D&D 5E Standard security features of a permanent Teleportation Circle

77IM · Apr 26, 2016

Do the sigils of the teleportation circle need to be visible? Could you just cover them in a rug? That would be an easy way to minimize the number of people who know the sigils.

In my campaign, the sigils are planar coordinates. If you know the precise location of a circle you can calculate its sigils having never seen it (although it takes a while to get it right -- some kind of ongoing Arcana check). So they are inherently treated as unsafe entryways with special security, like an airport.

Khisanth the Ancient · Apr 26, 2016

Erik Westmarch said:
So, going by the description of the Teleport/Teleportation Circle spells in the 5E SRD, I can't help but think of the security issues around having a Permanent Teleportation Circle (PTC ) inside your temple/tower/city, etc.

Essentially the "sigil sequence" acts like a secret password to the PTC that anyone can memorize with 1 minute of study. It's not clear whether that sigil sequence can be reproduced, so if I have it memorized, can I tell other people? Can I publish it in a newspaper?

I'd assume so.

Regardless, even if you can only learn the sigil sequence by studying it yourself, that means that all former members of your organization probably know it. Just think if the Jedi Council had a PTC, each Sith who was a former Jedi could probably T in any time he wanted to.

Yeah... that's why when people turn Sith you go hunt them down immediately

Also, when someone learns the TC spell they automatically learn the sigil sequence of two locations, so there's always the possibility that some random stranger (who's powerful enough to cast 5th level spells) will be able to pop in any time.

In someplace like the Forgotten Realms, that might be a big issue.

In other worlds, there aren't really "random strangers" casting spells of that level. In my world, the number of people capable of casting 5th-level and above spells is low enough (about 100 total - including classes that don't have that spell) that most of them at least know of each other.

Especially since most NPCs don't advance as fast as PCs (since they don't do as much crazy stuff) so they've probably met each other at one of the world's relatively few libraries of arcane lore etc.

I think you'd have to treat the PTC like a castle gate that you couldn't lock. It would have to be really, really well defended. Like, the PTC is in a room with stone walls, no doors, and several hostile iron golems. The iron golems would have been instructed to let only certain people use the PTC, and anyone else gets subdued and sirens go off.

Some would be like that.

They're permanent circles, though, so in a world with a long history like mine most of the original owners are long dead and there's no guarantee that whoever's taken over the structure it's in knows what the thing is. High-level casters are rare enough in my world that you wouldn't just get people randomly popping in.

I would also assume, although it's not in the rules, that someone at some point has created an Anti-Teleportation Field that covers a certain volumetric area. You'd want to make that Permanent over all of your Sanctum Sanctorum, regardless of whether you have a PTC or not. Anyone who Ts into the ATF would get a Mishap and then sent Off Target.

In a world like the Forgotten Realms, sure.

In mine, most of the ancient high-level magic is forgotten (one of the big reasons adventurers are a thing in my world is recovering ancient magic items, spellbooks, tomes/tablets of lore etc.) There might have been a spell like that before the "fall of the Roman Empire", but there isn't now.

Jester David · Apr 26, 2016

Obvious security is the easiest: pull a Stargate. Fill the spaces around the circle with easily removed barriers that prevent people teleporting in.

Lehrbuch · Apr 26, 2016

Erik Westmarch said:
So, going by the description of the Teleport/Teleportation Circle spells in the 5E SRD, I can't help but think of the security issues around having a Permanent Teleportation Circle (PTC ) inside your temple/tower/city, etc.

As others have commented, this is exactly why it is not inside your temple/tower/city. The Teleportation Circle is in the field outside the city walls.

That way the defences against unwanted teleports are the same as the defences against unwanted armies turning up at the city gates. That is, no need for special teleport defences.

Erik Westmarch said:
How would you defend your PTC?

Some of the suggested defences are so complicated and expensive, that the better answer would be "don't have a Permanent Teleportation Circle at all".

If you are so frightened of enemies using a PTC, that you need such elaborate defences, then it is best not to have a PTC.

Gardens & Goblins · Apr 26, 2016

Jester Canuck said:
Obvious security is the easiest: pull a Stargate. Fill the spaces around the circle with easily removed barriers that prevent people teleporting in.

Aye and then some! Depending on the purpose of the circle's existence: Have it trapped, lethally so, all day long, with only brief windows of time where its safe to travel. The safe windows of time can be linked to another system of decryption or require notifying the operators in advance, through the use of another controlled and encrypted system of communication.

Even waiting nearly a day for an hour window of safe travel is going to be worth it, if the alternative is travelling for two, ten, twenty days.

S'mon · Apr 26, 2016

I agree with those who've said that PTCs need to go outside your defences - your castle or city walls. Having one inside the building will always be a major weakness and should be avoided unless you are certain it can be kept secret, which seems unlikely - if the enemy capture someone who knows the address they are likely to be able to charm/interrogate/torture them & get the code.

Azurewraith · Apr 26, 2016

I would put my ptc in a tower outside the town walls the tower would have no windows or doors and be full of lava. You want in? Got to send a message to the court wizard to come cast create water on it to turn it to magma and make a door for you with earth shaping spell a(don't remember name oops) to make a door at the top and then cast featherfall so you don't splat.

To much?

Giant2005 · Apr 26, 2016

In Stargate, their teleportation circles had two defenses that were used. One had an iris which was a mechanical blockage of the circle. Faerun's low-tech version is a big rock that they put in front of it when they don't want visitors. The other defense was a forcefield, and obviously the DnD version would be a wall of force. It does basically the same thing as the rock, except it helps the Wizards feel better about all of the time they spent learning magic.

I don't think either of those defenses really count as a "standard" security feature in DnD though. I think the standard defense is Trevor. Every town has a Trevor and he sweeps the area every 15 minutes. If anyone comes through that he doesn't know, he gives them a good whack with his broomstick. If they don't leave, he whacks them a second time and that is usually enough to send them packing.

FickleGM · Apr 26, 2016

Teleportation Security Administration agents would be checking identities and gear of anyone who has a valid ticket to travel via a teleportation circle. The long lines, occassional strip-searches, and surly attitudes of the agents would foil many a nefarious plot.

Giant2005 · Apr 26, 2016

Lehrbuch said:
Some of the suggested defences are so complicated and expensive, that the better answer would be "don't have a Permanent Teleportation Circle at all".

To be fair, it costs over 18 grand to make a permanent teleportation circle in the first place. If you have that kind of money to invest, expensive defenses probably won't be an issue either.