Has this item broken any campaigns for some DMs out there? I thought about introducing it in my campaing but I have doubts. For information, the players consist of a Ancient paladin, Zeal Cleric, Thief Rogue, Mutant Blood Hunter, and Seeker Warlock, all level 9, so no one has good teleportation magic (exept if I let the wwarlock have teleportation circle as suggested by the class rework UA, wich I am considering). Do you think this could break the campaing? Should I nerf the item a bit by having it have less charges?
I don't think it would be too big of deal. All they are getting is three doses of Teleportation per day and as long as you design your encounters to where that won't be an issue, then it likely will not cause any real trouble.
What are your major concerns about how this item will affect what you have planned?
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I mostly fear unforssen things, but what concerns me otherwise is the cpacity to possibly go easely to a normally hard to reach place. I would like them to have a faster mode of transport, as to not water down the adventure with too much travel time. The saddest part is that the druid player had to leave the game, so no transport via plants, but that could only have been once per day at level 11, twice at level 19, so less potential then 1d3 teleports a day. This is one of the reasons I consider having only one charge per day, but the spell teleport can bring them off target, unlike transport via plants, so I'm thinking about all that.
And that is why I ask the opinion of other people ^^
One of my characters has one. She collects samples from the various areas she travels to. These items are good for 30 days before they become ineffective.
You only get 1-3 charges back per day so 2-way, daily trips are normally out of the question unless you get lucky.
Ever since I got mine, I've never regretted picking it as my treasure selection though others doubted my santity when I chose it over other items.
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I was a player in a campaign that had one, it didn’t seem to break anything. There’s a high chance of going wrong if you don’t know the place, and we weren’t willing to risk it. It became like a fast travel in video games, where you can only go to places you’ve already been
So if part of the concern is having them teleport to places that should be hard to reach otherwise, maybe put some consequences for them taking the easy route. Sure you can teleport into the middle of this stronghold to steal something/rescue someone/assassinate a dude, but there would still be a risk involved. Like mentioned above, if they are not familiar with the place they may end up somewhere else, putting the players in a worse situation. Or maybe they unknowingly only had one charge on the helm and now can’t teleport back out. Or instead of teleporting into the prison, they wind up popping into the guards’ quarters, putting the place on high alert.
But in terms of faster travel and not bogging down the pacing of the adventure, you can always just skip describing the travel altogether, outside of maybe “...and after two week on the road and climbing the mountain, you have arrived at the Temple of [put cool name here].” But no matter what tools you give your players, you can almost never predict how they will use them.
If going places they shouldn't is a concern, you could also make it a "lesser" Helm of Teleportation as well. Functions like normal teleportation, but only allows them to go places they've previously visited.
Well it is true that you only have a 25% chance to actually teleport right to a place you have never seen before or only seen once, so I can see why players would not be willing to risk it. I will follow your advices, i'll try it out.
And you know, someone can always steal it, and now they have to chase the guy for one or two levels, to a point where the helmet won't seem so OP.
So just for info, I did place the helm of teleportation, and first thing my players did is they made the rogue invisible and the rogue scouted the enemy camp, took an objet in it close to the leader's tent, and now they had a 100% chance to work teleport straight to the center of the enemy, bypassing all defences that the rest of the group would not have been able to sneak past. And they took an objet form the allied camp for a sure getaway.
So yea exactly the kind of thing I didn't see coming, but I'm not mad at them. I just wanted to share the event.
Teleport is a problematic spell in several regards, and one that the players aren't meant to have access to until 13th level, and even then it takes their only level 7 spell slot. One of my key problems with access to Teleport so often is that your players can effectively reset time by moving back and forth short distances, or just escape from practically any scary situation by just teleporting away.
Here's some ways to start causing problems in a campaign with access to Teleport 3 times per day:
An immediate "get out of battle free" for any fight that looks like it won't be favourable. This will screw with encounters and also story flow. The DM will have to plan for how the enemies have changed things when we go back - if we go back at all.
Screw with encounter planning in general. You think we'll be on 1-2 Short Rests before we get to the BBEG, but actually, we're going to pick up some item from wherever we've got to in the dungeon and then 'port back in when we're rested.
Avoid any kind of trap that you pop on us immediately. We're dumped into quicksand? Walls closing in? Let's go back to the room before, and not trip the trap.
A particularly cautious party can effectively choose to avoid ANY encounter until they can return on their own terms.
Since you can Teleport 3 times in a day, arriving at the wrong location really isn't that much of an issue. Miss your location? Head somewhere else.
