James Jacobs
Creative Director
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If there were a precedent for folks using greater teleport to travel between planets, then there would absolutely have been a problem coming up with interplanetary teleport. But as far as I know in the 30 years or so I've been gaming, there's NOT been a heck of a lot of planet hopping via greater teleport. And due to that, I figured that introducing a spell that allows such travel would be no problem. There was no backlash against it when we introduced it in Pathfinder #14 whatsoever, so I figured it was fine going forward with it in the Inner Sea World Guide, to go along with the fact that the planets of the Golarion solar system have a bigger presence in this book than they did in the previous book.
Put plainly... since the game's traditions don't have a lot of interplanetary teleportation (even among Spelljammer as far as I know, which uses a lot of other methods to travel between planets instead), addressing a relatively new possibility for going to a relatively unexplored in the game element of a setting (science-based planets in a science-based universe—Spelljammer is NOT such a setting, so doesn't count quite as much) seemed like a safe bet.
It's absolutely not an indication of us planning on retconning or nerfing or otherwise meddling with existing spells in the future. What it is is us laying the foundations for a possible expansion to other planets in a way that hasn't really been addressed in this genre of RPG to a significant extent before. That is all.
| Epic Meepo RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 |
As has been said by others, a new spell should not change the way an old spell works.
The new spell doesn't change the way an old spell works. The campaign setting changes the way an old spell works. It's perfectly acceptable for a campaign setting to say an existing spell from the core rules works differently in that setting.
That being said, I think it would have been more elegant if the campaign setting just declared that each planet counted as a separate demiplane for the purpose of magical effects. Then you can have interplanetary teleport without having to retcon unwritten restrictions on the use of greater teleport, and can require planet-specific plane shift spell foci without having to retcon unwritten restrictions on the use of plane shift. Plus, as an added bonus, you get to apply different planar traits to each planet without looking arbitrary. If each planet is a demiplane, of course it should have its own planar traits.
| KaeYoss |
Lets say I found this spell in PF#234:
Magic Missile, Interplanetary: This spell functions like Magic Missile except that it also affects elves.
Do you think this spell is well designed? Do you feel it changes the way Magic Missile works?
Apples and oranges. And I'm not talking about operator choices for your iPhone here.
Interplanetary teleport makes sense because it introduces planets into the setting. It's not just a change for change's sake.
But if the elves of Golarion had a constant shield effect running, then yes, magic missile, interplanetary would make sense (the name would still not fit, though) because the normal magic missile would be blocked. And since elves normally don't have the constant shield, not ever mentioning elves and magic missiles in other settings is fine.
A slightly less stupid example would be ghouls. Imagine Pathfinder without elves and ghasts. So there are ghouls and they paralyse you.
But now Elfnation, a PF setting introduces elves, and someone decides that elves, for some reason, are immune to ghouls' paralysis, but super-ghouls (which they call ghasts) get through that.
That's how it is in Pathfinder right now: For some reason, elves are immune to the paralysis the ghouls can inflict (but not the ghasts').
| KaeYoss |
But as far as I know in the 30 years or so I've been gaming, there's NOT been a heck of a lot of planet hopping via greater teleport.
This is just anecdotal, but I think that that article in Children of the Void put the idea of teleporting from one planet to another into my head. I don't think I have ever contemplated this situation before.
Not even while watching Star Trek - but they seem to be beaming only from ship to planet, not from planet to another planet, for whatever reason.
| KaeYoss |
That being said, I think it would have been more elegant if the campaign setting just declared that each planet counted as a separate demiplane for the purpose of magical effects.
Actually, no.
Would be too much of a mess. What's part of the demiplane? Just the planet? How far up? Is the moon in, too? What about the whole solar system? Is that a demiplane, too? A bigger one with other demiplanes? Or are the planets its layers?
What about all the space between? Let's not forget that the 'verse is pretty much just space with a tiny bit of stuff floating in it, occasionally.
No, just because some people will complain about this, the setting should not enslave itself to the rules. That way lies crap. They broke the Realms with that nonsense.
