Need some ideas for low level characters to instantaneously travel long distances...

[Sigurd]

Divine Intervention

I'd say your most believable option is for the beleagured party to be snatched away from the pursuers not the one character joining them in the frypan.

Prayer and an interested third party.

A fog decending over your escaping chars and a tent in the fog where you find the rest of your party and the entity that has saved you for a reason....


If miraculous things are going to happen to save the group then respecting the miracle enough to give it a role in the plot is only good manners. In my experience, there is nothing in a standard 6th level character that can do what you want. As a player, it is not in your control - warping expectation and reality to put it in your control is bad for your game world imho.

That doesn't mean I don't applaud your loyalty to your friends & your sense of heroisim in the encounter. Those are signs of good gaming.


Sigurd

 

[Krelios]

It all depends on the manner of the OP's initial post and his replies. You started by asking a simple question - a simple, but intriguing question. Many people (including myself) wanted to know why you asked such a question. And you responded.

Is it any wonder that people are curious? Is it strange that some are "armchair quarterbacking"?


....and now for my "2 cents". (Sorry buddy, but your post is just too interesting. Besides, "armchair quarterbacking" is fun!)

It looks like you are trying to have your cake and eat it too. You say you like "Story Continuity", and yet you don't like the mechanical effects of such a gaming stance => There will be times certain players have to sit on the side-lines. Your solution is to create a solution deus ex machina....and yet this is exactly the sort of thing that those that strive for continuity would NOT do. Don't you see the inherent conflict?

Me, I find it facinating.

For your character, bumping into someone that just happens to have a teleport, and then persuading that person that such an expensive option must be used RIGHT NOW seems amazingly.....errr.....coincidental. Not to mention the fact that such introductions and discussion often take far longer than a few melee rounds. While you are spoting, approaching, and introducing yourself to the (potential) teleport-specialist, your friends have gone through many rounds of combat at a minimum.

Then again, perhaps your DM will "hand-wave" this initial meeting time, and say it took less than 6 seconds........

Somebody beat me to it. I was going to mention that instant teleportation is not something that 6th level characters are supposed to have and that I thought it was odd how you're saying "it's story and we don't metagame" on one hand and then trying to metagame your socks off to build a character that has exactly what the group needs, handwave the introductions, and use an ability that's beyond the party's capability just so you won't be bored.

If you care about the story that much, entertain yourself for a few minutes (or even the whole night) while the combat plays out. If that sounds like too much to ask, then you really don't care about the story or trust your DM as much as you say you do.

 

[werk]

Kind of elitist, don't ya think?

I was thinking purist, but elitist works.

 

[cmanos]

OK, do the characters who are on foot and 1 hour away know the other characters are getting their butts handed to them in combat? Does the new character coming in know this? Or are you using out of character knowledge to save the day.

Remember, for a teleport to work you need to be familiar with your destination.

 

[melkorspawn]

Frankly, I think that if you're introducing a new player to the game, their first experience shouldn't be sitting around for two hours watching everyone else play. That just sucks.

So you have two options:
1) Bring your friend in on a different day. If the combat continues the way it sounds that it's going, the new player won't be alone drafting a new character. Yeah, that option sucks... but if you want to be a purist, and you don't want to bore your friend to death, that's the best option.

2) Deus ex intervention. I think the best way to introduce your friend INTO the combat would be a broken portal. It usually either doesn't work or just transports people to a random location. The random location just happens to be in the middle of the fight. Insert the player at the top of initiative, and have him start attacking the baddies with either a simple roleplaying explanation "Man, I hate orcs... let me kill some" or a more complicated one, "Hey, those look like the orcs that used to stuff me in my locker in highschool." Your party won't attack the new person, cause the enemy of your enemy is your friend, and you can introduce yourself after combat. Yeah, that option sucks... but if the most important part of the game is having fun, and you don't mind an occational suspension of disbelief, that's the best option.

 

[Nail]

OK, do the characters who are on foot and 1 hour away know the other characters are getting their butts handed to them in combat?

I believe so. There was some mention of a telepathy device.

Frankly, I think that if you're introducing a new player to the game, their first experience shouldn't be sitting around for two hours watching everyone else play. That just sucks.

Perhaps you should read over the thread again. The new PC, IIRC, was going to be played by a player whose former PC was just killed in the said "running battle".

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

1) Bring your friend in on a different day. If the combat continues the way it sounds that it's going, the new player won't be alone drafting a new character. Yeah, that option sucks... but if you want to be a purist, and you don't want to bore your friend to death, that's the best option.

In my wife's first D&D game ever, her character started off a battle bound and gagged in the bottom of a boat, which had previously been carrying a few raiders that attacked the rest of the party.

The attack occured about 30 minutes into the game session.

She "played" the next hour of the game session by doing absolutely nothing. Not only did the DM not tell any of us she was there, but he didn't tell her that she could attempt to break her bonds. Of course, she didn't have her weapons (stored in a different boat), so she felt that making a heroic escape attempt would have been suicidal anyway, so she didn't even think to ask if she could.

Talk about a crappy way to introduce someone to D&D.

 

[melkorspawn]

Wow... that's pretty crazy. In my first D&D game, I was told that my character was going to meet the party at a predetermined place. The leader of the party decided got sidetracked and she ended up flirting with an NPC... for two hours. I fell asleep. Not an auspicious start.

 

[melkorspawn]

I believe so. There was some mention of a telepathy device.

Perhaps you should read over the thread again. The new PC, IIRC, was going to be played by a player whose former PC was just killed in the said "running battle".

Sorry, I was just skimming. The heart of the arguement remains the same. Either don't manipulate events, or do... and if you do, how about a broken portal?

 

[Nail]

Wow... that's pretty crazy. In my first D&D game, I was told that my character was going to meet the party at a predetermined place. The leader of the party decided got sidetracked and she ended up flirting with an NPC... for two hours. I fell asleep. Not an auspicious start.

Yeah. On one occasion we had a new player want to join, I (the DM) worked up a way for him to be there (his PC was captured by the goblins the PCs were hunting), and then......

.....well, the entire meeting passed (4 hours!) without the PCs getting to him. This was not my most stellar DM moment. :\ The player decided not to join our group.