Transporting over long distances?

[NewJeffCT]

I was looking online in the character builder for long distance transportation like teleport from previous editions, or even that old clerical spell wind walk, or whatever it was called.

However, there only seems to be a very limited number of very high level rituals and all are related to teleportation circles. Did I miss something? Is there a quick way for either the PCs (or an important NPC) to transport themselves quickly over a distance that goes beyond line of sight?

I'm still relatively new to 4E, so forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, but I did google D&D 4E Teleportation and all my results seem to be related to battlefield teleporting.

Thanks

 

[Riastlin]

Not really missing anything. Portals and rituals are your main method of transportation over long distances. Note that (as described in Manual of the Planes I believe) some portals use port keys to activate and like in Harry Potter, these can often be very mundane items.

Alternatively, you're looking at vehicles of assorted styles but those certainly would not get you there in a hurry. Most of the "out of combat" magics have been put into rituals in 4ed. Rituals as a whole are a mixed bag depending on a) who you ask and b) who the DM is.

 

[Mirtek]

In Epic there's a ritual that let you open a portal without requiring a teleportation circle at the destination.

At level 10 there's a ritual to summon spectral eagles to carry you with overland flight and at level 20 there's a ritual to grant you and your allies overland flight.

But that's it I think

 

[Aenghus]

The lowest level teleportation ritual is the Level 8 Linked Portal ritual in the PHB. The target of the ritual needs to be a permanent teleportation circle known to the caster - ritualists automatically learn the sigils of two teleportation circles on learning the ritual, and can find or reseach more. Level 8 is lower than Level 9, which is when the Lvl 5 teleport spell became castable in earlier editions.

4e has made a deliberate design decision to put more limits on teleportation magic in the default rules than earlier editions of D&D. The Linked Portal ritual takes 10 minutes to cast, and destinations are a limited number of fixed points (the permanent teleportation circles) which tend to be well guarded.

In practise I find 4e teleportation rituals to work pretty well. There is much less need to resort to plot devices to limit magical travel, as the most abusive previous uses - teleport into hostile areas, particulary as part of a scry'n'fry - are much more difficult to carry out. When Linked Portal becomes available it's still worth casting for long distance travel. At higher levels the cost is trivial, and the PCs can make their own teleportation circle at 15th level.

In addition to rituals posted by other posters, there are rituals for fast travel via the Shadowfell and Feywild that don't depend on teleportation circles. Magical portals may allow instantaneous travel, but may need some sort of key, and may have other limits on their operation - limited number of activations in a time period, limited time open, limits on who can use it, etc.

 

[malraux]

Out of combat, in general PCs travel at the speed of plot.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Out of combat, in general PCs travel at the speed of plot.

Yeah, the PHB promises rules for Forced Marching are to be found in the DMG, except that they aren't there.

Makes sense, because most of the time, yes, PCs travel at the speed of plot, however some groups like an increased amount of grit or pseudo-simulation in their game, as mine does. I came up with some fairly simple spot rules for forced marching.

Sometimes, after all, you'd like to give the PCs a choice between arriving in time to save the day but be weary, or arriving at full strength, but run the risk of being too late. This works better in a sandbox.

[sblock=Forced March houserules]The standard travelling day is a 10-hour march. Sometimes however, it’s important to push to the point of exhaustion to make it to your destination in a quicker fashion. This is a forced march.

After the first 10 hours of travel, the day’s journey begins to take a toll on the body of travellers and their mounts. Each hour after the 10th hour, forced marchers (and their mounts, if applicable) must roll a progressively harder Endurance check. The check begins with a DC of 10 for the 11th hour of travel, and increases by +2 each additional hour.


Failing this check does not mean that character must stop, but it does cost the character a healing surge. Even with no remaining healing surges, characters can march on, but subsequent failures will each subtract a healing surge worth of hit points from their current total.

Characters and mounts participating in a forced march will not gain the benefit of an extended rest until the they have rested the full duration of an extended rest, plus an additional hour for each failed Endurance check during the previous day’s march.


Characters can march themselves into unconsciousness, and mounts can be ridden to death in this manner. If a character marches themselves to zero hit points or less, they fall unconscious from the forced marching. Characters exhausted in this manner can still be forced awake, but are slowed and dazed until they have rested fully.


Mounts reduced to zero hit points in this manner are considered dying, and must make death saving throws. Further healing will restore the creature to 1 hit point, but they will not willingly move until fully rested.[/sblock]

 

[OnlineDM]

I've seen Phantom Steed used to great effect, especially when a good Arcana check lets the steeds fly.

 

[NewJeffCT]

In Epic there's a ritual that let you open a portal without requiring a teleportation circle at the destination.

At level 10 there's a ritual to summon spectral eagles to carry you with overland flight and at level 20 there's a ritual to grant you and your allies overland flight.

But that's it I think

Thanks - after the players finish up their current story arc, I was going to have a role-playing session with a friendly NPC that teleports in to (hopefully) congratulate them on their victory and also reveal some information to them about a possible new story arc.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Thanks - after the players finish up their current story arc, I was going to have a role-playing session with a friendly NPC that teleports in to (hopefully) congratulate them on their victory and also reveal some information to them about a possible new story arc.

You are allowed to do that anyway, He/she just knows a ritual not available to the pc's and if htey are really nice to him/her maybe they can learn it also.

 

[NewJeffCT]

You are allowed to do that anyway, He/she just knows a ritual not available to the pc's and if htey are really nice to him/her maybe they can learn it also.

Thanks - learning the rituals would be fine, but I also didn't want this to be something only an epic level character had access to, since it was going to be a PC's relative (which would then lead to, "hey, we're in trouble, let's just go see Uncle Bob... if he has teleport rituals, Raise Dead would be child's play")