

I pretend to be an elf so I can surf down a mammoth's tusk while firing arrows into its riders eyes..

 

[diaglo]

bah. everyone knows you need an eleven foot pole. how else do you avoid touching those 10 X 10 trap squares.

 

[alan]

I removed a 10 ft. poll from the kids' closet over Labor Day weekend to put in a closet organizer. I was immediately aware of how difficult it was to maneuver, even though I moved at a crawl throughout the house, down some stairs, and then out to the garage. Game stat wise, I'd assess a 50% to 75% movement penalty (unless out in the open), and probably include all kinds of twisty, 5 ft. passages.

Of course I kept the pole - you never know when one might come in handy... ;>

 

[Maggan]

I'm wondering about one thing. Does anyone know how feasible it really is to use a 10 foot pole for the multitude of common uses indicated in this thread and others?

A 10 foot pole quite unwieldly, cumbersome and I think that it would be very difficult to leverage any kind of significant force on one end while holding the other in two hands.

Ok, poking buttons, shifting small things. But triggering pit traps?

/M

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

I'm wondering about one thing. Does anyone know how feasible it really is to use a 10 foot pole for the multitude of common uses indicated in this thread and others?

A 10 foot pole quite unwieldly, cumbersome and I think that it would be very difficult to leverage any kind of significant force on one end while holding the other in two hands.

Ok, poking buttons, shifting small things. But triggering pit traps?

/M

Would you agree that a pike or spear is an effective weapon?

Put it like that, and you can see that you can get a whole lot of power into a thrust on a ten foot pole - even if it's only one character doing the thrusting.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Ok, poking buttons

Sweet jesus! Dont push a button with a pole! You'll trigger the trap that causes any wooden object touching the button to animate into a level draining undead treant!