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I thought there was a Pathfinder spell that teleported the target safely “home” upon breaking an item and saying a command word. The spell caster must prepare the item with the spell in advance. The target who breaks the item could be anyone (i.e. the spell caster could prep an item and give it to someone else for use).

I’ve done a quick search but I cannot find it.

Am I misremembering the spell? Or is it not a Pathfinder spell?

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Seek refuge

That spell is likely the 7th-level cleric spell and 9th-level sorcerer/wizard spell refuge: "[Y]ou create powerful magic in a specially prepared object [that] contains the power to instantly transport its possessor across any distance within the same plane to your abode.… To make use of the item, the subject speaks the command word at the same time that it rends or breaks the item…."

It's an interesting spell, having a particularly dramatic effect on the plot when a refuge object is found secreted among a defeated foe's possessions.


Note: The spell refuge was called succor when it was published for Advanced Dungeon & Dragons in Unearthed Arcana (1985). It kept that name in Advanced Dungeon & Dragons, 2nd Edition where that edition's Player's Handbook made it a common spell. This reader fully supports the spell's 3e (and Pathfinder by extension) name change despite believing role-playing games a fantastic vocabulary-building tool.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, that's it. I guess when I was skimming the rules, I misread that as refuse. ("I'm not going back there; that place is garbage.") I have a AD&D book (Unearthed Arcana, maybe?) where I believe a similar spell is called something else; I'll have to dig the book out of storage and confirm the name is different (or not). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 11, 2018 at 4:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @StandardEyre After glancing at both the Priests' and the Wizards' Spell Compendiums (that together I think cover all the AD&D and 2e spells), so far as I can tell the spell refuge was concocted for 3e, although I too seem to (ahem) recall a similar spell. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 11, 2018 at 5:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan Actually, the name just changed between editions. It used to be called succor and was a PHB spell. \$\endgroup\$
    – Cadrac
    Commented Jul 22, 2018 at 14:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Cadrac That had so been bothering me! I even have a vivid memory of one DM in the 1990s saying, "And he has a succor stick! Bam! He's gone!" but I couldn't locate the spell in my Player's Handbook for AD&D, so I gave up. (I mean, if it's not there, it's nowhere, amirite?) Turns out the succor spell had originally been printed in Unearthed Arcana then made its way into the 2nd edition PH and the Wizard's Spell Compendium. Anyway, enough! Thank you for solving this for me! \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 22, 2018 at 14:56

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