I don't get why anyone would use this spell in 5e. There are fewer official 5e monsters available to your DM than previous editions, and two of them can sever your cord. At level 20 I would have a better chance at fighting (or even running away from) an astral dreadnought in my character's physical body, as the dreadnought doesn't get an "I win" button. If you get your cord severed, you have to convince your party's wizard to waste a wish on you (good luck with that). Plane Shift is just a better option, and it's level 7 instead of level 9. If you just die on the plane of fire you can just use True Resurrection (or Clone), which only costs money.
Protect your body with a force effect, you can cast 9th lvl spells, so you have access to all the force effects too. Also have a golem with true sight or another creature with ghost sight guard your body.
Yeah ! Now that you say it wouldn't magic caster just create a tomb/safe place for their body and then use that to basically become eternal ? Even priest could do it to go visit their god and then ''awaken'' if they are needed in the material plane !
@@xaviermantha63 But it takes 1 hour to cast in 5e, and if I remember correctly, your Astral body still ages as if it were your real body. You'd basically live your whole natural lifespan (or until you die), then return to your real body, live for an hour, then return to suspended animation. Not quite eternal, but depending on your real body's race (and thus natural lifespan), anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of years easily. Then again, I guess you'd also have to consider if you would need to rest for 8 hours in your real body to recharge your spells once you ran out of slots, since your body is in suspended animation rather than truly resting. Still, an EXTREMELY extended lifespan.
@@Alexrider02 You forgot a detail again : The spell description (and our dear narrator) tell us very clearly the duration is 'special'. Not only that, but even in the case where the astral body did age for some reason (which would not be the case normally) it will be at the rate your natural body age in the astral, that is to say that as long as your body is not in danger the spell duration could easily be longer than the lifespan of a planet, which, if you take into account that the one casting it is already quite powerful mean that the time needed for finding a solution to the ''end of the world = end of life'' problem is more than long enough.
@@sowatome849 No literally. I could have sworn he said in one of his previous videos that he will be covering the Githyanki as a part of the astral series.
Imagine a warrior from the inner planes that got stuck in the material plane ‘cuz his wizard friend died and now he’s just looking for someone to kill him
@@alessandropereira4976 personally it makes sense to make it so if they want to go back to their real body, and their body isnt dead or possessed, they can just will themselves back. though that's just me
I always pictured the Astral Projection spell looking similar to how the movie Doctor Strange did it, without the time dilation of course. The thought of having your soul exist apart from the body in that kind of visual way makes this spell so fucking cool.
Your spirit and soul would both be present in the astral plane while astral projecting. Only your physical body would remain on *earth* I put it this way, you have three aspects to your being, physical, spiritual, soul. Physical is your mundane physical body, spiritual is your eternal body, the one that ascends to heaven or descends to hell when you die, your soul is your mental energy, it directs your conscious thoughts, it is your personal will. Whichever body you inhabit your soul will be present and usually your spiritual body will be as well. In the case of astral projection only your spiritual body and soul journey into the astral plane. Hopefully that explains my way of explaining the aspects to my players in D&D.
@@timtauber5557 your soul and spiritual body are the same. The only time that's different is after you ascend to godhood. The astral projection spell basically connects your consciousness to your soul. By separating both and binds your soul to your body via the silver cord. Hence why if you brake the cord you die your soul is technically never outside your body due to the tether. Only your conscience mind and your magical possessions. The spiritual body your talking about is already explained in the rules as being your soul which is why when you die your soul can only be resurrected for 200 years because your soul loses its connections to it's past life through it's journey through the universe back to it's plane of alignment.
@@kholtsclaw5266 I totally understand how D&D explains, I was offering an alternative way of seeing it, because that’s the way I deal with it in my role playing cosmos. I personally prefer my way, but either way works.
About a month ago I started writing a Treasure Planet themed adventure based in the Astral Sea. And then all these videos started coming out and giving me even more ideas (and some of which I'd already researched). Thanks for all the work, great videos as always
Ok, now I will use demi-plane to create a small room to hide my body and then start exploring the world with astral projection to create avatar-like body for myself
@@marcusc9931 Yes but a Githyanki with a silver Greatsword only needs to land a lucky hit to instantly kill you, and Githyanki with Silver Greatswords tend not to travel alone, with either a crew of other Githyanki and/or with a Red Dragon Mount.
@@InquisitorThomas Once you reach that level to be able to astral project then avoiding such risky encounters is not a big deal. Especially since casting relevant spells to avoid problems in the astral plane is very very effective
Please note MrRhexx’s caveat about differences in AP based on edition. The “creates a new body/becomes a native of the inner/outer plane you travel to” property of AP described in the video doesn’t apply in 5E. 5E AP description: “If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane.” This means 5E AP brings your body to you, not creates a new one out of the plane you’re on. More to the point, it’s the same original body you have and it happens as soon as you enter a plane from the Astral. So if, for example, you cast AP and travel to the Plane of Earth, you’re instantly buried in earth and suffocating from lack of air on that plane.
@@the24thcolossusjustchillin39 True dat. It's just that I prefer to avoid all sorts of crazy DM conundrums and player shenanigans, so I prefer the cleaned-up, rules-tight version of 5E. I just wrote a response to someone else here on this, and the 5E rules and wording makes me realize even more how specific and unambiguous WotC made AP for 5E. Not only does 5E AP instantly transport your physical body to the plane you're entering from the Astral, but it also says that if your silver cord is cut, you *instantly* die. There's no lingering at all of your astral body in the Astral so you can get to a portal to another plane and cause it to create a new body for you. You're just dead. That's also besides how the spell ends immediately if either your astral or physical body drops to 0 HP.
@@javierpatag3609 This makes the spell completely worthless in 5e, not to mention there are fewer 5e monsters and two of them can sever your cord. At level 20 I would have a better chance at fighting an astral dreadnought in my character's physical body, as the dreadnought doesn't get an "I win" button. If you get your cord severed, you have to convince your party's wizard to waste a wish on you. Plane Shift is just a better option, and it's level 7 instead of level 9. If you just die on the plane of fire instead you can just use True Resurrection (or Clone), which only costs money.
@@kayd6572 I don’t believe there is anything saying that you can’t. It’s just a relatively niche use of the spell, considering most of the time you use the spell it’s implied you want to specifically go to the Astral Plane. And planar stuff hasn’t really been covered in 5e, so it would really be up to the DM.
Step 1: obtain or create guardians to protect your physical body Step 2: establish a code word or phrase to confirm you are who you say you are Step 3: enchant everything you want to take with you Step 4: Lock yourself up so any who try to poses your body are trapped till they leave out of boredom Step 5: cast astral projection Step 6: don’t forget code word or phrase Happy Travels!
Their is no such thing as “poses your body” they can’t do that it’s impossible as your soul never left your body it’s just a part of it. Make sure you know what your talking about before you go on spatting nonsense
@@jotoho For someone who has astral projected and for many others who have to it’s impossible for a being to posses you and I don’t care if the video saids it’s true I could say onions are fruits in a video will you still believe me without evidence? And this person was just conveying the message but should be taught on the lies he is spatting before trying to teach them to people. Try to tone down being a intellectual because you are not.
@@jotoho and arrogance? You blindly follow a bafoon instead of doing actual research and seeing actual first hand experience. Try to tone down that stupidity.
It was. Now it would just teleport their skull out of their dungeon. The revisions 5e made to it rendered it worthless for anyone, even monsters, to cast.
