Sarius' Ethereal Gateway
(Conjuration/Summoning)

Range:  20 yards per level
Components:  V, S
Duration:  Special
Casting Time:  Special
Area of Effect:  Special
Saving Throw:  None

This spell allows a wizard to create a 10?10 feet invisible magical gateway which will provide access to the ethereal plane of existence, or alternatively, provide a gateway from the ethereal plane to a connecting plane of existence. The duration of this gateway is a base 24 hours. It must be cast in an area of gaseous or liquid composition (i.e., not in the earth or in solid rock), although, it may be cast so as to lay on the floor (giving a chance of creatures falling into it) or against a wall or portal. For every two levels above sixteenth, a wizard gains the ability to create an additional 10?10 feet area (two if the caster is a conjurer) which must either be used to increase the surface area of the gateway or increase the power of the original 10?10 feet area by fusing the two gateways together. The effects of increasing the power level of a gateway are listed in the table below.
If a gateway is larger than 10?10 feet then all of its surface area blocks must be increased to the same level of power to allow the gateway the next higher power rating. For example, a 26th-level wizard creates a gateway with dimensions of 30?10 feet and has three slots left, so he will be able to double the surface area power rating to 2 if he so chooses. However, if he were to use one of the remaining slots to add a 10?10 feet block to the surface area he would have no chance of raising the power rating of the gateway to 2. Note that if a gateway is too small for a creature to fit through, it will not be able to totally go through the portal. It will, however, be able to poke part of its body through and exist simultaneously on both planes.

	Power
	Rating	Duration	Comments (Cumulative Effects)
	1	1 day	Visible on the exit side
	2	10 days	Invisible on exit side
	3	100 days	Allows magic items to keep powers*
	4	1000 days	10% more resistant to dispel magic
	5	10,000 days	20% more resistant to dispel magic
	6	Permanent	30% more resistant to dispel magic
	7	Permanent	40% more resistant to dispel magic
	8	Permanent	(each power slot adds another 10%)

* Usually, magical swords and similar items lose a plus for plane crossing.
Each additional power slot beyond a rating of 3 adds a 10% extra percentage that this spell will resist a dispel magic. For game purposes, this is added onto the dispeller's percentage as a penalty.
Casting time is one turn for the initial gateway area and is doubled every time another 10?10 feet block is added onto the area (i.e., two turns for two 10?10 feet blocks or slots, four turns for three 10?10 feet blocks or slots, eight turns for four 10?10 feet blocks or slots, etc.). Therefore, casting a gateway that uses 6 slots would take a total of 32 turns. If the casting is interrupted after any slots have been created only further creation of gateway surface areas or power slots is disrupted.
For every 6 turns the wizard spends casting this spell the wizard's Constitution score is reduced by one point. If the wizard's Constitution reaches 0 he becomes unconscious and only a week of complete bed rest will allow him to start regaining lost Constitution. Otherwise, these points are replaced at a rate of 1 point for every two days of complete bed rest. The point is not taken unless a full 6 turns of casting has expired. Heal will negate the unconsciousness and raise the wizard's Constitution to 1 point. Restoration will totally negate the effects of any lost Constitution.
Gateways, once created, may not be altered by further castings of this spell on the same area of effect. Only a successful dispel magic is capable of destroying a gateway, although higher level power ratings can make a gateway resistant to this spell. Power rating 1 gateways are visible to creatures on the exit side of the gateway (usually the ethereal plane) and may attract wandering monsters, though they will most likely not be able to pass through. Anyone may pass through the portal on the invisible entrance side, but only the wizard may freely take creatures back through the exit side by touching them as they pass through. The wizard may create magical amulets (base 500 gp value) which will allow any creature to freely use gateways cast by him as though he were touching them. On the ethereal plane, the wizard and anyone possessing an amulet will be able to find any portal of the wizard in 5-50 hours.
Any wizard familiar with this spell (i.e., either possessing the spell as a castable spell in his spellbook, or having used a write spell to put the spell in his spellbook) is capable of trying to force their way through the exit side back to the entrance side by force of will. There is a base chance of 50% modified by plus or minus 5% for every point of difference between the wizard's current level and the level of the wizard at the time of casting, though conjurers have a base 70% chance. There are no material components to the spell, and the magical amulets may be created at any time the wizard wishes, whether before or after the casting of this spell. This spell will not work with the 8th-level permanency spell.

