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 grey 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 (such as the githyanki) establish outposts on other planes, often the Material Plane, so their children can grow to maturity.
A traveller 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 × 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 travelled 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 traveller’s silver cord, the most common being a psychic wind (described below). The legendary silver swords of the githyanki also have this ability. 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 × 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 × 10 hours of travel.
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-grey sky. After a few rounds, the area becomes as dark as a moonless night. As the sky darkens, the traveller 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
Astral Plane Encounters- Planar travellers and refugees from other planes wander the expanses of the Astral Plane. The most prominent denizens of the Astral Plane are the githyanki, an outcast race of reavers that sail sleek astral ships, slaughter astral travellers, and raid planes touched by the Astral. Their city, Tu’narath, floats through the Astral Plane on a chunk of rock that is actually the body of a dead god.
Celestials, fiends, and mortal explorers often scour the Astral Plane for colour pools leading to desired destinations. Characters who linger for too long in the Astral might have an encounter with one or more wandering angels, demons, devils, night hags, yugoloths, or other planar travellers. (Source: DMG D&D)
Geography
It is a great silvery sea, the same above and below, with swirling wisps of white and grey 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.
Ecosystem
The Astral Plane is the realm of thought and dream, where visitors travel as disembodied souls to reach the Outer Planes.
Localized Phenomena
Creatures on the Astral Plane don’t age or suffer from hunger or thirst. For this reason, humanoids that live on the Astral Plane (such as the githyanki) establish outposts on other planes, often the Material Plane, so their children can grow to maturity. A traveller 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 × its Intelligence score. The smarter a creature is, the easier it can control its movement by act of will.
Tourism
Planar travellers and refugees from other planes wander the expanses of the Astral Plane.
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