Identical "teleport in here" rooms -- ?

[haiiro]

If someone builds completely identical rooms at different locations, can a character who has seen one room teleport to any of the others as if they were "very familiar" or "studied carefully" -- with no need to scry or otherwise actually observe the destination?

Boy, that was a long sentence! I hope it made sense -- thanks in advance.

 

[ARandomGod]

If someone builds completely identical rooms at different locations, can a character who has seen one room teleport to any of the others as if they were "very familiar" or "studied carefully" -- with no need to scry or otherwise actually observe the destination?

Boy, that was a long sentence! I hope it made sense -- thanks in advance.

Personally I think that it would instead increase the chance of getting the spell wrong and going to the wrong one. Heck, if they were all *completely* identical it would almost garuntee that. On the other hand, if they were identical all but for one key... like a clock always set to a slightly different time, you could become exceedingly familiar with the room, and with the clock, and envision the clock being at a different time, concentrating on that difference as important in this room... well, mayhaps that could work.

 

[moritheil]

I would rule that they would have to know that the other room existed in order to try . . . or else arrive there by accident, as the previous poster suggested.

If someone builds completely identical rooms at different locations, can a character who has seen one room teleport to any of the others as if they were "very familiar" or "studied carefully" -- with no need to scry or otherwise actually observe the destination?

Boy, that was a long sentence! I hope it made sense -- thanks in advance.

 

[Jack Simth]

Makes for an idea for an interesting trap idea - you make a location, identical to one a character normally goes to, within a few hundered miles of it, then do something to make the original unfamiliar - perhaps destroy it with Disintigrate or something - as a strange method of diverting a teleport.

You could then trap the "identical" room at your leisure, surround it with nasties, et cetera.

 

[Gez]

That's actually something like that I used for an arcane guild (inspired by the Traveler's League from Daggerfall, and when I saw the Wanderer's Guild in Tome & Blood, I knew I wasn't alone). Each buildings of this arcane guild have one room that will be always exactly the same as the others, except for a single detail, the symbol at the center of the floor's mosaic. Each location has its own symbol, and members of the guild all have a scroll with each of the symbols.

 

[haiiro]

The point about the rooms needing to be ever so slightly different is a very good one -- thank you for the advice! And it sounds like the consensus so far is that it's allowable from a rules standpoint.

Does anyone think it shouldn't be OK, rules-wise?

 

[Ovinomancer]

I actually have an organization in my campaign who has done something similiar to this. In thier "arrival" hall, there are four idenctical alcoves. This is to help increase the decrease a teleport accident. If you are aiming for one of them and get a similar location mishap, you just shunt to the next nearest alcove. It's a safety measure here, but I could see adapting it to a trap. Hmmm.....Yoink.

 

[iwatt]

That's actually something like that I used for an arcane guild (inspired by the Traveler's League from Daggerfall, and when I saw the Wanderer's Guild in Tome & Blood, I knew I wasn't alone). Each buildings of this arcane guild have one room that will be always exactly the same as the others, except for a single detail, the symbol at the center of the floor's mosaic. Each location has its own symbol, and members of the guild all have a scroll with each of the symbols.

So kind of like the rooms used byt the Great Ones in Raymon E. Feist's Magician

 

[Len]

Does anyone think it shouldn't be OK, rules-wise?

I don't think it works with the RAW because if you haven't ever seen or visited the actual place it doesn't fall into any of the categories "Very familiar", "Studied carefully", "Seen casually" or "Viewed once".

I like the idea though.

 

[Nareau]

In the PC game "Betrayal at Krondor" they use a similar mechanic. Basically, you have to visit a location and memorize its Rune before you can teleport there. Great mechanic for a video game, and one I'd expand on and allow in D&D. Of course, if you're aiming for a particular rune, and someone's holding it over the mouth of a volcano, you're SOL.

Spider