Divination Dilemma

[Sekhmet]

My reading of teleport suggests you need more than just a clear mental image of the surroundings. That gives you layout... but it doesn't necessarily give you location and you need a clear idea of both. Even 20 minutes of observing may not give you that. You don't even get to see any geographical landmarks unless he's standing right next to them either. You need more information.

Per Teleport, you have a 3% chance of off target teleportation. Scrying sets you at "very familiar". Reread the Teleport entry.

Teleport :: d20srd.org

Familiarity
“Very familiar” is a place where you have been very often and where you feel at home. “Studied carefully” is a place you know well, either because you can currently see it, you’ve been there often, or you have used other means (such as scrying) to study the place for at least one hour. “Seen casually” is a place that you have seen more than once but with which you are not very familiar. “Viewed once” is a place that you have seen once, possibly using magic.

[MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION] Thanks for the correction.

[MENTION=40109]Vegepygmy[/MENTION] As Dandu suggested, just because you can fix it or patch it up doesn't mean it isn't broken, and no amount of preparation and forethought can counter every trick a good player is going to throw at you. That is just a fact.

 

[Greenfield]

Actually, Scrying for "at least an hour" sets it at "Studied carefully", not "Very Familiar"

 

[Sekhmet]

Actually, Scrying for "at least an hour" sets it at "Studied carefully", not "Very Familiar"

Again, thanks for the clarification. I'm failing at reading lately.
Still, a 5% chance to be off-target is worth the risk.

 

[Dandu]

There's always Greater Teleport.

 

[Sekhmet]

There's always Greater Teleport.

Or Discern Location.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

...might I humbly point out that there are more ways to use Divination then the Teleport and Scry method? Perhaps one or two?

 

[Dandu]

Well, there's always Foresight.

 

[billd91]

Again, thanks for the clarification. I'm failing at reading lately.
Still, a 5% chance to be off-target is worth the risk.

That depends on how easy you interpret it to be. With less than 1 hour of scrying, there's no way I'm giving a player anything better than Viewed Once. That's what they've got going for them. They're viewing it via scry without having been there or scryed it multiple times either of which I would consider minimally necessary to reach Seen Casually.

I also will require them to have not just a clear idea of the layout but a clear idea of the location. Somewhere east of here is not enough. In a castle of some of his unspecified allies isn't enough. Huddled in a hovel in the Pomarj isn't enough. I require the player to have a more specific idea - the name of the town, the specific identity of the castle, some landmark in the vicinity.

I require similar information from Greater Teleport too. Notice that you need a reliable description, and that's not just the environs of a hut, tent, inn room (unless that inn room is exceptionally distinctive). Many of those, even gained with a scry, are likely to be sufficiently reliable to define a single location.

Discern Location? Yes, that works pretty well. Very powerful stuff. But notice how we're looking at sinking more and more powerful spells into this venture (as well has having personally seen the target or have some personal object). I hope the target is worth it. Of course, if he is, there's a reasonable chance he's protected by some mind blank or other protective effect to make the prospect of popping in and killing him harder than it looks.

 

[Samloyal23]

I am thinking there need to be some forensic spells to do allow investigative work in the game. Just came up with the following off the top of my head:


See Stains
Divination
Level: Knowledge 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 ft.
Area: Cone-shaped emanation
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You can see remnants of blood stains and other substances that have been washed or wiped off of surfaces in the area of effect and identify unknown substances. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.
1st Round: Presence or absence of hidden stains.
2nd Round: The composition of the actual stains, whether they are blood or some other substance.
Each Additional Round: You can divine the age of any stain examined. Each round, you can turn to detect stains in a new area. The spell cannot penetrate barriers but if a stain has sunken into an object you can tell how deep the stain is.

 

[Sekhmet]

Doesn't seem to like RAW.

The "Studied Carefully" category is "a place you know well, either because you can currently see it" ... or have used other means to study the place for at least one hour."
This suggests that if you are currently scrying the location, you would be in the "Studied Carefully" category.
What you suggest is that there are going to be multiple locations on the planet that look exactly the same, which will almost never be the case (except in the case of sea/ocean destinations).

I'm confused as to why you want to limit Greater Teleport. Sinking a 7th level spell to remove a 5% miss chance seems drastic (usually).