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The word of recall spell (PHB, p. 289) says:

You must designate a sanctuary by casting this spell within a location, such as a temple, dedicated to or strongly linked to your deity. If you attempt to cast the spell in this manner in an area that isn't dedicated to your deity, the spell has no effect.

The temple of the gods spell (XGtE, p. 167) says:

You cause a temple to shimmer into existence on ground you can see within range. [...] The temple remains until the spell ends [which is 24 hours]. It is dedicated to whatever god, pantheon or philosophy is represented by the holy symbol used in the casting.

[...]

Casting this spell on the same spot every day for a year makes this effect permanent.

My plan is, cast temple of the gods (it takes one hour to cast, but it's 24 hour countdown won't come into effect until after I've finished casting the spell), then cast word of recall (takes only one action) within the temple. That's my 6th and 7th level spell slots gone (I'm currently 14th level, so that's all I've got above 5th).

Then long rest, probably within the temple (so that's 8 hours of the 24 hours that the temple will exist for), then go on a dangerous mission. So long as the mission doesn't take more than ~16 hours (or it becomes clear after 16 hours that it's no longer dangerous), then I should be able to cast word of recall (assuming I reserve either my 6th or 7th level slot for it) to get my and my party out of there if anything goes horribly wrong.

Is there a flaw in my plan? Is there something about temple of the gods that means it wouldn't be a valid target for word of recall?

I included the part of the temples of the gods quote about casting it every day for a year to make the temple permanent, since I wondered if the temporary nature of a temple I just conjured into existence that will only remain there for 24 hours would somehow interfere with word of recall, but I'm hoping that a temple, no matter how temporary or how it came into being, is still a temple as far as word of recall is concerned...

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2 Answers 2

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Yes, this definitely works

Word of Recall lets you:

You and up to five willing creatures within 5 feet of you instantly teleport to a previously designated sanctuary.

That sanctuary must be:

a location, such as a temple, dedicated to or strongly linked to your deity

Temple of the Gods creates:

a temple [...] dedicated to whatever god, pantheon, or philosophy is represented by the holy symbol used in the casting.

The temple created by Temple of the Gods, assuming you use a holy symbol of your deity in its creation, fulfils the conditions of the sanctuary for Word of Recall:

  1. It is a location
  2. It is a temple (actually not a hard requirement of WoR, but makes it even more clear-cut)
  3. It is dedicated to your deity

Reasons it might not have worked, which aren't the case

There is no (general) text in Word of Recall indicating that the designated sanctuary cannot be either magically conjured or temporary.

And there is no text in Temple of the Gods indicating that the conjured temple cannot be the target of spells in general, or Word of Recall specifically.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ now i'm wondering what happens if you cast WoR after the temple shimmers out of existence. presumably, nothing, but... maybe something more interesting? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael
    Commented Jun 13, 2020 at 1:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Michael Yes, a strict reading of these spells doesn't specify. RAW since the first casting of WoR is "instantaneous" we can't use the "spells with invalid targets" rule - but that is what I'd use at the table - i.e. "nothing happens". \$\endgroup\$
    – Vigil
    Commented Jun 13, 2020 at 10:31
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This works

There is nothing in the rules for Word of Recall or Temple Of The Gods that’d indicate this shouldn’t work. The temple you create with Temple Of The Gods certainly is explicitly a temple designated to your god, exactly the sort of place Word Of Recall would bring you back to. It is not a permanent location, but as long as the temple is still around when you return to it with Word Of Recall there’s no reason to believe this wouldn’t work RAW . That the temple is only temporary shouldn’t really matter that much; arguably everything is temporary, that a regular brick & mortar temple will eventually crumble if it’s not regularly maintained isn’t preventing you from teleporting there after all.

Aside from RAW I also can’t think of a meta-game reason why you wouldn’t want this to work; Having to set it up a day prior, needing to expend 6th and 7th level spell slots on that day and reserving a 6th level spell slot for the next day just so you can escape a dire situation seems like overall a fairly fair trade off, especially since all the Temple spell is doing is giving you some additional flexibility as to where you can return to with Word Of Recall.

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