Help! I've fallen into another plane and I can't get out!

[werik]

Background information on what got me in to this particular mess...

Hey everyone. So I just got done playing for the night and we concluded on some rather unfortunate news for me. To give you my background my character is a 6th level cleric of Vecna and therefore am about as interested in the arcane as I am in the divine and actually serve as the only spellcaster in our party. I started off this session with a spirit haunting me, telling me to destroy this really important quest item, a wizard's spellbook, which I obviously didn't want to do. The spirit was actually the former owner of the item and he was extremely insistent claiming that "it was in danger" and I was "too weak" to wield its power. Blah blah blah. I tried ignoring it, but since this spirit kept coming to me in the night while I was trancing (elf) and telling me to destroy it, I realized that I needed to get rid of the bugger. So I went to speak to our neighbor, a powerful lich who has taken me on as his apprentice (evil) and who wants this quest item more than anything, but doesn't know that I have it or at least is willing to tolerate me having it for awhile. In any event, he taught me a way to anchor the spirit into a jar via a complicated ritual and an incantation. After I mastered the ritual and prepared it I sealed the spirit into the jar and generally reveled in my victory. But then I started talking to the spirit. The spirit kept going on and on about how I needed to destroy the book and so I told it that if it taught me everything inside the book that I wouldn't really need it anymore and I would destroy it. The spirit condescendingly advised me that if I asked it to teach me a certain spell it would do just that.

An unrelated problem was allowing ethereal creatures into the house that me and my fellow party members live in. They weren't really that big of a problem, but they were kind of annoying and so I wanted to get rid of them. I relayed this information to the spirit and he started making suggestions. We eventually concluded that a "prolonged dimension door" spell would let me pop into the ethereal plane, get the creatures out of the way, and then pop back into our house. Since dimension door is a sorcerer/wizard spell and I'm a cleric I would also have to learn how to do it via an incantation. I prepared the incantation and cast it when none of the other party members are at home, because the job sounded like it would be really easy. When I finished the incantation I noticed a portal before me leading to the ethereal plane. I stepped through it and sure enough I could see the house sort of hazily and the creatures plaguing us. But then it kept going. Before you know it I was standing in a patch of fog with the creatures before me and no sign of the house, or anything for that matter, as far as the eye could see. Oh, and that portal that I walked through definitely sealed itself behind me. Yep, the spirit in the jar totally tricked me and I appear stuck there. "Why don't you perform the same incantation on this plane and send yourself home," you might ask. The answer to that is that the incantation requires a lot of material components that I did not take with me.

Which brings me to the problem at hand. I'm stuck in this plane and I need to find my way back to the Material Plane as soon as possible. My character and I don't know exactly what plane I'm on and I'm not supposed to look it up, so please don't tell me any solutions that involve those planes themselves. Thankfully, we will be leveling up between our next session which will make me a 7th level cleric of Vecna. This will give me access to 4th level spells that should be able to get me out of this jam. My first question is whether casting Dismissal on myself would bring me back to the Material plane. Since I am an extraplanar creature (to this plane, anyway) it should get me home provided I don't unfortunately roll in the 20% that would send me to any other plane. If that doesn't work, I should be able to cast Lesser Planar Ally. Hopefully Vecna would send me something that could just Plane Shift me home. If not, hopefully it could collect the material components that would allow me to perform the incantation again so that I can get back. 4th level spells also give me access to Sending and Divination which should allow me to contact my fellow party members, the lich (if need be), and even Vecna to give me some pointers on how to get back.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Dismissal spell or other ideas of how to get back assuming that I can't get anyone to help me?

[Jack_Simth]

Sounds like your DM is using the Deep Ethereal variant, and the trapped spirit wasn't exactly lying. Of course, if you are using that variant, a good Knowledge (The Planes) check will get you home without overly much hassle.

And yes, Dismissal is about the lowest-level planar transport spell. But thanks to the uncertainty, you'll want to prepare at least two... possibly three... in case you end up somewhere hostile.

[Calanon]

Sounds like your DM is using the Deep Ethereal variant, and the trapped spirit wasn't exactly lying. Of course, if you are using that variant, a good Knowledge (The Planes) check will get you home without overly much hassle.

And yes, Dismissal is about the lowest-level planar transport spell. But thanks to the uncertainty, you'll want to prepare at least two... possibly three... in case you end up somewhere hostile.

