Can dimension door be used in lieu of flying?

[dehro]

Warlocks get to use their Invocations as many times a day as they like, once every round.
Fell flight gives them the power to fly for as long as they want, at ground speed.
Flee the scene however, which they can use every round, is basically a dimension door every round.
The dimension door takes a round to activate but is instantaneous.
Now... Should a warlock cast dimension doors every round, would he be travelling in something resembling a straight line or would he be falling? And if he falls, how far does he fall? Do the act of activating flee the scene and the lateral movement interrupt the falling motion or would it constitute a continuous fall, albeit displaced sideways every round? Would his falling be starting anew every round or would he increase speed up to terminal velocity?
I like to think that if the warlock moves sideways and up, in a diagonal line, he should be able to compensate for the falling and still cover quite some ground, a distance at the very least comparable to flying (after all you can use dimension door to interrupt a fall, can't you?), but do the math support this notion or is the falling speed that much higher that compensating for the fall would annul the lateral movement? I'd rather not move laterally for a couple hundred meters only to go splat on the cobblestones the moment I stop moving sideways
Are there rules covering this issue?

[Troacctid]

If you're unsupported after teleporting, you'll fall normally. Per DMG2, a falling creature falls roughly 670 feet in the first round and 1,150 feet in subsequent rounds. If you don't have any way to slow your fall, you'll need to teleport farther than that in order to maintain your height, which, for a Warlock, requires a caster level of 500 or so, and, of course, a lot of vertical clearance.

[dehro]

If you're unsupported after teleporting, you'll fall normally. Per DMG2, a falling creature falls roughly 670 feet in the first round and 1,150 feet in subsequent rounds. If you don't have any way to slow your fall, you'll need to teleport farther than that in order to maintain your height, which, for a Warlock, requires a caster level of 500 or so, and, of course, a lot of vertical clearance.

I figured it wasn't going to fly (terrible pun, I know).
Still, flee the scene has a versatility that fell flight doesn't, so I think I'll stick to the ground and pick flee the scene...
Just to be clear.. If I should fall off a ledge or bridge and activate the invocation as soon as it's my turn, assuming I was pushed off by someone in their turn, would I be able to appear standing on the bridge, or would I still be going splat?

[Heliomance]

I played a Horizon Walker once in a game where the DM houseruled Dimension Door's range to be line of sight. My standard method of long range travel was to DDoor way up into the sky, spot my destination point, wait for my DDoor to recharge, then bamf to where I wanted to end up.

[nedz]

I played a Horizon Walker once in a game where the DM houseruled Dimension Door's range to be line of sight. My standard method of long range travel was to DDoor way up into the sky, spot my destination point, wait for my DDoor to recharge, then bamf to where I wanted to end up.

Unfortunately Flee the Scene has a much shorter range.

[Deophaun]

The good news is a ring of feather falling is dirt cheap, so your idea is somewhat salvageable.

Just to be clear.. If I should fall off a ledge or bridge and activate the invocation as soon as it's my turn, assuming I was pushed off by someone in their turn, would I be able to appear standing on the bridge, or would I still be going splat?
There is no inertia in D&D. Otherwise, consider what would happen if you stood on the equator and tried to teleport to the other side of the world; now your velocity is opposite that of the velocity of where you appear. Do you go splat then?

[nedz]

The good news is a ring of feather falling is dirt cheap, so your idea is somewhat salvageable.

Except that Flee the Scene (at CL 6) has a range of 40' and you fall 60' per round with Featherfall.

[Troacctid]

The trick is to get yourself a glide speed. If you're a dragonborn (wing aspect), raptoran, or hadozee, you can glide forward, then bamf upward to regain your altitude.


There is no inertia in D&D. Otherwise, consider what would happen if you stood on the equator and tried to teleport to the other side of the world; now your velocity is opposite that of the velocity of where you appear. Do you go splat then?

Trick question. You aren't really being transported instantaneously from one point on the material plane to another--in D&D, teleportation actually involves traveling via the astral plane, which has different laws of physics.

[dehro]

Except that Flee the Scene (at CL 6) has a range of 40' and you fall 60' per round with Featherfall.

ah.. crap.. I hadn't noticed the short range.. I always played it as per dimension door spell with the normal range.. so yeah, that kills it as a mode of transportation beyond the showing off or the fighting circumstances.

[Deophaun]

Except that Flee the Scene (at CL 6)...

But it's not capped at CL 6. Which is what makes it "somewhat." There's no "except" at all.

[dehro]

But it's not capped at CL 6. Which is what makes it "somewhat." There's no "except" at all.

I don't plan on getting any further levels in warlock :smallsmile:

[Acanous]

I don't plan on getting any further levels in warlock :smallsmile:

Then take Fell Flight.

[Deophaun]

I don't plan on getting any further levels in warlock :smallsmile:
That's fine. But as an exercise, it can be made to work. Anything that boosts CL can be applied to your invocations, and hitting a CL of 16 (so that you can at least move forward) is much easier than hitting a CL of 1290+. Practiced Spellcaster + Bead of Karma gets you to 14 already.

It's more practical if you can replace the ring of feather fall with a permanent source of levitation, though. That should be considerably cheaper than a permanent source of flight.

[gawwy]

there are hand gliders in A&E. dont have the page though.

mixed with dimension door could lead to essentially continuous flight.

I feel like theres a gliding cape somewhere but i cant recall where.

[nedz]

But it's not capped at CL 6. Which is what makes it "somewhat." There's no "except" at all.
See this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?463212-I-could-use-a-little-help-with-my-new-character-of-the-rogue-ish-persuasion) thread.

