Help a Poor Soul Figure out "Astral Projection"

[FlufferNutterEater]

Or, "Why people from the South should not Plane Shift."

Let's say you are a relatively inexperienced (real-world) player that suddenly has access to Astral Projection (like, let's say you are me). I am having a LOT of trouble figuring out what the spell allows, or heck what it is even good for.

Is the following possible?

1) Mr. Hatfield hates Mr. McCoy. Mr. Hatfield "goes astral" (casts Astral Projection) and decides to form a new body on the material plane. Hatfield's original body is also on the material plane, in suspended animation (SA). So Hatfield forms this new body, with new equipment on the material plane (MP). Hatfield goes and confronts McCoy, who shoots him down, killing the astral projection body of Hatfield. The astral projection spell ends, and Hatfield wakes up from his SA slumber on the MP, in his original body. Presumbably, he could "go astral" again and attack McCoy again, until he beats McCoy. Correct?

2) Or is it not possible to have two sets of bodies on the material plane at the same time?

3) Can you "go astral" onto, say, the Plane of Shadow, and then Plane Shift that body onto the material plane? (another way to get two bodies on the MP)?

4) If Hatfield is astral, walking around the MP with an astral copy body, is Hatfield extra-planar, so can or can't be dismissed? I mean, he's on the plane that he grew up on (MP) but, he's also in contact with the Astral Plane... extra-planar is relative... ugh my head hurts...

5) If Hatfield hates McCoy, and wants to use Astral Projection to "kill" McCoy, are there any suggestions for clever ways to do it, besides the obvious one outlined in 1)?

6) What happens to equipment on the astral duplicate, if for example Hatfield has a one-of-a-kind item (unique or artifactial)? Does that item not get duplicated? Or does it?

7) What happens if the Astral Duplicate has something like Pandora's Box on him, which the Astral Duplicate on the MP opens? Is this duplicate Pandora's Box really the same as the original? Does the curse "activate" assuming there is a curse for whomever opens the box? If it does activate and, for example, drains 10 levels from the Astral Duplicate, does this effect the original body back on the MP in SA?

I'll stop there, as my brain is fried.

And and all help, suggestions, etc. much appreciated.

 

[reanjr]

As for the RAW (checked SRD and Manual of the Planes):

1. Correct
2. Nothing prohibits this
3. Hard to say for sure; but I would say no. In my opinion Plane Shift would affect the actual body and not the Astral Projection, so you would have one "self" on the Plane of Shadow after doing this. It really would be left up to the DM, though, as the rules don't indicate either way.
4. Same rules-murkiness as #3, but in this case I would say that the projection could be dismissed or banished.
5. I'd say #1 works just fine.
6. It gets duplicated, but as soon as the Astral Projection ends, the Astral version dissipates. Even if the item was stolen from the projection and taken to another plane. The original could be stolen in the meantime, though
7. I am not familiar with Pandora's Box, but in general it should work as normal on the projection. Since normal damage does not affect the body, I would say that means magical effects on the projection do not affect the body once the Projection is done.

Now, as for the spirit of the rules (and gleaning info from 2e Planescape), these are my opinions:

1. No. Moving to the Prime Material (no matter where on the Prime you reenter) from projection causes the spell to end.
2. Right
3. Astral Projection ends and then the original body Plane Shifts.
4. He is indeed extra-planar. Banishment and Dismissal end the spell.
5. I'd say no. Astral Projection is meant as a protection and as a safe mode of temporary planar travel.
6. It's duplicated. Still dissipates at end of spell, though.
7. The effect only affects the projection.

That spell really needs a book dedicated to it...

 

[Gez]

Concerning #7, charges from astral duplicates of magic items are drained from the original item as well. So, a Pandora's box or whatever, which can be considered as a one-use item triggered by the act of opening it, would work that way. It would be opened, no matter whether it was the astrally projected duplicate or the original.

It works the same for, say, a Ring of Three Wishes. You can't use astral projection to get three new wishes with each casting.

 

[dcollins]

It's funny, this is another one of those places where 3rd Edition streamlining took out all of the important restrictions.

In AD&D, it was explicit in the spell that (a) you could form a second body on Outer Planes but not the Prime Material, and (b) most items were left behind unless high-powered magic with "multi-planed existence". Take those away, and it's a lot harder to adjudicate.

Current Manual of the Planes does say that charges used on astral-projected items are deducted from the original (p. 49).

 

[FlufferNutterEater]

Still confused

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm still, however, much confused, and being low in the IQ deparment, require further kicking before this gets through my thick skull.

1) Is going astral and then materializing with a new body back on the material plane legal per the core rules?

1a) Is 1) legal but so cheesy that nobody does it, out of pure cheestastic embaressment?

2) If I'm a mean nasty and brutal 20th level sorcerer, can I cast Astral Projection, form a body on the Etheral plane, then gate in/summon/bind a bunch of creatures (on the ethereal plane) with planar travel capabilities, and command them to go material and then attack somebody on the material plane? Repeat until everyone you want is dead, plus you have not wasted any spells for the day (the duplicate cast the spells? (can duplicates cast spells? what about spells with xp costs? what about agreements made with demons by the duplicate?)).

3) Arrrrrrrghghhh! I'm just confusing myself further!

 

[nameless]

First of all, there is no "duplicate" per se. Any spells you cast while you are astrally projecting are used normally. Astral Projection is (thematically) sending your consciousness out of your body to go and roam the planes, while leaving your actual body safely behind. The spell creates a temporary body for you, and if that body is destroyed, your consciousness is sent back to your real body. The only way to actually harm an Astral Projector is to sever his silver cord, which is very difficult.

If it seems powerful, it is incredibly powerful. It's a 9th level spell, and one of the more powerful ones, to boot. It basically makes you invincible, without diminishing your power in any way. Unless someone figures out that you are astrally projecting, and manages to track down your empty body, that is. In the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys, it seems really unfair that you can keep trying to kill them at no risk to yourself, but is it any more unfair that gating in a Balor, or Meteor Swarming them? The only difference between those is that Astral Projection is more defensive.