Improving Teleport safety?

[jmax]

EDIT with important detail: This PC has a Wisdom score of 7 :-P

I have a mid-level PC who wants to use Teleport (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/teleport.htm) to ferry his kids to/from various activities. All of the destinations are within a 5-mile radius of home and would be part of his "stomping grounds" as far as familiarity goes - but it might be a stretch to say that they are places where he feels "at home" specifically. That means they probably don't quite qualify for "Very Familiar" under a strict reading, but they would definitely meet the "Studied Carefully" criteria.

Off Target and Similar Area aren't a serious concern - there isn't anywhere within double the travel distance that wouldn't be safe, and anyplace visually/thematically similar to the right destination should be safe as well. However, Studied Carefully has a 1% chance of Mishap, and a Mishap deals 1d10 damage to all travelers and then forces another reroll with (for Studied Carefully) a 5% recurring chance of subsequent mishaps. That means there's a 1% chance of everyone taking 1d10 damage, a 1 in 2,000 chance of everyone taking 2d10 damage, and a 1 in 100,000 chance of everyone taking 3d10 damage.

1d10 isn't really a problem - it would be extremely unpleasant, but never fatal. Nothing we couldn't fix. But 2d10 gets dicey with kids as they would presumably only have 3-5 hp at most. 3d10 would most often be fatal. A 1 in 100,000 chance is probably comparable to essentially any other transportation method (including driving in real life). However, 1 in 2,000 is quite high - even assuming only one round trip per week, that's a 2% per year fatality rate (18% over 10 years), which is obviously unacceptable.

So that leaves a few possibilities I can see:

Are there any options for making Teleport safer? I took a quick glance and didn't see anything that improves the odds of success or lets you increase familiarity levels beyond what was already specified in the spell.
Are there any spells better suited for multi-mile-scale instant travel? It doesn't half to be half a continent - 1 mile per caster level would be plenty.
What low-level spells could offset the safety problems?

So far the best thing I've come up with is Mass Aid (Spell Compendium), which grants 1d8+CL temporary hit points to an arbitrary number of targets. That's a Cleric spell, but I can make it work. I suppose you could sort of view it like adding crumple zones and seatbelts, but I'd prefer to prevent the damage entirely.

Any other ideas?

[Rebel7284]

- Teleportation Circle seems really helpful if you want to make the same trip daily since it can be made permanent
- Greater Teleport works too, but is less reusable.
- Ring Gates are core, but might require a shrink person or similar magic.

[InvisibleBison]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to research a custom spell.

[Particle_Man]

The wayfarer guide prestige class at 3rd level gets you a second roll for accuracy, which helps the odds. You lose a level of spellcasting though.

[Ashtagon]

Even 1d10 gives a 50% chance that those kids will need immediate life-saving medical attention. Assuming you make 400 jumps a year, each with a 1% chance of that happening, you're pretty much guaranteeing that -- multiple times a year -- your kids will be in imminent danger of death.

(Edit: 98.2% chance of at least one "incident" over that year)

This is not good parenting.

[Cruiser1]

Are there any options for making Teleport safer? I took a quick glance and didn't see anything that improves the odds of success or lets you increase familiarity levels beyond what was already specified in the spell.
Yes, since you're teleporting to a fixed set of known places, just get a Psion Seer to manifest Anchored Navigation (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/anchoredNavigation.htm) for you, to create a "mishap-free teleport beacon" for each of these places.

[Maat Mons]

You have to wait until character level 12 to get the Enhanced Accuracy from Wayfarer Guide. Character level 13 is when normal Wizards get Greater Teleport. That’s a very narrow window of time where the PrC actually allows you to travel with greater accuracy than other casters.

If you want a reroll, maybe the Accurate Jaunt feat? It’s a Spelltouched feat though, not all games may use them.

[jmax]

Even 1d10 gives a 50% chance that those kids will need immediate life-saving medical attention. Assuming you make 400 jumps a year, each with a 1% chance of that happening, you're pretty much guaranteeing that -- multiple times a year -- your kids will be in imminent danger of death.

(Edit: 98.2% chance of at least one "incident" over that year)

This is not good parenting.

I may have neglected to mention that this character has a Wisdom score of 7. But also that's why he wants to make Teleport safer :-P


Yes, since you're teleporting to a fixed set of known places, just get a Psion Seer to manifest Anchored Navigation (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/anchoredNavigation.htm) for you, to create a "mishap-free teleport beacon" for each of these places.

That one seems like it's going to be very difficult to get access to, especially for multiple trips per week since it's not permanent and needs to be cast on both ends.


Sounds like a perfect opportunity to research a custom spell.

Oooh, that's an interesting idea. Local Teleport has a nice ring to it. Maybe 4th-level, cast time of one minute (i.e. not combat-worthy), one mile per level, same capacity, and no failure chance. And then perhaps a 5th-level version with standard-action cast time OR higher capacity. That feels about right.


You have to wait until character level 12 to get the Enhanced Accuracy from Wayfarer Guide. Character level 13 is when normal Wizards get Greater Teleport. That’s a very narrow window of time where the PrC actually allows you to travel with greater accuracy than other casters.

If you want a reroll, maybe the Accurate Jaunt feat? It’s a Spelltouched feat though, not all games may use them.

Hmm, Accurate Jaunt looks interesting. That might work.


Thanks everyone!

[Satinavian]

Couldn't you just try to get Aid or something similar on your spelllist somehow and provide temp HP before every teleport ?

Oh, rereaing i see you found it already.



OK, Door of Decay seems a perfectly safe teleport alternative at 5th Level. No mishaps because you use some undead at the target destination as beacon.



Problems are : It is a Cleric spell and it is self only. You could probably craft items for your children to teleport safely twice per day this way, if you find a friendly cleric. And you must arrange to have an undead at school.

