A while ago, I asked James about using teleportation as a means of exploration. Since he feels that him answering answering rules questions causes trouble, he directed me here.
So, the question: could I use two gate spells to go to new places? The description does say I arrive at precisely where I want to go.
Unlike teleport it has no restrictions on familiarity, so yes. Theoretically you can even do it with just Two Planeshifts.
Gate doesn't say you get to pick where on a Plane you'd end up though.
yeh - an unwritten assumption seems to be that when you go to a random place on the plane that random place is always on golarion, also if you arrive miles from your destination that the place you arrive is only horizontally separated from where you wanted to go - if you're feeling a mean GM at that time you could make them appear in the void of space with either option
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Gate doesn't say you get to pick where on a Plane you'd end up though.
Actually, I think it does. "As a mode of planar travel, a gate spell functions much like a plane shift spell, except that the gate opens precisely at the point you desire."
That's explicitly one of the ways that gate differs from plane shift.
I'd rule you need at least some idea of where you want the gate to open for it to be precise. If you have never seen the place or don't have a description then while "the front steps of the temple of Abadar in Absalom" is probably good enough, it will fail if there isn't such a temple, or if there are no steps..
I'm also not sure any point to point transport spell is any good for exploration though,no matter how accurate.
I'd rule you need at least some idea of where you want the gate to open for it to be precise.
Shrug -- that's easy. I want the gate to open exactly one thousand miles due south of the front door of the pub across the street from my apartment." If I have an overland flight spell up, I can even make it open five thousand feet in the air above that point, which gives me all the time in the world to go through, do some aerial reconnaissance, and if necessary find a likely looking landmark to visit tomorrow at ground level. If that spot turns out to be in the middle of the ocean, then the scouting won't take long, and I can try again tomorrow at two thousand miles distance.
I'm also not sure any point to point transport spell is any good for exploration though,no matter how accurate.
It would be fan-f*cking-tastic! Imagine Christopher Columbus trying to find a new route to China. He starts in, let's say, Lisbon. On Monday, he gates one thousand miles west and finds water -- and comes back. On Tuesday, he gates two thousand miles west and finds more water. On Wednesday he gates three thousand miles west and may or may not see the coast of North America (Boston is about thirty-one hundred miles due west of Lisbon). On Thursday, he finds himself over a virgin forest somewhere in the vicinity of what will eventually be Chicago. On Friday, having done a good day's work, he decides to tell the King that he has found China, maybe shows the king a few tree branches or whatever as proof, and then take the weekend off. On Monday, he now has a landmark in the heart of the new continent and can start teleporting explorers and their equipment there.
Using the transport spells, he saved himself literally months of travel and avoided nearly all of the risks. No worries about storms at sea, about a mutinous crew, about running out of supplies, or about bad navigation getting him lost. Any equipment he decides he needs is available on a next-day basis. He also gets to sleep in his own bed every night and is never further than two standard actions from home base in case there's trouble.
ETA: by the way, I know that gate can only be used for planar travel. So these transportation thingamajiggers are done via two gates. Lisbon to the astral plane, followed by the astral plane to America. That may require as many as four gates per day, but that's not an actual problem, just an expense.
Also does the spell say you need an idea of where you want the gate to open to work?
Broadly speaking. You need to "desire" it to open in a specific point, which means that you at least need to have enough of a concept of the point to desire it. "An idea" is pretty vague, though.
I personally, have "an idea" that Albania is a country, that as a result, it has a head of state, and that the head of state has an official residence. So as a result, I have an idea of a location describable as "in front of the door of the official residence of the head of state of Albania." [I suppose, to be formal, the assumed existence of a door is part of my "idea."]
That said,... I had to look up that the capital of Albania is Tirana, that Bujar Nishani is the head of state (with the title of President), and that he lives in the Presidential Palace at Rruga e Elbasanit, Tirana 1044. And, as far as I can tell from the photographs, it even has a door! But, even after Wikipedia gave me the address, I'm sure I couldn't actually find it on a map (or walking around the city). My point, though, is that that's explicitly a level of detail I don't need to have.