So the rules serve the setting. In this case, the greater teleport spell gets a little restriction that you can't teleport from one planet to another with it, and then you get a new, higher-level (and thus less wide-spread) spell that lets you do that once you can give reality the finger, anyway.
That's what I call elegant.
And frankly, if people complain about it, let them. They got several good explanations, if that's not enough, then too bad for them.
| Oliver McShade |
I still think a simple Gate Spell works fine, just use it twice. Once to the Astral Plane, and back to a different Prime Material Plane.
............
Or you could use Plane Shift twice + one Greater Teleport.
Plane Shift to Astral plane
Plane shift to Different Prime Material Plane
Greater Teleport to the location you need on that plane.
............
But if they want to ad another 9th level spell, that no one can use till 17th level, .... for easy of use to just to jump to another planet directly ... well i have no problem with that.... So long AS they DO not Write out the OTHER two methods listed above, for lower level players to be able to explore and adventure throw the universe. !!!
............
(PS = This is all because the 9th level gate spell = has that dump rule about you not being about to open gates between location on the same plane)
| Bellona |
And honestly... I'm actually quite pleased that folks are this interested in other planets. Means that us perhaps doing a planetary book some day in the future is more likely to happen, since it seems that there's lots of interest in the topic.
I know that this statement is way the heck up-thread, but let me add another "+1" to the interest in such a supplement.
Maybe a planet-hopping adventure path? That would allow for _lots_ of support articles, plus the Chronicles/Campaign Setting tie-in. Dare I ask for a setting-free rules hardcover too, something like "Ultimate Planetary"?
While I enjoyed some of the ideas of Spelljammer (and appreciated the real world history of the underlying "theory"), I would like to see a more science-friendly version of magical/technological space travel. If that's at all possible ...
| Ravingdork |
If there were a precedent for folks using greater teleport to travel between planets, then there would absolutely have been a problem coming up with interplanetary teleport. But as far as I know in the 30 years or so I've been gaming, there's NOT been a heck of a lot of planet hopping via greater teleport.
And to be perfectly honest, before I saw those cool planetary descriptions in your (awesome) campaign book, the thought never once occurred to me either.
It's absolutely not an indication of us planning on retconning or nerfing or otherwise meddling with existing spells in the future. What it is is us laying the foundations for a possible expansion to other planets in a way that hasn't really been addressed in this genre of RPG to a significant extent before. That is all.
That's a relief. Thanks for clarifying.
| Viktyr Korimir |
And honestly... I'm actually quite pleased that folks are this interested in other planets. Means that us perhaps doing a planetary book some day in the future is more likely to happen, since it seems that there's lots of interest in the topic.
Please do. Spelljammer was always my favorite AD&D setting, and being able to play in that kind of campaign in Pathfinder would be incredible, especially if you published Adventure Paths to go along with it.
Like ciretose, I would easily buy a whole series of books published in that vein.
While previous campaign settings have had other planets in them, they handled that differently. In some cases, other planets were totally ignored unless you were playing Spelljammer.
The other planets in the "standard" AD&D campaign worlds were never even mentioned within their own product lines; Spelljammer had supplements for each other campaign world detailing their Crystal Spheres.
In others, they weren't treated as science-based planets in science-based outer space at all (this is my understanding of how Eberron did it, but I could be wrong there).
They weren't planets in Eberron; those were effectively Outer Planes whose metaphysical "orbits" brought them into and out of alignment with Eberron. Of course, didn't stop me from treating them like planets in a Spelljammer game.
| Epic Meepo RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 |
Epic Meepo wrote:Actually, no... There would be too much of a mess.
That being said, I think it would have been more elegant if the campaign setting just declared that each planet counted as a separate demiplane for the purpose of magical effects.
Actually, there would be no mess at all. Everything that counts as a planet, a moon, or a sun also counts as a demiplane. If you would count a location as being on a given planet, moon, or sun, it belongs to that demiplane. Otherwise, it doesn't.
