Teleporting to unexplored cities

[aeauseth]

I just recently acquired teleport and because of a high INT, I can now teleport two times a day.

I have maps of the continent and want to teleport (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/teleport.htm) to the various cities. Many are within the distance limitation of 100 miles per CL, but technically I have never seen them.

I'm looking for creative solutions. My initial thought is to fly way up high and use arcane eye (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneEye.htm), however convincing my DM I can spot a city 900 miles away isn't going to be easy.

Plucking (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/detectThoughts.htm) it out of someone head also seems iffy, since I didn't really SEE the town.

Any suggestions?

[Quiddle]

You clould look up some one who lives in that city in a records book then scry (http://dndtools.eu/spells/players-handbook-v35--6/scrying--2512/) them and teleport to the city.

[Dire Panda]

If you're willing to spend an hour beforehand, Scrying is your best bet. There are a few caveats - it only counts as having viewed the destination once, so there's a 25% chance of a teleport mishap. More importantly, you have to target a creature in that city to scry on. If you don't know anyone, find a portrait of some important personage without enough adventuring levels to have a decent Will save. They'll still get a +3 bonus on their save (+5 for having only secondhand knowledge, -2 for the portrait), but a high-INT wizard should be able to beat Prince Inbred XI's roll most of the time. Keep watching until the target steps into a public space - preferably one where a teleporting wizard won't immediately draw hostile attention - and there's your teleport destination.

[Crake]

iirc, you dont need to have ever seen the place. As long as it's a valid destination you will have a decent chance to get there. The only thing that changes is the increased chance to land off target or have a mishap.


You must have some clear idea of the location and layout of the destination. You can’t simply teleport to the warlord’s tent if you don’t know where that tent is, what it looks like, or what’s in it. The clearer your mental image, the more likely the teleportation works. Areas of strong physical or magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible.

Although that does seem to conflict with the "familiarity" paragraph.

As for how far you can see something from the air, a CL9 level fly will get you pretty high up (30ft, double move each round, thats 60ft a round, 600feet a minute, so 5400feet, or ~1.6km in the air, then use an extended levitate to sit there while you cast arcane eye, then when you're done, skydive down and featherfall when you're decently close to the ground), and you can see pretty damn far, as long as there aren't any mountains or anything in the way.

[Slipperychicken]

Try scrying it. That puts you on the "studied carefully" table. Very good odds then.

Or Shadow Walk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shadowWalk.htm) over there, using estimates of the horizontal distance between the two cities to determine when to stop (travel at 50mph through shadow plane). See if you can use Phantom Steed/Ethereal Mount to make the Shadow Walk even faster.

Pay someone else to Teleport you there, as per the Spellcasting and Services (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices) pricing. Only 910gp one way, though he might charge you 1820 because he needs to get back too.

Travel there on foot, farming random encounters until you have Greater Teleport :smallbiggrin:

[tyckspoon]

Pay someone else to Teleport you there, as per the Spellcasting and Services (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices) pricing. Only 910gp one way, though he might charge you 1820 because he needs to get back too.


No, see, you pay him 910 GP to take you there, and then he pays you 910 GP to take him back home with your own spell slot :smalltongue:

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Ask the DM if local guilds have teleportation rooms in your world. In many games I've played and run Wizard guilds and even some churches have had a special room set aside that isn't warded from teleportatation/scrying (often in contrast to the rest of the facility) and this room is a very specific size and design which is recorded for study in different locations.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

No, see, you pay him 910 GP to take you there, and then he pays you 910 GP to take him back home with your own spell slot :smalltongue:

I could see this working if you networked well in your guild hall and found a wizard that often does business there and makes lots of round trips. It would require good knowledge (local) and diplomacy though and a bit of luck.

[Psyren]

Scry it twice (Scrying is the same level as teleport.) Now you have "seen casually" and have a 90% chance of either getting there outright or landing within the d10xd10 zone.

