quick plane shift question

[Rybaer]

Plane Shift says: "You move yourself or some other creature to another plane of existence or alternate dimension..." and "...From the Material Plane, you can reach any other plane, though you appear 5 to 500 miles (5d%) from your intended destination...."

Can this spell only be cast on the Material Plane to go elsewhere? Sounds like a one-way trip if it works that way. Or, does it just mean that from the Material you can reach any other plane, but from a different plane you might be limited as to which other ones you can reach.

Can anyone help clarify or point me to an official ruling?

Thanks!

 

[Rybaer]

*bump*

 

[Malachi of Kossuth]

Planeshift can be cast on any plane to move you to another plane. You cannot cast it to move you somewhere on the same plane. However, there is one spell in Manual of the Planes that can be cast in conjuction with it to move you to a safe spot within the plane.

 

[Magic Slim]

As Malachi pointed out, Planeshift can only be used to reach an alternate plane. If you wish to travel within the prime material plane with Planeshift, you'll have to cast it once to reach, say, the plane of Nubile, Naughty Nurses, and then cast it again to go back to the prime material plane, arriving 5d% miles from your destination. Of course, if you actually go to the plane of Nubile Naughty Nurses, chances are you won't want to go back to the prime material plane at all.

Slim

 

[Rybaer]

Thanks, guys. I know it can't be used to travel within a single plane, but it's just that second sentence that's throwing me for a loop. "...From the Material Plane, you can reach any other plane..." The way it specifies the Material Plane makes it sound almost exclusionary. The wording would make more sense if it just said "From any plane, you can reach any other plane..." Specificity in the spell description seems to imply specificity in its use.

Oh well...silly semantics.

 

[gfunk]

I know it can't be used to travel within a single plane, but it's just that second sentence that's throwing me for a loop. "...From the Material Plane, you can reach any other plane..."

Well, since the vast majority of campaigns will take place on the Prime I guess WotC wanted to stick with the familiar.

 

[BeauNiddle]

Thanks, guys. I know it can't be used to travel within a single plane, but it's just that second sentence that's throwing me for a loop. "...From the Material Plane, you can reach any other plane..." The way it specifies the Material Plane makes it sound almost exclusionary. The wording would make more sense if it just said "From any plane, you can reach any other plane..." Specificity in the spell description seems to imply specificity in its use.

Oh well...silly semantics.

I think the main thing is the fact that not all the planes are connected.

From the Prime Material Plane you can jump to any where you wish but if you're on the plane of fire there may not be a direct connection to the plane of water. This is especially true of the diety specific planes - you can't jump from heaven to hell you first have to make a stop off at a connecting plane (usually the Prime).

Check the info in manual of the planes for complete routing destinations

[please note the examples are pulled from thin air and may be completely wrong]

 

[Olive]

WotC always use the Prime as a base point. Like witht he extraplanar descriptor. Your Prime based PCs are extraplanar when on the aforementioned plane of Nubile Naughty Nurses, but your average dwarf doesn't have the extraplanar descriptor right? Just like your average balor isn't extraplanar when in the abyss, but is written up in the MM as being extraplanar.

Make sense?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The planes are usually connected via the astral plane, not via the material plane. Even if you want to go from the material plane to, say, mechanus, you'll need to use the astral plane. But that's no problem, since planar travel spells do this for you (consider them the "operator"). The same goes of you go from (the seven mounting) heaven(s) to (the nine) hell(s) - you use the astral, which is automatically taken care off by your friendly planar travel spell (fpts).