Astral Plane

The Astral Plane is the realm of thought and dream, where visitors travel as disembodied souls to reach the Outer Planes. It is a great silvery sea, the same above and below, with swirling wisps of white and gray streaking among motes of light like distant stars. Most of the Astral Sea is a vast, empty expanse. Visitors occasionally stumble upon the petrified corpse of a dead god or other chunks of rock drifting forever in the silvery void. Much more commonplace are colour pools - magical pools of coloured light that flicker like radiant, spinning coins.

Creatures on the Astral Plane don't age or suffer from hunger or thirst. For this reason, humanoids that live on the Astral Plane establish outposts on other planes, often the Material Plane, so their children can grow to maturity.

A traveler in the Astral Plane can move by simply thinking about moving, but distance has little meaning. In combat, though, a creature's walking speed (in feet) is equal to 3 x its Intelligence score. The smarter a creature is, the easier it can control its movement by act of will.

Astral Projection

Traveling through the Astral Plane by means of the astral projection spell involves projecting one's consciousness there, usually in search of a gateway to an Outer Plane to visit. Since the Outer Planes are as much spiritual states of being as they are physical places, this allows a character to manifest in an Outer Plane as if he or she had physically traveled there, but as in a dream. A character's death-either in the Astral Plane or on the destination plane-causes no actual harm. Only the severing of a character's silver cord while on the Astral Plane (or the death of his or her helpless physical body on the Material Plane) can result in the character's true death. Thus, high-level characters sometimes travel to the Outer Planes by way of astral projection rather than seek out a portal or use a more direct spell.

Only a few things can sever a traveler's silver cord, the most common being a psychic wind (described below). A character who travels bodily to the Astral Plane (by means of the plane shift spell or one of the rare portals that leads directly there) has no silver cord.

Colour Pools

Gateways leading from the Astral Plane to other planes appear as two-dimensional pools of rippling colours, 1d6 x 10 feet in diameter. Traveling to another plane requires locating a colour pool that leads to the desired plane. These gateways to other planes can be identified by colour, as shown on the Astral Colour Pools table. Finding the right colour pool is a matter of chance: locating the correct one takes 1d4 x 10 hours of travel.

Astral Colour Pools

d20	Plane	Pool Colour
1	Ysgard	Indigo
2	Limbo	Jet black
3	Pandemonium	Magenta
4	The Abyss	Amethyst
5	Carceri	Olive
6	Hades	Rust
7	Gehenna	Russet
8	The Nine Hells	Ruby
9	Acheron	Flame Red
10	Mechanus	Diamond blue
11	Arcadia	Saffron
12	Mount Celestia	Gold
13	Bytopia	Amber
14	Elysium	Orange
15	Elysium	Emerald green
16	Arborea	Sapphire blue
17	The Outlands	Leather brown
18	Ethereal Plane	Spiraling white
19-20	The Material Plane	Silver

Psychic Wind

A psychic wind isn't a physical wind like that found on the Material Plane, but a storm of thought that batters travellers' minds rather than their bodies. A psychic wind is made up of lost memories, forgotten ideas, minor musings, and subconscious fears that went astray in the Astral Plane and conglomerated into this powerful force.

A psychic wind is first sensed as a rapid darkening of the silver-gray sky. After a few rounds, the area becomes as dark as a moonless night. As the sky darkens, the traveler feels buffeting and shaking, as if the plane itself was rebelling against the storm. As quickly as it comes, the psychic wind passes, and the sky returns to normal in a few rounds.

The psychic wind has two kinds of effects: a location effect and a mental effect. A group of travellers journeying together suffers the same location effect. Each traveller affected by the wind must also make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the traveller suffers the mental effect as well. Roll a d20 twice and consult the Psychic Wind Effects table to determine the location and mental effects.

Psychic Wind Effects

d20	Location Effect
1-8	Diverted; add 1d6 hours to travel time
9-12	Blown off course; add 3d10 hours to travel time
13-16	Lost; at the end of the travel time, characters arrive at a location other than the intended destination
17-20	Sent through colour pool to a random plane (roll on the Astral Colour Pools table)

d20	Mental Effect
1-8	Stunned for 1 minute; you can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of your turns to end the effect on yourself
9-10	Short-term madness
11-12	11 (2d10) psychic damage
13-16	22 (4d10) psychic damage
17-18	Long-term madness
19-20	Unconscious for 5 (1d10) minutes; the effect on you ends if you take damage or if another creature uses an action to shake you awake

Type

Plane of Existence