D&D 5e players love joke magic item that will punish metagamers
Wizards of the CoastA Dungeons & Dragons 5e player has shared a joke magic item designed to prank people who metagame with their characters, and fans can’t wait to get their hands on it.
People who play Dungeons & Dragons often have to suspend their disbelief, such as how spellcasters always know how to aim their spells perfectly or how turn-based combat works in practice.
Frankly, if you’ve never measured a five-foot step in real life to prove a point about attacks of opportunity, you’ve never played D&D.
There’s also the case of metagaming, where players will use outside knowledge of the rules, despite it making no sense in story. In real life, you’re unlikely to drink a vial full of strange liquid you found in a dungeon, but in D&D, it’s just potion-testing time.
The Extremely Movable Rod can prank metagamers
A user on the DnD Reddit has shared a fan-made magic item called the “Extremely Movable Rod.” This item is a rod with a button, and when you push it, it floats in the air. Any further interaction will cause the rod to fire like a rail gun, hitting everything in its path.
This is a play on the Immovable Rod, a much-valued item with the same design that remains in place whenever the button is pressed. The Extremely Moveable Rod punishes those who recognize the design and use it straight away based on outside knowledge rather than identifying it with magic first.
The only problem is that the Extremely Moveable Rod is also really powerful as a weapon, leading some fans to watch to be punished by it.
“I sorta get how it could prank metagamers… but then upon finding out you just gave metagamers an item that does 10d8 damage lol,” one user wrote, while another said, “Jesus, this is a city leveler. Do you realize how many people you could obliterate with a 1200-foot long, 20-foot wide cylinder of 10d8 piercing damage?!”
The players can even retire, as one player pointed out, “It creates a 20 foot diameter hole when it passes through inanimate material? That’s a mining drill, your party will probably stop adventuring and make billions of gold by starting their own strip mine.”
Another player wrote, “This is going to prank the metagamers exactly one time, and then prank the DM for the entirety of the campaign.”
The Extremely Moveable Rod would be a funny joke in a one-shot session or a light-hearted campaign, but it’s not something you’d give your players in one of the official adventures, as it would quickly derail the story.
Can’t get into Castle Ravenloft? Just blow a hole in the wall with the Extremely Moveable Rod. Lord Soth hassling you? Just blow a hole through him with the Extremely Moveable Rod.