Teleport Circle - Destroyer of Worlds

[Zappo]

I was going to post about national security but I've come late... add it to my points.

A permanent spell is NOT a magical item and can be dispelled normally. Exception: spells made permanent on yourself must be dispelled by a higher level mage, but this is not the case.

Yes, you can hire guards against dispelling attempt, but this will cost you a lot. You can't hire the usual 1st level warriors, because you're dealing with a 5th level mage at least, who is going to come to your place invisibly, just to make an example.

I was thinking... assuming that the dispelling problem is somehow solved (and that's a BIG assumption), what effect would this have on the local economy? The day before, you have 300 km of wilderness and brigands between you and the nearest coal mine; the following day it's just a matter of paying a toll and the coal will be delivered in a matter of minutes. The day before, it's 300 km before you can sell your precious silk, the following day you can wake up in your house, stroll down to the circle, pay the toll, sell the silk, and be back in your home before sunset. That's going to rock prices a bit... especially as more and more merchants have the same idea, you lose the monopoly, and have to lower the tolls.

 

[Jezrael]

.

A permanent spell is NOT a magical item and can be dispelled normally. Exception: spells made permanent on yourself must be dispelled by a higher level mage, but this is not the case.

That's my point though, why make it as a permanent spell, you'll probably at that level have Craft Wondrous Item (if nothing else just so you can create stat boosters and such), craft an actual circle (stone, metal, whatever) and enchant it. This makes it more permanent than the permanency spell. I don't have my books so I can't look up GP or XP costs, but it's definately a more stable "platform" for this sort of thing.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Sure go for it, make a magic item teleport circle. It will only cost you 12,240 exp and 306,000 gps. And while magic items can't simply be dispelled they can be destroyed, or possibly dispelled with a mordenkines disjuncyion. And if merchant A can hire a 17th level wizard to make a teleport circle item, merchant B can hire a 17th level wizard to destroy an item, and probably for a lot less.

And quite frankly while a merchant can posssibly come up with the money to buy a ship or two can he really come up with 306,000 gps.

 

[Lord Ben]

Well, if it's an item then anyone with a magic weapon can just sunder it... It would be an unattended magic item. Probably a 17th level caster. That would mean it has a will save of +10. Now my THIRD LEVEL Grey Elf wizard comes along with his shatter spell and 20 int with spell focus and greater spell focus evocation and your precious circle has to make a DC21 will save or go *poof* and break into a bunch of small bits... That's a 45% chance of your item going boom to a 3rd level wizard.

They can be created and they're powerful, but destoying one is fairly easy.

 

[Evilboy]

I'd attempt to think of the problem in the terms you want. Since you obviously don't want a world full of teleport circles, try and think about all the specific disadvantages that could possibly come up from such a situation.

Locals could protest, claiming its unsafe magic.

Nobles could randomly decide that they own said teleport circle, or that they get to use it for free, or they have an argument with another noble and decide you can't have any teleport circles that go to Sir Schmuckhead's City.

Merchants could try and cheat you out of tolls, or sneak through the circle when you aren't always watching.

In fact, to prevent the random trickster and brigands who would certainly love to claim such a teleport circle for themselves, you'd need a fairly large group of armed guards on the spot 24 hours a day. They'd also probably ask for extra pay when working so close to extremely powerful magic, and you might want to scry on them occassionally to ensure that they aren't dipping into your business.

You'll also need this same assortment of protection on the other side of the teleport circle, along with assurances to the people living on both sides that no soldiers or instruments of war will be allowed to pass through. I doubt many cities would welcome an additional back door into the heart of their merchantile districts so easily.

The merchants would probably require that you hire a bookkeeper on each side (ready 24 hours a day, again, unless you're limiting the circle to certain hours) to ensure that everything goes through the circle properly, and that nobody swipes anything or breaks any local laws.

Taxes .

Oh, then a local religious group gets fairly upset and starts attempting to set up raids or at least blockades, claiming that teleport magic does something naughty that their god doens't like.

