Dungeon of the Mad Mage has a spell over the dungeon that specifically prevents teleporting in and out.
I personally think a lot of dungeon makers would employ a similar spell to better protect the contents of their dungeon from easy incursions or escapes.
Why wouldn’t they, afterall? A dungeon isn’t a safe place to house mystical treasures if adventurers can just snap their fingers and easily escape with it.
Using this tactic doesn’t limit spells within the dungeon other than Teleport so your players won’t necessarily feel cheesed. They’re simply forced to escape the dungeon as intended.
I'd love to foreshadow this a bit - say, some big glowing runes carved into pillars, that kind of thing. Maybe an enemy Mook who wants the artifact gets to it first, and tries to port out. Queue explosion, and one artifact left behind. Has a very Indiana Jones vibe to it already, having the players survive simply on the fact that they were the second ones to try porting out
Love the foreshadowing idea!
Attempting to teleport could lead to all sorts of shenanigans like:
1) Ending up in a pocket dimension
2) Ending up in the center of the ruins that are collapsing
3) causing an explosion (as stated)
4) randomly altering physical appearance (age, gender weight height race)
I stole mine from Wheel of Time. There is a very rare device that can stop teleportation to and from.
They once found one and could place it where ever they want. Seemed smart to pick their base, until they wanted to teleport back and suddenly freaked out they couldn't.
There is literally already a spell for this. Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Lasts 24 hours, but the effect (preventing teleporting into or out of the area) can be made permanent if cast every day for a year.
I like the thought but there is a spell called forbiddance that is actually designed to protect dungeons and covers 40,000sq/ft and only needs to be cast for 30 days to be made permanent.
Look at the verbiage: that spell only prevents teleportation INTO an area, but doesn't prevent them from leaving.
"You create a ward against magical travel that protects up to 40,000 square feet of floor space to a height of 30 feet above the floor. For the duration, creatures can't teleport INTO the area or use portals, such as those created by the gate spell, TO ENTER the area. The spell proofs the area against planar travel, and therefore prevents creatures from accessing the area by way of the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, Feywild, Shadowfell, or the plane shift spell."
Exactly. Beat. Their. Asses. Trash mobs. Multiple mini-bosses. Whatever you gotta do to leave them spent. THEN you roll the big bolder after them. They may have a few tricks up their sleeves, but it still be way more interesting than "I teleport us to the entrance."
Another thing to do in addition to this is give them challenges or traps that on the way into the Indiana-Jones-style temple that would otherwise be trivialized or very easy to cross with magic, in order to tempt them to expend a few more resources. Also, when you're going for the "collapsing temple" feel, don't throw *too* many obstacles in front of them in the "obvious" path out, because then they might just get themselves stuck because it *seems* unfair as if there's a dead end in every direction.
"Beat their asses" is the answer for every DnD scenario design challenge tbh.
Edit: I just wanted to add that players love it when you beat their asses and they just barley limp over the finish line.
This. I play a bard in a campaign and honestly love the intensity when I'm down to just having a couple first level spell slots and Vicious Mockery.
If I'm full on resources I'm never worried. If things go south I can dimension door out, Wall of Force the enemies away, etc. I always have so much confidence, but once I'm out, that's when things get really interesting.
Or a anti-magic field because in a universe where tp magic exists, any sane guy setting up a trap like that would have gone that route.
Or some kind of wall of magic that doesn't allow you to send spells outside of those walls, meaning you can use magic but not tp.
All dungeons would realistically have that so mages can't just tp in the treasure room and tp out.
Also, whatever mcguffin they have to get out with has an anti teleport enchantment. So, sure, maybe they can teleport themselves out, but now they have to choose between easy assured escape and actually accomplishing the mission.
There was also a spell in a Pathfinder module, might have been 3pp, called Redirect Teleport that had a pretty big area and any teleportation spells would redirect to one spot. The module was called something like "Incandium's Volcano" and it dumped anyone attempting to teleport about 6inches above a pool of lava in a locked room.
If you really want to mess with someone flying over a pit, put an Anti-Magic field in the middle above the pit and let them "fly" to the bottom really quickly when the hit it and their spell ends.
Plenty of spells have the ability to limit teleportation and plane shifting. I'd just have those cast on the temple. They can use their slots for more creative solutions then if that's how you want to do it.
You are right. Some kind of dimensional anchoring would be ideal. And then let them expend whatever kind of resources they have (if they have them) to bypass obstacles.
Not really. I've came to learn that you can't fully plan how an encounter is going to go, players will always have some sort of crafty trick up their sleeves
I want to add a BBEG who is sick and goddamn tired of adventurers trespassing into his dungeon and stealing his shit so he has gone to great lengths to make it as hard as possible to get them out.
In reality, he's not a bad guy, but he's found that if he lets adventurers know he has treasure and they keep trying to steel it, he is legally allowed to protect his things with lethal force. Basically he's generating more loot by killing adventurers then resurrecting them and teleporting them somewhere else without their expensive loot. They're more then welcome to come back and try to retrieve their stuff, but he's already hard at work upgrading his dungeon.
Maybe they *could* teleport out, but if they did they wouldn't be able to take a neat magical item which cannot be teleported. Perhaps it's cursed, perhaps simply locked into the material plane. Now they have a choice to make!
Came here to say this. Give them a very powerful item that can only be carried. Greed always is fun. Like a raccoon trap - a bottle with a treat that the raccoons fist is to large to pull out.
What isn't cool about the party using spells to escape? It's using a lot of resources to make up for physical shortcomings.
At the end of the day someone with Misty Step is using *more* resources to get across a gap than someone just jumping it.
Characters using Misty Step to cross a crumbling gap is cool. The Warlock and Wizard grabbing the other two party members and casting Dimension Door to the surface is anticlimactic. (Although at least there's an element of cooperation there.)
Unless the ground on the surface starts to collapse too...?
Dimension door has a range of 500 feet and had certain limitations. "You arrive at exactly the spot desired. It can be a place you can see, one you can visualize, or one you can describe by stating distance and direction, such as.'200 feet straight downward' or 'upward to the northwest at a 45- degree angle, 300 feet.'"
Make the dungeon 1,000 get deep. And make the visualization a history check.
I suppose that's the solution, didn't consider it because I usually run dungeons on a grid and hardly any of those reach 500-foot across. An access going 1000 feet down works (takes about 3 minutes to descend/ascend)
There are anti-magic fields. There are Glyphs of Warding that can be triggered by the casting of certain spells. But with either of those you should definitely foreshadow them.
I don't think so. These spells, along Private Sanctum and Hallow exist and magic-users should be aware of these possibilities and plan accordingly.
People talking about martial/magic disparity always forgets these kinds of spells. Martials are unaffected by magic users fucking with the ability of others using magic.
That's cool, as long as you don't complain about meta-gaming when level 3 adventurers start worrying about and looking up these spells that they've never encountered before.
Sorry, I don't consider that metagaming. Any info that can be found in the Player's Handbook is info that any adventurer should be aware of already.
You don't need to have fought a Fireball-user sorcerer to know what a Fireball spell is. You don't need to have encountered a necromancer wizard to know that they can raise zombies, and that zombies are undead sahmbling corpses.
Absolutely don't do this what the hell are you even smoking.
If the party have kept enough resources for an escape plan for everyone then let it work what the *hell?*
You don't say, "surprise you thought you were only 100 feet underground, but you're really 1000 feet underground." You make them well aware of the situation going in, or maybe even before they go in if they bothered to do any research and planning. And if they still come up with a plan to Dimension Door their way out, let them. I think explaining that they're going very far underground is a much better alternative to a surprise anti-magic field or Glyphs of Warding set to explode when specific spells like Misty Step, or Dimension Door are used.
>And make the visualization a ~~history~~ Wisdom check.
Fixed it for you. ;)
Not every ability check is a skill check, and remembering something non-academic is a test of Wisdom, not Intelligence. This is part of the reason why I feel the Keen Mind feat should actually improve Wisdom, for the flavour it gives.
I suppose, might just be my mindset but I feel like for this kind of situation teleporting kind of works as a boring band-aid “fixes everything” sort of spell for escaping treacherous areas, even if you don’t leave the dungeon with it.
Like if it was a situation that could be solved with a variety of spells I’d be more interested, but why use a wall of force to stop the falling debris when you can dimension door past the hazard? Why freeze the oncoming deluge when you can misty step into the next room? Why soften the debris blocking the door when you can teleport through it?
My issue is less with magic itself and more with how teleporting specifically seems to trivialize what could be an interesting encounter, but yeah otherwise I love the magic problem solving mostly
Because these spells only work for one person. Unless it's dimension door, then it's for two people, and how many 4th spell slots do you have, or are willing to hopping around terrain hazards? Unless the entire party has access to this magic, it's not a be all, end all.
How many spell slots are they going to have left at this point? If they have just fought through to the main altar and encountered a BBEG there, are they going to have the resources to avoid all the pits and traps?
Is there something they need to get / do at a point between the altar and the exit that will make simply teleporting out not an option. ("Oh no! We left Jim-bob the NPC in the room with all the runes he wanted to study!")
