Planar Travel and Cleric Spells?

[jcfiala]

Hey folks.

My 'Expedition to the Barrier Peaks' campaign has taken it's planned side-step into a plane-travelling campaign, which means that my players are currently exploring a level of Hell. This is all well and good.

But as I've been boning up on the planar travel rules in 3.5, I'm not seeing one of the old rules from AD&D that I remember - that it's difficult to get your cleric spells renewed on the infernal planes, because the god you're trying to reach isn't available.

Did I miss this rule? Or is it gone? And does anyone have a reference to how this worked in AD&D (v1), so I can kludge it for my campaign?

 

[darthkilmor]

It's been awhile since I've looked in my manual of the planes, but I don't recall seeing anything like this re: praying for spells.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Did I miss this rule? Or is it gone?

You didn't miss it and it's gone. And good riddance. It's ridiculous to think that someone who obtains their power from the Outer Planes would function so poorly in the Outer Planes. Or, merely that the characters with the best spells to travel in the planes (e.g. 5th level for clerics, 7th level for wizards) would suck so badly once they get there. All IMO and apparently all the 3.x designers as well.

 

[Voadam]

But as I've been boning up on the planar travel rules in 3.5, I'm not seeing one of the old rules from AD&D that I remember - that it's difficult to get your cleric spells renewed on the infernal planes, because the god you're trying to reach isn't available.

Did I miss this rule? Or is it gone? And does anyone have a reference to how this worked in AD&D (v1), so I can kludge it for my campaign?

Gone. Basically IIRC in 1e every plane separated from your patron reduced the level of spells you could get. So 1st of the hells =1 away for being a different outer plane so no 7th level spells. Then as you go deeper each layer futher in means one less level of cleric spells. Hower 1st and second level spells come only from knowledge and reciting correct prayers, they don't need a divine connection. That's roughly how I remember it.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think there is at least some 3ed setting books which mentions a rule about clerics having problems with spells when travelling in planes with different alignments, but I don't remember which one...

 

[Infiniti2000]

I think the general 3.x rule (taken from MotP) is that casting a spell on what I call an "opposite" plane requires a spellcraft check DC 15 + spell level. For example, if you want to cast cone of cold on the elemental plane of fire (or another plane of fire like perhaps an abyssal layer), you need to roll a spellcraft DC 20 (assumed unmodified by metamagic). If you fail, then the spell is lost and so is your action.

Personally, I think it should be harder or perhaps modified by the "level" of opposition. I.e. on the plane of fire perhaps DC 25+SL, but the abyssal plane could be DC 20+SL, etc. I really don't think it's a good idea to adopt the 1e rule about not even having access to certain spell levels or being able to obtain such spells after a night's rest.

 

[jcfiala]

Personally, I think it should be harder or perhaps modified by the "level" of opposition. I.e. on the plane of fire perhaps DC 25+SL, but the abyssal plane could be DC 20+SL, etc. I really don't think it's a good idea to adopt the 1e rule about not even having access to certain spell levels or being able to obtain such spells after a night's rest.

I think what I'm going to do is to ingore the 'unable to get certain spells'. Instead I'm going to go with the idea that you have to make a Spellcraft check to cast spells opposing the plane you're on, and high level spells cast on an opposing plane may attract divine attention. Casting Cone of Cold on the Fire plane probably won't draw attention, because it's not so much a place where someone is, but casting 'Miracle' on the seventh layer of hell is going to draw some pretty nasty attention.

Thanks to everyone for helping me with this!

 

[Taloras]

I like that idea. I would put it so that different levels of divine spells send out a warning farther....maybe something like..1 mile per spell level or something like that. So if you cast a 9th level spell, it goes out 9 miles.

Or, if you want it to be even more noticeable, spell level squared. So...

1st - 1 mile
2nd - 4 miles
3rd - 9 miles
4th - 16 miles
5th - 25 miles
6th - 36 miles
7th - 49 miles
8th - 64 miles
9th - 81 miles