The Holy Grail of Magical Research, Teleportation via Magic... why not? Options

[ShaunClinton]

I used to have a PC who really, really, really wanted the ability to teleport. He was a pretty powerful initiate magician and eventually came up with a way of doing it that really intruiged all the other players. He kept his secret for quite a while but it was basically achieved by casting disregard and levitate simultaneously before dropping them at the end of his levitated move. It was pretty limited, couldn't go through walls, etc. but hey, it looked cool and surprised plenty of people!

So the question of teleportation popped into my mind the other day when I was reading through Street Magic. Now, magic can't affect space/time so it cannot teleport people, but it can transform people into other things (and back.) So what about a spell that transforms the subject into a beam of light, we know from the laser spell that magic can direct and control light so it changes the subject into light, directs the light somewhere and then drops the spell changing them back? That would let you teleport almost anywhere in LOS instantly. Personally I don't see how it violates any of the 'rules' of magic.

What do you think?

[McAllister]

I like it! You could install mirrors all over your house to make it more teleporty.

One question; once you're a beam of light, how do you know when to turn back into a person? And what if you stayed in lightform for .2 seconds too long, hit a wall, and scattered?

I guess the solution is to specify how long you'll be a beam of light (and therefore how far you will travel) when casting the spell. However, the difference between .0002 and .00025 seconds would be ridiculous, like either to the other end of the football stadium or the next state over. Maybe, to keep this out of the hands of chargen magicians (and make them work for it), you could make a metamagic whose sole purpose is to allow the mage to calculate the speed of light over distances quickly and precisely.

What if you aimed the magician-lightbeam like a grenade? You know, specify the point that you'll rematerialize, but scatter unless you get good Spellcasting net hits (spellcasting threshold determined by distance).

And all the modifiers that detract from a laser weapon's damage (like fog etc.) should increase Drain accordingly.

[Backgammon]

It violates the rules of "don't open a huge can of worms" and rule of "teleporting magician are DnD".

[Stahlseele]

Also, aside from the much maligned turn to goo spell, there is NOTHING in the Game that allows the turning of a substance into a completely different substance and back . .

[CodeBreaker]

Also, aside from the much maligned turn to goo spell, there is NOTHING in the Game that allows the turning of a substance into a completely different substance and back . .

That is unless you consider Racoon as a different substance from Human. I know I do!

Yeah, even with clever thingymerjigging with the magic rules I would be reserved about letting any magic user be capable of teleporting, even if the way they do it seems sensible enough. It opens a big ass can of worms. Whats that, you are being chased by bad guys and need to get away? Teleport! Need to infiltrate that building? Teleport (because surely the light beams could go through windows right?)! Need to kill a guy? Teleport a hand grenade into his face!

Now, coming up with a fluffy reason why I would not allow this? The drain of doing something like turning yourself into a light wave/beam/stream thing is silly big because the Astral Mana Flow Thingymerjig does something too the ... flux capacitor... and the other thingymerjigs. Yes, that sounds right.

[Stahlseele]

That is unless you consider Racoon as a different substance from Human. I know I do!

I don't. it's both mammal and both supposedly taste like chicken. But all the same, Teleporting is still one of the big NoNo's of SR.
And for a good reason too.

[Snow_Fox]

Code breaker had a good point though about transformation.
For the beam of light concept though the problem is if the transfomation is complete, then you're gone. No mind to turn you back, no way to direct yourself. poof just gone and you lab asisstants think you invented disintergration-which if you think about it- turn matter to energy, you did.

For game play Teleport spells open a whole new level of problems for security and the like unless it's severly limited to like, LOS. So you can't pop through a wall for a run.

For 2070 magical knowledge it just means that maybe we haven't reach that man\a level yet since to teleport you'd be going outside LOS making guidance a bitch and that is mainly what 'our' level of knowldge currently allows UNLESS, corps take notice, you have a group of mages working aritual spell at both ends to send the item/person in question from a well known marked space to a well known marked space. Think of the spell as a major transport for important people-can't intercept the CEO's jet if he's not in it. but unlike a Star Trek transporter that can pluck you from a spot anywhere in the world, it might be like using a telepohne booth- remember those guys? where you go from one booth to another.

