[RPG] Can a permanent Teleportation Circle be made on a moving vehicle

dnd-5espellsteleportation

There is a similar question about this for 3.5e, but can a permanent teleportation circle be created on a large moving vehicle? For example, a sailing ship, or a wide portable floor?

The spell says:

You can create a permanent teleportation circle by casting this spell in the same location every day for one year. You need not use the circle to teleport when you cast the spell in this way.

To further illustrate the question, here are sub-questions:

  • What happens if I cast the spell on the vehicle for a year (and it is unmoving), and then the vehicle moves? Can it still be used as a destination point?

  • Can I create a permanent TC on the vehicle if it is never in the same place twice in the first place?

Best Answer

Yes

The spell says:

As you cast the spell, you draw a 10-foot-diameter circle on the ground inscribed with sigils that link your location to a permanent teleportation circle of your choice whose sigil sequence you know and that is on the same plane of existence as you.

D&D 5e co-creator Jeremy Crawford clarified on Twitter that the destination of teleport (which may be a sigil from teleportation circle) may move. At the time of the post tweets were considered official rulings by WotC (which is no longer the case):

The teleport spell requires a destination. The nature of that place isn't specified. It can be the deck of a moving ship, for instance.

Likewise, the surface of the circle is important, not its point in space. So, the surface may also move while performing the teleportation circle spell every day for a year, and after it has become permanent. It has no restrictions that the permanent sigil doesn't move:

When you cast teleportation circle, you create the circle on the ground. The circle is bound to that surface, not to a point in space.

What happens if I cast the spell on the vehicle for a year (and it is unmoving), and then the vehicle moves? Can it still be used as a destination point?

Yes, the target is the sigil, not the point in space the spell was cast.

Can I create a permanent TC on the vehicle if it is never in the same place twice in the first place?

Yes. Jeremy's post shows that.

But, even more from a real world perspective, all motion is relative. On Earth, we tend to think of places we travel to as stationary -- but they are not. They are rotating around the Earth's axis and revolving around the sun. To the car/planes we travel in, they are standing still (relative to themselves) and Earth is moving beneath them...

Alright, I'm getting too much into Einstein on a D&D question. I read "same location" more like "same spot" than the same longitude and latitude.

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