Planar Travel (3.5e Variant Rule)

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Planar Travel

This rule system creates a new method for planar travel, and a unique combat system used in-between planes.

The main concept is that a character will transform into their "planar form" in order to fly between planes.


Planar Forms[edit]

Each planar form has:

  • 1 element
  • 5 attributes (wounds, speed, attack, defense, and magic)
  • Up to 6 abilities

Elements[edit]

Each Planar Form has an associated element (chosen the first time a character enters their planar form). The element determines the strengths and weaknesses of the character towards other elements, as well as skill selections.

The available elements are: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Ice, Electric, Dark, Light, Nature, Arcane, Chaos, Poison, Undead, and Mechanical.


Defender No Type Fire Water Earth Air Ice Electric Dark Light Nature Arcane Chaos Poison Undead Mechanical
Attacker
No Type W X
Fire W W W S W S S
Water S W S W W S
Earth S W W S W S X S
Air W W W S S S
Ice W S S W S
Electric S X S W W
Dark W S S W S W
Light W W S S
Nature W S S W W W
Arcane W W W S S S
Chaos S S W S W W W W X S
Poison S W S S S W X X
Undead W
Mechanical W S S S W W
S = Strong, W = Weak, X = No Effect

If an element is Strong against another element, it means that all damage dealt is multiplied by 1.5.

If an element is Weak against another element, it means that all damage dealt is divided by 2 (round down).

If an element has "No Effect" on another element, it means Abilities will not work against the foe.

Ability Points[edit]

Planar Forms get 10 Ability points per character level and also get bonuses from ranks in skills.

  • Knowledge (The Planes) gives 2 points per rank
  • Knowledge (Arcana) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type or Arcane element abilities and levels
  • Knowledge (Religion) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type, Light, or Dark element abilities and levels
  • Knowledge (Nature) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type or Nature element abilities and levels
  • An optional skill that can be added to the standard skill set as a class skill for all classes is Knowledge (Planar Travel). This skill gives 5 points per rank. If a feat or class ability grants a bonus to Knowledge (Planar Travel), 5 additional points are given for each point the bonus gives.

Ability Points are used to purchase Levels and Abilities. They do not need to be completely spent, and may be saved until more are gained.

Attributes[edit]

Wounds: Determines the amount of damage the character can take

  • Special: A character gains 5 Hit Points (HP) per Wound

Speed: Determines who goes first each round.

Attack: Determines the attack power of physical attacks.

Defense: Determines the defense power against attacks.

Magic: Determines the strength of special skills.

Levels[edit]

By spending Ability Points, a character may gain a level in an Element. The highest level of element they have is their primary element, and all other elements must be at most half the primary element's level.

To gain a level, a character must spend (Total Level * 3 + 2) in Ability Points. Total Level is the sum of all the levels in elements the character has.


Level Ability Point Cost
1 5
2 8
3 11
4 14
5 17
6+ Total Level * 3 + 2


Levels grant access to new Abilities (as they require levels to use) and also increase Attributes. Each level increases attributes in the following way:


  • Strong (S) gives 6 at first level, and 4 every level thereafter.
  • Normal (N) gives 4 at first level, and 3 every level thereafter.
  • Weak (W) gives 2 at first level, and 2 every level thereafter.


The following table shows which elements are Strong (S), Normal (N), and Weak (W) with each attribute.


Element Strength Magic Speed Defense Wounds
No Type S W N N S
Fire S S N W N
Water W S N N N
Earth N N W S S
Air N S S N W
Ice N S W S N
Electric S S S W W
Dark S S W N N
Light S S W N N
Nature N N W S S
Arcane W S N S N
Chaos S W S N N
Poison S W N S N
Undead N N N N S
Mechanical N W N S S


For Example: Nodd has 12 ability points to spend on his Planar Form, and decides have the Earth element as his primary element. He purchases a level in Earth for 5 Ability Points and receives a Strength 4, Magic 4, Speed 2, Defense 6, and Wounds 6 (which is 30 Hit Points). Later he gets 1 more Ability Point and decides to level Earth, granting him a total of Strength 7, Magic 7, Speed 4, Defense 10, and Wounds 10 (which is 50 Hit Points). If he gains a level in Poison afterwards, he will have a total of Strength 11, Magic 9, Speed 7, Defense 14, and Wounds 13 (Which is 65 Hit Points).

