In some schools of thought the size and metal type of the rod were crucial to guarantee the correct destination was reached but there may have been.
Forked metal rod.
On a hit the forked rod deals no damage but affects the target with dimensional anchor for 9 minutes.
Once per day a forked rod can be used to cast plane shift to the plane it is currently attuned to.
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So a good plane shift supply story should have a general catalogue.
In addition to verbal and somatic components the key to casting this spell was a forked metal rod of a certain size and composition that attuned it to the desired destination plane.
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Three times per day as a standard action the user can attack a creature or object with a forked rod as if it were a 1 light mace.
The 1550 edition of sebastian münster s cosmographia contains a woodcut of a dowser with forked rod in hand walking over a cutaway image of a.
Dowsing as practiced today may have originated in germany during the 16th century when it was used in attempts to find metals.
The size and metal type dictates to which plane of existence or alternate dimension the spell sends the affected creatures.
A spell named plane shift used to teleport between different planes and requiring forked metal rods has been present in every single edition of dungeons dragons with the sole exception of the very original and 4e which was very different in many regards.