A question a bout plane shift

[Nessa Ellenesse]

My party just finished expidition to castle Grey Hawk. My mage has aquired the staff of the magi which has plane shift on it. If for some strange reason she needs to go back into the castle for something, takes a wrong turn at Alberkery and ends up on Toril or Kryn can she use Plane shift to get back to Oerth.

[Bronk]

You should double check with your DM, but normally yes. In 3.5, all material planes are connected to various degrees, at the very least by the Plane of Shadow. If your game already connects all those worlds through portals in the castle, Plane Shift should be able to do what you want, even if your game has all of those worlds on a single material plane, a la Spelljammer.

[Khedrac]

First thing anyone with access to Planeshift should do is get a Planar Key for their home plane - it's the focus component of the spell and without it you are not getting home...

[Bronk]

Good call! Better to be safe than sorry... It's an artifact, and it casts the spell for you, but it doesn't say anything about not needing the focus for the spell to actually get anywhere.

[Frostthehero]

My party just finished expidition to castle Grey Hawk. My mage has aquired the staff of the magi which has plane shift on it. If for some strange reason she needs to go back into the castle for something, takes a wrong turn at Alberkery and ends up on Toril or Kryn can she use Plane shift to get back to Oerth.

While plane shift does not allow teleportation, it does allow for shifting to coterminous planes (such as the plane of shadow, or the ethereal plane). The problem with this is that plane shift can land you anywhere from 5 to 500 miles off from where you left (5d%). As a result, this is not a surefire way to get anywhere, as depending on your roll, you might end up further from Oerth than where you started. Not really a viable option.


First thing anyone with access to Planeshift should do is get a Planar Key for their home plane - it's the focus component of the spell and without it you are not getting home...


Good call! Better to be safe than sorry... It's an artifact, and it casts the spell for you, but it doesn't say anything about not needing the focus for the spell to actually get anywhere.

Magic items that allow you to cast spells allow you to do so without the focus. The caster pays XP upon creation as a substitute.

[Nessa Ellenesse]

At risk of a major spoiler, the castle has become detached from reality. You can walk in from Oerth and if you stay inside to long when you leave you walk out into Kryn, Toril or some other world. However I will definately look into getting that tuning fork.

[Frostthehero]

At risk of a major spoiler, the castle has become detached from reality. You can walk in from Oerth and if you stay inside to long when you leave you walk out into Kryn, Toril or some other world. However I will definately look into getting that tuning fork.

once again, you have a 5-500 mile range of error, and you do not need the tuning fork. The staff is assumed to have it as part of its capability.

[Curmudgeon]

once again, you have a 5-500 mile range of error, and you do not need the tuning fork. The staff is assumed to have it as part of its capability.
Well, no. The staff is assumed to have some focus, but not necessarily the one for the plane you wish to visit.
The creator must have prepared the spells to be stored (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any focus the spells require as well as material and XP component costs sufficient to activate the spell a maximum number of times (50 divided by the number of charges one use of the spell expends). One single focus is enough to craft the staff, because one small forked rod is all that Plane Shift requires.