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm, Accurate Jaunt looks interesting. That might work.
Chance of the initial 1d10: 1 in 10,000
Chance of a second 1d10 (after the first): 1 in 400 (so 2d10 is a 1 in 4,000,000 overall)
Chance of a third 1d10 (after the second): 1 in 400 again (so 3d10 is a 1 in 1,600,000,000 overall)

At 10,000 trips, you've got a 63 percent chance of taking the 1d10 at least once. But 10,000 trips is four times per day for nearly seven years.

[jmax]

Chance of the initial 1d10: 1 in 10,000
Chance of a second 1d10 (after the first): 1 in 400 (so 2d10 is a 1 in 4,000,000 overall)
Chance of a third 1d10 (after the second): 1 in 400 again (so 3d10 is a 1 in 1,600,000,000 overall)

At 10,000 trips, you've got a 63 percent chance of taking the 1d10 at least once. But 10,000 trips is four times per day for nearly seven years.

Yeah, that gets it in line with modern driving risks, which would be "acceptable" just like in real life.

[zlefin]

Why use teleport? If the whole area is safe then direct travel seems like it would work fine. If you used phantom steeds it'd only take minutes to get anywhere in that radius.

[jmax]

Why use teleport? If the whole area is safe then direct travel seems like it would work fine. If you used phantom steeds it'd only take minutes to get anywhere in that radius.


Phantom Steed is a ten-minute cast, so it takes a while to gear up for moving multiple kids. Ethereal Mount would admittedly cut that down nicely.
Teleport is logistically "simpler" since you don't have to corral the kids up onto the horses or worry about them getting distracted and wandering off somewhere they shouldn't.
Younger kids might fall off a Phantom Steed
Instant gratification
Wisdom 7 :-P

[Telonius]

Rerolls might be helpful here, but the tricky bit is that this is a d100 roll. Most of the reroll stuff specifies attack rolls or saves.

Fatespinner 4's "Resist Fate" ability lets you reroll one roll, once a day, with no restriction on what kind of roll it is.

Alter Fortune is Wiz3 spell (from PHB2) that forces a creature to reroll one die roll it just made. Immediate action, close range.

Combining those two, you'd need to roll a 100 three times in a row to take the damage; so a 1 in a million chance. Pretty safe (as long as you aren't in Discworld).

[Rebel7284]

Rerolls might be helpful here, but the tricky bit is that this is a d100 roll. Most of the reroll stuff specifies attack rolls or saves.

Fatespinner 4's "Resist Fate" ability lets you reroll one roll, once a day, with no restriction on what kind of roll it is.

Alter Fortune is Wiz3 spell (from PHB2) that forces a creature to reroll one die roll it just made. Immediate action, close range.

Combining those two, you'd need to roll a 100 three times in a row to take the damage; so a 1 in a million chance. Pretty safe (as long as you aren't in Discworld).

Alter Fortune + Craft Contingent Spell + Proper wording to stop them all from triggering on a single potential mishap could be used in case there is a concern about running out of immediate actions.

Custom spell, mentioned above, is certainly the optimal solution if allowed!

[Jack_Simth]

Phantom Steed is a ten-minute cast, so it takes a while to gear up for moving multiple kids. Ethereal Mount would admittedly cut that down nicely.
Teleport is logistically "simpler" since you don't have to corral the kids up onto the horses or worry about them getting distracted and wandering off somewhere they shouldn't.
Younger kids might fall off a Phantom Steed
Instant gratification
Wisdom 7 :-P


Shadow Conjouration (Sor/Wiz 4) can duplicate Phantom Steed (Sor/Wiz 3) with a standard action. And Teleport is Sor/Wiz-5.

[jmax]

Shadow Conjouration (Sor/Wiz 4) can duplicate Phantom Steed (Sor/Wiz 3) with a standard action. And Teleport is Sor/Wiz-5.

Ooh, that's an interesting idea. Though it does inherently require lying to his kids about their horses being real :-P

Items 2-5 still apply, but I do like that idea.

[Ramza00]

Magic Item of Forced Dream command word, the 3rd level Psionic power is ideal for non combat teleport resets where as a swift action you reset your turn.

3*5*1800/5*the amount of times you want to use it per day.

So a little more than 5k per use, per day.

[Anthrowhale]

Node Door is a level 3 FR spell which enables safe transport between earth nodes, if they happen to be their. At higher levels, you can create a level 1 earth node with a 9th level spell.

[Agi Hammerthief]

Shadow Conjouration (Sor/Wiz 4) can duplicate Phantom Steed (Sor/Wiz 3) with a standard action. And Teleport is Sor/Wiz-5.
can casters deliberately fail the saving throw of their own spell?
The caster knows (Int) what the spell does so the Wis 7 should not come into play.

[jmax]

can casters deliberately fail the saving throw of their own spell?

That is a subject of much debate, but in this case it looks like it actually wouldn't matter.


A shadow creature has one-fifth the hit points of a normal creature of its kind (regardless of whether it’s recognized as shadowy). It deals normal damage and has all normal abilities and weaknesses. Against a creature that recognizes it as a shadow creature, however, the shadow creature’s damage is one-fifth (20%) normal, and all special abilities that do not deal lethal damage are only 20% likely to work. (Roll for each use and each affected character separately.) Furthermore, the shadow creature’s AC bonuses are one-fifth as large.

Emphasis mine. The Shadow Steed would have only 3-4 hp and effective AC 10, but it doesn't need to be combat-worthy, and Phantom Steed won't fight anyway. Its special abilities aren't used against creatures, so those aren't affected by disbelief. In every way that actually matters, it's as good as real.

So yeah, I guess he wouldn't have to lie to his kids for that after all. They can ride the Shadow Horsey even if they know it isn't real.