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OddGamer 09-15-2005 08:21 AM

Warp questions
 
Alright... back in 3e psionic teleportation listed two limitations for -50% each. One was arriving naked. The second was that you retained your velocity (speed and direction) when you arrived. Is this limitation available at all for 4e? Could it be an accessability limitation?

Does Warp include the ability to teleport objects to yourself or away from yourself? Warp says you can teleport one person if your carrying capacity is sufficient. Does the person being teleported get a resistance roll if they don't want to be teleported? If you can teleport objects away from yourself or to yourself, is there a penalty/contest/etc for teleporting a person's weapon away from them? If you are fighting up close and personal and grab their weapon (better not be a sword!), can you teleport away from the person and take their weapon with you? Is there a contest for that?

I think that about does it.

Oddgamer

Ptaloth 09-15-2005 08:48 AM

Re: Warp questions
 
If you want psionic Warp this is a -10% limitation, arriving naked is -30% in 4h edition. Retaining you speed an velocity could be a Nuisance Effect (p.112).

Does Warp include the ability to teleport objects to yourself or away from yourself?

I think that would be an Affliction.

Warp says you can teleport one person if your carrying capacity is sufficient. Does the person being teleported get a resistance roll if they don't want to be teleported?

I don't think so, but you might have to grapple the unwillig person.

If you can teleport objects away from yourself or to yourself, is there a penalty/contest/etc for teleporting a person's weapon away from them?

I am not sure, but the wielder should get a resistance roll on ST.

If you are fighting up close and personal and grab their weapon (better not be a sword!), can you teleport away from the person and take their weapon with you? Is there a contest for that?

This would be an unarmed diswarming attempt.

Correct me if i have anything wrong :)

PK 09-15-2005 10:22 AM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by OddGamer
The second was that you retained your velocity (speed and direction) when you arrived. Is this limitation available at all for 4e? Could it be an accessability limitation?

I would allow it. I think it's enough of a limitation to warrant -20%, since you can't safely warp out of (or into) a moving vehicle, from a fall, etc. Wouldn't give any more than that, though -- it was way overvalued in 3e.

Quote:

Does Warp include the ability to teleport objects to yourself or away from yourself?
No. Affliction (Warp) does that.

Quote:

Warp says you can teleport one person if your carrying capacity is sufficient. Does the person being teleported get a resistance roll if they don't want to be teleported?
Consensus on the forums (more or less) was that if you can pick them up or otherwise have them completely in your power (pinned, etc.), they're pretty much "equipment" and don't get a resistance roll. Otherwise, you can't just grab their arm and take them with you if they don't want to come -- unless you use Affliction (Warp).

Quote:

If you can teleport objects away from yourself or to yourself, is there a penalty/contest/etc for teleporting a person's weapon away from them?
If you use a ranged Affliction (Warp) to teleport someone's sword out of their hand, the person gets no say in it. Instead, the sword resists with its HT, as for any Affliction.

Quote:

If you are fighting up close and personal and grab their weapon (better not be a sword!), can you teleport away from the person and take their weapon with you? Is there a contest for that?
The rules say that you can warp out with your equipment, not someone else's, so I'd say you have to disarm them first. I'd probably give you +4 to the disarm roll if you made your Warp roll (just because the two would be so synergistic) -- if you made the disarm as well, you end up with the sword; if not, you still warp, but without the sword. This is my call as a GM, not something I'm reading out of the rules, mind you.

kpram 09-15-2005 10:29 AM

Re: Warp questions
 
Keeping velocity is a serious limitation depending on how "real" the physics are. On any round planet, you have a significant tangential velocity; going to another spot on the planet, or even changing elevation on the planet, gives you a large relative velocity to the new frame of reference. I've used hand-waved "frame of reference velocity" in campaigns before, but made sure the player and the GM shared an understanding about what would happen in various cases.

If it is a flat world, no problem.

Not another shrubbery 09-15-2005 12:58 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by kpram
Keeping velocity is a serious limitation depending on how "real" the physics are. On any round planet, you have a significant tangential velocity; going to another spot on the planet, or even changing elevation on the planet, gives you a large relative velocity to the new frame of reference. I've used hand-waved "frame of reference velocity" in campaigns before, but made sure the player and the GM shared an understanding about what would happen in various cases.

