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[Milskidasith]

To make it balanced. I mean, lots of creatures use their defense mechanisms naturally. Take the octopus. It could easily blind a human with the ink and then proceed to strangle him to death, but it doesn't because it's a natural reaction. Same with this teleport... it just goes *poof* and is somewhere new.

[Neonivek]

Why would a creature that is able to teleport let itself be killed?

Limitations... Why would a creature that is able to fly let itself be killed?

[Tormy]

Why would a creature that is able to teleport let itself be killed?

Limitations... Why would a creature that is able to fly let itself be killed?

Exactly. It's not that hard to balance this ability as it looks like. Just limit the teleportation ability to 2 times/combat sequence for example.

[Silverionmox]

Why would a creature that is able to teleport let itself be killed?

Limitations... Why would a creature that is able to fly let itself be killed?

Most don't. A teleporting creature would take what it wanted and be gone. I'm not against the ability per se, but better make sure they have a good reason. There are plenty of lucrative employment opportunities for creatures with that kind of ability that don't involve suicide attacks.

[Milskidasith]

As I said: If you make it an involuntary, natural defense mechanism rather than a controllable ability, it makes more sense.

[vooood]

As I said: If you make it an involuntary, natural defense mechanism rather than a controllable ability, it makes more sense.

Fort on a top of a cliff with some magmafall around it (actually had it). Virtually nobody can break through unless you make a strategic mistake.

[Earthquake Damage]

Why would a creature that is able to teleport let itself be killed?

Maybe it can't teleport in the blink of an eye (i.e. teleporting requires some "charge-up" time)?

... lucrative employment opportunities for creatures with that kind of ability that don't involve suicide attacks.

Suppose the creature in question is motivated by greed.  It makes sense that it would be more inclined to rob you rather than fight you.  Teleporting thieves would be impossible to stop.  As such they would merely aggravate most players to the point of either modding them out or quitting DF entirely.

But, given that not all actions are motivated by greed, we can easily imagine a scenario in which this creature wants to kill you.  If teleporting is not a free action (in D&D terms), then it cannot simply teleport to evade all attacks.  Thus it places itself at risk, especially if it relies on conventional weapons (I doubt it has the time or resources to construct traps inside your fortress).

A teleporting attacker does have one huge advantage in that it is better able to evade fortress defenses and seek out weak targets than most invaders.

[vooood]

Why would a creature that is able to teleport let itself be killed?

Maybe it can't teleport in the blink of an eye (i.e. teleporting requires some "charge-up" time)?

If teleport is coming our way then it would be nice to have some kind of magic for our dwarves, too. That would again mean that we should have some kind of (very) rare stone that is "immune" to magic so you can't teleport (or use some other magic) into rooms made of that stone.

[Neonivek]

"Fort on a top of a cliff with some magmafall around it (actually had it). Virtually nobody can break through unless you make a strategic mistake."

Well excluding that Toady is going to make Lava sources much less stable in the future.

[vooood]

"Fort on a top of a cliff with some magmafall around it (actually had it). Virtually nobody can break through unless you make a strategic mistake."

Well excluding that Toady is going to make Lava sources much less stable in the future.

I welcome that. Living next to a volcano makes life very easy.

[Earthquake Damage]

If teleport is coming our way then it would be nice to have some kind of magic for our dwarves, too. That would again mean that we should have some kind of (very) rare stone that is "immune" to magic so you can't teleport (or use some other magic) into rooms made of that stone.

This brings up a good point.  For any measure our enemies get, we need an appropriate countermeasure.  If they get crazy magic powers, we need crazy magic powers or crazy anti-magic powers.  Ours may not be quite as strong, but they must be sufficient.  Otherwise, the game becomes horribly unfair and a waste of time.

Losing because you handled a series of loosely related catastrophes poorly (typically resulting in a tantrum spiral) = fun.
Losing because the goblins dropped a nuke on your fortress = retarded.

[Milskidasith]

I want a dwarf levitation spell. Dwarf gains the ability to move up one Z level above stable ground and takes half damage from falls as long as the spell is active (including the inevitable fall when levitation ends). Would make giant eagle fights more fair.

[MagicJuggler]

Don't forget that Teleporting enemies used sparingly is just a challenge in the same way Megabeasts, even though they are largely supperior, are a challenge.

Sure they can teleport in your base and kill a few people... and thus will take a while to take down... but they are hardly fort destroyers.

As for Magic and Teleporting Civs, that is another story.

Hardly fort destroyers...
Teleporter Assassin strikes down child...
Teleporter Assassin strikes down migrant farmer.
..
(While your troops are busy running about to catch up with Teleporter Assassin)
Teleporter Assassin strikes down mason.
Teleporter Assassin strikes down carpenter.
(Your troops get to the assassin, it teleports to another part of the fortress)...
...
Teleporter Assassin is on a killing spree...
Soldier 1 throws a tantrum.
Teleporter Assassin keeps killing more stuff.
Soldiers 2 and 3 tantrum.
Tantrum spiral begins.

So not a fortress-destroyer you say?

[Neonivek]

"So not a fortress-destroyer you say?"

Megabeast sets fire to your fortress... it burns down "Game Over"

[Silverionmox]

Most megabeasts are just naturally occuring creatures. Except the colossus who needs an origin or creation. Demons have their backstory (even though it doesn't fit with the observable facts in the game world).

Teleporting is such an effective power: if it exists, there should be a watertight explanation why it isn't more common, and why those who have it don't use it more effectively. If it's naturally occuring, natural selection would spread it like wildfire. If it's a magic spell under control of an intelligent entity, why doesn't he use it to wage a war of conquest? If it's an innate ability, that person needs a very very good reason to throw his life away for a pointless suicide raid in which he can kill six peasants, two cooks and a leatherworker. In other words, the ability per se isn't bad, but it needs to be integrated in the game world - which at the same time removes the need for arbitrary limitations.