D&D: Five Things to Remember When You’re Hopping the Planes
Are you about to embark on a planar journey? Here are five things you’lll want to remember when plane hopping.
Travelling the planes in D&D can be a dangerous prospect. Once you leave the safety of the Prime Material Plane behind, there’s a surprising amount of hostility towards regular plain old mortals. Whether it’s that the whole place you’re going to is made of fire. Or there’s no air because you’re buried beneath tons of rocks. Or worse, there’s just demons everywhere. And everything is made of fire.
Look it’s a tricky business. Which is why, if you’re thinking about adventuring thrugh the multiverse of D&D, you’ll want to do a little prep beforehand. Here’s five things to remember when hopping the planes.
Energy Resistance
One of the first (and sadly last) things many people will notice about travel to other planes of existence, is that other planes are often hostile to nonnative life. The Elemental Plane of Fire is one example, but so are the Nine Hells, the Abyss, even Limbo can be a bad time.
If you suspect you might be traveling planes, you’ll want to find some way to gain energy resistance. Whether that’s from a spell or magic item like a potion or more permanent item, you’ll be glad you’re immune, or at least resistant, to fire when you wind up in Avernus.
Food and Water
Courtesy of D&D Hero’s Feast Cookbook
If you live long enough to actually explore the planes, the next thing you’ll need is a source of food. Of course, most of you have rations, but once those run out, what are you going to do? If you’re lucky, you might be able to forage for something, but do you really want to eat abyssal chickens?
Better to bring along a magic item like Murlynd’s Spoon. Or to load yourself up with Create Food and Water or Goodberries. There are so many magical ways to make sure you can eat, it’s a wonder that every D&D campaign setting isn’t some kind of socialist paradise where everyone’s basic needs are met because Goodberries are handed out to the needy and spells like Plant Growth make for bumper crops every year, even when there’s a drought.
Tongues/Comprehend Languages
image credit: Wizards of the Coast
So you’ve lived. You’ve eaten. At some point, you’re going to have to be able to talk to any locals you find. As always in D&D, magic is the answer. You might be lucky enough to speak the exact language you need, but if not, spells like Comprehend Languages or Tongues can be handy ways to understand that that fire elemental is yelling at you to turn back because there’s a Firenado about to sweep through the area.
A Map
Maps are always good. But you’ll want more than just any map. You’ll want a map of the cosmos. Or at least of how it is you ended up where you are. Because once you’re in another plane, you’re typically there for a while. Unless you know exactly where you’re going, the odds of surviving without any mishaps grow increasingly smaller.
But you’ll especially want a map so you can get the most important thing…
A Way Home
There’s no place like it. And unless you’re traveling the planes of your own free will, getting back to it can be much harder than clicking your heels three times and hoping.
Better hope to know where a portal is, or at the very least to have a compass or a key to a portal to get you back home.
Good luck out there on the planes!