If it is a flat world, no problem.

I recall an article in a collection of essays (the author's name escapes me) where this was explained at some length. I doubt that many players would want to bother with this level of detail. If it were used, I would agree that the vector and orientation retention could be worth the -50% from 3E, or maybe more. For more ordinary purposes, where you are only concerned with the problems of escaping from moving vehicles, or teleporting into a small confined area, I'd go with Rev's assesment of -20%.

Not another shrubbery 09-15-2005 01:14 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Rev_Pee_Kitty
No. Affliction (Warp) does that.

This is the official way to do it. I've got a problem with the use of Affliction (Warp), but I'll start a thread to cover that.
Quote:

Consensus on the forums (more or less) was that if you can pick them up or otherwise have them completely in your power (pinned, etc.), they're pretty much "equipment" and don't get a resistance roll. Otherwise, you can't just grab their arm and take them with you if they don't want to come -- unless you use Affliction (Warp).
I don't have a big issue with this, but my own style would dictate the allowance of a resistance roll as long as the target was conscious and attempting to resist.
Quote:

If you use a ranged Affliction (Warp) to teleport someone's sword out of their hand, the person gets no say in it. Instead, the sword resists with its HT, as for any Affliction.
I would add a houserule bonus to the item's roll, in a manner similar to the penalties for targetting items with the Teleport Other spell.

arnej 09-15-2005 02:00 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery
I recall an article in a collection of essays (the author's name escapes me) where this was explained at some length. I doubt that many players would want to bother with this level of detail. If it were used, I would agree that the vector and orientation retention could be worth the -50% from 3E, or maybe more. For more ordinary purposes, where you are only concerned with the problems of escaping from moving vehicles, or teleporting into a small confined area, I'd go with Rev's assesment of -20%.

It was likely that it was Larry Niven, who used some of those concepts
to good effect in his Ringworld stories.

aj

teviet 09-15-2005 07:22 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery
... I doubt that many players would want to bother with this level of detail.

For those that do, it's not that complicated. For short hops on Earth, the approximate rule is: every 10 miles imparts a relative velocity of 1yd/sec (2mph). When moving North or South, multiply by the sine of your latitude (or just by 0.5 for simplicity). The direction of the effective impulse is:

Code:

Direction you Warp      Direction you end up moving
Up/Towards Equator        West
Down/Towards Pole          East
East                      Up
West                      Down

For other directions, just combine the velocity changes. Have fun inflicting collision damage on your globetrotting Warpers!

TeV

Not another shrubbery 09-16-2005 06:26 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by arnej
It was likely that it was Larry Niven, who used some of those concepts
to good effect in his Ringworld stories.

I think you're right, arn. I believe it was in the All the Myriad Ways collection, which sadly appears to be missing from my collection :( IIRC, another element covered was the more insidious effect of sudden pressure/temperature changes due to teleporting up or down. Have to see if I can find a copy of the book so I make a guess at what that limit might be worth.

Gaming_Bird 09-17-2005 11:08 PM

Re: Warp questions
 
I'd normally use the 'inertial frame' model for my games, where standing still in New York and warping to Houston leaves you standing still in your destination, but if I were running a game with mostly math/science/engineering type players, of if I were doing a game in E. E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensmen universe, I'd make sure that everyone's aware of the consequences of not matching intrinsic velocity with their target location.

Well, if I'm running a game using GURPS Lensmen, I'd make sure all the players are ready for the level of detail the game world throws at you. For example, if you engage the Bergenholm drive, which neutralizes Inerta, on planet A, fly your ship to planet B, land, then disengage the drive, your ship will instantaniously regain the inertal vectors it had when it was touching planet A, which would either throw the ship into space or cause it to collide with the ground at an amazing speed, reducing the ship and landing pad to a smoking crater.

(And if you think that's overkill, they also learn how to build a Bergenholm that will make an entire PLANET inertialess, and start using them in the war effort, lining them up with their target planet and turn off the drive. Instant planetary destruction, unless the target planet happens to go 'free' before the collision, but that's solved by using TWO planets to attack with, hitting the target planet from opposite sides, leaving it nowhere to go but boom.)


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