Dungeon Master's Guide
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dead god or other chunks of rock drifting forever in the<br />
silvery void. Much more commonplace are color poolsmagical<br />
pools of colored light that flicker like radiant,<br />
spinning coins.<br />
Creatures on the Astral Plane don't age or suffer from<br />
hunger or thirst. For this reason, humanoids that live<br />
on the Astral Plane (such as the githyanki) establish<br />
outposts on other planes, often the Material Plane, so<br />
their children can grow to maturity.<br />
A traveler in the Astral Plane can move by simply<br />
thinking about moving, but distance has little meaning.<br />
In combat, though, a creature's walking.speed (in feet) is<br />
equal to 3 x its Intelligence score. The smarter a creature<br />
is, the easier it can control its movement by act of will.<br />
ASTRAL PROJECTION<br />
Traveling through the Astral Plane by means of<br />
the astral projection spell involves projecting one's<br />
consciousness there, usually in search of a gateway to an<br />
Outer Plane to visit. Since the Outer Planes are as much<br />
spiritual states of being as they are physical places, this<br />
allows a character to manifest in an Outer Plane as if he<br />
or she had physically traveled there, but as in a dream.<br />
A character's death-either in the Astral Plane or on<br />
the destination plane-causes no actual harm. Only the<br />
severing of a character's silver cord while on the Astral<br />
Plane (or the death of his or her helpless physical body<br />
on the Material Plane) can result in the character's true<br />
death. Thus, high-level characters sometimes travel to<br />
the Outer Planes by way of astral projection rather than<br />
eek out a portal or use a more direct spell.<br />
Only a few things can sever a traveler's silver cord, the<br />
most common being a psychic wind (described below).<br />
The legendary silver swords of the githyanki also have<br />
this ability. A character who travels bodily to the Astral<br />
Plane (by means of the plane shift spell or one of the<br />
.-are portals that leads directly there) has no silver cord.<br />
C OLOR POOLS<br />
Gateways leading from the Astral Plane to other<br />
planes appear as two-dimensional pools of rippling<br />
colors, ld6 x 10 feet in diameter. Traveling to another<br />
plane requires locating a color pool that leads to the<br />
desired plane. These gateways to other planes can be<br />
:dentified by color, as shown on the Astral Color Pools<br />
table. Finding the right color pool is a matter of chance:<br />
.ocating the correct one takes ld4 x 10 hours of travel.<br />
AsTRAL CoLoR PooLs<br />
d20 Plane Pool Color<br />
Ysgard<br />
Indigo<br />
2 Limbo jet black<br />
3 Pandemonium Magenta<br />
4 The Abyss Amethyst<br />
5 Carceri Olive<br />
6 Hades Rust<br />
7 Gehenna Russet<br />
8 The Nine Hells Ruby<br />
9 Ache ron Flame red<br />
10 Mechanus Diamond blue<br />
11 Arcadia Saffron<br />
12 Mount Celestia Gold<br />
13 Bytopia Amber<br />
14 Elysium Orange<br />
15 The Beastlands Emerald green<br />
16 Arborea Sapphire blue<br />
17 The Outlands Leather brown<br />
18 Ethereal Plane Spiraling white<br />
19-20 Material Plane Silver<br />
PSYCHIC WIND<br />
A psychic wind isn't a physical wind like that found on<br />
the Material Plane, but a storm of thought that batters<br />
travelers' minds rather than their bodies. A psychic<br />
wind is made up of lost memories, forgotten ideas,<br />
minor musings, and subconscious fears that went<br />
astray in the Astral Plane and conglomerated into this<br />
powerful force.<br />
A psychic wind is first sensed as a rapid darkening of<br />
the silver-gray sky. After a few rounds, the area becomes<br />
as dark as a moonless night. As the sky darkens, the<br />
traveler feels buffeting and shaking, as if the plane itself<br />
was rebelling against the storm. As quickly as it comes,<br />
the psychic wind passes, and the sky returns to normal<br />
in a few rounds.<br />
The psychic wind has two kinds of effects: a<br />
location effect and a mental effect. A group of travelers<br />
journeying together suffers the same location effect.<br />
Each traveler affected by the wind must also make a<br />
DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the<br />
traveler suffers the mental effect as well. Roll a d20<br />
twice and consult the Psychic Wind Effects table to<br />
determine the location and mental effects.<br />
CHAPTER 2 I CREATING A MULTTVERSE<br />
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