In Between Planes - making me regret building it

[olwentheold]

I have (as I was dreading but hoping I wouldn't get them) been receiving reports that some players have already begun abusing the teleport spell. Let make this crystal clear to everyone, I made the place so it could be enjoyed by our players and give spellcasters a little bonus, but if I continue to see any more abuse, you can all kiss the teleport spell goodbye.

Let me point these abuses out clearly, since we seem to have some difficulty distinguishing what is right and wrong, and some ground rules will have to be made clear:

1) Teleportion is suppose to be instantaneous, as such, lingering in the In Between Planes area, is completely unacceptable.
2) Please do not use this plane to hide from your enemies.
3) Please do not hold meetings in this plane.
4) Please do not interact with people you meet on that plane. It should be an OOC travel between places, you're not suppose to even "meet".
5) Do not even attempt follow another player (not in your party) to the plane and claim you knew where he went, once again, it is instantaneous and you're not even suppose to meet.

[EDM Entori]

I took the inbetween planes as a demi plane..

a gate house of sorts. sorry, didn't know it was a strictly transition area only. WIll be RPed as such from now on.

ent

[Thrym]

*thumbs up* I fully agree on this. I found it kind of odd that people can follow each other when they teleport away, and I assumed the area was OOC actually, mainly because of the No PvP and the fact that... I found it odd to explain that place IC (though I admitt that at one occassion I decided to stay IC and talk to the other PCs that wanted to interact with me as... well, it' was not clear if the area was IC or OOC).

Might I suggest adding a sign that the area is OOC? This way, new users of the spell would see it directly.

[Myth]

I have not yet used the teleporting system. Only had it described to me and all. However I just want to say that I believe it is an excellent feature and excellent work. Just don't get disappointed I am sure -everyone- is grateful for your work and -everyone- will follow those guidelines.

Just a thumbs up for this new feature.

[mastersenge]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post this in but oh well. Teleport is a cool idea for casters and I do like it. With that said though I do not like the fact that it is not interruptable and makes casters of it immune to any PVP conflict. I had a player a few days ago the teleported away after I clicked hostile and drank a clarity potion. I dont see drinking a clarity potion as being as ooc action if it was me that was meaning to attack but as soon as i did the caster teleported. I have been told by other casters that it is like an uninterruptable clicky thingy. It just seems that if this is the case then it creates a balance issue between classes and makes some classes immune to any sort of PVP type action. Just had ta say that cuz some of the folks my character wants dead are folks that can port and now it make even trying that impossible.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

I would argue that there a good number of ways to kill a caster in pvp. You'll just have to be a bit more careful about how you go about killing them now.

I will certainly agree that if you blantantly say, "Prepare to die mage" he is most likely going to get away.

[mastersenge]

my experience so far has been just drink a potion and they poof theres no way to battle that.

[Thrym]

While I agree that drinking a potion is no IC hint at aggression at all (after all, how would you distinguish if someone's drinking a potion or just taking a sip from an ale bottle?)...

... I'd say teleporting away from PvP once you know IC you'll get attacked by the other player is okay. I mean, that's what wizards in Pen and Paper do all the time when they think they might loose (well, at least in our games), and from an IC perspective, it'd be pretty dumb to fight a battle you are unprepared for if you can just teleport away to fight another day, this time you being the prepared one.

On that note, Teleport (www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/teleport.htm) is a verbal only spell, so I was wondering... if someone who can cast teleport gets captured, tied up, but they don't gag him or stop him from talking otherwise, is it okay to teleport away?

[Munroe]

Once on a server I used to play, a party of adventurers went into the Underdark to rescue some damsels in distress. The entire party was captured by drow and put in a holding pen with the damsels, who were to be sacrificed to Lolth. My cleric used Word of Recall to teleport herself and the damsels out, but the rest of the adventurers were left to fend for themselves. (Unlike Teleport, Word of Recall only requires a trigger word be spoken to activate the teleport ability as the destination is declared at the time of spell preparation.) That server didn't have teleportation scripted but I had run it by the DM when I prepared spells last and prepared and cast one at time of resting to show the slot was spent. That's really not much relation to the question, I just like that story.

