Topic: Longdoor spell causes surprise?

[RandalThor]

I feel a Drake would have a better chance of being alert, especially since he knows Everything in his hoard.  Take a GP they know, so why not give a bonus to a sneaky plan?

That is how I tricked a young dragon to kill a bunch of dragon cultist, by magically moving a piece of the dragon's treasure to the location where the cultists live. Lets day they failed miserably at convincing the dragon they didn't steal it. He, he, he...

[Nightblade42]

I feel a Drake would have a better chance of being alert, especially since he knows Everything in his hoard.  Take a GP they know, so why not give a bonus to a sneaky plan?

That is how I tricked a young dragon to kill a bunch of dragon cultist, by magically moving a piece of the dragon's treasure to the location where the cultists live. Lets day they failed miserably at convincing the dragon they didn't steal it. He, he, he....

Sweet Randal.  That's an awesome & sneaky trick.  I hope you got some nice XP for that plan!

Nightblade ->--

[Skaran]

 For longdoor and teleport type spells my players had a discussion about these spells, these were some of the groups thoughts. 
1. You would require an orientation roll before you could act after longdooring.
2. Unless you somehow longdoored backwards you are facing the wrong way so part of your action would be turning around.
3. There could be a pressure change  basically a vacuum where you entered (Teleport type effects would have this effect) and an increase in pressure where you emerge. So  if you emerge near someone they get a perception roll. Modifier depending on the circumstances.
4. If a vacuum was left air will rush in with a bit of a bang. Anyone near this may be a bit startled or even temporarily deafened.

Finally anything the players can do could be done by their antagonists. Greater Drakes are spell users also. Plus who in their right mind would want to voluntarily enter melee range with a dragon? Dragon fear effect? The Dragon not actually staying still to cooperate with a longdoor.
If you want to make a dragon truly terrifying and you have access to the book give them the Great Commands from the Magus baselist. The 5 word command cast by a dragon "Walk into my jaws now." springs to mind.

[RandalThor]

1. You would require an orientation roll before you could act after longdooring.
2. Unless you somehow longdoored backwards you are facing the wrong way so part of your action would be turning around.
3. There could be a pressure change  basically a vacuum where you entered (Teleport type effects would have this effect) and an increase in pressure where you emerge. So  if you emerge near someone they get a perception roll. Modifier depending on the circumstances.
4. If a vacuum was left air will rush in with a bit of a bang. Anyone near this may be a bit startled or even temporarily deafened.

No. 1 seems reasonable to me, though I think if a PC develops Spell Mastery of the list in question, they could use that instead (assuming it is a better bonus, of course).

No 2, see No. 1.

No. 3 & No. 4. These are little too "science-y" for my ideas on magic. Magic should naturally break physics on a routine basis, that is one of the reasons it is "magic." I am not saying there can't be physical effects of the magic, I just don't base them on modern scientific ideas. If you say that all transportation magic comes with a flash of light and the sound of tinkling bells, then that is how it works. It will be up to the player to determine how to proceed from there.

[jdale]

1. RMSS has a "situational awareness" skill which can be developed to represent awareness in a particular situation. E.g. my character has an item which casts "spin" in an area, so I developed situational awareness for "magical disorientation" which seems like it could also apply after teleporting/longdoor.

2. Turning around is usually free so I don't know that this makes a difference.

3., 4. RMU is explicit that longdoor/leaving/teleport makes noise. The note there is "Note: Spells that involve teleportation are normally quite noisy and difficult to silence. Air is being pushed about in a manner not unlike a thunderclap. Amount of noise depends on the size of the object teleported." The exception is the Magent version of the spells (e.g. "Silenced Leaving"), which is convenient for them but also means their use of the spells give away their profession.

While I get the concern about the vacuum explanation seeming a bit modern, this is a game where we also have a Vacuum spell that works exactly the same way. It's consistent.

Nonetheless, temporarily deafened seems too much, now you're getting two spell effects out of one spell. I would just go with "loud".

Just some perspectives from other editions....

[BrotherOats]

BAMF!

I like the idea that the sudden vacuum/displacement of air makes noise.