The Unknown Elder's page

A couple points:

1) The Planes were meant to be traveled to by higher level characters. The developers didn't spend tons of hours designing the Planes, investing piles of capital creating books and adventures only to have a GM say that the rules don't allow a person to survive in a number of them for more than a few seconds before turning into piles of ash and outrage.

2) Common sense dictates that while on the plane of fire (for example), on a calm "day", with literally everything around you on fire, that the normal fires and atmospheric conditions will not harm a person protected by Planar Adaptation. Now, a massive superstorm with the atmospheric gases hurtling past you at 180 mph, tossing large debris about like gunfire IS going to hurt you. Sure, it's a "natural" phenomenon... but it's not a "normal" natural phenomenon. As to the swimming through lava angle: lava is WAY hotter than fire. The Wall of Lava spell describes damage from moving through it as 20d6 (70 points on average). That goes way beyond the -20 granted by Planar Adaptation, so, good luck with that - unless you've got an effect that renders you immune to fire damage (or the GM chooses to fudge it for you). Just remember: regular every-day phenomenon = immune; extreme stuff = not immune.

And a few questions:

1) When crafting a magic item that protects a character with Planar Adaptation, can you specify (on each new use) which plane you wish to have immunity from, or is a single casting limited to one plane only (requiring an additional device per plane)?

2) Would it make a difference if the item were a permanent effect vs. an activated effect with a duration?

3) Why is it that the Druid - the one class that is arguably attached naturally to the greatest number of differing planes (the Elemental and appropriate Outer Planes) - does Not have access to this spell? I understand that the Druid has the option at level 8 to assume an elemental form 3 times per day at 8 hours each, but that's not the point. That Druid will want to be able to extend an effective protection around his/her party members as well...

Understanding the general implications of undeath in its many Pathfinder iterations, I still don't see becoming undead as an absolute imperative to become evil as a result, unless the form of undeath is unintelligent and not free-willed.

As an example, I'll focus on the Lich. In the description of becoming a lich, there is no part of the process that requires a specifically evil act. Any evil in the process would come solely from the ultimate intent of the person going down that path.

As an example, imagine a human mage (appropriately short-lived in the grand scheme of things) who has been tasked with the duty of guarding something - a location, or object of power, for example. As the mage ages and begins to see that there doesn't appear to be an apparent heir to the duty coming to the fore, yet his/her life is coming towards its inevitable end. That person may make the decision to sacrifice all to continue performing their duties well beyond their natural life spans... at least until another qualified person comes along.

More relevant to an adventuring party, another human mage might see themselves as the guide to the rest of a youthful party (or one made up of beings with much longer life spans) and feels he/she should linger on to continue helping them.

Perhaps the story arch is an intentionally long and complex one, and the character (which, btw, apparently doesn't even need to be a caster, let alone a mage, if they have access to one... warrior liches exist) just can't let death get in the way of saving the world from the end-game bad guy.

Part of my reasoning stems from an appreciation for the potential difficulties of playing such a role. As a lich, one doesn't instantly turn into a rotten corpse-like pile of bones and parchment-skin. That takes decades... even centuries to happen. One could go for years as just an arcane oddity who makes people feel uncomfortable because of a notable aura of something... other.

But all of that just touches upon the subject. Even with NPC's, a ghost might not be even remotely evil; seeking, rather, to see their murderer brought to justice, or even just keep people from falling into the bog that had killed them.

Long story short, I tend to dislike absolutes like, "This can only ever be evil."

Thoughts?