Teleportation Frustration

[CockroachTeaParty]

I was thinking of an idea for an awesome prisoner escort mission type of adventurer, where the PCs have to help bring a dangerous criminal to a maximum-security prison (specifically, the Dreadhold of the Eberron campaign setting).

I had it all worked out: a brutal voyage by sea around the continent, all the while being ambushed by assassins wanting to see the prisoner dead, and the criminal's allies who want to set him free.

And then I realized: why waste all this time with boats, when they could just teleport him there?

I had already found a realistic reason that the prisoner wasn't simply going to be executed, and that was why they were sending him to prison. But I can't think of a realistic reason why he couldn't be teleported to the Dreadhold...

Does anyone have any decent ideas? Perhaps the prison has some sort of massive anti-magic field around it, so you can't simply teleport into it, but in that case, they could just teleport near the prison and cut the time needed in transit down by a considerable margin.

The prisoner himself is very dangerous, but they keep him fatigued, restrained, and close to unconciousness at all times, and they could very easily knock him out and teleport him without a struggle.

Grr... It's Eberron, too, so I can't just set the adventure in a low-magic world where teleportation isn't available. Please help!

[Godna]

Dimensional Ancor or Lock seems to be the answer to your problems.

Have it so that he for what ever reason is perpetually anchored so can't teleport.

[Defiant]

Dimensional Ancor or Lock seems to be the answer to your problems.

Have it so that he for what ever reason is perpetually anchored so can't teleport.

Brilliant!

[Keld Denar]

Check out the spell Forbidance. Its got a Dim Lock type element on it, but only for entering it. Its possible to password protect it, but you could just as easily say that the password option was not included, or only 1-2 people know the password, to keep the possibility of betrayal to a minimum. Then you could say that since there is no stable ground around it to teleport to, boats would be required.

[Johel]

Dimensional Shackles

The man is a spontaneous caster (sorcerer ?) with teleportation spells.
Sure, he is fatigued, restrained and such but why would you take the risk of him just going "!! pop !!" once he gets the chance ?
So, with these, he can't teleport or be teleported.

[Korivan]

Or he has Spellfire, or some other kind of ability that makes using magic on him dangerous.

[Harperfan7]

He has a very powerful arcane curse on him that will force any teleport effect cast on him to transport him to the lair of his enemies/friends instead of the intended destination. The spell has a high SR vs. dispel, or he is somehow immune to dispel magic (magic tattoo)?

[CockroachTeaParty]

Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

[Frosty]

I just say Teleport doesn't exist.

[taltamir]

1. As realistic as the reason is that he can't be executed, around the 2nd or 3rd time we are attacked by his allies I'd just slit his throat. Or if I can't get away with it, wait for an actual attack, let his allies in the room, and then and stab him mid combat (he was escaping!).

2. If he has allies, then there is absolutely no wiggling needed, he HAS to be transported manually... why?
Origin and end prison are under permanent dimensional lock to prevent teleports. As for why they can't just walk a mile in a random direction and then deleport... He himself is bound with manacles of dimensional lock & scry protection... if the PCs choose to remove said manacles (and it is an option that they should be allowed to choose) AND they do not do something else to prevent scrying (even if they do something about scrying, his allies could have paid off a guard and have someone follow the PCs invisible with a teleport ready to take him to safety)... If the PCs make the tiniest slip up, his allies will just teleport him to freedom, and now they have to chase him down...

3. A high level party should not be doing prison escorts... if you are really intent on such a mission than have them make low level alts for it. If you can literally reshape reality or wrestle a dragon, why in the heck are you doing such mundane things? you should be conquering nations and fighting outsiders, not escorting a lesser mortal from one prison to another. And no attack by such lesser mortals should pose a threat to you.

[Lamech]

Well teleportation into areas of high magic energy is dangerous, I assume a super-prision would count. Of course, that just puts them a bit away from the prision. Its possible the prisioner himself counts as one, experimented with new kinds of magic to enhance himself directly, but it makes him radiate enough magic energy to block teleportation.

Its also possible to he has somehow given himself a method to prevent himself from unwanted teleports, and directly enchanting his soul so no removal. Perhaps he once fought a priest who loved plane shift. Being a jackass of a criminal... well... he isn't coorperating. I would personally go with the second. He can't be forcibly teleported or ported up too, perma-mind blank, the whole nine yards of paranoid mage.

