Magic in the Planes
The Planes are as one would expect magical in nature and are shaped by their nature and the powers that reside inside the Planes. This article will cover how the Planes affect Spells, Spell-like abilities and magic items in general and how one circumvents these restrictions.
In the second segment of the article it is explained how to correctly assign the spell schools of your spells, as some spells that work on a plane in the 5e ruleset aren't supposed to work in a plane and as such need to be revisited in some form. Another thing to mention, spellcasting attained by one’s own power (Wizards, Bards or Druids for example) works differently than the magic granted by Powers (Clerics, some Warlocks). That's because the first type suffers from the arcane restrictions of a plane, while a Cleric, for example, can ignore anything that has to do with planar pathways, though they're still restricted by everything else.
For summonings you can’t just summon a succubus in Elysium, you can only pull from the current plane or its surroundings in most cases. Another thing to look out for are the planar pathways. A unsuspecting prime wizard may attemp to conjure some elementals in the outer planes but hold up, he pulls them from the inner planes which are reached through the Ethereal and in the Outer Planes there is no ethereal, meaning your spell won’t work here. There are many different spells that rely on planar pathways like these (Another example would be raise dead which connects to the astral) and they won’t work if there is no direct contact. This however does not affect spells cast by priests (Clerics and some Warlocks). Another thing are extra dimensional spaces. Spells like rope trick rely on tiny demi planes which are formed in the ethereal so if you’re in the outer planes you are out of luck as the ethereal doesn’t reach you. This however does not affect spells cast by priests (Clerics and some Warlocks). The gist of it is, a Wizard will be hard pressed to access any plane that he isn't neighboring, while a Cleric can just go ahead and ignore that restriction.
The Planes all affect magic in their own unique way and the table on top will present the information in an understandable manner. Aside from the basic rules spells as a whole are affected by their respective school and element (if they possess one) on a plane. Before beginning the table I will explain the used symbols and how they work mechanically. Enhanced (+) indicates that the spells have their effects enhanced on a certain plane. The spell will always work as a spell of one level higher, so a level 5 Fireball will become a level 6 Fireball on the Plane of Fire. Additionally all spell Attack Roll bonuses of spells that are affected will be increased by 1. Saving throws will also be adjusted by 1 in a way that benefits the caster. Altered (#) spell schools are the most common around the planes, making for a different spell result based on either a philosophical or physical nature of the plane. These alterations are consistent across a school inside a school, so a spell with a fire element will always produce scalding explosions of steam on the plane of Ice. Diminished (>) spell schools have their effects reduced. Diminished Spells work at one level lower than cast so a diminished level 3 Fireball will be treated as a level 2 Fireball. Additionally Spell Attack Rolls will be adjusted by -1 and Saving throws will be adjusted by 1 in a direction that is detrimental to a caster. Also, all spells above 4th level will fail. Null (&) indicates that Spells of that school are simply unavailable. Still try to cast it and your spell slot is simply gone. (-) means no alterations to the spells. Abbreviations: A Air; Abj Abjuration; Con Conjuration; Div Divitation; E Earth; Enc Enchantment; Evo Evocation; F Fire; Ill Illusion; Nec Necromantic; PE Paraelemental Plane; QE Quasielemental Plane;Tra Transmutation; W Water; Wil Wild Magic.
Luckily there are so called Spell Keys which circumvent some changes and reenable your spells and return them to normal.
Spell Keys take up a different form depending on the plane but you usually have to say something and or have to make gestures in the air or involve additional components.
Regardless of the Key used; A Spell Key will always increase casting time by 1 Action. (Meaning Spells like Fireball will take 2 Turns) Different Keys have different ranges of power. Keys are always specific to a plane and will either cover an entire school or will only specify one spell. For an example you need a specific key on Mount Celestia to cast Fear properly. However Spell Keys have their limits and sometimes there exists no key. Wild magic is just never going to happen on mechanus or a fireball in the Elemental Plane of Water. Spell Keys are often kept secret by Wizards but a faction may sell a member a key, so does maybe a trader or two but be aware, unlike your faction these aren’t necessarily trustworthy.
