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CockroachTeaParty
2009-11-02, 06:29 PM
I was thinking of an idea for an awesome prisoner escort mission type of adventurer, where the PCs have to help bring a dangerous criminal to a maximum-security prison (specifically, the Dreadhold of the Eberron campaign setting).

I had it all worked out: a brutal voyage by sea around the continent, all the while being ambushed by assassins wanting to see the prisoner dead, and the criminal's allies who want to set him free.

And then I realized: why waste all this time with boats, when they could just teleport him there?

I had already found a realistic reason that the prisoner wasn't simply going to be executed, and that was why they were sending him to prison. But I can't think of a realistic reason why he couldn't be teleported to the Dreadhold...

Does anyone have any decent ideas? Perhaps the prison has some sort of massive anti-magic field around it, so you can't simply teleport into it, but in that case, they could just teleport near the prison and cut the time needed in transit down by a considerable margin.

The prisoner himself is very dangerous, but they keep him fatigued, restrained, and close to unconciousness at all times, and they could very easily knock him out and teleport him without a struggle.

Grr... It's Eberron, too, so I can't just set the adventure in a low-magic world where teleportation isn't available. Please help!

Godna
2009-11-02, 06:30 PM
Dimensional Ancor or Lock seems to be the answer to your problems.

Have it so that he for what ever reason is perpetually anchored so can't teleport.

Defiant
2009-11-02, 06:36 PM
Dimensional Ancor or Lock seems to be the answer to your problems.

Have it so that he for what ever reason is perpetually anchored so can't teleport.

Brilliant!

Keld Denar
2009-11-02, 06:37 PM
Check out the spell Forbidance. Its got a Dim Lock type element on it, but only for entering it. Its possible to password protect it, but you could just as easily say that the password option was not included, or only 1-2 people know the password, to keep the possibility of betrayal to a minimum. Then you could say that since there is no stable ground around it to teleport to, boats would be required.

Johel
2009-11-02, 06:37 PM
Dimensional Shackles

The man is a spontaneous caster (sorcerer ?) with teleportation spells.
Sure, he is fatigued, restrained and such but why would you take the risk of him just going "!! pop !!" once he gets the chance ?
So, with these, he can't teleport or be teleported.

Korivan
2009-11-02, 06:39 PM
Or he has Spellfire, or some other kind of ability that makes using magic on him dangerous.

Harperfan7
2009-11-02, 06:47 PM
He has a very powerful arcane curse on him that will force any teleport effect cast on him to transport him to the lair of his enemies/friends instead of the intended destination. The spell has a high SR vs. dispel, or he is somehow immune to dispel magic (magic tattoo)?

CockroachTeaParty
2009-11-02, 06:50 PM
Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

Frosty
2009-11-02, 06:51 PM
I just say Teleport doesn't exist.

taltamir
2009-11-02, 06:57 PM
1. As realistic as the reason is that he can't be executed, around the 2nd or 3rd time we are attacked by his allies I'd just slit his throat. Or if I can't get away with it, wait for an actual attack, let his allies in the room, and then and stab him mid combat (he was escaping!).

2. If he has allies, then there is absolutely no wiggling needed, he HAS to be transported manually... why?
Origin and end prison are under permanent dimensional lock to prevent teleports. As for why they can't just walk a mile in a random direction and then deleport... He himself is bound with manacles of dimensional lock & scry protection... if the PCs choose to remove said manacles (and it is an option that they should be allowed to choose) AND they do not do something else to prevent scrying (even if they do something about scrying, his allies could have paid off a guard and have someone follow the PCs invisible with a teleport ready to take him to safety)... If the PCs make the tiniest slip up, his allies will just teleport him to freedom, and now they have to chase him down...

3. A high level party should not be doing prison escorts... if you are really intent on such a mission than have them make low level alts for it. If you can literally reshape reality or wrestle a dragon, why in the heck are you doing such mundane things? you should be conquering nations and fighting outsiders, not escorting a lesser mortal from one prison to another. And no attack by such lesser mortals should pose a threat to you.