I would say special precautions should be taken to prevent a wizard/sorceror from teleporting away. It can generally be assumed that Red Wizards and Cormyrian War Wizards would take those kinds of precautions. In particular, Halaster's Teleport Cage comes to mind. (It is named after the Mad Mage Halaster who laced Undermountain with it to prevent easy escapes. He is the presumed creator of the spell.) It is a spell that causes teleportation attempts in it to fire but to only teleport the target somewhere else inside of the cage area. It also has rules for teleportation into the cage, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. (The spell description is in City of Splendors: Waterdeep.)
*goes and looks up the spell description*

Halaster's Teleport Cage Abjuration Level: Sorceror/Wizard 9 Components: V, S, M Casting Time: 10 minutes Range: Close (25 feet +5 ft./2 levels) Area: One 10-ft. cube per level Duration: Permanent Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No This spell modifies the functioning of all conjuration (teleportation) spells and spell-like abilities, including dimension door, greater teleport, refuge, teleport, teleportation circle, and word of recall, into, out of, and within its area. If cast in an area adjoining or overlapping another teleport cage, the effects of both spells merge to create a single teleport cage. Undermountain, the greatest dungeon of Faerun, is believed to have been enclosed within the largest teleport cage in existence in the Realms by means of this effect. When cast within a teleport cage, such translocation spells simply transport all affected creatures and objects to another random location within the teleport cage. For example, if a wizard casts teleport within the confines of Undermountain, the encompassing teleport cage would cause him to appear at another random location within the great dungeon. When a caster outside the area encompassed by a teleport cage attempts to teleport into it, this spell redirects their destination to another random location reachable by the spell. For example, if a 9th-level wizard in Waterdeep attempted to teleport into the depths of Undermountain, the teleport cage could cause him to appear at another random location within 900 miles of the place where he cast the spell. Material component: Diamond dust worth 1,000 gp.

So... It is a level 9 spell, has a permanent duration, and has a material component worth 1,000 gp. I would imagine something like that could be built into most jails in Cormyr at the time of their construction. Of course that is not to say every jailer in Cormyr had that kind of foresight, nor to say that every teleport cage fits the dimensions of the cell exactly. So I would say DMs should still say on a case-by-case basis if a teleport is going to work behind bars.

[Thrym]

*nod, nod* I agree jails would most likely be warded against that. I was more referring to being caught and tied up by another player for example, not being in an actual, secured jail cell.

[Eons of Recluse]

The PRC has a rather nice teleportation spell scripted into it. It requires you to actually visit the place you teleport to (or so I believe, never got high enough to use the spell). Then to counter this there was dimensional anchor spell that prevented teleportation of any kind. The spell was abused at times to teleport to a place with lots of treasures and then teleport back out but otherwise it worked quite nicely.

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

zaenthar said:

The PRC has a rather nice teleportation spell scripted into it. It requires you to actually visit the place you teleport to (or so I believe, never got high enough to use the spell). Then to counter this there was dimensional anchor spell that prevented teleportation of any kind. The spell was abused at times to teleport to a place with lots of treasures and then teleport back out but otherwise it worked quite nicely.

But other than that worked quite nicely??? ;D

Man, that's like a module builders DOOMSDAY scenario. No offence but we will keep our system just like it is.

[moulinous]

zaenthar said:

The spell was abused at times to teleport to a place with lots of treasures and then teleport back out but otherwise it worked quite nicely.

*gets to work on a mage....*

[Eons of Recluse]

Well... when it was found out they put permanent dimensional anchor and I am not sure if teleporting into the area worked but teleporting out certainly didn't. Also if you tried to teleport from a dimensional anchor area your teleporting got jammed until there is a server reset. Of course this didn't prevent the abusers to log off after getting the loot and then logging back on when it respawned and simply wait until the server resetted.

[Dachshund]

Using teleport to escape PvP and then buffing up in the In Between Planes area only to use the exact same exit to hail vengeance on your attackers WILL bring down the DM's wrath on you.

It's okay to use it to escape PvP, BUT you have to exit the Planes area BEFORE you can start buffing. After that you may once more teleport into the fray.

Using this technique you would need at least two uses of Summon Creature V... and that's not including the one you used to get there initially.

