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Edhelras
2010-03-17, 02:49 PM
Hi,

I've noticed that in OOTS, Vaarsuvius has Conjuration as a prohibited school, so he cannot cast Teleportation, a spell that might ruin the plot.

For my own game, I've got a question about the Teleportation spell. Or rather - the possibility of warding an area against teleporting into it. So I'm interested in how to limit the use of the Teleportation spell, really.

Although I like the Teleportation spell, I find it in many instances game-breaking. Especially because I feel it makes burglary impossible to fend off, if a lvl 9 wizard want something inside any house, why don't he simply teleport in, get it and get out?

Maybe I've overlooked something (sure hope so), but this is my question: How can the owner of a limited area (say a house, or a wizard's tower) ward the building against someone teleporting into it?
And, how can one prevent someone from teleporting out of the building (say, a prison for instance, made to lock up a sorcerer)?

I don't have much experience with mythals, but it seems to me they're much too expensive and complicated to be useful on such a small scale as I'm thinking about.

Would appreciate any help on this!

Cheers,
Ed

Kaiyanwang
2010-03-17, 02:52 PM
Call a cleric. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forbiddance.htm)

Edhelras
2010-03-17, 02:55 PM
Oh, right.... :redface:

Jeez, I knew there was something I missed. Obviously, I don't play cleric much.
Thanks for the quick response!

Eldariel
2010-03-17, 02:59 PM
Also, Anticipate Teleportation (and Greater) [Spell Compendium] is a key piece in restricting its dominance in combat. Covering areas in AMF/dead magic zones also works, and while there's no RAW way of doing it, "Anti-Magicking area" should be a relatively common tool available in a world with Anti-Magic Fields and quite commonplace in e.g. every prison worth anything.

And of course, the rules of having to know where you Teleport make certain, especially secretive (common adventure locales) locations difficult targets for Teleport. Removing overland travel? I don't think that's a real problem; it's just a change in the style of the game on those levels. Tighter deadlines are doable, things happen faster and one can stick to business.

There's also a very nice offered houserule in Frank & K's Tomes (http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=48453) that makes dungeons make slightly more sense by making sufficient amounts of ground block teleportation thus making deep underground complexes inaccessible.

Kaiyanwang
2010-03-17, 03:07 PM
Oh, right.... :redface:

Jeez, I knew there was something I missed. Obviously, I don't play cleric much.
Thanks for the quick response!

See, it happened to me almost 1000 times. You look for someting strange, and the answer is in the SRD.

But this should never stop you from asking, BTW.

FYI, there are few nice tricks more in Expedition to Undermountain: two 9 (!!!) level spells that ward against Scrying and Teleportation (Halaster's Scrying Cage and Halaster's Teleport Cage).

A wizard did it.

Edhelras
2010-03-17, 03:23 PM
Thanks again!

I found the Teleportation Cage as well, in the Waterdeep book.

Now I just wonder where Halaster got all that Diamond dust? Even if he encased Undermountain in the Teleportation Cage when he reached lvl 30, he would need a lot of castings of 300 cubic feet to cover it all!

JeenLeen
2010-03-17, 03:24 PM
Also: Dimensional Lock: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dimensionalLock.htm

My DM had most dungeons or bases under a perma-Dimension Lock (or at least recast enough to keep it up.)

Edhelras
2010-03-17, 03:27 PM
And investing 500 Gp for that crystal/platinum hourglass seems like a good investment, as would be sacrificing that 3rd lvl spell slot, for a daily casting of Anticipate teleportation.

Especially for the NPC I was thinking about, who has all reason to fear enemies teleporting in any moment! :smallbiggrin:

Edhelras
2010-03-17, 03:30 PM
Dimensional lock would be accessible for the NPC I was thinking about, only he isn't high enough lvl himself. He's the owner of a reknowned library.
Besides, the Forbiddance spell seems more useful in shaping the area that you want to protect, yes?

Gnaeus
2010-03-17, 04:01 PM
Houserule that some kind of mundane material (like lead) blocks divination and teleportation. It doesn't keep teleportation from being good, but it does allow some defense to muggles without their own caster.

jiriku
2010-03-17, 04:19 PM
A simple (and nonmagical) way to keep a spellcaster from teleporting out of prison is to drug them into unconsciousness. Any drug or poison that inflicts ability damage, administered in sufficient quantities for a sufficient length of time, will render a character helpless. If they deal Wisdom damage, such drugs also have the advantage of rendering a character less resistant to interrogation. An organization can bypass the cost of these drugs by growing the reagents in-house and having a druggist on staff, rather than purchasing them on the open market.

