Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Ropers are D&D originals as far as I know, and have been in the game since at least AD&D first edition. They’re one of a number of monsters meant to look like innocuous bits of scenery which Gygax and other authors likely invented as their players became savvy to their usual opposition. They’re on both the Monster Manual and the Vault in this edition.

The Lore

Ropers are ambush predators who live in the Underdark and sometimes in caves closer to the surface. Their rocky skin and conical shape makes them very similar to the sort of geological formation you can find in these environments, and they can slowly crawl and position themselves in either cavern floors or ceilings. Unlike many Underdark denizens, their distant origins lie in the Elemental Chaos rather than in the Far Realm. They’re technically earth elementals!

A roper will sit tight and look like a stalactite/stalagmite until some likely prey wanders into the reach of its long tentacles, at which point they’ll whip out, grab the victim, and pull them into the creature’s maw. Aside from their natural camouflage and weapons, ropers have another thing going for them: they’re sapient and actually fairly intelligent. While most will eat anything and anyone, some have specific tastes in prey, such as humans or elves.

In both cases, a roper might make deals with other creatures that live near its chosen hunting grounds, promising not to eat them in exchange for being allowed to position itself at a prime spot in their territory. If that territory gets invaded (either by one of the many hostile Underdark factions or by PCs), the roper and its allies will generally cooperate in its defense, with the roper getting to eat the bodies later.

The Numbers

Ropers are Large Elemental Magical Beasts with the Earh keyword. They all have darkvision and are immune to petrification. They have ground and climb speeds of only 2, with Spider Climb allowing them to stick to ceilings. This means they’re not going to be moving much during a fight, but they can position themselves just fine outside of it.

All ropers can do something grabby with their tentacles and something horrible to grabbed victims, but the exact mechanics vary per stat block. Tentacles usually have a fantastic melee reach of 10.

The Monster Manual only has the one roper stat block, but the MV has three. We’ll look at them in order of level.

Impaling Roper (MV)

A relatively simple creature compared to its relatives, the Impaling Roper is a Level 10 Lurker with 84 HP and the standard traits described above. It’s trained in Stealth.

Its Tentacles (melee 10 vs. Reflex) do very little damage, but also grab on a hit (escape DC 26). Grabbing a victim grants the roper Resist 20 to all of that victim’s attacks for a turn. Anyone (including the victim) can attack the grabbing tentacle, which has the same defenses as the roper. A hit here does no damage but causes the creature to release the victim.

If the victim is still grabbed when the roper’s next turn comes up, it can Impale them (melee 10 vs. Reflex). A hit pulls the victim adjacent to the roper, does a ton of physical damage, and ends the grab. A miss does the same thing, but only half damage.

I’m guessing this roper looks more like a round spiky rock than the usual conical shape.

Cave Roper (MV)

This is a Level 12 Elite Controller with 252 HP and all standard roper traits. It’s pretty much the classic roper.

Cave ropers have a couple of passive traits: Tentacle Release is the same “attack the tentacle to free a victim” mechanic we had as part of the Impaling Roper’s basic attack. Stony Body is what allows the roper to disguise itself as a rocky formation by closing its eye and retracting its tentacles. The Perception DC for spotting the ruse is 28.

The roper’s Tentacles (melee 10 vs. reflex) do level-appopriate damage and grab the target with a DC 20 escape DC. While grabbed, the target is also weakened. With Double Attack it can make two tentacle attacks in an action.

They can also Bite an adjacent grabbed victim, an attack vs. AC that does a ton of damage on a hit and half that on a miss. This roper’s bites don’t end the grab.

To bring those victims within bite range, the roper can use minor actions to Reel them in, an attack vs. Fortitude that pulls the victim 5 squares on a hit.

Roper (MM)

The Monster Manual roper is a Level 14 Elite Controller with 284 HP. It’s functionally identical to the Cave Roper above, with the main differences being from mechanical adjustments between books. The DC to spot its Sony Body disguise is 30, and since there’s no listed DC to escape is grabs, you have to use either its Fortitude of 29 or its Reflex of 21 depending no which skill you choose.

There’s nothing here you can’t get in a better format by leveling up a cave roper to level 14.

Crag Roper (MV)

Crag Ropers are Level 15 Elite Soldiers with 304 HP. They have all the standard traits mentioned above, plus the usual Stony Body (DC 30 to spot). They also get a Lashing Tentacles aura 5 to support their soldierly role: any enemy inside is considered marked.

I think there might be some mistake in the crag roper’s attacks. Their tentacles skip the grabbing mechanics and just pull the target 5 squares in addition to doing damage. However, their bites can only target grabbed targets, and they have a Reel ability, both of which work like the cave roper’s. They can also make two tentacle attacks per action.

As written, the crag roper has a hard time using either Reel or its bite, since it has to resort to a generic, damage-less grab action to grab someone. I would suggest either replacing the pull effect from the tentacles with a grab, or removing both Reel and the targetting restriction from the bite, making it into a Melee 1 attack with the same stats and effects.

The crag roper’s final attack is Tentacled Retaliation, a reaction that triggers when a marked enemy tries to ignore the roper’s mark and attack someone else. It gives the monster a free tentacle attack against the enemy.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions.

We have two level 14 encounters in the MM, one with a roper collaborating with a mind flayer and its two war troll thralls, and one with a drow war party. This tells us ropers will work with anyone who gives them a good deal, and have no specific allegiance to any of the big Underdark factions.

Ropers are fine, I suppose, but I never really saw them as the sort of monster that absolutely must be present in a book. Even though I kinda get the editorial intention of the Monster Vault, I’m still a bit baffled as to why it dedicates so much space to the roper as opposed to, say, fomorians, which are not present here at all.