Lamech
2009-11-02, 06:59 PM
Well teleportation into areas of high magic energy is dangerous, I assume a super-prision would count. Of course, that just puts them a bit away from the prision. Its possible the prisioner himself counts as one, experimented with new kinds of magic to enhance himself directly, but it makes him radiate enough magic energy to block teleportation.

Its also possible to he has somehow given himself a method to prevent himself from unwanted teleports, and directly enchanting his soul so no removal. Perhaps he once fought a priest who loved plane shift. Being a jackass of a criminal... well... he isn't coorperating. I would personally go with the second. He can't be forcibly teleported or ported up too, perma-mind blank, the whole nine yards of paranoid mage.

You could also have them teleport to the prision... only to be dumped into deep shadow. No astral plane there, no teleportation, only a long and painful treck out to the normal world. I have no idea if you could make any of the stuff work though.

AmberVael
2009-11-02, 07:00 PM
Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

If he's a necroarcnate (thus implying he has at minimum 8th level wealth), it is plausible that he could have afforded some kind of magical backup- either a friend, a contingent spell, or something similar, that could teleport him.

Alternately, if he is high enough level, he could potentially have access to Shedu Crown (which allows ethereal jaunt) or Planar Chasuble (which allows Gate).

Or maybe they don't want him capable of using his necroarcnate abilities (as a great many of them could potentially allow escape) and thus have bound him with antimagic stuff so he can't use it (which would also prevent teleport).

mostlyharmful
2009-11-02, 07:00 PM
Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

Make him part of the House with the mark of travel, you could houserule it blows marks powers as well, or give him one of the abberant marks that's dangerous so the players have to make sure he's magically restrained?

Darkmatter
2009-11-02, 07:06 PM
Those criminal allies that want to set the prisoner free include a master of astral space who will be able to redirect any teleportation on the part of the prisoner, allowing him to escape.

The prisoner himself has the ability to control the effects of any spell cast upon him - thus, he can pick the target of a teleportation spell.

The prisoner was cursed during his capture - any form of teleportation will instantly hill him. Alternate: the prisoner has a vital organ replaced by a magical device that will stop working if teleported, killing him.

The prisoner is a black hole for magic - no spells of any sort will affect him.

The prisoner has such a mundane dread of teleportation that undergoing it will drive him insane, rendering him useless for whatever purpose he is being kept alive.

Teleporting closer than a certain distance (the distance of the ship ride) to the prison is extraordinarily dangerous during this conjunction of the planets.

Basically, you're the DM. You determine how magic works, and it's MAGIC. Make something up.

Chrono22
2009-11-02, 07:10 PM
Huh. Well, that's a pretty common problem with teleport. It makes lots of parts of a story redundant.
I guess if I wanted to fix this in my own games, I'd make it so that you can only teleport to a limited number of locations around the world (spots where ley lines cross). This way, these locations will be well-known. Countries would almost certainly construct bases or security around teleport nodes.

taltamir
2009-11-02, 07:10 PM
the person escorted is not a prisoner... whatever it is that is special about him prevents teleportation, and the people after him want to kidnap him / kill him. This only changes the "reason" for the trip but leaves most of the individual "points" intact...

however, the fact you designed it so far ahead, including exact methods of travel (boat trip, etc), indicates that you might intend to railroad them... there is a very high chance that the PC's will NOT go the exact direction you want them to.

Or just change teleport itself... (the suggestion of only certainly locations being teleportably to works.)

ZeroNumerous
2009-11-02, 07:15 PM
1. As realistic as the reason is that he can't be executed, around the 2nd or 3rd time we are attacked by his allies I'd just slit his throat. Or if I can't get away with it, wait for an actual attack, let his allies in the room, and then and stab him mid combat (he was escaping!).

This is why realistic reasons suck. If you're going to have a reason why someone isn't just killed then someone doesn't trap their soul/Speak With Dead/animate their corpse whatever then make it a fantastic reason.

