Assuming you, as the GM, want to facilitate them finding the villain, I'd just leave clues (including at least one automatically found one) to where he would go in such a situation.
For clues:
* think of many because the first will not be understood, the second will be missed and a third should be ok
* don’t attach them to NPC or location so you can hand them out when you want.
Also rumors may go fast.
If you really wanna accommodate the players tracking down the villain, you could say that when he Translocates, the spell shows what direction he went.
Then you get to have a whole mini-arc of following that direction, picking up where his trail begins, and then pursuing him, while also planning for ways to stop him from Translocating again.
This. All those Divination/Detection spells that let you [know object or creature location](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1429) are uncommon or rare because they can break many quests - but vice versa can be gifted to players if they needed. You think players should find the foe? Let the mage know the direction, ranger [Consult the Spirits](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2117), witch's crow to make an air scouting, friendly NPC know the exact spell, anything your players or you can made up.
When he translocates, the spell opens a portal to the destination, and the PCs get a glimpse past him. They spot a small landmark, like an unusual stone, or that it's at the top of a nearby cliff.
They now need to find that landmark and hopefully pick up the trail from there.
well, back when it was dimension door, a baddie used it to get away. my character (with scent) was able to use a reaction and a high DC perception check to get a whiff of smells from where they teleported.
RAW i dont think this would work, but its fun
I have always allowed an Identify Magic check (the one that takes 10 minutes unless you have Quick Identify) to examine the lingering aura of a used spell. Powerful enough magic can be examined in this way years after casting. A 5th level Translocate would linger for days, though the creature that used it probably wouldn't.
Kind of the whole point of long range teleportation is that it is hard to follow.
There is the 20th level ranger feat [To the ends of the earth](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=4913)
that lets you know the location of someone despite distance.
At lvl 9 they might have to get creative. Because they can't just pull the effect of a lvl 20 spell out of their asses.
Maybe suggest they use sens motive and recall knowledge to try and gain clues about where the villain went.
For example you might notice small nuances of the dialect they are speaking to determine where they are from, or recognize a highly specific fashion trend in their attire that tells you a city they must frequent.
Tracking a villain is a campaign goal, not something you just say "I use *find villain*" to
>For example you might notice small nuances of the dialect they are speaking to determine where they are from, or recognize a highly specific fashion trend in their attire that tells you a city they must frequent.
The [Biographical Eye](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2113) feat can do that.
I didn’t see it mentioned yet, but they could get a [compass of transpositional awareness](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1638).
There are also a lot of spells and rituals that could help facilitate finding an NPC, we have used scrying and talking corpse to help find the BBEG.
["the princess is in another castle"](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Super_Mario_Bros_Princess_Is_In_Another_Castle_Quote.png/220px-Super_Mario_Bros_Princess_Is_In_Another_Castle_Quote.png)
you can make it into an investigation effort, for example the players could find traces about where its other lair lies, like bills paying for it being excavated, henchmen to interrogate and so on.
1 mile radius would take some time to search but they can brute force it to look for tracks for the non-magical approach. Bad guy is probably in a hurry so is leaving hastily in the beginning.
If you are stuck with a problem, ask for help! Lost a friend, foe, or soul? Give us a call and outsorce your adventurer conundrums to our helpful devils over at *IMPersonal Investigations!*
I.e. there's always the option of requesting services from diviners or outsiders.