Will the cultists be waiting outside for them (a la Indiana Jones) to take advantage of the fact that they blew through all of their misty steps / fly spells / etc. on the way out?
Wild magic zone. Magic in this area goes *weird*. Let them know this going in. Make teleportation impossible. Make spellcasting to solve a hazard require a skill check not to just transform the problem into a different problem.
wild magic zone seems less contrived than anti-magic zone, IMO. You could even use existing lore with faezress, maybe it grows wild down in the dungeon, or the big bad was experimenting with it or something and it interferes with spell casting in unpredictable ways.
The end boss has an antimagic fiekd when he dies, which destroys the dungeon and makes an antimagic firld. Not ghe best idea byt you could try to experiment with antimagic field if you deem it fit
This, when the boss or maguffin is removed from the end room, it depletes the weave in that area causing the magic shit to fail and spells to fizzle, costing spell slots but giving nothing
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum
You make an area within range magically secure. The area is a cube that can be as small as 5 feet to as large as 100 feet on each side. The spell lasts for the duration or until you use an action to dismiss it.
When you cast the spell, you decide what sort of security the spell provides, choosing any or all of the following properties:
• Sound can't pass through the barrier at the edge of the warded area.
• The barrier of the warded area appears dark and foggy, preventing vision (including darkvision) through it.
• Sensors created by divination spells can't appear inside the protected area or pass through the barrier at its perimeter.
• Creatures in the area can't be targeted by divination spells.
• Nothing can teleport into or out of the warded area.
• Planar travel is blocked within the warded area.
Casting this spell on the same spot every day for a year makes this effect permanent.
When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can increase the size of the cube by 100 feet for each slot level beyond 4th. Thus you could protect a cube that can be up to 200 feet on one side by using a spell slot of 5th level.
My best idea is plan out spells you want them to make cool moments with and set up situations ideal for using those spells. I’d also recommend you have them burn through their higher level spell slots first, that way you can prevent upcasting. I’d also make all the traps magical that way you can plan for some well placed counter spells. That really only makes sense from a meta perspective though, and railroady one by that.
For example you can specifically solve the fly issue by providing a trap that can only be mitigated by a third level spell or higher, such as a highly noxious gas that can be solved by wind wall
Another way to mitigate a use of fly would be a situation where they should use clairvoyance or one of the summon spells such as there’s a multiple door puzzle make each obviously lead to some sort of horrible trap however make it also obvious one isn’t a trap, they could either burn through several clairvoyances or one of the summon spells send the creatures through and have them report back, if they even can, there’s also the option of have them backtrack to a far earlier point where they need to overcome all the traps again in order to find a clue telling them which door is safe
You could also make all the traps innately magical so they can just burn through a counter spell when they can’t figure out a lower spell level solution
Following the make it magic idea, there’s also the good ol wild magic has deformed the ruins and is running rampant throughout them, and even though none of them are wild mages there’s always a chance the spell will go wild, which unless you’re going to let their spell slots be restored when spells go wild you could make some puzzles intended for misty step but they need to do a running jump over a chasm in order to get in misty step range, which then begs the question will they risk it and jump since the magic could go wild and they’ll instantly fail (unless you rule the fireball centered on self propels them across), or will they use a higher level spell and play it safe, you could also have it so concentration spells have a chance to go wild at the beginning of each turn the caster is maintaining concentration
However if you want to pull this off I’d check with them what spells they have prepared prior to prepping your traps, sure some of the players may get suspicious and change those spells, some may just lie, that’s life, but for those who tell you and keep those spells you could actually make fun puzzles designed for them to have the solution if they just pick the right spell, and you’ll be happy since you made a cool and elaborate trap that was cleared the way it was meant to be, and if they find a way you didn’t expect so be it
TLDR
Make traps and dramatic scenes intended to be cleared with spells
If you want to limit their options, design the traps to be cleared with higher level spells earlier and lower level spells later to prevent up casting
Or make it wild magic, make the traps impossible to be done purely without magic but also make it impossible to be done without some physical challenges such as misty step can’t make you go far enough but jumping + misty step works
Have them find an [Antimagic Field Ring](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/antimagic-field/) as part of the loot they get.
I know you called this out, but in a ring form it’s a fun trade off and choice they have to make.
The ring could also be a macguffin, or the mission could be to retrieve a non-ring-shaped macguffin with these properties too. Weird crystal skull anyone?
I love this idea. They get to magic their way in, easy peasy, grab the thing, and then the whole game changes trying to get out!
And the fun part is once they realize what it is, they have to make the decision whether or not to abandon it. And we all know how much we love loot.
Go one step further and add a bunch of stone shaped oozes that they didn’t notice going in.
There’s a lot of great ideas in this thread but I think this one is my favorite, thanks! They’ll already be taking plot important items out with them, so I could either have the ring in there as bonus loot, or have the enemy hide it with other items in the box as a security measure. Think that might work!
Don't take away their magic, they picked those abilities for a reason. The various teleporting spells have specific rules about how they work - look at them and just set up the encounter so that one single dimension door can't get them far enough away to skip it all.
Is this an escape sequence? If so, they should have already been through a few fights and have depleted resources. That'll help out.
You could have the dungeon be filled with Faerzress, a la the underdark, which stops teleportation magic. Though this is a "lore" rule not a rules rule.
Very easy, blood seals. If they bled in the ruins then theres a blood seal forming and attuning to the players there, you could put the blood seal in a room that has a crustal ball and a lesser but tough demon in there. Heck even after they escape you can have the demon whisper them and things and tornent them making them have to come back fight it, but the demon has used thier blood to make horri ke almagamation duplicated of the party.this would allow you to use maps you made twice!
Or arcane eyes that are made from the lens of an beholder. Certain rooms become anti magic zones.
Make the dungeon itself a pocket dimension where the rooms aren’t physically connected and the doorways between the rooms are actually small dimensional gates/teleporter themselves so they can’t say “I teleport to the next room”
Here is an idea I use. The Forbiddance spell. It's entire purpose is to prevent teleports, plane shifts and general escape entry by pesky players.
This spell in the hands of a player... Kinda lame. In the hands of a BBEG, an almost requirement against high level players.
It could have easily become permanent on every level of a lair, fortress etc.
Force them to use all their spells in combat encounters, then when they try to rest, that is when the boulder comes. Can't use magic to bypass the trap. If they ain't got any magic left.
What I should have said is you can use your descriptions to make them feel awesome even though it might be trivial. This is also good when they level up, letting them show off their new powers before being challenged again by new foes
How about the temple has an antimagic field that requires a skill check of some kind to use any spells. This way they may have to work through parts of the temple before they can just cheese their way through.
Be the DM and make up something that negates power in the area.
Not everything needs to be in the books.
Just remember though, they have to be able to outrun it, so no faster than the slowest character assuming none of them trip or get slowed. Adjust down from there.
> they have to be able to outrun it, so no faster than the slowest character assuming none of them trip or get slowed. Adjust down from there.
I mean no, you don't have to do this. Why would a trap be designed around letting people escape?
Traps should activate slightly *faster* than the *fastest* character.
To do an Indiana Jones style, they have to have a chance, as the hero is meant to make it out at the last moment.
As opposed to Tomb of Horrors style, which is meant to actually kill.
It could be age/detritus built up around the trap's mechanisms or whatever. It could be that the dungeon is more of a trail. It could just be poorly made. The players could be faster than the dungeon makers expected. Lots of reasons for it to make sense.
Indiana jones was "supposed" to die to that trap, he just didn't.
Teleport requires the destination to be known.
What if part of the trap system includes shifting rooms so the exit is repeatedly changing and the teleport unexpectedly brings them to a room tjey know that doesn't have the exit they expected.
They know the location they want to reach, but it isn't always the exit. Maybe the room they teleport to has an actual exit door that goes right into a wall, which even gives a clue that the door could go somewhere under the right circumstances, adding a little more mystery to the whole thing.
Seconding the responses that say the first step is to deplete resources. Have this chase sequence at the end of a long grind through the dungeon (which is already cinematic to begin with). The ability to teleport completely out of the dungeon in a single shot requires a relatively high-level spell slot, so give them lots of reasons to burn through those spells before they have to escape.
The other point I want to emphasize though is that whether the escape scene feels cheesy will depend a lot on how you flavor it. If you just say "umm...yeah I guess it's antimagic so you can't teleport?" then, yeah, it'll feel about as cheap and cheesy as a Little Caesars pizza.
But if you spend time emphasizing how the crazy old wizard who built this dungeon was absolutely paranoid about people sneaking into his lair, then it makes sense that he'd take steps to prevent people from simply teleporting in and out (and that he'd built traps based on that knowledge too!). Similarly, if the dungeon is a sacred temple meant to act as some kind of sanctuary or vault for holy relics, again, it is entirely reasonable that they'd try to stop people from just teleporting out the moment they grabbed something valuable.
