Hi!
I'm trying to figure out a way to teleport an object in front of my PCs after speaking a command word or password. It should be part of a reward at the end of a dungeon where PCs find the password.
The first thing I thought is Instant Summons. Speak a word, break the gem and voila, surprise! But Instant Summons works only for the spellcaster who made it. I know that as GM I could just say «no, it works, it's a… new… no, ancient! kind of… Instant Summons,» but I would like to make it work using official game mechanics, maybe using non-core spells or objects or anything else.
Any ideas?
honestly you can GM a new version of instant summons, one that maybe works like the gloves of storing. the gloves use craft wondrous items and the shrink item spell to make an item basically microscopic and attached to the gloves. You could swap the gloves with *insert item here*.
You're the GM. You get to make stuff up. In fact, that's your job. Unless you're running nothing but published material (and likely even then), you have to make stuff up in order to provide a setting for the game. That makes you the game designer. You can invent new spells, items, monsters, and even complete rule systems, just as every single Paizo published module I've ever seen does.
Cast off any fixation on having to use existing game mechanics for absolutely everything. RAW is not exhaustive, nor was it ever intended to be.
I like the idea of crafting a "chest of storing," or something similar. A seemingly empty chest, until they speak the command word and the contents return to fill it up!
Edit: maybe some variation of the Secret Chest spell would work. From the description I'm not sure if one could simply activate it with the focus (tiny replica chest).
Storing an item is an easy solution, but not the intended one. I want an object to teleport from a distant location to another, and this would have consequences during the adventure (maybe someone will be upset?). This is a personalization to an adventure hook from Kingamker AP, if I will complete it I will publish it somewhere around here.
Thank you for all your answers, I may eventually write a new spell that works as I want, but I will keep seeking for a RAW solution. It's not just a fixation, I try to keep game modifications, especially for minor events like this, to a minimum for various reasons: my players like it and I'm afraid of running into a "customization escalation" that would lead to game imbalance.
outfit the item with one of a pair of ring gates, bury the other at the destination, outfit the place with a contingency holding swipe at said item (the ring gates are to provide range to it), sit back and enjoy
Word of Recall variant or Word of Recall on an outsider who is only bound to remain with the object until it is activated and immediately returns to its home plane when the object it is with arrives?
-TimD
What about the Teleport Object spell? That spell seems to do exactly what you want. All you need is for the caster to have the spellcasting ability of a 13th level wizard or a 14th level sorcerer.
The only difficulty with this approach is whether the caster knows where the party is. A Sending spell (if the party is friendly to him) or some sort of scrying (if they don't trust him) would take care of that part.
outfit the item with one of a pair of ring gates, bury the other at the destination, outfit the place with a contingency holding swipe at said item (the ring gates are to provide range to it), sit back and enjoy
This is an interesting use of ring gates, I did not know that item. I don't think it will be the final solution but I may keep those rings for something else…
I don't think if Word of Recall works that way… it should be cast by the outsider in the right moment.
What about the Teleport Object spell? […]
Yes, I also thought about that but, sadly, nobody on the other side would send the item, at the contrary, they would be upset for the item disappearance.
Why not just have the command word activate a long-stored wish spell that transports said item to the location of the word-speaker?
If you have to have a RAW situation, that is likely how I would run it. But, honestly, I would just handwaive it as DM. It's a cool effect and it advances a storyline. Best of luck!
So who has the item, and who wants to transfer it to the party? The answer to the second question seems to be a spellcaster who did not create the item. That means he would have to go to some trouble to get his hands on the item and then transport it to the party. Why is he doing that?
Oh, wish! How did I forget it? The solution to everything. It's a shame that a GM would rule… hey… I'm the GM! Thank you Dosgamer :) Yes, it's true, as a GM I could just do anything, but my group (and me too, why not) really like a world where everything works according to well-defined rules. We like to see something and say: «Hey, if I want to do that, how could I do?», so I try keep additions to the game at minimum and work with what we already have (which is A LOT, and we may not fully know neither). If I should ever write a new spell I would certainly consider a way to make that spell accessible to the player. This may not be the case, but one day I would write something that would break the game or may be susceptible to abuse and it would ruin the atmosphere. May sound exaggerated to someone :)
Players find, deep in a dungeon, a cold tomb with a corpse. This is actually a clone of an old wizard, now dead (age, or illness). In the "tomb" there are some simple clothes, scrolls of Restoration, a basic spellbook with everything needed to go back on rails. At the end of the book some words: passwords to get the most powerful items of the wizard back, just in case of emergency. Some will still work and make appear an unexpected treasure. Too bad the items had a new owner…
Now I just have to find a reason the old wizard did not use Instant summons, and wish instead :)