Rules Index | GM Screen

Planar Adventures / Building a Planar Campaign

Planar Tuning Forks

Source Planar Adventures pg. 85
Plane shift requires a specific tuning fork attuned to the destination plane, and while the Core Rulebook lists this as a spell focus with no listed price (implying that each spell component pouch has a full array of tuning forks), that should not be the case for any campaign that features planar travel. Limiting the PCs’ access to specific planes’ focuses can help manage where the PCs can travel to. Finding the right fork—or uncovering an unidentified fork and exploring whatever exists at its attuned destination—could be the basis for an adventure in its own right.

You should strongly consider assigning gold piece values to the tuning forks required for using plane shift to travel the planes. Not only does this give you greater control over which planes the characters can access, but it also creates an interesting and even collectable commodity for planar travelers. By assigning the following values, you also prevent tuning forks from being automatically available with the purchase of a spell component pouch, with a side benefit of easily indicating which might be available for purchase in settlements.

Note that some planes, like the Akashic Record, cannot be traveled to via plane shift at all, while others, like the Dimension of Time, are notoriously difficult to create lasting tuning forks for.

Table 2-2: Plane Shift Tuning Forks

Item	Price
Untuned fork	25 gp
Common tuning fork	100 gp
Uncommon tuning fork	2,000 gp
Rare tuning fork	20,000 gp
Unique tuning fork	Priceless

Planar tuning forks have no notable weight.

Untuned Fork

Source Planar Adventures pg. 85
An untuned tuning fork appears as a plain iron tuning fork and cannot be used on its own as a focus for plane shift. An untuned tuning fork can be crafted as a mundane item with a successful DC 20 Craft ( jewelry) check, but only if the artisan also has at least 1 rank in Knowledge (planes).

Before an untuned fork can be used as a focus for casting plane shift, it must be physically transported to the plane in question and subjected to a specific condition while on that plane, as detailed for each category of tuning fork. Once a previously untuned fork is attuned to a plane, it changes appearance to reflect that plane’s nature and cannot be attuned to a different one. Regardless of the plane in question, only one untuned fork can be attuned at a time in a 300-foot radius. Untuned forks take time to attune to a plane, and if a second untuned fork is struck within 300 feet of another fork that is in the process of becoming attuned, planar dissonance causes the attuning process for both forks to immediately end, and the procedure must start anew.

Common Tuning Fork

Source Planar Adventures pg. 85
A common tuning fork is one attuned to the major Inner or Outer Planes (Abbadon, Abyss, the Astral Plane, Axis, the Boneyard, Elysium, the Ethereal Plane, the First World, Heaven, Hell, Maelstrom, the Negative Energy Plane, Nirvana, the Plane of Air, the Plane of Earth, the Plane of Fire, the Plane of Water, the Positive Energy Plane, and the Shadow Plane). For layered planes, a common tuning fork can be attuned only to the first layer of the plane (the Threshold in Heaven, Avernus in Hell, or Kurnugia in the Abyss). Attuning a common tuning fork requires striking it against a solid surface somewhere on the plane, after which the tuning fork must be allowed to absorb the plane’s energies for 24 hours. Once this time passes, the untuned fork becomes attuned to that plane.

Uncommon Tuning Fork

Source Planar Adventures pg. 85
An uncommon tuning fork is one attuned to a major demiplane or to a further layer of an Outer Plane. Planes that require uncommon tuning forks include any of the deeper layers of Heaven, Hell, or the Abyss; Cynosure; stable dreamscapes in the Dimension of Dreams, such as Leng (plane shift does not allow travel to most dreamscapes); or Xibalba.

Attuning an uncommon tuning fork is done in much the same way as a common tuning fork, but the tuning fork must be struck against a magic item of CL 11th or higher that was created on that plane, a creature of CR 11 or higher native to the plane, or a unique or specific feature of the plane as determined by the GM—such features are generally protected and should require mid-level play (9th level or above) to access. Once so struck, the tuning fork must be allowed to absorb the plane’s energies for 3 days. After this time passes, the untuned fork becomes attuned to that plane.

Rare Tuning Fork

Source Planar Adventures pg. 86
A rare tuning fork is one attuned to an obscure demiplane, a demiplane that is simply difficult to travel to due to its nature, or a demiplane that is particularly small and insignificant. Planes that require rare tuning forks include the Dead Vault, the Harrowed Realm, and Jandelay.

Attuning a rare tuning fork is done using the same method as an uncommon fork, but the fork must be struck against an artifact created on that plane, a creature of CR 21 or higher native to the plane, or a unique or specific feature of the plane that you determine—such features are generally well guarded and difficult to reach, and thus they should require relatively high-level play (15th level or above) to use. Once so struck, the fork must be allowed to absorb the plane’s energies for 1 week. After this time has passed, the untuned fork is attuned to that plane.

Unique Tuning Fork

Source Planar Adventures pg. 86
For lost or forgotten demiplanes or deliberately difficult-to-reach dimensions, the appropriate tuning forks should be priceless. Their acquisition forces the players either to go on a quest to locate such a tuning fork or to bring an untuned fork to the plane in question, traveling there via other means, to attune the fork for later use. Once the party acquires such a tuning fork, you should use the prices provided on Table 2–2: Plane Shift Tuning Forks as a guide to determine the tuning fork’s value, keeping in mind that if the PCs flood a market, the fork’s value will decrease. Moreover, powerful denizens of such realms might take offense to the availability of keys to their empires and may attempt to deal with the spread of attuned forks. Planes that require unique tuning forks include the Hao Jin Tapestry and the Dimension of Time. As a general rule, if the plot of an adventure (be it a published one or an adventure of your own design) hinges on the PCs’ being trailblazers to a forgotten or obscure demiplane, the demiplane should be counted as a unique one.

Attuning an untuned fork to a unique plane or dimension requires a specific task for that plane. For example, attuning a fork to a legendary vampire’s personal demiplane might require a player to plunge the tuning fork into the heart of a vampire native to that plane and then allow the fork 13 days to absorb the planar energies before it becomes fully attuned.

Archives of Nethys