Also, teleport-enabled burglary is discouraged simply through the threat of retaliation in kind. This is no different from how things worked in medieval times. Burglars break in while no one is at home because they don't want to deal with the home's occupants. However, in a world where anyone with the proper spells can use divination and scrying to find you and teleport to follow you, using teleport to assist your burglary doesn't help you avoid the occupants. In such a world, a wizard isn't going to steal from you unless he believes that you're weak enough that you can't retaliate effectively -- in which case it's no different, really, from a high-level fighter knocking down your front door and grabbing your stuff while you're sitting at your dinner table. He can take your things because you aren't strong enough to stop him. The wizard is the same -- he simply does it more efficiently.

Eldariel
2010-03-17, 04:23 PM
Also, teleport-enabled burglary is discouraged simply through the threat of retaliation in kind. This is no different from how things worked in medieval times. Burglars break in while no one is at home because they don't want to deal with the home's occupants. However, in a world where anyone with the proper spells can use divination and scrying to find you and teleport to follow you, using teleport to assist your burglary doesn't help you avoid the occupants. In such a world, a wizard isn't going to steal from you unless he believes that you're weak enough that you can't retaliate effectively -- in which case it's no different, really, from a high-level fighter knocking down your front door and grabbing your stuff while you're sitting at your dinner table. He can take your things because you aren't strong enough to stop him. The wizard is the same -- he simply does it more efficiently.

In many D&D-worlds, there are also police forces. Police forces with access to high-level divination magic are frighteningly effective.

Splendor
2010-03-17, 07:14 PM
For spells there is forbiddance. Simple and permanent (if a bit expensive).

Stronghold Builders guidebook:

Ethereal Solid: The Ethereal Plane is mostly an insubstantial mirror of the Material Plane, but some solids exist there that have no reality on the Material Plane. If a sufficiently large ethereal solid coexists with the part of the plane where your stronghold stands, ethereal intruders can’t sneak inside (any more than they could pass through a huge rock on the Material Plane).
Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, ethereal jaunt; Market Price: 12,000 gp.


The walls of the lair are lined with naturally occurring veins of lead and painted with gorgon’s blood to render teleportation into or out of the complex impossible.
-From Champion’s of Ruin, Aumvor’s Lair, Page 126

Starbuck_II
2010-03-17, 07:22 PM
Although I like the Teleportation spell, I find it in many instances game-breaking. Especially because I feel it makes burglary impossible to fend off, if a lvl 9 wizard want something inside any house, why don't he simply teleport in, get it and get out?

Maybe I've overlooked something (sure hope so), but this is my question: How can the owner of a limited area (say a house, or a wizard's tower) ward the building against someone teleporting into it?
And, how can one prevent someone from teleporting out of the building (say, a prison for instance, made to lock up a sorcerer)?

Cheers,
Ed
One limitation is Teleport isn't good at precision (remember it has a error %).

You could get stuck in a wall if roll bad. It helps if you've cased the place (seen inside).

magic9mushroom
2010-03-17, 09:27 PM
For spells there is forbiddance. Simple and permanent (if a bit expensive).

Stronghold Builders guidebook:



-From Champion’s of Ruin, Aumvor’s Lair, Page 126

Of course, the dogged adventurer will disintegrate a hole in the latter and then teleport in just fine.

TheCountAlucard
2010-03-17, 09:39 PM
Not to mention that likely-deliberately vague-as-hell line from the spell description itself...


Areas of strong physical or magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible.

Obviously, control of locations built on ley lines are going to be highly-contested, due to the advantage it provides.

Lysander
2010-03-17, 10:40 PM
Not to mention that likely-deliberately vague-as-hell line from the spell description itself...


That's a button made for DMs to press whenever they want to shut down teleportation. "You can't teleport into the dragon's cave. The dragon's power stops teleportation." "You can't teleport away during a battle.There's too much magic being thrown around" It's cheap, but that's why its there. Use with caution and be consistent with how its applied.

Edhelras
2010-03-18, 06:29 AM
Thanks for all the input!

One more question though - I'm thinking of this part of the spell description for Teleport (from SRD):
"Areas of strong physical or magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible."

I guess the presence of a Forbiddance spell (the most useful alternative for warding a wizard's tower, as far as I can see) would create a pretty strong magical effect?

Would this magical effect be so strong that it would be dangerous or difficult to cast Teleport in the proximity of that warded tower, even if you did so outside the actual perimeter of the Forbiddance effect?

What I'm thinking about is how to arrange the layout of the Wizard's tower. I was planning to have a separate, locked-off section of the tower outside the Forbiddance area which the wizard could use to meet customers, and where would as well be able to teleport in and out for his own needs.

But I'm concerned that if this area was, for instance, the basement of his warded tower, the Forbiddance wards in the levels above would interfere with the safety of even is own usage of Teleport. Any views on this?

BTW I wonder as well whether the "one willing additional character per three caster levels" means one character per a full three levels? My lvl 10 wizard - can he bring along 3 or 4 additional characters?