Question. In the Burial option, if it gets dispelled, is the target still trapped underground or do they just pop back to where they were Imprisoned? 

Quote from HailRobonia >>

Or you can just use True Polymorph to turn your enemy into a tiny statue of themselves or a leather shoe or a stylish hat then concentrate on it for an hour... effectively imprisoned until someone dispels it.

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

 That won’t work because now they’re an object. True polymorph is the prison. Something better if it did would be to turn them into the expensive special component, and then use them as a material component to imprison them. Look at minimus containment and you can see how reality-breaking it is, which is why it doesn’t work

Or just save coin by turning them to a frog, then using a 500 gold component instead of 10000.

I want to point out something interesting:

"During the casting of the spell, in any of its versions, you can specify a condition that will cause the spell to end and release the target."

Not "must."

Would that make Sul Khatesh the most expensive monster to cast the spell on (having 50d10+200)?

50 × 500 = 25000gp

That is assuming "per Hit Die" meaning the Number of dice rolled for HP.

What does Hit dice mean for monsters?

Quote from FlyHarbor116 >>

Spellcasting focus can be used in place of components UNLESS that component is consumed and/or has a specific cost noted.

At the very least, the vellum has to be worth 500gp per Hit Die of the targeted creature, even if you made it yourself. It could be made with gems and gold for example. 

Say you want to cast it on a Ancient Red Dragon. It's Hit points is 28d20 + 252. You would need a vellum of it's likeness worth 28 × 500 = 14000gp.

Quote from AghiTron >>

Quote from PalladiumTurtle >>

Quote from AghiTron >>

It does have a cost though: "worth at least 500 gp per Hit Die of the target"

For a PC that's 500 gp times character level.

The material component is "a vellum depiction or a carved statuette in the likeness of the target, and a special component that varies according to the version of the spell you choose, worth at least 500 gp per Hit Die of the target"

The special component has a cost. The vellum depiction or carved statuette doesn't have a cost. You need the special component, but you can use a spellcasting focus in place of the vellum depiction or carved statuette.

Why does this matter? The special component is version-specific, but it isn't target-specific like the depiction or statuette. A spellcasting focus lets you target creatures without having to carve a little statue first.

 Ooh, my bad, I thought the special component was part of the statue. RAW it would allow a focus for the statue, but personally I'd rule it so the statue has to be made because it's so specific. It could be made during off time, though, and without external help, but it has to be announced so the DM knows.

The vellum and/or the version specific component need to add up to the 500gp per Hit Die of target.

is there anything this spell can't capture?

Could a caster who has been trapped by this as long as it isnt the chained, slumber, or minimus containment(debatable), cast the required dispel magic on it themselves? since dispel magic is verbal and somatic they can perform both functions in any of the other forms of imprisonment.

Story Idea: the party needs a diamond to resurrect another party member. They find such a diamond in a dungeon and attempt the spell, only to watch a tarrasque burst from the stone.  The party tries to track down the tarrasque, only to find that the soul of their dead friend is trapped inside the tarrasque and killing it will mean their soul is lost forever. The party must choose: kill the monster rampaging across the land and lose their friend forever, leave the tarrasque alone and let it kill hundreds, or go on a quest to find the Rod of Lost Souls, a mysterious artifact from the world’s founding.

What stops the imprisoned being from casting Dispel Magic at level 9 from inside the prison? Clearly they are still sentient and active, especially in cases where they are in a demiplane or chained up.  No mention of stasis or the inability to cast spells is included here.  Seems to me that this spell can be escaped at any time by a sufficiently powerful spellcaster that is imprisoned within. 

Using all of them on the same target could prove useful: Slumber-> Chaining-> Minimus Containment-> Hedged Prison-> Burial. 

They would need to cast it on the material component, so unless it's minimus containment, I think that would be pretty much impossible.

But it does say:

"A dispel magic spell can end the spell only if it is cast as a 9th-level spell, targeting either the prison or the special component used to create it"

So by that definition, if a Creature has access to said spell, it could cast it on itself? It is only restrained, not incapacitated, so it can cast spells, no? (Of a V/S nature)

Is the special component consumed? The spell says that you can cast the dispel magic spell on the prison or the component, so I assume not. 

What if you encased the gem in paint or something? Or chucked it into a volcano or the ocean? Is that allowed? The prisoner would be stick like that until the gem was discovered again.

Or, what if you encased the gem in metal? The spell doesn't say you have to be able to communicate with them.

The gem is transparent, but things other than the gem, like metal or paint can be opaque. I've actually changed my mind on communication. Nothing can pass through, other than light, so other than sign languages, there should be no way to communicate 

A lot of people asking "can't someone just cast a 9th level dispel magic if they're trapped inside?" Yes absolutely, I see no reason they can't, but I would then suggest that there really aren't very many 9th level spellcasters in the game (and PCs only get access to this in 4th stage gameplay which few ever reach). RAW, Imprisonment isn't an effective way to trap a powerful spellcaster unless you use the slumber option, and you should find something else.

But this is your game if you're a DM and you can always dictate that as part of the chaining for example, the imprisoned individual is also immobilized so therefore can't use somatic components. I don't think anyone playing your game would argue otherwise if it's an NPC at the very least.

How am I supposed to get the material component if my DM doesn't allow us, players, to know the enemy's hit point nor number of hit dice?