History Main / TeleportationWithDrawbacks

* Teleportation spells in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' operate by switching places between the subject and what is at their destination, which acts like a counterweight. Since the relative speed is conserved during teleportation and that the world is a large, rotating disc, this requires very complicated computations to prevent the transported subject to arrive at destination with a speed of a hundred miles per hour. Top wizards can only transport over a couple of miles, and this is very taxing for them. The MagicalComputer Hex allows to cast teleportation spells across continents, but even then it can't prevent the subject to appear at destination at a very dangerous speed if it happened to swap places with a heavy cannon.

* ''Literature/{{Ward}}'': The hero Axehead has one of the worst version of teleportation, as she can teleport, but only into areas of extreme danger. Not out of them, ''into'' them.

** Lodestones are free to use, don't require any sort of equipment or item to access, and most major towns and cities (albeit not as many as the aforementioned spells) are connected to the [[PortalNetwork Lodestone network]][[note]]the teleport can be initiated anywhere; the Lodestones themselves serve as the destination[[/note]]. However, they have a 17-second long casting time (in addition to needing complete concentration, meaning that, for instance, being attacked interrupts the teleport), and require the player to have previously physically interacted with the Lodestone on a previous visit to the destination.
** Enchanted items that provide teleportation typically allow quick access to specific points of interest, and can often be worn as jewelry instead of filling up an inventory slot[[note]]other pieces of enchanted jewelry typically have higher combat stat bonuses or other effects, however the difference is usually fairly negligible[[/note]]. However, [[LimitedUseMagicalDevice most of these items either have a limited number of uses before being destroyed, can only be used a few times per real-life day,]] or have significant unlock requirements (such as quests and lengthy achievement lists) before they can be obtained.

** And that's not even the worst that can happen to you. If someone puts you in the device without setting a destination, your consciousness will be stuck in limbo forever. A husband does this to punish his cheating wife; he is eventually executed for murder, even though she's still technically alive.

** ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'':
*** Subverted once PSI Teleport Beta is acquired, as the user only has to run in a circle which makes it far easier to use.

* ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'': The Chronosphere can move vehicles in an area to another area (infantry not in APCs are instantly killed), but requires vision of both areas (unless, of course, used by TheAllSeeingAI). Teleporting land units into sea or vice versa (or onto a building) kills them instantly, so it can be used defensively as well as offensively.

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* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': The espers and the magicians have different drawbacks:

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', The Rod of Discord allows you to teleport on a cooldown. If you attempt to teleport while still under the cooldown, you take damage.

* ''Franchise/XMen'': Nightcrawler is the X-Men's most well-known teleporter. However, he usually cannot teleport more than two miles, carrying passengers is tiring and gives TeleportationSickness for all travelers, but Nightcrawler's superhuman endurance mitigates it enough that he can use the sickness to attack people he snatches up. Also, teleporting to places he has not been to and cannot see bears the risk of TeleFrag.

** Warping is a quirk occasionally used by All For One, and while useful it has drawbacks as all quirks do. Warping can only bring people to and away from the quirk user, and in the case of the latter, only to people the user knows. It can also cause a severe case of tonsillitis to the user. However, the quirk user does not need to know anyone's exact location to use Warping.
** Warp Gate is a quirk used by Kurogiri. It allows him to emit multiple gaseous portals wherever he wants as long as he knows the location and has to be physically present to release the fog. Due to these conditions, Kurogiri cannot transport anyone if he doesn't know where they are, and can't bring anything to a place he hasn't been to. He can also be attacked since he needs to be present to use his quirk.

* One character in the ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' story "Totally Trashed" is a teleporting police officer. This does not aid him much in one scene where the villain has to get away, because he's limited by both line-of-sight and physical barriers -- so even if he can see where he wants to be through a window, he still has to oppen it first.

* One story in the Atlas comics anthology, ''Astonishing'', has a felon steal a serum that grants the ability to teleport wherever he wills himself. He snatched it too quickly from the scientist who invented it to be warned that this ability has a hair trigger, which he finds out from teleporting at any stray thought. While the police want to apprehend him, the scientist proposes that ThePunishmentIsTheCrime, as it'll take five years for the serum to wear off.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Transporters are severely range-limited and highly plot-sensitive with frequent failures, problems of signal interference, and needing to lock onto the target, along with away teams needing to be sent from a special room because otherwise the away team could simply be beamed out of any problem.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games have Zelda and Mewtwo who can teleport around the stage, and in Zelda's case, [[TeleFrag hit the opponent when she reappears]]. However, and both of them enter a helpless state if reappearing in the air, rendering them unable to act until they land (and thus vulnerable to a RingOut if reappearing far from the stage). Zelda also leaves a trail behind her, which an experienced opponent can track and exploit.

** One less-known Lesser Magic spell makes short-range teleportation usable at will, aside from the 10% chance per use that the spellcaster vanishes forever into the Realms of Chaos.

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': MassTeleportation is the realm of rare and difficult RitualMagic that requires multiple powerful mages and esoteric EyeOfNewt components, takes a full night to cast, and both physically and emotionally exhausts everyone transported. Moreover, any error on the casters' part drops part or all of the targets off at a random location on the globe.

Related to WarpWhistle, because it's basically teleportation, but it might not be, and if it is, it's a drawback in the area of "possible destinations". SuperTrope of FlashyTeleportation, TeleportationSickness, TeleporterAccident, and PortalNetwork, since they restrict stealthiness, repeatability, safety, or location. And then there's the two Sub-Tropes for "control", in order of severity: TeleportationMisfire, for just a little bit off-course, RandomTransportation, for when it's totally uncontrollable.

Teleportation is not uncommon in fiction, often enough, some way or another, characters can somehow go from one place to another in the blink of an eye. However, without restrictions, teleportation can easily become a StoryBreakerPower, though it ''does'' depend on the story, but if so, its users would be simply too hard to beat.

** In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Goku picks up Instantaneous Movement, or Instant Transmission, that allows him to teleport. It's drawback is that it relies on ki sensing: it can only take him to a person rather than a place, and sometimes his target can be too far away for him to sense and teleport to. On the upside, anyone he's physically touching (and anyone ''they'' are touching) can be taken with him.

* ''VideoGame/OkikuStarApprentice'': The WarpWhistle Teleport Orb "wisks you off to a place you already visited".

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Raven's Semblance allows her to create a bond with a person. That bond allows her to create a portal to that person, effectively allowing her to teleport straight to them. While this means she teleport any distance across the world, she can only do it to a person with whom she has bonded. Known bonds include Taiyang, Yang, Qrow and, by implication, Vernal.

* Glimmer from ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' has the ability to teleport and shoot sparkly blasts. She uses TeleportSpam as her main tactic while fighting, though as she must recharge every once in a while, her powers slowly deplete for every use, leaving her exhausted. Glimmer also cannot make long-range jumps without some kind of power boost, and carrying multiple people is taxing to the point of her becoming liable to leave limbs behind. However, after [[spoiler:claiming the full power of the Moon Stone, none of these tropes apply]].