I think it more likely that they would try to find a way to open a phyiscal door to astral space so mundanes can walk through then travel to a another spot-like using the Everafter in Harry Dresden books.

[Stahlseele]

Closes would be Spirit powe of . . Astral Gateway? Then use Metaplanetar Shortcut and Spirit Power on the other end again.

[jerusalem7227]

Closes would be Spirit powe of . . Astral Gateway? Then use Metaplanetar Shortcut and Spirit Power on the other end again.

actually, that was what I was thinking about. Since movement on the Astral is supposedly exponentially faster it would look like teleporting to the layman.
And far as teleporting being against SR? It's appeared in canon (albiet from the hands of IE's so the argument against it is still sound). But the whole metaplot of SR is about the cycle of magic revving up and how those that have re-discovered casting have mussed it all up and do it in a way that makes it harder.
A player I had at one time was all over this...which would later come out in the books as the Universal Magic Theory stuff, and he really wanted to push the boundries of how players were supposed to use magic. Sucked to have to try and reign him in out of balance issues but I had to agree with some of the theorycrafting he was throwing around.

PS: the issue of security and game balance vs. teleport is borked since any warding would prevent it...even the ivy wall crap would stop it since it's a magical effect. Teleporting 1 hand grenade into a group wouldn't be any worse than say...making a vest with 20 hand grenades and a remote detonator and then strapping it to any spirit with the ItNW ability since explosives are said to not have any "will" behind them they don't take damage and they can walk into anywhere and blow up any number of ppl with that. And depending on GM fiet they may or maynot allow a spirit to manifest and then un-manifest with whatever it is carrying/holding...thus they could appear anywhere.

[Stahlseele]

When and where did which IE do a Teleport? O.o
Astral is at about 1000km/h if i remember correctly.
But Mages also burn up essence doing this i think.
Granted, the essence does return, but it takes time.
An hour per point of Essence i think.

[CodeBreaker]

When and where did which IE do a Teleport? O.o
Astral is at about 1000km/h if i remember correctly.
But Mages also burn up essence doing this i think.
Granted, the essence does return, but it takes time.
An hour per point of Essence i think.

I am not sure about this (as in really not sure) but doesn't Harlequin have some specialized metamagic stuff that lets him teleport, or something? I remember reading the archives once, and someone who had done a character write up had included it, so maybe it appears in one of the novels or some such?

And if this is true I must point out that Harlequin is a stupidly powerful magic user. I think it is commented that he is the most powerful non-Draconic magic user currently alive? So even if he did have this ability it is almost certainly out of the reach of normal runners. Also, the Dragons themselves dont seem to have this ability, and if nothing else that should point out just how difficult this is.

[jerusalem7227]

When and where did which IE do a Teleport? O.o
Astral is at about 1000km/h if i remember correctly.
But Mages also burn up essence doing this i think.
Granted, the essence does return, but it takes time.
An hour per point of Essence i think.

been a while, but if IIRC Harlequin teleports a couple of times in House of the Sun. Either way, it was Harlequin that did so and it was in a storyline novel.

Oh and unless 4th ed changed it...a mage can remain on the Astral plane for a number of hours equal to their essence rating (or magic maybe it's been a long time since I read the book) but there is nothing saying that they lose essence while they are doing it...only that they have a time limit per visit

[jerusalem7227]

I am not sure about this (as in really not sure) but doesn't Harlequin have some specialized metamagic stuff that lets him teleport, or something? I remember reading the archives once, and someone who had done a character write up had included it, so maybe it appears in one of the novels or some such?

And if this is true I must point out that Harlequin is a stupidly powerful magic user. I think it is commented that he is the most powerful non-Draconic magic user currently alive? So even if he did have this ability it is almost certainly out of the reach of normal runners. Also, the Dragons themselves dont seem to have this ability, and if nothing else that should point out just how difficult this is.

There is a write-up of Harlequin's stats....however, if you look at it, they were obviously written before the Harlequin's Back series of adventures in which they actually give a write-up (of a sorts). But I can see how people would want more concrete info.