"Sure, you can kill him."
"Alrigh--"
"But doing so will free an ancient and powerful foe from a trapped existence caused by his distant ancestors. He is the last of his line, and with his death lies potentially the death of the entire plane."

streakster
2009-11-02, 07:18 PM
Hordes of astral spectres, shades of the innocents cursed by this man to an unlife locked beyond the planes, wait to destroy him should he ever teleport, and so, just for an instant, exist beyond the world - where they can reach him.



Plus, your players can use this when he inevitably escapes and attacks them - 'I dimension hop him!" - and then they'll feel smart.

taltamir
2009-11-02, 07:21 PM
This is why realistic reasons suck. If you're going to have a reason why someone isn't just killed then someone doesn't trap their soul/Speak With Dead/animate their corpse whatever then make it a fantastic reason.

"Sure, you can kill him."
"Alrigh--"
"But doing so will free an ancient and powerful foe from a trapped existence caused by his distant ancestors. He is the last of his line, and with his death lies potentially the death of the entire plane."

Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

I sure as hell don't trust a PRISON to hold him safe if his death means the destruction of the universe... I'd probably put it in the astral plane too... or my own demi plane... As a high level caster I am much better to guard him then a prison...

Or... face whatever apocalypse is coming :). A demon lord you say? sounds like an EPIC battle, one that will get my name immortalized in the annuals of time!

Foryn Gilnith
2009-11-02, 07:29 PM
Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

And he breeds yearly to make sure that the anti-apocalypse lineage is disseminated throughout the animal populace. :)



The prisoner has such a mundane dread of teleportation that undergoing it will drive him insane, rendering him useless for whatever purpose he is being kept alive.

Teleporting closer than a certain distance (the distance of the ship ride) to the prison is extraordinarily dangerous during this conjunction of the planets.

These work well as "mundane" answers. Teleportation will mentally unhinge the prisoner more than is acceptable. The prison wards make close teleportation implausible, so you have to teleport farther away - a great timesaver, to be sure, but still leaving you plenty of time to be attacked. And your enemies will know you'll teleport as close to the edge of the safe zone as possible...

Akal Saris
2009-11-02, 07:30 PM
Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that. And if the prison is on an island and barred from teleportation, then the best the PCs could do would be to teleport to the nearest land mass, since the caster probably doesn't have a clear image of the sea around the prison.

The prisoner might also be physically frail, and any teleportation mishap might kill him.

Lysander
2009-11-02, 07:35 PM
Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that.

It does. There's your solution. They can't teleport him because he's wants to force them to travel and give his allies opportunities to rescue him.

Now figure out why they need him alive.

Draken
2009-11-02, 07:37 PM
I would second the opinion of the guy who said to give him the Mark of Tavel. One of the spell-like abilities it grants is teleport, and as such, he would require a dimensional anchor effect (or two) constantly or would just poof in the air.

ZeroNumerous
2009-11-02, 07:39 PM
Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

Until his now significantly reduced animal lifetime runs out. Congrats, you pressed the snooze button on the destruction of the world. :smallamused:

Further, arguably the curse has been lifted due to you snuffing out his family line(being an animal, he no longer qualifies as human...). The world should always be ended by people who don't bother with their research. :smalltongue:

BRC
2009-11-02, 07:40 PM
Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that. And if the prison is on an island and barred from teleportation, then the best the PCs could do would be to teleport to the nearest land mass, since the caster probably doesn't have a clear image of the sea around the prison.

The prisoner might also be physically frail, and any teleportation mishap might kill him.
I checked this, and Yes it does. Plane Shift, since you can't control where you end up on whatever plane you shift to, leaves a good deal to be desired as a method of Transportation.

Otho Trois
2009-11-02, 07:46 PM
You can house rule that teleportation takes an inordinate amount of time to prepare (so you know EXACTLY where you'll end up, or you could be flung way off into Sharn or some such). OR his friends/enemies have some sort of tracer/Anticipate Teleportation on him so they know if he instantly moves or his location or something similar.