That's it. No additional details necessary. No special rules for solar systems or asteroids or the space between planets. If it's a planet, a moon, or a sun, it counts as a demiplane. If its not, it's just a part of the larger Material Plane though which those assorted demiplanes float in solar system configurations.
EDIT: Essentially, make the scientific universe function exactly like the Spelljammer universe, except each planet, moon, or sun counts as its own crystal sphere instead of each solar system counting as its own crystal sphere (taking "demiplane" to be the Pathfinder equivalent of Spelljammer's "crystal sphere" concept).
| Kain Darkwind |
There was no backlash against it when we introduced it in Pathfinder #14 whatsoever, so I figured it was fine going forward with it in the Inner Sea World Guide, to go along with the fact that the planets of the Golarion solar system have a bigger presence in this book than they did in the previous book.
It is only a small subset of ridiculous that is getting bent out of shape about this. The vast majority finds it both cool and acceptable. I suspect that an even more vast majority would rather learn more about the planets than go back and forth in a futile effort to either A) allow greater teleport to work for interstellar travel in the official rules or B) convince someone who wants A) that they shouldn't worry about it.
For instance, many of the planets seem based off science fiction settings. Akiton is clearly heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroghs' Barsoom, but the other planets seem really familiar to me as well. The bug women of Castrovel, and the split cultures of Triaxus....what was the inspiration (if any) for these?
James Jacobs
Creative Director
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For instance, many of the planets seem based off science fiction settings. Akiton is clearly heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroghs' Barsoom, but the other planets seem really familiar to me as well. The bug women of Castrovel, and the split cultures of Triaxus....what was the inspiration (if any) for these?
Mostly pulp stories from the sword and planet tradition (many of which we've reprinted in our Planet Stories line of books), but other science fiction writers as well. I know that Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" and "Endymion" books were great sources of inspiration for James Sutter when he invented the majority of the planets.
| Lord Twig |
Not to beat a dead horse, but it occurs to me that Plane Shift is far too vague when compared to the Teleport spells. The Teleport spells have specific rules on the consequences of teleporting to an area depending on how well you know it. Plane Shift just says "Precise accuracy as to a particular arrival location on the intended plane is nigh impossible. From the Material Plane, you can reach any other plane, though you appear 5 to 500 miles (5d%) from your intended destination." That's it. It makes no mention of how well you need to know your intended destination. Common usage would suggest that as long as you know the plane exists, you can go there. If there is a city on that plane you say, “I want to go to that city!” and you end up 5 to 500 miles away.
So just to be clear on this, Paizo introduced a 9th level spell to allow interplanetary teleportation and made it 9th level so that you had to get a 17th level caster to do this instead of 13th level. But a 9th level divine caster can do it with two Plane Shift spells, but he ends up 5-500 miles away from the "intended destination". Of course a 13th level wizard can use three 7th level spells and end up in exactly the right spot. Plane Shift out, Plane Shift back to another planet, Greater Teleport to the exact location. So how does the 9th level Interplanetary Teleport spell hinder a 13th level wizard from travelling to other planets? It seems like all you did was make him spend two extra spell slots.
I am not trying to be a jerk about this. The gamist in me just looks at the rules and says, "Gee, I can still do this. What was the point?"
| Lord Twig |
In an effort to be constructive, here is a possible solution. If a planetary supplement comes out, Paizo may just want to state that Plane Shift only allows you to return to the planet you started from. Plane Shift is terribly vague and some clarifications would probably be a good idea anyway.
The only problem there is what if you didn't start on the Material Plane? What if an Outsider decided to use his nifty Plane Shift ability to head to the Material Plane? Which planet would he end up on? That's something that would probably need to be addressed on a planetary supplement anyway, so I will leave that question unanswered.
James Jacobs
Creative Director
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James Jacobs wrote:I know that Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" and "Endymion" books were great sources of inspiration for James Sutter when he invented the majority of the planets.So worth checking out, along with more Planet Stories.