Abilities[edit]

A Planar Form has up to 6 abilities, which determine the actions they may take in combat.

Abilities have the following attributes:

Name: Insert Name Here
Element: Insert Element Here
Required Level: Insert Required Level Here
Required Abilities: Insert Required Abilities Here
Ability Point Cost: Insert Ability Point Cost Here
Number of Uses
Per Combat:
Insert Number of Uses Per Combat Here
Description: Insert Description Here

A character may choose abilities that they meet the requirements for, can pay the Ability Point cost, and is their element. If they wish to choose abilities from an allied element, it costs 1.5 times the cost in Ability Points (round up), and has half the number of uses per combat (round down).

Attack skills will have a Miss number and a Critical number in their description as well as damage. Any number less than or equal to the Miss number will be treated as a dodged attack. Any number greater than or equal to the Critical number will be treated as a Critical hit. Attack skills are classified by their primary statistic in the description. If they are, add this statistic to damage.

A character may purchase the same skill multiple times, but it will take up an extra slot for each additional usage of it. They may also overwrite a skill for a new one, and are treated as still having the overwritten skill for purposes of pre-requisites.

Combat Rules[edit]

The rules for combat are very simple. The character with the highest Speed starts combat. They select a skill to use, and choose a target (if applicable). Following the description of the skill, they resolve the effects. In the event of ties, determine the order of the tied creatures randomly.

An attack is made by rolling a D20, and checking the corresponding Miss and Critical chances to see if the attack is successful or a critical hit. Critical hits do double damage. The doubling is multiplicative with elemental bonuses, which means that on a resistant element, a critical hit does normal damage and on a vulnerable element, a critical hit does triple damage. If on the D20 the number is between the Miss and Critical range, it is a normal hit.

Damage for the hit is determined from the ability used, and then compared to the opponent's Defense. If the damage beats the opponent's Defense, then the opponent takes that much damage minus the Defense/2 (round down). If the damage is less than the opponent's Defense, divide the damage by 2 (round down) for each interval of 5 the defense is higher. For Example: If Krugg does 15 damage to Axel, and Axel's defense is 26, then the difference is 11 (meaning 3 divisions by 2). This means the damage is 15 divided by 2 three times, which is equal to 15/8, which rounded down is 1. This means Krugg only does 1 damage to Axel. Supposing Krugg did 16 damage instead, the final damage would be 16/4 = 4. Supposing he did a critical for 30 damage, then Axel would take 17 damage because his defense is 26 and half of it is subtracted from the damage.

Afterwards, the character with the next highest Speed takes their turn. This process continues until the character with the lowest Speed finishes their turn. At this point, the character that began the turn starts the next turn, repeating the process until the battle is finished.

Ability List[edit]

No Type[edit]

Ability Name Description
Flee Chance to flee the battle
Flee Party Chance for entire party to flee the battle
Tackle Miss 1, Critical 20, 5 Dmg
Hard Tackle Miss 2, Critical 20, 5 Dmg + Attack
Mega Tackle Miss 3, Critical 20, 7 Dmg + Attack
Supreme Tackle Miss 4, Critical 19, 11 Dmg + Attack
Flex Increases damage by 1 for the remainder of combat
Pump Up Increases damage by 2 for the remainder of combat
Rage Increases damage by 3 for the remainder of combat
Defensive Position Decreases damage taken by 1 for the remainder of combat
Toughen Decreases damage taken by 2 for the remainder of combat
Unmovable Decreases damage taken by 4 for the remainder of combat

Fire[edit]

Ability Name Description
Ember Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg D8 + Magic
Char Miss 1, Crit 18, Dmg D10 + Magic, Burn(20, 1)
Fireball Miss 1, Crit 17, Dmg D10 + Magic, Burn(19,2)
Fire Blast Miss 1, Crit 16, Dmg 2D6 + Magic, Burn(18,3)
Fire Storm Miss 1, Crit 15, Dmg 2D10 + Magic, Burn(15,5)
Firey End Miss 0, Crit 10, Dmg 6D6 + Magic, Burn(10,10)
Flame Shot Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 1D8 + Attack
Flame Strike Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 4D6 + Attack
Flame Whip Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D6 + Attack
Fire Resistance Burn Recover chance +1, fire damage -2 per level.
Fire Mastery Burn chance +1, fire damage +1, opponent's recover chance from burn -1 per level.