It's an intended use of the spell, but fighting your way to and from objectives is generally part of the game. Unless you want to make every dungeon, castle and location of interest a "no teleport zone" then the best course of action will often be to locate wherever the enemy sleeps and then go there to assassinate them in the night. Get it wrong? Try again. Still wrong? Use your third charge to go home. Try again when you have 3 charges again.
If you find that kind of interaction and story changing fun, then that's all to the good!
If you really want them to have access to Teleport at 9th level, I'd recommend a less powerful version than can cast Teleport once per week. That way they'll either save it to avoid TPKs only, or use it to travel long distances.
So just for info, I did place the helm of teleportation, and first thing my players did is they made the rogue invisible and the rogue scouted the enemy camp, took an objet in it close to the leader's tent, and now they had a 100% chance to work teleport straight to the center of the enemy, bypassing all defences that the rest of the group would not have been able to sneak past. And they took an objet form the allied camp for a sure getaway.
So yea exactly the kind of thing I didn't see coming, but I'm not mad at them. I just wanted to share the event.
Of course once word gets around they do this, bad guys will start investing in Forbbidance spells or something similar. You don’t even have to do it every time, just once or twice to keep them on their toes.
So just for info, I did place the helm of teleportation, and first thing my players did is they made the rogue invisible and the rogue scouted the enemy camp, took an objet in it close to the leader's tent, and now they had a 100% chance to work teleport straight to the center of the enemy, bypassing all defences that the rest of the group would not have been able to sneak past. And they took an objet form the allied camp for a sure getaway.
So yea exactly the kind of thing I didn't see coming, but I'm not mad at them. I just wanted to share the event.
Of course once word gets around they do this, bad guys will start investing in Forbbidance spells or something similar. You don’t even have to do it every time, just once or twice to keep them on their toes.
I would consider doing this a mistake in what I call the "DM/Player Arms Race." If you give your players cool toys, and they think of cool ways to use them, then if you then start throwing in things that specifically prevent them from using those toys, you've effectively offered them a gift and then slapped it out of their hand. It's a bit like giving a player a +3 magical sword and then making half the enemies they fight immune to slashing damage. Although I can imagine a powerful archmagi putting up sufficient wards to make his sanctum safe, this isn't going to work on a daily basis or for 90% of the things they want to do with it.
Forbiddance costs 1000gp and lasts 1 day. Unless the enemies know the specific day that the players are coming, and that they can Teleport (and in the example of the rogue stealthing in and stealing something, nobody could know that) then spam-casting Forbiddance daily at huge expense isn't going to be feasible unless you're a king.
So just for info, I did place the helm of teleportation, and first thing my players did is they made the rogue invisible and the rogue scouted the enemy camp, took an objet in it close to the leader's tent, and now they had a 100% chance to work teleport straight to the center of the enemy, bypassing all defences that the rest of the group would not have been able to sneak past. And they took an objet form the allied camp for a sure getaway.
So yea exactly the kind of thing I didn't see coming, but I'm not mad at them. I just wanted to share the event.
Of course once word gets around they do this, bad guys will start investing in Forbbidance spells or something similar. You don’t even have to do it every time, just once or twice to keep them on their toes.
I would consider doing this a mistake in what I call the "DM/Player Arms Race." If you give your players cool toys, and they think of cool ways to use them, then if you then start throwing in things that specifically prevent them from using those toys, you've effectively offered them a gift and then slapped it out of their hand. It's a bit like giving a player a +3 magical sword and then making half the enemies they fight immune to slashing damage. Although I can imagine a powerful archmagi putting up sufficient wards to make his sanctum safe, this isn't going to work on a daily basis or for 90% of the things they want to do with it.
Forbiddance costs 1000gp and lasts 1 day. Unless the enemies know the specific day that the players are coming, and that they can Teleport (and in the example of the rogue stealthing in and stealing something, nobody could know that) then spam-casting Forbiddance daily at huge expense isn't going to be feasible unless you're a king.
Which is why only specific, high tier plot centric enemies should be able to have that defense in place.
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Has this item broken any campaigns for some DMs out there? I thought about introducing it in my campaing but I have doubts. For information, the players consist of a Ancient paladin, Zeal Cleric, Thief Rogue, Mutant Blood Hunter, and Seeker Warlock, all level 9, so no one has good teleportation magic (exept if I let the wwarlock have teleportation circle as suggested by the class rework UA, wich I am considering). Do you think this could break the campaing? Should I nerf the item a bit by having it have less charges?
Dungeon Master in the world of Greyhawk,
Rawilow
I don't think it would be too big of deal. All they are getting is three doses of Teleportation per day and as long as you design your encounters to where that won't be an issue, then it likely will not cause any real trouble.
What are your major concerns about how this item will affect what you have planned?
