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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thanee" data-source="post: 5047047" data-attributes="member: 478">A question.I have been looking at the Planar Ally spell, and am wondering how that would work out in practice. Especially the part about "of the deity's choice" is a little irritating (especially considering the XP cost, which isn't extremely high, but still hurts and limits the spell to appropriately serious uses).So, the question is, what kind of requests could be made (i.e. how detailed can the requests be) and would they generally be answered in a way, that the called creature is actually of a type capable of doing what is required?For example, if one of us actually died and we needed a Raise Dead spell, could I use the spell to ask for an outsider capable of raising the dead (there are at least two in the MM that are in the HD range and can cast Raise Dead and even Resurrection, though only the first is in their default spell list), and it would be answered accordingly (assuming the spell is not abused and so on, of course)?At 12 HD, the cost for the service would be 600 gp (Raise Dead; time in minutes, assuming the standard spell list; and half for non-dangerous) or 3,000 gp (Resurrection; time in hours, as it requires changing prepared spells, assuming the standard spell list; and half for non-dangerous). Plus the 250 XP, of course.Not sure, whether the material components have to be provided, the spell says nothing about that. I can see arguments for both ways, though I am assuming that the materials have to be provided (or at least for spells not listed on the standard spell list).But even considering the investment of learning a spell that is only usable rarely, that would open up quite a few possibilities and would be a good fallback, just in case. Of course, the opportunity cost at the moment would be to drop the much more readily useful (and much less costly) Summon Monster VI or Wind Walk.When preparing for a dangerous combat, calling in some potent help might sometimes be a good idea as well (though the casting time is too high to be of any use without enough time for preparation, so no spontaneous versatility).However, if the called creature could also be one that is not actually helpful for what is intended/required (i.e. a Large Elemental, or whatnot), wasting XP (plus the spell known/spell slot) that way wouldn't be very useful.ByeThanee</blockquote>

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