Priests receive their spellcasting from Powers which can reach all throughout the multiverse, if they couldn’t they wouldn’t be powers. However, other Powers than the Priests Power, wouldn’t like it if some Clerics just walked into their territory which is why the power of a priest is reduced the further removed he is from his Gods Home Plane. If the God of a Priest resides in the Outer Planes the Cleric will temporarily lose 1 Preparation slot and his highest spell slot for each Plane that he is removed if you follow the shortest route on the great ring. So a 5th level Cleric with a Power from the Abyss that can prepare 9 Spells, would be able to prepare 1 spell and have one 1st-level spell slot in Mount Celestia, meanwhile in Carceri he will still be able to prepare 8 spells and he'll only lose a 3rd-level spell slot. A Priest with a Power from the Inner Planes will lose 3 spells in the Outer Planes (Inner Plane -> Prime -> Astral) as the Power has to reach across three Planes. The same is true in reverse. One more thing to consider is that the standard spell slot progression of a Cleric assumes, that he's at least one step away from his power, so if a Cleric is to enter his powers plane, then he'll gain an extra spell slot and spell to prepare.
Priests of evil powers should be careful however as the evil powers love to play a trick by creating detrimental power keys.
Philters are usually enchantments.
Protection Scrolls are abjurations.
Rings fall into several categories, depending on function. Most are either transmutation (ring of fire resistance) or enchantment (ring of animal influence). Rings that project energy (ring of the ram) are evocation. Those that call on beings are conjuration. A ring of protection or a ring of spell-turning uses abjuration magic. Rings with several uses abide by the effects of the "spell" being cast at the moment.
Wands are generally of the evocation school.
Staves are affected according to the spell being cast. Weaponlike functions use transmutation magic.
Rods either go by the spell-like power used at the moment or use transmutation magic for weaponlike abilities. Several rods (the rod of rulership) use enchantment magic.
Miscellaneous Magical Items can use the full range of magic schools. The best approach is to compare the item's effects to existing spells.
Artifacts are unaffected by the planes. Unless specifically noted otherwise, an artifact functions normally on all planes, although even the effects of an artifact are subject to the natural laws of the plane. Thus, an artifact that creates a massive fireball cannot overcome the problems facing fireballs within the solid ocean of the plane of Water.
If you're ever unsure about a spells spell school then it's probably a transmutation spell.
In the second segment of the article it is explained how to correctly assign the spell schools of your spells, as some spells that work on a plane in the 5e ruleset aren't supposed to work in a plane and as such need to be revisited in some form. Another thing to mention, spellcasting attained by one’s own power (Wizards, Bards or Druids for example) works differently than the magic granted by Powers (Clerics, some Warlocks). That's because the first type suffers from the arcane restrictions of a plane, while a Cleric, for example, can ignore anything that has to do with planar pathways, though they're still restricted by everything else.
Basic Rules
There are three basic rules a wizard (or cleric) got to keep in mind as they will greatly affect his spells depending on the plane.- The effect of magic on creatures in their home planes
- The relative position of other planes involved in the spell
- The availability of extradimensional space (Astral, Ethereal)
For summonings you can’t just summon a succubus in Elysium, you can only pull from the current plane or its surroundings in most cases. Another thing to look out for are the planar pathways. A unsuspecting prime wizard may attemp to conjure some elementals in the outer planes but hold up, he pulls them from the inner planes which are reached through the Ethereal and in the Outer Planes there is no ethereal, meaning your spell won’t work here. There are many different spells that rely on planar pathways like these (Another example would be raise dead which connects to the astral) and they won’t work if there is no direct contact. This however does not affect spells cast by priests (Clerics and some Warlocks). Another thing are extra dimensional spaces. Spells like rope trick rely on tiny demi planes which are formed in the ethereal so if you’re in the outer planes you are out of luck as the ethereal doesn’t reach you. This however does not affect spells cast by priests (Clerics and some Warlocks). The gist of it is, a Wizard will be hard pressed to access any plane that he isn't neighboring, while a Cleric can just go ahead and ignore that restriction.
