I had a teleport spell in my game - it was called ILLUSION! The character would make it look like they teleported all over the place while the spell also made him invisible. It was just a multisensory illusion. Then he would let his target get really pissed off in the wrong direction and go up and blow his brains out. Sometimes he would use it to get one enemy to shoot another.

Misdirection is very powerful!

In Earthdawn, there was an illusion spell called other place. It uses an illusion to make characters think that they've been teleported but, due to the rather bizarre nature of Earthdawn magic, if they fail to resist or disbelieve the spell, they are actually teleported.

I have an idea that's somewhat evil.

PCs "find" (at an archaeological dig...) some ancient amulet/talisman/whatever, which is an old teleport enabling talisman. Sounds cool and just what they wanted for their birthday, right? But, of course, there's a catch. The talisman is old and entropy has taken it's toll. The second time they use it (not the first; have to let them convince themselves that it's safe) they 'port... but not really. Sure, the PC is at the destination that they wanted to 'port to... but they're also back at the starting point, possibly shaking the talisman and wondering what happened. If you're lucky, they'll try to 'port a second time...

The end result is, you have two or more copies of the same PC running around, one at the destination(s) and the original back at the starting point. While this might seem like a bonus, there are a few catches. A) any damage taken by one is transmitted to all of them, but they can only be healed individually. And B) They're slowly fading. Every 12 hours they have to make individual Willpower tests or take Physical damage... and if one fails, they all get the damage.

As for how to recombine themselves... Well, it is a Fourth World artifact. How many experts in 4th World artifacts are there in the 6th World? And by expert, I mean, was present at the time of manufacture.

I voted no for two reasons. One - it goes against everything that's ever been said on the subject in Shadowrun. Two - the day Microsoft start influencing the direction of the Shadowrun universe is the day that Shadowrun dies a little.

No. No. No.

...more likely the day you open up your SR BBB and find a message that reads...

...This copy of Shadowrun IV has Expired on [mm/dd//yy]. Please logon ot the MicroSoft website to upgrade your copy to the full working version...

Also voted "No" on the teleport issue for many of the reasons noted above. It has been specifically stated in canon that teleporting doesn't work in SR, for many of the same reasons that we can't go to our own personal telepods here in the real world.

Converting an entire body into energy and back again would be a heinously complicated and power sucking process that a 2070 supercomputer wouldn't have enough computing power to supervise, and a Shiawase nuke plant wouldn't be powerful enough to power.

Besides that, if my mage casts a teleport on himself and converts himself into energy, who or what is controlling the energy to make him human again?

Someone did bring up earlier about having a free spirit open a portal for an astral quest which could (in theory) allow physical bodies to move into the metaplanes and perhaps back out again in a different location. Although, I think it was stated there as well that physical bodies absolutely cannot pass into the metaplanes.

Yeah, I know, that novel with the spirit of Dunkelzahn and the cyberzombie. I think I'm just gonna ignore it and hope it goes away.

NO! If you want to move fast have a spirit use their movement power on you.

Earthdawn illusions broke your head, the GMs head, and the NPCs head....

Simply put.
Teleportation would have to be LOS target and destination. A high force requirement (possibly force translating into kilos able to teleport) as well as a high drain code. That is IF its allowed. There is enough magical threats in the world as it is I dont want to have to deal with housecats that can teleport you 100m into the air. Its bad enough when then manabolt you. Imagine how the entire foundation of security would be, everything would be warded eleventybillion times more then it already is.

*edit*
The best statement to tell the player would be: "You do know that If you can do it, the enemy can also do it. Possibly better and in larger numbers."

I'll weigh in:
No, because Shadowrun is a game (largely) about security, stealth, and infiltration, and it would be bad for the game.

...which is why I still have issues with the Astral search ability of Watchers & Spirits.

Okay I go the the perfect Teleport spell.

Spell lasts 1 Second +/- .1 Second
During the time the spell is in effect the character fades from space.
When he come back he is in the exact same point in space as he was when he left, except that the world and everything else has moved.

To determine the earth's speed at any latitude, simply multiply the cosine of the degree latitude times the speed of 1669.8 km/h.

So at 10* latitude this is ~456.78m; 20* ~435.86m; 30* ~401.7m; 40* ~355.3m; 50* ~298.14m; 60* ~231.67m; 70* ~158.64m; 80* ~80.55m; and at 0* lat ~463.83m/sec not moved. You might also want to suggest he jump when he casts the spell.

MFB and others are correct about Ghostwalker. He came through the rift astrally, went and found his physical body, and then hit Denver.

