What spells below spell level 6th from ANY spell list allow for protection from harmful effects from hostile plane environments?

Question

I am playing a 5th-level character in a campaign, planning to advance through the chameleon prestige class from Races of Destiny.

We are being heavily hinted at needing to go to the plane of a greater deity in the future, most likely at a much higher level. One of the effects of the plane is that if you are not of Lawful Good alignment, you must make a Fortitude save every minute or be disintegrated. Drastic, I know.

Avoid planar effects, found in Manual of the Planes, Planar Handbook, and Spell Compendium, is the only spell in any spell list I can immediately think of that would prevent us from being obliterated if we so happen to be there. Are there any other spells that we should know and prepare before our journey? With the chameleon class, it is possible to grab any spell from any spell list so I am not afraid of going into the obscure books here, like Book of Vile Darkness’s demonologist has a Transmutation-school greater bestow curse at 4th level for example.

I also wish to bestow any benefit of these spells found to the rest of my party. No sence being the only party member around to delay the TPK by 1 minute/level.

Answer 1

Well, to begin, avoid planar effects wouldn’t help, since the spell description says

The effects of [...] alignment traits [...] aren't negated by avoid planar effects,¹

This means that attune form and planar tolerance from the same sources are also not helpful, since those just allow you to use avoid planar effects on more creatures or for a longer duration, respectively.

Planar bubble from Planar Handbook and Spell Compendium would help, but it’s a 7th-level spell. If you’re planning a short, one-time trip, though, a scroll of planar bubble might be your best bet—for 2,275 gp, you get over two hours of pretty much perfect protection against the plane for your entire party, because you still count as being on the material plane. If you’re going to spend a lot of time on this plane, you might invest in a scepter² of planar bubble, but at 68,250 gp you better be really needing that time there.

Resist planar alignment is a 1st-level abjuration, and as expected it protects against alignment effects, but the protection is not perfect: it eliminates the penalties of weakly-aligned planes and halves the penalties of strongly-aligned planes. Its effect, if any, against special effects like disintegration is not specified, and is presumably up to the DM.

But unfortunately, there do not appear to be any other spells available that protect against planar effects. You might be able to use undetectable alignment, misrepresent alignment,³ and/or mind blank⁴ to prevent the plane from recognizing your alignment, but it’s fairly well undefined whether or not planar effects are using “divination” to determine your alignment and apply the appropriate effects—ask your DM.

1. _{Yes, all three publications of avoid planar effects include this clause; I checked.}

2. _{Scepters are spell-trigger items described in Lost Empires of Faerûn that function like wands but can handle higher-level spells.}

3. _{Misrepresent alignment is an illusion from Races of Eberron; 2nd-level for bards, sorcerers, and wizards, and 3rd-level for clerics.}

4. _{Not that mind blank is low enough level for you to cast—it’s 8th level in every list it appears on.}

Answer 2

Assuming that fooling the plane via alignment-masking spells won't work, I can see two possible options:

1. Proof Against Transmutation (Complete Arcane p.142) is a +5 armor enchantment that prevents you from being dusted by disintegrate. It doesn't protect vs damage, but if the planar effect doesn't do damage and skips straight to dusting folks, the enchantment will protect you.
2. If you have a wizard or can hire one, this is a prime time to write a new spell using independent research. There is a good discussion on the rules for that here. The party could pool their wealth to buy the spell, which will be expensive.

Answer 3

The two most obvious candidate are both from Spell Compendium:

1. Planar Tolerance
   • Like Avoid Planar Effects, but hours/level
2. Attune Form
   • One creature/3 levels, 24 hour duration