The four books in this series, "Hyperion," "Fall of Hyperion," "Endymion," and "Rise of Endymion" are BRILLIANT novels. Among the best science fiction I've read, in fact. Absolutely recommended. And while they're science fiction... they've got a lot of stuff in there that's also really inspiring for a magic-filled fantasy setting as well.
James Jacobs
Creative Director
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Plane shift leaves a LOT open for the GM to get in there and mess with you. When you cast plane shift, where exactly you land is left up to the GM. It also requires a pretty unusual material component—if a GM wants to limit where a plane shift spell can bring you, he can easilly say "The rod you need for a material component is super rare—go on this long adventure to get one!"
Frankly... I think plane shift at 5th level is too bad-ass as it stands. That's something that I wish we'd had the grit to fix when we did the game, perhaps bumping it up to 8th level for all classes involved.
Citing plane shift as a problem, in other words, isn't something that's fair to use to attack interplanetary teleport. Since plane shift kinda breaks a LOT of rules by being 5th level as it stands.
| Lord Twig |
Plane shift leaves a LOT open for the GM to get in there and mess with you. When you cast plane shift, where exactly you land is left up to the GM. It also requires a pretty unusual material component—if a GM wants to limit where a plane shift spell can bring you, he can easily say "The rod you need for a material component is super rare—go on this long adventure to get one!"
So that gives me an even better idea! The rules only say that the rod needs to be attuned to the plane, not a location, but that would be a good place to put in new rules. There is no place in any of the rules (that I have ever read anyway) that say how you attune the forked metal rod that is the spell focus. So you can simply create the attunement rules and put it in there. "Here is how you attune a rod. It is attuned to not only the plane, but a specific planet." This would be no different really than what was done with the Interplanetary Teleport spell and it would also fix the problem of trying to figure out what planet you ended up on when you Plane Shift.
Frankly... I think plane shift at 5th level is too bad-ass as it stands. That's something that I wish we'd had the grit to fix when we did the game, perhaps bumping it up to 8th level for all classes involved.
Citing plane shift as a problem, in other words, isn't something that's fair to use to attack interplanetary teleport. Since plane shift kinda breaks a LOT of rules by being 5th level as it stands.
I wasn't really trying to attack the spell so much. I was just trying to point out a potential problem so that it could be addressed. Honestly I agree that 5th level is too low level for Plane Shift, but I would probably just bump it up to 7th level so that it would be equal to arcane casters. Slightly less of a change that way and in my mind 13th level is really powerful already.
| James Sutter Contributor |
The planets in the solar system were definitely influenced by science fiction both old and new (including Simmons's amazing Hyperion series), as well as by my limited knowledge of astronomy. The universe is filled with weird types of planets--tidally heated worlds, gas giants, worlds with eccentric orbits--and it was a lot of fun to try to imagine what might live in such places. And for what it's worth, I suspect you'll see more about all of them in the future...
ciretose
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Plane shift leaves a LOT open for the GM to get in there and mess with you. When you cast plane shift, where exactly you land is left up to the GM. It also requires a pretty unusual material component—if a GM wants to limit where a plane shift spell can bring you, he can easilly say "The rod you need for a material component is super rare—go on this long adventure to get one!"
Frankly... I think plane shift at 5th level is too bad-ass as it stands. That's something that I wish we'd had the grit to fix when we did the game, perhaps bumping it up to 8th level for all classes involved.
Citing plane shift as a problem, in other words, isn't something that's fair to use to attack interplanetary teleport. Since plane shift kinda breaks a LOT of rules by being 5th level as it stands.
DM's need to be DM's.
The example you gave above is perfect. Players need to trust the DM they play with, and the DM needs to be creative about how things work in context with the world.
You can't draw out every permutation of every event without making an unplayable complicated book. And the player doesn't get to put out every cheese maneuver loophole they can imagine.
When someone said they would put a lich phylactery on another planet, my first thought was "Unguarded item is stolen by aliens, plot twist with fun side quest ensues..."
