Four new teleportation spells for review

[Ciaran]

... because instantaneous movement shouldn't just be for casters of level 7 and up.

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Spatial Step, Lesser
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft. / 2 levels)
Target: You and touched objects
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None and Will negates (object)
Spell Resistance: No and Yes (object)

You instantly transfer yourself to any location within range to which you have an unobstructed line of sight. You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load. If you attempt to transport yourself to a location that is already occupied by a solid body (such as an invisible creature, or a hillside disguised as open ground by hallucinatory terrain), you take 1d6 points of damage and the spell fails.

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Spatial Step, Greater
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft. level)

This spell works like lesser spatial step, but with a longer range.

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Dimension Door, Lesser
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft. / 2 levels)

This spell works like dimension door, but with a shorter range.

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Exile
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, M
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft. / 2 levels)
Target: One creature

This spell functions like plane shift, except that it only affects a single target. You may send the target elsewhere on your current plane if desired. If the target is native to the chosen plane, it takes a –4 penalty on its saving throw.

Material Component: A bit of material from the chosen plane.

 

[RangerWickett]

... because instantaneous movement shouldn't just be for casters of level 7 and up.

I agree. I've been finagling with teleportation a lot these past 5 years, and I built a recent character to teleport all over the place. There actually are some spells in Spell Compendium, Magic of Eberron, and PHB 2 akin to what you've proposed, which make me think yours are a probably okay.

Dimension Hop from MoE is a 2nd level spell that lets you teleport 10 ft. per level. At low level it's much the same as your spatial step, but 2nd level instead of 1st. At high level, you can teleport 100+ ft. at once, whereas yours will be going 50 ft. or so. I think 2nd level is a bit more balanced, if for nothing else than making it harder to quicken the teleportation. My 14th level eldritch knight has a heck of a fun time teleporting next to enemies with a quickened dimension hop and full attacking.

Your greater spacial step is definitely too strong. It's basically 2 levels lower than dimension door, with the only drawback being that you go by yourself instead of taking along allies. (Also, dimension door has that odd 'your turn ends after you cast this spell' drawback.)

For exile, I'm not as familiar with plane shift as a spell, so I don't know if it's overpowered or not. Looks fair. It's like a nonlethal 'save or die/be out of the fight' spell.

 

[Ciaran]

Dimension Hop from MoE is a 2nd level spell that lets you teleport 10 ft. per level. At low level it's much the same as your spatial step, but 2nd level instead of 1st. At high level, you can teleport 100+ ft. at once, whereas yours will be going 50 ft. or so. I think 2nd level is a bit more balanced, if for nothing else than making it harder to quicken the teleportation. My 14th level eldritch knight has a heck of a fun time teleporting next to enemies with a quickened dimension hop and full attacking.

Your greater spacial step is definitely too strong. It's basically 2 levels lower than dimension door, with the only drawback being that you go by yourself instead of taking along allies. (Also, dimension door has that odd 'your turn ends after you cast this spell' drawback.)

Note that the spatial step spells require line of sight, unlike dimension door (or, presumably, dimension hop), which allows you to teleport through walls and such. I felt that would be a significant balancing factor. Would this affect your assessment of their utility?

 

[RangerWickett]

Note that the spatial step spells require line of sight, unlike dimension door (or, presumably, dimension hop), which allows you to teleport through walls and such. I felt that would be a significant balancing factor. Would this affect your assessment of their utility?

Dimension hop requires line of sight.

Really, your version is amazing for a 1st level spell. It gets past a lot of hazards, allows for great mobility. In a core D&D game with dungeons and traps and such, it would still be worth it as a 2nd level spell. However, if you want to encourage teleporting, or if it's a low-level game and a 2nd level teleport spell would never get used, then 1st level won't be broken. I love teleporting and I'd probably allow it.

 

[Arkhandus]

I agree generally with Ranger Wickett. Spatial Step, Lesser is kinda overpowered for 1st-level; I'd say, probably make it a full round action casting time (not full round, but full round action, so at most you get a 5-foot step afterward and then your turn's done) with some kind of expensive focus component (50 gp flawless lens maybe?). Have it leave you staggered from using such a minor spell to shunt yourself through the Astral Plane (without the accompanying subdual damage) for 1 round afterward, as well, so you just get a partial action next turn. It might be a bit much, but at least it couldn't be overpowered then.

Spatial Step, Greater is definitely better than Dimension Door and needs fixing. Make it Medium range but otherwise exactly like the aforementioned version of Spatial Step, Lesser, and it might be okay then. Or maybe have it Close range, but without leaving you staggered afterward.

These spells, y'know, could get you out of a jail cell or grapple or pit or similar predicament, for instance, so they're definitely pretty useful still.

