For me, that's another area where it becomes GM work it out with the player.  If the player has less powers or is weaker than the others, I'd give him more play with it.  If he's already equal to the others, or over their power level, I'd allow less.

IIRC, your electric character was pretty powerful already.  So I'd let him teleport, but give a % of error for where he goes if he isn't already aware of it.  He could make 'electron trails' for places he knows, and be able to pick them up as he teleports (easy to get home that way).  But if he's not familiar with an area, I'd give him a saving throw against Int to see if he gets where he wants to go.

If he's studied wiring of the place, let him do it.
If he's walked by the place, give him a d20 Int save.
If he's had the place described, give him a d60 Int save.  (roll a d6 and a d10, reading the d6 as the 10's die, similar to %)
If he's just guessing, give him a d100 Int save.

I completely agree with Imaginos, and that's how we've always treated this power: we have the player work it out with the GM when the character is created.

I not only base things on how powerful the character is, but I constantly use the rationale of: any character should be able to do far less at a lower level (1 or 2) than they can when they're experienced.

My PC Majestic has Teleportation as pretty much his main power.  He can jump up to about 3-1/2 miles, doesn't need to see where he's going, and his armor always adjusts, making sure he never materializes inside of a wall, buildingm tree, etc.  Another of our PCs - Rune - makes magical Portals, but he has to have seen the place beforehand.  Now that he's about 10th level, I allow him much more leeway.  Playing "Ancient Evil" a couple of days ago, I allowed him to create a gateway to a place he had never actually seen himself, but rather he had another mentalist PC (who had set up a mental link with Telepathy) take a snapshot himself and send him the visual mentally.

Thanks guys.  I like the ideas Imaginos provided.  I think I'll run with that and throw give him the option of "trying again" next action but with a bonus if he fails to get to his target first time.  Ironically enough he's got an agility of over 40 so will get enough actions in one turn to probably make sure he get's to where he wants..... what he does when he gets there will have to wait until next turn I think.

I also believe the current power score is to give a benchmark to character generation as to set up the power initially. Since powers are rolled up randomly in some cases, let's say that two different characters are being generated and both roll teleportation as a power. Character number one gets it first and has not rolled any heightened attributes... his power score during character gen is currently x...

You see where that could go right? A heightened attribute may be rolled after the establishment of the teleport's definition on paper. Now I as a GM wait until we know the character's attribute before final calculation. But what if the character gets a device that boosts his Endurance for his Armor but his Teleport is a Magical based power that draws on his actual biology? Should he get the bonus power from the End device? I'd say no, but there you can see where that current power score could be defined too...

I do like the idea of a dynamic that has it help set the distance at the beginning of each turn, but this would offer little limitation on the battlefield for any character who at generation bought an extra zero or two, so the benefit of creating new drama in the roleplay based on this limitation would be quite limited indeed.

AlabasterKnight wrote on Sep 20^th, 2012 at 12:48pm:


That's why you gotta have a GM to play V&V - to figure out if a device that adds HGT STAT B (thus adding to power) would have an effect upon the character's teleport ability. OF COURSE IT WOULD! He has more POWER so he can use it more often (farther? who knows). So if said character received a power bonus of 10 from the device and his normal power was 50 - total 60. Now after a long fight he's down to 9 power - can he 'port? Where did the power from the HGT STAT go? How about this... he's on the ropes, down to 1 power, can he 'port now to escape to a safe place on the other side of the wall?

How about this: same character trains for four levels in Endurance, and gains 4 power. Should his teleport range change to 44" or remain at 40" as it was when he was generated (a difference of 10%)?

Now... How about Power gained from an Absorption attack, should that be available for teleportation? On a slightly different tack, how does Power gained from a heightened STR device add to power used for Cosmic Awareness, Illusion B, or Telepathic Mind Probes?

Okay, so the rule says the character can teleport up his current power score in inches per turn. The rule for Illusions B states that a character receives a number or "creation points" equal to twice his current power score. Would you set his "Creation Points" at the beginning of the adventure, when the character was created, or would it change as the character used his powers?

The other side of this is Power Blast. If the character was hit by a "weakness beam" that reduced his STR by 50%, would his power blast lose range? His movement, flight speed, HtH damage, and Carry Capacity all would. Or if he was hit with a "Stupid Ray" would the range of his Telepathy attack be reduced? In either case, would the resulting loss of Power have an effect upon other abilities?

The loss of distance due to loss of power during a battle would not have much of an effect upon a character with teleport, unless he wanted to open a portal to let in/out his friends or the "really big thing" on its way to destroy the Earth.

It sounds a lot like I'm being a jerk here, but I'm really just pointing out that the rules can be interpreted in a few ways. I see this as a game about Comic Book heroes and bad-guys, that being said pretty much anything can happen (and probably should). Some may see my points as evidence that the game has flaws or is "broken". Of course, I disagree, these ambiguities allow for flexibility which marks the difference between an RPG and a Tactical game.

AlabasterKnight wrote on Sep 20^th, 2012 at 4:33pm:


I agree as well.  (That you're not being a jerk and with the power level).  It just makes sense.  To me if someone's power blast range has strength as a requirement and their strength is "temporarily" reduced so should the range.  I just reflects their current physical limitations.  Hence if power can be boosted why not the range and extent of teleport?  No worries there with me. 

Ironnerd wrote on Sep 20^th, 2012 at 4:16pm:


This line of reasoning can also be applied to the effects of fatigue.

Good point.

I also don't think you're at all sounding like a jerk, and you make some excellent points.

And you're spot-on that some things are perhaps a bit ambiguous.

I've always viewed the Power score as being "current" for Illusions: Type B, but for Teleportation viewed the Power Rate as being set at character creation.  Illusions B's PR (Power Rate) doesn't change, even when the character's Power score changes (as it goes down), and only the Creation Points are affected.

I think part of the way I view things is also influenced by the characters we saw in the modules/adventures and supplements.  All teleporters seemed to have a consistent (and single) Power Rate for their jumps; I don't recall any having a range based on their current Power.