If you want to run the game, run the game. If you want to play the game, play the game. Players don't get to run the game. Deus Ex Machina is always the DM trump card.
Mothman
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The planets in the solar system were definitely influenced by science fiction both old and new (including Simmons's amazing Hyperion series), as well as by my limited knowledge of astronomy. The universe is filled with weird types of planets--tidally heated worlds, gas giants, worlds with eccentric orbits--and it was a lot of fun to try to imagine what might live in such places. And for what it's worth, I suspect you'll see more about all of them in the future...
I wish you hadn't edited out the rest of what you wrote James. It was excellent advise, and just about exactly what I have been thinking of posting (but put far more articulately and succinctly ... and with just enough of a hint of cheekiness to underline the point).
Thanks for giving us an insight into your thoughts on the Golarion solar system anyway.
| Skaorn |
Kain Darkwind wrote:The four books in this series, "Hyperion," "Fall of Hyperion," "Endymion," and "Rise of Endymion" are BRILLIANT novels. Among the best science fiction I've read, in fact. Absolutely recommended. And while they're science fiction... they've got a lot of stuff in there that's also really inspiring for a magic-filled fantasy setting as well.James Jacobs wrote:I know that Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" and "Endymion" books were great sources of inspiration for James Sutter when he invented the majority of the planets.So worth checking out, along with more Planet Stories.
If you haven't read it, I'd also suggest "The Terror" by Simmons too. It's historical fiction based on the Franklin Expedition, the worst arctic expedition disaster in British history. It has cannibals and a demon polar bear :).
| KaeYoss |
When someone said they would put a lich phylactery on another planet, my first thought was "Unguarded item is stolen by aliens, plot twist with fun side quest ensues..."
"Today, Taldan scholars finally had a breakthrough deciphering an ancient instription found on several seemingly unreachable places. Apparently, it translates to:
'Whispering Ruler. We have obtained your soul gem. Bring us all the star metal of your world or we will destroy it.'
Tar-Baphon was unavailable for comment."
LazarX
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The other planets in the "standard" AD&D campaign worlds were never even mentioned within their own product lines; Spelljammer had supplements for each other campaign world detailing their Crystal Spheres.
Not entirely true. Some of Oerth's celestial bodies were given treatment in the original boxed set, mainly for the purposes of calendar use. i.e. special aspect days or holidays etc. Tasselhoff traveled to one of Krynn's moons in Dragonlance years before Spelljammer came out. Abeir was the "Lost World" of the Forgotten Realms setting. What spelljammer brought to the table in each setting, was further and a consistent level of development appropriate with the greater need having actual space travel brought.
| James Sutter Contributor |
James Sutter wrote:The planets in the solar system were definitely influenced by science fiction both old and new (including Simmons's amazing Hyperion series), as well as by my limited knowledge of astronomy. The universe is filled with weird types of planets--tidally heated worlds, gas giants, worlds with eccentric orbits--and it was a lot of fun to try to imagine what might live in such places. And for what it's worth, I suspect you'll see more about all of them in the future...I wish you hadn't edited out the rest of what you wrote James. It was excellent advise, and just about exactly what I have been thinking of posting (but put far more articulately and succinctly ... and with just enough of a hint of cheekiness to underline the point).
Thanks for giving us an insight into your thoughts on the Golarion solar system anyway.
Thanks, Moth. And I edited the post on the off chance that I was being too snide, but for everyone who missed it, my personal opinion boils down to: Go with whichever interpretation of Greater Teleport sounds the most fun to you. While we made a decision for the campaign setting, we're not going to errata the setting-neutral Core Rulebook solely to impose that interpretation on everyone. And while that may make the game slightly less elegant and consistent... well, I'll put utility over elegance any day. (If you doubt me, just look at my car.)
Purple Dragon Knight
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Suggestion: Greater Teleport only works between two adjacent planets when they are closest to one another (i.e. about once a year, if both planet do one revolution around the sun per year) and you know this via a Knowledge: Geography DC 30 check or DC 25 Profession: Astronomer/Astrologer check. Or via specifically designed 3rd level spell cast to determine the exact teleport time.
