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[[File:caltrop2.jpg|frame|[[Agony of the Feet|Watch your step.]]]]
'''Caltrops''' are tetrahedral items used for making ground hard to cover. They always land with a pointy bit sticking up. Handy for preventing pursuers from catching you, whether they are on foot or [[Anti-Cavalry|horseback]].▼
▲Caltrops are tetrahedral items used for making ground hard to cover. They always land with a pointy bit sticking up. Handy for preventing pursuers from catching you, whether they are on foot or [[Anti-Cavalry|horseback]].
Despite the caption, the one in the page image is of a design favored for their one modern use; puncturing and deflating car tires (the hollow spikes let the air flow out quickly and prevent self healing tires from working).
See also [[Spikes of Doom]].
{{examples}}▼
Not to be confused with four-sided dice, which are sometimes called "gamers' caltrops".
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The Iga ninja dogs use poisonous seeds shaped like caltrops as a trap in ''[[Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin]]''.
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* Usopp from ''[[One Piece]]'' sometimes uses these, and in one of the [[Video Games]], he throws them on the ground as an attack.
* Early in ''[[Naruto]]'', Kakashi uses some of these to prevent Zabuza from running over to attack him while he was open.
== [[Card Games]] ==▼
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has two cards. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1640 Wall of Caltrops] simply gains banding if it blocks with other walls. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15252 Caltrops] deals damage to attacking creatures, [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|including ones that can fly]].▼
== [[Film]] ==
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* Anti-horse caltrops are mentioned in one of the ''Brother Cadfael'' novels, which are set in the mid-12th century.
* [[Sharpe]] uses these in the book version of "Sharpe's Rifles", as a defence against Colonel de l'Eclin's cavalry.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Conena in ''
** Caltrops are among the ninja-esque equipment included in trainee Assassin Teppic's comically-extended [[Lock and Load Montage]] at the beginning of ''[[
*** In his final examination, he also has to avoid caltrops he suspects are poisoned.
* Chinese farmers in ''Lords of the Bow'' scatter caltrops over their fields to slow the advancing Mongols.
== [[Live
* ''[[
** Hollow ones might, but those weren't tested.
* ''[[Ninja Sentai Kakuranger]]'': Caltrops are one of the many tricks the rangers use.
* Giant versions of these called "Czech hedgehogs" were used as anti-tank defences in [[World War II]]. These giant versions were usually made of steel girders welded together to resemble giant jacks. They're still used today.▼
* In Julius Caesar's circumvallation of Alesia, he planted a "garden" of these on both sides of his encircling walls: to keep the Gaulish chieftains in, and the relieving army out. Basically included hidden caltrops, made of iron, followed by spiked pits, and then upward-pointing branching stakes, designed to take a horse in the chest. Followed by two trenches, one filled with water and one not, and a stockade built from the top of the far back of the second trench, which was pointed at the bottom, making it much more difficult to cross. While under fire. Oh, and ballistae and scorpions were aimed into the trench as well. Have fun and stay safe, boys.▼
* [[Ninja]], who swore by just about everything sneaky, were fond of dropping these. They were called ''tetsubishi'' and ''makibishi'' in Japan.▼
* Cops use a variant of these known as "spike strips" to disable the tires of those they're pursuing.▼
* During [[The Korean War]], American Air Force bombers would drop these over North Korean and Chinese supply routes at night, returning at daybreak to attack supply convoys that had become immobilized in the night by the obstacles.▼
* Any [[Tabletop Games]] player who has stepped on a d4 understands acutely how these things are supposed to work: See below.▼
** As has any kid, or parent whose kids didn't put away their toys, who's stepped on a Lego piece.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[GURPS]]'': High-Tech mentions that a cheap way to make them more dangerous was to [[Poisoned Weapons|cover them in dung.]]
* The standard pyramid-shaped four-sided die is sometimes jokingly referred to as such, especially if you've just trodden on one barefoot. Another popular name for them is the "Sonofabitch".
