Planar Wanderer 5e

Published on October 3, 2023

Step through the shimmering portal and embrace the mysteries of the multiverse with the Planar Wanderer feat.

A planar wanderer steps through a portal into a library.

Planar Wanderer - Randy Vargas - Portal of Sanctuary

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What Is Planar Wanderer 5e?

For those adventurers who’ve felt the call of distant realms and have already embraced their interplanar heritage, the Planar Wanderer feat is the next step in mastering the intricacies of the multiverse. This feat is especially tailored for Planescape campaigns, where the vastness of the planes is a primary focus of the campaign. With Planar Wanderer, you can adapt to the harsh environments of different planes, crack open portals without needing a key, and sense the presence of nearby planar gateways.

How Does Planar Wanderer Work?

The Planar Wanderer feat bestows upon its user a trio of unique capabilities. Firstly, the Planar Adaptation ability allows you to choose resistance to acid, cold, or fire damage after a long rest, which remains until the next long rest. Secondly, the Portal Cracker ability, empowers you to open a portal even without its designated key, though you’ll need to pass a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check or take 3d8 psychic damage. Lastly, Portal Sense ensures that you always know your way back to the last planar portal you used. Additionally, with an action, you can discern the presence of nearby portals.

Prerequisite

This feat is a 4th-level feat and requires the Scion of Outer Planes feat before you can pick it up. Luckily, you can get Scion of the Outer Planes for free at 1st-level by choosing the Planar Philosopher or Gate Warden background at character creation.

Is Planar Wanderer Good?

We gave Planar Wanderer a C Tier rating In our 5e Feats Tier List, making it a below-average feat in D&D 5e.

Planar Wanderer is a niche feat designed for Planescape campaigns. While it does provide a damage resistance that can be tailored to your environment, its value is directly tied to how often your campaign interacts with different planes and portals. In a standard campaign, its benefits might not shine as brightly. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Scion of the Outer Planes, this feat’s prerequisite, is restricted to Planescape campaigns unless your DM rules otherwise.

It’s also worth noting that it’s secondary feature, Portal Cracker, is basically useless to any character not stated into Intelligence and with a proficiency in Arcana.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Planar Wanderer?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Planar Wanderer 5e feat is for a specific class/subclass.

Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
Green is a good option
Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

As mentioned above, this is a feat for Intelligence-based characters that will be encounter interplanar portals frequently in their campaigns. Otherwise, you can pick up damage resistances and the ability to find portals elsewhere without wasting a feat.

Artificer: If you're playing a Planescape campaign with a heavy emphasis on interplanar travel, this can be a decent pickup for artificers with a proficiency in Arcana.

Barbarian: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a barbarian.

Bard: A bard with an expertise in Arcana and a stacked Intelligence ability that's a portal-cracking mastermind could be a fun and unique character, as long as you encounter interplanar travel frequently in your campaign. Otherwise, this feat doesn't do enough to be worthwhile.

Cleric: Nothing here for a cleric.

Druid: Nothing here for a druid.

Fighter: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a fighter.

Monk: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a monk.

Paladin: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a paladin.

Ranger: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a ranger.

Rogue: A rogue with an expertise in Arcana and a stacked Intelligence ability that's a portal-cracking mastermind could be a fun and unique character, as long as you encounter interplanar travel frequently in your campaign. Otherwise, this feat doesn't do enough to be worthwhile.

Sorcerer: Nothing here for a sorcerer.

Warlock: Nothing here for a warlock.

Wizard: If you're playing a Planescape campaign with a heavy emphasis on interplanar travel, this can be a decent pickup for wizards with a proficiency in Arcana.

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.