Warp vs Teleportation

[Mark Skarr]

I'm going to put my cards on the table:
Warp sucks.

It creates a very specific type of teleportation depicted in media, but, it is so cumbersome it doesn't allow for other types. It requires all teleportation to make a roll. It's great if you want everything, always, to be the same type of teleportation, but where is the "Nightcrawler-esque" version of teleportation where it's just a different form of movement. Sure, he can move through walls in a blink, but Warp doesn't allow for that. With a "mandatory" concentration period, the cap on Reliable, the inherent penalty for blind teleportation and characters like our favorite fuzzy elf become GM options and not something we can make generally. Walking, flying and swimming don't require a roll every time we choose to do it, so why is Teleportation treated so differently?

So, following my personal advice of "read every game you can find so when your chosen game presents you with something you don't like, you have resources to steal from to make the rule you do like . . .."

[Mark Skarr]

Teleportation – 40 points

Teleportation gives you a Teleport Move equal to your Basic Speed (round down). You can teleport to any open location you can see. Your encumbrance affects your maximum teleportation range as for normal movement. You may add Reflexive to this to allow the ability to make Teleportation Power Dodges. Additionally Tunnel may also be added, and Affects Others may be used to carry "passengers" and not have them count as encumbrance--however, if their encumbrance level is higher than your own, your range is affected as if you were at that encumbrance level.

Blind +50%
You can teleport to places you can’t see with a successful IQ roll, modified for range. You may reduce this penalty by spending FP or taking concentrate maneuvers. Each FP or second of concentration reduces the penalty by 1. If you fail the roll, you are stunned until the beginning of your next turn when you recover normally. If you appear in a solid object—determine the ST of the object from its HP, and take swing damage from it. This damage bypasses all of your defenses.

Safe-Blind +100%
As above, but, if you appear in a solid object you, painlessly shunt to a near-by open area. If no area is open, within IQ yards of your destination, the teleportation fails and you are stunned until the beginning of your next round when you recovery normally.

Always Blind +25%
You must make an IQ roll every time you teleport. This is modified by range. You can teleport blind, as above, making the two modifiers mutually exclusive.

Safe, Always Blind +75%
As a combination of Always Blind and Safe-Blind.

Long-Range Enhancements may be added to the Teleportation advantage to reduce penalties for long-distance, blind travel.

Naked -25%
You cannot carry anything when you teleport, not just “no encumbrance,” 0 encumbrance. You arrive at your destination naked as a jay bird.

Blink +25%
You may use your teleportation power to dodge. This counts as an active defense (Dodge) and can be modified by All-Out Defense. On a successful Blink, you may make the equivalent of a Teleport Step (1/10th Teleportation Movement, rounded down, minimum 1 yard) in any direction. You may do this multiple times, but may not move further from your starting point than your Teleportation Move. You may make a retreating Blink, teleporting your full teleportation move away from a target for +3, but you may not use your Teleportation ability in your next turn, nor make any, additional, Blinks until after your next turn.
(Don't panic--this is just replaced with the Reflexive Enhancement.)

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Enhanced Move (Teleportation) – 10 points/level

Look up your level of Enhanced Move (Teleportation) in the size column of the Speed/Range table. Multiply your Teleportation Move by the value in the Linear Measurement column. This is your Enhanced Teleportation Move. To use the Enhanced Teleportation Move, you must concentrate for a number of turns equal to your Enhanced Move (Teleportation) advantage, at the end of the concentration, you may teleport the desired distance. If you cannot see your destination, you must have one of the Blind options above. You may purchase Reduced Time, normally, for this advantage.

Enhanced Move (Teleportation) – 20 points/Level
Each level of Enhanced Move doubles your Teleportation Range. It takes one second of concentration, per level of Enhanced Move. At the end of that time (and with a successful IQ roll if you can’t see the location and have one of the blind options, above) you teleport to the location. You may buy levels of Reduced Time, normally, to reduce the concentration time required for this ability. If sufficient levels of Reduced Time are purchased to reduce the time to less than one second, concentration is not needed and you may utilize the Enhanced move distance as a normal move action.