[aeauseth]

Shadow Walk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shadowWalk.htm) over there, using estimates of the horizontal distance between the two cities to determine when to stop (travel at 50mph through shadow plane). See if you can use Phantom Steed/Ethereal Mount to make the Shadow Walk even faster.

Based off a 9th level caster. I can teleport 900 miles. Shadow Walk is a 6th level spell (out of reach for a level 9 caster), but presumabily good for 450+ miles. Ethereal Mount is good for 360 miles. Combining Shadow Walk & Ethereal Mount seems like cheating. Shadow Walk seems fairly safe. I could be ambushed using Ethereal Mount, and 1 lone wizard + 1 mean DM = 1 dead wizard.

I like the suggestions though! Definately something to consider.

[aeauseth]

You clould look up some one who lives in that city in a records book then scry (http://dndtools.eu/spells/players-handbook-v35--6/scrying--2512/) them and teleport to the city.

This does seem like the best solution. Reading about a noble from a foreign city would probably be classified as second hand (+5). If the book had a picture (-2). So the target would get a +3 bonus to their will save. My DC would be 10+4+7 = 21. It might take a couple of days, or a couple of nobles for the spell to succeed. I can watch the noble for 9 minutes (9th level wizard). If I did this at night, I should see their sleeping quarters. I can teleport in while invisible, then dimension door outside his house. If anything goes wrong, I just teleport back home.

I like it :smallbiggrin:

Hmm, now I'm a bit worried about an invisible teleporting assassin with scrying :smalleek:

[Ashtagon]

As for how far you can see something from the air, a CL9 level fly will get you pretty high up (30ft, double move each round, thats 60ft a round, 600feet a minute, so 5400feet, or ~1.6km in the air, then use an extended levitate to sit there while you cast arcane eye, then when you're done, skydive down and featherfall when you're decently close to the ground), and you can see pretty damn far, as long as there aren't any mountains or anything in the way.

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

That's enough to see 90 miles away.

Personally, I'd rule that anything seen from that kind of distance (or really, more than a few hundred feet) is too far a viewing distance to be counted for the purpose of this spell.

Hmm, arcane eye has an unlimited line of sight range? I'm so houseruling that down to "long" range.

[Slipperychicken]

I could see this working if you networked well in your guild hall and found a wizard that often does business there and makes lots of round trips. It would require good knowledge (local) and diplomacy though and a bit of luck.

I really hope you know he's kidding. A guy smart enough to cast Teleport knows better than to waste a spell slot for literally nothing.

Maybe there's a resource somewhere which contains sufficiently-detailed descriptions and images of places to facilitate Teleportation. Some kind of Spellcaster's Guide to the Galaxy Multiverse?

[andromax]

I really hope you know he's kidding. A guy smart enough to cast Teleport knows better than to waste a spell slot for literally nothing.

I'd imagine that wizards who aren't on epic adventures leave a fair number of spell slots unfilled.. 15 minutes of prep and you can cast anything on your class list. Why would you NOT do that if you didn't need to worry about memorizing Haste and Heroism for your party every day?

[Slipperychicken]

I'd imagine that wizards who aren't on epic adventures leave a fair number of spell slots unfilled.. 15 minutes of prep and you can cast anything on your class list. Why would you NOT do that if you didn't need to worry about memorizing Haste and Heroism for your party every day?

Only reason I could see is if you have customers willing to pay for that extra speed (snotty noble-brats come to mind), or if you have an appointment with someone that you'll provide a specific spell on a scheduled day (for a discount, of course. You want to encourage that kind of reliable business. Unless you're positively swamped with requests every day, in which case you charge a premium for scheduled spells).

[andromax]

Only reason I could see is if you have customers willing to pay for that extra speed (snotty noble-brats come to mind)
As a DM, if they weren't abusing diplomacy I'd let them try and let it work if they rolled well. If they rolled so-so, I'd let them get the teleport 1/2 price (assuming they give the Wizard a ride home) if he had any reason to go there. If they rolled poorly, he charge full price and find his own way home.