OK folks, this is a wild one so strap in. Recently I was going over spells and stumbled across the spell instant summons. Anyone can recognise that this is a very useful and versatile spell if you use enough creativity, so I of course immediately started thinking of ways to use it. The first thing that popped into my mind was a person, summonable reinforcements free of concentration, but of course that wouldn't work. Then I remembered the spell teleportation circle. What if I had a sort of platform inscribed with a teleportation circle that I could call on demand? A few problems with this. First of all, I would need a platform light enough to do this with, one weighing less than 10 pounds. Secondly a teleportation circle is 10 feet in diameter and Instant summons cannot be used on anything more than 6 feet in any dimension. What if the platform was smaller? I could summon it and then use the spell enlarge/reduce on it to temporarily make it big enough. All I needed now was a 5 by 5 platform of some sort that weighed less than 10 pounds. Perhaps a sort of woven mat or piece of paper?
Eventually it came out to this: have a room filled with loyal guards and a mage able to cast teleportation circle. In that room there is a permanent teleportation circle inscribed on the floor. Then there is also the 5 by 5 platform/mat with a permanent circle engraved on it that you have cast instant summons on. When you need reinforcements you crush the sapphire and summon the platform. Seeing the platform disappear causes the on-duty mage to start casting teleportation circle. You then cast enlarge/reduce on the platform/mat to make it the proper size. The mage on the other side has alerted the guards and finishes casting teleportation circle at which point they come pouring through and boom! Instantly reinforced and no need for continued concentration. It only takes one minute to take full effect during which time you can be casting all the spells you want as long as enlarge/reduce stays active. Would you allow this to work?
That sounds like a great thing for a powerful force in the world to have. Like a government or militia. Not so much for the players because having an army for every occasion can make the game stale.
That sounds like a great thing for a powerful force in the world to have. Like a government or militia. Not so much for the players because having an army for every occasion can make the game stale.
exactly, perfect for powers with large amounts of resources. And the DM can manage what they have access too so that the players cannot do it.
My main question is how are you going to get this loyal mage and squad of guards who are just standing around all day waiting for you to summon them. That sounds pretty expensive. At that point why not just have them accompany you on the journey in the first place.
You named the points that make this fail. the weight and dimension make this impossible. The enlarge/reduce idea is interesting, and should deal with the 10 ft diameter, but I do not think anything 10 lbs, even if it becomes 80 lbs, being sturdy enough to work more than a couple of times (and it takes a year to make this via Teleportation circle spell). I would basically make what you describe an expensive once use item. That said.....
Consider the following magic item:
Leodan's Portable Circle. (Attunable by any wizard)
Leodan's portable circle is a magical unfolding teleportation circle. It is made of mithral, weighs 9 lbs, and has two forms.
Form 1) is a large square with sides foled up, into semi-circles. It has mystical symbols on it that, when you attune to it, change to represent your personal mark.
Form 2) Is a large, 10 ft diameter circle, that has the symbols for a teleportation circle inscribe on the upper side.
There are three commands words, that can be used even when the Circle is miles away, as long as it is on the same plane. each command works no more than 1/day.
Command 1) only works when it is Form 1. It summons the item from anywhere in the world and causes it to unfold, changing to form to #2.
Command 2) only works in form 2. This resets it to it's Form 1.
Command 3) returns the item to the location it was summoned from.
This item is typically owned by large countries that have several wizards that know the spell Teleportation Circle. Home wizards, upon seeing it vanish, start sending support soliders through via teleport. It can also be used to not only send the soldiers back, but also to let the original wizard retreat.
My main question is how are you going to get this loyal mage and squad of guards who are just standing around all day waiting for you to summon them. That sounds pretty expensive. At that point why not just have them accompany you on the journey in the first place.
that is why it is primarily used only by large nations, and if you somehow make friends with the ruler of one of these kingdoms...
I just feel like someone powerful enough to cast level 5+ spells is probably going to have better things to do than be on call for whenever you need reinforcements. Maybe as part of a specific plan to say, sneak into a dungeon and call reinforcements to save the princess or something, but as a general arrangement it kind of feels like a waste of their time to be on call for this all the time, and if you have a rotation of shifts of mages so that someone's in the room at all hours of the day that gets even more expensive.
You named the points that make this fail. the weight and dimension make this impossible. The enlarge/reduce idea is interesting, and should deal with the 10 ft diameter, but I do not think anything 10 lbs, even if it becomes 80 lbs, being sturdy enough to work more than a couple of times (and it takes a year to make this via Teleportation circle spell). I would basically make what you describe an expensive once use item. That said.....
Consider the following magic item:
Leodan's Portable Circle. (Attunable by any wizard)
Leodan's portable circle is a magical unfolding teleportation circle. It is made of mithral, weighs 9 lbs, and has two forms.