Long-Range +50%/+100%
This modifier changes the range penalties for the IQ roll needed for blind teleportation, when using Enhanced Move (Teleportation) to the Long-Distance modifiers (for +50%) or removes the distance penalty entirely (for +100%).

Cosmic: Improved Teleportation +50%
When purchased, in addition to sufficient levels of Reduced Time to make Enhanced Move (Teleportation) to make concentration unnecessary, this allows the enhanced Teleportation distance to function, completely, as your Teleportation Range, including increasing your effective TP Step.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Enhanced Move (Teleport) [20]
Each level doubles the distance you can teleport, including the Step distance. This enhanced teleport comes at a price however, make an IQ roll to travel at -1 per level of Enhanced Move used. This penalty can be offset by spending 1 FP or taking 1 second for each level used. Add Reliable, 5%; Reduced Time, +20%; or Reflexive, +40% for additional options.

You must still be able to see your destination, or you must have one of the Blind options, above. The Range Penalties for Blind teleportation are cumulative with the Enhanced Move "faster" travel roll.

Additionally, Long-Range may be added to further reduce range penalties for any of the Blind Options.

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Extra Move (Teleport) – 5 points/level

This increases the range you can teleport by 1 yard per level. Just like how Extra Move normally works.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Teleportation – 40 points

Enhanced Move (Teleportation) – 10 points/level

Look up your level of Enhanced Move (Teleportation) in the size column of the Speed/Range table. M

You were doing so well until you got here. Don't drag the Speed/Range table into places it doesn't need to go! Besides adding un-needed complexity it nerfs the Power again.

Every other form of Enhanced Move doubles how fast you can go at full speed. Do the same here. If you want to model acceleration add extra Turns to use but include an Instant Acceleration Enhancement (+50%) as seen for other Movement Powers.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You were doing so well until you got here. Don't drag the Speed/Range table into places it doesn't need to go! Besides adding un-needed complexity it nerfs the Power again.

Every other form of Enhanced Move doubles how fast you can go at full speed. Do the same here. If you want to model acceleration add extra Turns to use but include an Instant Acceleration Enhancement (+50%) as seen for other Movement Powers.

I both agree and disagree. I didn't want to bring the speed/range table into it. I really, really didn't. But teleportation is always a straight line, so maneuverability is irrelevant, and since it's teleportation, acceleration isn't relevant. My other idea was that each level increases your Teleportation range by its existing range. It doesn't keep doubling, it's a flat multiplier. Enhanced Move 5, is 6x your regular teleportation range.

[ETA]
I'm willing to both be wrong about this, and make changes. Hence, why I'm posting it. But, I always thought Enhanced Move was a bit borked as well, to be honest.
[/ETA]

[Mark Skarr]

Basic Enhanced Move doesn't, quite work as well as it assumes you have to accelerate to reach top speed, and Teleportation simply doesn't work that way. And, if they have to (FSM Forbid) concentrate the whole time that they build up their teleportation "move" to reach top "speed" then it's even more borked than Warp.

If I have a TP Move of 10 (for ease of maths), and Enhanced TP Move 5, that's a TP move of 320. For someone with Fly, it would take them 32 turns to reach top speed. It wouldn't be fair for the TP person to have to concentrate for 32 turns . . . since they're not moving. They'd be spending 32 turns as a target.

BUT, on the other hand, for TP, it's not a continuous movement either. So, let's mix my original with this.

If you have 5 levels of Enhanced TP Move, it takes 5 seconds of concentration to move 2^5 times as far. So, yeah. That works.

I'm not sure I like Instantaneous Acceleration as an option, as I think Reduce Time seems to fit better. Though I can be convinced I'm wrong here as well.

[Mark Skarr]

Enhanced Move (Teleportation) – 20 points/Level

Each level of Enhanced Move doubles your Teleportation Range. It takes one second of concentration, per level of Enhanced Move. At the end of that time (and with a successful IQ roll if you can’t see the location and have one of the blind options, above) you teleport to the location. You may buy levels of Reduced Time, normally, to reduce the concentration time required for this ability.