I tried turning you on to these guys along time ago so I'm glad that you found the dungeon dude and I'm happy to see that you're promoting their work. I can't wait for you to do a full review of that project once it gets done and this might be the first time that I ever invest inside of the kickstarter. Also on a side note I absolutely love all of your videos I love especially the ones that deal with all of the extra planner stuff all the stuff that deals with the inner planes and Outer Planes and demons and devils and gods at love all of that stuff maybe you can do 1 on the City sigil
@@cooperb4449 I'm sure they do, but 6 months or so ago they both did a video on the same topic and I posted in both dating I thought they should do more topics as he concentrated on low abs they concentrated on game mechanics. Anyway, even if they are paying, I don't care, I cabby wait for him to review this item
My favorite D&D PC was a gnome that hid himself in a bag of holding buried in a random location found by getting lost in a giant desert. The bag of holding was warded against teleporting into and I had a table enchanted to provide a feast for food and an air mephit for oxygen. I then used Astral Projection used used my projection to go questing with the party. My spell school was Divination so basically from a bag of holding I would scry on everything for the party and used my Astra projection to keep myself from being killed.
Your DM clearly isn't familiar with simple extra-dimensional spaces then. Teleport wards? No one would be foolish enough to even try that because... extra-dimensional spaces inside extra-dimensional spaces... it doesn't work if you're lucky; you're dead or lost in the Astral if it does. That table wouldn't function at best, or create a conduit to conjure or invoke the matter/energy to create food... the same principle as teleport. Then there's the fact that the bag's interior is displaced from reality; no spell could permeate it's exterior... the module, Chronomancer, states that the interior of every Bag of Holding even has its own Timeline separate from the rest of the multiverse. Props on the Mephit though. I adore those guys, lol. I once had someone playing an Arcanist (kind of a summoner/necromancy/diviner specialty wizard) in Ravenloft that ended up with a Dust Mephit Familiar. It was fun playing Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide with a graveyard sense of humor.
@@GrymmSoul I mean granted there was some homebrew ruling in there to make it fun/workable. We merged 3.5 with Pathfinder for the game. I retired the character at level 25, but it was a really fun run. I essentially never actually entered combat with my gnome wizard. Instead I dominated or used invisibility/my surroundings to trick enemies into fighting each other. The divination allowed me to like ease-drop on enemies while they were planning and thus the party was always a step a head and always no where near danger. We did transfer the game from 3.5 to 5th Ed and I got to herald the change in deities and stuff like that. Although I was neutral it was more of a good campaign Now that we're in 5th E I play a Ratkin vampire who lurks below the city in the sewers creating more Ratkin vampires. We're building up a force to over run the city and make it ours. The humans will be enslaved.
I feel like you could write an interesting character whose story is that their real body died while astral projecting and they got trapped pretending to be an elemental in one of the inner planes.
Soooooo good. Thank you, I can now properly use this spell and suggest it to my party members. It is amazing and as always you are helping me with my world. Thank you again so much for all your work. Always look forward to your uploads!
Thank You Kratos I'm sure you've had to replace your mundane underwear many times over the centuries given how many times you have been Shot, Stabbed, Impaled, Burned, Frozen, Tortured, Beaten, Whipped, Eaten, Crushed, Poisoned, burned by Acid and so on.. I'm sure magically reinforced underwear has saved the day on many occasions! XD
That one is easy to summarize: Once the party returns, one way or the other, to their material bodies, the DM says nothing to the now-possessed character and allows them to RP normally. It's nothing to justify that thew possessing entity has the capability to learn about the possessed character's memories and personality traits such to the extent that they could impersonate them for whatever amount of time that is plot-worthy. At a point, the DM takes control of the character when the plot demands that the ruse is falling apart, forcing the players to make hard choices about how to deal with this revelation; murdering their companion outright, forcing the entity to leave willingly or driving it out, etc. Then, the true horror begins.... rescuing the actual spirit of their companion. Many methods, short of Wish, will fail. The character, presumably, isn't dead; but "lost" in the multiverse. Perhaps still in the Astral Sea, mayhaps they've fled through a Color Pool and reformed a planar body elsewhere; Resurrection won't work. Time will press down on the party, as a literal infinite number of fates could transpire as long as they take to retrieve their lost companion... especially pertinent should they need to resolve any schemes which the possessing entity may have involved themselves in while in a physical body (possibly being the reason that inspired them to possess an Astral traveler to begin with). Meanwhile, if the DM and "possessed" player have the time, they could play out what is going on with the Astral character, who might find themselves learning or affecting matters in an overreaching main story arc which the possession was "interrupting"... though that kind of balance, trust, and scheduling... let alone a worthy enough plot to justify it all, and keep up entertainment and emotional stakes... would be tricky, but rewarding. Such would encompass both the horror and ghostly subterfuge you spoke of. I've done some similar things in a Ravenloft campaign involving the mechanics of demon/devil possession in the Demiplane of Dread and it was amazingly effective (obviously, the other players couldn't leave the plane however; though the possessed soul was able to learn a great deal about the Dark Powers, as they exist in my campaign world). Perhaps "summarize" wasn't the best term to use, lol.
"take from this what you wish". I like the idea that in-universe clerics, warlocks and wizards pushed the limits of the spell over the years that usually pass between different editions. In this case, they were able to push the limits of the spell and learn that it is possible to provide everyone their own individual silver cord, as well as to make the body and its possessions teleport with you to the other plane of existence when you leave the Astral (another area of difference between older versions of the spell and 5E).
I think MrRhexx’s version of the spell of creating a new body that is considered native to the plane you are entering is always a better way to travel than taking your body with you (otherwise most planes, like fire, earth and water would kill you all too quickly).
I love your enthusiasm and your videos. I used to play DnD as a kid and teenager So watching your videos really makes me want to play. You're giving me so many good ideas for when I actually do. Thanks man.
That last bit can make for an interesting character backstory, basically your character is a body of a wizard or such possessed by a ghost seeking revenge (for instance) which can lead to all sort of interesting plot hooks and NPC interactions.
This has always been my favorite 9th level spell. Summoning meteors and making black holes is cool, but Astral projection just awakens my sense of wonder, and makes my mind float to distant places,quite literally
You seem to say if you go to another plane it makes a new/diffrent body, however the spell says " If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane."
The idea that anyone would choose this spell and use their slot to cast it is preposterous. It should be a ritual, and if a DM wants players to have it, he should let them find the scroll. Otherwise, it will literally never get used. I've been playing D&D for 30 years, and I've never ONCE heard of anyone using it.
It doesn't help that the spell doesn't say you can bring your loot back home with you. No one is going up against a demonlord and not take his stuff. The description is just too vague. It pretty much took 20 min to describe the one spell.
Well i think it primarliy is because it's a 9th lvl spell and there's well plenty more 9th lvl spells that in most situations are just more useful. Astral projection is a fringe spell that only in very specific situations would see potential to be used.
@@dennishiestermann3055 In many ways it beats gate though. If you play a high level planar campaign then your players are pretty much better off using astral projection. But if they don't know that they can move to other planes from there and have a body and bring back whatever loot they find, then they aren't going to use it. And outside of the planescape setting details, the spell description just doesn't say anything about that. And with such ambiguity, many DM's will just say if it's not in the description then it doesn't do that and then it is a lousy spell if all you can do if float around the astral plane, not loot anything, and just need to hope no one cuts your cord or does anything to your body. Pretty much just WotC screwing up there.
I love these videos because all you have to do is talk and my next campaign worldbuilding becomes better and better. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you Mr. Rhexx!
Another great video Mr. Rhexx! Would you consider doing a video at some point in this series about how Athas and Eberron interact with the planes? I ask about Athas and Eberron in particular because their relationships to the planes is different than other prime material worlds.
MrRhexx i just want to tell you thank you. Your videos especially these more recent ones have become the Basis for my first campaign (Homebrewed) and how my entire Pantheon of Gods work and how the astral plane affects my Campaign Plane of Vandosa For my campaign i took inspiration from Magic the Gathering and the Blind Eterneties and Astral plane are one and the same. Meaning the Eldrazi (from MTG) are native to the Astral Plane. What does this have to do with my pantheon of gods? Well my pantheon of gods were native creatures similar to the Eldrazi that became known as Astral Gods. They consume the "Dead"/Dormant Gods that float along the astral plane. Anubis is the person who keeps them from eating so many or any at all and also prevents creatures from becoming Astral Gods. These Astral Gods stumbled onto a large Demiplane of nothingness and used their powers to form it with more demiplanes until it became a full plane. This plane became known as Vandosa, the gods then created everything in this world and thats the basic premice for the gods in my campaign. The interesting thing about the Astral Gods is that they dont function as normal gods, when they loose all of their believers they end up reverting back into the Unfathomable Creature form (Like the eldrazi) and continue as a native astral creature until they find another god to consume and a new plane to become a god in. UNLESS its believers return and begin to believe in it again all of this was possible through you and i want to tell you thank you for giving me my inspiration.
