Planar travel options for mundanes?

[Heliomance]

I'm planning a 20th level planehopping game, and I have a slight problem. My players have decided that they'd like to play a Beguiler, a Dervish, and a PF Gunslinger that I've agreed to backport into 3.5. That leaves them without any means of casting Plane Shift. So what planehopping options are available, when you don't have a Cleric or Wizard around?

[noob]

1: Portals they meet
2: Magic items like the amulet of the planes.
3: The beguiler take levels in rainbow servant and then have ALL the spells
4: Sleeping sheanigans

[Uncle Pine]

The players could locate and befriend a creature with natural access to Plane Shift as a supernatural or spell-like ability and then use take it with them during their adventures. A 9th level Cleric (Plane Shift is a 5th level spell for Clerics) or a full blown cohort also work.
5th level scrolls and/or staves are also somewhat cheap at 20th level, so one of the players could invest some ranks in UMD and/or buy a custom item that gives a bonus to UMD.
They could buy a plane hopping hut as per the Stronhold's Builder Guidebook rules.

[Curmudgeon]

What's the entry to Dervish? Planar Handbook has a bunch of substitution levels which grant planar abilities: Portal Sense at Barbarian 3, Breach Sense at Rogue 4, and Portal Intuition at Ranger 8.

The number and distribution of previously created portals is entirely up to you.

[Heliomance]

What's the entry to Dervish? Planar Handbook has a bunch of substitution levels which grant planar abilities: Portal Sense at Barbarian 3, Breach Sense at Rogue 4, and Portal Intuition at Ranger 8.

The number and distribution of previously created portals is entirely up to you.

Nimblewright (with the LA houseruled away because seriously 6 LA is ridiculous for that). Haven't checked to see if other class levels will be needed as well yet.

[WhamBamSam]

AFB but there's an Incarnate meld that gives Gate from its Soul Chakra Bind, which if you're starting at 20 is only one level away from being accessible through feats. I think there's a way to get Plane Shift through meldshaping as well (Planar Chasuble maybe?), and that might only be a throat bind (and therefore accessible through feats pre-epic).

EDIT: Apparently, the Planar Chasuble is the one with the Soul Bind that gives Gate. It's only 1/week and there isn't a meld for Plane Shift. Shame, that.

[ExLibrisMortis]

There is the Jaunter PrC, from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. A four-level class that grants plane shift at level 4, and (4 + Dex)/2 uses per day.

[nedz]

The Beguiler could take Arcane Disciple, in fact what right thinking Beguiler wouldn't, and grab a domain with suitable spells


Celestial Domain - Gate [9]
Demonic Domain - Gate [9]
Dragon Below Domain - Gate [9]
Drow Domain - Gate [9]
Glory Domain - Gate [9]
Meditation Domain - Astral Projection [9]
Mentalism Domain- Astral Projection [9]
Pact Domain - Gate [9]
Portal Domain - Etherealness [7] amd Gate [9]
Sloth Domain - Gate [9]
Summoner Domain - Gate [9]
Travel Domain - Astral Projection [9]


Several also offer Dismissal, which can be used to return home.

No domains seem to offer Plane Shift however, well except for the Hades double domain.

Any of these PrCs could also be used

Agent Retriever
Defiant
Diamond Warrior
Divine Agent
Elemental Warrior
Elocater
Gatecrasher
Hellbreaker
Illithid Body Tamer
Jaunter
Lord of Tides
Planar Champion
Planar Shepherd
Planar Vanguard
Planeshifter
Singer of Concordance
Spell Scion


Presumably you have told your players about the plane hopping ? Ask them what their plans for doing this are ?

[Deadline]

Just go with the Planescape method of Portals everywhere that are keyed to specific keys and locations. Then give them portal locations and keys as treasure rewards, or give them an item to detect them. There's also a whole host of items that can provide planar transport, if you'd prefer that route.

[Vogie]

You can have them traverse the planes in multiple ways....

