Planar Travel for more than 8 creatures.

[Jay R]

My party is in Faerie (the Feywilde) and eventually need to get back to their home world. But there are now 9 of them, so Plane Shift won't work. There are plot reasons why I don't want to cast two separate spells.

Is there some spell that will shift nine creatures together, or some metamagic that will increase the limit of Plane Shift?

The party are 6th level, and will be 7th or 8th before they leave. I don't mind introducing a high-level caster to help them, if a high-level spell is needed.

[Yes, I know I can invent an answer for my world, and I'm prepared to do so. In fact, I already have a possibility prepared. My question is what can be done with the spells and options already provided.]

[Tzardok]

Gate will solve that problem, of course. Shadow Walk and Dream Walk (one traveler per caster level) can take you out, on the condition that the Plane of Shadow/the Region of Dream are available from Faerie in your cosmology. The psionic power Astral Caravan has no actual upper limit, but each traveller must first be recipient of a Astral Traveller power (it also requires access to the Astral Plane).

Other possibilities include using Find the Path to find the closest natural portal between Faerie and the Prime, or using Mirror Walking to go through the Plane of Mirrors, but that one takes one casting per target and actually requires having a mirror connected to one on the Prime.

Edit: Of all of those Gate and Plane Shift are the quickest and easiest methods, while all other methods suggested require actually navigating an area and braving its dangers.

[Inevitability]

If the party is all nonlawful, then Dictum is a 7th-level spell that'll send them all back to their home plane (no further details given, so you can easily rule they appear in the same spot). Same for nonevil parties and Blasphemy, etc etc. A 13th-level caster using it on 6th-level PCs will temporarily blind, deafen, and paralyze them, but you can either handwave that as the shock of planar travel or prevent it by somehow negating the Sonic component of the spell (have everyone stand in an area of Silence?).

Alternatively, psionics might offer a solution: look at Astral Caravan and Astral Traveler, which requires a very low-level psion (5th should already be sufficient) to get everyone off-plane.

[Saintheart]

Stuff someone in a Bag of Holding that someone's surely carrying, and cast the spell on the 8 remaining?

[lylsyly]

Let the party find or buy a scroll of PAO. Transform one of the players into a marionette and stuff it in a backpack. Take your trip but dont forget to get the marionette out of the backpack before the duration expires. :-D)))))

[Jay R]

Thanks for the help. A few comments:

Tzardok: yes, gate will work. A ninth level spell seems like overkill, but it’s an option, which is what I asked for.

Shadow walk could make for an interesting adventure. Since the person casting the spell needs to go on the walk, it would need to be on a scroll.

Dream walk is also limited to eight creatures, and so is no improvement over plane shift. It also requires a caster with the Oneiromancy domain.

There are no psionic powers in this world. Neither I nor any player wanted to use those rules.

Find the path and mirror walking are good ideas, but they can’t work for in-universe reasons I didn’t give you. Their home is the Broken World, and magic is not fixed or constant. In fact, there was almost no magic for the last four hundred years; it’s just coming back. There are no consistent natural portals between it and anywhere else. [There are occasional breaks in the plane that move people to another plane willy-nilly. That’s how the PCs got to the Feywild in the first place. But they are instantaneous and unpredictable.]

Inevitability: dictum cannot work; the cleric is Lawful. Blasphemy can work, and might be the result of an evil caster trying to defeat them. That combines losing an encounter they think they’re about to win and not getting any treasure with getting home successfully. That could be good.

Saintheart & lylsyly: I dislike playing word games to avoid the intent of a spell, so I’m not going to suggest putting a character in a Bag of Holding or turning him into a marionette. [My aesthetic choices aren’t binding on the PCs’ actions, of course, but they are binding on my suggestions and design.]

So it looks like blasphemy or shadow walk will be the method that I’ll set up. Tzardok is correct that this will involve braving other dangers. In a D&D game, this is a feature, not a bug.

And I’m aware that I’m not in control of the PCs. They have gotten past obstacles in ways I never considered before; they are certainly capable of doing so again.

Thank you all for the help. I eventually narrowed it down to one idea, but having all the options laid out in front of me really made it easier to compare them.

[Tzardok]

I made a mistake. I confused Dream Walk with Dream Travel. The second one is the one I meant; it works like Shadow Walk, except for the Region of Dreams. Sorry about the misunderstanding. :smallredface:

Edit: By the way, Oneiromancy is a feat, not a domain.

[Rebel7284]

Does Plane Shift modified with Twin Spell metamagic count as one spell? Divine Metamagic[Twin Spell] makes it available at the same time that regular Plane Shift is.

And of course there are a dozen ways of fusing creatures together to minimize head count, from Fusion power to that spell that allows you to Swallow Whole to that other spell that merges you with a horse, but it sounds like you're not a fan of these types of workarounds.

[MinimanMidget]

Words never before spoken: This is the whole point of the Wayfarer Guide PrC.

[Maat Mons]

Are any of the 9 beings you want to transport Familiars? I'm pretty sure master and Familiar count as one creature for these purposes.

[Crake]

Are any of the 9 beings you want to transport Familiars? I'm pretty sure master and Familiar count as one creature for these purposes.

I believe that only counts for when the familiar's master is the one casting the spell.

[rel]

There's always the naturally occurring temporary portal home, conveniently located at the bottom of a nearby level appropriate dungeon.
The party will have to hurry, and push past their tendency to knock off for the day after adventuring for a grueling 15 minutes. But with a little luck and a lot of perseverance, they can make it in time.

[Jay R]

Again, thanks for all the advice. I’m learning even from the suggestions I don’t use.

Maat Mons: The nine creatures are five PCs, an NPC fighter, a cleric cohort, and two dogs (one an animal companion). I did not include the one familiar in the count, because I knew that if the wizard casts the spell, her raven familiar can come along for free. Crake is correct about the limitation.

Tzardok: Dream travel is 3.0. I’m not opposed to using 3.0 material when I need to, but I avoid it when I can. It would also require me to learn about the plane of Dream and the Dreamheart, and to plan some adventures there.

Also, thank you for the correction about Oneiromancy.

Rebel7284: Divine Metamagic (Twin Spell) is an interesting idea. But you can’t aim the two spells at different targets, so you’re still only affecting 8 creatures.

MinimanMidget: Yes, a Wayfarer’s Guide would work.

rel: Yes, I could set up a temporary portal, but because I’ve already set up people being just shunted over by the broken magic, I don’t want to do that.

And this party does not attempt the “fifteen-minute adventuring day”. Not only do they not think that way, but there is also serious time pressure right now. Time moves much faster on their home world than it does in Faerie.

I’m pretty sure I will go with blasphemy cast by an evil cleric, but I’m certainly going to return to this thread and consider all the ideas more than once. Everyone, thanks for the expansive list of possibilities.

[Tzardok]

Tzardok: Dream travel is 3.0. I’m not opposed to using 3.0 material when I need to, but I avoid it when I can. It would also require me to learn about the plane of Dream and the Dreamheart, and to plan some adventures there.


The psionic power Dream Travel is 3.5 and works pretty much exactly the same as the 3.0 spell, so I'd assume that the spell doesn't need conversion.

But yes, researching a whole new plane when there are easier options is generally not the best choice.

[rel]

There's also the Incantations variant magic system.
Perform an elaborate ritual with all sorts of special requirements and conditions to produce a powerful magical effect.
Gets you what you need for the story without throwing off game balance or world tone by introducing something easily repeatable.

One of the sample rituals is even a planar travel effect for up to 13 people.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/incantations.htm