Re: SPELLJAMMER-L Digest - 1 Sep 2005 to 2 Sep 2005 (#2005-163)

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Sun 04 Sep, Charles Sykora wrote:
> OK, here's one for comment, a 3.5e spell, although it could easily be
> adapted for others:

Comments below.


> Shore Party
>
> Conjuration (Teleportation)
> Level:  Sor/Wiz 3, Travel 3
> Components:  V, S
> Casting Time:  1 standard action
> Range:  Personal and touch
> Target:  You and touched objects or other touched willing creatures
> Duration:  Instantaneous
> Saving Throw:  None and Will negates (object)
> Spell Resistance:  No and Yes (object)
>
> This spell instantly transports you to a destination on a planet from
> your ship or back to the ship from which you departed.  You can bring
> any objects you carry provided that their weight doesn't exceed your
> maximum load.  Additionally, you can bring one additional creature of
> medium or smaller size per three caster levels.  Each size category
> above medium counts as two creatures of the next lower category (e.g. a
> Large creature counts as two medium creatures).  All creatures to be
> transported must be in contact.
>
> For a planet you have not visited before, the DM will generally
> determine where you materialize, although you can specify the kind of
> terrain you'd prefer (e.g. an unoccupied square of a town, a clearing
> in a forest, or a glade).  Provided such a terrain exists near the
> location directly under the orbit of the ship, you will be transported
> to such a location.  Otherwise, the DM determines where you
> materialize, usually in a location as close in nature to that specified
> as possible.  You cannot use this spell to transport inside an
> artificial structure, other than to return to your ship.
>
> For a planet you have visited before, you may either take your chances
> and treat it as above, or return to a previous point to which you have
> teleported that is approximately directly below the ship's orbit.  If
> you choose the latter, there is a chance of error.  First, the ship's
> pilot must attempt a DC 20 Piloting check, with a circumstance bonus of
> +1 for every power of two times you have visited the location (e.g. +1
> for one visit, +2 for two visits, +3 for four visits, etc).  If the
> ship is without a pilot, your only option is to treat the planet as
> unvisited.  If the pilot fails this check, which is a measure of his
> ability to position his ship above the target destination (this
> requires d100 minutes to perform as well, if time is significant), the
> caster must attempt a caster level check against DC 20, with a -1
> circumstance penalty for every point by which the pilot failed his
> check.
>
> To return to your ship, you must go to the location to which you
> teleported to the planet, and there is no chance of error.  If an error
> occurs, the DM determines where you materialize alternatively, basing
> the actual location upon the amount by which the error occurred,
> according to the guidelines below:
>         Miss By Result (where you materialize)
>         1       Within the same city or within d20*100 yards
>         2       Within the same region or within d10 miles
>         3,4     Within the same country or within d100 miles
>         5,6     Within the same continent or within d1000 miles
>         7-9     Random location on the planet
>         10-14   Random planet within the crystal sphere
>         15-20*  Catastrophic failure - lost in the Flow
> *       Or a natural 1 on the roll
>
> Where, Miss By is the amount by which the level check fails, and Result
> is the general place in which you materialize, in a random direction.

I am not clear from this description whether you can attempt to
transfer back to the ship if you don't return to the location you
arrived at on the planet. If you can't, how close can you be to
your previous exact location? What if it no longer exists
(earthquake, landslide, disintegrate, etc)?


> If you attempted to teleport to an underground (natural, of course)
> destination, you will materialize on the surface rather than
> underground.  Note that you will never materialize inside something
> solid, nor in mid-air or within any non-breathable location, unless the
> planet has no breathable atmosphere.  For the catastrophic failure
> case, you are subject to all the consequences of being lost in the Flow
> and cannot return to your ship using the Shore Party spell.  If you
> materialize on a random planet, you also cannot use the spell to return
> to your ship.

What sort of defences block this spell? Wall of Force? [grin]

How far can the ship in orbit have moved from the location it was
in above the plant for the transfer back to it still to work?

Does it need to navigate back to the same position if it has been
in a fight, or something?

What if the ship drifts away from its orginal position?

How does the spell check that the arrival point is safe? Precog?
Some sort of detect? Can it be fooled?


Some feedback:

Fun spell, bit like a combination of a longer range Dimension
Door, and a limited range Teleport, with rather different rules
for the uncertain arrival point. And a fixed return point.

It looks as though you are safer than a Dimension Door or
Teleport, but cannot arrive indoors. The other restriction is
that this can only be a transfer between ground and orbit
(generally outside any atmosphere).

This spell also allows more travellers than either Dimension Door
or Teleport.

So, plus side:
* built-in safety (don't appear & instantly die)
* more travellers

On the minus side:
* shorter range than a Teleport, probably 50mls
* only between ground and orbit
* not downwards to inside buildings
* poor targetting of downwards travel
* only upward from arrival point

I would say that this looks like a varient Teleport. The built-in
safety and extra travellers would normally kick this up a couple
of levels to 7th. The only between ground and orbit (very limited
conditions under which the spell will operate) claws you back a
level to 6th, and the limits on travel should claw you back
another level to 5th. I would guess this to be the base level of
the spell "Shore Party".

If this spell requires a (reusable at will) ritually prepared
area in orbit to depart from, say prepared at a materials cost of
at least 5,000gp, and which is the only place to which you can
return from the ground, then a reasonably generous DM might let
you decrease this spell another level to 4th. You might call this
spell "Prepared Shore Party".

I would say that the research work to create this spell is going
to require a very good wizard, and likely one who specialises in
transport magic. I would guess being at least 18th level would
help; capable of two spell levels above casting 7th level spells,
which the totally general-purpose version of this spell might be.

An improved version of this spell, might allow the upwards
transport from places other than the arrival point, making it a
very good escape spell, at +1 level on "Prepared Shore Party", to
5th.


For improved fun, this spell might be allowed to be used to
ritually prepare gemmed talismans, each worth at least 1,000gp,
taking one day's work, each single use, which if placed on
unresisting targets, allows them to be included in the upwards
transport, even if not touching, as long as they are within
twenty feet; this does not increase the total number transferred.
Alternatively non-living materals might be transferred, on a
110lb per creature replaced, basis.

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/