Theres a Rope of Crossing from the Planar Handbook allows travel between planes, as well as the Obsidian Steed
You can construct the SS MacGuffin, a planeswalking boat/zeppelin/donkey cart to get them where they need to go.
You can have them find the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga from Pathfinder #68 or a variation on the Witchmarket Coin from Lost Treasures
If you build the world around this, you can place planar portals in the actual worlds. They could be hidden/buried so the party searches for them, or just open and commonly used by the inhabitants of the plane
Have all of them be multiclassed into at least 1 level of Planeswalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?189767-3-5-The-Planeswalker-%28WIP-PEACH%29). You can even give one level to them for free, but either a) give them the choice to go deeper in for utility purposes or b) not worry about it and they're just able to do that.

[Necroticplague]

If the Reign of Dreams exists within your setting, they could use Lucid Dreaming to planeshop with some creativity.

[Âmesang]

If they ever need to revisit another plane carrying around a few scrolls of greater plane shift should keep them from going off-target. (Spell Compendium, p. 159)

EDIT: Deadline's mention of "gear" below suddenly has me wanting to play Spelljammer®; and speaking of Planescape®, perhaps give them a convenient way to go-back-and-forth through Sigil as their base of operations? Just tell them to keep away from the Lady of Pain… or don't. :smallwink:

[Deadline]

So there are a number of "gear" related options.

Vehicles and Mounts:
Elsewhale - Cheapest option, but you need some way to feed and care for a freaking Whale.
Nightmare - You'll need one for everyone in the party
Ur'Epona - You'll need one for everyone in the party
Gate Zeppelin - Most expensive, and stylish, option
Planar Sailer - Middle of the road option.

Gear:
Planar Helm - mounted on a ship, grants the ability to use the Planar Navigation spell on the ship and crew.
Planar Sails - mounted on a ship, allows Planeshift on the ship and crew.

The Manual of the Planes (pg 86-88) suggests the following methods for planar travel as well:
The River Oceanus - it's a river that flows throughout Elysium, the Beastlands, the Olympian Glades of Arborea, and Arborea's second layer.
The River Styx - Similar to Oceanus, but for the lower planes.
Walking the Borders - The first layer of each Outer Plane shares a border with one Outer Plane on each side. The Modrons use this method when they go on their great marches.
The Infinite Staircase - It's a well-hidden staircase that leads everywhere.

Do any of those work for you?

[Crake]

They're 20th level, it's a planehopping campaign, just have one of them buy an amulet of the planes with their starting WBL? Preferably someone with at least +5 int, so they can take 10 on the int check unless using it in stressful situations.

[NeoPhoenix0]

If you want planer travel itself to be a bit of an adventure you can always use the Dimensional Sextant from Manual of the Planes pg 22. It is a magic item that works kinda like a compass with a bunch of arrows pointing toward planar portals. with a knowledge the planes check you can find the nearest portal, nearest portal to a specific plane, or figure out where a portal leads.

[Darrin]

An ur'Epona (Planar Handbook) can be summoned via summon monster II. You can add this to the Beguiler via Arcane Disciple (Summoning Domain). Only works for the rider, but the rest of the party might be able to tag along in a portable hole, enveloping pit, or some other arrangement.

Ether scarab (MM2) can create a Planar Rip (Su). I'm not sure how the party would get one or convince it to go to a particular plane. Maybe throw a template on there to increase it's Int... hmm... maybe pseudonatural (Int = 3)?

Dimensional Sextant (21600 GP, Manual of the Planes p. 22) is a ready-made plot device to railro--I mean, guide the party to whatever portal they need next. Basically a big arrow that points in the direction of the plot (which means the PCs will undoubtedly go in the opposite direction at full speed).

Or if you prefer a more mundane version... give them this:

http://metropolisgrafix.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/creditsmapsmall.jpg

You can call it a Planar Atlas (25 GP, Planar Handbook), but an hour or more of careful study reveals that in addition to helping locate permanent portals, it can also reveal the coordinates of "temporary" portals that open up long enough for an enterprising party to pop through, grab a few valuables (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/), then pop through the next portal.

[WalkingTheShade]

EDIT: Deadline's mention of "gear" below suddenly has me wanting to play Spelljammer®; and speaking of Planescape®, perhaps give them a convenient way to go-back-and-forth through Sigil as their base of operations? Just tell them to keep away from the Lady of Pain… or don't. :smallwink:
+1 for Sigil. The thing was designed in a way to permit planar hopping games even at the lowest levels.

