Contact Other Plane
The caster divorces his or her mind from the rational reality of the material plane, accepting the fundamental contradictions of extra-planar realities, and making contact with the powers of the beyond. By means of this contact, he or she can query the powers and gain “yes or no” answers to the questions he or she poses. One question may be asked per 2 caster levels. The caster decides how deeply he or she wishes to probe into the realities beyond the material (unless he or she chooses to contact an elemental plane for information about that plane).
The difficulty of the mental task is measured in terms of how many fundamental contradictions of reality the caster can assimilate and simultaneously juggle in his or her mind. The price of failure is insanity. Contacting an elemental plane provides a 90% chance that the being contacted will have the knowledge the magic user seeks, if the magic user is asking about the particular elemental plane.
There is a 25% chance that the being will tell a lie, or that the information will be couched in such inherently contradictory language that it cannot be understood. If the magic user seeks information about the material plane or non-elemental planes, he or she must delve into the fundamental contradictions of extra-planar metaphysics, described on the following table;
| Number of fundamental metaphysical contradiction (selected by the caster) | Likelihood that the knowledge is available at this level of metaphysical abstraction | Likelihood that the interpretation of the information gleans the wrong result | Chance of insanity (reduced by 5% per point of intelligence over 15) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60% | 35% | 5% |
| 2 | 65% | 33% | 10% |
| 3 | 70% | 30% | 15% |
| 4 | 75% | 27% | 20% |
| 5 | 80% | 25% | 25% |
| 6 | 85% | 22% | 30% |
| 7 | 90% | 19% | 35% |
| 8 | 95% | 15% | 40% |
| 9 | 98% | 10% | 50% |
If the caster is driven insane by what he or she finds or by simple cognitive breakdown, the insanity will last 1-10 weeks, and there is a 1% chance that the caster will die or commit suicide at the end of this period if it is not removed (by a remove curse spell, wish, etc.).