Teleporting to an "uncertain" location is basically prohibited, since it is 75% likely to result in instant death. Of course, the traditional drawback to teleporting in D&D is to possibly appear at the destination point either high (and suffer falling damage) or low (instant death). If a careful study of the destination has been previously made, then the Magic-User has only a 1% chance of teleporting low and a 4% chance of coming in high (10-40 feet). A high score (91-100%) indicates a fall of from 10 to 100 feet, also possibly resulting in death. A low score (1-10%) means death if solid material is contacted. If the user is aware of the general topography of his destination, but has not carefully studied it, there is an uncertainty factor of 10% low and 10% high. Without certain knowledge of the destination teleportation is 75% uncertain, so a score of less than 75% of the percentile dice results in death. Original D&D Teleport: Instantaneous transportation from place to place, regardless of the distance involved, provided the user knows where he is going (the topography of the arrival area). But for now let's look at how D&D has tried to circumscribe the 5th-level teleport spell. For a more comprehensive listing of possible mishaps, check out TV Tropes ( link). Another complication more recently explored is the idea that multiple copies of the transportee might be produced, causing existential dilemmas of identity (James Kelly's 1996 "Think Like a Dinosaur" and I also wrote a short story on this theme circa 1990). In the 1943 "Philadelphia Experiment" urban myth/movie, a Navy destroyer is teleported and many of crew are merged into the steel superstructure ( link). Clarke's "Travel By Wire!", or Edward Mitchell's "The Man Without a Body"), gain parts of other beings (as in "The Fly"), mangled fatally (as in the first Star Trek movie), or simply "grounded" and disappear into the Earth (Clarke again). Common SF drawbacks are that the teleported person might get "scrambled" en route or incorrectly reconstructed, such that they lose parts of themselves (see Arthur C. Every edition has had some attached limitation or danger to the ability - however, traditional legendary versions have seemingly no restriction, so the D&D limits are distinctly sci-fi flavored. Obviously, teleportation is a powerful ability, and in some versions of the game (in conjunction with other powers), it's become problematic and possibly game-breaking. White's "The Sword in the Stone", Merlyn accidentally vanishes himself to Bermuda for a few moments (Chapter 9). In this way it may stand as an example of D&D's mix-and-match approach, taking some handfuls of all the various pulp literature, not just fantasy and swords-and-sorcery.Īmong the classical depictions of instant-transfer powers we might include ( link) - Djinn in "The Arabian nights" (transporting from China to Morocco instantly) examples in the Talmud of "contracting the path" ( Kefitzat Haderech) a Tibetan mystical skill of instantaneous transportation ( Lung-gom-pa) and the Tarnhelm in Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen". As such, it tends to be more commonly developed or utilized in 20th century works of science fiction but it has been a 5th-level D&D wizard spell since the first version of the game. The word "teleportation" was coined less than a hundred years ago (by Charles Fort in 1931 link).
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