Contact Other Plane?

[Peter Stewart]

So, looking at this spell (and its errata so you can't take 10) I'm left asking under what circumstances it is assumed a PC might cast it? High chance of a single poor roll taking you out of the game as a factor for weeks to months? That seems pretty harsh for a large chance of getting a lie as an answer.

Is there something I'm missing here that redeems this spell in some way, because by my reading it isn't even ability drain or something similar that can be explicitly removed by restoration / heal / greater restoration / break enchantment. By a RAW reading there is literally no way to remove the penalties for the duration. Is that intended, or were there supposed to be ways of 'curing' casters afflicted by the spell outside of wish / miracle?

Just wondering, because I can't ever see it being cast at any table I've been at.

[Kayerloth]

And I doubt you ever will unless it is in a campaign where access to alternatives is difficult at best. Commune for instance is in every way superior (and likely deliberately so).

The penalty to success rate/usefulness is out of whack, it is either inconsequential or far too severe a penalty depending on if it can be removed early or not. If that penalty is in fact not removable (which I agree seems the case) I wouldn't risk any DC I could fail ... which in turn makes it a very unreliable spell unless you have multiple ways to learn the answer. In which case why use it? Are you going to spam the outer planar powers to get enough responses to rely on it? That doesn't sound like a good idea to me (they resent you asking just once never mind several times daily).

At best if it were my wizard he'd have to be dirt poor, between 9th and 12th level and feeling desperate to even consider it. More wealth and I'd either pay someone else to cast it for me or buy a scroll of Commune for someone else to use. At 13th+ I'd be very likely to grab Limited Wish and use it for a Commune instead.