Sadras
Legend
So our table is currently running through this great little module called The Lich-Queen's Begotten by M.T. Black which takes place on the Astral Plane. Despite all my years as a DM this, shamefully, is my first use of the Astral Plane. So I have done some reading on the matter and came across a site by DMDave who likely is the very same on Enworld. 
Anyways, so he has an expanded view on the Astral Plane and I thought about the merits of incorporating a few of these ideas...and I'm wondering what Enworlders' thoughts on these are, particularly the deep thinkers and scientists. Yes I know it is ALL magic - but our table bends towards logic, sometimes.
1. Time on the Astral Plane
You can’t cheat time on the Astral Plane. Even though you stop aging while on the Astral, when you return to the Prime Material your years will catch up to you. If you enter when you’re 20 and wait 50 years, then when you come back, time catches up to you and you instantly turn 70. And if you try to go back to the Astral Plane, you’ll still be 70. No reclaiming lost youth!
2. Eating on the Astral Plane
You don’t have to eat while on the Astral Plane. And you won’t die of starvation if you stay there for years without eating. However, once you return to a place where time functions normally, you’ll find yourself famished!
3. Injuries on the Astral Plane
Wounds don’t heal normally on the Astral Plane. If you’re cut, you’ll bleed. That stays the same. Only problem is you won’t heal naturally.
The only way to heal on the Astral Plane is through magical means.
4. Movements on the Astral Plane
To move is to think. That’s it.
And for complicated Astral Plane maneuvers, all it takes is a thought (an Intelligence check).
Swimming, climbing, jumping–everything physical is related to Intelligence checks while in the Astral Sea.
5. Momentum on the Astral Plane
There is nothing to stop nonthinking objects from moving in the Astral. Fire an arrow and it travels on and on forever. On the other hand…
Thinking objects must always think to move. If you aren’t thinking about moving, you won’t move. Sleeping? You’re still. Thinking about eating a donut? Still!
6. Vision on the Astral Plane
The astral limits normal vision. Therefore, those with normal vision can only see a maximum distance of 200 yards. However, those with true sight can see with a more “normal” viewing range.
7. Stealth on the Astral Plane
Since there is no real “movement” in the Astral Plane, all Stealth checks are done with advantage even when wearing heavy armor.
8. Intelligence Replaces Strength
The Astral Plane is the realm of the mind. Because of this, a character’s Intelligence score takes the place of his Strength score to determine attack and damage bonuses (or penalties), as well as carrying capacity, ability to bend bars, lift gates, and so on. Any action that would normally require a Strength ability check should use Intelligence instead including the Athletics skill.
9. Wisdom Replaces Dexterity
in the same vein, Wisdom takes over for Dexterity on the Astral Plane. Wisdom becomes one’s Armor Class modifier and initiative bonus. And any action that would normally require a Dexterity ability check should use Wisdom instead, including Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, ranged attacks, attacks with finesse weapons, etc.
10. Melee Combat on the Astral Plane
There’s a whole lot more movement on the Astral, and it’s easy for the uninitiated to get caught off guard while fighting there. Furthermore, attackers can surprise people from above and below allowing extra flanking opportunities.
11. Ranged Combat on the Astral Plane
Since everything is done in zero-gravity environments, ranged attacks suffer. All ranged attacks are made at disadvantage while on the Astral Plane unless there is a source of gravity (dead god’s carcass or a big ol’ rock to land on).
However, all ranges are doubled on the Astral Plane since there’s nothing to block line of sight. So a shortbow with a short range of 80 would have a range of 160 on the Astral and a long range of 640 instead of 320.
12. Magic on the Astral Plane
12.1. Magic - Extradimensional
The Astral Plane has no dimensions, therefore extradimensional spells such as Leomund’s Tiny Chest or the carrying capacity of a bag of holding won’t work there.
12.2 Magic - Physical Spells in the Astral Plane
Spells that rely on the physical world such as disintegrate or the effects of a sphere of annihilation don’t work on the Astral Plane.
However, spells like fireball and lightning bolt are translates to the metaphysical nature of the Astral Plane.
Spells that alter space/time also won’t work, such as time stop.
There is not a lot of “solid ground” in the Astral Plane, therefore spells like Evard’s black tentacles and Tenser’s floating disc don’t really have that much effect there, either.
12.3 Magic - Spell Potency on the Astral Plane
Spell ranges increase by 50% on the Astral Plane.
And spell times are reduced as follows:
Haste and slow work normally except they do not affect movement.
When psychic winds occur (more on that later) there is a chance that illusions such as hallucinatory terrain and phantasmal force could get absorbed by the winds and come out completely different than what was intended. You wanted a dragon illusion? Well, now it’s a clown with a seltzer bottle. Darn those pesky psychic winds!
The Astral Plane is cut off from the Inner Planes. Therefore, elementals cannot be summoned to the Astral Plane.
So...
I dislike 1 because it means that Githyanki age every time they leave the Astral Plane - at times significantly. However I feel 1, 2 and 3 are all inter-connected. For instance can you include 2 without using adopting 1 and 3 logically?
Undecided on 7
Love 4-6 and 8-10
Does 11 makes logical sense?
I'm not so worried about 12.1 and 12.2
I'm unsure of 12.3 due to the possible ramifications that could exist.
