Balance help please: spell level

[Eldan]

Planar Slip
Conjuration (Teleportation)
Level:Clr X, Wiz/Sor Y, Rgr Z(?)
Components: V,S,F
Range: Personal
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 1 standard action

With a gesture and a few quick words, you make single step, leaving one reality and entering another.

This spell moves the caster from his current plane to the corresponding spot on any Coexistant Plane (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/planes.htm#coexistentPlanes) (such as from the material to the ethereal) or, if he is in a spot where they touch, a Coterminous Plane (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/planes.htm#coterminousPlanes) (such as the plane of shadow).


So, which level does this spell belong on, and is the wording in any way unclear or ambiguous? I'm thinking somewhere around level 5 or 6, since it's clearly not as good as planeshift. Compared to ethereal jaunt, it allows to stay indefinitely, but does not in itself provide a way to move back. However, it also allows crossing over into any number of planes.

[jiriku]

Not less than level 6. While it's inferior to plane shift in that it allows you to travel to only a limited set of planes and only to one point on each plane, it's superior in that your arrival is accurate and you need not have been to that point on that plane before to arrive accurately. Even greater plane shift requires you to have been there before in order to shift accurately.

[Eldan]

On the other hand, you actually need to find the corresponding point on the coterminous plane, which isn't always that easy.
Want to get to the sanctum sanctorum of hierophant Pius' ethereal fortress-chapel? It's corresponding point is that volcano over there.

[jiriku]

True. Planar travel is a major game-changer that radically reshapes what characters can do. This spell, for example, allows you to just arbitrarily leave any threatening situation or deathtrap. As a verbal-only spell, it can even be used while grappled.

Hmm, I had actually glossed over the personal range though. If you can't take others along, it is useless for party transport. On that basis I could see it at level 5, comparable to teleport (less general utility, but still offering a unique capability).

[cooperflood]

I think jiriku advice is pretty accurate. It's certainly a game changing spell so 5th level is the lowest possible level. My biggest problem with the spell is that it's so DM dependent. They have complete control over where you end up (see earlier volcano example).

My vote: Cleric 5, Wizard 6

And this spell clearly doesn't belong on the Ranger spell list.

[I_Got_This_Name]

So, it basically sends you ethereal, except with the possibility of going to other ethereal-like places, then makes you cast it again to get back?

Fifth or sixth, sure, around where they put Ethereal Jaunt. To me it doesn't seem as good as that one, but it might be better in some circumstances (and, of course, it is a planar travel spell).

[Eldan]

It was pretty much intended as a standard travel spell... it brings you from the border ethereal to the deep ethereal and from there to the elemental planes... yes, planeshift would be quicker, but this is cheaper.
I think I'll put it down as level 5, for now.

[Aran Banks]

in staying with the tradition of clerics being better than sorc/wiz at planar stuff, I'd make it one level higher for sor/wiz.

[FlamingKobold]

I'd take plane shift - 1 level. So cleric 4, wizard 6. Maybe cleric 5.

[Violet Octopus]

I can't help with balance, but the spell doesn't make clear what happens if you attempt to travel to a coterminous plane that isn't connected to where you are. Spell does nothing? Spell doesn't get expended? Something squishy?

[Orzel]

Clr 4, Wiz/Sor 6, Rgr 4

Because it gives so much control to the DM, you'll have to now what exists on both planes to use it effectively. You might get only 1 or 2 great escapes before you plane slip into someone's meal right before they bite.

[Aran Banks]

well, seeing as the planes everywhere except the PM are boundless in their existance (we're confined to a planet, they're got inifinity), I don't think there's too much of a chance of being eaten by a monster or anything.

Of course, that's totally up to the DM.

I think there needs to be a "look into plane X" spell. Like a level 1 spell that lets you see what's going on in close range in one plane for a minute/level.

[Eldan]

Well, See INvisibility does it for the ethereal.

[Peregrine]

Looking away from spell level for a second (if only to stop me making "L-E-V-E-L" jokes -- oops, too late), isn't it possible to cross coterminous planar boundaries without a spell? I thought that was pretty much the definition of "coterminous".

Planes that touch at specific points are coterminous. Where they touch, a connection exists, and travelers can leave one reality behind and enter the other.
Okay, that's pretty vague, but page 150 of the DMG adds:

It's possible, for example, to sail from Hades to the Abyss on the River Styx.

[ericgrau]

Better than ethereal jaunt, a 7th level spell for both clerics and wizards. It's 2nd use is slightly better than shadow walk, a 6th level spell for wizards only.

Yeah, the corresponding point thing is what makes this better than plane shift and the unlimited duration plus multiple options is what makes it better than ethereal jaunt. I'd say Wiz 8 / Clr 8 / Rgr lolno. I might let a level 17 or higher ranger / horizon walker have it for fluff reasons.

[Eldan]

It's worse than either of these. It doesn't provide a way back, and you can only use it at intersecting points. It's especially worse than planeshift: on 90% of all planes, you can never use it.