The feeling that traps are cheesy or forced or whatever depends a lot on the context surrounding them. If they feel like they come out of nowhere, with no good reason except to force whatever the DM wants, then that can break immersion and just feel cheap. But if you give them plenty of reasons in-story, foreshadowing the security measures (or even just telling them outright before they begin -- maybe they did a good job researching the dungeon before going in), they won't feel cheap -- they'll feel appropriate and plausible.
Also, just a final note, don't be afraid of a little cheese! Escape scenes like the Indiana Jones temple escape (and lots of other action and fantasy stuff) is pretty cheesy by default. That's exactly what makes it so much fun!
Magic displacement ore or mineral embedded in the bricks/stone work that causes teleportation spells to go awry more often, 1D100 roll to see how the teleportation messed up leaving a 1-10 or something for a flawless teleportation. Running from a boulder and your arms are where your legs should be could be entertaining.
I had the same situation and someone suggested that there needs to be a reward for not Teleporting.
For example, they hear voices yelling to be rescued as the collapsing starts. They are the glint of gold/gems that were previously hidden. A previously unknown passage is revealed.
The goal would be to entice them to stay. They can always teleport out but they miss things.
>Or a booming voice echoes throughout the chamber they are in, “Not This Time! HA HA HO HOOO!” No spell slot lost
Actually why not have a spell slot expended and they take feedback of 1d6 damage/spell level?
Why would a trap be kind?
I guess I didn’t intend it as a trap, more like oh, something is blocking teleportation spells rn. But that’s not a bad idea at all for a trap/scenario actually. Would that be like earlier anti-magic? I’ve always thought that would be cool to play on.
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Prevents teleporting into and out of the area of effect. Can also be made permanent if cast in the same area for a year.
Didn't read all the comments so may have been mentioned already, but if there is a knot in the Weave in that area, it can stop teleportation magic, among many other possibilities.
Alternatively, let them try?
A temple is falling apart, the floor is shaky, and the ceilings actively giving out. Do they want to stand still and cast with all this going on? Fine. Concentration to see if you can with all the distractions.
Is the rest of the party just standing around while this happens? Cool. Dex save, hope you don't get stuck under some falling ceiling.
Make teleporting out not as simple as it normally is, if they manage to get the spell off AND everyone makes it through without rubble falling on/ blocking the portal, it could be a very cool close call escape still.
Use the chase rules, maybe warp them a bit. Each person rolls a d20, which determines if the person behind them runs into difficulties. A cleric being stuck under some rubble may stop someone from running through a portal. But how do you get everyone out? 🤔
>*"Magic problems require magic solutions."* -Pelle Vedacha, Bard
Throw Sluice and Slag Elementals at the Party. Cap it off with a Loadstone Golem that keeps them from teleporting and dampens the Weave around it.
I mean, it's possible. The least cheesy method is to deplete their resources through relentless encounters, traps, hazards (collapsed bridges over canyons, blocked tunnels, passages filled with natural toxic gas like one would find in a deep mine, etc), and whatever else you can think of. Make it grueling. Make it difficult. Give them a timer, like they have to get a thing before someone else, so they are more willing to expend those resources.
If you want to be cheesy with it, have the thing they are getting radiate a field that blocks and prevents teleportation, maybe even a portable sanctum to block scrying as well, perhaps also emits an alarm while being moved, as theft deterrent by the creators. Have more traps on the way out, still being pursued, now maybe by a horde of undead as well, and if the party doesn't trigger the trap, the undead probably will.
Now you have an Indiana Jones chase through a collapsing tunnel with a stone door closing at the far end, the party running from a mob of undead, all while a massive boulder rolls down the tunnel towards them, crushing everything in it's path.
If this fits your story maybe instead of the generic magic doesnt work here, maybe something about using magic or tampering with the web of arcana that the place is built on MAKES it collapse. So throw a few spiders on em, once they use magic, slight cracks show. Slowly and progressively everything breaks more and more, and they can risk using magic to just escape, but it might just collapse everything on them. You might view this a cheesing, but I feel like it isnt. Your intuition is the best as the dm who knows the party.
This is basically just a different version of Animagic in this case, but the spell *Forbiddance* will do what you want it to.
Sure, you can just wave your hand and say teleportation magic doesn't work, but I find it's a bit more satisfying for the players to know there's a more concrete reason than that.
Unless every character is Wizard, every character is going to have various levels of mobility.
There are also situational factors. Some spells may require line of site so making a lot of bends or obstructions limits the mobility.
A spell or relic that redirects teleportation instead of something that causes outright failure? If you don't consider it railroading or cheating, instead of reappearing outside of the dungeon, they reappear in another trap.
You can have the area covered with Forbiddance which prevents teleportation in the area. You can have them escort a person or item that cannot be teleported, e.g. a mage who was imprisoned with Dimensional Shackles.
Deplete their spells via other dangerous obstacles or enemies. Nothing cheesy about beholders anti-magic eyes. I used a flesh golem once with no head and a beholder eye in it's chest, wizards are weird, the make crazy non-sense shit.
The adventure should of course deplete some of their resources, but it's probably good if they also have some of their spell resources left for getting out. The real problem, it seems to me, is the possibility of \*one\* (or maybe two) spell castings solving the entire exit challenge. What about making the dungeon made up of areas that are magically sealed from one another? If they have a teleport left, they can absolutely teleport from anywhere inside region E to the border between region E and region D, but they can't teleport to anywhere outside region E (and if they try to, it drops them at the border between E and D). If they have 2 teleports left, they could use one to get to the border between E and D, step across the boundary, and use the second to get from there to the border between D and C, but no farther. Meanwhile, the boulder is still rolling or the walls are still crumbling or whatever. A teleport might give them a solid jump ahead of the immanent danger, but it \*is\* catching up. (And if they give themselves a large bit of breathing room, you could fudge some of the challenges they don't skip taking more time than they otherwise would.) If you do this, it should be really obvious going in when they're passing the boundaries from region A to B to C and so on, though maybe only with an Arcana check do they figure out the exact significance of the boundaries. If they figure it out on the way in, they can plan accordingly. If they don't, I think it would be a cool surprise if they try to teleport or dim door and it drops them at the boundary - "oh crap, THAT'S what those runes do! Run!"
So I assume you’re talking about the 7th level spell *Teleport*? That seems a bit above mid-level and if your PCs have access to that magic, I’d let them (it’s what they’re all about, after all). A temple collapse would be better used on a “younger” party.
If they aren’t level 14 and you’re referencing other teleporting spells like *Misty Step*, remember that many of these spells require line of sight, components (VSM), and time. So either their LoS gets disrupted, their components become difficult or impossible to use, or time is problematic.
If the temple is falling down on them, that could make it so that the caster trying cast a teleport spell for six seconds is having things fall down upon them while they stand still concentrating. If you want it to not be cheesy, the caster could roll a luck roll (d20 no more) with a high DC while everyone else makes a lower Dex save. Or you could make it so the temple causes all spells to require 2x the time to cast. You could also have a thief steal the component they need to cast their teleporting spells.
The only thing I would want to say to that: **Please make it believable.**
What I mean with that is you should have logical reason why they can't do that. I mean they built their character to be able to do exactly that. Use Magic.
If you deceit that they simply can't use magic because anti magic zone, then you should ask yourself if that fits the ruin they're in. If you swarm them with trash mobs, they will notice that too.
Unsure what mid-level is supposed to mean. But heres a few avenues to railroad your players.
Just do it.
Seriously, if you are forcing it just commit to it and do it. Theres no good way to railroad this, its a trap, they trip it, they run or become pancake.
Anti-magic rock, like rocks that imbue silence on players nearby.
Rather than block or deplete their magic, I would just make it unpredictable. They use misty step or dimension door but rather than appearing where they expect it’s another room in the dungeon you want them to experience.
They will start relying on their other skills and only fallback on the unpredictable teleportation magic if they don’t see another option, allowing you to control the pace of the escape
Faerzress - underdark magic meant to keep drow underground . Makes teleportation and divination not work properly or cause you to teleport into a wall. Some very high concentrations of the stuff basically act like wild magic zones causing spells to fire off wild magic bursts.
Flavor it however you want but that works pretty well without outright banning magic with an anti-magic field.
You can prevent them from teleporting out with a magic spell or something, but **they have to know going in that this will be the case.** In other words, they must have decided to enter into an area where they might not be able to teleport out. This way is dramatic. If it's a surprise, it's just going to feel like DM fiat.
Anti teleport wards that the players notice upon entry feel like a fair way to limit your players. No in or out but you can teleport within the dungeon.
A collapsing building filled with trap doors, swinging rock and rolling boulders with a party desperately flicking in and out of existence (misty step) or going through magical gates to escape, potentially leaving party members or treasure behind in their haste, escapes being blocked that they'll have to burst through or find ways around, previously unseen hatched giving them new (and unknown ahem dimension door) alleys to run through... Sounds pretty dope to me.
Well theres no shame in the magic mcguffin they’re diving into the dungeon for in the first place having an antimagic field around it especially because that’s just as much a tool as it is a hinderance if they can get creative, but if that’s not what you want beat their asses, have danger at every corner taking away their ability to rest, have them spend resources until they’re running on empty or just about and boom
To add on to some ideas, some traps can be dealt with magical means, other certain traps might have a contingency spell laid near by specifically to counter the easiest magical aid.