Basic Alterations by Plane
Basic Alteration TableThe Planes all affect magic in their own unique way and the table on top will present the information in an understandable manner. Aside from the basic rules spells as a whole are affected by their respective school and element (if they possess one) on a plane. Before beginning the table I will explain the used symbols and how they work mechanically. Enhanced (+) indicates that the spells have their effects enhanced on a certain plane. The spell will always work as a spell of one level higher, so a level 5 Fireball will become a level 6 Fireball on the Plane of Fire. Additionally all spell Attack Roll bonuses of spells that are affected will be increased by 1. Saving throws will also be adjusted by 1 in a way that benefits the caster. Altered (#) spell schools are the most common around the planes, making for a different spell result based on either a philosophical or physical nature of the plane. These alterations are consistent across a school inside a school, so a spell with a fire element will always produce scalding explosions of steam on the plane of Ice. Diminished (>) spell schools have their effects reduced. Diminished Spells work at one level lower than cast so a diminished level 3 Fireball will be treated as a level 2 Fireball. Additionally Spell Attack Rolls will be adjusted by -1 and Saving throws will be adjusted by 1 in a direction that is detrimental to a caster. Also, all spells above 4th level will fail. Null (&) indicates that Spells of that school are simply unavailable. Still try to cast it and your spell slot is simply gone. (-) means no alterations to the spells. Abbreviations: A Air; Abj Abjuration; Con Conjuration; Div Divitation; E Earth; Enc Enchantment; Evo Evocation; F Fire; Ill Illusion; Nec Necromantic; PE Paraelemental Plane; QE Quasielemental Plane;Tra Transmutation; W Water; Wil Wild Magic.
Spell Keys
With all these restrictions and alterations one expects the life of a spellcaster to suck hard. What reason would there be for an elementalist to go to Gehenna if his best spells won’t work.Luckily there are so called Spell Keys which circumvent some changes and reenable your spells and return them to normal.
Spell Keys take up a different form depending on the plane but you usually have to say something and or have to make gestures in the air or involve additional components.
Regardless of the Key used; A Spell Key will always increase casting time by 1 Action. (Meaning Spells like Fireball will take 2 Turns) Different Keys have different ranges of power. Keys are always specific to a plane and will either cover an entire school or will only specify one spell. For an example you need a specific key on Mount Celestia to cast Fear properly. However Spell Keys have their limits and sometimes there exists no key. Wild magic is just never going to happen on mechanus or a fireball in the Elemental Plane of Water. Spell Keys are often kept secret by Wizards but a faction may sell a member a key, so does maybe a trader or two but be aware, unlike your faction these aren’t necessarily trustworthy.
Priests and their Powers
As stated before the magic of priests is treated way differently than other magic and this section will deal with these differences in more detail.Priests receive their spellcasting from Powers which can reach all throughout the multiverse, if they couldn’t they wouldn’t be powers. However, other Powers than the Priests Power, wouldn’t like it if some Clerics just walked into their territory which is why the power of a priest is reduced the further removed he is from his Gods Home Plane. If the God of a Priest resides in the Outer Planes the Cleric will temporarily lose 1 Preparation slot and his highest spell slot for each Plane that he is removed if you follow the shortest route on the great ring. So a 5th level Cleric with a Power from the Abyss that can prepare 9 Spells, would be able to prepare 1 spell and have one 1st-level spell slot in Mount Celestia, meanwhile in Carceri he will still be able to prepare 8 spells and he'll only lose a 3rd-level spell slot. A Priest with a Power from the Inner Planes will lose 3 spells in the Outer Planes (Inner Plane -> Prime -> Astral) as the Power has to reach across three Planes. The same is true in reverse. One more thing to consider is that the standard spell slot progression of a Cleric assumes, that he's at least one step away from his power, so if a Cleric is to enter his powers plane, then he'll gain an extra spell slot and spell to prepare.
Power Keys
Priests can, in addition to spell keys, also use power keys. These do not only restore a spells strength but even enhance it. These power keys however are not just circulating but are instead created by the powers themself as a reward for their devote followers, as a result they are extremely rare.Priests of evil powers should be careful however as the evil powers love to play a trick by creating detrimental power keys.
Magicl Weapons and Armor
The power of a magical Item depends on where the Item was made and where it currently is. The power of a magical Item will be reduced by the shortest distance to the Plane. I will present some calculations which use a +3 Longsword forged in Gehenna as an Example. Gehenna to Sigil, Longsword +3 (+2). (Gehenna -> Sigil) Gehenna to Elysium, Longsword + 3 (+1). (Gehenna -> Astral -> Elysium) Gehenna to Ethereal, Longsword +3 . (Gehenna -> Astral -> Prime -> Ethereal) As you can see you would calculate the amount of Planes required to travel to determine how weakend a magical item becomes. That’s also why most folks want magic items forged in Sigil as it is never more than one plane away. Weapons from the Astral are also liked by many however only few like to take the dangers of the Astral on themselves just to create a weapon. A Weapon that is rendered a +0 weapon is still considered magical for purposes of overcoming resistances but won’t grant any further benefits.Spell School Equivalents of Magic Items
Potions and Oils generally fall in the transmutation school, changing the user in some fashion.Philters are usually enchantments.
