Defending a Teleportation Circle

[SirVladamir]

So, Lets say you take over a stronghold and it has a permanent Teleportation Circle in it. Now, that's pretty handy, but your enemies know the Sigil Sequence, not handy. So, you crack open your spell book and go to work on ways to defend it.

How would you rule this interaction.
On the area of the circle you cast Glyphs and Wards, to Cast Mordenkainen's Private sanctum if anyone does not speak the password.

So, BBEG readies his forces, casts Teleportation Circle, portal appears and in goes his general. General sets off glyphs, which now prevents teleportation in or out. Does this stop anyone else from coming through the portal, or do you think since the portal was established before teleportation was denied the portal still works?

What are some other ways to defend your circle from BBEG's that know the Sigils?

[JackPhoenix]

Dispel Magic.

[MrStabby]

Flood the room (and adjacent rooms) with water to the ceiling, put some acid traps there or similar and have lots of bolted and locked doors. Dispel magic and alarm traps.

Enemies come in - unless they have pre-buffed with water breathing they won't be able to breath to cast spells with verbal components. If they have, then dispel magic will help there.

Then they are stuck in a room, unable to breath, taking acid damage... if they do get through the door there are more on the far side.

Also you know they are there.


If you want defenders, golems with non-detection would be my choice. Anyone getting through your traps probably has some divination magic to be able to prepare so ambushers that are unexpected have a lot of utility.

If you want to use the circle yourself, you just need to drain the room first.

[SirVladamir]

Yes, the idea is to keep the circle functional, so draining it every time you know you are going to get an arrival would be tedious, also prevents emergency arrivals.

Dispel magic isn't an option if you want to keep the Circle active, the whole point was so you don't have to spend the year casting the spell every day.

[Dr. Cliché]

So, Lets say you take over a stronghold and it has a permanent Teleportation Circle in it. Now, that's pretty handy, but your enemies know the Sigil Sequence, not handy. So, you crack open your spell book and go to work on ways to defend it.

Personally, I'd put away the spellbook and consider much more mundane defences.

Build walls around the circle so that it ends up in a room that's 10ft square. There's just a single exit, blocked by a portcullis. And the walls and ceiling contain murder-holes, which are manned at all times.

So any attacking force is immediately going to find themselves penned in and being stabbed or shot from all sides.

How would you rule this interaction.
On the area of the circle you cast Glyphs and Wards, to Cast Mordenkainen's Private sanctum if anyone does not speak the password.

So, BBEG readies his forces, casts Teleportation Circle, portal appears and in goes his general. General sets off glyphs, which now prevents teleportation in or out. Does this stop anyone else from coming through the portal, or do you think since the portal was established before teleportation was denied the portal still works?

The issue with this is why on earth would the general go through the portal first? Generals have no reason to risk themselves in that manner. If anything, the general (or his wizard) should be sending an advance guard through the portal and using Scrying (or other such magic) to monitor the situation on the other side.

Or, hell, he could disguise one of his men as a merchant and send him through on the pretence of selling wares, when in actual fact he's there to scout out the place (especially the teleportation circle and its defences).

Flood the room (and adjacent rooms) with water to the ceiling, put some acid traps there or similar and have lots of bolted and locked doors. Dispel magic and alarm traps.

Enemies come in - unless they have pre-buffed with water breathing they won't be able to breath to cast spells with verbal components. If they have, then dispel magic will help there.

Then they are stuck in a room, unable to breath, taking acid damage... if they do get through the door there are more on the far side.

Also you know they are there.


If you want defenders, golems with non-detection would be my choice. Anyone getting through your traps probably has some divination magic to be able to prepare so ambushers that are unexpected have a lot of utility.

If you want to use the circle yourself, you just need to drain the room first.

I love the idea of a flooded teleportation circle.

Could even lead to a plotline where a particularly skilled and well-informed general intends to conquer it using one of the aquatic races (and or undead/constructs).

[MrStabby]

You could just rig up a system to swing some rubble into the circle to occupy the space. A few seconds each time to swing it in and out. If friends want to emergency teleport in, it may need a sending spell to the operator but should still be pretty quick.

[Papa_Hewi]

Stargate used essentially a metal door to block their wormhole, anyone who tried using it were smooshed. Put a huge rock hard over the circle, and establish a means of communication for when to move the rock in the event that you need to use the circle. Heck, you can enchant the rock so that it can shrink or grow on command to make moving it easier.

[Unoriginal]

I'd go for a trap ceiling that can be made to smash whoever use the room uninvited

[Vogie]

If you don't want to keep draining the area around the circle, perhaps keep the circle on a rotatable floor panel, which flips upside down to cover a vat of acid.

