PDA

View Full Version : Traveling House (Spell)



Lysander
2009-11-13, 11:06 PM
For Terry Pratchett fans:

Traveling House
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Building
Effect: Transporting a building 20 ft cubed/level in area 100 miles/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No

This spell allows you to teleport a building and its contents and integrate it into its new environment. The building's foundations securely root into the new terrain, and the spell is capable of distorting the fabric of space so the building can incongruously rest between two formerly adjacent structures or in clearings that did not exist before. The spell cannot transport a building if it has unwilling travelers inside, nor can it be used to transport only part of a building. If the building is teleported again it reverses any changes its appearance made to the environment. The building acquires a very strong magical aura as long as it displaces other objects, and True Seeing reveals the environment as it used to be. Unless additional precautions such as a Symbol of Persuasion are used nothing prevents people familiar with the area from noticing the appearance of a new building.

Focus
Complex runes carved into the walls, floor and ceiling of the building, requiring a month to prepare

Sir_Chivalry
2009-11-13, 11:59 PM
For Terry Pratchett fans:

Traveling House
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Building
Effect: Transporting a building 20 ft cubed/level in area 100 miles/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No

This spell allows you to teleport a building and its contents and integrate it into its new environment. The building's foundations securely root into the new terrain, and the spell is capable of distorting the fabric of space so the building can incongruously rest between two formerly adjacent structures or in clearings that did not exist before. The spell cannot transport a building if it has unwilling travelers inside, nor can it be used to transport only part of a building. If the building is teleported again it reverses any changes its appearance made to the environment. The building acquires a very strong magical aura as long as it displaces other objects, and True Seeing reveals the environment as it used to be. Unless additional precautions such as a Symbol of Persuasion are used nothing prevents people familiar with the area from noticing the appearance of a new building.

Focus
Complex runes carved into the walls, floor and ceiling of the building, requiring a month to prepare

Seems like a very nice spell. Reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle. Don't know about 9th level though... I'll leave it to better playgrounders to evaluate.

TheLogman
2009-11-14, 12:12 AM
In comparison to Greater Teleport, this spell allows for an arbitrary number of participants instead of the limit imposed by Greater Teleport. It also allows for a whole house worth of items to be carried, which is a lot.

One important question is is interplanar travel possible?

EDIT: Wow missed a lot my first time through, gonna try this again.

In comparison to teleportation circle, this spell teleports more stuff, a shorter distance if I read that right, more people initially, but offers no addition from subsequent rounds, and takes much much longer to prepare.

I would put this at 8th level probably. If you removed the range limit, made it interplanar, or both, and reduced the time for preparation to a week or a day, something doable by the PC's, then it would be a 9th level spell, since it would balance well against the circle. As is, it is weaker than the circle.

Lysander
2009-11-14, 12:29 AM
Remember though, it's moving an entire building and all its contents. Potentially hundreds of people or objects at once. Not only that, it's distorting space so you can fit it right in the middle of a city, pushing apart current buildings, without disturbing anything. That's pretty potent, which seems deserving of level 9.

As for range it's the same as all of the other teleport spells which all have a 100 mile/level range. The casting time is the same as other teleport spells too, one standard action, but you can only cast it on a house you've taken time to prepare with runes. The runes are a focus though and aren't removed by the spell. Once written you can teleport that house as much as you want with just one standard action of casting. That month long prep requirement is so wizards use the spell to move their own house/myterious shop/castle around, not to steal other people's homes.

Temotei
2009-11-14, 12:35 AM
And it doesn't have an XP cost, like Wish would if you were to wish for a new house.

DracoDei
2009-11-15, 04:47 PM
This MIGHT be better for transporting large amounts of goods within the range limits than Teleportation Circle, but that seems fine to me, especial from a game-play (rather than world building) point of view.

Also, when the building leaves its ORIGINAL location, does it leave a crater?

urkthegurk
2009-11-16, 01:11 AM
I would make it so that casting requires a specially prepared doorway/empty lot/empty building/forest glen that serves as the focus and destination for the spell. Not an expensive process, I think, but teleporting a house without breaking it probably requires more knowledge of the geography of the situation.

Perhaps my version should just be a weaker version of the same spell, one that doesn't mess with too much extra-dimensional space. Maybe 7th level? Or is that too low?

OR, perhaps it could be an invocation to set up the various doors and landing zones of the house, and then a simple and quick spell to make it move between them.

There are endless possibilities!

This is probably a spell that is very customizable; I can see various mages coming up with various ways to tackle similar problems. The spells are as unique as the houses they transport, since each home has different purposes built in.

Lysander
2009-11-16, 09:30 AM
This MIGHT be better for transporting large amounts of goods within the range limits than Teleportation Circle, but that seems fine to me, especial from a game-play (rather than world building) point of view.

Also, when the building leaves its ORIGINAL location, does it leave a crater?

What makes it less powerful than a teleportation circle is that you need a level 17 wizard to stick around operating it. It's not something you can set up and leave to itself.

And yes, when it leaves the original spot it would leave a blank lot. However, if you ever teleport back the building could seamlessly reinsert intself to that spot unless something else has been built there. Then it would do its normal spacial distortion.

DracoDei
2009-11-16, 11:45 AM
Teleportation Circle has a set duration... it is just that you can also Perminancy it. Or was that all you meant?