Anyways, so he has an expanded view on the Astral Plane and I thought about the merits of incorporating a few of these ideas...and I'm wondering what Enworlders' thoughts on these are, particularly the deep thinkers and scientists. Yes I know it is ALL magic - but our table bends towards logic, sometimes.
1. Time on the Astral Plane
You can’t cheat time on the Astral Plane. Even though you stop aging while on the Astral, when you return to the Prime Material your years will catch up to you. If you enter when you’re 20 and wait 50 years, then when you come back, time catches up to you and you instantly turn 70. And if you try to go back to the Astral Plane, you’ll still be 70. No reclaiming lost youth!
2. Eating on the Astral Plane
You don’t have to eat while on the Astral Plane. And you won’t die of starvation if you stay there for years without eating. However, once you return to a place where time functions normally, you’ll find yourself famished!
3. Injuries on the Astral Plane
Wounds don’t heal normally on the Astral Plane. If you’re cut, you’ll bleed. That stays the same. Only problem is you won’t heal naturally.
The only way to heal on the Astral Plane is through magical means.
4. Movements on the Astral Plane
To move is to think. That’s it.
And for complicated Astral Plane maneuvers, all it takes is a thought (an Intelligence check).
Swimming, climbing, jumping–everything physical is related to Intelligence checks while in the Astral Sea.
5. Momentum on the Astral Plane
There is nothing to stop nonthinking objects from moving in the Astral. Fire an arrow and it travels on and on forever. On the other hand…
Thinking objects must always think to move. If you aren’t thinking about moving, you won’t move. Sleeping? You’re still. Thinking about eating a donut? Still!
6. Vision on the Astral Plane
The astral limits normal vision. Therefore, those with normal vision can only see a maximum distance of 200 yards. However, those with true sight can see with a more “normal” viewing range.
7. Stealth on the Astral Plane
Since there is no real “movement” in the Astral Plane, all Stealth checks are done with advantage even when wearing heavy armor.
8. Intelligence Replaces Strength
The Astral Plane is the realm of the mind. Because of this, a character’s Intelligence score takes the place of his Strength score to determine attack and damage bonuses (or penalties), as well as carrying capacity, ability to bend bars, lift gates, and so on. Any action that would normally require a Strength ability check should use Intelligence instead including the Athletics skill.
9. Wisdom Replaces Dexterity
in the same vein, Wisdom takes over for Dexterity on the Astral Plane. Wisdom becomes one’s Armor Class modifier and initiative bonus. And any action that would normally require a Dexterity ability check should use Wisdom instead, including Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, ranged attacks, attacks with finesse weapons, etc.
10. Melee Combat on the Astral Plane
There’s a whole lot more movement on the Astral, and it’s easy for the uninitiated to get caught off guard while fighting there. Furthermore, attackers can surprise people from above and below allowing extra flanking opportunities.
11. Ranged Combat on the Astral Plane
Since everything is done in zero-gravity environments, ranged attacks suffer. All ranged attacks are made at disadvantage while on the Astral Plane unless there is a source of gravity (dead god’s carcass or a big ol’ rock to land on).
However, all ranges are doubled on the Astral Plane since there’s nothing to block line of sight. So a shortbow with a short range of 80 would have a range of 160 on the Astral and a long range of 640 instead of 320.
12. Magic on the Astral Plane
12.1. Magic - Extradimensional
The Astral Plane has no dimensions, therefore extradimensional spells such as Leomund’s Tiny Chest or the carrying capacity of a bag of holding won’t work there.
12.2 Magic - Physical Spells in the Astral Plane
Spells that rely on the physical world such as disintegrate or the effects of a sphere of annihilation don’t work on the Astral Plane.
However, spells like fireball and lightning bolt are translates to the metaphysical nature of the Astral Plane.
Spells that alter space/time also won’t work, such as time stop.
There is not a lot of “solid ground” in the Astral Plane, therefore spells like Evard’s black tentacles and Tenser’s floating disc don’t really have that much effect there, either.
12.3 Magic - Spell Potency on the Astral Plane
Spell ranges increase by 50% on the Astral Plane.
And spell times are reduced as follows:
- Spells that normally take a single action can now also be used as a bonus action.
- Any spell that takes 1 or more hours is reduced to the same number of minutes.
- And any spell that takes 1 or more minutes is reduced to the same number of rounds for casting time.
Haste and slow work normally except they do not affect movement.
When psychic winds occur (more on that later) there is a chance that illusions such as hallucinatory terrain and phantasmal force could get absorbed by the winds and come out completely different than what was intended. You wanted a dragon illusion? Well, now it’s a clown with a seltzer bottle. Darn those pesky psychic winds!
The Astral Plane is cut off from the Inner Planes. Therefore, elementals cannot be summoned to the Astral Plane.
So...
I dislike 1 because it means that Githyanki age every time they leave the Astral Plane - at times significantly. However I feel 1, 2 and 3 are all inter-connected. For instance can you include 2 without using adopting 1 and 3 logically?
Undecided on 7
Love 4-6 and 8-10
Does 11 makes logical sense?
I'm not so worried about 12.1 and 12.2
I'm unsure of 12.3 due to the possible ramifications that could exist.
Last edited:
