Teleportation and Blind Jumps

[MrKinister]

Hello there,

 

I've been mulling the "teleportation into an area you can't see" rules for a bit and found a light layer of ambiguity (in my mind at least) about how the penalties apply.

 

I have a character with a Mega-Scale teleport power, Gate. My GM says that a PER roll is necessary to place a Gate at a long distance. For distances of a mile or more this could go as high as -15 or more. I am not debating the ranged penalties at all. We are in agreement that it would apply just fine. What I am seeing is that a blind jump is different from a jump into a location that is hard to perceive.

 

Both interpretations make sense to me, and the layer of ambiguity (for me) is in the following two paragraphs:

 

(Here's the base text from Volume 1, page 300)

 

Quote

If the PER Roll fails, the character must make an Attack Roll (against DCV 3) at -1 for every point he missed the roll by to Teleport to the proper location. (The GM might reduce the penalty slightly if the character can perceive the target location with a Nontargeting Sense.) If the character is using Noncombat Teleportation, he retains his full normal OCV solely for purposes of targeting his destination; he doesn’t have the usual OCV 0 when using Noncombat Movement. If the Attack Roll succeeds, he Teleports to his target Area without difficulty. If the Attack Roll fails, the character lands “off-target” by 2m in a random direction for every 1 point the roll failed by. This may result in his Teleporting into a solid object, which can have dangerous consequences (see 6E2 29).

If a Teleporter cannot perceive his target location at all and is simply guessing where it is, he must make an Attack Roll (against DCV 3) at -5 to move to his target Area successfully. The character uses his standard OCV to make this roll, unless some other circumstance (like being Flashed or in Darkness) affects him. The Range Modifier applies, and the GM may also apply any other additional modifier he wants; the character may use applicable Combat Skill Levels if desired. If the Attack Roll succeeds, he Teleports to the target Area successfully; if it fails, he lands “off-target” as described above.

 

Now, the way I originally read this is that the worst case scenario of a blind jump applies a -5 penalty to a regular Attack roll. Which is better than PER roll at a long distance (Mega Scaled) which could include penalties into the high double digits (-20 or more).

 

Am I reading this wrong? Is the "blind jump" worse by the fact that it includes an -5 to the Attack roll IN ADDITION to the missed PER roll penalties for a hard-to-see target spot? Or is it independent from the PER roll, seeing as no PER roll can be made to target a teleport location you can't see to begin with?

 

Thank you for the help.

[Steve Long]

I think what’s causing confusion here is that you’re calculating the Range Modifier on a “personal” scale for a MegaScaled power. As noted on 6E1 340, “the MegaScaling affects the Range Modifier as well.” So if your power has MegaRange (1m = 1 km), Range Modifier penalties begin to accrue at 9 kilometers, not 9 meters as it would with a personal-scale attack. So placing your Gate a mile (approx. 1,600 m) from you entails a Range Modifier penalty of -0.

 

However, if you can’t perceive the target location with a Targeting Sense (and that’s likely, since few characters can see that far), then the second paragraph you cited above comes into play. Now you’re suffering a -5 penalty to your Attack Roll — which is significantly worse than the -0 you’d ordinarily have.

 

I think that covers your question, but if I’ve overlooked something, please PM me or post a follow-up question. Thanks!