Wahrheit
2011-03-12, 04:34 AM
As the title suggests, I'm designing a campaign setting, and its structure requires changes to planar-travel spells. I wanted to run these here to see if the mechanics seem workable.
Basically, there's only one plane accessible to mortals besides the Material: the Shards. It's arranged into 6 layers; for simplicity's sake the top layer is Layer 1 and the bottom is Layer 6. Cosmology-wise, the Material Plane is effectively "layer 0." I'm aiming to make a fairly hostile spirit world, with the bottom layers being the most difficult to reach and the most physically dangerous, except for Layer 6 which is the stronghold of the mortal-friendly deity group in the setting (hard to reach, but safe).
Plane Shift: Cast anywhere in the Material Plane, lets the caster travel to Layer 1. A casting anywhere in Layer 1 can return to the Material Plane. Going deeper requires casting Plane Shift at certain nexus points where two adjacent layers are closer together; i.e. a nexus point in Layer 3 could lead to either Layer 2 or Layer 4, not both. Going deeper than Layer 1 requires a caster level check, DC 15 + 5 per layer beyond 2 (DC 20 to enter Layer 3, DC 25 to enter Layer 4, DC 30 to enter Layer 5, DC 35 to enter Layer 6). No caster level check is required to go up a layer.
Greater Plane Shift: As Plane Shift, but no caster level check is required at nexus points. Additionally, it can be used to jump layers from any location, not just nexus points. Travelling this way requires a caster level check, DC 25, to succeed. The caster can even jump to non-adjacent layers, but doing so always requires the caster level check and adds +5 to the DC for every layer skipped (Going from Layer 1 to Layer 2 is DC 25. Going from Layer 1 to 3 is DC 30, and layer 1 to 4 is 35, etc).
Failing the caster level check for either Plane Shift or Greater Plane Shift causes every target of the spell to take 1d6 points of untyped damage for every 5 points by which the check failed, rounded up, as the planar structure of the Shards slashes into the targets' being. This damage cannot be resisted or prevented in any way. Any creature killed by this damage is shredded into bloody ribbons, rendering Raise Dead (but not Resurrection, etc) useless.
Gate: You can go anywhere on any other layer with no effort beyond casting the spell. It's 9th-level, baby.
So do these mechanics work out, or should I adjust the DCs?
Basically, there's only one plane accessible to mortals besides the Material: the Shards. It's arranged into 6 layers; for simplicity's sake the top layer is Layer 1 and the bottom is Layer 6. Cosmology-wise, the Material Plane is effectively "layer 0." I'm aiming to make a fairly hostile spirit world, with the bottom layers being the most difficult to reach and the most physically dangerous, except for Layer 6 which is the stronghold of the mortal-friendly deity group in the setting (hard to reach, but safe).
Plane Shift: Cast anywhere in the Material Plane, lets the caster travel to Layer 1. A casting anywhere in Layer 1 can return to the Material Plane. Going deeper requires casting Plane Shift at certain nexus points where two adjacent layers are closer together; i.e. a nexus point in Layer 3 could lead to either Layer 2 or Layer 4, not both. Going deeper than Layer 1 requires a caster level check, DC 15 + 5 per layer beyond 2 (DC 20 to enter Layer 3, DC 25 to enter Layer 4, DC 30 to enter Layer 5, DC 35 to enter Layer 6). No caster level check is required to go up a layer.
Greater Plane Shift: As Plane Shift, but no caster level check is required at nexus points. Additionally, it can be used to jump layers from any location, not just nexus points. Travelling this way requires a caster level check, DC 25, to succeed. The caster can even jump to non-adjacent layers, but doing so always requires the caster level check and adds +5 to the DC for every layer skipped (Going from Layer 1 to Layer 2 is DC 25. Going from Layer 1 to 3 is DC 30, and layer 1 to 4 is 35, etc).
Failing the caster level check for either Plane Shift or Greater Plane Shift causes every target of the spell to take 1d6 points of untyped damage for every 5 points by which the check failed, rounded up, as the planar structure of the Shards slashes into the targets' being. This damage cannot be resisted or prevented in any way. Any creature killed by this damage is shredded into bloody ribbons, rendering Raise Dead (but not Resurrection, etc) useless.
Gate: You can go anywhere on any other layer with no effort beyond casting the spell. It's 9th-level, baby.
So do these mechanics work out, or should I adjust the DCs?