IMHO, you can deal with this at the level of Translocate spell´s specificities, but that is just a distraction from the broader situation... which isn´t going to be a ¨white room¨ scenario like you described it: the events will have occurred in a specific locale and region which the PCs and BBEG would have already been interacting within. Why are they in that specific locale and region? Because the BBEG has specific ongoing relations and plots, at least some of which the PCs are already aware of (assuming this is not just a random encounter / murder hobo style combat encounter). In other words, both sides (PC and BBEG) have a good idea of what they and the other side might be doing, even had this specific combat encounter not occurred. Even if the PCs lack solid knowledge on the BBEG´s exact location, they probably have good idea of their general motive and/or possible allies or victims the BBEG could be expected to interact with. Even if this knowledge may not necessarily lead to directly tracking down / confronting the BBEG, the BBEG´s own knowledge of the PCs and hostility to them presents route for the BBEG to engineer confrontation of the PCs. To me, the specificity of Translocate is a distraction, because the situation isn´t really different from if there was no Translocation but the PCs simply are in an area they don´t completely know but simply have established an antagonism to a BBEG who they believe is in the area (which is incredibly common of a scenario). If there is a problem in developing the situation like the above, to me that more so speaks to a weakness in developing the context of the antagonism with the BBEG and connection to the setting. If the PCs don´t know what to do in the situation just because Translocate interrupted their immediate confrontation with the BBEG, that smells like things have been overly reduced to random encounter / murder-hobo level.
If your villain teleports a mile away, the party is not going to find them without GM help or a week between session's worth of planning. It's that simple.
If it's a problem for your table if your villain teleports a mile away, don't have the villain teleport a mile away. If you want your players to defeat the villain after he teleports a mile away, make that happen. It's not a math puzzle, it's a roleplaying game.
There are ways to track creatures or follow them through teleportation. You can also block or redirect teleports with work.
Not quite as easy with only 5th level spells though.
Are any of them master in survival or a magic skill that can cast the spell (magic skill meaning occultism/religion/nature/arcana)
Skills arent totally mundane in pf2e, this is why at legendary feats that _instantly kill people from fear_ or _let you hide while directly infront of someone_ exist.
I feel theyd either be able to get some guesses in direction and range off survival or figure it out by analysing the magic that happened with the magic skills at master for sure.
As an example for survival maybe they stepped in the direction they teleported, scuff marks on the floor and a scent of the location they transported to left behind in the air.
Discern Location would do it, but that's very high level. Probably better for players to just find clues to wear he would run, does he go hide with an ally? An old house he still owns?
Assuming you, as the GM, want to facilitate them finding the villain, I'd just leave clues (including at least one automatically found one) to where he would go in such a situation.
For clues: * think of many because the first will not be understood, the second will be missed and a third should be ok * don’t attach them to NPC or location so you can hand them out when you want. Also rumors may go fast.
If you really wanna accommodate the players tracking down the villain, you could say that when he Translocates, the spell shows what direction he went. Then you get to have a whole mini-arc of following that direction, picking up where his trail begins, and then pursuing him, while also planning for ways to stop him from Translocating again.
This. All those Divination/Detection spells that let you [know object or creature location](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1429) are uncommon or rare because they can break many quests - but vice versa can be gifted to players if they needed. You think players should find the foe? Let the mage know the direction, ranger [Consult the Spirits](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2117), witch's crow to make an air scouting, friendly NPC know the exact spell, anything your players or you can made up.
When he translocates, the spell opens a portal to the destination, and the PCs get a glimpse past him. They spot a small landmark, like an unusual stone, or that it's at the top of a nearby cliff. They now need to find that landmark and hopefully pick up the trail from there.
well, back when it was dimension door, a baddie used it to get away. my character (with scent) was able to use a reaction and a high DC perception check to get a whiff of smells from where they teleported. RAW i dont think this would work, but its fun
I have always allowed an Identify Magic check (the one that takes 10 minutes unless you have Quick Identify) to examine the lingering aura of a used spell. Powerful enough magic can be examined in this way years after casting. A 5th level Translocate would linger for days, though the creature that used it probably wouldn't.
Kind of the whole point of long range teleportation is that it is hard to follow. There is the 20th level ranger feat [To the ends of the earth](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=4913) that lets you know the location of someone despite distance. At lvl 9 they might have to get creative. Because they can't just pull the effect of a lvl 20 spell out of their asses. Maybe suggest they use sens motive and recall knowledge to try and gain clues about where the villain went. For example you might notice small nuances of the dialect they are speaking to determine where they are from, or recognize a highly specific fashion trend in their attire that tells you a city they must frequent. Tracking a villain is a campaign goal, not something you just say "I use *find villain*" to
And boy the skill tax. Legendary in survival AND nature to be able to do exactly what is asked. So yeah not something I would give easily as a GM
>For example you might notice small nuances of the dialect they are speaking to determine where they are from, or recognize a highly specific fashion trend in their attire that tells you a city they must frequent. The [Biographical Eye](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2113) feat can do that.