Exile I definitely have a problem with. No need for Finger of Death or Acid Fog or Delayed Blast Fireball! Just Exile your enemies to the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Elemental Plane of Water, the Negative Energy Plane, or the Positive Energy Plane, and kill them easily! Ignore a Construct's or Undead's immunity to Death effects and just Exile them to the Positive Energy Plane or the Plane of Fire. Or Exile them to the outer planes so they might be slain by fiends/celestials/formians/whatever.... (or, worse still, Exile a fiend or undead to Mount Celestia, since they'll automatically appear in the sea of holy water...) I'd say make it touch range like Plane Shift, so it's still dangerous for the caster to try using. Plane Shift at least requires a touch attack, which has some chance of failure and puts the caster in dangerous proximity, in addition to the Will save. But then, this spell's only advantage over Plane Shift would be the -4 on the save if the creature is native to that plane, which would be almost pointless (then it's just a different form of Dismissal). So I'm not really sure, but I just figure this spell probably doesn't belong.

 

[Ciaran]

Spatial Step, Greater is definitely better than Dimension Door and needs fixing. Make it Medium range but otherwise exactly like the aforementioned version of Spatial Step, Lesser, and it might be okay then. Or maybe have it Close range, but without leaving you staggered afterward.

Better than Dimension Door? You are aware that Dimension Door lets you 1) pass through walls and other obstructions, and 2) take the entire party with you, right?

These spells, y'know, could get you out of a jail cell or grapple or pit or similar predicament, for instance, so they're definitely pretty useful still.

Reasonable enough. I suppose the inherent flexibility of any kind of teleportation merits a 2nd-level minimum. It just feels odd to put such a minor instantaneous-travel spell at level 2, when the level 1 movement spells (Expeditious Retreat and Jump) each have a 1 minute/level duration.

I think I'll split the difference and merge the two into a single Spatial Step spell: level 2, with a range of Medium.

Exile I definitely have a problem with. No need for Finger of Death or Acid Fog or Delayed Blast Fireball! Just Exile your enemies to the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Elemental Plane of Water, the Negative Energy Plane, or the Positive Energy Plane, and kill them easily!

Finger of Death damages the target even if he fails the Will save, and some high-level opponents have the wherewithal to survive on other planes. And since Acid Fog and Delayed Blast Fireball are area-effect damage spells rather than targeted save-or-die spells, I have no idea why you're bringing them into the discussion.

Ignore a Construct's or Undead's immunity to Death effects and just Exile them to the Positive Energy Plane or the Plane of Fire. Or Exile them to the outer planes so they might be slain by fiends/celestials/formians/whatever.... (or, worse still, Exile a fiend or undead to Mount Celestia, since they'll automatically appear in the sea of holy water...)

Fair enough, it's overkill. Options include:

1) Send the target to a random plane;
2) Send the target to a random Prime Material Plane;
3) Send the target elsewhere on the same plane.

I'm probably going to go with #3.

I'd say make it touch range like Plane Shift, so it's still dangerous for the caster to try using. Plane Shift at least requires a touch attack, which has some chance of failure and puts the caster in dangerous proximity, in addition to the Will save. But then, this spell's only advantage over Plane Shift would be the -4 on the save if the creature is native to that plane, which would be almost pointless (then it's just a different form of Dismissal). So I'm not really sure, but I just figure this spell probably doesn't belong.

The -4 encourages the caster to send Prime Material targets elsewhere on the Prime Material, rather than to the Plane of Fire or wherever. But in retrospect, that's a poor design decision.

Here's an alternative version of the spell:

Exile
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level: Wizard 7
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell banishes the subject to a random location on the same plane of existence. You may indicate a general destination, in which case the target appears 1 to 100 miles (d%) from that location; otherwise, the destination is entirely random. The target will not appear in a place that is actively hostile to human life (i.e. high above the ground, at the bottom of the ocean, or inside solid rock).

 

[Ciaran]

Dimension Hop from MoE is a 2nd level spell that lets you teleport 10 ft. per level. At low level it's much the same as your spatial step, but 2nd level instead of 1st. At high level, you can teleport 100+ ft. at once, whereas yours will be going 50 ft. or so. I think 2nd level is a bit more balanced, if for nothing else than making it harder to quicken the teleportation. My 14th level eldritch knight has a heck of a fun time teleporting next to enemies with a quickened dimension hop and full attacking.

I've finally gotten a chance to see the text of dimension hop in the PHB II, and it's a lot more powerful than I'd have expected. It's a touch spell, so you can use it to transport party members instead of yourself. Moreover, it can be used on unwilling targets. So you can move an enemy over a pit, put them in a cage, or just send them straight up and let them eat falling damage. Doesn't that put it in a different category from a self-transport spell?

 

[RangerWickett]

I actually meant 'dimension leap' in Magic of Eberron. Dimension Hop is also very nifty.

Sorry, I might make more sense when it's not 5am.