Sploosh
2009-11-02, 07:56 PM
Doesnt being unconcious automatically mean you are willing? I know I read that it did from a wizard guide and benign transpotion a while back. If so, they could just knock him over the head and off they go.

Oslecamo
2009-11-02, 08:09 PM
If you read the teleport spell carefully, you'll notice that it states that locations of great power are immune to teleport. Aka locations chosen by the DM. Wich is you.

So just make the meeting place immune to teleport, claiming it's a location of great power.

Lysander
2009-11-02, 08:17 PM
Here's another idea. The prisoner's allies have a spell of summoning. It works like teleport except you can bring a willing person to your position from anywhere within range.

The only thing keeping that spell from taking him away are shackles of permanent dimensional anchor. Take them off and they might be able to cast their spell and rescue him before you can teleport.

Clementx
2009-11-02, 08:21 PM
Make the prisoner an intelligent undead or a (nonliving) construct. They never need sleep or food, cannot be knocked unconscious without destroying them, and are immune to mental manipulation. Warforged have some of those immunities, but not all. Intelligent constructs are hard to find otherwise, but it could just be awakened. The only threat remaining would be Diplomancing with command undead, but if you use rational Diplomacy rules, there are many reasons you can invent that no check result will make him willing.

Shipping a vampire across the world could be interesting. Especially if the PCs are just escorting the caretaker who doesn't want to tell them what is in the coffin-sized box he demands they lug around for him.

Krazddndfreek
2009-11-02, 08:25 PM
the person escorted is not a prisoner... whatever it is that is special about him prevents teleportation, and the people after him want to kidnap him / kill him. This only changes the "reason" for the trip but leaves most of the individual "points" intact...

however, the fact you designed it so far ahead, including exact methods of travel (boat trip, etc), indicates that you might intend to railroad them... there is a very high chance that the PC's will NOT go the exact direction you want them to.

Or just change teleport itself... (the suggestion of only certainly locations being teleportably to works.)

Inspired by this post. And Dominic Deegan

The prisoner is in fact a rare anomaly amongst humanoids. For whatever reason, he is completely immune to magic, thus making it impossible to use teleport on him.

Or else, I'd go with, he has antimagic shackles on him to prevent him from using his own magic.

gdiddy
2009-11-02, 08:25 PM
Githyanki invasion of Ethergaunt territory that affects the teleportation lanes in the Astral Plane.

If the party tries to brute force the situation and be all tricksie, they end up on an raging Astral battlefield, surrounded by enemies and need to get home.

Actually, that's a much better plan. They are initially given the option of land transport, but of course will suggest teleportation. Warn them, ad if they persist, Astral Battlefield. The campaign just became level appropriate.

Gralamin
2009-11-02, 08:58 PM
Because there isn't really a planar possibility yet:
Have Shavarath or Dolurrh be Coterminous. We planes are Coterminous they are touching Eberron, so if you teleport to the Astral plane, by all logic you should have a good chance of ending up in the other plane. Both of these planes would defeat the purpose of not executing him (Shavarath is an eternal battlefield, Dolurrh is the realm of the dead), and so its not worth the risk to end up there.

Lysander
2009-11-02, 09:05 PM
Or make him an outsider that can plane shift at will.

taltamir
2009-11-02, 10:09 PM
The prisoner has such a mundane dread of teleportation that undergoing it will drive him insane, rendering him useless for whatever purpose he is being kept alive.

Heal is the same level as teleport. and explicitly heals insanity.