Alternatively Your teleportation circle is sideways (or upside-down!) on a high cliff face, and your team all has either the levitate/fly/Feather Fall Spell or a Ring of Feather Fall. If anyone else uses it... good luck.

[Dr. Cliché]

This thread makes me want to create a world where the cities are linked by teleportation circles, but each has their own unique defence.

When you pay to be teleported to a specific circle, part of the payment is for a relative protective spell to be cast on you - Water Breathing (for the circle that's underwater), Feather Fall (for the circle on a cliffside) etc.

[mephiztopheleze]

I'm more the paranoid type. If I was planning on sticking around a while, keep the Keep as it were, I'd destroy the existing circle and get cracking on scribing a new one.

Regardless what traps you put around the existing one, you have a gaping hole in your Keep's defences.

[Mjolnirbear]

I'm more the paranoid type. If I was planning on sticking around a while, keep the Keep as it were, I'd destroy the existing circle and get cracking on scribing a new one.

Regardless what traps you put around the existing one, you have a gaping hole in your Keep's defences.

I'd do that too, except I'd keep the first circle until the second is complete.



For me, I'd plan a password defense and several spells and Glyphs:

1. Alarm, so you know someone's there.
2. Magic Mouth, which triggers when someone arrives in the teleportation circle and doesn't immediately speak the password. Said password can be easily changed by recasting Magic Mouth. Magic Mouth when triggered will utter an activation word for Glyph of Warding.

The Glyph(s) can have almost any spell. Banishment, Plane Shift, Demiplane, Maze, magic Jar, Cloudkill, upcast Hold Person, Geas, Suggestion, Web, Silence, Blindness/Deafness, Magic Missiles, etc. Turn the exits into Mordankeinen's Magnificent Mansion so you can only go into a mansion or back into the teleport room. Stone Shape to literally remove the doors and make a smooth wall. Forcecage or the like to trap anyone who appears (you've been notified by Alarm, so you can go fetch them).

[Chronos]

When the OP mentioned the general going through first, he was just looking at the worst-case scenario. With a glyphed Private Sanctum, only one invader can get through. If the first guy is the general, then you've still got a high-level warrior that you need to kill. If it's just some random ballista fodder, though, then you only need to kill a random ballista-fodder.

[mephiztopheleze]

I'd do that too, except I'd keep the first circle until the second is complete.

<snip>

The Glyph(s) can have almost any spell. Banishment, Plane Shift, Demiplane, Maze, magic Jar, Cloudkill, upcast Hold Person, Geas, Suggestion, Web, Silence, Blindness/Deafness, Magic Missiles, etc. Turn the exits into Mordankeinen's Magnificent Mansion so you can only go into a mansion or back into the teleport room. Stone Shape to literally remove the doors and make a smooth wall. Forcecage or the like to trap anyone who appears (you've been notified by Alarm, so you can go fetch them).

Oh, I'd be trapping the hell out of the new circle, I just wouldn't want the old one there at all. I understand your thinking, I'm just me is all.

If the PCs have access to high end magick like Demiplane and Maze, then it's reasonable to assume that the BBEG also has 8th level spells.

If I was a 15th level Wizard and I was in the OPs shoes, I'd scrub out that current circle ASAP on the grounds that the BBEG is somehow going to figure out my traps and passwords during the year it'll take to scribe the new one.

Turning the doors into Mansions is hilarious however, great idea!

[Lunali]

I'd do that too, except I'd keep the first circle until the second is complete.



For me, I'd plan a password defense and several spells and Glyphs:

1. Alarm, so you know someone's there.
2. Magic Mouth, which triggers when someone arrives in the teleportation circle and doesn't immediately speak the password. Said password can be easily changed by recasting Magic Mouth. Magic Mouth when triggered will utter an activation word for Glyph of Warding.

The Glyph(s) can have almost any spell. Banishment, Plane Shift, Demiplane, Maze, magic Jar, Cloudkill, upcast Hold Person, Geas, Suggestion, Web, Silence, Blindness/Deafness, Magic Missiles, etc. Turn the exits into Mordankeinen's Magnificent Mansion so you can only go into a mansion or back into the teleport room. Stone Shape to literally remove the doors and make a smooth wall. Forcecage or the like to trap anyone who appears (you've been notified by Alarm, so you can go fetch them).

Forbiddance would be a nice pick as well, prevents escapes and reinforcements, though it also prevents you from coming in for a day. As an added bonus, if you're worried about certain types of creatures, it can blast them into oblivion.

[MrStabby]

Forbiddance would be a nice pick as well, prevents escapes and reinforcements, though it also prevents you from coming in for a day. As an added bonus, if you're worried about certain types of creatures, it can blast them into oblivion.

