Aron Times
2009-11-02, 05:38 PM
The cost to cast Linked Portal is 135 gold. Unlike 3.5's Teleport, there is no range restriction on Linked Portal, but the destination has to be at a teleportation circle. If your starting point is at a teleportation circle, i.e. you're going circle to circle, the cost goes down to 50 gold.
Assuming a circle to circle portal, it takes a DC 15 Arcana check to open the portal for three rounds and DC 35 to open it for five rounds. Basically, a well-trained NPC ritual caster can hold a portal open for three rounds for 50 gold. 50 gold to transport people and goods to any teleportation circle in the world. This is cheaper and much faster than a long ocean voyage, and it gets much more efficient the better the ritual caster gets.
Of course, setting up a teleportation circle network is expensive, but still far cheaper than outfitting a mid-paragon adventuring party. Creating a new teleportation circle requires 1,000 gold for each square in the circle (actually a square in 4E geometry, but story-wise it's a circle). It's basically 1,000 gold for a 5-ft. diamater circle, 4,000 gold for a 10-ft. diameter circle, 9,000 gold for a 15-ft. diameter circle, and so on.
I can see teleportation circles being high-priority targets in a large-scale battle. Destroying a circle would force an army to rely on conventional transportation to get its troops to that location, delaying reinforcements until it is too late. Capturing a circle would be worse for the defender since the attacker has now opened a new front, possibly in the middle of the country.
Teleportation circle access codes would have to be kept a secret and regularly changed to minimize the risk of an invasion by portal. They would be as heavily guarded as missile launch codes in the real world.
I can also see paragon-tier adventurers on deep infiltration missions to create a teleportation circle deep within enemy territory. Remember the Nydus Canal from Starcraft, or the GLA tunnel in Generals? Successfully creating and maintaining a teleportation circle in behind enemy lines would be very lethal to the defenders' morale.
For more peaceful pursuits, I can see anachronistic circle-accessible tourist resorts, for the wealthy tourist in need of rest and relaxation. Foreign-exchange students can attend school in one country while still living at home. Portal mail would make the world a lot smaller.
Note: House Orien in Eberron has a near-monopoly on portal services, and offer most of the services listed about, including the military ones.
Discuss.
Assuming a circle to circle portal, it takes a DC 15 Arcana check to open the portal for three rounds and DC 35 to open it for five rounds. Basically, a well-trained NPC ritual caster can hold a portal open for three rounds for 50 gold. 50 gold to transport people and goods to any teleportation circle in the world. This is cheaper and much faster than a long ocean voyage, and it gets much more efficient the better the ritual caster gets.
Of course, setting up a teleportation circle network is expensive, but still far cheaper than outfitting a mid-paragon adventuring party. Creating a new teleportation circle requires 1,000 gold for each square in the circle (actually a square in 4E geometry, but story-wise it's a circle). It's basically 1,000 gold for a 5-ft. diamater circle, 4,000 gold for a 10-ft. diameter circle, 9,000 gold for a 15-ft. diameter circle, and so on.
I can see teleportation circles being high-priority targets in a large-scale battle. Destroying a circle would force an army to rely on conventional transportation to get its troops to that location, delaying reinforcements until it is too late. Capturing a circle would be worse for the defender since the attacker has now opened a new front, possibly in the middle of the country.
Teleportation circle access codes would have to be kept a secret and regularly changed to minimize the risk of an invasion by portal. They would be as heavily guarded as missile launch codes in the real world.
I can also see paragon-tier adventurers on deep infiltration missions to create a teleportation circle deep within enemy territory. Remember the Nydus Canal from Starcraft, or the GLA tunnel in Generals? Successfully creating and maintaining a teleportation circle in behind enemy lines would be very lethal to the defenders' morale.
For more peaceful pursuits, I can see anachronistic circle-accessible tourist resorts, for the wealthy tourist in need of rest and relaxation. Foreign-exchange students can attend school in one country while still living at home. Portal mail would make the world a lot smaller.
Note: House Orien in Eberron has a near-monopoly on portal services, and offer most of the services listed about, including the military ones.
Discuss.