That's fine. But as an exercise, it can be made to work. Anything that boosts CL can be applied to your invocations, and hitting a CL of 16 (so that you can at least move forward) is much easier than hitting a CL of 1290+. Practiced Spellcaster + Bead of Karma gets you to 14 already.

It's more practical if you can replace the ring of feather fall with a permanent source of levitation, though. That should be considerably cheaper than a permanent source of flight.
Practiced Spellcaster doesn't work with Warlocks by RAW. Now it's a reasonable house-rule, but still.

[Deophaun]

See this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?463212-I-could-use-a-little-help-with-my-new-character-of-the-rogue-ish-persuasion) thread.
Again, that's fine. But OP was asked in general terms.

Practiced Spellcaster doesn't work with Warlocks by under certain interpretations of RAW.
Fixed that for you. Spell-like abilities are just like spells except for certain exceptions. Qualifying a class as a spellcasting class is not one of those listed exceptions. Effectively, spell-like abilities are a subset of spells, not a separate entity, so if you can cast spell-like abilities, you are a spellcaster.

There is a specific exception for warlocks that he cannot use his spell-like abilities to qualify for PrCs with spellcasting level requirements, but since Practiced Spellcaster is neither a PrC and does not have a spellcasting level requirement, there is nothing clearly RAW about the feat not applying.

[Psyren]

It's easier to obtain an item that lets you fly all day than one that lets you teleport all day, so I would also take Flee the Scene, and then get or craft a carpet/wings/graft/etc.

[dehro]

I'll only get one lesser invocation, for a character that is otherwise of the stealthy/rogue-ish/long range variety.. so I think that in that spirit, flee the scene is the most well suited for the character. I can always get the sorcerer to cast fly on me, in a pinch. it's not ideal, but there are only so many thing one can prepare for anyway, without optimising one's entire build.

[Ashtagon]

Using a spell-like ability is typically a standard action unless otherwise specified.

Warlocks can use their invocations at will, as noted in their class description.

As others have noted, this essentially means dimension door once per round, and you are unlikely to ever be high enough level to dimension door higher than you will fall.

Note that flee the scene has a range of 25 ft + 5 ft per 2 levels. It is moderately likely that your move speed will exceed this if you have invested any resources into moving faster than the base 30 ft.

Since it is a standard action to activate flee the scene, you can't use it in response to falling off a cliff (only free/swift-action abilities can do that). You could possibly use it to "flee" downwards, either to arrive safely at the bottom if close enough, or to have a shortened fall.

[Psyren]

Quicken SLA is an option as well, and Flee the Scene isn't a bad choice for it. Being able to blink away as a swift action can get you out of some scrapes.

[nedz]

Fixed that for you. Spell-like abilities are just like spells except for certain exceptions. Qualifying a class as a spellcasting class is not one of those listed exceptions. Effectively, spell-like abilities are a subset of spells, not a separate entity, so if you can cast spell-like abilities, you are a spellcaster.

There is a specific exception for warlocks that he cannot use his spell-like abilities to qualify for PrCs with spellcasting level requirements, but since Practiced Spellcaster is neither a PrC and does not have a spellcasting level requirement, there is nothing clearly RAW about the feat not applying.
Warlocks are not a Spellcasting class. Reading Practiced Spellcaster as you do is wishful thinking — this has been heavily debated.
Also, even if it did work the benefits are tiny.

Quicken SLA is an option as well, and Flee the Scene isn't a bad choice for it. Being able to blink away as a swift action can get you out of some scrapes.
Flee the Scene is a 4th level invocation — you have to be 16th level (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#quickenSpellLikeAbility) to Quicken it.
Sudden Still Spell is the standard trick for getting out of grapples with Flee the Scene.

[Curmudgeon]

Spell-like abilities are just like spells except for certain exceptions. Qualifying a class as a spellcasting class is not one of those listed exceptions.
Why would it need to be listed as an exception? A Warlock is not a spellcaster, as the Complete Arcane text notes in several places.
He is much more limited in his abilities compared to the spell selection of spellcasters, and he must rely on his eldritch blast in place of the spell power of an arcane caster.
However, like arcane spellcasters, a warlock wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure (all invocations, including eldritch blast, have a somatic component).
A warlock is entitled to a Concentration check to successfully use an invocation if he is hit by an attack while invoking, just as a spellcaster would be.
Warlocks can qualify for some prestige classes usually intended for spellcasters; see Warlocks and Prestige Classes, page 18, for details. Practiced Spellcaster requires a spellcasting class, which Warlock explicitly is not.

[StreamOfTheSky]

there are hand gliders in A&E. dont have the page though.

mixed with dimension door could lead to essentially continuous flight.

I feel like theres a gliding cape somewhere but i cant recall where.

Similar to this idea, the +0 LA Dragonborn of Bahamut template gives wings that eventually give actual flight but before that allow you to glide while falling. The Raptoran race has a very similar progression, but the template can be applied to many races.
If you're dragon-blooded (as simple as being a slight variation of human or such), I think Draconomicon has a set of feats for draconic wings/flight. The first one gives you a glide like the above and a later one gives you real flight.

So, plenty of options to use gliding to teleport in the air, glide down forward at a fast rate, repeat.

[Mr Adventurer]

If you're using Warlock levels to deliver Sneak Attack with your Eldritch Blast, and are not progressing your caster level past 6, you'll need to consider Spell Resistance.

[ericgrau]

Boots of levitate are only 7,500 gp and they function at-will.

[dehro]

If you're using Warlock levels to deliver Sneak Attack with your Eldritch Blast, and are not progressing your caster level past 6, you'll need to consider Spell Resistance.

I got me a force bow too :smallbiggrin: