Teleportation at level 1

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's technically an exploit. Provided they had thought of it at the time, WotC would likely have narrowed Wild Shape down to roughly similar dimensions to prevent such things and made "slithering form" its own utility power. It's not a huge deal in 99% of campaigns, but it WILL give you an unintended option that could have consequences in adventures not written with snaky druids in mind.

Considering they DID mention reptiles, rage drakes, crocodiles, owlbears & bulettes specifically, as well as fey creatures, I'd say they thought about a wide variety of body shapes. And its not like snakes are an obscure critter...not even the large ones.

IMHO, not an exploit.

If you're really scared of players using wild shape to turn into snakes ("Why did it have to be snakes?"), a simple, common sense rule could be used without bending over backwards: the Druid has to be familiar with that kind of animal.

That way, you won't have Druids from desert nomad cultures adopting the shape of an octopus; a Druid from a northern-European type area won't be turning into a large snake, etc.

 

[Akaiku]

If you're really scared of players using wild shape to turn into snakes ("Why did it have to be snakes?"), a simple, common sense rule could be used without bending over backwards: the Druid has to be familiar with that kind of animal.

That way, you won't have Druids from desert nomad cultures adopting the shape of an octopus; a Druid from a northern-European type area won't be turning into a large snake, etc.

Or, if you really want to lock it down, steal shamelessly the Lunar Exalted method of it. Make the druid ritually kill a given animal to be able to assume their shape at a later date. That way, they would have to actually encounter whatever animal form you don't want them to have.

 

[Ryujin]

You don't have a specific wild shape. You pick what you turn into each time you use the power, though given individuals tend to favor particular forms: "You choose a specific form whenever you use wild shape… Your choice of Primal Aspect might suggest a specific form you prefer to assume".

Thanks, I obviously misread it. Haven't had anyone use it, in my campaigns.

 

[drothgery]

How is turning into a snake abusive?

According to the Evil Overlord List, turning into a snake never helps.

 

[Mika]

Keeping Eladrin and other teleporting races confined is not really all that difficult -- it is just a matter of architecture. Set things up so that the prisoner does not have a view of the outside or of any open 5' x 5' area (the definition of a square in which a character can fit without squeezing) and there is no easy escape by teleporting. I would imagine that 4' wide hallways would be a standard feature in prisons meant to hold prisoners who can teleport. It is easy to forget just how much room a person needs to avoid having to "squeeze".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think someone mentioned it upthread, but your basic hole in the ground- much like was seen in Silence of the Lambs, and not all that uncommon in the RW- would do the trick as long as it was deep enough.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Double doors would also work - a solid door on the cell (with a sliding vision/food slit), a hall with a turn, and a barred door just after that.

Like this: (s= solid door, b= door of bars
____
| __b
|s|
|_|

So, even if the eladrin prisonner teleports (say, by forcing open and looking through the vision slit, or when a guard enters his cell) he can only teleport into the hall, which has a door which the guards can see the entire hall through the bars of the second door (and therefore shoot arrows down it).

That said, I'm a firm proponent of such measures only being in place if the prison designers were aware of the problem... if eladrin are an obscure/distant race, then by all means let the player be able to exploit his teleportation ability.

As a side note, I don't think 4 ft hallways would prevent telportation - the "5 ft square" is an abstaction, and squeezing only happens when the hallway would be such that a person could not walk normally - for example, a human in a house with cielings which have headroom only for a small creature. Otherwise, look at your typical residential/office hallway - they aren't 5 ft wide - which by a strict definition of the "5 ft square" means that a person would need to "squeese" and inch themselves along in spaces that in fact easily allow two people to walk side by side.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I could see using polymorph to make yourself smaller and just slip out of the irons, but it doesn't say anywhere that you are able to choose what you take with you or what you leave behind when you teleport.

No, but it does say that if you're restrained or immobilised by something physical in nature that teleporting can end that.

Which seems to me pretty solidly saying "you get to choose what to take when you teleport".

One possible way for "dealing" with PCs who could potentially escape incarceration is to inform them that while their current crime(s) warrant a trial, escape will warrant a death sentence without trial.

IOW - sit tight or we kill you instead of capturing you next time.

Another possibility is "the crimes you are accused of are so heinous that you're in protective custody". Escape in this case is simply not in your best interests.

 

[DracoSuave]

I thought we had the problem solved at 'stick a hood over their face'

But yeah, restraints won't work, teleportation explicitly escapes restrained.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If there is a non-teleporting PC in the same cell, you can go all James Bondian death trap. The 'porter gets placed on a pressure sensitive plate. If the weight drops, a trapdoor starts to open underneath the other PC. If he T-ports away, it opens completely, dropping him into the shark tank and closing. Problem solved!

Variations of this include hanging, electrocuting, crushing deadweights and so forth.

Now that you've thoroughly screwed the party's best escape attempt, how long do you wait for the party to figure out another way out of the cell?