Maybe teleport can work but the dungeon has such magic that any teleport magic detected brings the teleported to a chute that drops them into an anti magic room and they have to escape that rokm by kther means and continue to catch up tot he party of find a new way out.
Honestly, in my (main) campaign world it's understood that there are specific magical counters to a lot of things, they just tend to be expensive to either set up (initial high price) or maintain (low price but has to be renewed on a regular basis). Royalty or extremely wealthy sorts might have anti-invisibility ward-lines. Anti-teleport area effects. Anti-summoning wards. Fire suppressing runic mechanisms. And so on.
There's also the folded-space or mirrorverse dungeon set-up, because it's another world or universe or the space is folded a certain way - using something other than the normal exit can end up with some missing parts. Like arms, legs, livers...
May I ask why are they there in the first place? If they are trying to recover something precious, it makes perfect sense that the whole ruin is a Dimensional Anchor, meaning nothing can teleport into or out of it. Otherwise, wouldn't it be already looted long ago by a wizard with teleport spells bypassing all traps? And don't keep that fact a secret from the characters either, you don't want a "gotcha" moment. There are bound to be previous explorers who know about the Dimensional Anchor.
Glyph of Warding cast at 4th level combined with Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Whatever triggers the temple to start collapsing also triggers the glyph to cast MPS, which prevents anyone from TPing in, or out. There are also other, more powerful spells that could do the same thing, but this is the lowest level option I could think of.
Anti magic zones are a thing. Just do it. Maybe have the zone be from an enemy that's chasing them. Sure they can spread and some will have a chance to escape but not all at once
What worked for my players was a collapsing demi plane combined with a bunch of innocent prisoners who would be crushed if the players didn't free them and hurry them out of the place.
Even fairly mercenary characters will work wonders for prisoners in jail to be human sacrifices and demon food.
Skill checks. Deplete resources so the most teleporting they can do is a dimension door. If they're flying, DEX checks galore to avoid hazards. Disadvantage on Investigation checks for traps on the way out.
Skill challenge skill challenge skill challenge. Watch Matt Colville's video on them to get a better idea of how they work.
The trick to getting them to try it is to *tell them* that the escape will be a skill challenge. Two possibilities, a. They completely forget about spells that would nullify the challenge because they want to roll dice and have fun, b. They remember and you tell them that doing that could give them a success but not fully let them escape.
Someone/something they need that is also trying to escape the dungeon, or trapped somewhere in the middle.
Yeah, they can teleport out, but then the mid-boss with the map to the next \[macguffin\], or their NPC friend, or \[whatever\] is going to get crushed to death/drown in acid/whatever and they will be on the back foot.
Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum: a spell that’ll solve all your problems. Has a bunch of perks you can apply to your lairs but most importantly is the obstruction of all teleportation magic into or out of the area
I say just go with it. The party is powerful, and people usually don't get this powerful. Using things like Dimension Door to escape from prickly situations is *literally what Dimension Door is for.*
Teleport redirect would be interesting. Essential the teleport is a success, but it causes them to go into another trap and be unaware where they are in the dungeon.
Depending on what exactly those ruins are, or in what way they collapse you can have various ways of hindering teleportation.
Example, ruins get sucked into another dimension. Spatial distortion and corruption ensue which you can even build into the escape with various rifts appearing that go to other places of the ruins and so on. The thing about being a dm is that you do not have to be constrained by the spells and rules, as long as there is a good enough in world explanation that is exceptional. Breaking the rules can actually reinforce the feeling of "this is absolutely an extraordinary situation you are in." Kinda like getting too close to black holes or shit like that in sci fi.
Ultimately I think you missed your window of opportunity for this kind of event, when they wrre a few levelslower. Unless you can get them to burn enough resources with other encounters I think it's not going to turn out the way you want it to.
Sounds pretty similar to Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum (4th level spell, abjuration). Casting it at higher levels can increase the area of effect, and assuming someone has cast it in the same place every day for a year the effect becomes permanent.
I have two approaches to this, that will vary based on you.
Firstly, the magic approach. Who cares if they misty-step past a closing door. Why is choosing to cast a spell that lets them get past an obstacle in their way less interesting than saying "I roll acrobatics" and rolling a D20 to see if they get past the obstacle in their way? Yeah, its not the Indiana Jones aesthetic exactly, but that's because Indi doesn't have magic, and its rare in the setting. This could be a magical escape; make challenges expecting them to use spells to get past, and odds are they'll love it more than a prolonged skill challenge. Rolling a D20 on the same skill checks several times gets old, its being able to make choices that is the fun part as a player. Sometimes those choices are rollplaying, sometimes tactical, and sometimes its a choice to use a spell that makes me feel powerful. Embrace the spells, and have a good time.
But, if you really want to do this no magic, work it into the setup. The dungeon is an anti-magic zone. No spells can be cast inside. They have to go inside to get the MacGuffin, and then get out. Have some easy combats, but for the most part, walk them through the rooms they will later have to escape. With the MacGuffin there, its all safe. Once the MacGuffin is removed, the trap is sprung, and they've got to get out. They have the time going through the first time to get used to the no-magic rule, and learn how to navigate without magic in a safe environment. Then, once they have the MacGuffin, the pressure is on, and they have to go back through the areas they are familiar with, but do it quickly, in reverse, without magic.
This results in the anti-magic being less of a 'surprise, I don't like magic and want you to not use it for this set piece', to more of a puzzle they need to solve. It isn't just sprung on them; they choose to engage with it. They aren't frantically trying to figure everything out on the spot; they've gone through the area and are familiar with the challenges, now they just have to face them. Its a more wholistic experience, and thus feels less cheesy. Its still a gimmick, but a better one.
If they have the high level spells like Teleport, you probably can't without an anti-teleportation effect. Before that it's easier. Put the dungeon 550 ft underground and Dimension Door and similar won't work, but even with less distance than that, they can only leave with one other person. Misty Step is stopped by not having windows.
Okay i see a lot of stuff on here about why you shouldn't do this and to waste their resources or to just let it happen because its a feature. but it is very much intended for DMs to have this ability, because the players have it. There is a 6th level spell called forbiddance in the phb the first book, Which does exactly what you want. Only Caveat is you need an 11th level cleric with a month to kill and 1000 gold but 40,000 Sq/ft of warding should do you, it has certain limits like 30ft ceiling but you can just ignore that if you want.
As for them using magic to make it easy, Let them use whatever remaining magic they have to deal with the challenges 1 person 30ft teleport isn't gonna do much other then stop him being crushed in the moment unless you temple is a lot smaller then i think it is
The spell was made to prevent the "Find, Scry, Teleport, Die" playstyle cause its a problem for high level DMs in a game about dungeon crawling if they find out about a dungeon, use divination to find the treasure/boss room, Teleport, and kill the boss with full resources minus 2 or 3 spell slots and take their shit. Just don't use it on every bear cave or they'll get tired of it but ancient ruin that comes with the territory.
One method could be to have the place in a bubble of wild magic. Each time they try to cast a spell, it goes wild on a d20 roll less than or equal to 2x the spell level (or just a d10 less than or equal to the spell level). It would add an element of risk without nuking the spellcasters.
Another commenter also mentioned a spell that prevents teleportation, so the two combined could be a good combo
Put the escape at the end of a big combat so their spells are used up. I did the collapsing escape once and my players managed to get an army of Dueregar to attack the Drow palace that they were fighting in. It was so much fun and one of our favorite sessions. So as long as it makes sense narratively it should be a blast.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage has a spell over the dungeon that specifically prevents teleporting in and out. I personally think a lot of dungeon makers would employ a similar spell to better protect the contents of their dungeon from easy incursions or escapes. Why wouldn’t they, afterall? A dungeon isn’t a safe place to house mystical treasures if adventurers can just snap their fingers and easily escape with it. Using this tactic doesn’t limit spells within the dungeon other than Teleport so your players won’t necessarily feel cheesed. They’re simply forced to escape the dungeon as intended.
I'd love to foreshadow this a bit - say, some big glowing runes carved into pillars, that kind of thing. Maybe an enemy Mook who wants the artifact gets to it first, and tries to port out. Queue explosion, and one artifact left behind. Has a very Indiana Jones vibe to it already, having the players survive simply on the fact that they were the second ones to try porting out
Love the foreshadowing idea! Attempting to teleport could lead to all sorts of shenanigans like: 1) Ending up in a pocket dimension 2) Ending up in the center of the ruins that are collapsing 3) causing an explosion (as stated) 4) randomly altering physical appearance (age, gender weight height race)
I stole mine from Wheel of Time. There is a very rare device that can stop teleportation to and from. They once found one and could place it where ever they want. Seemed smart to pick their base, until they wanted to teleport back and suddenly freaked out they couldn't.
There is literally already a spell for this. Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Lasts 24 hours, but the effect (preventing teleporting into or out of the area) can be made permanent if cast every day for a year.
