Teleport vs Word of Recall vs Refuge

[johnbragg]

Teleport. 5th level Wizard spell (Also Travel domain)
Pretty much anywhere within 1000+ miles, plus friends. As long as you've scried the place for an hour, 94% chance of complete and total success.

Word of Recall. 6th level Cleric spell.
Back to your sanctuary, plus friends. No chance of failure, vs 3% chance of failure using Teleport.

Refuge. 7th level Cleric spell, 9th level Wizard
Creates a one-use magic item to either transport the user to the caster, or transport the caster to the user.
Single creature only. No chance of failure. Cost: 1,500 gp in gems

Is it just me, or are Word of Recall and Refuge over-leveled compared to Teleport? Yes yes, teleportation is the sort of thing wizards are better at, but Teleport is almost infinitely more useful--you can run away, you can use scry-and-die, you can trivialize distance. Word of Recall you can run away, but you can't scry-and-die, and you can only trivialize distance in one direction. Refuge in it's user-to-caster form is pretty much the same as Word of Recall, except cast by an NPC. In it's caster-to-user form, you use it to port in a DMPC or the BBEG.

Background: I'm planning for E6, and I'm inclined to include a "ruby slippers/there's no place like home" ritual, creating one-shot magic items that teleport you to a major landmark in a major city (mage guild hall/major temple/palace courtyard). I think that's the kind of "broad magic" (low power, but fairly common) feel I'm going for.

[Doctor Awkward]

Gemjump. (http://kmalloy.cloudapp.net/dndtools.eu/spells/magic-of-faerun--20/gemjump--1759/index.html)

Just shape it like slippers.

[Jack_Simth]

Teleport. 5th level Wizard spell (Also Travel domain)
Pretty much anywhere within 1000+ miles, plus friends. As long as you've scried the place for an hour, 94% chance of complete and total success.

Word of Recall. 6th level Cleric spell.
Back to your sanctuary, plus friends. No chance of failure, vs 3% chance of failure using Teleport.

Refuge. 7th level Cleric spell, 9th level Wizard
Creates a one-use magic item to either transport the user to the caster, or transport the caster to the user.
Single creature only. No chance of failure. Cost: 1,500 gp in gems

Is it just me, or are Word of Recall and Refuge over-leveled compared to Teleport? Yes yes, teleportation is the sort of thing wizards are better at, but Teleport is almost infinitely more useful--you can run away, you can use scry-and-die, you can trivialize distance. Word of Recall you can run away, but you can't scry-and-die, and you can only trivialize distance in one direction. Refuge in it's user-to-caster form is pretty much the same as Word of Recall, except cast by an NPC. In it's caster-to-user form, you use it to port in a DMPC or the BBEG.
Wizards are better at in-plane teleportation magic than Clerics. So? Clerics are better at planar travel than wizards (Plane Shift is Cleric-5 or Sor/Wiz-7; Shadow Walk is Sor/Wiz 6). Clerics also get Greater Plane Shift as a 7th level spell - which is plane shift, minus the chance of being off-target (Spell Compendium) if you've been to a particular spot before. Wizards and Clerics both have their strengths and weaknesses.

[johnbragg]

Wizards are better at in-plane teleportation magic than Clerics. So? Clerics are better at planar travel than wizards (Plane Shift is Cleric-5 or Sor/Wiz-7; Shadow Walk is Sor/Wiz 6). Clerics also get Greater Plane Shift as a 7th level spell - which is plane shift, minus the chance of being off-target (Spell Compendium) if you've been to a particular spot before. Wizards and Clerics both have their strengths and weaknesses.

If this is saying that an arcane Word of Recall would be lower level than Teleport, I agree. But usually D&D handles "arcane/divine casters are better at X" by either giving the same spells at different levels(Plane Shift, Animate Dead, Remove Curse), or by flat-out denying the spell to one or the other (healing magic, illusions). Not by giving one a much weaker version at a higher spell level.