Long-Range +50%/+100%
This modifier changes the range penalties for the IQ roll needed for blind teleportation, when using Enhanced Move (Teleportation) to the Long-Distance modifiers (for +50%) or removes the distance penalty entirely (for +100%)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Basic Enhanced Move doesn't, quite work as well as it assumes you have to accelerate to reach top speed, ll.

Super Jump isn't quite a form of Enhanced Move but it does double total move each level. Of course it does have that peculiar 5 second period built in so it's not a perfect model either.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

But teleportation is always a straight line...

It is? I've seen it depicted as not being straight lines, but that's usually when accompanied by some limitations inherent to the way the user thought the power worked (like cannot teleport through walls, but could "go around them" to allow them to be 'locked up' but able to t-port if they could have 'flown' there - just one example).

Granted, "maneuverability was irrelevant" in that example, as they didn't need to do anything special to 'make turns', just have a clear path to where they wanted to go, even if it was a 'safe blind jump'.

...acceleration isn't relevant.

Ah, but I can explicitly picture a Character who starts with short jumps, but each immediate jump thereafter is further... sort of 'accelerating' into a top speed. But I'd rather see that as a Limitation to a Teleport Enhanced Move in this case rather than a presumption of T-port's Enh Move (hoenstly I don;t see too many Characters being built with with it).

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

The current version looks pretty good to me. The only things I'd add is a note to Enhanced Move (Teleport): "If you levels of Reduced Time equal to your Enhanced Move levels, you do not need to Concentrate and may teleport as a Move maneuver."

I can see about adding that.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

and some words on how this version of Teleport interacts with Move and Attack. Since it's a Move maneuver to start it, can you use it in a Move and Attack? If so, does the attack have to come before or after the teleport, or can you do intermediate distance teleports and attack mid-way? If you can, how many Body Sense rolls do you need to make? If you can't, is there an enhancement to allow you to do so?

As it's treated as a regular form of movement, Body Sense isn't even needed anymore. You don't need an extra skill roll to walk, run or fly, why would you need one for teleportation?

I would treat it exactly the same for Move and Attack. The only, real, difference is the inability to slam.

Originally Posted by TGLS

So for 22 points, you can double your Teleport move, instead of the 25 points it would normally take with extra move. 48 brings it to 20, 150 brings it to 160. Seems a bit cheap.

Yes, for 20 points, you can double your teleport move, but it takes an extra second of concentration. Sure, for 24 points (reduced time is +20%, not +10%), you can double your move effectively. But, for those 25 points, you get an extra hex for a TP step, which you don't get from Enhanced Move.

It's bringing it into alignment with the existing versions of Enhanced Move. For 120 points you can octuple your flying move.

There is always a point where enhanced Enhanced Move is more efficient than buying extra move.

Originally Posted by mburr0003

It is? I've seen it depicted as not being straight lines, but that's usually when accompanied by some limitations inherent to the way the user thought the power worked (like cannot teleport through walls, but could "go around them" to allow them to be 'locked up' but able to t-port if they could have 'flown' there - just one example).

Granted, "maneuverability was irrelevant" in that example, as they didn't need to do anything special to 'make turns', just have a clear path to where they wanted to go, even if it was a 'safe blind jump'.

And that's not what this represents. If your power is limited, that changes the way it works. And would require a set of limitations that is just outside the discussion as it stands. Sure, you could have a "must cross intervening terrain" as a modifier on the power, which would change the way it worked. But, as it stands, the basic teleportation doesn't have that.

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Ah, but I can explicitly picture a Character who starts with short jumps, but each immediate jump thereafter is further... sort of 'accelerating' into a top speed. But I'd rather see that as a Limitation to a Teleport Enhanced Move in this case rather than a presumption of T-port's Enh Move (hoenstly I don;t see too many Characters being built with with it).

As you say, that isn't inherent to the ability. And that's the problem with Warp. Warp assumes that all teleportation requires the same thing. This is seperating the mechanics from the special effects.

[Dragondog]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Only Blind +25%
You must make an IQ roll every time you teleport. This is modified by range. You can teleport blind, as above.

From the text of this modifier, it seems you can teleport normally or blindly, but you have to make an IQ roll to teleport. While a modifier called Only Blind should limit the individual to only teleporting blindly.

So I would suggest that you change the name or text of the modifier so that they fit together.