Can't the Beguiler take Planeshift as a known spell with their Advanced learning class feature? enchantment or illusion school only...
Shadow Walk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shadowWalk.htm) is an illusion spell.

[Darrin]

You could throw in a Janni (MM) or Half-Janni (Sandstorm) NPC. An 8th-level Githyanki or 11th-level Githzerai can also plane shift 1/day.

[nedz]

An ur'Epona (Planar Handbook) can be summoned via summon monster II. You can add this to the Beguiler via Arcane Disciple (Summoning Domain). Only works for the rider, but the rest of the party might be able to tag along in a portable hole, enveloping pit, or some other arrangement.
Lots of domains give SNA X. Spontaneous Summoner can then be taken to access any SNA and Beguilers with AD are going to have a useful Wis score. This gives lots of options for SLAs, e.g. SNA V allows for Janni.

+1 for Sigil. The thing was designed in a way to permit planar hopping games even at the lowest levels.

Can't the Beguiler take Planeshift as a known spell with their Advanced learning class feature? enchantment or illusion school only...
Shadow Walk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shadowWalk.htm) is an illusion spell.

Beguilers get a number of useful spells already on their list

Shadow Walk [6]
Ethereal Jaunt [7]
Etherealness [9]

It's just the outer planes which are a problem.

[Uncle Pine]

So a wand of Summon Monster II (or SM III for 1d3 Ur'Eponas) does the trick.
Arcane Preparation (I think that's the name of the feat) + Nexus Method can also be used to give the Beguiler all the Summon Monster spells.

[nedz]

Fey legacy grants SNA V 1/day, which opens up Janni, BAMF.

Any of them could do this for the cost of two feats.

[Fizban]

Echoing what nedz said: what is this planehopping? If the players were expected to have such abilities and were not informed then that's a bit nrgh. For a full party of 20ths an item of plane-shift is easily within their purchasing power in a number of flavors. No one's mentioned the Well of Many Worlds (DMG) yet, most likely because it's completely uncontrollable. If however you have a certain series of places you want the party to go without worrying about how they're getting there, the Well is plot-travel ready and you could just dump one on them.

For a different sort of convenience, I like the transitive plane of the World Serpent Inn from the Manual of the Planes web enhancement. You walk through a door and end up in an extraplanar tavern with a respawning inkeeper and infinite random backrooms that can contain portals to anywhere (at random, just search long enough and you'll find what you're looking for). It's coterminous with the plane of Shadow as well, so you ought to be able to reach it via Shadow Walk (intentionally rather than by random fiat when go through a back alley doorway) and then go from there to anywhere else.

I also quite like the idea of sailing the planar rivers, but really if you have some planehopping quest in mind and expect the players to get their on their own resources, I expect nothing short of an Amulet of the Planes or similar will do considering time constraints. They don't have any natural Teleport/Teleport Without Error either, so no matter how they get to the plane they'll need more magic items to get where they're going.

[Heliomance]

Echoing what nedz said: what is this planehopping? If the players were expected to have such abilities and were not informed then that's a bit nrgh.

They're agents of an FBI-like organisation based in Sigil, dedicated to combating large-scale threats to the stability of existence. Something Bad Has Happened, and their job is to find out what, where, and who, and go and punch whoever did it in the face before hopefully figuring out a way to reverse what happened. Organisational support means being issued with appropriate equipment is entirely possible, though still not quite as convenient as if they were able to cast the relevant spells themselves.

[Darrin]

Organisational support means being issued with appropriate equipment is entirely possible, though still not quite as convenient as if they were able to cast the relevant spells themselves.

Make the organisational support/appropriate equipment part of the plot. Yes, that gatemaker device is super-convenient to get us where we need to go... but why do our enemies suddenly know where we are now? Ok, so, maybe our equipment is bugged... and hey, our boss didn't seem all that super-surprised that we are getting ambushed, so what's up with that?