This is a one way trip as planets move fast in space: the two planets are close enough to one another for about one second. You have to wait for a year to come back in this manner... in theory, a mage can journey from planet to planet like this, timing each jump: Golarion to Castrovel, then to Aballon. Waiting time between Castrovel and Aballon could be less than a year or more than a year... depending on the relative position of Aballon. Rule of thumb: 50% chance of less than a year or more... 50/50. Then you roll a d100 to know how much less or more than a year you must wait. Regardless of the results, once you are on Aballon, it takes at least a year to make it back to Castrovel, then you do the percentage thing to know how long you wait for Golarion to align back.
This could make space journey accessible to Greater Teleporters and result in YEARS of space venturing due to the wait times, especially if you go to Aucturn, which is 9 planets removed from Golarion... Of course, such a traveler would do well to surround himself with a decent party for protection......
I smell a grand journey in space AP coming... :)
...an AP that actually accounts for aging rules would rock! (i.e. you leave Golarion with a 20 year old party, you come back with a 50 year old party... the fighters are old and cranky and don't have feats that are all relying on STR and DEX anymore, and the wizards are much older, with incredibly low HPs due to low Con but super smart and wise....)
Elves and dwarves just remain the same the whole way... :)
| Aelryinth RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 |
There's two major themes in early 'pulp' sci-fi, the 'red planet' and the 'green planet' stories, set on 'mars' and 'Venus' respectively.
All the 'Red Planet' stories, generally made famous by John Carter and Barsoom, but with a LOT of other authors, are generally set on a desert world of red sands, dried up canals, ancient fallen empires, strange creatures, using fallen tech, maybe telepathy, and swords.
The 'Venus' series are set on a 'primitive empire' world, the lands are jungles of incredible size and vitality, the women beautiful, the males brutal and ape-like, and strange tech comes from stranger races that might be evolving or devolving, as opposed to 'fallen and dying' like Barsoom.
Also remember that the John Carter tales had a 'Jupiter' world, too, with the Skeleton Men of Jupiter and their invisible space ships.
Mix with a proud helping of Cthulhu mythos of aliens from beyond the stars, some crashed superscience vessels, and you've the gist of the PF solar system. Heck, the whole Mwangi race of peoples might have their origins from space!
==Aelryinth
| Aelryinth RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 |
The one problem with the Spelljammer setting was that it basically invented a whole bunch of weird D@D worlds, but didn't really invent any worlds that felt 'alien', in the way of Red and Green Planet stories. Sure, they were grand, but a world of mind flayers is a world of mind flayers...it's a dungeon delve done large.
Playing on the Red Planet Barsoom, where nothing is traditional D&D at all, is a completely different experience. You got worlds in D&D where other major races dominated (hell, there was a world where multiple Tarrasques ran around), but with humans up in the sky soaring through space, it never got the 'alien' experience that Sci Fi is famous for.
==Aelryinth
| Gilfalas |
DM's need to be DM's.
The example you gave above is perfect. Players need to trust the DM they play with, and the DM needs to be creative about how things work in context with the world.
As well, GM's need to learn how to storytell and ration knowledge. Simply adding a requirement that you can not telelport to any place you have not physically been before solves nearly every problem teleport spells cause frankly.
As well actually enforcing the limits of what a CHARACTER would know as opposed to what nearly all PEOPLE of OUR world know can often solve these issues. Most characters do not realise those objects in the sky ARE planets, or other suns or such. Those are the gods or the spirits of past ancestors or hero's etc. Who would think to TRAVEL to such a concept?
Enforce setting appropriately and most of these odd issues resolve themselves.
Peronally I think all the greater travel spells (both distance and planar) are woefully low level for what they do. The 'traveling' disappears in a game where Teleport and Greater Teleport are possessed by a party.
| Oliver McShade |
The problem is that the old game... NPC were 1st level character
Then NPC became 1-3 level characters
Then NPC became 1-5 level characters
Now NPC have a level chart that goes 1-20 level.