Until his now significantly reduced animal lifetime runs out. Congrats, you pressed the snooze button on the destruction of the world. :smallamused:

Further, arguably the curse has been lifted due to you snuffing out his family line(being an animal, he no longer qualifies as human...). The world should always be ended by people who don't bother with their research. :smalltongue:

I actually took the lifespan into account, some creatures have very long lifespans... and if his death of OLD AGE will trigger it, then the apocalypse happens anyways, only question is if it is when a dog dies or a human dies. Make him an elf or an elan and feeblemind him.
Or if he needs to be a human, feeble mind + hat of alter self or some other magic disguise.

taltamir
2009-11-02, 10:13 PM
OP: the new prison is on an island that prevents teleport, current prison prevents teleport, and nearest port to the island prison is a military fort which also prevents teleport (military outpost).
The fastest route as SUGGESTED by the quest giver (who will offer to supply a teleporter!) is:
1. Walk a few miles away from current prison which is anchored.
2. Teleport to a town nearby the destination (you need to be familiar with location unless you have greater teleport)
3. Travel to the military port/fort which is anchored against teleport... If party has greater teleport, allow them to reduce this travel time by teleporting just outside the range of the dimensional anchoring.
4. Take a boat from it to the island.

They CAN choose to teleport to a further away port city, it will eliminate the need to travel by land, but increase their total boat travel and time to do the mission (and result in more sea encounters and no land encounters).

jiriku
2009-11-02, 10:41 PM
CTP, in all honesty, your plot idea, while good, fun, and very swashbuckling, is really only appropriate to a level 8 and lower campaign. Further, most of the ideas presented here, while effective ways to limit teleport, are going to limit it in a way that says "THE DM WAS TOO LAZY TO PLAN LEVEL-APPROPRIATE ADVENTURES, SO HERE'S AN ARBITRARY REASON WHY YOU CAN'T USE YOUR CLASS ABILITIES! HAH!"

If I could suggest? Develop three or four good site-based encounters (at different sites), then think of plausible reasons why the party needs to take their prisoner to those sites. Then leave it entirely up to the the players how they get from point A to point B to point C to point D. You'll look clever for providing a game that rolls with whatever punches they deliver, and they'll appreciate that you're allowing them to think outside the box and apply their cleverness.

For example, the players might be ordered to take the prisoner to some Oracle Who Sees All Things who will divine his guilt or innocence (and can't be bothered to travel for a mere judicial proceeding). Then they'll need to take the prisoner to some major city where they'll all make sworn statements under magical truth-detection about what the oracle told them. Then they have to deliver the prisoner to a processing center at the entrance to the new prison and turn him over to the authorities. Each of these tasks requires boots on the ground at the location, and enemy NPCs can use magical divination and teleportation magic of their own to ambush the players at each of these locations.

mohdri
2009-11-02, 10:48 PM
Dragon issue #344 has a good write up on Dreadhold, written by Keith Baker himself, so while not official, as in, published by WotC themselves, IMO, close enough (if you can find the issue).

taltamir
2009-11-02, 10:56 PM
CTP, in all honesty, your plot idea, while good, fun, and very swashbuckling, is really only appropriate to a level 8 and lower campaign. Further, most of the ideas presented here, while effective ways to limit teleport, are going to limit it in a way that says "THE DM WAS TOO LAZY TO PLAN LEVEL-APPROPRIATE ADVENTURES, SO HERE'S AN ARBITRARY REASON WHY YOU CAN'T USE YOUR CLASS ABILITIES! HAH!"

If I could suggest? Develop three or four good site-based encounters (at different sites), then think of plausible reasons why the party needs to take their prisoner to those sites. Then leave it entirely up to the the players how they get from point A to point B to point C to point D. You'll look clever for providing a game that rolls with whatever punches they deliver, and they'll appreciate that you're allowing them to think outside the box and apply their cleverness.

For example, the players might be ordered to take the prisoner to some Oracle Who Sees All Things who will divine his guilt or innocence (and can't be bothered to travel for a mere judicial proceeding). Then they'll need to take the prisoner to some major city where they'll all make sworn statements under magical truth-detection about what the oracle told them. Then they have to deliver the prisoner to a processing center at the entrance to the new prison and turn him over to the authorities. Each of these tasks requires boots on the ground at the location, and enemy NPCs can use magical divination and teleportation magic of their own to ambush the players at each of these locations.

very well put, I agree with everything.

icefractal
2009-11-02, 11:37 PM
CTP, in all honesty, your plot idea, while good, fun, and very swashbuckling, is really only appropriate to a level 8 and lower campaign....Agreed as well. Even after you deal with Teleport, "take a ship" is not going to be the next thing on the list - it's more likely to be Wind Walk, or Shadow Walk, or even Phantom Steed. High-level characters just don't travel by normal methods when they're in a hurry.