What if your physical body died and you know you got a minute so you go to mount Celestia to become a celestial and stuck like that because your body died, could you cast astral projection again, this time leaving your new body behind? I mean, your new body now inhibits your soul which you can project outwards again, right?
I personally would say that 1, if uts a wizard and his book had a magical enchantment so it could follow, would be able to cast again. Or if a sorcerer has it and their magic is a part of them then sure. But if the wizard doesn't have his book and for somereason it wasn't prepared (so they don't know it) then they'd be stuck.
Only people born on the material can astral project, that's because only primers have their soul as a seperate thing from their body, while outsiders souls is their body, that's why when a primer dies they leave their body behind while an outsider, Luke say a devil, banish, their soul, i.e. their body, goes back to the 9 hells.
A wizard's spellbook is automatically magical, it holds spells, spells are magical. Each spell in a spell book can be cast as a scroll, so yes if you were willing to risk losing the spell and possibly your new body, it would be doable.
You won’t become a celestial according to the 5E version of the spell. “If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane.” It doesn’t make a new body native to the plane for you. Instead, it brings your body to you as soon as you enter the plane. That said, it possibly can save you from dying, where your body is now on Mount Celestia, filled with Lawful Good creatures who I’d say are likely to help you. Even if you were Chaotic Evil, I’d bet the inhabitants would show mercy to you (but will probably imprison and try to reform you immediately after).
@@javierpatag3609 That is unclear. The PHB and DMG say contradictory things regarding whether the new body is the original one or a facsimile made out of local materials.
I want to exploit an item duplication glitch in Dungeons & Dragons now. Since an item gains our presentation of the astral plane, do you lose the physical item if you lose it in the astral plane? If not that means that you can give the item to another astral character you can then bring it to the material plane while you retain your own. Or, alternatively, use a plane shifting spell or item to take your astral body back to the physical material plane with those items and then leave them there when you return to your body. Either way you basically get two of each item with magical properties. Which means that you could duplicate rare artifacts this way. Presumably.
Up to your dm. The spell doesn't say the items are destroyed or lost if you leave them on the Astral. However, if you leave an artifact on the Astral, one of the various creatures that live there that are keeping study of artifacts may get to it before you do, so duplicate yes, would you have two, not necessarily. Also, it is an absolute likeness of yourself and you're equipment, it is your conscious thoughts and actions. A dm would be within their rights to say that you consciously abandoned the item on the Astral plane, and therefore don't get a duplicate, but rather you lose the item since you consciously chose to leave it on the Astral plane. So, up to your dm.
From my understanding the astral form of an item is its magic shadow cast into the astral. This is the part that makes a magic item magical. The physical item would then lose it's power until the astral version returned. If the physical item was destroyed then the item would disappear when it returned to the original plane. If you go to a different plane then a new physical item is created just like with a body but the original item would no longer be magical. There wouldn't be any duplication.
Been DM'ing since the early 80s. I'd let you do it. It seems like a pain in the butt and lots of chances for things to go wrong. I was going to list some - but it quickly overgrew. But as the ultimate - what world shattering adventures could you get from trying to duplicate an artifact?' This isn't a game you win or hack - it's a game you experience. The object is >only< "did we have fun?" D&D ain't a video game.
@@NotSomeone68 That's true, and sometimes, you can do much more damage by letting players have their attempt. For example, the players hatch a scheme to duplicate the items but while in the astral plane a spirit possesses one of the bodies that the guard doesn't notice because the guard is only focused on external physical threats. The players astral body plane shifts into the material plane with the astral duplication of the artifact only to realize that the player lost not only the original items but their own body. So now the player has to go on an adventure to track down themselves as their own doppelganger. At least, that's the kind of story that I would weave if a player tried to do that in one of my games. It would have some variation depending on exactly how the players do it, but that's just one idea of many.
@@maltava4534 I disagree with that interpretation in general. Mainly because a magical item can exist in the astral plane without also existing in the material plane. Although if it worked like that there are other ways that it could be abused. It basically gives players ways of negating the effects of all magical items in the game through the astral plane.
Thanks so much! I had so many questions about this spell, especially the part about going to another plane with it. It seemed odd how it was worded, I was thinking "so does your real body get yanked to the plane you visit or what?" So cool how you actually take on properties of the plane your astral body visits too.
The whole becoming a native of another plane thing is super interesting! If you go to the elemental planes you become an elemental so if you go to the upper or lower planes…
If you're at least 17th level and choosing to travel to the Astral, you're likely going to be going up against enemies who can cut your cord, meaning this spell is just gifting them a 5% chance to instantly kill you with every attack. And let's not forget that even though other instant death attacks exist in D&D, spells like Revivify can still be prepared to use as insurance for when they happen - there is no recourse like this when you use Astral Projection. At least for 5e, this spell is terribly designed and should never be considered the "safe" spell to use for Astral travel.
You don't want see the pros of the spell apparently, just the cons for some reason. -There are portals to ALL the plains (Planeshift needs a attuned to the plane) -There are literally 2 Creatures who can cut ur cord (Astral Dreadnoughts >rare and Githyanki with a sword only TRUE Heroes have -You can perceive your/someone elses forgotten memories and look for ancient gods and epic creatures, wander freely ...
@@Crazy-ll2rf You don't want to read the first thirteen words of my comment or watch the other videos on this channel, apparently. -The portals to ALL the planes are random, move about every day and give you no guarantee to appear in a specific place. You don't even know which plane a portal is sending you into until after you go through it. That's before even mentioning that 5e doesn't support the whole "use Astral Projection to go anywhere other than the Astral" thing. -Those "literally 2 creatures" ARE the available creatures to throw at a tier 4 party on the Astral Plane - nothing else available to a 5e DM without homebrewing and anything else native to the Astral is way too easy for a tier 4 party. -You're ignoring the fact that I'm making specific reference to ASTRAL travel. If you wanted to use it for quick blasts to random planes with a bunch of security, go nuts! But if you want to actually travel the Astral Sea for your specific tier 4 purpose (i.e. you're dealing with one of the "literally 2 monsters" who can now kill you easily), you're going to die. -What are you even talking about with your last point? You can do that by physically travelling to the Astral too and the areas where those phenomenon happen are the areas where psychic storms are most likely to happen. Meaning you DON'T want to be doing that with Astral Projection at all because that's just one more way you're going to get your chord cut and be insta-killed. As I said - THE WAY IT IS IN 5E - it's a terrible set-up. You could make it better with homebrew content, but it's just yet another example of WotC refusing to support tier 4 play.
It seems like the one benefit of Astral Projection might have been cut in 5e. “Your astral form can freely Travel through the Astral Plane and can pass through Portals there leading to any other plane. If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane. Your astral form is a separate incarnation.” So yeah: Astral Projection is a slow imprecise method of Extraplanar where you might encounter monsters that are capable of instantaneous killing an Epic level PC with a lucky shot. Yeah even if Astral Storms, Astral Dreadnoughts, and Githyanki Knights are super rare encounters the benefits of the spell just aren’t worth it.
Astral project with a buddy and a magic item. The item gets astral'd, but there's still a material, original, version of the item on your body. Give the astral version to your companion. End the astral projection. Your partner found a magical object in the Astral and came back to the Material, meaning the item gets materialized. You still have yours. Duplication glitch.
