The description of the spell says "you can't make out details of the terrain or areas you pass over during transit, nor can you predict perfectly where your travel will end.".
If one can't see the terrain or areas, what is there left to see?
But as if that was not enough, the spell states that "It's impossible to judge distances accurately". Whut?
So, even if the caster somehow manages to walk blindly in a straight line (which is impossible), even then he can wind up in the opposite direction, 2 or 3 times further from desired destination.
Then description says that "when the spell effect ends, you are shunted 1d10 x 100 feet in a random horizontal direction from your desired endpoint". So, basically, the user appears where he wanted. Well, that's confusing... If at the end of the spell, the user appears at where he wanted, is there any point walking to desired destination? Can he just cast the spell and then end it on the very next round, appearing at the desired destination?
It seems like my alchemist just wasted money on that Elixir of Shadow Walk when i desided to exploit the trick with Alchemical Allocation.
In the region of shadow, you move at a rate of 50 miles per hour, moving normally on the borders of the Plane of Shadow but much more rapidly relative to the Material Plane. Thus, you can use this spell to travel rapidly by stepping onto the Plane of Shadow, moving the desired distance, and then stepping back onto the Material Plane.
If you end the spell without moving (in the direction you want), your desierd end point is where you started.
Because of the blurring of reality between the Plane of Shadow and the Material Plane, you can't make out details of the terrain or areas you pass over during transit, nor can you predict perfectly where your travel will end. It's impossible to judge distances accurately, making the spell virtually useless for scouting or spying.
The above part of the spell means that the environment around you in the Shadow Plain is not an exact match to the relative environment of the Material Plain. You will know you are in the approximate terrain you want, just no specific details.
Actually, i have read the description again, and it seems that i only found those contradictions because i believed Shadow Walk was an analog to Wind Walk, while in truth it is something like a subway train or a transpot tube from futurama.
The spell says "In the region of shadow, you move at a rate of 50 miles per hour", it doesn't say "you can move", "you may move", or "you have land speed of 50 miles per hour". It says "you move 50 miles per hour", implying that you have no choise if you deside to use that spell. And even thought you cannot see terrain or areas, or judge distance (just like in subway), you still arrive at the desired location more or less.
The description of the spell says "you can't make out details of the terrain or areas you pass over during transit, nor can you predict perfectly where your travel will end.".
If one can't see the terrain or areas, what is there left to see?
The big picture.
You can see mountains and hills. You can't see precise silhouettes of the peak to know for sure which mountain or hill you see.
You can see that you're in a village. But the buildings shift and warp, so you're not entirely sure which street you're on (or is it an alley?), and you certainly can't recognize a particular building or monument.