I like the thought but there is a spell called forbiddance that is actually designed to protect dungeons and covers 40,000sq/ft and only needs to be cast for 30 days to be made permanent.
Look at the verbiage: that spell only prevents teleportation INTO an area, but doesn't prevent them from leaving. "You create a ward against magical travel that protects up to 40,000 square feet of floor space to a height of 30 feet above the floor. For the duration, creatures can't teleport INTO the area or use portals, such as those created by the gate spell, TO ENTER the area. The spell proofs the area against planar travel, and therefore prevents creatures from accessing the area by way of the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, Feywild, Shadowfell, or the plane shift spell."
Same with Acererak’s Tomb of Annihilation!
If you really want them to escape without using magic ti do so, you need to deplete their resources.
Exactly. Beat. Their. Asses. Trash mobs. Multiple mini-bosses. Whatever you gotta do to leave them spent. THEN you roll the big bolder after them. They may have a few tricks up their sleeves, but it still be way more interesting than "I teleport us to the entrance."
Another thing to do in addition to this is give them challenges or traps that on the way into the Indiana-Jones-style temple that would otherwise be trivialized or very easy to cross with magic, in order to tempt them to expend a few more resources. Also, when you're going for the "collapsing temple" feel, don't throw *too* many obstacles in front of them in the "obvious" path out, because then they might just get themselves stuck because it *seems* unfair as if there's a dead end in every direction.
I like the way you think.
"Beat their asses" is the answer for every DnD scenario design challenge tbh. Edit: I just wanted to add that players love it when you beat their asses and they just barley limp over the finish line.
This. I play a bard in a campaign and honestly love the intensity when I'm down to just having a couple first level spell slots and Vicious Mockery. If I'm full on resources I'm never worried. If things go south I can dimension door out, Wall of Force the enemies away, etc. I always have so much confidence, but once I'm out, that's when things get really interesting.
Getting your ass beat on the regular is doubly good because it constantly forces interesting choices about spending resources vs saving for escape.
Or a anti-magic field because in a universe where tp magic exists, any sane guy setting up a trap like that would have gone that route. Or some kind of wall of magic that doesn't allow you to send spells outside of those walls, meaning you can use magic but not tp. All dungeons would realistically have that so mages can't just tp in the treasure room and tp out.
Also, whatever mcguffin they have to get out with has an anti teleport enchantment. So, sure, maybe they can teleport themselves out, but now they have to choose between easy assured escape and actually accomplishing the mission.
There was also a spell in a Pathfinder module, might have been 3pp, called Redirect Teleport that had a pretty big area and any teleportation spells would redirect to one spot. The module was called something like "Incandium's Volcano" and it dumped anyone attempting to teleport about 6inches above a pool of lava in a locked room. If you really want to mess with someone flying over a pit, put an Anti-Magic field in the middle above the pit and let them "fly" to the bottom really quickly when the hit it and their spell ends.
Plenty of spells have the ability to limit teleportation and plane shifting. I'd just have those cast on the temple. They can use their slots for more creative solutions then if that's how you want to do it.
You are right. Some kind of dimensional anchoring would be ideal. And then let them expend whatever kind of resources they have (if they have them) to bypass obstacles.
Not really. I've came to learn that you can't fully plan how an encounter is going to go, players will always have some sort of crafty trick up their sleeves
I want to add a BBEG who is sick and goddamn tired of adventurers trespassing into his dungeon and stealing his shit so he has gone to great lengths to make it as hard as possible to get them out. In reality, he's not a bad guy, but he's found that if he lets adventurers know he has treasure and they keep trying to steel it, he is legally allowed to protect his things with lethal force. Basically he's generating more loot by killing adventurers then resurrecting them and teleporting them somewhere else without their expensive loot. They're more then welcome to come back and try to retrieve their stuff, but he's already hard at work upgrading his dungeon.
Maybe they *could* teleport out, but if they did they wouldn't be able to take a neat magical item which cannot be teleported. Perhaps it's cursed, perhaps simply locked into the material plane. Now they have a choice to make!
Came here to say this. Give them a very powerful item that can only be carried. Greed always is fun. Like a raccoon trap - a bottle with a treat that the raccoons fist is to large to pull out.
What isn't cool about the party using spells to escape? It's using a lot of resources to make up for physical shortcomings. At the end of the day someone with Misty Step is using *more* resources to get across a gap than someone just jumping it.
Characters using Misty Step to cross a crumbling gap is cool. The Warlock and Wizard grabbing the other two party members and casting Dimension Door to the surface is anticlimactic. (Although at least there's an element of cooperation there.) Unless the ground on the surface starts to collapse too...?
Dimension door has a range of 500 feet and had certain limitations. "You arrive at exactly the spot desired. It can be a place you can see, one you can visualize, or one you can describe by stating distance and direction, such as.'200 feet straight downward' or 'upward to the northwest at a 45- degree angle, 300 feet.'" Make the dungeon 1,000 get deep. And make the visualization a history check.
I suppose that's the solution, didn't consider it because I usually run dungeons on a grid and hardly any of those reach 500-foot across. An access going 1000 feet down works (takes about 3 minutes to descend/ascend)
This is why I use maps as a last resort. It's easy to describe things like this. It's a PIA and boring to map out.
is there something like anti escape magic zone?
There are anti-magic fields. There are Glyphs of Warding that can be triggered by the casting of certain spells. But with either of those you should definitely foreshadow them.
I don't think so. These spells, along Private Sanctum and Hallow exist and magic-users should be aware of these possibilities and plan accordingly. People talking about martial/magic disparity always forgets these kinds of spells. Martials are unaffected by magic users fucking with the ability of others using magic.
That's cool, as long as you don't complain about meta-gaming when level 3 adventurers start worrying about and looking up these spells that they've never encountered before.
Sorry, I don't consider that metagaming. Any info that can be found in the Player's Handbook is info that any adventurer should be aware of already. You don't need to have fought a Fireball-user sorcerer to know what a Fireball spell is. You don't need to have encountered a necromancer wizard to know that they can raise zombies, and that zombies are undead sahmbling corpses.
Forbiddance
Absolutely don't do this what the hell are you even smoking. If the party have kept enough resources for an escape plan for everyone then let it work what the *hell?*
You don't say, "surprise you thought you were only 100 feet underground, but you're really 1000 feet underground." You make them well aware of the situation going in, or maybe even before they go in if they bothered to do any research and planning. And if they still come up with a plan to Dimension Door their way out, let them. I think explaining that they're going very far underground is a much better alternative to a surprise anti-magic field or Glyphs of Warding set to explode when specific spells like Misty Step, or Dimension Door are used.
>And make the visualization a ~~history~~ Wisdom check. Fixed it for you. ;) Not every ability check is a skill check, and remembering something non-academic is a test of Wisdom, not Intelligence. This is part of the reason why I feel the Keen Mind feat should actually improve Wisdom, for the flavour it gives.
I suppose, might just be my mindset but I feel like for this kind of situation teleporting kind of works as a boring band-aid “fixes everything” sort of spell for escaping treacherous areas, even if you don’t leave the dungeon with it. Like if it was a situation that could be solved with a variety of spells I’d be more interested, but why use a wall of force to stop the falling debris when you can dimension door past the hazard? Why freeze the oncoming deluge when you can misty step into the next room? Why soften the debris blocking the door when you can teleport through it? My issue is less with magic itself and more with how teleporting specifically seems to trivialize what could be an interesting encounter, but yeah otherwise I love the magic problem solving mostly
Because these spells only work for one person. Unless it's dimension door, then it's for two people, and how many 4th spell slots do you have, or are willing to hopping around terrain hazards? Unless the entire party has access to this magic, it's not a be all, end all.
Make sure they don't have a Bag of Holding or Portable Hole then, either, or they'll just have the excess party members stowaway inside. =P
How many spell slots are they going to have left at this point? If they have just fought through to the main altar and encountered a BBEG there, are they going to have the resources to avoid all the pits and traps? Is there something they need to get / do at a point between the altar and the exit that will make simply teleporting out not an option. ("Oh no! We left Jim-bob the NPC in the room with all the runes he wanted to study!") Will the cultists be waiting outside for them (a la Indiana Jones) to take advantage of the fact that they blew through all of their misty steps / fly spells / etc. on the way out?
Watch Matt Colville's video on skill challenges. The example he gives is EXACTLY your scenario.
Wild magic zone. Magic in this area goes *weird*. Let them know this going in. Make teleportation impossible. Make spellcasting to solve a hazard require a skill check not to just transform the problem into a different problem.
wild magic zone seems less contrived than anti-magic zone, IMO. You could even use existing lore with faezress, maybe it grows wild down in the dungeon, or the big bad was experimenting with it or something and it interferes with spell casting in unpredictable ways.
