The Illithid successfully cast defensively, for the record. Plus the character had seen them planeshift offensively once before, so she knew what she was getting into. There were no complaints from the players that I had acted unfairly given the rules as interpreted (This may be partially because the character escaped her intended doom via a set of ominous and foreboding circumstances)... merely some concern that the rules (as interpreted) were somewhat unbalanced in favor of the 'thids, and potentially, down the line, in favor of the Planeshift spell in general. It is my sacred duty as DM to address those concerns (or at least give lip service to doing so), thus my query here.
Three alternatives (aside from leaving it as-is) have been proposed so far, by the way:
1, planeshift can be split into two spells, one for utility transportation and one for offensive shifting.
2, a reinterpretation of the rules that calls for the shifter to travel with whatever he/she/it shifts. (So a mindflayer could still send an unwilling target to the Dimension of Pain, but it would have to go as well. (This still gives 'thids an edge because, at least when they're astral projecting, shifting into a deadly environment isn't exactly a critical concern)).
3, simply prohibit the offensive aspect of the spell.