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** When the players get angry in ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' and start throwing dice at one another, a common battlecry is "No 4-siders! No 4-siders!".
** Vriska from ''[[Homestuck]]'' has [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004097 trouble] with them as well.
▲* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has two cards. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1640 Wall of Caltrops] simply gains banding if it blocks with other walls. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15252 Caltrops] deals damage to attacking creatures, [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|including ones that can fly]].
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The best line of defense in ''Deathtrack''.
* The moves Spikes and Poison Spikes do this in ''[[Pokémon]]''. They affect Pokemon when opposing trainer tries to switch [[Mons]], unless they're of the Flying type, have the Levitate or Magic Guard abilities, or (in the case of Poison Spikes), immune to [[Universal Poison|poisoning]]. Spikes was even ''called'' caltrops in the Japanese version.
** It's possible to think of Stealth Rock as a floating version of the caltrops.
* Caltrops are a hold item in Kongregate's online game ''Kongai'' where they do 14 damage if you or your oppponent switched out if a character holding that item is in play (it used to be 10 damage).
* Part of the Scout's arsenal in ''[[Team Fortress Classic]]''. Apart from doing a little damage, they also slow down the victim greatly.
* ''[[Allegiance]]'' has caltrop mines. These look nothing like traditional caltrops, but are three-dimensional mine fields IN SPACE that are deployed at choke points, and cause more damage the faster an enemy ship travels through them, forcing it to slow down and become an easy target.
* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', caltrops are available to certain powersets and do minor damage and massively debuff speed. Among enemies, certain Tsoo and all Knives of Artemis use them. The KoA in particular are annoying because they can quickly stack caltrops, at which point your character may as well not be able to move at all.
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* A mainstay of the ''[[Tenchu]]'' series, caltrops do a small amount of damage and stun anyone (including the player) who steps on them for a short time.
* ''[[Shinobido]]'' features makibishi as part of your Ninja equipment along with shuriken, grappling hooks, five-colored rice and various explosive stuff. Those caltrops though [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|can actually kills enemies]], but it takes some time...
* ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]'': caltrop ''[[Trick Bomb|bombs]]''
* ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'': one of tools Catwoman can use.
* Caltrops are one of the trap types you can craft and deploy in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]''.
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* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', Catwoman has them ... in the shape of cats, naturally. She uses them in "The Cat and the Claw" to stop Red Claw's men from pursuing her through a ventilation duct.
* Batman uses bat-shaped ones in ''[[Batman: Under the Red Hood]]''.
▲* Giant versions of these called "Czech hedgehogs" were used as anti-tank defences in [[World War II]]. These giant versions were usually made of steel girders welded together to resemble giant jacks. They're still used today.
▲* In Julius Caesar's circumvallation of Alesia, he planted a "garden" of these on both sides of his encircling walls: to keep the Gaulish chieftains in, and the relieving army out. Basically included hidden caltrops, made of iron, followed by spiked pits, and then upward-pointing branching stakes, designed to take a horse in the chest. Followed by two trenches, one filled with water and one not, and a stockade built from the top of the far back of the second trench, which was pointed at the bottom, making it much more difficult to cross. While under fire. Oh, and ballistae and scorpions were aimed into the trench as well. Have fun and stay safe, boys.
▲* [[Ninja]], who swore by just about everything sneaky, were fond of dropping these. They were called ''tetsubishi'' and ''makibishi'' in Japan.
▲* Cops use a variant of these known as "spike strips" to disable the tires of those they're pursuing.
▲* During [[The Korean War]], American Air Force bombers would drop these over North Korean and Chinese supply routes at night, returning at daybreak to attack supply convoys that had become immobilized in the night by the obstacles.
▲* Any [[Tabletop Games]] player who has stepped on a d4 understands acutely how these things are supposed to work: See
▲** As has any kid, or parent whose kids didn't put away their toys, who's stepped on a Lego piece.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:This Index Is in The Way]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Caltrops]]
[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]
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