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Aquillion
2008-08-14, 03:46 PM
So, let me see if I have this straight. True Portal costs 50,000 gp to cast if you cast it with no circle present... or 1000 gp if you use an existing circle as the start point.

Casting a Linked Portal to an existing circle, without one present, costs 135 gp.

So... casting Linked Portal, then True Portal to get from any point to any other point in your current plane costs a whopping 1135 gp, right? Unless they're desperately unable to afford those extra 10 minutes (and remember, you still leave your current location within 10 minutes, you just have to spend another 10 minutes at some other almost-certainly-completely-safe location), why would anyone ever pay 50,000 for a True Portal?

Additionally. Planar Portal normally costs 5,000 gp. However, it says that it "works the same as linked portal", and with Linked Portal, you can use an existing circle to get +5 to your arcana check and reduce the cost to 50 gp. (True Portal overrides this to 1000 gp, but Planar Portal doesn't.) This means you can get to another plane from anywhere in the universe for 185 gp, doesn't it?

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 03:51 PM
Planar Portal can send you Anywhere that has a circle. which are as common as DM chooses to make them.

Jumping to a circle first before casting True portal is more efficient, yes. But maybe owners of said circles aren't happy to let you use them.

Aquillion
2008-08-14, 03:53 PM
Planar Portal can send you Anywhere that has a circle. which are as common as DM chooses to make them.From anywhere in the universe, I said. Yeah, of course they have to have a portal you know the sequence for at your destination. I was more concerned with how the way Planar Portal inherits from Linked Portal seems to unintentionally reduce its cost by a factor of about 100 (or about 50 if you want to do it from anywhere, not from an existing portal.)

Who knows, though, maybe they intended it that way...

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 03:59 PM
I think Portal codes will be popular to know. Without them, costs do tend to rise. "Chevron one encoded" hmm, portal codes as treasure might be interesting.

Maybe Portal spells do not work from Far realm? In 3rd ed if you were on Far realm getting out was tricky.

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 04:06 PM
not sure why one would use True Portal as stated with max cost: if you were mysteriously stuck on a plane, which could not be got to via Planar portal cos no circles, then maybe True portal would be needed to get around.

Mewtarthio
2008-08-14, 09:55 PM
The 50,000 gp thing probably only shows up in extreme contingencies. For instance, maybe the PCs are playing dead and don't want to risk being seen at a permanent circle. Maybe some sort of enemy is monitoring all known permanent circles.

Dragonmuncher
2008-08-14, 10:14 PM
Quick question- I remember from reading the PH that I was confused about the teleportation circle spells. I remember thinking, "Oh, these all let you go from anywhere, to an already-existing portal! But... wait, how do you make an already existing portal?"


Is there a way to create a permanent teleportation circle?

Oracle_Hunter
2008-08-14, 10:38 PM
Quick question- I remember from reading the PH that I was confused about the teleportation circle spells. I remember thinking, "Oh, these all let you go from anywhere, to an already-existing portal! But... wait, how do you make an already existing portal?"


Is there a way to create a permanent teleportation circle?

Not according to RAW. All TP Circles were made by Ancient and Lost Magics (tm)... including the inter-planar ones.

This mechanic exists to prevent PCs from using TP as an encounter-avoidance mechanism until very high levels, and to provide a new and handy form of quest (to find the Chevrons of a TP Circle located within a Lost Castle of Awesomeness).

icefractal
2008-08-15, 12:39 AM
All TP Circles were made by Ancient and Lost Magics (tm)Actually, the origin of TP Circles is left unspecified. While they might all be ancient, the fact that most towns, guilds, and temples have them could just as easily indicate that people make them on a frequent basis.

As far as a ritual I'd go with something not much higher level than Linked Portal (so that towns without epic residents can have them), but that takes a lot more time and people. And to fit with the existing rituals, they would start out with limited duration that could be extended with healing surges, and only become permanent after being "fed" for a certain amount of time.


And even if they were free, they'd hardly be an "encounter avoidance mechanism". To put one somewhere, you have to get there first, so you're not avoiding much.

Oracle_Hunter
2008-08-15, 12:50 AM
Actually, the origin of TP Circles is left unspecified. While they might all be ancient, the fact that most towns, guilds, and temples have them could just as easily indicate that people make them on a frequent basis.

As far as a ritual I'd go with something not much higher level than Linked Portal (so that towns without epic residents can have them), but that takes a lot more time and people. And to fit with the existing rituals, they would start out with limited duration that could be extended with healing surges, and only become permanent after being "fed" for a certain amount of time.


And even if they were free, they'd hardly be an "encounter avoidance mechanism". To put one somewhere, you have to get there first, so you're not avoiding much.

Oh heavens no, don't do that! :smalleek:

Fixing TP so that it wasn't mundane is one of the best things WotC did in 4e. TP circles should be ancient and mysterious, and they shouldn't be in every town - or next thing you know, we'll have Tippy Societies and Magic Trains!

:smallsigh: I guess if you really want every town to have easy access to TP, then go for it. Me, I'd rather my PCs be excited when they discover that the ruined keep outside of town has a TP circle hidden in the catacombs, rather than just asking some random peasant "hey, where's the nearest Teleportation ciricle?