Protection Scrolls are abjurations.
Rings fall into several categories, depending on function. Most are either transmutation (ring of fire resistance) or enchantment (ring of animal influence). Rings that project energy (ring of the ram) are evocation. Those that call on beings are conjuration. A ring of protection or a ring of spell-turning uses abjuration magic. Rings with several uses abide by the effects of the "spell" being cast at the moment.
Wands are generally of the evocation school.
Staves are affected according to the spell being cast. Weaponlike functions use transmutation magic.
Rods either go by the spell-like power used at the moment or use transmutation magic for weaponlike abilities. Several rods (the rod of rulership) use enchantment magic.
Miscellaneous Magical Items can use the full range of magic schools. The best approach is to compare the item's effects to existing spells.
Artifacts are unaffected by the planes. Unless specifically noted otherwise, an artifact functions normally on all planes, although even the effects of an artifact are subject to the natural laws of the plane. Thus, an artifact that creates a massive fireball cannot overcome the problems facing fireballs within the solid ocean of the plane of Water.
Reassigning Spell Schools
2nd Edition, the Edition under which Planescape was first released, categorized spells somewhat differently from 5e,and as a result some spells now work on some planes where they shouldn't. As a result some of these spells need to be recategorized. Soem of it's more straightforward than others but here's a general guide on what to consider when looking at a spell, if you're still uncertain where a spell would fall in terms of school you can also always ask the DM. Some spells may also have two spell schools, so magic mouth is a illusion spell and transmutation spell. This means that on some places magic mouth would be affected for being a transmutation, like on Ysgard, while it would also be nullified on Mechanus for being an Illusion as well.Conjuration
Conjuration stays largely the same. Any spell that conjures a creature or magical being/construct (such as Tenser's Floating Disk or Unseen Servant) is conjuration. However spells which transport you, like misty step, are no longer Conjuration as are Conjuration spells which conjure different types of energies which are more combat related, such as Web, Acid Splash or Fog Cloud.Necromancy
Necromancy spells are all spells that deal with life and death, so they're spells that need to access the planes of energy. Any spell that's already a necromancy spell is gonna stay a necromancy spell, though all healing spells and effects are also considered necromancy, as they access the plane of positive energy.Evocation
Evocations are all the spells that project destructive energy somewhere, such as Fireball or Lightning Bolt. That means that some spells that were Evocation aren't anymore, such as Darkness which doesn't really harm anyone and also doesn't really involve any type of energy.Abjuration
Abjuration is anything that directly protects a person or area through purely magical means, such as protection from good and evil, or like spells such as Banishment or Counterspell which simply just remove threats or negate something. However spells which also conjure up an actual barrier of sorts aren't abjurations and are usually transmuations or evocations instead. Shield for example projects energy for a short while like most Evocations so it's evocation, while something like Leomunds tiny hut changes an area, by making it inpassable, making it a transmutation.Transmutation
Transmuation is by far the broadest spell school and encompasses anything that changes a body or area and doesn't fall into any other category. So alter self, darkness or Leomunds Tiny Hut are all transmutations. All teleportation spells, like misty step, are also transmutations.If you're ever unsure about a spells spell school then it's probably a transmutation spell.
Divination
Divination is anything which lets you spy or contact others far away or reveals information. So it stays completely the same and a spell that is a Divinations already should stay one and other spells probably won't become a divination.Enchantment
Enchantments are spells that directly affect a bodys mind, and most spells that are enchantments should stay that way, just as most spells won't suddenly become an enchantment spell.Illusion
Illusions are all the spells that create things or sounds that don't really exist, so most Illusions will stay Illusions. However there are very very few illusions that directly interact with what's around them, such as magic mouth, which are changed into another school. So Magic Mouth is a Transmutation spell with Illusiory properties.Wild Magic
Wild Magic is what the Wild magic sorcerer gets but also all spells with random outcomes. Wild Magic isn't a spell school though and more like a tag that also affects a spell. An example of a wild magic spell would be chromatic orb, chaos bolt or confusion, all of which have random outcomes.Elemental
Elemental spells also work like a tag, and which spell is which element is generally pretty obvious. A Fireball is Fire element and a Lightning Bolt is lightning element. For the purpose of spell keys any spells dealing with quasi or para elements generally suffer the same effects as their neighboring elemental planes.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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