I mostly fear unforssen things, but what concerns me otherwise is the cpacity to possibly go easely to a normally hard to reach place. I would like them to have a faster mode of transport, as to not water down the adventure with too much travel time. The saddest part is that the druid player had to leave the game, so no transport via plants, but that could only have been once per day at level 11, twice at level 19, so less potential then 1d3 teleports a day. This is one of the reasons I consider having only one charge per day, but the spell teleport can bring them off target, unlike transport via plants, so I'm thinking about all that.
And that is why I ask the opinion of other people ^^
Dungeon Master in the world of Greyhawk,
Rawilow
One of my characters has one. She collects samples from the various areas she travels to. These items are good for 30 days before they become ineffective.
You only get 1-3 charges back per day so 2-way, daily trips are normally out of the question unless you get lucky.
Ever since I got mine, I've never regretted picking it as my treasure selection though others doubted my santity when I chose it over other items.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I was a player in a campaign that had one, it didn’t seem to break anything. There’s a high chance of going wrong if you don’t know the place, and we weren’t willing to risk it. It became like a fast travel in video games, where you can only go to places you’ve already been
So if part of the concern is having them teleport to places that should be hard to reach otherwise, maybe put some consequences for them taking the easy route. Sure you can teleport into the middle of this stronghold to steal something/rescue someone/assassinate a dude, but there would still be a risk involved. Like mentioned above, if they are not familiar with the place they may end up somewhere else, putting the players in a worse situation. Or maybe they unknowingly only had one charge on the helm and now can’t teleport back out. Or instead of teleporting into the prison, they wind up popping into the guards’ quarters, putting the place on high alert.
But in terms of faster travel and not bogging down the pacing of the adventure, you can always just skip describing the travel altogether, outside of maybe “...and after two week on the road and climbing the mountain, you have arrived at the Temple of [put cool name here].” But no matter what tools you give your players, you can almost never predict how they will use them.
If going places they shouldn't is a concern, you could also make it a "lesser" Helm of Teleportation as well. Functions like normal teleportation, but only allows them to go places they've previously visited.
(Yay for video game quick travel options)
Well it is true that you only have a 25% chance to actually teleport right to a place you have never seen before or only seen once, so I can see why players would not be willing to risk it. I will follow your advices, i'll try it out.
And you know, someone can always steal it, and now they have to chase the guy for one or two levels, to a point where the helmet won't seem so OP.
Thank you all!
(happy holidays ^^)
Dungeon Master in the world of Greyhawk,
Rawilow
So just for info, I did place the helm of teleportation, and first thing my players did is they made the rogue invisible and the rogue scouted the enemy camp, took an objet in it close to the leader's tent, and now they had a 100% chance to work teleport straight to the center of the enemy, bypassing all defences that the rest of the group would not have been able to sneak past. And they took an objet form the allied camp for a sure getaway.
So yea exactly the kind of thing I didn't see coming, but I'm not mad at them. I just wanted to share the event.
Dungeon Master in the world of Greyhawk,
Rawilow
Teleport is a problematic spell in several regards, and one that the players aren't meant to have access to until 13th level, and even then it takes their only level 7 spell slot. One of my key problems with access to Teleport so often is that your players can effectively reset time by moving back and forth short distances, or just escape from practically any scary situation by just teleporting away.
Here's some ways to start causing problems in a campaign with access to Teleport 3 times per day:
If you find that kind of interaction and story changing fun, then that's all to the good!
If you really want them to have access to Teleport at 9th level, I'd recommend a less powerful version than can cast Teleport once per week. That way they'll either save it to avoid TPKs only, or use it to travel long distances.
Of course once word gets around they do this, bad guys will start investing in Forbbidance spells or something similar. You don’t even have to do it every time, just once or twice to keep them on their toes.
I would consider doing this a mistake in what I call the "DM/Player Arms Race."
If you give your players cool toys, and they think of cool ways to use them, then if you then start throwing in things that specifically prevent them from using those toys, you've effectively offered them a gift and then slapped it out of their hand. It's a bit like giving a player a +3 magical sword and then making half the enemies they fight immune to slashing damage. Although I can imagine a powerful archmagi putting up sufficient wards to make his sanctum safe, this isn't going to work on a daily basis or for 90% of the things they want to do with it.
Forbiddance costs 1000gp and lasts 1 day. Unless the enemies know the specific day that the players are coming, and that they can Teleport (and in the example of the rogue stealthing in and stealing something, nobody could know that) then spam-casting Forbiddance daily at huge expense isn't going to be feasible unless you're a king.
Which is why only specific, high tier plot centric enemies should be able to have that defense in place.