D&D 5E Teleport Houserule: Remove the Off-Target %distance

[Stalker0]

The 5e Teleport spell is a bit of an oddity in the game. 5e has taken pains to remove a lot of the old math required by certain spells, but the Off-Target clause for teleport remains a notable exception. Its quite.....weird, and cumbersome to calculate.

So this houserule removes that calculation, while adding some interesting exploration options.

Teleport
same except for this clause:

Off-Target: You arrive at the nearest teleportation circle to the target that is within 100 miles. If there is no circle within that distance, use the "mishap" section instead.



So from the DM's perspective, this is easy to calculate, there is no math or rolling involved, its just "pick the nearest teleportation circle". That of course can lead to some interesting exploration options for the players, as the DM could cook up all sorts of encounters, from a common circle in a well traveled town, to a circle that hasn't been used in 100s of years in an ancient catacomb. You might even have players taht went to go "off target" exploring to find new circles, which could of course invite all sorts of new dangers (a lot of wizards wouldn't want their circle's key code being known, and may prepare defenses as such).

Adding in the mishap secondary keeps this properly punishing. Finding a new circle could be cool but there is also the risk of damage and other issues happening, so you don't want to go off-target too willy nilly.



Thoughts?

 

[dave2008]

I like it, but it does assume teleportation circles (which are very rare in my world). I think it is fine as an option. However, you could also just say: 1d10x10 miles away from the destination in a random direction. Very simple calculation.

 

[Rabulias]

I like it, but it does assume teleportation circles (which are very rare in my world). I think it is fine as an option. However, you could also just say: 1d10x10 miles away from the destination in a random direction. Very simple calculation.

1d10x10 is very easy, yes, but unfairly scales, IMO.

RAW, if you teleport 80 miles to the neighboring duchy, the most you can be off target is 80 miles (and that is not likely; more likely to be less than 40 miles off target). 1d10x10 miles would make a flat distribution of equally likely outcomes that could send you 10, 20, 30, etc., up to 100 miles off. Also, if someone wants to burn a teleport spell to travel just one mile, I don't see any value in a mishap taking them more than a mile off target.

RAW, if you teleport to the other side of the planet (assuming an Earth-sized world, that would be either 7900 miles or 12500 miles, depending on if you see teleport taking a straight line to the destination or not), you could end up 7900 miles or 12500 miles off, and even a small error of 1% would be 79 miles or 125 miles off target. Using 1d10x10 would generate error distances between 10 and 100 miles, same as above. I like large distance teleports to be risky, and using 1d10x10 miles negates much of this risk.

 

[dave2008]

1d10x10 is very easy, yes, but unfairly scales, IMO.

RAW, if you teleport 80 miles to the neighboring duchy, the most you can be off target is 80 miles (and that is not likely; more likely to be less than 40 miles off target). 1d10x10 miles would make a flat distribution of equally likely outcomes that could send you 10, 20, 30, etc., up to 100 miles off. Also, if someone wants to burn a teleport spell to travel just one mile, I don't see any value in a mishap taking them more than a mile off target.

RAW, if you teleport to the other side of the planet (assuming an Earth-sized world, that would be either 7900 miles or 12500 miles, depending on if you see teleport taking a straight line to the destination or not), you could end up 7900 miles or 12500 miles off, and even a small error of 1% would be 79 miles or 125 miles off target. Using 1d10x10 would generate error distances between 10 and 100 miles, same as above. I like large distance teleports to be risky, and using 1d10x10 miles negates much of this risk.

Sure, but the proposed fix was a teleportation circle within 100 miles. I was responding to that, not the RAW spell.

 

[Rabulias]

Sure, but the proposed fix was a teleportation circle within 100 miles. I was responding to that, not the RAW spell.

Ah yes. I guess my comments apply to the original post as well. Teleportation circles are not common in my currrent homebrew world either, and even if they were, I don't know if I care for being able to randomly stumble upon one.

 

[Oofta]

This assumes that the DM knows where all the teleportation circles are. That's a level of specificity that I don't want to do because I leave the vast majority of detail unmapped until it is needed.

But how common is this? It just doesn't seem like that big of an issue for how often it's going to occur.

 

[Oofta]

Just out of curiosity, I found a site that calculates how many square miles in a 100 mile radius. It's 31,420 square miles. Does anyone really expect a DM to know whether or not there's a teleportation circle in that area?

 

[dave2008]

Just out of curiosity, I found a site that calculates how many square miles in a 100 mile radius. It's 31,420 square miles. Does anyone really expect a DM to know whether or not there's a teleportation circle in that area?

I think it is more about inspiration. You just improvise the location of a teleportation circle. In particular, I like @Stalker0 's idea of a ancient circle in a hidden ruin as hook for a new adventure.

 

[Oofta]

I think it is more about inspiration. You just improvise the location of a teleportation circle. In particular, I like @Stalker0 's idea of a ancient circle in a hidden ruin as hook for a new adventure.

Sure. But then if I ever want to have a different scenario where there's a teleportation circle closer by? A 100 mile radius is huge. It's roughly the same number of square miles as Ireland. For the minimal benefit and the limitations it would put on me in the future, it's just not worth it.

 

[Rabulias]

But how common is this? It just doesn't seem like that big of an issue for how often it's going to occur.

You make a good point. I have only had players have a teleport mishap twice in 40 years of gaming.

Does anyone really expect a DM to know whether or not there's a teleportation circle in that area?

Also a good point. Even using the standard teleport mishap rules, the DM will need to come up with something for where the PCs arrive.