....................
1st ed = By the time you got to 10th level, you were already Legendary. It was time to start fighting other worldly creatures that could plane shift (mind flyer), teleport (beholders), and traveling across the world.
NOW
Well, everyone is wanting to get to level 15 +, and people now want to move travel spells back. Now you have to be 20th level to be EPIC instead of 15th level.
| Eric The Pipe |
I'd have to say, my favorite part of this thread is it started as a nerd saying, hey do you guys think this is as cool as i do, and it turned into something incredibly different.
note: I can call this guy a nerd, I'm playing in his campaign, I've known him since high school and would call him such things too his face... I'm saying he's my friend.
| dungeonmaster heathy |
Ravingdork wrote:Ever since I read the descriptions of those planets in the Campaign Book I've had my heart set to playing in a Golarion Pathfinder game that would get high enough level for me to travel to those places and enjoy some new, unique experiences from my GMs imagination (and maybe build a base of operations there, or hide a phylactery or something).
NOW THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
Sure it can. Since you state in the paragraph above that your GM has an imagination, I’m sure he / she can figure out a way to introduce interplanetary adventure despite a slavish adherence to RAW (and campaign RAW over core RAW at that).
People in this thread have already suggested scrolls of Interplanetary Teleport, or interplanetary portals (and we know that these exist by campaign RAW). Other ideas include discovering a still functioning space craft, hitching a ride (with difficulty of course) on the back of a shantak, or even playing an adventure (be it a one off or part of a whole campaign) that is set on one of the other planet’s in Golarion’s system, thereby sidestepping the travel issue.
Come on. Use your imagination! Encourage your GM to use theirs! Don’t be restricted by a ‘rules change’ even if you feel you must use it. Paizo is actually providing you the tools to help your imagination along, not stopping you from having fun.
And although this may fall on deaf ears, if you feel that a ‘rule’ is restricting your fun, then don’t use. Encourage your GM to follow the same thinking. There’s really not much point in playing a game that is not fun, is there?
Remember the Lich's basement?......heh heh....
he figured out how to get to Barsoom.
LazarX
|
The one problem with the Spelljammer setting was that it basically invented a whole bunch of weird D@D worlds, but didn't really invent any worlds that felt 'alien', in the way of Red and Green Planet stories. Sure, they were grand, but a world of mind flayers is a world of mind flayers...it's a dungeon delve done large.
Playing on the Red Planet Barsoom, where nothing is traditional D&D at all, is a completely different experience. You got worlds in D&D where other major races dominated (hell, there was a world where multiple Tarrasques ran around), but with humans up in the sky soaring through space, it never got the 'alien' experience that Sci Fi is famous for.
==Aelryinth
Spelljammer was never intended to bey "SciFi" It's inspiration was more along the lines of fanciful, pseudo-midieval thoughts of what travel to other worlds would be like.
The other thing to take in mind was that while a few supplements were published, Spelljammer never quite "took off". If it had lasted a long enough time, we might have seen some more themes explored.
| Benicio Del Espada |
Spelljammer was never intended to bey "SciFi" It's inspiration was more along the lines of fanciful, pseudo-midieval thoughts of what travel to other worlds would be like.
The other thing to take in mind was that while a few supplements were published, Spelljammer never quite "took off". If it had lasted a long enough time, we might have seen some more themes explored.
I was always fond of the concept, but felt the execution was lacking. I hope that if PF ever gets around to flying spaceships, they'll go more for a Firefly feel, rather than a system (phlogiston, crystal spheres, gravity planes) that bends things so far into fantasy physics that it makes things more wonky than fun.
Some folks may like ships with gravity planes and such, but I thought it was more hassle than fun. YMMV.
Gorbacz
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Gilfalas wrote:Most characters do not realise those objects in the sky ARE planets, or other suns or such. Those are the gods or the spirits of past ancestors or hero's etc. Who would think to TRAVEL to such a concept?Planescape characters.