As for Teleport... *shrug* I wouldn't allow it, but I"m something of a purist. But... <shrug> For your game? Think it through. If it's not gonna mess with your game, and you and the rest of the players are cool with the idea, go for it. Could be fun.

Bull

Actually, six grades does not make any character immune to essence loss. Because of the uses of the Magic stat (and to a lesser extent, Resonance), every point counts. A character who looses essence will alway loses a point of Magic and a character who looses six points of essence will never be able to raise his Magic attribute again because his Magic attribute will equal his Grade.
Even if you limit initiate Grade to 6, any character with at least 1 initiation under his belt will be able to have a Magic attribute after burning out but he will always be unable to raise that attribute or learn new metamagics.

This can be represented by the equation m=6-l+i | i<=m .
When l=6 m=i | i<=m

It was always the intent of the developers that Magic and Resonance be uncapped we know this because there was a furor over the use of hard caps and the uncapped nature of Magic and Resonance when SR4 was first released. There was quite a bit of argument and discussion about it and there still is occasionally.
Some developers and freelancers do occasionally post on Dumpshock and when developers and freelancers post about controversial issues they do tend to clarify intent if they are privy to it. I don't feel like sifting through all of the uncapped magic discussions to find a post in which someone who had a hand in creating the book specifically says that Magic and Resonance are uncapped, because there are many such discussions, but I do know that it has happened.
Uncapped Magic was the intent. It is limited by the fact that it costs an absurd amount of karma to raise Magic above 6 and magicians are already karma sinks.

I might be a little late on this one, but...

[SIZE=14] NO

I really haven't seen anything in the RAW to indicate that magic was to be uncapped, especially with the ability to use Power Pacts and Power focus in order to get around the limitations while maintaining play balance.

it was the intent of the devs that the magic attribute be uncapped. they have said so several times, both in public and in private. i'm honestly not up enough on SR4 magic to show you exactly where in the RAW that comes from, but i can tell you what the devs intended.

My 2¥...

I had a player who wanted to teleport in SR3. It wasn't allowed, but we came up with a workaround.
It was a spell that wrapped you in mana, and then sped you along at unreal speeds along a straight LOS to a destination.
The drawbacks were high drain, and it would move small physical things out of the way (like bend a pole or break a window) or stop suddenly if a physical object was too large to shove aside (a car or a building)

All in all, it worked well, and allowed teleporting without teleporting, but I don't think I would allow it in SR4.

yeah, that's just a limited, high-speed levitation+armor spell.

IIRC and it may have been covered already (I am at work, so didn't read the thread...) Some IEs have demonstrated the ability to do what looks like teleportation, but it is really walking through a metaplane, and not without risk. Mere mortals have not figured it out yet.

Harlequin could do that in ED, and it was implied that he did it at the end of Harlequin, but it's never been spelled out.

he may well have, i've only skimmed the SR1-2 modules. but as i recall from similar previous conversations, all of the 'teleporting' thus far presented can be explained away. for instance, at the end of HB, Harlequin basically just disappears. that can be accomplished any number of ways, the coolest (i think) being a memory modification spell.

No teleporting.

It implies that GhostWalker(DollMaker) was shifting physically into the astral plane. It says that sometimes the bullets/missiles went thru him untouched and others hit him. I think that it's in Year of The Comet.

Plus if a loafer like Harlequin(lol j/k he's my fav!) can shift physically to the astral so can the Great GW!!!

Besides which you can add wierd powers to beings that you create. I think it says so in EarthDawn, but I only have the book of dragons and have only briefly looked at others. What I mean is I would definately add such abilities to myself if its possible, so would most people.

I also think it mentions that IE's aren't just your average dragonkin, so they might have had some spirit-like attributes added to give them their immortality and if I read right sometimes draconic regen if they're old/experienced enough. It implies that thats what the original Drakes were pretty much like.

No books on hand to check, but as I recall, a free spirit could open a "portal" that would allow people to physically enter astral space.

Since the same ability can be used to return to the physical plane somewhere else, you have what would look like teleportation to a non-magical observer.

If that recollection is correct, than a metamagic ability could exist that allows an initiated mage to do the same to themselves. (the previous discussed Immortal Elf ability)

Furthermore, for someone who has mastered such an ability, I could imagine a spell that would duplicate the Free Spirit power and allow said initiated mage to bring others with them.

This would not be able to bypass anything that blocks astral travel.