Water[edit]

Ability Name Description
Rain Drop Miss 4, Crit 21, Dmg 2D4 + Magic
Rain Fall Miss 4, Crit 20, Dmg 4D4 + Magic
Rain Storm Miss 4, Crit 20, Dmg 6D4 + Magic
Mist Increases all opponent's miss chance on you by 1
Wave Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 1D4 + Attack, Wave(3)
Great Wave Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 5D4 + Attack, Wave(2)
Tidal Wave Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D6 + Attack, Wave(1)
Water Resistance Water damage -2, extra target slot for wave attacks per level
Water Mastery Water damage +1, wave attacks target one extra target per level.

Earth[edit]

Ability Name Description
Burrow Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 9 + Attack
Rock Slide Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 13 + Attack
Avalanche Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 15 + Attack
Fissure Miss 19, Crit 20, Dmg 100
Earthquake Miss 10, Crit 20, Dmg 35 + Attack
Rock Solid Gives +1 HP per Wounds
Earth Resistance -1 earth damage, -10 damage on massive damage.
Earth Mastery +1 earth damage, +5% damage on critical.

Air[edit]

Ability Name Description
Speed Strike Miss -1, Crit 21, Dmg D4 + Speed
Speed Slash Miss -2, Crit 20, Dmg 2D4 + Speed
Speed Slam Miss -3, Crit 18, Dmg 5D4 + Speed
Speed Razor Miss -5, Crit 15, Dmg 5D6 + Speed
Speed Boost Improves Speed by 1 per round for the first 15 rounds of combat

Ice[edit]

Ability Name Description
Snowball Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 1D4 + Magic
Icicle Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 2D4 + Magic
Glacial Spike Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 2D4 + Magic, Freeze(20,1)
Frozen Sphere Miss 2, Crit 18, Dmg 4D4 + Magic, Freeze(19,2)
Blizzard Miss 3, Crit 17, Dmg 4D6 + Magic, Freeze(17,3)
Frost Nova Miss 5, Crit 15, Dmg 10D6 + Magic, Freeze(15,3), hits 3 opponents.
Cold Resistance 10% chance of unfreezing per level.
Chill Adds 1 damage while frozen per level.
Cold Mastery Adds 1 round to freeze length and improves chance to freeze by 1 per level.

Electric[edit]

Ability Name Description
Spark Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20
Jolt Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20 + Magic
Surge Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20 + 1D10 + Magic
Thundershock Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D50 + Magic
Lightning Bolt Miss 0, Crit 20 x6, Dmg D100 + Magic
Static Shot Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg D10 + Magic, Para(15,3)
Lightning Mastery Chance to paralyze +1, paralysis +1 round per level

Dark[edit]

Ability Name Description
Shade Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 5 + Magic, Blind(20,2)
Shadow Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 9 + Magic, Blind(18,2)
NightFall Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 14 + Magic, Blind(16,3)
Dark Wave Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 24 + Magic, Blind(14,3)
Dark Beam Miss 9, Crit 10, Dmg D4 + 47 + Magic, Blind(10,4)
Dark Mastery Chance to blind +1, blindness lasts 1 extra round, Dark abilities +1 damage per level.

Light[edit]

Ability Name Description
Cure Crit 20, Cure(D8)
Cure II Crit 20, Cure(D8 + Magic)
Cure III Crit 19, Cure(2D8 + Magic)
Cure IV Crit 18, Cure(3D8 + Magic)
Cure V Crit 15, Cure(5D8 + Magic)
Heal Crit 21, Cure(10% of HP)
Heal II Crit 21, Cure(25% of HP)
Life Cure(5% of HP), Works only on dead targets
Life II Cure(10% of HP), Works only on dead targets
Remove Effects Crit 5, Cure(0)
Remove Effects II Crit 1, Cure(0)
Light Ray Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg D4 + Magic
Light Beam Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg D8 + Magic
Light Ball Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 3D4 + Magic
Light Bomb Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D4 + Magic
Light Bomb Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 6D6 + Magic
Light Mastery All Cure effects are at +2 per level.

Nature[edit]

Ability Name Description
Growth Growth(2)
Rapid Growth Growth(4)
Mega Growth Growth(6)
Vine Strike Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg D4 + Attack, Leech(20,1,5)
Vine Wrap Miss 1, Crit 18, Dmg D4 + Attack, Leech(18,1,5)
Tree Swing Miss 1, Crit 16, Dmg 2D4 + Attack, Leech(16,2,5)
Tree Stomp Miss 1, Crit 15, Dmg 5D4 + Attack, Leech(15,3,5)
Tree Crush Miss 5, Crit 10, Dmg 6D6 + Attack, Leech(10,5,5)
Spore Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,3,10)
Fungus Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,5,10)
Parasite Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,10,10)
Nature Mastery Chance to Leech +1, Leech lasts 1 extra round, and +1 damage per level.