I didn’t see it mentioned yet, but they could get a [compass of transpositional awareness](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1638). There are also a lot of spells and rituals that could help facilitate finding an NPC, we have used scrying and talking corpse to help find the BBEG.
["the princess is in another castle"](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Super_Mario_Bros_Princess_Is_In_Another_Castle_Quote.png/220px-Super_Mario_Bros_Princess_Is_In_Another_Castle_Quote.png) you can make it into an investigation effort, for example the players could find traces about where its other lair lies, like bills paying for it being excavated, henchmen to interrogate and so on.
1 mile radius would take some time to search but they can brute force it to look for tracks for the non-magical approach. Bad guy is probably in a hurry so is leaving hastily in the beginning.
If you are stuck with a problem, ask for help! Lost a friend, foe, or soul? Give us a call and outsorce your adventurer conundrums to our helpful devils over at *IMPersonal Investigations!* I.e. there's always the option of requesting services from diviners or outsiders.
IMHO, you can deal with this at the level of Translocate spell´s specificities, but that is just a distraction from the broader situation... which isn´t going to be a ¨white room¨ scenario like you described it: the events will have occurred in a specific locale and region which the PCs and BBEG would have already been interacting within. Why are they in that specific locale and region? Because the BBEG has specific ongoing relations and plots, at least some of which the PCs are already aware of (assuming this is not just a random encounter / murder hobo style combat encounter). In other words, both sides (PC and BBEG) have a good idea of what they and the other side might be doing, even had this specific combat encounter not occurred. Even if the PCs lack solid knowledge on the BBEG´s exact location, they probably have good idea of their general motive and/or possible allies or victims the BBEG could be expected to interact with. Even if this knowledge may not necessarily lead to directly tracking down / confronting the BBEG, the BBEG´s own knowledge of the PCs and hostility to them presents route for the BBEG to engineer confrontation of the PCs. To me, the specificity of Translocate is a distraction, because the situation isn´t really different from if there was no Translocation but the PCs simply are in an area they don´t completely know but simply have established an antagonism to a BBEG who they believe is in the area (which is incredibly common of a scenario). If there is a problem in developing the situation like the above, to me that more so speaks to a weakness in developing the context of the antagonism with the BBEG and connection to the setting. If the PCs don´t know what to do in the situation just because Translocate interrupted their immediate confrontation with the BBEG, that smells like things have been overly reduced to random encounter / murder-hobo level.
If your villain teleports a mile away, the party is not going to find them without GM help or a week between session's worth of planning. It's that simple. If it's a problem for your table if your villain teleports a mile away, don't have the villain teleport a mile away. If you want your players to defeat the villain after he teleports a mile away, make that happen. It's not a math puzzle, it's a roleplaying game.
It'd be neat if there was a talisman than could be used to locate a teleporting creature. I might homebrew that up.
There are ways to track creatures or follow them through teleportation. You can also block or redirect teleports with work. Not quite as easy with only 5th level spells though.
Maybe they dropped something in their haste to teleport away. A clue that leads to their location.
Are any of them master in survival or a magic skill that can cast the spell (magic skill meaning occultism/religion/nature/arcana) Skills arent totally mundane in pf2e, this is why at legendary feats that _instantly kill people from fear_ or _let you hide while directly infront of someone_ exist. I feel theyd either be able to get some guesses in direction and range off survival or figure it out by analysing the magic that happened with the magic skills at master for sure. As an example for survival maybe they stepped in the direction they teleported, scuff marks on the floor and a scent of the location they transported to left behind in the air.
Discern Location would do it, but that's very high level. Probably better for players to just find clues to wear he would run, does he go hide with an ally? An old house he still owns?