Benign Transposition questions

[Tanuki]

The party sorcerer in my game has picked up Benign Transposition. For those without the SC, it's a first level spell that allows the caster to switch the positions of two willing allies on the battlefield.

A question arose in my game. A PC was knocked unconscious. The sorcerer wanted to transpose the unconscious ally to bring him to safety. I allowed it. But I'm beginning to question that decision. I looked and was unable to find a definition of "willing." How would you rule?

Also, the sorcerer has used the spell to transpose an ally that is grappled. I allowed it and ruled that the ally "swapped in" is automatically grappled. Is that a reasonable use of the spell?

The two rulings together resulted in a little weirdness (or cleverness, depending on your point of view) in yesterday's game. A PC fell from a cliff into water, where he was grappled by a dinosaur. One PC jumped into the water and began attacking the dinosaur. Meanwhile, the sorcerer kept rotating the other PCs through the dinosaurs grapple so that none of them would be killed by it. (It had the damage output to kill any of them in two chomps.)

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Wonko the Sane]

First off, I'd like to say that Benign Transposition is too low a level for what it does. That being said:

1. Unconscious creatures are not capable of being unwilling to accept a spell. I would allow BT to work on the unconscious creature as well.

2. A grappled creature (certainly in the case of the PC in the dinosaur's mouth) could arguably be construed as being carried by the dinosaur, in which case it wouldn't work.

These are hardly the worst abuses of the spell though. Watch for the charge monkey (with Leap Attack/Spirited Charge, etc.) to do his big charge attack, followed by BT with another fighter who gets a full attack, followed by the big charge attack again. This tactic all on it's own was responsible for making BT 5th level IMC (it is two simultaneous teleports, after all).

 

[Mr. Patient]

A question arose in my game. A PC was knocked unconscious. The sorcerer wanted to transpose the unconscious ally to bring him to safety. I allowed it. But I'm beginning to question that decision. I looked and was unable to find a definition of "willing." How would you rule?

You (and Wonko the Sane) ruled correctly. From the SRD:

"Unconscious creatures are automatically considered willing."

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#aimingASpell

 

[frankthedm]

You (and Wonko the Sane) ruled correctly. From the SRD:

"Unconscious creatures are automatically considered willing."

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#aimingASpell

The unconscious are always willing.
-Orcish proverb​

 

[Felon]

These are hardly the worst abuses of the spell though. Watch for the charge monkey (with Leap Attack/Spirited Charge, etc.) to do his big charge attack, followed by BT with another fighter who gets a full attack, followed by the big charge attack again. This tactic all on it's own was responsible for making BT 5th level IMC (it is two simultaneous teleports, after all).

CRAP! A 1st-level spell that can be used tactically? Gotta nerf that sucker! Stat!

Arguing that this spell is too low level is one thing, making it 5th-level based on one combination of effective tactics is just massive kneejerk overreaction.

This spell isn't even close to being on the power level of a 5th-level spell. Sounds like all it did was swap out the first guy's upcoming full round of attacks for the second guy's charge. Without the BT, the first guy stays where he is and gets a full round of attacks while, the second guy charges up. They only come out ahead because one guy is optimized for charging, but that's hardly indicative of a flaw in the spell's design.

 

[frankthedm]

Without the BT, the first guy stays where he is and gets a full round of attacks while, the second guy charges up. They only come out ahead because one guy is optimized for charging, but that's hardly indicative of a flaw in the spell's design.

Without the BT, the second charge monkey may not even be able to charge at all since the first person stands a good chance of occupying the same square the second charger needs to get to.

 

[Felon]

Without the BT, the second charge monkey may not even be able to charge at all since the first person stands a good chance of occupying the same square the second charger needs to get to.

Since we have no idea of how the various participants were arranged, there's no basis for assessing what the chances were.

But even allowing for that, it still doesn't rate a big deal. About the only thing I would dispute about BT is the range, which I think should be close rather than medium.

 

[backbeat]

There is definately tactical advantage to using Benign Transposition. The best case I can muster up would be a charging Barbarian and a Bo9S fighter. Barb charges in, Bo9S does a strike and moves back, Wizzard Transposes Barbarian back.

The spell can be used to "transfer" move actions. It's still not that powerful. I don't think this set up would be much more damaging than having the barbarian do a standard and move back every second round and leave th wizard free to fire magic missiles.

 

[Felon]

Yep, a lot of stuff out there lets you juice up a single attack with the assumed trade-off that you only get that one attack. And when you roll up all those individual adders, they get pretty nasty. But again, that's not BT's fault. I mean, 5th-level? Good lord....Thanks, I'll throw a firebrand or empowered fireball.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The Charge + BT + Full Attack combo is not obviously abusive. BT has a cost of 1 spell + 1 Action.

I would agree that 1st level is too low. That is a lot of tactical flexibility for something that is so trivially accessible in a wand.

There is an equivalent 2nd level (Nomad?) Psi power. Seemed about right. It is a strong 2nd level spell IMO, but rather weak for 3rd. Keep in mind that switching people does not actually do anything on its own. I am from the school that spellcasters helping others be more effective is something to encourage.