Teleportation at level 1

[Mengu]

Just another angle... In 3.x, we had to fortify keep walls with a layer of stone, a layer of lead, another layer of stone, a layer of iron, another layer of stone, anti-teleportation wards, anti-summoning wards, anti-air missiles, sonar bats, and a few alarms, just to present at least a moderate challenge against escape or infiltration.

Sticking a bag over someone's head (or putting their eyes out if you want to go that route) is comparatively rather low tech.

 

[Ryujin]

Yep... a blindfold works great.

Yup, darkness too. Drow were the bane of my Eladrin Feylock's existence.

Just throw 'em in a deep, dark hole.

 

[blalien]

I ran a session in which the players were imprisoned. The party watched the guard rotation and waited until the weakest guards were on duty. The fighter threw a violent fit and distracted the guards. Then the warlock teleported out of his cell and grabbed the keys, letting out the rest of the party. They still had to escape from the complex. It worked out pretty well.

Level one is all about the players showing off their new tricks. Let them have their fun.

 

[Ryujin]

Well with a teleporter in the imprisoned party a good skill challenge would be to find some way to make a brief flash of light. Just enough for him to gain line of sight for a teleport, to let the rest of the party out. It's not so much spoiling their fun, as it is making them work for their shiny new toys.

 

[marelion]

Well, so you do have someone with teleportation abilities in your party...But who says the guards do not have any teleportation abilities of their own?

Give your player`s a taste of their own medicine if you do not wish for one lvl. 1 encounter power to streamline your game session. Give your players a chance to reckognize the pointed ears of that slender guard below the full helmet and let them deceide what to make of that. You don`t look for countermeasures simply to frustrate your players but to create a credible environment. And in a world of fantasy where there are several races like Shardminds and Eladrin who posess innate teleportation abilities regardless of their level of training it would stretch my personal suspension of disbelief quite a bit too far that nobody could have spent a thought on teleporting prisoners looking for a quick escape.

Give your players a chance to find out who the teleporting guards are and let them come up with a plan how to make sure these people don`t get in their way. Let them play the good, old `sick prisoner`game to lure the guard into their cell. Be fair and square and come up with teleportation-countermeasures you as a DM feel confident your party will be able to overcome if they spend some time thinking about a good plan.

You could turn the whole thing into a skill challenge where each member of your group should be able to contribute. That way you make sure the other players don`t feel underpowered when they see their ally`s first teleport in motion. Being able to teleport sure often carries the day for you but it should never feel like the`I win`-button. And it defintely should not be the end to a prison-break.

 

[Unwise]

The thing is, you don't really want all the PCs dying in jail, so why not have the Eladrin be their escape plan? You want them to get out anyway, why not have it as that PCs time to shine?

There is a big difference between getting out of a cell and being free. They will have to wait for the right moment to teleport out, find the keys to release their friends, maybe fight off a guard, sneak past a guard dog etc. All the things you would expect from a jailbreak scenario, except now it is the Eladrin doing it, rather than the party theif.

In my games, few people know the difference between Eladrin and Elves. Most guards will never meet one in their entire life. It is a good assumption that they will be utterly taken by suprise by Feystep. I might have them blindfold all the prisoners, but not because they know about Feystep. Or maybe the old-timer guard knows "Yous gotz to blindfold those elf witches or they charmz ya and killz ya in ya sleep", so they have the right idea, but for the wrong reasons.

If the Eladrin does not pick their timing right, or fails the challenge to release the others, eventually a more educated guard would figure out that they can teleport and take appropriate precautions. I would suggest lots of silly supestitious 'remedies' to bind the Eladrin, but in doing so they also find something that works eg. Tie garlic cloves and mandrake around their head (which just happens to block line of sight).

 

[vagabundo]

A nice deep oubliette with a solid trapdoor. Maybe some very thin light tunnels if I was feeling generous, but they would not allow for any line of sight.

 

[wlmartin]

How do you handle that certain races and classes are able to teleport at level 1?
Are all prisons in your world protected with a way to nullify teleportation?
What if you want a plot where the PC's are prisoners and have to come up with a plan for breaking out?

Simple
Ever read Terry Goodkind? or watched Legend of the Seeker?
Or.. perhaps read / watched X-Men

A control collar does wonders.
If there is magic in a world, you have to appreciate that the people in power have magic to control that magic, just like in the real world where we have guns, handcuffs and jail cells to control the average person who can not trump those restrictions... in D&D if people can teleport without control over those powers by the powers that be, the teleporters would rule the world.

Think about it in our world. If you ever watched that film JUMPER with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansan) in it. He teleported wherever he wanted, stole from banks and had the life he wanted... Now he was one of a few in a world of billions with a special government police force on him. They had technology to prevent him from "jumping" as without that the police would just be waving guns at him and he just beams away.

So in summary... Any world that has a certain power that is common place and available to many... and the group that own it do not have a controlling stake in the political arena they live in (ie they arent part of the ruling class) then the ruling class of that area MUST have controls over that power as without control it would only take a few with that power to overcome them.

Sometimes that control is a direct nullification. Sometimes it is a threat of mortal consequences (ie teleporting is punishable by death) and Sometimes it is the threat of more dangerous powers (ie if you teleport we will hunt you with Phase Shifting Hell Hounds) but there must be some kind of balance, even if it is more skewed towards or against the powerful character type.

 

[Nullzone]

A prison escape seems like the perfect time to let the Eladrin player be the star of the show for a bit, personally. He bamfs out and concocts a way to get everyone else free.

Just make sure that you provide some methods for clever solutions to the problem other than multiple 5 minute waits.

 

[Mapache]

Trying to imprison someone who can teleport 25 feet once every five minutes to somewhere they can see is trivial compared to trying to hold a shapeshifter, and you can get that party trick for the low, low cost of a Multiclass Druid feat.