Don't have the book to hand... but wouldn't this stop the teleportation circle working even for friendly incomers?

[Lunali]

Don't have the book to hand... but wouldn't this stop the teleportation circle working even for friendly incomers?

It would if you had it cast on the area already, but if you have it triggered by a glyph as suggested, you can trap the incoming group and prevent reinforcements.

[mephiztopheleze]

On another note....

Would it be possible to use this Circle to bait out some enemies*? If so, get to work on scribing those Glyphs!

(*enemies worth baiting out. not the wall-fodder that'll be first through the portal)

[Kurt Kurageous]

Flood the room (and adjacent rooms) with water to the ceiling, put some acid traps there or similar and have lots of bolted and locked doors. Dispel magic and alarm traps.

Enemies come in - unless they have pre-buffed with water breathing they won't be able to breath to cast spells with verbal components. If they have, then dispel magic will help there.

Then they are stuck in a room, unable to breath, taking acid damage... if they do get through the door there are more on the far side.

Also you know they are there.


If you want defenders, golems with non-detection would be my choice. Anyone getting through your traps probably has some divination magic to be able to prepare so ambushers that are unexpected have a lot of utility.

If you want to use the circle yourself, you just need to drain the room first.

This is why the perma teleport circles between my cities are set up a bit away from the civilization. At least the city would have warning (alarm spells) if an enemy army somehow gained access to the system.

If I put them in a city, they'd have to be somewhere I could flood or freeze or both. I like the idea of a layer of ice on the surface...glub glub.

[Amdy_vill]

So, Lets say you take over a stronghold and it has a permanent Teleportation Circle in it. Now, that's pretty handy, but your enemies know the Sigil Sequence, not handy. So, you crack open your spell book and go to work on ways to defend it.

How would you rule this interaction.
On the area of the circle you cast Glyphs and Wards, to Cast Mordenkainen's Private sanctum if anyone does not speak the password.

So, BBEG readies his forces, casts Teleportation Circle, portal appears and in goes his general. General sets off glyphs, which now prevents teleportation in or out. Does this stop anyone else from coming through the portal, or do you think since the portal was established before teleportation was denied the portal still works?

What are some other ways to defend your circle from BBEG's that know the Sigils?

personally i would rule that you could cast Teleportation Circle to change the Sigil Sequence. i would go with 1 mouth of cast instead of a year. this way players can do it without having to spend a year remaking it.

[JackPhoenix]

I would propably abandon the place entirely. The circle is the least of your worries. The enemy knows where the stronghold is, its layout, and possibly secrets your characters aren't aware of. They can get there the long way, they can use divination magic to check the situation before barging in, they propably have some object from the place that allows them to use Teleport anywhere without any need for the circle. They can just keep sending skeletons or other expandable glyphfodder through the circle to trigger your traps and waste your money without any significant loss of resources on their side. They may even have second circle hidden in a secret room in the basement.

As long as the original owner lives, that place is a trap.

[XmonkTad]

Another stargate-inspired trick: keep the teleportation circle "dialed out". See if you can find another teleportation circle that isnt used and then just keep sending grains of rice to it. Requires DM ruling that a TPcircle that is in use for outbound travel cant be used for inbound travel.

At the very least, alarm the thing.

[Sigreid]

If you're a halfling. Kobold or other small race make sure the only passages out will only accommodate small creatures single file.

[LibraryOgre]

Two older edition suggestions you might adapt: Fire Trap and Wizard Lock.

Fire Trap had an option to set a command word that allowed safe passage. Teleport in without the command word on your lips, you get a bit warm.

If the Teleportation Circle is in a room with a door that can close, Wizard Lock it. Again, it can be overcome by a command word, but it prevents casual infiltration.

And, of course, Alarm.

[Sigreid]

Two older edition suggestions you might adapt: Fire Trap and Wizard Lock.

Fire Trap had an option to set a command word that allowed safe passage. Teleport in without the command word on your lips, you get a bit warm.

If the Teleportation Circle is in a room with a door that can close, Wizard Lock it. Again, it can be overcome by a command word, but it prevents casual infiltration.

And, of course, Alarm.

Interestingly, I dont think wizard lock requires a door.

[LibraryOgre]

Interestingly, I dont think wizard lock requires a door.

The 2e phrasing "door, chest, or portal" certainly gets interesting, doesn't it?

[Man_Over_Game]

I'm surprised that Hallow hasn't been mentioned. Not only does it basically locked down most planar travelers from doing anything within the 60ft radius, but it also can do one of these things to enemies that fail a Charisma save:

• Blind the creature as if in Magical Darkness
• Frighten the creature
• Make them vulnerable to a non-physical damage type
• Silence the creature to prevent them from casting spells
• Forbid the creature from using any portal magic