You could also have them teleport to the prision... only to be dumped into deep shadow. No astral plane there, no teleportation, only a long and painful treck out to the normal world. I have no idea if you could make any of the stuff work though.

[AmberVael]

Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

If he's a necroarcnate (thus implying he has at minimum 8th level wealth), it is plausible that he could have afforded some kind of magical backup- either a friend, a contingent spell, or something similar, that could teleport him.

Alternately, if he is high enough level, he could potentially have access to Shedu Crown (which allows ethereal jaunt) or Planar Chasuble (which allows Gate).

Or maybe they don't want him capable of using his necroarcnate abilities (as a great many of them could potentially allow escape) and thus have bound him with antimagic stuff so he can't use it (which would also prevent teleport).

[mostlyharmful]

Hmm... all viable options. I wanted to make the prisoner a necrocarnate, but perhaps I could make him a gestalt necrocarnate//sorcerer, with teleportation abilities of his own. That would necessitate dimensional shackles, etc...

I'm still having trouble justifying it, though. Frustrating...

Make him part of the House with the mark of travel, you could houserule it blows marks powers as well, or give him one of the abberant marks that's dangerous so the players have to make sure he's magically restrained?

[Darkmatter]

Those criminal allies that want to set the prisoner free include a master of astral space who will be able to redirect any teleportation on the part of the prisoner, allowing him to escape.

The prisoner himself has the ability to control the effects of any spell cast upon him - thus, he can pick the target of a teleportation spell.

The prisoner was cursed during his capture - any form of teleportation will instantly hill him. Alternate: the prisoner has a vital organ replaced by a magical device that will stop working if teleported, killing him.

The prisoner is a black hole for magic - no spells of any sort will affect him.

The prisoner has such a mundane dread of teleportation that undergoing it will drive him insane, rendering him useless for whatever purpose he is being kept alive.

Teleporting closer than a certain distance (the distance of the ship ride) to the prison is extraordinarily dangerous during this conjunction of the planets.

Basically, you're the DM. You determine how magic works, and it's MAGIC. Make something up.

[Chrono22]

Huh. Well, that's a pretty common problem with teleport. It makes lots of parts of a story redundant.
I guess if I wanted to fix this in my own games, I'd make it so that you can only teleport to a limited number of locations around the world (spots where ley lines cross). This way, these locations will be well-known. Countries would almost certainly construct bases or security around teleport nodes.

[taltamir]

the person escorted is not a prisoner... whatever it is that is special about him prevents teleportation, and the people after him want to kidnap him / kill him. This only changes the "reason" for the trip but leaves most of the individual "points" intact...

however, the fact you designed it so far ahead, including exact methods of travel (boat trip, etc), indicates that you might intend to railroad them... there is a very high chance that the PC's will NOT go the exact direction you want them to.

Or just change teleport itself... (the suggestion of only certainly locations being teleportably to works.)

[ZeroNumerous]

1. As realistic as the reason is that he can't be executed, around the 2nd or 3rd time we are attacked by his allies I'd just slit his throat. Or if I can't get away with it, wait for an actual attack, let his allies in the room, and then and stab him mid combat (he was escaping!).

This is why realistic reasons suck. If you're going to have a reason why someone isn't just killed then someone doesn't trap their soul/Speak With Dead/animate their corpse whatever then make it a fantastic reason.

"Sure, you can kill him."
"Alrigh--"
"But doing so will free an ancient and powerful foe from a trapped existence caused by his distant ancestors. He is the last of his line, and with his death lies potentially the death of the entire plane."

[streakster]

Hordes of astral spectres, shades of the innocents cursed by this man to an unlife locked beyond the planes, wait to destroy him should he ever teleport, and so, just for an instant, exist beyond the world - where they can reach him.



Plus, your players can use this when he inevitably escapes and attacks them - 'I dimension hop him!" - and then they'll feel smart.

[taltamir]

This is why realistic reasons suck. If you're going to have a reason why someone isn't just killed then someone doesn't trap their soul/Speak With Dead/animate their corpse whatever then make it a fantastic reason.

"Sure, you can kill him."
"Alrigh--"
"But doing so will free an ancient and powerful foe from a trapped existence caused by his distant ancestors. He is the last of his line, and with his death lies potentially the death of the entire plane."

Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

I sure as hell don't trust a PRISON to hold him safe if his death means the destruction of the universe... I'd probably put it in the astral plane too... or my own demi plane... As a high level caster I am much better to guard him then a prison...

Or... face whatever apocalypse is coming :). A demon lord you say? sounds like an EPIC battle, one that will get my name immortalized in the annuals of time!

[Foryn Gilnith]

Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

And he breeds yearly to make sure that the anti-apocalypse lineage is disseminated throughout the animal populace. :)

The prisoner has such a mundane dread of teleportation that undergoing it will drive him insane, rendering him useless for whatever purpose he is being kept alive.

Teleporting closer than a certain distance (the distance of the ship ride) to the prison is extraordinarily dangerous during this conjunction of the planets.

These work well as "mundane" answers. Teleportation will mentally unhinge the prisoner more than is acceptable. The prison wards make close teleportation implausible, so you have to teleport farther away - a great timesaver, to be sure, but still leaving you plenty of time to be attacked. And your enemies will know you'll teleport as close to the edge of the safe zone as possible...

[Akal Saris]

Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that. And if the prison is on an island and barred from teleportation, then the best the PCs could do would be to teleport to the nearest land mass, since the caster probably doesn't have a clear image of the sea around the prison.

The prisoner might also be physically frail, and any teleportation mishap might kill him.

[Lysander]

Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that.

It does. There's your solution. They can't teleport him because he's wants to force them to travel and give his allies opportunities to rescue him.

Now figure out why they need him alive.

[Draken]

I would second the opinion of the guy who said to give him the Mark of Tavel. One of the spell-like abilities it grants is teleport, and as such, he would require a dimensional anchor effect (or two) constantly or would just poof in the air.

[ZeroNumerous]

Process:
1. Scry protection
2. feeble mind
3. baleful polymorph into a medium sized animal...

Result: he spends the rest of his life as someone's pet. and the apolcalypse is averted...

Until his now significantly reduced animal lifetime runs out. Congrats, you pressed the snooze button on the destruction of the world.

Further, arguably the curse has been lifted due to you snuffing out his family line(being an animal, he no longer qualifies as human...). The world should always be ended by people who don't bother with their research.

[BRC]

Doesn't all teleportation below Plane Shift require a willing subject? If I were a prisoner being sent off behind bars, I certainly wouldn't agree to that. And if the prison is on an island and barred from teleportation, then the best the PCs could do would be to teleport to the nearest land mass, since the caster probably doesn't have a clear image of the sea around the prison.

The prisoner might also be physically frail, and any teleportation mishap might kill him.

I checked this, and Yes it does. Plane Shift, since you can't control where you end up on whatever plane you shift to, leaves a good deal to be desired as a method of Transportation.

[Otho Trois]

You can house rule that teleportation takes an inordinate amount of time to prepare (so you know EXACTLY where you'll end up, or you could be flung way off into Sharn or some such). OR his friends/enemies have some sort of tracer/Anticipate Teleportation on him so they know if he instantly moves or his location or something similar.

[Sploosh]

Doesnt being unconcious automatically mean you are willing? I know I read that it did from a wizard guide and benign transpotion a while back. If so, they could just knock him over the head and off they go.

[Oslecamo]

If you read the teleport spell carefully, you'll notice that it states that locations of great power are immune to teleport. Aka locations chosen by the DM. Wich is you.

So just make the meeting place immune to teleport, claiming it's a location of great power.

[Lysander]

Here's another idea. The prisoner's allies have a spell of summoning. It works like teleport except you can bring a willing person to your position from anywhere within range.

The only thing keeping that spell from taking him away are shackles of permanent dimensional anchor. Take them off and they might be able to cast their spell and rescue him before you can teleport.

[Clementx]

Make the prisoner an intelligent undead or a (nonliving) construct. They never need sleep or food, cannot be knocked unconscious without destroying them, and are immune to mental manipulation. Warforged have some of those immunities, but not all. Intelligent constructs are hard to find otherwise, but it could just be awakened. The only threat remaining would be Diplomancing with command undead, but if you use rational Diplomacy rules, there are many reasons you can invent that no check result will make him willing.

Shipping a vampire across the world could be interesting. Especially if the PCs are just escorting the caretaker who doesn't want to tell them what is in the coffin-sized box he demands they lug around for him.