Thanks @MrRhexx: finaly i got an idea for my homebrew campaign that i run for my friends (as usual when i watch your videos). They met a elven highpriest of a nature god that was sleeping for ages in a state like astral projection. In her sleep she connected to the forest around her and made it grow / protected it. Didn't have an idea what was the magical explanation until today 👌 I call it "devine natural projection" 😜
So am I the only one who now wants to cast Simulacrum, have the simulacrum travel to a color pool, kill the simulacrum, have the simulacrum enter the new plane for a new body, then somehow call it back with a Gate to start a collection of elemental and Outer-Plane versions of me? ...Y'all, I might be a campaign villain.
Another great video another request for dwarves and magic runes please. Keep up the good work and I’ll check out dungeons of dragon hime. ( astral projection and this video just gave me a lot of ideas of using this spell for power)
This gave me an idea. I'll share it here so yall can use it too. A quest around a scroll of Astral projection. They have a person or item on another plane. While they might not be strong enough to plane shift there with this scroll they have a set number of chances to succeed in obtaining this item. I left it vague so you could get creative. Even a failure could lead to a cool adventure. Outsider adventurers that are tuned to another plane now and have to obtain bodies from the material plane.
Where is this information from? I've read the Astral Projection spell, and the entry in DMG about Astral travel, but a bunch of the content in this video looks like conjecture. Is there another resource this is being drawn from?
video on Gith would be cool, also would be interrested in some video on ancient dragon kingdom...maybe something on yuan-ti? just putting forth some ideas
I really like this series, something that I have been wondering about though. What’s the deal with the Gith? I have a general understanding of them and I keep learning more so I was wondering if you could look into them as well in case I’ve missed something. You’re amazingly informative.
The 'tuning fork attuned to your destination' requirement for plane shift is also kinda catch-22, i.e. you'd need to have been there before somehow (or bargain with someone who has).
No, there are other abstract ways. For example, having the need to Plane Shift to Bytopia, one might steep a tuning fork in the blood/breath/essence of a paragon animal related to an Animal Lord native to the plane... the fork itself might be crafted from Baatorian green steel to reach the Nine Hells... the fork might be left in darkest shadows for one-hundred and one days to become attuned to the Demiplane of Shadow/Shadowfell; etc.
Perfect way to defend your body if a secluded place isn't an option. Have an astral buddy or an allied ghost that will posses your body and keep a watch, move etc, maybe even make appearances if you're a well known figure that must upkeep the status while you fuck around in the astral plane. Body vacation
My favorite charecter ever was addicted to wandering the astral plane. She spent weeks and weeks plannar walking. Oddly enough when i started playing white wolf Werewolf the Apocalypse, i fell in love with stepping sideways into the Umbra. Some of my best adventures were spent out of body. Then i found Mage the Asscention and wow i spent ages workibg and kearning how to makd a shard of my my own. Always loved astral and plannar games.
one important part of the astral spell is that clerics acording to the old books should get it as a 7th level spell wich makes it be much more in line with its usefullness and powerlevel.
13:29 Huh, random thought: is this where the first Elementals came from? not the normal Elementals, but the Genies, Dao, Ifrit, etc? That could be an intriguing topic for schollarly research, to see if these beings were originally astral travelers that had their silver cords cut, but which managed to survive by becoming natives of one of the elemental planes. Could be neat!
It seems to me that Astral Projection is to Plane shift and Gate what walking would be to teleportation. The long way of getting to any other plane. This leaves me with interesting ideas. A powerful spellcaster has a fortress in a segregated portion of the nine hells that cannot be entered by direct spells like Gate or Plane shift. So the party needs to find an indirect way of entering. Would be an avenue to have them aquire a means of using Astral Projection. Whether they learn it or have someone cast it and or make a scroll. The part that would Intrigue me the most is having my players come up with how they look in the forms that the hells create for them.
basically lay on your back, close your eyes, your brain gonna send a signal which will come as a itch or a reason to toss and turn , and that’s the indicator to see if your sleep or not, if your sleeping you won’t itch, so if you trick your brain by not itching it will put your body into a sleep state but your brain is still active, then your be induced into paralysis, then from there if you don’t astral project, your gonna either have very very vivid dreams and be able to lucid dream, and eventually one day your dream would start off as you looking at your body without noticing your actually looking at yourself, then if you get too scared and You might wake yourself up by accident because the excitement.
Interesting you mention that last detail about empty/soul-less bodies On a GOD-like adventure (players being at lv 20, and we won’t +10 divine levels through the adventure) a character actually had a deal with Spirit. It would possess the empty body for 100 years, or until it got a message it was time to end the bargain. Basically allowing the Spirit to enjoy life once more, and finish unsolved businesses, in exchange for keeping the body SAFE. (Idea took from the anime Bleach) but basically now we know it was completely possible by the rules.
To specify... it's a spell that few PLAYERS used. But as a GM tool it is the ultimate power to both splice weird little side adventures safely as well as a plot device that allows craaaazy shenanigans.
Would it be possible to find a pool in the astral plane that takes you back to the material plane without ending the spell? It'd be a neat way of cheating death, leave your real body somewhere safe, make a stash where you leave all your mundane loot, then end astral projection once the adventure is over and collect your hard won gains! If you're particularly paranoid, you could even use this simulacrum body semi-permanently.
But can the Astral body travel also to the prime material plane? Such as the worlds of eberron, grayhawk etc? Also to the plane where you casted the spell.
The pronunciation of Sigil (the City of Doors) as intended by the creators of Planescape is with a hard "G" making it sound like "Siggle" Or Seagull and not See-Jil (as in symbol)
This has given me the idea of an Archmage NPC who spends weeks at a time Astrally Projecting to steal things from Demons, Devils, Celestials, Fey, Elementals, and what not or an ARchmage who has been Astrally Exploiring Planes for so long the civilization and people who they were apart of have long since died off and become extinct that he has to wander a new world.
bit curious, what happens if you drop to 0HP in the astral while your body is being possessed? would it return normally and make the new situation so that you have to fight the spirit out of your body as if it were to possess you normally, or does something else occur? I can't imagine this kind of niche situation really gets covered by the books, but I would love to know what it says if it does
Could you please explain me the societies in Forgotten realms? How they live, what they produce, what they eat, how is organized, how they are defended... And so on..
What if you use Gate after using Astral Projection, would this allow you to sort of be in the same plane as where your own body was, while being made of a part of a plane of your choosing? And if so can you use Astral Projection again, in combination with Gate, to create a 3rd body, or even more?
Manual of the Planes existed *before* Planescape. Manual of the Planes was first printed back in 1st Edition whereas Planescape didn't show up till 2nd edition. MotP was created for those planes hoping adventures back in 1E when you had the various worlds in existence (Greyhawk, FR, and DL).
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Yeah there is not a single _"safe"_ plane for any Mortals out there.
I guess this fact is included in the condition called mortality. ;-)
If you are in Abyss then they can be Demon in as you are now native ?
By Astral projection
I don't get why anyone would use this spell in 5e. There are fewer official 5e monsters available to your DM than previous editions, and two of them can sever your cord. At level 20 I would have a better chance at fighting (or even running away from) an astral dreadnought in my character's physical body, as the dreadnought doesn't get an "I win" button. If you get your cord severed, you have to convince your party's wizard to waste a wish on you (good luck with that). Plane Shift is just a better option, and it's level 7 instead of level 9. If you just die on the plane of fire you can just use True Resurrection (or Clone), which only costs money.
remember that in 5e that magic has been changed
@MrRhexx and @DungeonDudes ; The crossover we all needed
*Astral projects*
Ghost/ other spirits: _it’s free real estate_
Lol TRUUUUUE!
unless you astrall project you wand with you and tell your subconshious to keep watch over the body
Protect your body with a force effect, you can cast 9th lvl spells, so you have access to all the force effects too. Also have a golem with true sight or another creature with ghost sight guard your body.
@@nightfall89z62 gargolyes also work right ?
@@TheCubecrafer if they can see and affect ghosts, yes.
So basically this spell is the mortal equivalent of creating a God's avatar
Or how sumoned elementals behave on the prime material plane.
