Did Xykon teleport?

[Neosmith]

Hey, everybody, I was wondering - did Team Evil teleport to Girard's Gate in 899? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0899.html)

This kinda bothers me, because I don't recall Xykon previously ever demonstrating the ability to teleport. In fact, I really liked that he and Redcloak had to physically travel from location-to-location (eg. to Azure City).

So, if Xykon can teleport, how come he doesn't bring his army with him and why did not do that earlier?

What kind of a spell did Xykon use btw? They just pop out of thin air without naming it.

[Gift Jeraff]

He uses Teleport in SoD and Greater Teleport is on the spell list O-Chul wrote.

Teleporting a whole army would be tedious, as he'd have to teleport back and forth a bunch of times.

[LOTRfan]

Keep in mind that Darth V was only able to teleport the Azurites because (s)he used Epic Teleport.

Xykon would only be able to transport one medium or smaller (which means no zombie dragon) character with him for every three caster levels he has (assuming he has a caster level in the 21-24 range, that's only 7-8 people). It would take an incredibly long time for him to transport an entire army that way. In the end, walking to Azure City probably was faster.

[Nettlekid]

Read the description of any teleportation spell that isn't the Epic Teleport invented and used by one of V's Soul Splices. They all allow only a very few passengers. The MitD is probably pushing the limit on his own. The only other times we've seen Xykon traveling, to my knowledge, were when he was making his way to his old fortress which had been overtaken by the forces of good (at which point he was regrowing from his Phylactery and wasn't in great spellcasting condition) and then when he was guiding the army to Azure City, where there's no way he could have brought them all along.

Besides, Xykon likes the dramatic. We've seen him cast Gate shortly before he left for Girard's Gate (when he went to the Astral Plane, although I guess Plane Shift sort of looks like that in Rich's world too, so it could have been that), but he thought it would be more fun to march his legion across the wastes, letting some Hobgoblins die of exhaustion, and scare all the Azure City troops he met on the way.

Not to mention that in Strip 670, O-Chul gives Roy a list of Xykon's spells, and Greater Teleport is on it. So...That takes care of that.

[Porthos]

It can be inferred that he has teleport here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0192.html) since Redcloak at the time couldn't teleport there (it was almost certainly not being designated as Redcloak's sanctum so Word of Recall is out and he didn't have Gate yet) and it's not like the MitD can teleport people. :smalltongue:

[Synesthesy]

and it's not like the MitD can teleport people. :smalltongue:

Well.............................................. ..... <3

[Porthos]

Well.............................................. ..... <3

*insert THAT'S THE JOKE! pic --HERE--* :smalltongue:

[GSFB]

Also, while it is true that Xykon could have used Gate spells to move a large army quickly, that would make life easier on the army. Xykon would likely rather send thousands of mooks on a death march - weed out the weak, and then turn those who fall into zombies!

[F.Harr]

Keep in mind that Darth V was only able to teleport the Azurites because (s)he used Epic Teleport.

Xykon would only be able to transport one medium or smaller (which means no zombie dragon) character with him for every three caster levels he has (assuming he has a caster level in the 21-24 range, that's only 7-8 people). It would take an incredibly long time for him to transport an entire army that way. In the end, walking to Azure City probably was faster.

So would sailing a boat made out of dead hobgoblins, in point of fact.

[Porthos]

Do we actually know Xykon has Gate?

He could have just Plane Shifted to the Astral Plane and back, after all.


We've seen him cast Gate shortly before he left for Girard's Gate (when he went to the Astral Plane, although I guess Plane Shift sort of looks like that in Rich's world too, so it could have been that), but he thought it would be more fun to march his legion across the wastes, letting some Hobgoblins die of exhaustion, and scare all the Azure City troops he met on the way.

That was Redcloak, not Xykon. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0833.html)

[Morthis]

It's extremely unlikely Xykon has Gate. He should only have 3 known spells at level 9, which are Meteor Swarm, Soul Bind and Energy Drain, we've seen all 3 used.

The gate to the Astral Plane was done by Redcloak, who only very recently hit spell level 9 (he mentions it when he uses Implosion on the resistance).

[Rogar Demonblud]

Well, Xykon has something that let him get to the Astral Plane to make his little summer cottage.

[Psyren]

This kinda bothers me, because I don't recall Xykon previously ever demonstrating the ability to teleport. In fact, I really liked that he and Redcloak had to physically travel from location-to-location (eg. to Azure City).

He couldn't teleport to Azure City because the throne room was warded, and porting anywhere else would have raised the alarm.



So, if Xykon can teleport, how come he doesn't bring his army with him and why did not do that earlier?

