Movement, falling damage, Dim Door

[Primitive Screwhead]

THe way I figure Dim Door and its ilk is much like an actor on a stage....

To which everyone goes 'huh'?

Dim Door is the fast change of the props/setting behind the actor...not the actor changing props/settings.

In this fashion a character running along the ground Dim Doors onto a ship and is now running, same speed and direction, on the ship that just so happens to be moving. The new settings movement is taken into account by the magic of the spell.

This allows for a character to Dim Door to the Equator, dive through a teleport portal, attempt a Dim Door Dive Bomb {DDDB? }, etc.. without having any math headaches or weird physics issues.

My main reason for going this way is the collective imagination of diving through portals ala StarGate... which, now that I think about it makes for a pretty good analogy...
- Of course, thinking more about it StarGate's portals have a momentum limitor that stopped/slowed high speed massed particles {like bullets or mini-astroids}. Perhaps Dim Door could cap the momentum of an object making it a not-quite as safe feather fall...?

Meh, I think I will stick with the way I have run portals/teleports for years

 

[Xanterith]

Better Idea

Touch a rock or other object that weighs as much as you cast teleport: object to send it 500' in the air directly above opponent. Object teleports up and begins to fall. Make distracting gestures so opponent doesn't move. Wait for rock.

Personally I think an anvil works best, but those aren't usually just lying around. Constructs also work great, unless they break on impact, which sucks.

 

[Deset Gled]

As I've been thinking about it a bit, another really big problem that I have with the FAQ ruling is that it is trying to force momentum into a rules system that doesn't use momentum anywhere else. In D+D, character can run at full speed from a complete standstill, and stop on a dime without any effort. You can be bashed in the chest by a giant with enough force to liquify a commoner, but will not be thrown backwards (unless the giant has a special feat).

The only place that you will find any mention of the word "momentum" anywhere in D+D is, oddly enough, in relation to quicksand. The rules state "A typical patch of quicksand is 20 feet in diameter; the momentum of a charging or running character carries him or her 1d2×5 feet into the quicksand." The only place where you will find a reference to inertia is in reference to psionic powers, which are obviously not talking about normal inertia.

The FAQ entry is trying to add realism to the game by re-introducing this physical concept to the game when it doesn't exist anywhere else. This is an extremely Bad Thing (TM) for the FAQ to be doing, because it simply does not fit in with the rest of the rules. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Magic and physics don't mix.

 

[Veigle]

Simply put, in order for a Teleport (or any dimensional travel for that matter) to work, a point has to be established at the start and destination that have a 0 inertial frame of reference in that space and time. (Neither would be moving in relation to the point on that plane or point in space-time)

It could then be said to be true that your inertial reference is only in regards to the point you are teleporting from (plane shifting, Dimensional sliding, Dimension Dooring), and it is the inertial difference between you and that starting point that is transferred to you at the exit point. It could even be argued that this very nature would have to be designed into the spell, otherwise it would be impossible to travel in this manner.

Leave inertial reference as the center of the universe, solar system, or even center of planet, and you would have traveler flying off in all directions, or getting crushed flat on the ground. Have the spells kill all inertia, and you could never move through the portal. If you consider various dimensional travel magics to instantly transport you without "Moving" through a portal, but still had them remove all inertia, then you would arrive at your destination at a temperature of absolute 0. (heat is inertia)

They MUST transfer you between 2 points that move at 0 in reference to the ground, and must conserve the inertia of the traveler relative to the entry point.

Science and magic do not always agree, as the simple Psionic Expand power can attest to (some instances would require several seconds of the output of the suns energy to accomplish), but I do not believe that to be the case in regards to inertia for dimensional travel.