Please use this VERY cool ability with concern. Do NOT exploit it and I'm certain we will all come to love it... even those of us who get sligthly miffed at almost catching that nasty wizard who's been eluding us for weeks.

The In Between Planes area is a nexus. This cannot be stressed enough. Use it to get to your destination, nothing more.

Thanks!

[DM Grizwald]

ok now since teleport is a verbal spell but on this server it is done by using a wand right? If someone was to cast a silence spell and attack them. Would they have to rp not being able to teleport? I can see this being a huge issue if ever executed

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

clarkgrizwald said:

ok now since teleport is a verbal spell but on this server it is done by using a wand right? If someone was to cast a silence spell and attack them. Would they have to rp not being able to teleport? I can see this being a huge issue if ever executed

*screams in terror*

*screams again*

Can we let this one be? I just don't even want to remotely open this can of worms. I don't think anyone wants the issues of what could occur if we start trying to monitor this kind of thing.

I think this one is better left as me saying "No Clark, they manage to get the spell off just in time to open their portal".

[Panros]

Perhaps a no teleporting when there are enemies nearby rule ala resting?

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

torgeir said:

Perhaps a no teleporting when there are enemies nearby rule ala resting?

Gonna have to say nope.

[Myth]

Actually in all fantasy settings one of the main uses of teleporting is to get yourself to safety, so ... if "no teleporting while enemies are around" was forced it would defy one of the primary reasons of the spell's implementation in my humble opinion. Then you'd only have teleport to save money on caravans *shrugs*.

--
Just saw that DM Greenhouse covered the first part already
--

However I haven't seen the OOC teleport area but I guess that one probably should be a no-rest no-pvp area and perhaps with an effect upon those entering so that you can't cast anything or use any items since it's completely OOC (perhaps a daze effect while in the area). If this was somehow easy to be done I believe it would save everyone (and mostly our DMs that have a lot to worry about all the time) a lot of worries.

Just my two cents

[DM Grizwald]

mjolnirsbane said:

clarkgrizwald said:

ok now since teleport is a verbal spell but on this server it is done by using a wand right? If someone was to cast a silence spell and attack them. Would they have to rp not being able to teleport? I can see this being a huge issue if ever executed

*screams in terror*

*screams again*

Can we let this one be? I just don't even want to remotely open this can of worms. I don't think anyone wants the issues of what could occur if we start trying to monitor this kind of thing.

I think this one is better left as me saying "No Clark, they manage to get the spell off just in time to open their portal".

hey i didnt want to cause trouble....i just wanted a quick ruling incase cause i could see it causing trouble in case anything happened during pvp.

Mah bad

[gathera]

If I read the posts here correctly the teleport spell is a means to escape combat that can not be interrupted at all. Sorry two thumbs down on that if such is the case.

[Munroe]

A good old fashioned knockdown ought to do the trick.

[moulinous]

or traps...or daze even...so many things...hell, have a mage with you to teleport you to wherever they go*grins*now that would be fun!

[Thrym]

Yep. In Pen and Paper, you pretty much can't stop an enemy wizard from piking off to some place you will -never- find at all. Here you actually can stop them from fleeing whenever they want, or maybe even -find- them if they manage to.

[SlothfulCat]

Given most of our mages... a good smack from some warriors would do the trick all by itself without a knockdown or previous blows... *points at Luna*

[Panros]

avieupator said:

Given most of our mages... a good smack from some warriors would do the trick all by itself without a knockdown or previous blows... *points at Luna*

*Torgeir coughs then clears his throat*

[littlelotte]

avieupator said:

Given most of our mages... a good smack from some warriors would do the trick all by itself without a knockdown or previous blows... *points at Luna*

*blinks innocently*

[dodt]

As a mage who uses teleport excessively (especially when getting away from warriors who carry ill feelings, shout angry words, potion drinking problems and rush at you with with a sword drawn when your both alone in the wilderness) big thumbs up from me, though maybe throw a big "OOC:" at the front of the area title or maybe toss in a sign with the rules to using teleport in it just so nobody gets to confused.

[moulinous]

i dig the dazed area effect idea alot...seems like a great solution