Well said
sort of yes, but you project to the realm of dead gods
That's actually a good way to explain it. I think I will explain it to my players like that.
@@MoriShep well when the gods project to our world, look at how many of our Dead are on that plane.
Astral projection technically also protects you from all the time you spend in the astral as it's not your body aging
Yeah ! Now that you say it wouldn't magic caster just create a tomb/safe place for their body and then use that to basically become eternal ? Even priest could do it to go visit their god and then ''awaken'' if they are needed in the material plane !
@@maltava4534 The spell description literally say that your body don't age.
@@xaviermantha63 But it takes 1 hour to cast in 5e, and if I remember correctly, your Astral body still ages as if it were your real body. You'd basically live your whole natural lifespan (or until you die), then return to your real body, live for an hour, then return to suspended animation. Not quite eternal, but depending on your real body's race (and thus natural lifespan), anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of years easily.
Then again, I guess you'd also have to consider if you would need to rest for 8 hours in your real body to recharge your spells once you ran out of slots, since your body is in suspended animation rather than truly resting. Still, an EXTREMELY extended lifespan.
@@Alexrider02 You forgot a detail again : The spell description (and our dear narrator) tell us very clearly the duration is 'special'. Not only that, but even in the case where the astral body did age for some reason (which would not be the case normally) it will be at the rate your natural body age in the astral, that is to say that as long as your body is not in danger the spell duration could easily be longer than the lifespan of a planet, which, if you take into account that the one casting it is already quite powerful mean that the time needed for finding a solution to the ''end of the world = end of life'' problem is more than long enough.
Monk timeless body
“That’s it for the astral plane”. Wait, wasn’t there supposed to be a vid dedicated to the Githyanki?
No one cares about Gith... again? Wow what a sUpRiSe
@@sowatome849
No literally. I could have sworn he said in one of his previous videos that he will be covering the Githyanki as a part of the astral series.
I reckon he filmed this one first
He might have realized he could do a whole spelljammer series.
@@bayoubilly5176 he did do a whole spelljammer series.
I want my githyanki.
I think an astral npc, wanting to hire you to un-posses his body would be good. Maybe there could be whole slews of mortals from time lol
Imagine a warrior from the inner planes that got stuck in the material plane ‘cuz his wizard friend died and now he’s just looking for someone to kill him
Oh, that's fun.
I think that would be an amazing idea. Another quest idea to add to my collection.
@@alessandropereira4976 personally it makes sense to make it so if they want to go back to their real body, and their body isnt dead or possessed, they can just will themselves back. though that's just me
I always pictured the Astral Projection spell looking similar to how the movie Doctor Strange did it, without the time dilation of course. The thought of having your soul exist apart from the body in that kind of visual way makes this spell so fucking cool.
But it does do the time dilation tho, time is slower in the astral to the point it practically stops.
Your spirit and soul would both be present in the astral plane while astral projecting. Only your physical body would remain on *earth*
I put it this way, you have three aspects to your being, physical, spiritual, soul.
Physical is your mundane physical body, spiritual is your eternal body, the one that ascends to heaven or descends to hell when you die, your soul is your mental energy, it directs your conscious thoughts, it is your personal will. Whichever body you inhabit your soul will be present and usually your spiritual body will be as well. In the case of astral projection only your spiritual body and soul journey into the astral plane. Hopefully that explains my way of explaining the aspects to my players in D&D.
@@timtauber5557 your soul and spiritual body are the same. The only time that's different is after you ascend to godhood. The astral projection spell basically connects your consciousness to your soul. By separating both and binds your soul to your body via the silver cord. Hence why if you brake the cord you die your soul is technically never outside your body due to the tether. Only your conscience mind and your magical possessions. The spiritual body your talking about is already explained in the rules as being your soul which is why when you die your soul can only be resurrected for 200 years because your soul loses its connections to it's past life through it's journey through the universe back to it's plane of alignment.
@@kholtsclaw5266 I totally understand how D&D explains, I was offering an alternative way of seeing it, because that’s the way I deal with it in my role playing cosmos. I personally prefer my way, but either way works.
Until someone has a silver sword.
About a month ago I started writing a Treasure Planet themed adventure based in the Astral Sea. And then all these videos started coming out and giving me even more ideas (and some of which I'd already researched). Thanks for all the work, great videos as always
I'm doing something similar but with Elder Gods.
Ok, now I will use demi-plane to create a small room to hide my body and then start exploring the world with astral projection to create avatar-like body for myself
Don't forget a small peice of flesh preserved by magic and scroll of clone in case the worst happens.
You could also Clone yourself and hide it away until needed.
Pro wizard tip! 😁
Use this combo and you could possibly trick weak minded creatures into believing you to be a God
@@azunthewise4914 hmmm, sounds like the inevitables want your number 😉
@@tylerdavault9604 oh no I've been had
"Astral Projection gives you protection."
Ghostts, Githyanki, and Astral Storms: "Allow us to introduce ourselves."
The githyanki lich queen eats her underlings for power once they reach level 14. An astral traveller is a 17 level caster.
@@marcusc9931 how do I be like no thx I wanna be chill with everyone queen pls no thx to her
@@marcusc9931 Yes but a Githyanki with a silver Greatsword only needs to land a lucky hit to instantly kill you, and Githyanki with Silver Greatswords tend not to travel alone, with either a crew of other Githyanki and/or with a Red Dragon Mount.
@@InquisitorThomas Once you reach that level to be able to astral project then avoiding such risky encounters is not a big deal. Especially since casting relevant spells to avoid problems in the astral plane is very very effective
Please note MrRhexx’s caveat about differences in AP based on edition.
The “creates a new body/becomes a native of the inner/outer plane you travel to” property of AP described in the video doesn’t apply in 5E.
5E AP description:
“If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane.”
This means 5E AP brings your body to you, not creates a new one out of the plane you’re on. More to the point, it’s the same original body you have and it happens as soon as you enter a plane from the Astral. So if, for example, you cast AP and travel to the Plane of Earth, you’re instantly buried in earth and suffocating from lack of air on that plane.
But nothing is stopping anyone from using the older and more interesting version
Which sadly makes 5e AP "much worse Gate"
@@the24thcolossusjustchillin39 this basically
@@the24thcolossusjustchillin39 True dat.
It's just that I prefer to avoid all sorts of crazy DM conundrums and player shenanigans, so I prefer the cleaned-up, rules-tight version of 5E.
I just wrote a response to someone else here on this, and the 5E rules and wording makes me realize even more how specific and unambiguous WotC made AP for 5E. Not only does 5E AP instantly transport your physical body to the plane you're entering from the Astral, but it also says that if your silver cord is cut, you *instantly* die. There's no lingering at all of your astral body in the Astral so you can get to a portal to another plane and cause it to create a new body for you. You're just dead.
That's also besides how the spell ends immediately if either your astral or physical body drops to 0 HP.
@@javierpatag3609 This makes the spell completely worthless in 5e, not to mention there are fewer 5e monsters and two of them can sever your cord. At level 20 I would have a better chance at fighting an astral dreadnought in my character's physical body, as the dreadnought doesn't get an "I win" button. If you get your cord severed, you have to convince your party's wizard to waste a wish on you. Plane Shift is just a better option, and it's level 7 instead of level 9. If you just die on the plane of fire instead you can just use True Resurrection (or Clone), which only costs money.
This has always been one of my favorite spells, so know that you can create a planar body is even better.
Right?! I've been wracking my brain on how to move and breathe on the plane of earth and Mr. Rhexx delivers.
You can't do that anuymore in 5th edition. Sadly...
@@kayd6572 you cant do a lot of stuff anymore in 5e. We peaked at 3.5.
@@kayd6572 I don’t believe there is anything saying that you can’t. It’s just a relatively niche use of the spell, considering most of the time you use the spell it’s implied you want to specifically go to the Astral Plane. And planar stuff hasn’t really been covered in 5e, so it would really be up to the DM.