So if you give your PCs the means to plane-hop, but also give them reasons to distrust it... they'll come up with their own way to plane shift, solving the problem for you. And you get super-juicy plot hooks at the same time to yank them around.

[nedz]

They're agents of an FBI-like organisation based in Sigil, dedicated to combating large-scale threats to the stability of existence. Something Bad Has Happened, and their job is to find out what, where, and who, and go and punch whoever did it in the face before hopefully figuring out a way to reverse what happened. Organisational support means being issued with appropriate equipment is entirely possible, though still not quite as convenient as if they were able to cast the relevant spells themselves.

In which case just assign them a specialist. A Janni might do, though something with Teleport as well might be more useful. This NPC is just a taxi who can take them around and should be a soft target in combat, this is not a DMPC. A Cleric of about level 11 would be perfect since they are 9 levels behind the party and can handle out of combat healing etc. also.

[WalkingTheShade]

They're agents of an FBI-like organisation based in Sigil
Any smart organization based in Sigil should maintain files of every portals members know about. Analyze Portal is a relatively low level spell, so even a caster-less organization, with a modicum amount of resources, should be able to regularly pay a caster to perform it.

Then, Sigilian factions and other brokers might be open to trade portal knowledge for goods, information or services.

The first good part of going this way is that it makes the means of inter-planar travel a part of the world. Every portal has a location, a key, a story (who knows about it, who uses it, who discovered it). This entails flavor.

Second good part, is that portals are entirely up to the DM Lady of Pain. That's also the bad part, since players might feel railroaded.

[dascarletm]

There is a weapon quality from oriental adventures that weapons can have that open a portal to another plane. You basically cut open a rift that lasts for 1d4 minutes. 30k (ish) gold if I recall. It is called "Passage".

[NeoPhoenix0]

If they are in sigil, then they should be able to find a portal to the infinite staircase.

[Deophaun]

The most ready way for any fixed-list caster to gain plane shift is to take the Penumbra Bloodline feat in Dragon Compendium. The Beguiler will lose dancing lights, which I understand will be deeply crippling and cause the player to question his character's usefulness, but such is the price.

An ur'Epona (Planar Handbook) can be summoned via summon monster II. You can add this to the Beguiler via Arcane Disciple (Summoning Domain). Only works for the rider, but the rest of the party might be able to tag along in a portable hole, enveloping pit, or some other arrangement.
Doesn't work for anyone. Summoned monsters cannot use teleportation.

[ManicOppressive]

I was going to be that guy and suggest a Staff of Passage, but imagine my consternation when it turns out that the staff has just about every other teleportation spell EXCEPT Plane Shift.

But you could always just whip up a "Staff of Plane Shifting" or any other "X of Plane Shifting" and get it into the players' hands. It's not the most creative solution, but you're not trying to solve a plot problem, you're trying to solve a basic meta problem to enable the rest of your campaign.

Or let the Beguiler take the Extra Spell feat and DM rule that it can grab a spell not on the Beguiler's list. (Common enough ruling.) Beguiler now has Plane Shift.

[Ruethgar]

If you want actually mundane planar travel you have to somehow get the knowledge of the Create Device feat out of the Ravenloft world.

[WalkingTheShade]

If they are in sigil, then they should be able to find a portal to the infinite staircase.
If they are in Sigil, then they should be able to find a portal to anywhere.

Also, one of the only known features of the Staircase is that it does not lead to Sigil.

One planar pathway that wasn't suggested is Yggdrasil, and it could give your campaign a certain norse flavor. Mount Olympus also crosses planar boundaries.

[Heliomance]

There is a weapon quality from oriental adventures that weapons can have that open a portal to another plane. You basically cut open a rift that lasts for 1d4 minutes. 30k (ish) gold if I recall. It is called "Passage".

This is pretty much exactly what I was after.

The trouble with most of the open-to-anyone methods is that they're setting specific. Planescape crosses realities, and Yggdrasil, the Lethe, and several of the other suggestions only span their respective settings. I figure they can probably find a portal to any given setting they need to get to, but not necessarily to any plane within that setting. So they can use portals for crossing between realities, and be issued with a Subtle Knife for moving between planes once they get there.