What's the size of a rope?

Hi there, Midgardians!

So I've recently been wondering something: how long is a rope? (D&D 2024).

Thanks in advance.

That is one of those little details that no longer has an official answer per the 2024 entry. No idea why they dropped it, but there’s no given length in the current PHB. If you’re in need of a specific number, go with 50 ft- that was the proportion in 2014. Otherwise, there’s no definitive answer to be had as things stand.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

That is one of those little details that no longer has an official answer per the 2024 entry. No idea why they dropped it, but there’s no given length in the current PHB. If you’re in need of a specific number, go with 50 ft- that was the proportion in 2014. Otherwise, there’s no definitive answer to be had as things stand.

Oh, thank you! I'll use that size then.

One of my players had the same question, so I did some Duckduckgo-ing and learned that in real life, 50ft of 1-inch thick oil-treated hemp rope is 6.5lbs. One spool of rope is 5lbs in the game. So I'd just say 50ft and hand wave the extra 1.5lbs.

Player must specify how much rope they want when they are purchasing it

OR

DM must specify how much rope it is when it is found (i.e. loot).

Otherwise, by default it is infinite rope, and at the point of interaction becomes instantaneously infinitely massive to the point that it collapses in on itself, creating a black hole and shunting the party into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except the size of all ropes is explicitly designated. 

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

Player must specify how much rope they want when they are purchasing it

OR

DM must specify how much rope it is when it is found (i.e. loot).

Otherwise, by default it is infinite rope, and at the point of interaction because instantaneously infinitely massive to the point that it collapses in on itself, creating a black hole and shunting the party into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except the size of all ropes is explicitly designated. 

I think 50 ft is a pretty good size, actually.

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

Player must specify how much rope they want when they are purchasing it

OR

DM must specify how much rope it is when it is found (i.e. loot).

Otherwise, by default it is infinite rope, and at the point of interaction because instantaneously infinitely massive to the point that it collapses in on itself, creating a black hole and shunting the party into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except the size of all ropes is explicitly designated. 

 

I think 50 ft is a pretty good size, actually.

 You must be in one of the OTHER parallel universes where all ropes are 50 ft. That's good. It's a lot safer there.

I mean, I'd say you can buy a rope as long as you want, but the official price/weight is certainly for 50' of rope.  If you want 200' of rope, it costs 4x as much and weighs 4x as much. 

If they want wider than 1" diameter, you're in 'make something up' territory, but 1" diameter rope is fine for normal dungeon tasks.  (Price probably increases based on the area of the cross-section).

For anyone curious about the strength of that standard rope, i seem to recall ~9000lbs is a reasonable max load, and the safe load is probably ~half that.  (If the rope swings at all, it'll probably snap at max load).  But we're in house-rule territory here for sure.