Our party was just forcibly transported to the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire. Our Cleric (who has the spell) immediately told our Warlock (who can have the spell) that between the two of them, they could banish the entire party including themselves back to the Prime Material Plane. And they could do it right away if needed, as they had the spell slots needed for it.
The DM paused, not realizing the entire plot for this adventure could be avoided in moments, gulped.
We decided for now to take on the adventure anyway. But it was amusing, and I had never considered Banishment as a transportation spell for our party.
Fun take on it although the "right away" part is somewhat foiled by the "If the spell ends before 1 minute has passed, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied" clause in the spell description. Being a Concentration spell, it ends when cast again before a minute has passed. It would not be so effective in a situation where the party is in imminent danger. Nevertheless, the spell creates a nice escape hatch if the PCs are boxed in somewhere and have a few minutes to spare, depending on the size of the party.
Yeah by "right away" I meant "within the hour". We were not in imminent danger in the moment, and had just been given our quest which would take days. We thought of just bailing. And as the spell is not expressly labelled as a party-planar-transportation spell, I don't think he realized we had a means to return available.
It seems to me that someone will get left behind though, as who banishes the banisher?
You can cast it on yourself. "One creature that you can see within range" has been ruled as including yourself.
You would need a mirror then as one normally cannot see oneself.
So in this Sage Advice (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/12/01/can-you-cast-banishment-on-yourself/), it looks like you can cast it on yourself -- But. You also have to fail the save and you have no control as to where you end up. So it is a bit of a desperation move.
Wow, has SA ruled that you cannot voluntarily fail a saving throw?
Apparently it is the language in the spell itself "The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be banished." he is basing his ruling on and not a general case.
Yeah by "right away" I meant "within the hour". We were not in imminent danger in the moment, and had just been given our quest which would take days. We thought of just bailing. And as the spell is not expressly labelled as a party-planar-transportation spell, I don't think he realized we had a means to return available.
Well then, he should stay calm anyway - a DM always has the "Rocks fall, everyone loses Concentration" card to play...![]()
You would need a mirror then as one normally cannot see oneself.
So in this Sage Advice (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/12/01/can-you-cast-banishment-on-yourself/), it looks like you can cast it on yourself -- But. You also have to fail the save and you have no control as to where you end up. So it is a bit of a desperation move.
Hold Portal used to be fairly common at low levels. Not sure I've ever seen Erase cast, though.I've played 1e, 2e, and 3e and I'm certain that the list of spells I've seen cast is vastly shorter than the list of spells I haven't seen cast.
Just looking at the 3e SRD, a few spells I've NEVER seen cast in any edition:
1st: Hold Portal, Erase
Locate Object? Really? That thing's almost a staple around here!2nd: Obscure Object, Locate Object, Touch of Idiocy, Misdirection, "Phantom Trap", Deafness
Of those, I see Hallucinatory Terrain cast somewhat regularly; usually by Nature Clerics trying to put forests where no forest should be.3rd: Nondetection, Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Deep Slumber, Illusionary Script, Ray of Exhaustion, Keen Edge
4th: Dimensional Anchor, Minor Creation, Detect Scrying, Locate Creature, Crushing Despair, Lesser Geas, Hallucinary Terrain, Rainbow Pattern, Shadow Conjuration, Contagion, Mass Enlarge Person, "Mnemonic Enhancer", Mass Reduce Person
5th: Break Enchantment, "Mage's Private Sanctum", "Mage's Faithful Hound", Major Creation, Contact Other Plane, Prying Eyes, Telepathic Bond, Mind Fog, Symbol (Sleep), Interposing Hand, False Vision, Mirage Arcana, Seeming, Shadow Evocation, Blight Plants, Symbol (Pain), Animal Growth, Fabricate
Hold Portal used to be fairly common at low levels.
Locate Object? Really? That thing's almost a staple around here!
Of those, I see Hallucinatory Terrain cast somewhat regularly; usually by Nature Clerics trying to put forests where no forest should be.
Contact Other Plane is a funny one - up until two months ago none of us had seen it used in our 38+ years of playing...and in the last two months it's been cast at least 5 times by three or four different mages with different players in different parties and even different campaigns!
The problem with Contact Other Plane is that it is completely inferior to Commune in just about every way.