The only way I could see it working is if they had to transport something freakishly heavy. Like a prisoner ... sealed in magical ice, sealed inside a rune-bound cage made of lead, the whole thing weighing too damn much for most travel spells, and probably warded against most forms of magic as well.

The problem with that is I have no idea if it works with your plot. Transporting it by ship would be ok, but forget running through a battle carrying it, or even keeping it from sinking with the ship.


And incidentally, if I was going to transport a dangerous prisoner, the first thing I'd do is get a Sepia Snake Sigil, force the prisoner to read it and not dodge the bite, and put the in-stasis prisoner into a Portable Hole (or one of the larger Bag of Holding types), which could then be carried in a pocket. For extra security, someone (who has a Ring of Sustenance or is a Warforged) could swallow the Portable Hole (after acid-proofing it). So there's that to think about as well. The freakishly heavy rune-cage would avoid this though.

Gralamin
2009-11-02, 11:54 PM
CTP, in all honesty, your plot idea, while good, fun, and very swashbuckling, is really only appropriate to a level 8 and lower campaign. Further, most of the ideas presented here, while effective ways to limit teleport, are going to limit it in a way that says "THE DM WAS TOO LAZY TO PLAN LEVEL-APPROPRIATE ADVENTURES, SO HERE'S AN ARBITRARY REASON WHY YOU CAN'T USE YOUR CLASS ABILITIES! HAH!"


You do realize that Eberron is based a lot on rule of cool, correct? The setting has LIGHTNING TRAINS just so players can fight on them. CTP's idea sounds cool and cinematic, and thus fits in perfectly with a lot of the setting. I'd not question the inability to easily teleport if it means cool and cinematic fights instead. :smallamused:

Besides, Eberron has an entire house of non-mages that have teleportation abilities, and offer them for a modest fee.

Zen Master
2009-11-03, 03:15 AM
And then I realized: why waste all this time with boats, when they could just teleport him there?

Never include the teleport spell in the game. Done and done.

daggaz
2009-11-03, 03:19 AM
I tweaked teleport slightly... the farther you go, the greater the risk of error. And teleporting into walls or other matter is instant death if the stuff you are teleporting into (not you) cant be pushed aside easily by your own mass.

PhoenixRivers
2009-11-03, 03:24 AM
I support the "need to keep the prisoner Anchored".

As for why powerful people do guard duty?

You don't leave incredibly powerful enemies in the hands of mooks for transport. It is a recipe for "ambush/escape".

Powerful prisoners need powerful guards.

icefractal
2009-11-03, 03:49 AM
You're going to need more than Dimensional Anchor to get the PCs on a boat. Again, Wind Walk, Shadow Walk, Phantom Steed, or just sticking the prisoner in a Bag of Holding. Getting on a sailing ship is going to be about the last resort, unless they have a very good reason to do so.

PhoenixRivers
2009-11-03, 04:21 AM
I believe Dim Anchor stops interplanar shenanigans, such as Shadow Walk and Bags of Holding.

There's always giving the PC's good reason to keep low key.

Wind walk can be prevented by realizing that it makes it really hard to hold onto a prisoner who's been turned into a very fast cloud.

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-11-03, 04:29 AM
I believe Dim Anchor stops interplanar shenanigans, such as Shadow Walk and Bags of Holding.

There's always giving the PC's good reason to keep low key.

Wind walk can be prevented by realizing that it makes it really hard to hold onto a prisoner who's been turned into a very fast cloud.Phantom Steed. If the prisoner tries to escape, he dies. If his allies try to save him, they have to pass 3000' altitude. If they want to catch him, beat the 240' move speed.

lord_khaine
2009-11-03, 06:17 AM
Phantom Steed. If the prisoner tries to escape, he dies. If his allies try to save him, they have to pass 3000' altitude. If they want to catch him, beat the 240' move speed.

