This flat iron rod has a button on one end. You can use an action to press the button, which causes the rod to become magically fixed in place. Until you or another creature uses an action to push the button again, the rod doesn't move, even if it is defying gravity. The rod can hold up to 8,000 pounds of weight. More weight causes the rod to deactivate and fall. A creature can use an action to make a DC 30 Strength check, moving the fixed rod up to 10 feet on a success.
How the Immovable Rod plays
It’s an iron rod with a button. Press the button with your action and the rod locks in place wherever it is, even in mid-air, and stays there until someone presses the button again. It holds up to 8,000 pounds before it gives way and falls, and moving it by force takes a DC 30 Strength check, which only giants and very strong characters can make, for 10 feet.
It does nothing by itself, which is why players love it. It’s a bar across a door, a handhold on a sheer wall, a step in mid-air, an anchor for a rope, a way to jam a portcullis open or a trap shut. Almost every table has a story about an Immovable Rod solving a problem no one expected.
Ways to use it
Bar a door. Slide it through the handles and press the button. The door itself might break, but the rod won’t move.
Climb. Fix it in place and stand on it, then fix a second rod higher up, or tie a rope to it to descend a shaft.
Jam mechanisms. Hold a portcullis up, a crushing wall apart or a trapdoor open.
Hold something heavy. A collapsing ceiling, a cart on a slope or an enemy you’ve tied to it, up to 8,000 pounds.
Common questions
How much weight can an Immovable Rod hold?
Up to 8,000 pounds. More weight than that makes it deactivate and fall.
Can someone move a fixed Immovable Rod?
Yes, with an action and a DC 30 Strength check, which moves it up to 10 feet. Anyone can also just press the button to turn it off, if they can reach it.
Can I use an Immovable Rod to stop a fall?
Only if you have an action to spare as you fall: pressing the button takes an action, so you’d normally need to have readied it. The rules don’t say what a sudden stop does to the person holding on, so it’s the DM’s call.
Does the Immovable Rod need attunement?
No. Anyone can use it.
What does the rod stay fixed relative to?
The rules just say it stays in place and doesn’t move. On a moving ship or a flying creature, the DM decides what happens.
How much is an Immovable Rod worth?
It’s uncommon; the Dungeon Master’s Guide puts uncommon items at 101 to 500 gp.
Rare: creates walls of force around you, from 36 charges.
Immovable Rod in the 2024 rules
The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide revised the magic items, and the SRD 5.2 carries the new text. What changed:
Same rarity and attunement; the text is reworded for the 2024 rules glossary.
Type
Rod
Rarity
Uncommon
Attunement
Not required
This iron rod has a button on one end. You can take a Utilize action to press the button, which causes the rod to become magically fixed in place. Until you or another creature takes a Utilize action to push the button again, the rod doesn't move, even if it defies gravity. The rod can hold up to 8,000 pounds of weight. More weight causes the rod to deactivate and fall. A creature can take a Utilize action to make a DC 30 Strength (Athletics) check, moving the fixed rod up to 10 feet on a successful check.