P.S. While no game I've played has had such a spell, in one campaign a mage did develop a Passwall spell that made a door sized portion of a wall (or any other mundane barrier) insubstantial as long as the spell was sustained. After a few runs, we realized how overpowered the spell was, and upped the drain to deadly. We also ruled that being insubstantial, that portion of the wall would become a noticeable discontinuity to any security systems built into it, and therefore it would set off any related alarms, that had not already been disabled.

A couple of ideas that are similar to the ideas already mentioned:

1) An initiate metamagic ability that lets the magician dematerialize his body into the astral plane. He can then move at astral speeds to wherever he wants to go, then rematerializes to the physical plane.

2) A standing Gate between Astral Rifts. You enter one gate and come out the matching gate at another astral rift miles away. Of course the gate needs to be scribed with cool glyphs and Richard Dean Anderson (or perhaps Kurt Russell) has to be the first one through.

RDA is by far the better choice.

Lol, Shevron 6 locked Shevron 7 locked.... Hmm, how to have that verbal/telepathic message chime in when it's activated???

RDA all the Way!!!! Seriously I think it has possibilities as a Meta-magic. I also think that an advanced meta-magic requiring said meta-magic would be The spirit meta-plane shortcut. I might require that you atleast have a number of lvls of initiation before taking it though, don't know if the 4th edition rules(or others for that matter) give that restriction though. Probably have to house rule that too. It only says sorcery itself doesn't allow it, many things not allowed by straight sorcery are allowed to those who have walked the higher realms!

SM has new meta-magics that in order to get them you need other first like masking to get extended masking and / or flux.

So make a meta-magic that requires 1 or 2 other meta-magics before they have what is needed to be able to cross the barrier to travel the astral and make it appear to be teleporation.

However while I can figure out ways to do stuff like this I still say no to teleporation.

I played in a 3rd ed game where the players witnessed a dragon appear to teleport from around the world to our location. Through a series of unusual events (a story for another time), the characters earned a favor from the dragon. My character, being the mage of the group, was refused his first request (to learn the true history of the world and origin of magic and dragons), so his second request was "teach me how you teleported". He granted that request.

The GM was a huge ED fan (I've never played myself), and he had given the dragon the ability to bring his physical body to astral space as a metamagic abililty (apparently this was an ability available in ED), not a spell (in SR# at least, the teleportation prohibition was for spells, not critter or metamagic abilities, IRC).

The rules were simple. Make a willpower test against the background count (I never attempted in an area with a high background count so it was always easy), and you could bring your physical body into astral space, along with any equipment you carried that you had a strong attachment too, such as foci, or gear you had carried since character creation. (the rule of thumb was, if you could bring it along, then you had enough of an attachment to it that it would work perfectly as a ritual link. For my character, since he didn't use foci, he could only bring along a shotgun that he'd always carried, rarely used, and didn't have any skill in using, but had carried it through two years of 8+ hour sessions, twice a week. (I wish I had that kind of time to play now...)).

When my physical body was in astral space, I could move at astral speeds, but was otherwise limited to my normal PHYSICAL attributes, and my ability to pass physical and mana barries was limited to my normal ability to pass physical and mana barriers, respectively. Since rules magic and astral space are subject to thoughts and emotions, I couldn't pass through any physical barrier that I wouldn't be able to pass through if I were physical (so a locked door was impassible unless I normally had the key/passcode), and mana barriers worked against by astral body normally. All I could do with the power, was travel quickly, and awakened enemies (which were a majority of our foes in this campaign) weren't particularly hampered by my ability to move quickly.

When that campaign ended (I graduated college), my character had been captured, and was being taken to a secret orbital prison for magical beings. The GMs last comment was "at least you'll be able to get a lasergun finally, because what respectable space station wouldn't arm its guards with lasers?" (The joke being, my characters had started the game with the laser weapons skill at 6, and only ever used it to assist in targetting indirect missile fire, nd for a lasertag game against myself as part of the "place of destiny" in a metaplanar quest, so I did really want to get a laser weapon, but even with the vast resources of that party, I was never able to find a lasergun).

My vote was minor/nerfed teleport, because thats the closest I could come to my opinion. If the goal of the character is to bypass barriers, then a spell that transforms him into air or water will do the trick anyways. If he wants to travel fast, then quicken a levitate spell and summon an air spirit for fast movement. The metamagic path followed by my previous GM was more flavor for the awakened focus of our game, and didn't allow us to do anything that broke the game in the least, and in fact turned out to be a liability when we let enemies escape after seeing it used.

Thanks for bringing up good memories.