Plane Shift: The Next Plane Out of Here

Usable By: Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Spell Level: 7

School: Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Duration: Instantaneous

Components: V, S, M (a forked, metal rod worth at least 250 gp, attuned to a particular plane of existence)

You and up to eight willing creatures who link hands in a circle are transported to a different plane of existence. You can specify a target destination in general terms, such as the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire or the palace of Dispater on the second level of the Nine Hells, and you appear in or near that destination. If you are trying to reach the City of Brass, for example, you might arrive in its Street of Steel, before its Gate of Ashes, or looking at the city from across the Sea of Fire, at the GM’s discretion.

Alternatively, if you know the sigil sequence of a teleportation circle on another plane of existence, this spell can take you to that circle. If the teleportation circle is too small to hold all the creatures you transported, they appear in the closest unoccupied spaces next to the circle.

You can use this spell to banish an unwilling creature to another plane. Choose a creature within your reach and make a melee spell attack against it. On a hit, the creature must make a Charisma saving throw. If the creature fails this save, it is transported to a random location on the plane of existence you specify. A creature so transported must find its own way back to your current plane of existence.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Plane Shift has always been peculiar to me. On one hand, this spell clearly denotes the upper tier of D&D to now scope all of time and space. You can go anywhere, see everything, and fight gods or devils or sentient piles of pastry. On the other hand, this spell just doesn’t work at a lot of tables. Many are committed to a single planar story. Worlds in which the planes aren’t explored or even considered can find Plane Shift is an abrupt wrench thrown into the narrative that deviates from the main story and can’t really exist.

At most tables, specifically ones playing in one of the many worlds D&D typically takes place in, Plane Shift is kind of like Water Breathing in that it just opens up more areas to explore otherwise cut off from the group. Your adventures no longer need to obey the laws of physics or be stationed on an earthly biome; now, you can explore hell and heaven, delve into a realm of pure fire, and retrieve magic from the worlds of fairies or undead spirits. Its something your DM prompts you with first when you reach 13th level; they’ll drop hints of magic you could use to help the main plot on another world, and Plane Shift then acts as a way for the druid or cleric to get you there. This use case doesn’t leave it really feeling like a spell. It's more like a means of transportation, likely better made as a magic item. Teleportation Circle feels like a similar effect to me; this probably shouldn’t be using spell slots this way, but instead gated by DM intervention.

Banishing other creatures is nearly entirely fluff, as needing ot hit it and have it fail a saving throw to banish is an enormous ask when the Banishment spell exists three levels lower than this. Yes, this can be permanent for things native to the plane you’re on, but you’re not typically going to need this kind of super save or die to win the day.

Ultimately I do really like Plane Shift just because I love the idea of exploring other worlds. It's like fantasy Star Trek in a way. Your DM definitely needs to prompt you first, otherwise, this spell can feel either worthless because you’ll have no reason to use it, or like a giant middle finger to the DM when you decide to force them to improvise a bunch of plane-spanning lore out of nowhere. If you want to use Plane Shift, I’d talk to your DM first; it can be a great time, but isn’t something every table is going to want.

5e Spells

Plane Shift: The Next Plane Out of Here