This. Its a cleaver way for you to get back home incase something always goes down and your trapped in a place you don't want to be (Case and point, the Ethereal Plane) If you don't do this then you matter as well save time and start working on a new character (Your character will starve) Your a Cleric so you don't run the risk of starvation the best thing you can do is try and solve the problem at hand and figure out a way to solve the Wizards problem then find a way home since you can theoretically leave any time you want :smalltongue:

EDIT: Clerics can't starve, sometimes I can be so silly :smallredface:

[Jack_Simth]

This. Its a cleaver way for you to get back home incase something always goes down and your trapped in a place you don't want to be (Case and point, the Ethereal Plane) If you don't do this then you matter as well save time and start working on a new character (Your character will starve) HOWEVER since we aren't at that point the best thing you can do is try and solve the problem at hand and figure out a way to solve the Wizards problem then find a way home since you can theoretically leave any time you want :smalltongue:
Mild note: Character in question is a Cleric-6 or 7, and Create Food and Water is a 3rd level spell for Clerics. No, character won't die of starvation soon.

[Coidzor]

Do you have Knowledge: The Planes (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a)?

Between being able to roll it and getting guidance from the god of secrets, you should be able to figure out where you are properly and some more background info, which will provide more fodder for you to go on.

And should have the social engineering side effect of provoking the DM into making whatever his hook is here a bit more apparent.

[werik]

I didn't have any ranks in Knowledge: The Planes before. It had yet to seem important but was increasingly becoming so. Because of my present predicament I was gong to pour all of my ranks into it at this level.

As far as so me the spirit's motivation, I have some player knowledge and character instincts about that. He's not trying to teach me some greater lesson or really has my best interests at heart. He's trying to use my disappearance to blackmail my fellow party members into destroying the book. Yeah, he's a charmer.

[Flickerdart]

Wieldskill (Cleric 1, Player's Guide to Faerun) and Divine Insight (Cleric 2, PHB) or Guidance of the Avatar (here (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a)) will give you a half-rank in any skill, and then a big enough boost to it to succeed on most basic checks. Don't wait until you level up, prepare these and see what's going on right now.

[kardar233]

Aren't you technically (extraplanar) when you're not on the Prime Material? Then any Banishment-type spell should get you back.

[werik]

kardar233: Aren't you technically (extraplanar) when you're not on the Prime Material? Then any Banishment-type spell should get you back.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I wanted to make sure that a Dismissal spell would work that way since I should be able to prepare one of those.


Flickerdart: Wieldskill (Cleric 1, Player's Guide to Faerun) and Divine Insight (Cleric 2, PHB) or Guidance of the Avatar (here) will give you a half-rank in any skill, and then a big enough boost to it to succeed on most basic checks. Don't wait until you level up, prepare these and see what's going on right now.

If the leveling up wasn't going to occur by the time I prepare my spells for the evening anyway, I definitely wouldn't wait. That being said, these spells sound like they should help me even with an improved Knowledge: The Planes skill for this level. Thank you (and Coidzor) for your helpful advice!


Calanon: EDIT: Clerics can't starve, sometimes I can be so silly

Thank goodness! My immediate reaction was that I was going to have to start rolling up a new character, too. But remembering the ability to create food and water and learning that we were all going up a level definitely raised my spirits, no pun intended. *grumble*

[Piggy Knowles]

Lesser Planar Ally for a Nightmare should work. Astral Projection and Etherealness can pretty much get you, well, anywhere. (I'd probably play nicely and just use it for the travel, rather than toying around with some of the more broken aspects of Astral Projection).

If that doesn't work, Lesser Planar Exchange from the Planar Handbook could at least get you out of where you currently are, although where you end up may not be much better.

EDIT: Ignore me, I thought that you could collect materials for your incantation on the new plane via Lesser Planar Exchange, but I just re-read the spell, and you can't - it puts you into stasis on the new plane for the duration of the spell.

[Randomguy]

You could try hitting yourself with dispel magic to get rid of the prolonged dimension door. It might not work, but I think it's worth a shot.

Have you tried using your command undead on the spirit, or are you only strong enough to rebuke it?

[nedz]

If all else fails you can just follow your party around, haunting them from the Ethereal.:smallbiggrin:

[Rubik]

If all else fails you can just follow your party around, haunting them from the Ethereal.:smallbiggrin:Learn all their dirty little secrets and blackmail them later.

(Psst. The elf isn't gay. He's FEMALE. Oh the shame!)

[Psyren]

Lesser Planar Ally for a Nightmare should work. Astral Projection and Etherealness can pretty much get you, well, anywhere.

The trouble with PA is that the DM chooses what you get, more or less. His deity would also have to be the kind to send Nightmares.

[Coidzor]

The trouble with PA is that the DM chooses what you get, more or less. His deity would also have to be the kind to send Nightmares.

Yeah, kinda screwed over by worshiping Vecna in this kind of situation in that regard, barring some significantly different interpretation than the baseline fluff. Definitely one of the more "helps those who help themselves" deities...

