Going Places
Limited Teleportation and Verisimilitude
Teleportation is fun! Teleportation is annoying. ACKS II recommends, for a non-gonzo setting, forbidding long-distance error-free teleportation. This pattern can be seen in d20 games as far back as at least AD&D, in which Dimension Door is errorless but short range and Teleport can reach anywhere in a plane, but at risk of error. There is a big gap between short distance teleportation (360’, in ACKS II’s Arcane Shift) and ‘any place in same plane’, so where is the line drawn where teleportation should involve errors, risks, heavy costs, or other restrictions? I consider anything at 1 mile or above as ‘long range’, and only design/allow items or spells that have some kind of restriction or risk, but let’s review the use cases that easy teleportation, if available allows:
Teleport as kill spell: Successfully teleporting a creature 360’ upwards will typically kill it with the resulting fall damage, barring massive creatures, flyers, or those with resistance or immunity to bludgeoning damage. Teleporting further range seems just a more expensive way to accomplish the same thing. However, ACKS II’s Teleportation spell notably forbids intentionally sending the target into thin air; I think this likely should apply to any error-prone teleport, as getting a discount on a spell (for having risk of error) and then being able to freely use the spell in a way where the error is upside or irrelevant would not be appropriate. Such a spell is still a fairly reliable kill spell- teleporting someone into a sight-unseen patch of ocean, miles from shore, has a high chance of death resulting, even if the 34% chance of the victim being Lost does not occur.
Teleport as mid-combat relocation: this is an excellent use case for 360’ teleports. For anything longer-range, see ‘Teleport as escape’ below.
Teleport as surgical strike: Otherwise known as ‘scry-and-die’, this is one major combat use case of teleportation- suddenly arriving at the location of the king, dragon, or other target, with various buff spells up, no injuries taken, and a coordinated plan of attack. Doing this as a group in ACKS is notably going to require potions of the effect, or similar stockpiled resources, as multi-target movement spells are prohibitively expensive, or ritual magic. We see a notable difference between 360’ and 1 mile+ teleports here- 360’ requires the party to get fairly close before suddenly skipping the last layers of the target’s defense, which isn’t trivial when the target has minions, an army, or a dungeon surrounding it.
Teleport as escape: somewhat an inversion of surgical strikes. Teleporting 360’ out of a failed fight may still leave you in the belly of the beast. Teleporting a mile out is usually enough to get out of immediate danger, and then flee by more mundane means, or even magical (flight by spell, item, or summon). This one much the same whether considered as the planned escape route of a surgical strike or as a ‘break glass in case of emergency’.
Importantly, there’s more room for limited spells than just randomizing landings. An escape spell that always teleports the user a mile due north, or to the last place they slept (within a mile), or to the tallest point within a mile are all things that substantially reduce flexibility, and allow counterplay if the party they’re fleeing from is aware of such restrictions. A 100-mile teleport that only leads from one point on a shoreline to any other such point, leaving the user exhausted, is rarely of use for surgical strikes. And it’s maybe just ok to allow ‘errorless’ teleport that has a chance of maiming the user in body or soul, or similarly making it preferable to take one’s chances with an error roll. I also think that ‘error’ can be toned down from that present in Teleportation for spells that have other restrictions; for example, an item meant to teleport to a river might end up on the wrong part of it or the like, but not render the subject Lost, or do so at a lower rate. Most 360’ teleports are kosher no matter what, but that’s no reason not to put limitations or restrictions on them, to make them cheaper and more interesting or to free up budget to include other effects. Any group teleport, and most teleports that have a full-plane or full-creation range, will typically be a ritual spell for cost reasons. Below is an example teleportation item, built with a ‘teleport limited to one specific destination’ effect. By its nature, it’s pretty hard to use for infiltrations. It’s pretty neat for exactly ‘swap back and forth between being out in the field and back at base’, but it doesn’t actually let you deploy somewhere quicker without significant setup, and is terrible for escapes, when doing so means the next use throws you back into the frying pan.
Ring of Recurrence
Base Cost 30,000gp: 1/day 6th level effect. Apparent Value: 100gp.
The face of this gold ring is etched twice with overlapping images of a man walking, one facing right and one facing left. Once per day, speaking the ring’s command word will cause the wearer to be teleported to the last place in which the ring was activated, provided it is in the same sphere, and left fatigued for one day. If present in the same sphere, but the destination is occupied, the wearer will be deposited in the nearest unoccupied space. The ring does not remember a place more than a year, and if found in a treasure hoard long-unused will not teleport the user nor exhaust him when initially activated, only taking note of the new location.