As a GM, I'd rule that things get a big murkier when you can't define exactly what you want. "The official residence of the head of state of Albania" is fine. "The best restaurant in Prague" isn't, because that's too subjective. "The French Riviera" might be problematic because it could be anywhere from Toulon to the Italian border. And, of course, "the castle of the present Emperor of Austria" simply doesn't exist.
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A while ago, I asked James about using teleportation as a means of exploration. Since he feels that him answering answering rules questions causes trouble, he directed me here.
So, the question: could I use two gate spells to go to new places? The description does say I arrive at precisely where I want to go.
As written, the destination is related to desires. Do you desire a "new" destination? If so, it should be able to be used to find new places. This does make it very much up to the GM as to where you end up, but seems like you could use the spell in this manner.
As for using multiple castings to reach different points on the same plane, that is up to the GM, since it is based on desires. Do you desire to go to a point on this plane? If so, the spell fails because it can only go to other planes, so it cannot meet your desires. You could certainly desire to go to another plane, get bored within seconds, and desire to go somewhere else, and that would meet the requirements. Kinda silly in the semantics, but that seems to be the wording.
The main thing here is that when you leave the plane you are on, you might find yourself in a situation where you cannot gate further. You could even be ambushed after exiting the first gate. Multiple castings requires being able to cast after exiting the first gate. Just something to keep in mind.
To clarify, here's what I'm going for:
I'm not looking to explore new lands so much as fast travel to places that are new to me. As written, however, greater teleport doesn't let me do that unless I have a good picture reference, since it's meant as a "town portal" sort of spell. This is to prevent scry & fry (from and at the PCs), and to keep PCs from interfering with the Story™. So my idea is to use two gate spells (one to a safe plane, and the other to my real destination) to get the location for the first time, then use greater teleport and such when I want to return there.
Interplanetary Teleport is the "I only have a vague description" exploration spell. There's no reason it shouldn't work fine once you've Plane Shifted to the appropriate location. As long as you've heard of a spot on that plane IT will get you there.
Gate is a ninth level spell. It ought to put you precisely where you want to be. That's certainly how I'd rule it as a GM!
Interplanetary Teleport is the "I only have a vague description" exploration spell.
Yeah, this.
From the spell description: "This spell functions as teleport, except there is truly no range limit and you do not need to have seen your destination, [...] If you have a specific location on a planet in mind, you arrive there without a chance of failure;"
The main issue is what "in mind" means. I'm not sure what kind of "new-to-you" exploration you're trying to do; certainly a city or country you've heard of but never visited would work, as would latitude/longitude coordinates. It might be problematic if you want to visit "the mint where this coin in my hand was made," but that still sounds like a "specific location" to me, and it's certainly "in mind."
About the only thing I can think of that wouldn't work is a destination that you genuinely have no idea about, in which case you couldn't even describe it, since a description IS an idea.
ETA: remember that both gate and interplanetary teleport are competing with wish for power. They should be able to do nearly anything.
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To clarify, here's what I'm going for:
I'm not looking to explore new lands so much as fast travel to places that are new to me. As written, however, greater teleport doesn't let me do that unless I have a good picture reference, since it's meant as a "town portal" sort of spell. This is to prevent scry & fry (from and at the PCs), and to keep PCs from interfering with the Story™. So my idea is to use two gate spells (one to a safe plane, and the other to my real destination) to get the location for the first time, then use greater teleport and such when I want to return there.
Sounds like you are the GM, so you have all the control. Personally, I don't think you can use two gates like this because your "desire" the is the second destination, not the first one.
Regarding Town Portal, no, that is a very different concept. A Town Portal (like from diablo) only takes you from your current location to one of a handful of predesignated locations, and at each such location is a magical device capable of teleporting without error between the other predesignated locations. Town Portal would not be a 9th level spell.
Regarding transportation via 9th level spells, Wish can be used to transport to any plane. I'm sure you could use that spell to avoid detection too.