D&D General How do you handle Astral travel?

[SkidAce]

It seems kinda hard to have a hidden location in the Astral, where if someone knows of its existence, you think hard and get there...

Maybe that the point? By this time/level its not about the journey, but the destination?

 

[aco175]

Seems kind of like making players word a wish right of you get to mess with them.

Not even a roll to think of the right place, sort of like Ghostbusters and Staypuff Marshmallow Man.

I do not use the planes that much, so it might never come up in my games, but I do not think I like it like this. Or, maybe it just cuts down on the exploration part of the game and jumps to the next thing.

 

[SkidAce]

Seems kind of like making players word a wish right of you get to mess with them.

Not even a roll to think of the right place, sort of like Ghostbusters and Staypuff Marshmallow Man.

I do not use the planes that much, so it might never come up in my games, but I do not think I like it like this. Or, maybe it just cuts down on the exploration part of the game and jumps to the next thing.

You would/could assume they are beyond "mere" travelling by this high of level, but I dont think I like it either.
Of course, as the Beyond quote says above, I still get to decide how safe and how "far" away it is.

I made a chart a while back, with familiarity like teleport and DCs. So if you made the DC you prob made it to your destination with only random encounters (astral wind, anubis, etc.), but if you failed the DC, you still made it to the destination with a complication (Staypuff Marshmellow man type thing).

Lets see if I can find it....ah ...

 

[Scott Christian]

I have not run astral travel in D&D 5e. Back in 2nd edition we ran it, and we had built a time graphic/chart that all of us agreed to beforehand. It had time in other places go by at different rates, and sometimes, we aged at different rates too. It is why my human fighter had to retire - he was suddenly 75 years old after so much astral travel! I will never forget it. I was actually heartbroken at the time, but we had all agreed to the in-house rule.
As far as being a player in 5e, the two DMs that used it made it more fantastical and unique. It was an opportunity to explore. And yes, we did have a few encounters, but for the most part it was contemplative role playing and fantasy exploration.

 

[bloodtide]

I use the Ye Old 2E mental movement, so you can think yourself to places.

Really by mid level things are not "hidden" much......