Form 1) is a large square with sides foled up, into semi-circles. It has mystical symbols on it that, when you attune to it, change to represent your personal mark.
Form 2) Is a large, 10 ft diameter circle, that has the symbols for a teleportation circle inscribe on the upper side.
There are three commands words, that can be used even when the Circle is miles away, as long as it is on the same plane. each command works no more than 1/day.
Command 1) only works when it is Form 1. It summons the item from anywhere in the world and causes it to unfold, changing to form to #2.
Command 2) only works in form 2. This resets it to it's Form 1.
Command 3) returns the item to the location it was summoned from.
This item is typically owned by large countries that have several wizards that know the spell Teleportation Circle. Home wizards, upon seeing it vanish, start sending support soliders through via teleport. It can be used to not only send the soldiers back, but also to let the original wizard retreat.
The problem with that would be that then you would have things like this all over. However I do agree that the material is problematic. This is why I suggested a piece of paper, likely enchanted similar to an enduring spellbook. By my calculations a 5 foot by 5 foot sheet of paper would weigh less than one pound.
If you are going to enchant something it is a magic item. Your item, the piece of paper, would be cheaper to make than my item. It would be far MORE prevalent than the item I suggested.
Make it full magic item with reasonable functionality, and therefore expensive - even for a country - and it will not be that common. Moreover, construction of one can be a military secret held by only one country. If it is just a piece of paper, anyone should be able to figure out how to make it.
P.S. (Added much later) When a wizard thinks he has to call in a ton of reinforcements via a magically enchanted item, he does NOT want to have cast Instant Summons to get the magic item. The wizards back at home base can cast Teleport Circle all they want, they are not on site. But the Wizard summoning help should be saving his 6th level Instant Summon spell slot and may not have the 10 minutes to waste using a Ritual, especially as Teleport Circle takes 1 minute to cast anyway. He'd rather wait only 1 minute rather than 11 minutes.
I appreciate your effort to get this thing to work with existing spells, but for me personally I will just make something up rather than trying to jump through a lot of hoops with existing spells.
Creatures that aren't PCs are not bound by PC rules. An NPC wizard could just do this with one spell, you just need to write the spell. Or a magic item might be more appropriate. Probably a large, permanent thing in a solders' barracks that can attune to something small and portable in order to make a portal to that thing when needed.
My main question is how are you going to get this loyal mage and squad of guards who are just standing around all day waiting for you to summon them. That sounds pretty expensive. At that point why not just have them accompany you on the journey in the first place.
Put the mini-circle on/in something that triggers an alarm when it disappears, and do a quick sending to the mage before you retrieve the circle. That way the mage and guards can go about their normal duties until needed. The downside might be a bigger delay before the reinforcements are ready to start pouring through, depending on how big a lead time you give the mage
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I wouldn't allow this in my game because I wouldn't allow someone any form of permanent teleportation circle that they can just pick up and carry around. If someone is going to allow this, why not just allow the players a big rug they can keep rolled up on their backpack that does the same thing?
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While that is true who would want to be stuck in a portable hole for so long? And gate only works if they are on a plane other than the one you are on.
OK folks, this is a wild one so strap in. Recently I was going over spells and stumbled across the spell instant summons. Anyone can recognise that this is a very useful and versatile spell if you use enough creativity, so I of course immediately started thinking of ways to use it. The first thing that popped into my mind was a person, summonable reinforcements free of concentration, but of course that wouldn't work. Then I remembered the spell teleportation circle. What if I had a sort of platform inscribed with a teleportation circle that I could call on demand? A few problems with this. First of all, I would need a platform light enough to do this with, one weighing less than 10 pounds. Secondly a teleportation circle is 10 feet in diameter and Instant summons cannot be used on anything more than 6 feet in any dimension. What if the platform was smaller? I could summon it and then use the spell enlarge/reduce on it to temporarily make it big enough. All I needed now was a 5 by 5 platform of some sort that weighed less than 10 pounds. Perhaps a sort of woven mat or piece of paper?
Eventually it came out to this: have a room filled with loyal guards and a mage able to cast teleportation circle. In that room there is a permanent teleportation circle inscribed on the floor. Then there is also the 5 by 5 platform/mat with a permanent circle engraved on it that you have cast instant summons on. When you need reinforcements you crush the sapphire and summon the platform. Seeing the platform disappear causes the on-duty mage to start casting teleportation circle. You then cast enlarge/reduce on the platform/mat to make it the proper size. The mage on the other side has alerted the guards and finishes casting teleportation circle at which point they come pouring through and boom! Instantly reinforced and no need for continued concentration. It only takes one minute to take full effect during which time you can be casting all the spells you want as long as enlarge/reduce stays active. Would you allow this to work?