As for Gemjump, I'm at a loss as to why that's higher level than Word of Recall. (Casting at leisure and using when needed is worth a lot, so I suppose I understand why it's better than Teleport for that specific purpose, although Teleport is still infinitely more flexible, which is supposed to matter.)

[Jack_Simth]

If this is saying that an arcane Word of Recall would be lower level than Teleport, I agree. But usually D&D handles "arcane/divine casters are better at X" by either giving the same spells at different levels(Plane Shift, Animate Dead, Remove Curse), or by flat-out denying the spell to one or the other (healing magic, illusions). Not by giving one a much weaker version at a higher spell level.
It's flavoured differently and made a little more expensive. Clerics are supposed to be the fix-it's and defenders. Word of Recall? Hard to use offensively: you must be very familiar with the place, and you specify the location when you prepare the spell rather than when you cast it. Teleport? Much easier to use offensively. Yes, you can use Word of Recall offensively with enough preparation - but you'd have had to have been there a rather lot if we use the definition of "very familiar" that's in Teleport, so about all you could do with it is get armed people or creatures into an area that normally prohibits such.


As for Gemjump, I'm at a loss as to why that's higher level than Word of Recall. (Casting at leisure and using when needed is worth a lot, so I suppose I understand why it's better than Teleport for that specific purpose, although Teleport is still infinitely more flexible, which is supposed to matter.)
It got powered up slightly, and level reduced slightly, in Spell Compendium.

1) Cast Gemjump.
2) Cast Magic Aura on it to get rid of the magical aura.
3) Have the party rogue slip the gem into somebody's pocket via slight of hand, bluff, or a myrad of other methods (like, say, pay someone with the gem).
4) Wait until the vic is expected to be asleep or the gem is expected to be in a vault somewhere.
5) Mind Blank yourself.
6) Activate Gemjump
7) Murder / Loot
8) Teleport home.

Gemjump permits you to scry & fry without scrying, if you're clever. And yes, that's worth at least one level bump over teleport.

[Psyren]

Yes yes, teleportation is the sort of thing wizards are better at,

Got it in one. Clerics are expected to walk the land and proselytize, not blink past everybody they're supposed to be converting.

[Chronos]

Quoth johnbragg:

If this is saying that an arcane Word of Recall would be lower level than Teleport, I agree. But usually D&D handles "arcane/divine casters are better at X" by either giving the same spells at different levels(Plane Shift, Animate Dead, Remove Curse), or by flat-out denying the spell to one or the other (healing magic, illusions). Not by giving one a much weaker version at a higher spell level.
There are other examples. Both Clone and Resurrection bring people back from the dead, for instance, but Clone is much more difficult to use effectively and higher level, because divine is better at bringing back the dead than arcane is.

[johnbragg]

I'm not seeing anyone arguing that Word of Recall is in fact more powerful than Teleport.

So we can peg "Teleport To Pre-Designated Location" as a 4th level arcane spell effect.

I think my instinct that an ritual to create a Talisman of Secure Refuge would be in the spirit of a "broad magic" game, where there is lots of low-level and slowtime magic, magic is used to Get Stuff Done, but high-level casters aren't breaking the world. At 1,400 gp or so a pop (DMG list price, SL 4 x CL 7 x 50 gp) it's not going to be used lightly.

[atemu1234]

I'm not seeing anyone arguing that Word of Recall is in fact more powerful than Teleport.

So we can peg "Teleport To Pre-Designated Location" as a 4th level arcane spell effect.

I think my instinct that an ritual to create a Talisman of Secure Refuge would be in the spirit of a "broad magic" game, where there is lots of low-level and slowtime magic, magic is used to Get Stuff Done, but high-level casters aren't breaking the world. At 1,400 gp or so a pop (DMG list price, SL 4 x CL 7 x 50 gp) it's not going to be used lightly.

Basically. Word of Recall is only useful if you can't have teleport.