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Old 07-18-2017, 02:32 AM   #1
Henchman99942
 
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Default Teleport Spell

GURPS Magic, Page 147.

"Instantly moves the caster to another location."

"A wizard must roll vs. his Body Sense skill (p. B181) in order to act on the same turn in which he teleports."

To me, this sounds like a Mage could teleport next to someone and then cast a spell with a one second casting time on that person, all within one turn.
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Old 07-18-2017, 02:44 AM   #2
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

One turn to cast teleport, then you move at the beginning of the following turn, and can act on that turn with a Body Sense roll.
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Old 07-18-2017, 02:59 AM   #3
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

For more details check out the [Basic] Skill of the week: Body Sense thread
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Old 07-18-2017, 03:07 AM   #4
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
One turn to cast teleport, then you move at the beginning of the following turn, and can act on that turn with a Body Sense roll.
This was how it worked in 3e. In 4e spells now launch at the end of your last turn of casting instead of the beginning of your following turn. This is usually good for magicians: spells with 1 second casting times can't be interrupted by anyone who isn't Waiting, and mostly is even here (you can Teleport to escape instantly rather than letting everyone get a last turn in before you are gone!). But the Teleport description wasn't edited to reflect that rules change.
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Old 07-18-2017, 04:08 AM   #5
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

So, if I am understanding the explanations given here, the spell takes one second to cast, since the casting time was not listed. Even though it is not listed as Duration: Instantaneous, it does say 'Instantly' in the description (Which some spells do such as 'Instant Restoration'), so the duration is instantaneous. But Casting Time is not listed so this is one second.


From Magic, Page 7:

"...take Concentrate maneuvers for the requisite number of turns (see Time Required, below). At the end of the last second of concentration, make a success roll for the spell. ...On a success, mark off the spell’s energy cost against your FP or HP (see Energy Cost, p. 8). Its effects take place immediately."

So this sounds like the spell goes into effect at the END of the mages turn. If the effect is Teleport, then the mage teleports at the end of their turn. Why does the spell then state:

"A wizard must roll vs. his Body Sense skill (p. B181) in order to act on the same turn in which he teleports."

It says this specifically in the spell description. This implies that either the teleport occurs at the beginning of the turn in which it was cast, as if it were a blocking spell, taking zero time to cast, or it is happening at the beginning of the following turn. Maybe the Mage disappears at the end of their turn and reappears at the beginning of their next turn.

It doesn't make any difference to me how it was intended to work, I just want to know what that way is. (Meaning that I don't have a horse in the race. I am not looking for a specific result)

I would prefer everything to be self contained for clarity rather than GURPS's tendency to function like US legislation, where a bill references specific lines of other bills, "Paragraph 7, strike the word, 'and' and replace it with the word the words 'but never'."

I looked for 'errata' and 'clarification' on the 'Teleport' spell, but didn't find anything definitive.
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Old 07-18-2017, 05:36 AM   #6
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

The text is copy-pasted from third edition, and in this case, the wording is ambiguous due to the rules changes 3e>4e.
Either:

a)
Spell type is "Special" so the spell description overrule the generic rules.
"Instantly moves the caster to another location." may be interpreted as "casting time : instant" in which case you could act for the rest of the turn on a succesfull body-sense roll.
b)
There is no time to cast listed, so by default, it should be the standart one second concentrate, effect at end of turn.
The body-sense roll is an outdated bit of text no longer pertinent.
c)
There is no time to cast listed, so by default, it should be the standart one second concentrate, effect at end of turn.
You need a body-sense roll to act on your next turn.

I don't know if there has been a Word of Kromm on this subject, and the unnoficial magic errata http://personal.jargon-file.org/Unof...agicErrata.pdf have nothing either.

I would go with (c) at first glance.

Edit : see also the FAQ
4.1.9 Can I still cast spells instantaneously in Fourth Edition?
Except for the normal Blocking spells, no. That can seem unfair, but this balances nicely with the fact that one-second spells are now uninterruptable by anyone who hasn't taken the Wait maneuver.
So (a) is probably not possible.

The Warp advantage allow you to do the instant teleport, body-sense roll and act in one turn with a -10 penalty, so if that strategy is important to you, you could allow it with a -10 penalty to the spell-teleport roll ?

Last edited by Celjabba; 07-18-2017 at 06:56 AM.
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Old 07-18-2017, 07:52 AM   #7
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

The way I've played it was that the Teleport happens at the end of the turn the Mage casts it, they make a Body Sense roll.

If successful: They may continue to act normal for the remainder of this turn and their next.

If failure: They are treated as Stunned for the remainder of this turn and make a check to recover from Stun at the beginning of their next. They will return to acting normally on further turns.
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Old 07-18-2017, 10:30 AM   #8
Kromm
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

"Act" isn't the same as "choose a maneuver" (like Concentrate or Attack). Free actions are still actions. If you succeed at Body Sense, you can talk (e.g., whisper important information to someone you just appeared next to), use Fast-Draw, drop something (e.g., a live grenade you plan to teleport away from next turn), stand from a crouch, etc. If you fail, you cannot.
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Old 07-18-2017, 03:27 PM   #9
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

Regardless of what the intention was, I believe that the term 'Act' should have been explicitly clarified. If that meant 'take normal free actions' such as perform normal defenses and take free actions, then this should have been made clear. To my knowledge, the word, 'Act' has never had a specific usage and meaning in GURPS rules. But the term 'action' seemed to have...

"A “maneuver” is an action that you can take on your turn."

So I believe my confusion was only natural.
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Old 07-18-2017, 05:21 PM   #10
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Default Re: Teleport Spell

You can take any action that you're entitled to take in that turn. But you've already cast a spell (the Teleport spell), so you can't cast another. To cast the spell, you took a Concentrate Maneuver, so you can't stab with a sword, as that would require the Attack Maneuver (or one of its relatives). And so on. You can't take another Maneuver, because you've already taken the one Maneuver for your tun.

"Action" isn't a game-mechanical term of art in GURPS, even if it is in some other systems.

There are means for getting multiple Maneuvers within a single turn (Altered Time Rate, or, for just spellcasting, Compartmentalized Mind).

Making a Body Sense roll is not one of those. If Body Sense had been meant to give you multiple Maneuvers per turn just by making a skill roll, it would have been noted in the skill description. (And it would be a FAR more popular skill to take. In fact, all characters would have to have it, not just the teleporting mages. :)
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