Naked and afraid on the astral plane. sounds like a fun new show :P
Step 1: obtain or create guardians to protect your physical body
Step 2: establish a code word or phrase to confirm you are who you say you are
Step 3: enchant everything you want to take with you
Step 4: Lock yourself up so any who try to poses your body are trapped till they leave out of boredom
Step 5: cast astral projection
Step 6: don’t forget code word or phrase
Happy Travels!
Their is no such thing as “poses your body” they can’t do that it’s impossible as your soul never left your body it’s just a part of it. Make sure you know what your talking about before you go on spatting nonsense
@@jotoho For someone who has astral projected and for many others who have to it’s impossible for a being to posses you and I don’t care if the video saids it’s true I could say onions are fruits in a video will you still believe me without evidence? And this person was just conveying the message but should be taught on the lies he is spatting before trying to teach them to people. Try to tone down being a intellectual because you are not.
@@wolfkai8583 Wow, I just have to pity your group
@@jotoho and arrogance? You blindly follow a bafoon instead of doing actual research and seeing actual first hand experience. Try to tone down that stupidity.
@@Aufsammelkabbler pity what? I pity that the name you have is “Carialis Loriano”
So is this how Demi-liches travel the multiverse while staying in there dungeon?
Yep! 💀
It was. Now it would just teleport their skull out of their dungeon. The revisions 5e made to it rendered it worthless for anyone, even monsters, to cast.
@@johnathanmartin1504 In the DMG (p.47) it is implied to still work like it used to. But yes, that is in conflict with the wording of the PHB spell.
Acererak uses Simolacrums for that purpose
I tried turning you on to these guys along time ago so I'm glad that you found the dungeon dude and I'm happy to see that you're promoting their work. I can't wait for you to do a full review of that project once it gets done and this might be the first time that I ever invest inside of the kickstarter. Also on a side note I absolutely love all of your videos I love especially the ones that deal with all of the extra planner stuff all the stuff that deals with the inner planes and Outer Planes and demons and devils and gods at love all of that stuff maybe you can do 1 on the City sigil
I think they pay him to sponsor
@@cooperb4449 I'm sure they do, but 6 months or so ago they both did a video on the same topic and I posted in both dating I thought they should do more topics as he concentrated on low abs they concentrated on game mechanics. Anyway, even if they are paying, I don't care, I cabby wait for him to review this item
My favorite D&D PC was a gnome that hid himself in a bag of holding buried in a random location found by getting lost in a giant desert. The bag of holding was warded against teleporting into and I had a table enchanted to provide a feast for food and an air mephit for oxygen. I then used Astral Projection used used my projection to go questing with the party. My spell school was Divination so basically from a bag of holding I would scry on everything for the party and used my Astra projection to keep myself from being killed.
Your DM clearly isn't familiar with simple extra-dimensional spaces then. Teleport wards? No one would be foolish enough to even try that because... extra-dimensional spaces inside extra-dimensional spaces... it doesn't work if you're lucky; you're dead or lost in the Astral if it does. That table wouldn't function at best, or create a conduit to conjure or invoke the matter/energy to create food... the same principle as teleport. Then there's the fact that the bag's interior is displaced from reality; no spell could permeate it's exterior... the module, Chronomancer, states that the interior of every Bag of Holding even has its own Timeline separate from the rest of the multiverse.
Props on the Mephit though. I adore those guys, lol. I once had someone playing an Arcanist (kind of a summoner/necromancy/diviner specialty wizard) in Ravenloft that ended up with a Dust Mephit Familiar. It was fun playing Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide with a graveyard sense of humor.
@@GrymmSoul I mean granted there was some homebrew ruling in there to make it fun/workable. We merged 3.5 with Pathfinder for the game. I retired the character at level 25, but it was a really fun run. I essentially never actually entered combat with my gnome wizard. Instead I dominated or used invisibility/my surroundings to trick enemies into fighting each other. The divination allowed me to like ease-drop on enemies while they were planning and thus the party was always a step a head and always no where near danger. We did transfer the game from 3.5 to 5th Ed and I got to herald the change in deities and stuff like that. Although I was neutral it was more of a good campaign
Now that we're in 5th E I play a Ratkin vampire who lurks below the city in the sewers creating more Ratkin vampires. We're building up a force to over run the city and make it ours. The humans will be enslaved.
I feel like you could write an interesting character whose story is that their real body died while astral projecting and they got trapped pretending to be an elemental in one of the inner planes.
not possible unless someone shot your physical body and kill you while you're AP
Sounds fun!
Soooooo good. Thank you, I can now properly use this spell and suggest it to my party members. It is amazing and as always you are helping me with my world. Thank you again so much for all your work. Always look forward to your uploads!
Always remember to wear your magical underwear.
Thank You Kratos I'm sure you've had to replace your mundane underwear many times over the centuries given how many times you have been Shot, Stabbed, Impaled, Burned, Frozen, Tortured, Beaten, Whipped, Eaten, Crushed, Poisoned, burned by Acid and so on.. I'm sure magically reinforced underwear has saved the day on many occasions! XD
Mormons are all set for Astral Projection
I've been saying that for years. I suppose I could live without my silver pantaloons, but is that really living?
underwear of protection AKA chastity belt!
Briefs of Potency?
You have made me a fan of this spell and given me so many D&D ideas with this series. Thank you for this.
We absolutely need a video about the possession effect, this will be so useful for horror games or ghost missions and such.
That one is easy to summarize: Once the party returns, one way or the other, to their material bodies, the DM says nothing to the now-possessed character and allows them to RP normally. It's nothing to justify that thew possessing entity has the capability to learn about the possessed character's memories and personality traits such to the extent that they could impersonate them for whatever amount of time that is plot-worthy. At a point, the DM takes control of the character when the plot demands that the ruse is falling apart, forcing the players to make hard choices about how to deal with this revelation; murdering their companion outright, forcing the entity to leave willingly or driving it out, etc. Then, the true horror begins.... rescuing the actual spirit of their companion. Many methods, short of Wish, will fail. The character, presumably, isn't dead; but "lost" in the multiverse. Perhaps still in the Astral Sea, mayhaps they've fled through a Color Pool and reformed a planar body elsewhere; Resurrection won't work. Time will press down on the party, as a literal infinite number of fates could transpire as long as they take to retrieve their lost companion... especially pertinent should they need to resolve any schemes which the possessing entity may have involved themselves in while in a physical body (possibly being the reason that inspired them to possess an Astral traveler to begin with). Meanwhile, if the DM and "possessed" player have the time, they could play out what is going on with the Astral character, who might find themselves learning or affecting matters in an overreaching main story arc which the possession was "interrupting"... though that kind of balance, trust, and scheduling... let alone a worthy enough plot to justify it all, and keep up entertainment and emotional stakes... would be tricky, but rewarding.
Such would encompass both the horror and ghostly subterfuge you spoke of. I've done some similar things in a Ravenloft campaign involving the mechanics of demon/devil possession in the Demiplane of Dread and it was amazingly effective (obviously, the other players couldn't leave the plane however; though the possessed soul was able to learn a great deal about the Dark Powers, as they exist in my campaign world).
Perhaps "summarize" wasn't the best term to use, lol.
"take from this what you wish". I like the idea that in-universe clerics, warlocks and wizards pushed the limits of the spell over the years that usually pass between different editions. In this case, they were able to push the limits of the spell and learn that it is possible to provide everyone their own individual silver cord, as well as to make the body and its possessions teleport with you to the other plane of existence when you leave the Astral (another area of difference between older versions of the spell and 5E).
I think MrRhexx’s version of the spell of creating a new body that is considered native to the plane you are entering is always a better way to travel than taking your body with you (otherwise most planes, like fire, earth and water would kill you all too quickly).
I love your enthusiasm and your videos. I used to play DnD as a kid and teenager So watching your videos really makes me want to play. You're giving me so many good ideas for when I actually do. Thanks man.