[Rubik]

You're still good with banishing yourself. Just make sure that every slot you have that you can use for it is filled, in case you're sent to the Abyss (and then Celestia, and then the plane of fire, and so on).

[werik]

Randomguy: You could try hitting yourself with dispel magic to get rid of the prolonged dimension door. It might not work, but I think it's worth a shot.

Have you tried using your command undead on the spirit, or are you only strong enough to rebuke it?


nedz: If all else fails you can just follow your party around, haunting them from the Ethereal.

The only problem with these ideas is that the spirit outright lied to me about what it was teaching me to do. He told me that I was learning how to make a "prolonged dimension door" but now I'm pretty sure he taught me how to plane shift. I also think that he sent me to a plane other than the ethereal since I can't see any of the house anymore, let alone any of its occupants. I have not tried to rebuke the spirit yet, but if/when I get back I think that that will be high on my list of priorities.


Coidzor: Yeah, kinda screwed over by worshiping Vecna in this kind of situation in that regard, barring some significantly different interpretation than the baseline fluff. Definitely one of the more "helps those who help themselves" deities...

That's a really good point. Vecna might give me a nudge in the right direction with a divination spell, but swooping in to save me doesn't really seem to be his style to me, either. Oh well.


Rubik: You're still good with banishing yourself. Just make sure that every slot you have that you can use for it is filled, in case you're sent to the Abyss (and then Celestia, and then the plane of fire, and so on).

I agree. Unfortunately, since I'm just turning 7th level I will only have two spell slots that I can devote towards dismissal. Here's hoping that lightning doesn't strike twice...:smalleek:

[Jack_Simth]

The only problem with these ideas is that the spirit outright lied to me about what it was teaching me to do. He told me that I was learning how to make a "prolonged dimension door" but now I'm pretty sure he taught me how to plane shift. I also think that he sent me to a plane other than the ethereal since I can't see any of the house anymore, let alone any of its occupants. I have not tried to rebuke the spirit yet, but if/when I get back I think that that will be high on my list of priorities.
No, this really, really sounds like your DM is using the Deep Ethereal variant. Seriously. You've got the Ethereal plane right next to the material... and when you're right there, you can see the material plane. As you walk further, you can leave the material plane behind, and eventually reach other planes. Note that the Deep Ethereal variant also mucks about a bit with the other transitive planes, such as the Astral, and it's quite likely that keeping the Dimension Door open a bit longer is what left you there.

[Coidzor]

Where is the Deep Ethereal featured? I'm sort of working on a campaign setting that's focused on people that've fallen between places and what's been said so far has struck a chord with me...

[Jack_Simth]

Where is the Deep Ethereal featured? I'm sort of working on a campaign setting that's focused on people that've fallen between places and what's been said so far has struck a chord with me...

Technically it's a 2nd edition thing that was left by the wayside as editions of D&D changed. But you can find decent conversions every here and there.

http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Book_of_Elements_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/The_Inner_Planes#Deep_Ethereal

http://planewalking.dungeons.ru/transitive/ethereal/ethereal.htm

[Psyren]

Actually, Deep Ethereal is an official variant in 3.0. Check MotP pg. 55 for the sidebar.

[Tokuhara]

I cannot remember the combination, but if you combine a Portable Hole and a Bag of Holding, perhaps in a Rope Trick could open a rift in the Astral Sea and let you click your heels 3 times and say, "There's no place like home."

Or something like that.

[werik]

I cannot remember the combination, but if you combine a Portable Hole and a Bag of Holding, perhaps in a Rope Trick could open a rift in the Astral Sea and let you click your heels 3 times and say, "There's no place like home."

Or something like that.

Hm, I don't have a Portable Hole, Bag of Holding, or a Rope Trick, but maybe a Lesser Planar Ally could fetch me some ruby slippers...

[nedz]

Have you considered you might be on the plane of shadow. Try making some light ?

[Elboxo]

I see people have suggested using Nightmare, I'm not sure how this helps... is it because he can message the party on the material plane?

[Flickerdart]

I see people have suggested using Nightmare, I'm not sure how this helps... is it because he can message the party on the material plane?
Nightmares have Astral Projection as a spell-like ability, meaning that he can project back to the Material riding on his sweet flame-horse and then knock on the door of someone capable of fixing this, or knock that spirit's head off.

[Elboxo]

Nightmares have Astral Projection as a spell-like ability, meaning that he can project back to the Material riding on his sweet flame-horse and then knock on the door of someone capable of fixing this, or knock that spirit's head off.

Ooooooooh sorry, I was looking at the spell xD

[Flickerdart]

That's ok. WotC has a well-documented thesaurus shortage.

[Elboxo]

That's ok. WotC has a well-documented thesaurus shortage.

Bahahaha, all too true