There are limits on how many people you can bring with you when you teleport.



What kind of a spell did Xykon use btw? They just pop out of thin air without naming it.

Sometimes the Giant has people say Teleport when arriving, sometimes he breaks it up between departure and arrival, and sometimes they say nothing at all. It doesn't really matter which is used when.

[Chantelune]

Besides, Xykon likes the dramatic. We've seen him cast Gate shortly before he left for Girard's Gate (when he went to the Astral Plane, although I guess Plane Shift sort of looks like that in Rich's world too, so it could have been that), but he thought it would be more fun to march his legion across the wastes, letting some Hobgoblins die of exhaustion, and scare all the Azure City troops he met on the way.


Also, Xykon was hoping to run into a paladin before reaching Azure City so he could plant a bug on him (or her as it turns out), then scry and learn about the exact location of the gate.

Teleporting the whole army right inside the city, even if he could do it, would have gone against that plan.

[NerdyKris]

He couldn't teleport to Azure City because the throne room was warded, and porting anywhere else would have raised the alarm.



He also didn't know where the gate was located. He used Miko to find that out. And he got lucky. His original plan was simply to conquer the city and then find out where the gate was. Also, as noted, teleport has a limited capacity, he would have been teleporting into a city full of paladins with zero backup.

[allenw]

Xykons specifically mentions teleporting here. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0901.html)

[Shhalahr Windrider]

It's extremely unlikely Xykon has Gate. He should only have 3 known spells at level 9, which are Meteor Swarm, Soul Bind and Energy Drain, we've seen all 3 used.

That is, of course assuming he did not take the feat Spell Knowledge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#spellKnowledge).

Even if Xykon knows gate, its maximum duration gives him less than three minutes to fit an entire army through a portal no more than 20 feet wide. It would be less tedious than teleport, but still a pain in his bony ass.

[Neosmith]

Wow, everybody, thanks for your replies. Yeah, I can definitely see now that Xykon has been capable of teleporting before.

Of course, that makes me wonder why he doesn't do it more often, like say when his phylactery was endangered by V or when Azure City was about to blow up.

[Chantelune]

Wow, everybody, thanks for your replies. Yeah, I can definitely see now that Xykon has been capable of teleporting before.

Of course, that makes me wonder why he doesn't do it more often, like say when his phylactery was endangered by V or when Azure City was about to blow up.

Part of the answer might be because teleport is among those spell who can ruin storytelling.

"Travelling at the speed of plot" is how it's often refered to. Heroes and villain tend to arrive at the place they need to be when the plot ask for it. In the meanwhile, they might be sitting in a tower over the ruins of a city, travelling by boat to another continent, searching a whole desert on a flying carpet, etc...

But having teleport at hand just ruin it. They can just pop here and there whenever they feel like it and that can be annoying.

If Xykon did teleported his whole army right inside Azure city when he was ready to do so, AC and the OOTS would never had a chance to react to that. The ambush in the throne room wouldn't have been set up, eck, even the Order might have been still in Greyport at that time.

Though, at other time, it helps the story just as well. Without teleport, the whole greyport arc would have been tedious if the order had to walk there and back (we could have elipses, of course, but still, Shojo might have complain even more if the order wandered for months for something utterly not related to their job).

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Of course, that makes me wonder why he doesn't do it more often, like say when his phylactery was endangered by V or when Azure City was about to blow up.

Casting greater teleport is a standard action. So if Xykon teleported into V’s path, V could have just run around him at little disadvantage. And as a sorcerer, Xykon cannot use Quicken Spell.

As for escaping the castle, my guess is that he may have been out of sufficiently high level slots.

[gorocz]

And as a sorcerer, Xykon cannot use Quicken Spell.


Just to be sure I understand srd correctly, is that because all sorcerer spells are basically spontaneous, so any metamagic, even Quicken, would make them full round actions?

[Gray Mage]

Just to be sure I understand srd correctly, is that because all sorcerer spells are basically spontaneous, so any metamagic, even Quicken, would make them full round actions?

Pretty much, although there are ways of getting around that, Xykon hasn't shown any of them.

[137beth]

Just to be sure I understand srd correctly, is that because all sorcerer spells are basically spontaneous, so any metamagic, even Quicken, would make them full round actions?

By default, yea. There are lots of ways to get around it, and house rules that allowed sorcerers to use quicken were really common (indeed, in a sidebar in UA, Monte Cooke, a co-creator of 3rd edition, described his own house rules for sorcerers using metamagic, and it included being able to quicken spells). So common, in fact, that PF made it the default.