Planar Shift (guide)

This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.

Title: Planar Shift (guide)

Author: (Unknown)

Date Published: 2006-03-06

April 2018: This guide does not cover the changes implemented during the Teleportation Review, but does provide valuable tips on rune book management.

Planar Shift (740) is a sorcerous teleportation spell, allowing for instantaneous travel between two locations. By manipulating the fabric of space, the sorcerer opens a dimensional rift through which he or she can travel to any location in the world of Elanthia, with the exception of teleport restricted rooms (most of The Rift, Sanctuary, etc). Interrealm travel is travel between various in game realms, and intrarealm is within a realm.

The dimensional rift is filled with chaotic energies which are too dangerous to attempt to pass through normally. Therefore, the Sorcerer must create a runic summoning circle to defend him or herself from the chaotic energies, otherwise safely traversing the rift will be impossible. In addition, the circle must be scribed with a rune representing the desired location. These circles will be drawn in special magical chalks, which must be purchased.

With the right training, a sorcerer is able to bring others through the portal as well, but this only applies to the intrarealm portion. Additionally, sorcerers may travel locally without a summoning circle, but to do so is far more difficult and carries an increased risk.

Components

There are two primary components used with the Planar Shifting spell, chalks and rune books.

Chalks

The chalks involved in the use of this spell can be bought at local magic or alchemist shops or made through the Alchemy guild skill. There are two chalks, interrealm and intrarealm.

Interrealm chalk includes a stubby translucent chalk and a piece of crystalline chalk. The interrealm chalks run 30,000 silvers for a single piece, subject to merchant discounts or price boosts based on standard store mechanics. The chalk is so high quality that it significantly reduces the risk of failure. These chalks are an absolute must for the interrealm portion of the spell, there is no way around it.

The intrarealm chalks are cheaper. They look like a long translucent chalk or a rough stick of white chalk. These chalks are sold with 200 scribings, equating to 100 uses of the spell. The chalks are used to travel about within the realm, but they are far less well made; without the protective benefits of the interrealm version, success is far less likely.

Rune Book

The rune book is necessary for cataloguing of room runes. It is purchasable from standard alchemy and magic shops. First off, to record runes into them, they must be bonded to by a sorcerer. A sorcerer can only be bonded to one book at a time, and only one sorcerer can be bonded to a book at one time. A sorcerer can unbond with his or her book easily, but the book can never again be bonded to by any other Sorcerer. This is accomplished by bonding to a new book. The old book need not be present to for this to be accomplished. In this manner, a stolen book can be unbonded with, and a new one begun.

The bonding process is simple and easy. A sorcerer must merely enter the local Sorcerer Guild and find the summoning chamber inside. There will be a crystal present inside of the chamber, and while holding the book in the right hand, the sorcerer must RUB the crystal. This will bond the book. If the book is unable to be bonded, or already bonded, one will be notified and nothing will happen.

Bonding accomplishes one major function; it allows new room runes to be added into the book. Only when bonded can this be accomplished. An unbonded book will effectively be locked to further adding of runes. Of course, the runes in an unbonded book will be usable by any sorcerer. In this manner, a sorcerer can own many unbonded books if he or she desires. As said, once a sorcerer unbonds with a book, it can never be bonded to again, which seals its locked status forever.

Even if it is bonded to another, any Sorcerer can use the runes within the books. A sorcerer can lend his or her book to another for temporary or long term use. Of course, the other sorcerer cannot add runes to it, but it will still be usable. A sorcerer could even give or sell a book to another, but because the library of runes within it can no longer grow, it loses some of its use.

Rune books have ten pages of twenty runes each, making for 200 potential runes in one book. When learning a new rune, or making a circle, they must be held in the right hand. To turn pages, you either TURN book to go forward or FLIP book to go backward. TAP and POKE allows the user to select a rune, TAP moving the selected slot down one line, and poke moving the selected slot up one line. RUB allows them to erase a selected rune. Also, you can WHISPER BOOK SHOW PATTERN <#>, and you will receive a glimpse of the location corresponding with the rune.

Spell Systems and Usage

Room Rune System

It has been previously stated that a Sorcerer is able to travel to any desired room in Elanthia, assuming the room is teleport accessible. The ability to pick which room to travel to is gained through the Room Rune System (RRS). A Sorcerer is be able to go to any room in the game and use the SENSE PATTERN verb to detect the rune and save it. This must be done while holding a bonded runebook, more details of which were discussed in the previous section. Sensing a rune is simple and easy, and it will permanently be available from that book henceforth. If the room is not teleport accessible, then an attempt to SENSE will result in messaging saying that the patterns are difficult to align to.

The runes have a number of descriptors indicating what realm they are from, where within the realm, and finally, the individual room. In addition, a minor note of the room itself is found at the end of each rune.

Here are two such examples of runes:

1. a set of circular gold-bordered crimson "ay-eda-zi-gy-ay" signs [Ta'Vaalor, Victory Court]

2. a set of circular gold-bordered crimson "ay-eda-zi-im-mer" glyphs [Ta'Vaalor, Amaranth Court]

Gold-bordered crimson represents the realm, and circular, signs or glyphs, and rune syllables represent various areas and rooms within the realm. While in this case, the realm is revealed through the room name (Ta'Vaalor is in the Vaalor realm), this is not always the case. In cases such as these, the color of the runes can be used to identify the realm.

The following realm colors were taken with permission from Hakwea's Demonologist Handbook.