17:22 i see you Frumpkin...Such a brave familiar
That last bit can make for an interesting character backstory, basically your character is a body of a wizard or such possessed by a ghost seeking revenge (for instance) which can lead to all sort of interesting plot hooks and NPC interactions.
This has always been my favorite 9th level spell. Summoning meteors and making black holes is cool, but Astral projection just awakens my sense of wonder, and makes my mind float to distant places,quite literally
Great job on the Astral Plane series. Really well done. As an old head DM it gave me great new ideas for dungeon creation. TY
Rewatching this two years later because this is one my favorite videos you’ve done
I have been LOVING this astral stuff, very important for my group's campaign as well.
You seem to say if you go to another plane it makes a new/diffrent body, however the spell says " If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane."
The idea that anyone would choose this spell and use their slot to cast it is preposterous. It should be a ritual, and if a DM wants players to have it, he should let them find the scroll. Otherwise, it will literally never get used.
I've been playing D&D for 30 years, and I've never ONCE heard of anyone using it.
It doesn't help that the spell doesn't say you can bring your loot back home with you. No one is going up against a demonlord and not take his stuff. The description is just too vague. It pretty much took 20 min to describe the one spell.
Well i think it primarliy is because it's a 9th lvl spell and there's well plenty more 9th lvl spells that in most situations are just more useful. Astral projection is a fringe spell that only in very specific situations would see potential to be used.
@@dennishiestermann3055 In many ways it beats gate though. If you play a high level planar campaign then your players are pretty much better off using astral projection. But if they don't know that they can move to other planes from there and have a body and bring back whatever loot they find, then they aren't going to use it. And outside of the planescape setting details, the spell description just doesn't say anything about that. And with such ambiguity, many DM's will just say if it's not in the description then it doesn't do that and then it is a lousy spell if all you can do if float around the astral plane, not loot anything, and just need to hope no one cuts your cord or does anything to your body. Pretty much just WotC screwing up there.
Not to mention if you tried to take multiple people's it's silly expensive per person.
5th edition does allow you to bring items you collect back with you
These videos have been the single most helpful thing while making my Horizon Walker
I love these videos because all you have to do is talk and my next campaign worldbuilding becomes better and better.
From the bottom of my heart, Thank you Mr. Rhexx!
Another great video Mr. Rhexx!
Would you consider doing a video at some point in this series about how Athas and Eberron interact with the planes? I ask about Athas and Eberron in particular because their relationships to the planes is different than other prime material worlds.
This is interesting and now I know more about the astral projection spell. Thank you for that.
This was an A-MA-ZING series of videos. I learned so much. Thank you.
MrRhexx i just want to tell you thank you.
Your videos especially these more recent ones have become the Basis for my first campaign (Homebrewed) and how my entire Pantheon of Gods work and how the astral plane affects my Campaign Plane of Vandosa
For my campaign i took inspiration from Magic the Gathering and the Blind Eterneties and Astral plane are one and the same. Meaning the Eldrazi (from MTG) are native to the Astral Plane. What does this have to do with my pantheon of gods?
Well my pantheon of gods were native creatures similar to the Eldrazi that became known as Astral Gods. They consume the "Dead"/Dormant Gods that float along the astral plane. Anubis is the person who keeps them from eating so many or any at all and also prevents creatures from becoming Astral Gods.
These Astral Gods stumbled onto a large Demiplane of nothingness and used their powers to form it with more demiplanes until it became a full plane. This plane became known as Vandosa, the gods then created everything in this world and thats the basic premice for the gods in my campaign. The interesting thing about the Astral Gods is that they dont function as normal gods, when they loose all of their believers they end up reverting back into the Unfathomable Creature form (Like the eldrazi) and continue as a native astral creature until they find another god to consume and a new plane to become a god in. UNLESS its believers return and begin to believe in it again
all of this was possible through you and i want to tell you thank you for giving me my inspiration.
What if your physical body died and you know you got a minute so you go to mount Celestia to become a celestial and stuck like that because your body died, could you cast astral projection again, this time leaving your new body behind? I mean, your new body now inhibits your soul which you can project outwards again, right?
I personally would say that 1, if uts a wizard and his book had a magical enchantment so it could follow, would be able to cast again. Or if a sorcerer has it and their magic is a part of them then sure. But if the wizard doesn't have his book and for somereason it wasn't prepared (so they don't know it) then they'd be stuck.
Only people born on the material can astral project, that's because only primers have their soul as a seperate thing from their body, while outsiders souls is their body, that's why when a primer dies they leave their body behind while an outsider, Luke say a devil, banish, their soul, i.e. their body, goes back to the 9 hells.
A wizard's spellbook is automatically magical, it holds spells, spells are magical. Each spell in a spell book can be cast as a scroll, so yes if you were willing to risk losing the spell and possibly your new body, it would be doable.
You won’t become a celestial according to the 5E version of the spell.
“If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane.”
It doesn’t make a new body native to the plane for you. Instead, it brings your body to you as soon as you enter the plane.
That said, it possibly can save you from dying, where your body is now on Mount Celestia, filled with Lawful Good creatures who I’d say are likely to help you. Even if you were Chaotic Evil, I’d bet the inhabitants would show mercy to you (but will probably imprison and try to reform you immediately after).
@@javierpatag3609 That is unclear.
The PHB and DMG say contradictory things regarding whether the new body is the original one or a facsimile made out of local materials.
I want to exploit an item duplication glitch in Dungeons & Dragons now. Since an item gains our presentation of the astral plane, do you lose the physical item if you lose it in the astral plane? If not that means that you can give the item to another astral character you can then bring it to the material plane while you retain your own. Or, alternatively, use a plane shifting spell or item to take your astral body back to the physical material plane with those items and then leave them there when you return to your body. Either way you basically get two of each item with magical properties. Which means that you could duplicate rare artifacts this way. Presumably.
Up to your dm. The spell doesn't say the items are destroyed or lost if you leave them on the Astral. However, if you leave an artifact on the Astral, one of the various creatures that live there that are keeping study of artifacts may get to it before you do, so duplicate yes, would you have two, not necessarily.
Also, it is an absolute likeness of yourself and you're equipment, it is your conscious thoughts and actions. A dm would be within their rights to say that you consciously abandoned the item on the Astral plane, and therefore don't get a duplicate, but rather you lose the item since you consciously chose to leave it on the Astral plane.
So, up to your dm.
From my understanding the astral form of an item is its magic shadow cast into the astral. This is the part that makes a magic item magical. The physical item would then lose it's power until the astral version returned. If the physical item was destroyed then the item would disappear when it returned to the original plane. If you go to a different plane then a new physical item is created just like with a body but the original item would no longer be magical. There wouldn't be any duplication.
Been DM'ing since the early 80s. I'd let you do it. It seems like a pain in the butt and lots of chances for things to go wrong. I was going to list some - but it quickly overgrew. But as the ultimate - what world shattering adventures could you get from trying to duplicate an artifact?' This isn't a game you win or hack - it's a game you experience. The object is >only< "did we have fun?" D&D ain't a video game.
@@NotSomeone68 That's true, and sometimes, you can do much more damage by letting players have their attempt.
For example, the players hatch a scheme to duplicate the items but while in the astral plane a spirit possesses one of the bodies that the guard doesn't notice because the guard is only focused on external physical threats. The players astral body plane shifts into the material plane with the astral duplication of the artifact only to realize that the player lost not only the original items but their own body. So now the player has to go on an adventure to track down themselves as their own doppelganger.
At least, that's the kind of story that I would weave if a player tried to do that in one of my games. It would have some variation depending on exactly how the players do it, but that's just one idea of many.
@@maltava4534 I disagree with that interpretation in general. Mainly because a magical item can exist in the astral plane without also existing in the material plane. Although if it worked like that there are other ways that it could be abused. It basically gives players ways of negating the effects of all magical items in the game through the astral plane.