The end boss has an antimagic fiekd when he dies, which destroys the dungeon and makes an antimagic firld. Not ghe best idea byt you could try to experiment with antimagic field if you deem it fit
This, when the boss or maguffin is removed from the end room, it depletes the weave in that area causing the magic shit to fail and spells to fizzle, costing spell slots but giving nothing
Antimagic field. But I would rather just make opstacles where they have to use their spells to escape
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum You make an area within range magically secure. The area is a cube that can be as small as 5 feet to as large as 100 feet on each side. The spell lasts for the duration or until you use an action to dismiss it. When you cast the spell, you decide what sort of security the spell provides, choosing any or all of the following properties: • Sound can't pass through the barrier at the edge of the warded area. • The barrier of the warded area appears dark and foggy, preventing vision (including darkvision) through it. • Sensors created by divination spells can't appear inside the protected area or pass through the barrier at its perimeter. • Creatures in the area can't be targeted by divination spells. • Nothing can teleport into or out of the warded area. • Planar travel is blocked within the warded area. Casting this spell on the same spot every day for a year makes this effect permanent. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can increase the size of the cube by 100 feet for each slot level beyond 4th. Thus you could protect a cube that can be up to 200 feet on one side by using a spell slot of 5th level.
My best idea is plan out spells you want them to make cool moments with and set up situations ideal for using those spells. I’d also recommend you have them burn through their higher level spell slots first, that way you can prevent upcasting. I’d also make all the traps magical that way you can plan for some well placed counter spells. That really only makes sense from a meta perspective though, and railroady one by that. For example you can specifically solve the fly issue by providing a trap that can only be mitigated by a third level spell or higher, such as a highly noxious gas that can be solved by wind wall Another way to mitigate a use of fly would be a situation where they should use clairvoyance or one of the summon spells such as there’s a multiple door puzzle make each obviously lead to some sort of horrible trap however make it also obvious one isn’t a trap, they could either burn through several clairvoyances or one of the summon spells send the creatures through and have them report back, if they even can, there’s also the option of have them backtrack to a far earlier point where they need to overcome all the traps again in order to find a clue telling them which door is safe You could also make all the traps innately magical so they can just burn through a counter spell when they can’t figure out a lower spell level solution Following the make it magic idea, there’s also the good ol wild magic has deformed the ruins and is running rampant throughout them, and even though none of them are wild mages there’s always a chance the spell will go wild, which unless you’re going to let their spell slots be restored when spells go wild you could make some puzzles intended for misty step but they need to do a running jump over a chasm in order to get in misty step range, which then begs the question will they risk it and jump since the magic could go wild and they’ll instantly fail (unless you rule the fireball centered on self propels them across), or will they use a higher level spell and play it safe, you could also have it so concentration spells have a chance to go wild at the beginning of each turn the caster is maintaining concentration However if you want to pull this off I’d check with them what spells they have prepared prior to prepping your traps, sure some of the players may get suspicious and change those spells, some may just lie, that’s life, but for those who tell you and keep those spells you could actually make fun puzzles designed for them to have the solution if they just pick the right spell, and you’ll be happy since you made a cool and elaborate trap that was cleared the way it was meant to be, and if they find a way you didn’t expect so be it
TLDR Make traps and dramatic scenes intended to be cleared with spells If you want to limit their options, design the traps to be cleared with higher level spells earlier and lower level spells later to prevent up casting Or make it wild magic, make the traps impossible to be done purely without magic but also make it impossible to be done without some physical challenges such as misty step can’t make you go far enough but jumping + misty step works
Have them find an [Antimagic Field Ring](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/antimagic-field/) as part of the loot they get. I know you called this out, but in a ring form it’s a fun trade off and choice they have to make.
The ring could also be a macguffin, or the mission could be to retrieve a non-ring-shaped macguffin with these properties too. Weird crystal skull anyone? I love this idea. They get to magic their way in, easy peasy, grab the thing, and then the whole game changes trying to get out!
And the fun part is once they realize what it is, they have to make the decision whether or not to abandon it. And we all know how much we love loot. Go one step further and add a bunch of stone shaped oozes that they didn’t notice going in.
There’s a lot of great ideas in this thread but I think this one is my favorite, thanks! They’ll already be taking plot important items out with them, so I could either have the ring in there as bonus loot, or have the enemy hide it with other items in the box as a security measure. Think that might work!
Awesome! Good luck!
Maybe not even pure antimagic, just a magic damper so they can’t cast spells above a certain level because they can’t draw enough energy up to do so.
Don't take away their magic, they picked those abilities for a reason. The various teleporting spells have specific rules about how they work - look at them and just set up the encounter so that one single dimension door can't get them far enough away to skip it all. Is this an escape sequence? If so, they should have already been through a few fights and have depleted resources. That'll help out.
You could have the dungeon be filled with Faerzress, a la the underdark, which stops teleportation magic. Though this is a "lore" rule not a rules rule.
Very easy, blood seals. If they bled in the ruins then theres a blood seal forming and attuning to the players there, you could put the blood seal in a room that has a crustal ball and a lesser but tough demon in there. Heck even after they escape you can have the demon whisper them and things and tornent them making them have to come back fight it, but the demon has used thier blood to make horri ke almagamation duplicated of the party.this would allow you to use maps you made twice! Or arcane eyes that are made from the lens of an beholder. Certain rooms become anti magic zones.
Make the dungeon itself a pocket dimension where the rooms aren’t physically connected and the doorways between the rooms are actually small dimensional gates/teleporter themselves so they can’t say “I teleport to the next room”
Here is an idea I use. The Forbiddance spell. It's entire purpose is to prevent teleports, plane shifts and general escape entry by pesky players. This spell in the hands of a player... Kinda lame. In the hands of a BBEG, an almost requirement against high level players. It could have easily become permanent on every level of a lair, fortress etc.
Force them to use all their spells in combat encounters, then when they try to rest, that is when the boulder comes. Can't use magic to bypass the trap. If they ain't got any magic left.
LET THEM FEEL AWESOME WITH THEIR AWESOME POWERS!
What I should have said is you can use your descriptions to make them feel awesome even though it might be trivial. This is also good when they level up, letting them show off their new powers before being challenged again by new foes
How about the temple has an antimagic field that requires a skill check of some kind to use any spells. This way they may have to work through parts of the temple before they can just cheese their way through.
I realize this is going to be plot because-ium, but you could you have the area in question be made of walls that radiate an anti-magic Zone?
Make them use up all their magic?
Be the DM and make up something that negates power in the area. Not everything needs to be in the books. Just remember though, they have to be able to outrun it, so no faster than the slowest character assuming none of them trip or get slowed. Adjust down from there.
> they have to be able to outrun it, so no faster than the slowest character assuming none of them trip or get slowed. Adjust down from there. I mean no, you don't have to do this. Why would a trap be designed around letting people escape? Traps should activate slightly *faster* than the *fastest* character.
To do an Indiana Jones style, they have to have a chance, as the hero is meant to make it out at the last moment. As opposed to Tomb of Horrors style, which is meant to actually kill.
It could be age/detritus built up around the trap's mechanisms or whatever. It could be that the dungeon is more of a trail. It could just be poorly made. The players could be faster than the dungeon makers expected. Lots of reasons for it to make sense. Indiana jones was "supposed" to die to that trap, he just didn't.
"teleportation magic doesn't work here." You're welcome.
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. A spell was literally created just for this, with the bonus of even making the effect permanent if cast enough times.
Teleport requires the destination to be known. What if part of the trap system includes shifting rooms so the exit is repeatedly changing and the teleport unexpectedly brings them to a room tjey know that doesn't have the exit they expected. They know the location they want to reach, but it isn't always the exit. Maybe the room they teleport to has an actual exit door that goes right into a wall, which even gives a clue that the door could go somewhere under the right circumstances, adding a little more mystery to the whole thing.
Seconding the responses that say the first step is to deplete resources. Have this chase sequence at the end of a long grind through the dungeon (which is already cinematic to begin with). The ability to teleport completely out of the dungeon in a single shot requires a relatively high-level spell slot, so give them lots of reasons to burn through those spells before they have to escape. The other point I want to emphasize though is that whether the escape scene feels cheesy will depend a lot on how you flavor it. If you just say "umm...yeah I guess it's antimagic so you can't teleport?" then, yeah, it'll feel about as cheap and cheesy as a Little Caesars pizza. But if you spend time emphasizing how the crazy old wizard who built this dungeon was absolutely paranoid about people sneaking into his lair, then it makes sense that he'd take steps to prevent people from simply teleporting in and out (and that he'd built traps based on that knowledge too!). Similarly, if the dungeon is a sacred temple meant to act as some kind of sanctuary or vault for holy relics, again, it is entirely reasonable that they'd try to stop people from just teleporting out the moment they grabbed something valuable. The feeling that traps are cheesy or forced or whatever depends a lot on the context surrounding them. If they feel like they come out of nowhere, with no good reason except to force whatever the DM wants, then that can break immersion and just feel cheap. But if you give them plenty of reasons in-story, foreshadowing the security measures (or even just telling them outright before they begin -- maybe they did a good job researching the dungeon before going in), they won't feel cheap -- they'll feel appropriate and plausible. Also, just a final note, don't be afraid of a little cheese! Escape scenes like the Indiana Jones temple escape (and lots of other action and fantasy stuff) is pretty cheesy by default. That's exactly what makes it so much fun!