[Neraph]

If you want to teleport, then play a Free Spirit.

On the other hand, Astral Gateway simply forces people to astrally project, not to cross wholly onto the astral. I kind of wish it did though.

I think it more likely that they would try to find a way to open a phyiscal door to astral space so mundanes can walk through then travel to a another spot-like using the Everafter in Harry Dresden books.

I love the Dresden Files, and would love something akin to that as well.

[jerusalem7227]

just a thought I had. Was there teleportation magic in Earthdawn? I never played it or even read any of the books...so I have no idea. But if it were possible there then it is possible in SR as it is the same world.

[Fuchs]

just a thought I had. Was there teleportation magic in Earthdawn? I never played it or even read any of the books...so I have no idea. But if it were possible there then it is possible in SR as it is the same world.

If I recall correctly there was some talent to bodily enter astral space, and leave again somewhere else I believe. And some teleport circles that worked as portals.

[PirateChef]

If I remember correctly, Harlequin (Who is supposedly THE most powerful magic user alive, including dragons) can teleport, but only b/c he doesn't use the SR rules for magic, but instead is still practicing the Earthdawn version, which works completely differently and has a lot fewer limitations. Which any player can do, if they can explain how they have been alive for 15,000 years or so... and the GM allows it

[Maelstrome]

i was thinking he had metaplanar shortcut as a metamagic.

[Traul]

It already exists: if I didn't get the math wrong, all you need is a Magic score of 12300, overcasting to max and hitting maximum net hits to reach the speed of light with a Levitate spell (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Wacky]

I always favored the "manalines" meathod of teleportation. In it you'd use a manaline with set ends and you could teleport from on to the other.

This was used in one of the first Shadowrun trilogies (the one that started with "never deal with a dragon"), where Twist and Dodger teleported to Stonehenge.

Since the "ends" of the manalines are only where the GM wants them to be they'd be a much more controlled method of teleportation.

Sign--

Wacky

[Jaid]

just a side note, it's not stated to be impossible to teleport with magic. it's stated as a limitation of sorcery.

[McAllister]

Ok... well, teleportation is clearly not in the domain of conjuration, which deals with summoning, binding and banishing spirits. Nor is it in the domain of arcana, which is simply research and formulae. Enchantment, then? How hard would it be to make a unique enchantment that allows the user to teleport?

[Jaid]

personally, i would say it probably is related to conjuration. specifically, the metaplanar shortcut is really the closest thing, and the metaplanar shortcut is tied in closely to the metaplanes, and that would be closely tied in to conjuration imo.

i would probably make it a metamagic rather than anything else though.

[Cardul]

personally, i would say it probably is related to conjuration. specifically, the metaplanar shortcut is really the closest thing, and the metaplanar shortcut is tied in closely to the metaplanes, and that would be closely tied in to conjuration imo.

i would probably make it a metamagic rather than anything else though.

Aff, and with some sort of drawback that makes it risky...unless you happen to have a magic rating like Harlequin would have.

[KCKitsune]

Yeah, even with clever thingymerjigging with the magic rules I would be reserved about letting any magic user be capable of teleporting, even if the way they do it seems sensible enough. It opens a big ass can of worms. Whats that, you are being chased by bad guys and need to get away? Teleport! Need to infiltrate that building? Teleport (because surely the light beams could go through windows right?)! Need to kill a guy? Teleport a hand grenade into his face!

I have thought about this and there is an easy way to have teleportation and still not have it too game breaking... Wards to prevent teleportation. Like in the Harry Potter universe, no one can teleport into or out of Hogwarts because the wards prevent it. Dumbledore can do so because he is the "Master of the Wards". The same thing can be done with Corp facilities.

Also make it so only the Mage (or Mystic Adept) can teleport, and the drain is... Bad. Here's my idea of a Teleport Spell:

Teleport
Type : M
Range: 10 km per point of force with each net hit adding another 10 km
Duration : I
DV : F + 5 (double if you allow a mage to take someone with him)

This makes it so that if a mage casts a Force 1 Teleport he has to resist 6 drain... which is not pleasant.