[RPG] Ways to fast-travel across Golarion

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I'm planning to have the characters of my campaign visit various countries all over Golarion for the sake of variety of locations and themes. That said, how could I achieve this within the boundaries of the setting and rules?

I'm guessing most travel happens by caravans/horse on land and ships on sea, but that can mean weeks of travel to go from country to country. Teleportation or portals sounds like the most practical and fastest way to do it, but then it becomes an issue of means, as I don't suppose these things come cheap, otherwise we would have airport-als all over.

Is there something in-between? If not, how could I justify such means being available to low-level (3-4 at the moment) characters?

Note: while it's always possible to narratively skip travel time and this can be a solution at times, I'm still looking for an actual fast-travel medium to lower the in-character time investment. It's easier to justify characters doing a "quick" sidetrip to a far-away country, less so if it's take 6 months of travel. It also opens up time-sensitive adventures across multiple locations, though this is isn't my top priority.

Best Answer

If you're constraining yourself to Golarion canon

I don't think you have many options, other than giving them a magic item that lets them travel fast. The flying carpet that mxyzplk suggests is flavorful and classic, but if you aren't comfortable with them flying you can create something of your own, like a chariot figurine that can act as the Phantom Chariot spell for 10 hours / day.

Otherwise

This is your Golarion. If you want it to have fast travel options available to low level characters, go for it. There are many ways to do so. To decide how you want it to work in your world you'll want to answer a few questions for yourself:

  • Does everyone have access to cheap, fast travel? If so,
    • How cheap and how powerful? (Roc caravans? teleportation portals maintained by the travel mage guild? magically fast chariots? a potion that lets horses travel at 5x speed for one day?)
    • How different is your world because of this ease of getting around?
  • If it's not accessible to most people, why does your party have access to it?
    • Do they have a patron who gave them an item or who casts high level spells for them? If you want to be directive, the patron can give scrolls keyed only to a particular destination.
    • Did they stumble across an item that helps them travel?
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