Actually, Planescape characters wouldn't give much of a flip about celestial bodies when they can visit fascinating places such as Paraelemental Plane of Vacuum...
| Kain Darkwind |
LazarX wrote:Abeir was the "Lost World" of the Forgotten Realms setting.Uh, no. The idea that Abeir was in any way separate from Toril was invented by Wizards of the Coast for Fourth Edition. Toril is a shortening of the one planet's name, Abeir-Toril. Abeir and Toril are the same thing.
Were the same thing. No longer, as established by, as you said, Fourth Edition.
LazarX
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LazarX wrote:Abeir was the "Lost World" of the Forgotten Realms setting.Uh, no. The idea that Abeir was in any way separate from Toril was invented by Wizards of the Coast for Fourth Edition. Toril is a shortening of the one planet's name, Abeir-Toril. Abeir and Toril are the same thing.
Actually as I recall it kind of went back and forth between being separate worlds and being two names for the same world.
| Epic Meepo RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 |
Actually as I recall it kind of went back and forth between being separate worlds and being two names for the same world.
Prior to the run-up to 4e (starting in maybe 2008 or so), there was absolutely zero ambiguity about Abeir-Toril being a single world. See Cyclopedia of the Realms (copyright 1987), page 19. To the best of my knowledge, no source published in the 20 years following that product's release contradicted the statement therein that Toril is just a short-hand form of the full name, Abeir-Toril, both of which refer to the same single world.
If you can find a reference in a product published prior to 2008 that says otherwise, feel free to cite it and prove me wrong.
| OgeXam RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32 |
As it has been stated you need the tuning fork for a specific plane to go there. Though in the spell description its cost not listed. When gp value is not listed it is normally assumed to be < 1gp.
So use limited wish "When a limited wish spell duplicates a spell with a material component that costs more than 1,000 gp, you must provide that component (in addition to the 1,500 gp diamond component for this spell)." Unless the tuning fork is made from something costing more then 1,000 gp you can use a 7th level spell to get around the issue of using a tuning fork.
| OgeXam RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32 |
Another thought on plane shift.
It requires a tuning for attunded to that plane of existance.
Are not all the planets on the material plane? So a tuning fork for the material plane works for all locations on the material plane.
You would only need to know of a location to shift within 5-500 miles of. Though if you do so to say a very small planetoid only 10 miles across you may end up in the dead of space.
| KaeYoss |
Jonathon Vining wrote:Actually, Planescape characters wouldn't give much of a flip about celestial bodies when they can visit fascinating places such as Paraelemental Plane of Vacuum...Gilfalas wrote:Most characters do not realise those objects in the sky ARE planets, or other suns or such. Those are the gods or the spirits of past ancestors or hero's etc. Who would think to TRAVEL to such a concept?Planescape characters.
That plane sucks.
| KaeYoss |
LazarX wrote:Abeir was the "Lost World" of the Forgotten Realms setting.Uh, no. The idea that Abeir was in any way separate from Toril was invented by Wizards of the Coast for Fourth Edition. Toril is a shortening of the one planet's name, Abeir-Toril. Abeir and Toril are the same thing.
It started out as Toril, but was later renamed Abeir-Toril so it would show up first in alphabetical lists.
Or that's what they told me.
| KaeYoss |
Another thought on plane shift.
It requires a tuning for attunded to that plane of existance.
Are not all the planets on the material plane? So a tuning fork for the material plane works for all locations on the material plane.
You would only need to know of a location to shift within 5-500 miles of. Though if you do so to say a very small planetoid only 10 miles across you may end up in the dead of space.
"Akiton" is a crappy destination, too. You end up 5-500 miles away from the planet. Depending on what you roll that could still be within the planet's atmosphere and/or gravity well. But what's better? Falling 5 miles towards a strange planet, or being overboard in space? DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Anyway, saying that each planet needs his own tuning fork sounds like a reasonable ruling.