It would then still be a failure if they are suposed to deliver the guy alive.

PhoenixRivers
2009-11-03, 06:30 AM
Phantom Steed. If the prisoner tries to escape, he dies. If his allies try to save him, they have to pass 3000' altitude. If they want to catch him, beat the 240' move speed.

Well, if the party is level 14, it's an option, with a couple issues.

1) Need to be level 14 for the horse to fly at 240. If the party is level 9-13, this isn't an option. (level 9 is the earliest level that teleport is available).

2) Each steed can have only 1 rider. You, or the specific person you make it for. So the prisoner needs his own horse. Which opens the possibility of escape without plummety death.

3) At level 14, assuming it double moves every round for 14 hours, you'll cover 700 miles or so. Make the body of water that needs to be crossed around 1500 miles wide, and phantom steed won't be able to cross in 1 casting.

lesser_minion
2009-11-03, 07:18 AM
I had already found a realistic reason that the prisoner wasn't simply going to be executed, and that was why they were sending him to prison. But I can't think of a realistic reason why he couldn't be teleported to the Dreadhold...

Does anyone have any decent ideas? Perhaps the prison has some sort of massive anti-magic field around it, so you can't simply teleport into it, but in that case, they could just teleport near the prison and cut the time needed in transit down by a considerable margin.


If I remember correctly, Keith Baker actually did an in-depth article in Dragon on the prison, covering some of its defences, a few notable prisoners, and some rumours about what actually goes on in the prison (presumably to help DMs use it in a game).

I'm pretty sure you're right - the entire island is protected by the equivalent of a spell that blocked all teleportation and scrying from outside the island. I also remember there being a manifest zone which made most of the walls incredibly resilient and also gave them spell resistance vs. any spell that attempts to breach them (including Teleport, DimDoor and Etherealness)

There were a few exceptions - I think people with the Mark of Warding might be able to get off the island, but not back onto the island. Some of the vaults can also be used to transport things from one HK holding to another.

The prison has an antimagic field deeper in the prison, for dealing with supernatural threats, and some of the prisoners are turned into stone.

By the way, the prisoner doesn't have to be a criminal. House Kundarak allows people to pay to stay in the prison themselves as guests. At least some of the areas in the prison are fairly luxurious, for dealing with low-threat guests who happen to be influential or high-ranking (everyone who enters the prison gets bestow curse: 50% chance of not acting when in combat for the duration of their stay).

The only real problem is that you are basically dealing with the single most important holding of a highly influential group. Why aren't they escorting the guest/prisoner?

lord_khaine
2009-11-03, 08:55 AM
The only real problem is that you are basically dealing with the single most important holding of a highly influential group. Why aren't they escorting the guest/prisoner?

This one at least is easy enough, they are busy escorting the changeling that they hired to take the shape of the prisoner.

lesser_minion
2009-11-03, 06:14 PM
This one at least is easy enough, they are busy escorting the changeling that they hired to take the shape of the prisoner.

I don't think you would ever make just one decoy, but that might make sense.

Unless the PCs happen to be very good friends of HK, I'm not sure how likely it is that they would be recruited - I guess the guys who took the prisoners might have specified that they would transport the prisoner.

As for the person who mentioned high-level wizards and demiplanes: I don't think custom demiplanes are going to fly for some reason, and we're talking about placing people under the protection of an entire dragonmarked house. Dreadhold is basically intended for the sole purpose of being an adventure hook for high level adventurers. It isn't some 2cp castle lockup.

Neglecting certain oddities of the magic system (which are oddities), locking people up in Dreadhold should be a safer bet.

Myrmex
2009-11-03, 06:18 PM
the person escorted is not a prisoner... whatever it is that is special about him prevents teleportation, and the people after him want to kidnap him / kill him. This only changes the "reason" for the trip but leaves most of the individual "points" intact...

And now you're the one being escorted to prison.