Help me word a "follow the escaping mage" ability!

[Segev]

The idea here is to allow a character to follow a target who is using a closable pathway to escape. Whether this is a Passwall that expires, a Phase Door closed to the pursuer, a Dimension Door or Teleportation effect, or whatever, the images I have in my head are of the pursuer bursting through after the fleeing foe, or directing a ranged attack through the space where the escapee fled, or even reaching through it to yank them back via a grapple (or be dragged through, themselves).

Treating a teleportation as if it left a portal, and re-opening ways through normal barriers.

Obviously, they can use standard rules to burst through normal doors and the like.

I would like this worded rather generally to cover this situation without having to name specific effects and singular ways in which they interact with this ability. I think it a fairly easily understood intention, but wording it in a way that covers the contingencies without becoming exhaustive is eluding me.

I'm less concerned at this stage with balance and more with just wording it such that it works.

Thanks for any help!

[Piggy Knowles]

How about a variation on the Hellbreaker's ability, from Fiendish Codex II?


Stowaway (Su): From 4th level on, you can hitch a ride on a conjuration (teleportation) spell or spell-like ability cast or used within 30 feet of you. If the target is unwilling, you must succeed on a level check with a DC of 10 + the caster level of the effect as an immediate action. If the target is willing, this ability functions automatically. When the spell is cast, you appear wherever the caster appears, in the same position you were at the time of the spell's casting. If this would force you to appear in a solid object, you appear in the nearest open available space. If the conjuration spell has variable results, such as teleport, you suffer the same effect as the caster.

[Segev]

That is a great start; thanks. It won't cover everything, but I might be able to work from that. I'm trying to avoid it being useful ONLY against teleporting foes, however, so suggestions on expanding the breadth without having to name every individual effect it can help overcome are still welcome.

(As an example, again, a Phase Door.)

[OldTrees1]

"Whenever an adjacent enemy tries to move or teleport, if you have attacks of opportunity remaining, you may follow behind the enemy up to your speed. This allows you to join the enemy even in the cases where you would normally be excluded such as Phase Door or Teleport. Each use of this ability expends 1 attack of opportunity you had remaining. You may use this ability multiple times in a row provided you have attacks of opportunity remaining each time."

[Segev]

The "follow up to your speed" and the "included in teleport" is a little dicey, but could combine with the Hellbreaker's wording of "maintaining relative position."

One approach I attempted was to word it such that you could cause there to be a "portal" at the point from which the effect was performed. So you could shoot "through" a teleportation "portal," or a phase door, or what-have-you, as well as choosing to dash through it or reach through to grab them. As I've indicated, though, wording that is tricky, so these other approaches may be better.

[Deadline]

You may also want to take a look at the Astral Tracking feat from the Dragon Magazine Compendium. It's pretty neat.

[Segev]

That is neat. Though the lack of a time limit means that you could be tracking ancient teleportations, which is kind of amusing. Maybe a good plot hook, if played straight and not house-ruled to have a time limit.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Stowaway Pursuit: Whenever an opponent within view of you attempts to use a magical ability to aid them in physically moving away from you, you may attempt a Spellcraft check to benefit from the same ability. The DC of this check is 15 + spell level for spells and spell-like abilities, or 15 + 1/2 the opponent's total hit dice for supernatural abilities, or 15 + 1/2 the item's caster level for effects that do not duplicate spells generated by magic items. This DC increases by an additional +2 for every full ten feet of distance between you and the opponent. If the ability that triggers Stowaway Pursuit is capable of moving you closer to the opponent than you were when it was initially used, then it does so, up to the limits of its capability. For example, if you're 105 ft. from Edwin the 14th level Wizard who casts Dimension Door, your Spellcraft DC is 39. Edwin uses his Dimension Door spell to travel 900 feet away. This spell's normal allowable distance is 960 feet at a caster level of 14th, so you travel 960 feet, appearing 45 feet away from him.

[Fax Celestis]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/traceTeleport.htm

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?43975-Spells-quot-Sir-We-ve-Run-A-Trace-quot

[Larsen]

Lets try :

"Whenever an adjacent ennemy use a spell or spell-like ability to escape your reach, you count as an additionnal target for the spell even if it does not normally allow for more. If the creature is not a target for the spell, it last 1 more round instead during which you can use it even if normally not allowed."

[OldTrees1]

The "follow up to your speed" and the "included in teleport" is a little dicey, but could combine with the Hellbreaker's wording of "maintaining relative position."

Yeah, I hoped relative position was implied with the "follow behind" and "normally be excluded".
Not sure how to phrase creating a portal in an Extraordinary way. Although you can have it provoke an AoO and say(for redundancy) that the portal is still open during the AoO.

[Fax Celestis]

Lets try :

"Whenever an adjacent ennemy use a spell or spell-like ability to escape your reach, you count as an additionnal target for the spell even if it does not normally allow for more. If the creature is not a target for the spell, it last 1 more round instead during which you can use it even if normally not allowed."

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#spellStowaway


Spell Stowaway [Epic]
Prerequisites
Spellcraft 24 ranks, caster level 12th.

Benefit
Choose a spell-like ability you have, or a spell you can cast. You are attuned to the magic you choose. If another spellcaster within 300 feet of you uses this magic, you also immediately gain the magic’s effect as if it had been used on you by the same caster. You must have direct line of effect to the spellcaster in order to gain the benefit of the attuned magic (though you do not have to know the spellcaster is present, and you can be flat-footed). The magic’s duration, effect, and other specifics are determined by its original caster’s level.

Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat, it applies to a different spell or spell-like ability.

The prerequisite of knowing the spell makes this unfortunately not good for noncasters, but the concept is there.

[StoneCipher]

Whenever someone in (your line of sight, X distance, however you want to set the limits) travels to the Astral plane, (All teleportation is through the astral plane) it provokes a special attack of opportunity in which you can tear a hole open to the Astral plane and (intercept, follow, attack, again however you wanna slice it) before they exit the Astral plane.

Something to that effect.

As an added side-effect, if you don't identify the spell they are casting, you might just get stuck in the Astral plane if they decide to just plain go there.

[Larsen]

The prerequisite of knowing the spell makes this unfortunately not good for noncasters, but the concept is there.

Yes, I also tried to make it applicable to spells without targets (teleportation circle, phase door for exemple)