The local militia and guardsmen become fairly upset at all the ruckus, and require a percentage of your take to pay for the wages of their increased workload.

And, of course, if you're really mean, that could just be the start of it .

Of course, if this situation really causes concern, just remember to try and keep the party level between, say, 1 and 15 just in case .

- Evilboy

 

[The Traveler]

Why would any merchant invest in purchasing sailing ships when he can simply hire a wizard to build him 2 Teleport Circles between two major ports? Why risk carting your preciuos Mithril or Gold or whatever down out of the Orc infested mountains when you can just build a Teleporter at the Mining camp and beam the stuff directly to the Kingdom's capitol.

Because wizards, like dragons and other walking forces of nature tend to have weird, eccentric personalities. A wizard of 17th level is not a simple merchant, and he's not always in the yellow pages. Finding a wizard of this level and convincing him to work for you is often more risky than having your boat going through sea serpent infested waters, or sending your mining caravans through orcish lands.

Work for you? Sure does for me.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Ooo, ooooooo...

I just had a thought. Wouldn't it be possible for a 17th-level mage to research a spell that steals life (read: xp) from a secondary source (read: other people) by then? Is there a spell like this already? Sure it would be decided evil, but it would theoretically be possible.

Hmmm, I'm going to have to explore this further. Be a good hook for a quest/adventure for the PCs.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I do not think that such a spell exist. It would probably be not very balanced - evil wizards (even if they have to be at 17th level or higher ) could use the spell to gain enoug XPs to cast several wishes...

But, on the other hand, there is a spell that gives you Experience Points if you use it properly. I believe if you fireball an enemy of a level (CR) high enough, you gain XPs for it..

But perhaps Teleportation Circle is really an option in a "peaceful" setting or region (think of the European Union or the United States of America).
I do not have my PHB with me, but what is the duration and max. weight passing through the Circle? (Assume caster level 20)
You could assume that after the given duration the Circle "refreshes".
Thus it might be that you had to pay a toll depending on the weight of your transported materials and the time when you want to transport it. (So you could say: "I want to transport 500 pounds of Titan at 2.February 2002 from Berlin to San Francisco."
"Sorry, its already booked. You might try at 4.February, this would cost you 1.500 Euro ...")

 

[Altalazar]

I really think it just depends on your flavor of campaign how this will affect it.

In my world, there were thirteen great cities, spread out across the continent, as part of a vast empire. The cities were connected by large teleportation gates that anyone could use - there was even a book of ettiquette published about manners while doing so.

Without such a connection, such an empire could never exist - it would be too vast to control or even travel easily. And it didn't last - the power of the magic used in this great empire attracted a strange and alien race from another plane that is particularly attracted to concentrations of magical power. The race, known as the Ryla, came and attacked the empire - the Ryla were defeated, because the power of the Empire was organized and vast, but it did give them second thoughts about using so much magic. Later, other forces toppled the empire, and now the great cities are in ruins, long forgotten, but some of those gates between cities still work...

So rather than gripe about it, build a history around it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I'm not so sure that mages would scoff at giving up 4,500 exp.

If I could make a gateway that would take me from the White House to Buckingham Palace would I give up $1,000 and my knowlege of Visual Basic? Oh, heck yes!

That a 17th level character would not do this because it is not worth his time is not something I agree with. There are lots of people who are "1 in a million" that engage in large projects. There's a huge windmill in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. You know why it's there? A movie star who grew up in Dayton wanted to impress his girlfriend. I am sure that there are plenty of 17th level mages with sufficient ego, desire for revenue to be gained from the teleporter, or even find it easier to make the circle than to walk everywhere (or use up a spell slot on a regular teleport).

But the example of a 5th level mage demolishing such a thing? That is something I can totally see. There are numerous examples of corporate vandalism. So the ring would have to be heavily guarded and perhaps more trouble to maintain than it is worth. Certainly they would exist in government, military, or wizardly institutions. But the wheels of commerce need to react very rapidly and for low cost.