Manual of the Planes

often used by astral travelers who have no other means oftransportation and need to get off the Astral Plane quickly.Table 5–1: Random Color Pools for the D&DCosmologyd% Plane Color01–05 Heroic Domains of Ysgard Indigo06–10 Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo Jet11–15 Windswept Depths of Pandemonium Magenta16–20 Infinite Layers of the Abyss Amethyst21–25 Tarterian Depths of Carceri Olive26–30 Gray Waste of Hades Rust31–35 Bleak Eternity of Gehenna Russet36–40 Nine Hells of Baator Ruby41–45 Infernal Battlefield of Acheron Flame46–50 Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus Diamond51–55 Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia Saffron56–60 Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia Gold61–65 Twin Paradises of Bytopia Amber66–70 Blessed Fields of Elysium Opal71–75 Wilderness of the Beastlands Emerald76–80 Olympian Glades of Arborea Sapphire81–89 Concordant Domain Leather brownof the Outlands90–95 Material Plane Silver96–97 Elemental or Energy Plane; make a second d% roll01–20 Elemental Plane of Fire Fire emerald21–40 Elemental Plane of Earth Moss granite41–60 Elemental Plane of Water Dark blue61–80 Elemental Plane of Air Pale blue81–90 Positive Energy Plane Shining white91–100 Negative Energy Plane Cold ebony98 Plane of Shadow Black spiral99 Ethereal Plane White spiral100 Demiplane of the DM’s choice Any other colorASTRAL INHABITANTSThe Astral Plane has few native forms. It does have a lotof travelers, and some natives of other planes have takenup permanent residence there. The most notable of the“almost natives” are the githyanki, a race that long agofled their mind flayer masters and established their owntyranny almost as bloodthirsty as that of their illithidenslavers. The astral dreadnought may be a form of nativelife, but that creature’s origin is difficult to study.Travelers may be encountered either in physical form or inastral form. In the latter case, travelers appear as ghostly, silveryimages of themselves. A silver cord trails behind eachone for a few feet, then disappears into the astral haze. In general,an astral form is more dangerous than a physical one,because it takes a high level of magical proficiency to cast anastral projection spell (as opposed to just casting plane shift).Astral FormAn astral form has the same general abilities as its nativebody, including the same Armor Class, hit points, andability scores it has on the Material Plane. But an astralform differs from its Material Plane counterpart as well.Dying: An astral form cannot be slain normally. If anastral form is killed (reduced to –10 hit points or otherwiseslain), the astral traveler’s soul returns to its original body,which remains unharmed.Traveling Elsewhere: If an astral form passes througha color pool or otherwise manifests on another plane, itforms a new body from the building blocks of the planeitself. That body is identical with its natural form, exceptit is immune to the natural hazards of that particularplane. An astral body that travels to the Elemental Planeof Fire is immune to damage from the fire-dominanttrait, for example. If the astral form is slain, the soulreturns to the unharmed original body and location.Items: Worn, held, and carried items possessed by theoriginal form are not harmed if their astral forms aredamaged or destroyed on the Astral Plane. When thetraveler leaves the Astral Plane, those items fade intooblivion, even if the traveler intended to leave the itemson the Astral Plane. If someone removes an item from anoriginal form while its owner is traveling astrally, theastral copy of the item disappears as well. If the traveler’sastral form employs magic items with a limited numberof uses (such as potions, scrolls, and wands), the uses areexpended on the real items as well as on the astral copies.Objects picked up by an astral character can be broughtback to his or her original body as long as the astral formreturns to that form normally. If the astral form is slain,then astral objects picked up along the way remain wherethey are and don’t return with the soul.Healing: On the Astral Plane, natural healing does notoccur. Magical healing functions normally on astral forms.Silver CordAn astral form may always return to its original body as astandard action. When an astrally projecting form passesthrough a color pool or other portal, the silver cord bondswith the portal, allowing the traveler to return to the originalbody even if the pool or portal has properties such as onewaytransit that would otherwise prevent such movement.Severing the silver cord that connects the form to themain body kills an astral traveler’s normal body. The cordusually appears at the base of an individual’s skull andstretches back 5 feet before merging with the AstralPlane. Only a few circumstances, such as the psychicwind, an attack from an astral dreadnought, or a blowfrom a powerful githyanki sword, can sever this cord.Monsters, items, and circumstances cannot sever a silvercord unless this ability is specifically noted.An astral traveler is automatically aware if his or hersilver cord is threatened—but not automatically warnedif his or her original body is threatened, so many leaveguardians or spells to protect the original body or alertthe owner if something threatens it.MOVEMENT AND COMBATThe Astral Plane’s lack of gravity makes it a tricky place toget around in. Most of the plane’s inhabitants move bymerely thinking themselves in a particular direction.This is akin to flight with perfect maneuverability and amaximum speed of 10 feet per point of Intelligence.When one is maneuvering through astral space, “up” and“down” are determined solely by the traveler’s orientationCHAPTER 5:THE TRANSITIVEPLANES49