Arcane[edit]

Ability Name Description
Confuse Ray Confuse(12,5)
Confuse Beam Confuse(9,5)
Confuse Wave Confuse(6,5), up to 2 targets
Confuse Burst Confuse(5,5), up to 5 targets
Arcane Fireworks Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 2 + Magic, Confuse(20,3)
Arcane Flash Miss 0, Crit 19, Dmg 2 + Magic, Confuse(19,3), up to 2 targets
Arcane Zap Miss 0, Crit 18, Dmg 4 + Magic, Confuse(18,3), up to 2 targets
Arcane Surge Miss 0, Crit 16, Dmg 7 + Magic, Confuse(16,3), up to 2 targets
Arcane Ray Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 9 + Magic, Confuse(15,3), up to 2 targets
Arcane Beam Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 13 + Magic, Confuse(13,3), up to 2 targets
Arcane Spiral Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 15 + Magic, Confuse(12,3), up to 3 targets
Arcane Flare Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 50 + Magic, Confuse(10,3), up to 5 targets
Magic Sheild Improves Defense by 10 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect).
Magic Vestments Improves Defense by 15 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect).
Magic Armor Improves Defense by 20 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect).
Arcane Mastery Chance to confuse +1, +1 damage, and Arcane armor abilities have +2 defense per level.

Chaos[edit]

Ability Name Description
Anger Rage(3,3)
Seething Anger Rage(10,3)
Berserk Rage(15,3)
Chaotic Sting Miss D4, Crit 19-20 (D2 + 18), Dmg D10 + Attack
Chaotic Strike Miss D8, Crit 17-20 (D4 + 16), Dmg D20 + Attack
Chaos Flash Miss D10, Crit 15-20 (D6 + 14), Dmg D30 + Attack
Chaos Orb Miss D12, Crit 11-20 (D10 + 10), Dmg D40 + Attack
Chaos Diamond Miss D20, Crit D20, Dmg D100 + Attack, Rage(30,1)
Armageddon Miss D10, Crit D20, Attack * 3
Chaos Mastery Miss chance -1 and +1 damage per level.

Poison[edit]

Ability Name Description
Sting Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 1, Poison(15, Attack, 2)
Bite Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 1 + Attack, Poison(15, Attack, 2)
Bad Sting Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 5 + Attack, Poison(10, Attack, 3)
Bad Bite Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 7 + Attack, Poison(10, Attack, 3)
Nasty Sting Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 11 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 5)
Nasty Bite Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 15 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 5)
Vile Sting Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 40 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 8)
Vile Bite Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 85 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 8)
Taint Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Poison(5, Magic, 5), Toxic Shock(15, 20, 3)
Foul Taint Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Poison(5, Magic, 5), Toxic Shock(10, 30, 5)

Undead[edit]

Ability Name Description
Skill Name Description

Mechanical[edit]

Ability Name Description
Skill Name Description

Guidelines for Creating Abilities[edit]

When creating abilities, the most important thing to consider is the amount of Ability Points it will cost. Abilities must be DM approved before being put into use.

Level Ability Point Cost Average Damage (up to 0.5 higher)
0 0 2
1 1 5
2 4 7
3 8 11
4 13 15
5 18 21
6 23 27
7+ +2 over previous increase / 2 levels. +5 over previous level

Miss Chance

  • -1 or lower, +2 Ability Points
  • 0, +1 Ability Point
  • 2-4, -0.5 levels
  • 5-9, -1 level
  • 10-14, -2 levels
  • 15-19, -4 levels

Critical Chance

  • 21 or higher, -1 level
  • 18-19, +1 Ability Point
  • 15-17, +2 Ability Points
  • 12-14, +1 level
  • 9-11, +2 levels
  • 5-8, +3 levels
  • should not be lower than 5

Uses Per Day

  • Greater than 20, +1 Ability Point
  • 6-10, -1 Ability Point
  • 5, -1 level
  • 1-4, -2 levels

Monsters[edit]

Many creatures roam in between planes, attacking outsiders for food or defending their space.



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