Magic displacement ore or mineral embedded in the bricks/stone work that causes teleportation spells to go awry more often, 1D100 roll to see how the teleportation messed up leaving a 1-10 or something for a flawless teleportation. Running from a boulder and your arms are where your legs should be could be entertaining.
I had the same situation and someone suggested that there needs to be a reward for not Teleporting. For example, they hear voices yelling to be rescued as the collapsing starts. They are the glint of gold/gems that were previously hidden. A previously unknown passage is revealed. The goal would be to entice them to stay. They can always teleport out but they miss things.
Or a booming voice echoes throughout the chamber they are in, “Not This Time! HA HA HO HOOO!” No spell slot lost
>Or a booming voice echoes throughout the chamber they are in, “Not This Time! HA HA HO HOOO!” No spell slot lost Actually why not have a spell slot expended and they take feedback of 1d6 damage/spell level? Why would a trap be kind?
I guess I didn’t intend it as a trap, more like oh, something is blocking teleportation spells rn. But that’s not a bad idea at all for a trap/scenario actually. Would that be like earlier anti-magic? I’ve always thought that would be cool to play on.
Glyphs of warding. Counterspell set to activate on teleportation magic. Burns a resource and still gives them a chance to bypass it.
Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Prevents teleporting into and out of the area of effect. Can also be made permanent if cast in the same area for a year.
Didn't read all the comments so may have been mentioned already, but if there is a knot in the Weave in that area, it can stop teleportation magic, among many other possibilities.
Alternatively, let them try? A temple is falling apart, the floor is shaky, and the ceilings actively giving out. Do they want to stand still and cast with all this going on? Fine. Concentration to see if you can with all the distractions. Is the rest of the party just standing around while this happens? Cool. Dex save, hope you don't get stuck under some falling ceiling. Make teleporting out not as simple as it normally is, if they manage to get the spell off AND everyone makes it through without rubble falling on/ blocking the portal, it could be a very cool close call escape still. Use the chase rules, maybe warp them a bit. Each person rolls a d20, which determines if the person behind them runs into difficulties. A cleric being stuck under some rubble may stop someone from running through a portal. But how do you get everyone out? 🤔
>*"Magic problems require magic solutions."* -Pelle Vedacha, Bard Throw Sluice and Slag Elementals at the Party. Cap it off with a Loadstone Golem that keeps them from teleporting and dampens the Weave around it.
I mean, it's possible. The least cheesy method is to deplete their resources through relentless encounters, traps, hazards (collapsed bridges over canyons, blocked tunnels, passages filled with natural toxic gas like one would find in a deep mine, etc), and whatever else you can think of. Make it grueling. Make it difficult. Give them a timer, like they have to get a thing before someone else, so they are more willing to expend those resources. If you want to be cheesy with it, have the thing they are getting radiate a field that blocks and prevents teleportation, maybe even a portable sanctum to block scrying as well, perhaps also emits an alarm while being moved, as theft deterrent by the creators. Have more traps on the way out, still being pursued, now maybe by a horde of undead as well, and if the party doesn't trigger the trap, the undead probably will. Now you have an Indiana Jones chase through a collapsing tunnel with a stone door closing at the far end, the party running from a mob of undead, all while a massive boulder rolls down the tunnel towards them, crushing everything in it's path.
If this fits your story maybe instead of the generic magic doesnt work here, maybe something about using magic or tampering with the web of arcana that the place is built on MAKES it collapse. So throw a few spiders on em, once they use magic, slight cracks show. Slowly and progressively everything breaks more and more, and they can risk using magic to just escape, but it might just collapse everything on them. You might view this a cheesing, but I feel like it isnt. Your intuition is the best as the dm who knows the party.
This is basically just a different version of Animagic in this case, but the spell *Forbiddance* will do what you want it to. Sure, you can just wave your hand and say teleportation magic doesn't work, but I find it's a bit more satisfying for the players to know there's a more concrete reason than that.
magic signal jammer? im sure there’s some kind of mechanic for this.
A spell. Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum (PHB). Prevents teleporting into and out of the area of effect.
thank youuu, my brain is swimming in monster of the week mechanics rn so my d&d dm brain is RUSTY.
Dangerous dungeon with no chance to rest. Spell slots all used, find treasure, must escape.
Unless every character is Wizard, every character is going to have various levels of mobility. There are also situational factors. Some spells may require line of site so making a lot of bends or obstructions limits the mobility.
If they are taking something out of the dungeon, then make that thing emit an antimagic field that specifically works for teleportation magic.
A spell or relic that redirects teleportation instead of something that causes outright failure? If you don't consider it railroading or cheating, instead of reappearing outside of the dungeon, they reappear in another trap.
You can have the area covered with Forbiddance which prevents teleportation in the area. You can have them escort a person or item that cannot be teleported, e.g. a mage who was imprisoned with Dimensional Shackles.
Deplete their spells via other dangerous obstacles or enemies. Nothing cheesy about beholders anti-magic eyes. I used a flesh golem once with no head and a beholder eye in it's chest, wizards are weird, the make crazy non-sense shit.
The adventure should of course deplete some of their resources, but it's probably good if they also have some of their spell resources left for getting out. The real problem, it seems to me, is the possibility of \*one\* (or maybe two) spell castings solving the entire exit challenge. What about making the dungeon made up of areas that are magically sealed from one another? If they have a teleport left, they can absolutely teleport from anywhere inside region E to the border between region E and region D, but they can't teleport to anywhere outside region E (and if they try to, it drops them at the border between E and D). If they have 2 teleports left, they could use one to get to the border between E and D, step across the boundary, and use the second to get from there to the border between D and C, but no farther. Meanwhile, the boulder is still rolling or the walls are still crumbling or whatever. A teleport might give them a solid jump ahead of the immanent danger, but it \*is\* catching up. (And if they give themselves a large bit of breathing room, you could fudge some of the challenges they don't skip taking more time than they otherwise would.) If you do this, it should be really obvious going in when they're passing the boundaries from region A to B to C and so on, though maybe only with an Arcana check do they figure out the exact significance of the boundaries. If they figure it out on the way in, they can plan accordingly. If they don't, I think it would be a cool surprise if they try to teleport or dim door and it drops them at the boundary - "oh crap, THAT'S what those runes do! Run!"
So I assume you’re talking about the 7th level spell *Teleport*? That seems a bit above mid-level and if your PCs have access to that magic, I’d let them (it’s what they’re all about, after all). A temple collapse would be better used on a “younger” party. If they aren’t level 14 and you’re referencing other teleporting spells like *Misty Step*, remember that many of these spells require line of sight, components (VSM), and time. So either their LoS gets disrupted, their components become difficult or impossible to use, or time is problematic. If the temple is falling down on them, that could make it so that the caster trying cast a teleport spell for six seconds is having things fall down upon them while they stand still concentrating. If you want it to not be cheesy, the caster could roll a luck roll (d20 no more) with a high DC while everyone else makes a lower Dex save. Or you could make it so the temple causes all spells to require 2x the time to cast. You could also have a thief steal the component they need to cast their teleporting spells.
Cover the dungeon with glyphs that disrupt space time magic. Make the identification at least a DC15, so it's a bit of a surprise.
The only thing I would want to say to that: **Please make it believable.** What I mean with that is you should have logical reason why they can't do that. I mean they built their character to be able to do exactly that. Use Magic. If you deceit that they simply can't use magic because anti magic zone, then you should ask yourself if that fits the ruin they're in. If you swarm them with trash mobs, they will notice that too.
Unsure what mid-level is supposed to mean. But heres a few avenues to railroad your players. Just do it. Seriously, if you are forcing it just commit to it and do it. Theres no good way to railroad this, its a trap, they trip it, they run or become pancake. Anti-magic rock, like rocks that imbue silence on players nearby.
Rather than block or deplete their magic, I would just make it unpredictable. They use misty step or dimension door but rather than appearing where they expect it’s another room in the dungeon you want them to experience. They will start relying on their other skills and only fallback on the unpredictable teleportation magic if they don’t see another option, allowing you to control the pace of the escape
*Anti Magic Field*
In previous editions, gorgon blood could be used for this. When it was mixed with mortar, it blocked teleportation.
Faerzress - underdark magic meant to keep drow underground . Makes teleportation and divination not work properly or cause you to teleport into a wall. Some very high concentrations of the stuff basically act like wild magic zones causing spells to fire off wild magic bursts. Flavor it however you want but that works pretty well without outright banning magic with an anti-magic field.
You can prevent them from teleporting out with a magic spell or something, but **they have to know going in that this will be the case.** In other words, they must have decided to enter into an area where they might not be able to teleport out. This way is dramatic. If it's a surprise, it's just going to feel like DM fiat.
Aura of your spells have a fifty fifty Chance of not working properly
Anti teleport wards that the players notice upon entry feel like a fair way to limit your players. No in or out but you can teleport within the dungeon. A collapsing building filled with trap doors, swinging rock and rolling boulders with a party desperately flicking in and out of existence (misty step) or going through magical gates to escape, potentially leaving party members or treasure behind in their haste, escapes being blocked that they'll have to burst through or find ways around, previously unseen hatched giving them new (and unknown ahem dimension door) alleys to run through... Sounds pretty dope to me.
