Animate rope

Bind, originally known as Vilate's restriction, was an arcane enchantment and alteration spell that could animate a ropelike object to loop, coil, or tie knots as directed by the caster.

Effects
This spell was effective on non-living rope and ropelike objects such as twine, string, yarn, cable, or cord. At a minimum, bind could animate 65 ft (20 m) of standard rope, with more experienced casters able to affect longer segments. The length varied in inverse proportion to the diameter; that is, if a roll of twine had half the diameter of a typical rope, then the caster could command twice the length, and only a short segment of heavy cable could be animated.

Bind could be cast at a rope up to 90 ft (27 m) away, but if the intention was to interact with a creature or an object, then the rope had to be in close proximity (1 ft or 30 cm) with its intended target&mdash;the rope could not slither or fly any greater distance. For unwilling targets, this often required someone hurling the rope at them or maneuvering them close to a length of rope. After the spell was cast, the rope could be commanded to perform certain tasks for a minimum of three minutes (longer for more experienced casters).

The commands available with this spell were: Coil, Coil & Knot, Loop, Loop & Knot, and Tie & Knot. Coil caused the rope to form a neatly organized stack; Coil & Knot bound the stack for convenient carrying. Loop wrapped a length of rope around an object, like a tree or the feet of an adversary; Loop & Knot tied the rope to the tree or formed a lasso. Tie & Knot wrapped the object securely, like a present or a prisoner. The caster could also order the reverse of any of these commands (Uncoil, etc.).

The rope did no direct damage to a creature, so it could not be used to choke or strangle, but it could be used to trip or entangle. The intended victim got one chance to resist the magic of this spell or suffered the consequences. Bind did not enhance the rope in any way; it remained a non-magical object that could be cut or manipulated like any other rope.

Components
Both verbal and somatic components were required to cast this spell. The material component was the target rope which was not consumed in the casting.

History
This spell was invented by a Netherese variator named Vilate in 1664 NY (&minus;2195 DR) and was known as Vilate's restriction. Eventually it became known as simply bind and was used by the magical community of Faerûn, but as of 1358 DR it was uncommon to find it.