Dimension Door to a person?

[Kee’zhe]

Hello all, in a recent game with my friends and I, my character's sister was grappled by a swamp monster and pulled under the water. My character, in a frantic reaction to try and save his sister, rolled a poor perception check to determine the whereabouts of the monster. My character has the ability to use dimension door, and attempted to use the spell to Dimension Door to his sister. In a previous game with a different DM, we used the spell in this way regularly, so it was a surprise to me when my DM ruled against it. He explained his ruling that the character did not know where the monster had taken her, so the result of the spell was to take the character to the last known location of his sister, which was where he was already standing. I accepted this, however I am curious what other players and DM's think about this. The basic rules of the spell are:

You instantly transfer yourself from your current location to any other spot within range. You always arrive at exactly the spot desired – whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction. If you arrive in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, you and each creature traveling with you take 1d6 points of damage and are shunted to a random open space on a suitable surface within 100 feet of the intended location.

To me, the words "exactly the spot desired - whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction" would allow my character to either "visualize" his sister, thus dimension dooring directly to an area where she is or even on top of her ("Exactly the spot desired"), resulting in a D6 of damage and getting thrown in a random direction within 100 feet or "State direction" of his sister, thus dimension dooring in her direction, putting him in an area near her or even on her, provided she is still in range of course.

I couldn't find a single post that talked about this issue so I'm excited to see what other players and DM's think about this!

[CrystalSeas]

Flagging this to be moved to the Rules forum

[Kee’zhe]

CrystalSeas wrote:

Flagging this to be moved to the Rules forum

I apologize. I am brand new to the site and do not know how any of that works.

[CrystalSeas]

Not a problem! It happens so often that there's a way to let staff know the thread needs to be moved built right into the site. :-)

And even long-time users often have trouble figuring out the most appropriate forum.

Welcome to Paizo!

[Belafon]

I don't allow that, and most GMs I know would not allow it either.

Quote:

You always arrive at exactly the spot desired – whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction.

You would have to visualize the area, not just one thing in the area. You'd need to use some form of divination to know what the area was like first, then you could dimension door there.

Or you could do it by knowing the direction and distance to your sister. Status is one of my favorite spells for exactly that reason. (Also helps you know: if your ally is dead or just dying, which square your invisible ally is in, and whether or not they failed against that confusion that was just cast.)

[Kee’zhe]

Belafon wrote:

I don't allow that, and most GMs I know would not allow it either.

Quote:

You always arrive at exactly the spot desired – whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction.

You would have to visualize the area, not just one thing in the area. You'd need to use some form of divination to know what the area was like first, then you could dimension door there.

Or you could do it by knowing the direction and distance to your sister. Status is one of my favorite spells for exactly that reason. (Also helps you know: if your ally is dead or just dying, which square your invisible ally is in, and whether or not they failed against that confusion that was just cast.)

This is a fair point. Thank you for the response!

[Kee’zhe]

CrystalSeas wrote:

Not a problem! It happens so often that there's a way to let staff know the thread needs to be moved built right into the site. :-)

And even long-time users often have trouble figuring out the most appropriate forum.

Welcome to Paizo!

Thank you very much. I am happy to be here!

[Diego Valdez]

I have moved this thread to the Rules forum.

[Zaister]

I think this question is about first edition dimension door, as the second edition spell quite clearly states that it can only transport you to a place you can see, so this is still in the wrong forum.

[Diego Valdez]

Thank you for letting me know, Zaister. I have moved it to the PF1 Rules Questions forum.

[AwesomenessDog]

It was also pretty much already answered. Can you move it back in time to when it wasn't answered and then move it to the PF1 Rules Questions forum?

[Ryze Kuja]

Dimension Door wrote:

Dimension Door

School conjuration (teleportation); Level bard 4, magus 4, sorcerer/wizard 4, summoner 3, unchained summoner 4, witch 4; Domain travel 4; Bloodline arcane 4

CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V

EFFECT

Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Target you and touched objects or other touched willing creatures
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none and Will negates (object); Spell Resistance no and yes (object)

DESCRIPTION

You instantly transfer yourself from your current location to any other spot within range. You always arrive at exactly the spot desired – whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction. After using this spell, you can’t take any other actions until your next turn. You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load. You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per three caster levels. A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as two Large creatures, and so forth. All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you.

If you arrive in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, you and each creature traveling with you take 1d6 points of damage and are shunted to a random open space on a suitable surface within 100 feet of the intended location.

If there is no free space within 100 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 2d6 points of damage and are shunted to a free space within 1,000 feet. If there is no free space within 1,000 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 4d6 points of damage and the spell simply fails.

Yes you can DDoor in a specific direction and arrive exactly where you want to, but the caveat in this situation is that if you have no idea where the monster dragged her underwater, you could end up way off from the exact location that you specified. I.E. If you think the swamp monster grabbed her and dove to 200ft straight down, then you could specify "I want to DDoor 200ft down from where the monster grabbed her" but you could overshoot and end up in the earth under actual water of the swamp if the swamp depth is only 100ft (and then get shunted back and receive damage). Or let's say the swamp is 250ft, so you would teleport 200ft straight down, but let's say the monster only dived to 50ft and then took a turn somewhere. It's kinda dangerous to DDoor to somewhere you're uncertain is safe, but I understand your dire situation called for dire measures.

TLDR: You wouldn't be able to teleport to the exact location of your sister unless you know the actual exact location of your sister. At that point, all you can do is specify a direction and how many feet you'd like to DDoor in that direction, at your own peril.