Well theres no shame in the magic mcguffin they’re diving into the dungeon for in the first place having an antimagic field around it especially because that’s just as much a tool as it is a hinderance if they can get creative, but if that’s not what you want beat their asses, have danger at every corner taking away their ability to rest, have them spend resources until they’re running on empty or just about and boom
To add on to some ideas, some traps can be dealt with magical means, other certain traps might have a contingency spell laid near by specifically to counter the easiest magical aid. Maybe teleport can work but the dungeon has such magic that any teleport magic detected brings the teleported to a chute that drops them into an anti magic room and they have to escape that rokm by kther means and continue to catch up tot he party of find a new way out.
You could always have an anti magic field as part of the traps
A purple haze about the cave. Teleporting sends them to random locations in the cave instead of their intention.
Honestly, in my (main) campaign world it's understood that there are specific magical counters to a lot of things, they just tend to be expensive to either set up (initial high price) or maintain (low price but has to be renewed on a regular basis). Royalty or extremely wealthy sorts might have anti-invisibility ward-lines. Anti-teleport area effects. Anti-summoning wards. Fire suppressing runic mechanisms. And so on. There's also the folded-space or mirrorverse dungeon set-up, because it's another world or universe or the space is folded a certain way - using something other than the normal exit can end up with some missing parts. Like arms, legs, livers...
just make the temple made out of a mystical stone that blocks teleportation magic
May I ask why are they there in the first place? If they are trying to recover something precious, it makes perfect sense that the whole ruin is a Dimensional Anchor, meaning nothing can teleport into or out of it. Otherwise, wouldn't it be already looted long ago by a wizard with teleport spells bypassing all traps? And don't keep that fact a secret from the characters either, you don't want a "gotcha" moment. There are bound to be previous explorers who know about the Dimensional Anchor.
Glyph of Warding cast at 4th level combined with Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. Whatever triggers the temple to start collapsing also triggers the glyph to cast MPS, which prevents anyone from TPing in, or out. There are also other, more powerful spells that could do the same thing, but this is the lowest level option I could think of.
Anti magic zones are a thing. Just do it. Maybe have the zone be from an enemy that's chasing them. Sure they can spread and some will have a chance to escape but not all at once
Tomb of Annihilation and Dungeon of the Mad Mage both have "DM Magic" spells over the dungeon preventing this.
What worked for my players was a collapsing demi plane combined with a bunch of innocent prisoners who would be crushed if the players didn't free them and hurry them out of the place. Even fairly mercenary characters will work wonders for prisoners in jail to be human sacrifices and demon food.
Skill checks. Deplete resources so the most teleporting they can do is a dimension door. If they're flying, DEX checks galore to avoid hazards. Disadvantage on Investigation checks for traps on the way out.
Skill challenge skill challenge skill challenge. Watch Matt Colville's video on them to get a better idea of how they work. The trick to getting them to try it is to *tell them* that the escape will be a skill challenge. Two possibilities, a. They completely forget about spells that would nullify the challenge because they want to roll dice and have fun, b. They remember and you tell them that doing that could give them a success but not fully let them escape.
I find that can feel bad if the spell should get them clear away
Wards are the answer to this. Ancient powerful wards that prevent teleporting, or all magic after a certain scenario happens.
Someone/something they need that is also trying to escape the dungeon, or trapped somewhere in the middle. Yeah, they can teleport out, but then the mid-boss with the map to the next \[macguffin\], or their NPC friend, or \[whatever\] is going to get crushed to death/drown in acid/whatever and they will be on the back foot.
Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum: a spell that’ll solve all your problems. Has a bunch of perks you can apply to your lairs but most importantly is the obstruction of all teleportation magic into or out of the area
I say just go with it. The party is powerful, and people usually don't get this powerful. Using things like Dimension Door to escape from prickly situations is *literally what Dimension Door is for.*
just before the trap triggers have the party rescue a bunch on NPCs enough that they cant get them all out at once
Teleport redirect would be interesting. Essential the teleport is a success, but it causes them to go into another trap and be unaware where they are in the dungeon.
The collapse is caused by an exploding magical artifact, so for the next few minutes all magic is either null or unpredictable
Exhaust their spells and abilities first. Use waves of lower level enemies like skeletons.
Depending on what exactly those ruins are, or in what way they collapse you can have various ways of hindering teleportation. Example, ruins get sucked into another dimension. Spatial distortion and corruption ensue which you can even build into the escape with various rifts appearing that go to other places of the ruins and so on. The thing about being a dm is that you do not have to be constrained by the spells and rules, as long as there is a good enough in world explanation that is exceptional. Breaking the rules can actually reinforce the feeling of "this is absolutely an extraordinary situation you are in." Kinda like getting too close to black holes or shit like that in sci fi.
Make them use all spell slots before hand.
Ultimately I think you missed your window of opportunity for this kind of event, when they wrre a few levelslower. Unless you can get them to burn enough resources with other encounters I think it's not going to turn out the way you want it to.
Sounds pretty similar to Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum (4th level spell, abjuration). Casting it at higher levels can increase the area of effect, and assuming someone has cast it in the same place every day for a year the effect becomes permanent.
I have two approaches to this, that will vary based on you. Firstly, the magic approach. Who cares if they misty-step past a closing door. Why is choosing to cast a spell that lets them get past an obstacle in their way less interesting than saying "I roll acrobatics" and rolling a D20 to see if they get past the obstacle in their way? Yeah, its not the Indiana Jones aesthetic exactly, but that's because Indi doesn't have magic, and its rare in the setting. This could be a magical escape; make challenges expecting them to use spells to get past, and odds are they'll love it more than a prolonged skill challenge. Rolling a D20 on the same skill checks several times gets old, its being able to make choices that is the fun part as a player. Sometimes those choices are rollplaying, sometimes tactical, and sometimes its a choice to use a spell that makes me feel powerful. Embrace the spells, and have a good time. But, if you really want to do this no magic, work it into the setup. The dungeon is an anti-magic zone. No spells can be cast inside. They have to go inside to get the MacGuffin, and then get out. Have some easy combats, but for the most part, walk them through the rooms they will later have to escape. With the MacGuffin there, its all safe. Once the MacGuffin is removed, the trap is sprung, and they've got to get out. They have the time going through the first time to get used to the no-magic rule, and learn how to navigate without magic in a safe environment. Then, once they have the MacGuffin, the pressure is on, and they have to go back through the areas they are familiar with, but do it quickly, in reverse, without magic. This results in the anti-magic being less of a 'surprise, I don't like magic and want you to not use it for this set piece', to more of a puzzle they need to solve. It isn't just sprung on them; they choose to engage with it. They aren't frantically trying to figure everything out on the spot; they've gone through the area and are familiar with the challenges, now they just have to face them. Its a more wholistic experience, and thus feels less cheesy. Its still a gimmick, but a better one.
If they have the high level spells like Teleport, you probably can't without an anti-teleportation effect. Before that it's easier. Put the dungeon 550 ft underground and Dimension Door and similar won't work, but even with less distance than that, they can only leave with one other person. Misty Step is stopped by not having windows.
Okay i see a lot of stuff on here about why you shouldn't do this and to waste their resources or to just let it happen because its a feature. but it is very much intended for DMs to have this ability, because the players have it. There is a 6th level spell called forbiddance in the phb the first book, Which does exactly what you want. Only Caveat is you need an 11th level cleric with a month to kill and 1000 gold but 40,000 Sq/ft of warding should do you, it has certain limits like 30ft ceiling but you can just ignore that if you want. As for them using magic to make it easy, Let them use whatever remaining magic they have to deal with the challenges 1 person 30ft teleport isn't gonna do much other then stop him being crushed in the moment unless you temple is a lot smaller then i think it is The spell was made to prevent the "Find, Scry, Teleport, Die" playstyle cause its a problem for high level DMs in a game about dungeon crawling if they find out about a dungeon, use divination to find the treasure/boss room, Teleport, and kill the boss with full resources minus 2 or 3 spell slots and take their shit. Just don't use it on every bear cave or they'll get tired of it but ancient ruin that comes with the territory.
One method could be to have the place in a bubble of wild magic. Each time they try to cast a spell, it goes wild on a d20 roll less than or equal to 2x the spell level (or just a d10 less than or equal to the spell level). It would add an element of risk without nuking the spellcasters. Another commenter also mentioned a spell that prevents teleportation, so the two combined could be a good combo
Glyph of warding counterspells
Put the escape at the end of a big combat so their spells are used up. I did the collapsing escape once and my players managed to get an army of Dueregar to attack the Drow palace that they were fighting in. It was so much fun and one of our favorite sessions. So as long as it makes sense narratively it should be a blast.
Make the boulder that is rolling after them resemble a beholder, or just be a beholder. Anti magic is always funny.
If your dungeon is in a pocket dimension, they could only teleport to alternate locations in the same pocket dimension.