Realm	Rune Color
Abandoned Village (Trail to Vornavis)	Stone Grey
Cairnfang (Trail to Vornavis)	Ash Grey
Cysaegir	Verdant Green
Icemule Trace	Frosty White
Icemule Trail-Glacier	Ghostly White
Icemule Trail-Mountain Pass	Pearly White
Icemule Trail-Snowy Forest	Bone White
Illistim	Sapphire Blue
Northern Canvasary	Slate Grey
Old Ta'Faendryl	Scarlet
Pinefar	Icy Blue
River's Rest	Sky Blue
Shadow Valley	Shadowy Black
Solhaven	Aquamarine
Teras Isle	Molten Red
Vaalor	Gold-bordered Crimson
Wehnimer's Landing	Twilight Grey
Zul Logoth	Coppery Brown

The individual syllables each correspond with an equivalent in the common tongue, and the combined runes can be translated and spoken aloud if so desired. A chart for the translation of these runes can be found here.

Spell Usage

The process of using this spell is involved, but not too complex. First off, the sorcerer must hold his or her chalk in the left hand, with the rune book in the right. The sorcerer must then DRAW SUMMONING CIRCLE. This will incur 3 RT. The sorcerer must then DRAW PATTERN <#>, where the # is the corresponding room rune from the book, which will also incur around 3 or 4 RT. After this, the sorcerer may put the chalk and book away, it is no longer necessary. The final step in preparing the spell is to PREPARE 740 and then CAST CIRCLE. If the spell succeeds, a rift will be created. In the interrealm version, the rift immediately transport you. In the intrarealm, the rift is created but remains until the caster moves through it. As soon as the rift is entered, the transportation is complete and instantaneous, closing the rift behind.

Additionally, a sorcerer can instruct his or her demon, animate, or eye to pass through an intrarealm rift beforehand, using standard movement verbs directed to GO RIFT.

Should a Sorcerer wish to travel without the use of a summoning circle, he or she may INCANT 740, which will transport them to wherever they most recently shifted from, in the manner of a gold ring. Only those who have 40 ranks of Sorcerous Lore, Demonology may do so, and the failure rate is twice as high (and requires twice the additional training to mitigate).

Group Transport

The intrarealm portion of the spell has the potential for bringing a group. The ability to bring a group is based on Sorcerous Lore, Demonology. For every 20 ranks in Demonology lore, one additional person will be able to use the rift.

For those who do have Demonology lore, the process is simple. When the transport rift is created, those who are joined to the caster may simply GO RIFT and use it as the caster would. There are two important things that must be done to accomplish this. First off, the group MUST be joined to the caster. Any who attempt to enter the rift who are not joined to the caster will suffer a wound and damage. Secondly, these people must enter the rift BEFORE the caster. If the caster enters first, it will close the rift. If the caster has no demonology lore, the others will be unable to enter. Similarly, if the caster's limit is reached, additional group members will receive messaging that the rift would become too chaotic, and will not pass. The original caster will still be able to enter after this though. It is also possible to drag passengers through the rift, allowing for rescuing dead bodies or incapacitated companions. This also requires 20 ranks of Demonology per dragged person.

Success and Failure

There are six character based factors stated as contributing to success: Sorcerer Spell Ranks, Discipline, Aura, Wisdom, and ranks in Spiritual Mana Control, Elemental Mana Control, and Sorcerous Lore, Demonology. It has been specifically noted that encumbrance plays no role in the spell's success. The maximum success rate is 99%.

A number of things about this equation are known. First off, Sorcerer Spell Ranks are to be considered significantly more important in it than the Spiritual/Elemental Control ranks. Secondly, the success equation is identical to that of the Wizard's Familiar Gate (930) equation, with two differences. In the place of level, which contributes to the Wizard's Gate, there are Control Ranks. And on top of that, Demonology ranks provide a very large bonus to success. This is significant enough that a Sorcerer without any Demonology might find their success to be 99% at or around level 60, while one who is 1x in Demonology will find that they have or are close to a 99% success rate upon learning the spell (assuming the other skills and stats are trained adequately).

The way in which the control ranks factor in is complex. Basically, it's on a ranks per level scale, the standard being 1x'd in both controls. What this will do is put the same thing into the equation as level would be applied in the Wizard's Familiar Gate. So, for example, say a level 50 Wizard casts Familiar Gate. Just making up numbers, but lets say it added 50 to the equation. Well, a Sorcerer casting 740 who was level 50 and 1x'd in both controls would also have 50 added to the equation. So through the controls, level can contribute. The interesting thing is, this means the Sorcerer can further train for success. By training more in the controls, the Sorcerer can increase this factor for the spell. Certain combinations of ranks seem to be more important. For example, someone 2x'd in one control, with 0x in the other WILL have a higher benefit than someone 1x'd in both. But, aside from that particular type of training, more is basically always better.

The failure rate for using the spell without a circle has been stated to be twice as high. The maximum success rate for travel without a circle is 98%, but it is much more difficult to reach. A sorcerer of average training who is 1x in Demonology may find that they hit 98% success at or around level 75, though variation is to be expected. There are no current estimates on the success rate of those who have the minimum 40 ranks required for circle-less travel.

Failures

Most of the failures with this spell are limited to a backlash of energy from the circle. There are varying types of these. The most basic is a simple failure. It causes a backlash of energy which inflicts minor to moderate damage and a wound on the caster. These can do crush, slash, or vacuum damage. There is also a chance, albeit slim, that upon failing a cast, a lesser demon will find its way into our world and be released. This demon can and will go on a killing rampage. If this occurs in town, the caster will be charged with Demonic summoning. The possibility for this to occur is highest with circle-less travel and inter-realm travel.