Teleport + Prone + Acrobatics = ?

[OhGodtheRats]

Ok, I'm going to feel stupid posting a rules question, mostly because in my checkered past of posting rules questions invariably I'm just missing something simple that was floating in my blind spot. That said, here's the question:

Can I use Teleport to remove the Prone condition? I know the answer used to be a simple "NO" but looking at Essentials/Rules updates....
I'm playing an Acrobatic Hexblade who teleports like a fiend.
If I'm Prone and I teleport 4 squares, is it totally legal to choose a destination square up in the air (Now an option with Essentials)....causing me to fall...causing me to make an easy Acrobatics check so I don't take damage and, as per acrobatics "Land on my Feet"?

My DM & a few rule monsters are split on the issue with questions like "Does a Fall provoke attacks of opportunities if the Fall is intentional" to "Prone is a Condition removed by standing up" to "That is total cheatery get your X-men's Nightcrawler-type Tiefling back on the floor"...etc.
Personally I feel hardcore rules junkies will already be aware of this gimmick & know a pretty good citation or general "This is why it does/doesn't work."

Thanks for humoring me and I expect to be informed of what I missed very, very soon.
-Jared

 

[Ryujin]

Do you mean the "hop down" ability in Acrobatics, to drop up to 10 feet without using up movement?

Hop Down: The check is usually part of a move action, but it can be part of any of the creature’s actions that involve the creature moving. The creature cannot make this check if it is prone.

DC: DC 15. The creature can make this Acrobatics check only if the drop is no more than 10 feet. In other words, the check cannot reduce the distance of a longer drop.

Success: The creature hops down, lands standing, and takes no falling damage. The downward move uses no movement from the action.

Failure: The creature falls.

When you teleport you're still prone, so this isn't possible. Now you could take a set of Catstep Boots or a Safewing Amulet....

 

[OhGodtheRats]

Which book is that "Hop Down" from? The Prone sentence is totally gone from my Essentials book...is there errata? Looking at the book in hand, it almost sounds like Hop Down would work for this trick as well...assuming the Prone Restriction really is gone in Essentials.

On topic: Look a few paragraphs down. I'm talking about "Reduce Falling Damage (Trained Only)"
You take a free action when you fall to reduce the damage. Reduce it to zero & you land standing.

Keep in mind in my example I'm proposing a destination square maybe 20 feet up in the air, followed by an Acrobatics check to land on my feet. Don't know if that helps clarify the issue.
-Jared

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Don't the rules specify you have to teleport to a solid surface?

What you describe sounds very gamist, and I don't like it very much. I'd be more inclined to let you roll an Acrobatics check to "stand up" as part of the teleport, maybe at a high DC because of the mental gymnastics (literally) required. But you had better be trained in Acrobatics and have a good Dex.

 

[RangerWickett]

I don't if it's rules as written legal, but I allow it. It's cool. But, following cat research, you need about 20 ft. to really guarantee the proper spin, so you've got to teleport at least that high up to be able to make the Acrobatics check. Otherwise you automatically land prone and take full damage. So I say.

 

[Ryujin]

Which book is that "Hop Down" from? The Prone sentence is totally gone from my Essentials book...is there errata?

On topic: Look a few paragraphs down. I'm talking about "Reduce Falling Damage (Trained Only)"
You take a free action when you fall to reduce the damage. Reduce it to zero & you land standing.

Keep in mind in my example I'm proposing a destination square maybe 20 feet up in the air, followed by an Acrobatics check to land on my feet. Don't know if that helps clarify the issue.
-Jared

I pulled that straight from the Compendium description for the Acrobatics skill, which was supposedly updated for the Essentials rule changes. I don't own any Essentials products.

You can't do "hop down" from higher than 10 feet and I generally rule that you end up prone, when using acrobatics to reduce damage from a fall, unless magic is also being used.

 

[Aulirophile]

No, can look up the exact wording the devs used when talking about it if you want. Source below, should be easy to find.

‘Ask Wizards: 07/12/2008′, D&D Insider.

 

[OhGodtheRats]

Don't the rules specify you have to teleport to a solid surface?

What you describe sounds very gamist, and I don't like it very much. I'd be more inclined to let you roll an Acrobatics check to "stand up" as part of the teleport, maybe at a high DC because of the mental gymnastics (literally) required. But you had better be trained in Acrobatics and have a good Dex.

1. The old rules did but the Essentials/Rules Compendium has new Teleportation rules. If the destination square would send the target someplace horrible or force them to fall, they can make an optional save. If they make it, the teleportation is negated.

2. I totally get you. It was a one-time "Hey, I wonder if I could..." kind of thing...playing a teleporting Acrobat is a first for me so the combo goofiness never sprang up. Fey Hexblades with all the teleportation & Dex though....I know I'm not the first guy to stumble onto this.
-Jared

 

[OhGodtheRats]

No, can look up the exact wording the devs used when talking about it if you want. Source below, should be easy to find.

‘Ask Wizards: 07/12/2008′, D&D Insider.

I am scared to hunt down your source material, since the new teleportation rules were put into place a few months ago with Essentials and there may be a few slight kinda errata issues between the game now & the game two and a half years ago. Kinda. A bit. A smiggen.

Also I'm kind of having trouble finding it. Google & DDI search functions fail my flawed fingers.
-Jared, alliteratist

 

[Ryujin]

1. The old rules did but the Essentials/Rules Compendium has new Teleportation rules. If the destination square would send the target someplace horrible or force them to fall, they can make an optional save. If they make it, the teleportation is negated.

2. I totally get you. It was a one-time "Hey, I wonder if I could..." kind of thing...playing a teleporting Acrobat is a first for me so the combo goofiness never sprang up. Fey Hexblades with all the teleportation & Dex though....I know I'm not the first guy to stumble onto this.
-Jared

No, you're not the first. Nor was I. I only count the rules for hindering terrain when it's an attack effect. If the character wants to wilfully place himself in such a situation, I'm fine with it.

For my own part my teleport-5-as-move-action Feylock went the Safewing Amulet route, so that I could teleport out of prone any time that I moved. Given that he rarely walked anywhere after that, he should have been the rolly-polliest Eladrin ever.