That sounds like a great thing for a powerful force in the world to have. Like a government or militia. Not so much for the players because having an army for every occasion can make the game stale.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
exactly, perfect for powers with large amounts of resources. And the DM can manage what they have access too so that the players cannot do it.
My main question is how are you going to get this loyal mage and squad of guards who are just standing around all day waiting for you to summon them. That sounds pretty expensive. At that point why not just have them accompany you on the journey in the first place.
You named the points that make this fail. the weight and dimension make this impossible. The enlarge/reduce idea is interesting, and should deal with the 10 ft diameter, but I do not think anything 10 lbs, even if it becomes 80 lbs, being sturdy enough to work more than a couple of times (and it takes a year to make this via Teleportation circle spell). I would basically make what you describe an expensive once use item. That said.....
Consider the following magic item:
Leodan's Portable Circle. (Attunable by any wizard)
Leodan's portable circle is a magical unfolding teleportation circle. It is made of mithral, weighs 9 lbs, and has two forms.
Form 1) is a large square with sides foled up, into semi-circles. It has mystical symbols on it that, when you attune to it, change to represent your personal mark.
Form 2) Is a large, 10 ft diameter circle, that has the symbols for a teleportation circle inscribe on the upper side.
There are three commands words, that can be used even when the Circle is miles away, as long as it is on the same plane. each command works no more than 1/day.
Command 1) only works when it is Form 1. It summons the item from anywhere in the world and causes it to unfold, changing to form to #2.
Command 2) only works in form 2. This resets it to it's Form 1.
Command 3) returns the item to the location it was summoned from.
This item is typically owned by large countries that have several wizards that know the spell Teleportation Circle. Home wizards, upon seeing it vanish, start sending support soliders through via teleport. It can also be used to not only send the soldiers back, but also to let the original wizard retreat.
that is why it is primarily used only by large nations, and if you somehow make friends with the ruler of one of these kingdoms...
I just feel like someone powerful enough to cast level 5+ spells is probably going to have better things to do than be on call for whenever you need reinforcements. Maybe as part of a specific plan to say, sneak into a dungeon and call reinforcements to save the princess or something, but as a general arrangement it kind of feels like a waste of their time to be on call for this all the time, and if you have a rotation of shifts of mages so that someone's in the room at all hours of the day that gets even more expensive.
The problem with that would be that then you would have things like this all over. However I do agree that the material is problematic. This is why I suggested a piece of paper, likely enchanted similar to an enduring spellbook. By my calculations a 5 foot by 5 foot sheet of paper would weigh less than one pound.
If you are going to enchant something it is a magic item. Your item, the piece of paper, would be cheaper to make than my item. It would be far MORE prevalent than the item I suggested.
Make it full magic item with reasonable functionality, and therefore expensive - even for a country - and it will not be that common. Moreover, construction of one can be a military secret held by only one country. If it is just a piece of paper, anyone should be able to figure out how to make it.
P.S. (Added much later) When a wizard thinks he has to call in a ton of reinforcements via a magically enchanted item, he does NOT want to have cast Instant Summons to get the magic item. The wizards back at home base can cast Teleport Circle all they want, they are not on site. But the Wizard summoning help should be saving his 6th level Instant Summon spell slot and may not have the 10 minutes to waste using a Ritual, especially as Teleport Circle takes 1 minute to cast anyway. He'd rather wait only 1 minute rather than 11 minutes.
I appreciate your effort to get this thing to work with existing spells, but for me personally I will just make something up rather than trying to jump through a lot of hoops with existing spells.
Creatures that aren't PCs are not bound by PC rules. An NPC wizard could just do this with one spell, you just need to write the spell. Or a magic item might be more appropriate. Probably a large, permanent thing in a solders' barracks that can attune to something small and portable in order to make a portal to that thing when needed.
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(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Put the mini-circle on/in something that triggers an alarm when it disappears, and do a quick sending to the mage before you retrieve the circle. That way the mage and guards can go about their normal duties until needed. The downside might be a bigger delay before the reinforcements are ready to start pouring through, depending on how big a lead time you give the mage
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I wouldn't allow this in my game because I wouldn't allow someone any form of permanent teleportation circle that they can just pick up and carry around. If someone is going to allow this, why not just allow the players a big rug they can keep rolled up on their backpack that does the same thing?
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If the mage is small in size and a race that doesn't require breathing, ya could just keep them in a portable hole.
Later on at 17th level, you can just use Gate.
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While that is true who would want to be stuck in a portable hole for so long? And gate only works if they are on a plane other than the one you are on.
I mean....thats exactly why gate would work though, portable hole is another plane inside