Once again, I'm inspired by your videos. I have a lot to add to my homebrew. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much! I had so many questions about this spell, especially the part about going to another plane with it. It seemed odd how it was worded, I was thinking "so does your real body get yanked to the plane you visit or what?" So cool how you actually take on properties of the plane your astral body visits too.
I love all the critical role art pieces that come up in these videos lol frumpkin and the astral dreadnought was really cool
The whole becoming a native of another plane thing is super interesting! If you go to the elemental planes you become an elemental so if you go to the upper or lower planes…
you become an upperental
@@baronbeat2210 it was a joke
elemental planes : elemental =
upper planes : upperental
Thanks for all your work dude. im useing sooooo much of this in my current campaign.
Can you do a video on Flumphs? Or maybe different underdark biomes?
Thank you for this, you've cleared up so much confusion as to the utility of this spell
Big up my boys the dungeon dudes! Nice to see em sponsoring you brother!
If you're at least 17th level and choosing to travel to the Astral, you're likely going to be going up against enemies who can cut your cord, meaning this spell is just gifting them a 5% chance to instantly kill you with every attack. And let's not forget that even though other instant death attacks exist in D&D, spells like Revivify can still be prepared to use as insurance for when they happen - there is no recourse like this when you use Astral Projection.
At least for 5e, this spell is terribly designed and should never be considered the "safe" spell to use for Astral travel.
You don't want see the pros of the spell apparently, just the cons for some reason.
-There are portals to ALL the plains (Planeshift needs a attuned to the plane)
-There are literally 2 Creatures who can cut ur cord (Astral Dreadnoughts >rare
and Githyanki with a sword only TRUE Heroes have
-You can perceive your/someone elses forgotten memories and look for ancient gods and epic creatures, wander freely
...
@@Crazy-ll2rf You don't want to read the first thirteen words of my comment or watch the other videos on this channel, apparently.
-The portals to ALL the planes are random, move about every day and give you no guarantee to appear in a specific place. You don't even know which plane a portal is sending you into until after you go through it. That's before even mentioning that 5e doesn't support the whole "use Astral Projection to go anywhere other than the Astral" thing.
-Those "literally 2 creatures" ARE the available creatures to throw at a tier 4 party on the Astral Plane - nothing else available to a 5e DM without homebrewing and anything else native to the Astral is way too easy for a tier 4 party.
-You're ignoring the fact that I'm making specific reference to ASTRAL travel. If you wanted to use it for quick blasts to random planes with a bunch of security, go nuts! But if you want to actually travel the Astral Sea for your specific tier 4 purpose (i.e. you're dealing with one of the "literally 2 monsters" who can now kill you easily), you're going to die.
-What are you even talking about with your last point? You can do that by physically travelling to the Astral too and the areas where those phenomenon happen are the areas where psychic storms are most likely to happen. Meaning you DON'T want to be doing that with Astral Projection at all because that's just one more way you're going to get your chord cut and be insta-killed.
As I said - THE WAY IT IS IN 5E - it's a terrible set-up. You could make it better with homebrew content, but it's just yet another example of WotC refusing to support tier 4 play.
@@CrashSable The portals have colours and the enemies aren't constantly there, you don't fight an enemy 24/7
@@CrashSable oh and also, yes "everything is way to easy" doesn't mean you don't encounter it, donut
It seems like the one benefit of Astral Projection might have been cut in 5e.
“Your astral form can freely Travel through the Astral Plane and can pass through Portals there leading to any other plane. If you enter a new plane or return to the plane you were on when casting this spell, your body and possessions are transported along the silver cord, allowing you to re-enter your body as you enter the new plane. Your astral form is a separate incarnation.”
So yeah: Astral Projection is a slow imprecise method of Extraplanar where you might encounter monsters that are capable of instantaneous killing an Epic level PC with a lucky shot. Yeah even if Astral Storms, Astral Dreadnoughts, and Githyanki Knights are super rare encounters the benefits of the spell just aren’t worth it.
Great video as usual, Rhexx
Astral project with a buddy and a magic item. The item gets astral'd, but there's still a material, original, version of the item on your body. Give the astral version to your companion. End the astral projection. Your partner found a magical object in the Astral and came back to the Material, meaning the item gets materialized. You still have yours.
Duplication glitch.
Lmfao your a genius hell yeah
FINALLY a video talking about the goddamned Astral Projection in DnD!
Thanks @MrRhexx: finaly i got an idea for my homebrew campaign that i run for my friends (as usual when i watch your videos). They met a elven highpriest of a nature god that was sleeping for ages in a state like astral projection. In her sleep she connected to the forest around her and made it grow / protected it. Didn't have an idea what was the magical explanation until today 👌 I call it "devine natural projection" 😜
I've never played d&d but I enjoy these vids so much.
So am I the only one who now wants to cast Simulacrum, have the simulacrum travel to a color pool, kill the simulacrum, have the simulacrum enter the new plane for a new body, then somehow call it back with a Gate to start a collection of elemental and Outer-Plane versions of me?
...Y'all, I might be a campaign villain.
You, you are an inspiration. I thank you.
Love it all. Thanks for doing these deep dives!
Another great video another request for dwarves and magic runes please.
Keep up the good work and I’ll check out dungeons of dragon hime.
( astral projection and this video just gave me a lot of ideas of using this spell for power)
This gave me an idea. I'll share it here so yall can use it too. A quest around a scroll of Astral projection. They have a person or item on another plane. While they might not be strong enough to plane shift there with this scroll they have a set number of chances to succeed in obtaining this item. I left it vague so you could get creative. Even a failure could lead to a cool adventure. Outsider adventurers that are tuned to another plane now and have to obtain bodies from the material plane.
I see Mnemonic Deluge, the big boi spell that lets you cast a instant or sorcery from a graveyard 3 times, i click!
I would argue at my table that one cannot travel to the Astral Plane via Gate or Plane Shift bc the Astral Plane is not a place.
Where is this information from? I've read the Astral Projection spell, and the entry in DMG about Astral travel, but a bunch of the content in this video looks like conjecture. Is there another resource this is being drawn from?
You had me at "you'll survive the Elemental plane of ear with this spell"
Well done Bro! Nice!
Legion is perhaps the single greatest piece of media at nailing the astral plane imo.
video on Gith would be cool, also would be interrested in some video on ancient dragon kingdom...maybe something on yuan-ti? just putting forth some ideas
I really like this series, something that I have been wondering about though. What’s the deal with the Gith? I have a general understanding of them and I keep learning more so I was wondering if you could look into them as well in case I’ve missed something. You’re amazingly informative.
it can be found online, others have talked about it. or try to find wikias and dnd books.
The 'tuning fork attuned to your destination' requirement for plane shift is also kinda catch-22, i.e. you'd need to have been there before somehow (or bargain with someone who has).
No, there are other abstract ways. For example, having the need to Plane Shift to Bytopia, one might steep a tuning fork in the blood/breath/essence of a paragon animal related to an Animal Lord native to the plane... the fork itself might be crafted from Baatorian green steel to reach the Nine Hells... the fork might be left in darkest shadows for one-hundred and one days to become attuned to the Demiplane of Shadow/Shadowfell; etc.
In 1 minute cast gate then revivify and you CAN'T DIE.
Perfect way to defend your body if a secluded place isn't an option. Have an astral buddy or an allied ghost that will posses your body and keep a watch, move etc, maybe even make appearances if you're a well known figure that must upkeep the status while you fuck around in the astral plane. Body vacation
My favorite charecter ever was addicted to wandering the astral plane. She spent weeks and weeks plannar walking. Oddly enough when i started playing white wolf Werewolf the Apocalypse, i fell in love with stepping sideways into the Umbra. Some of my best adventures were spent out of body. Then i found Mage the Asscention and wow i spent ages workibg and kearning how to makd a shard of my my own. Always loved astral and plannar games.
The Astral Plane I always looked at how it is in the movie "What Dreams May Come"
Well that last bit was absolutely terrifying.
one important part of the astral spell is that clerics acording to the old books should get it as a 7th level spell wich makes it be much more in line with its usefullness and powerlevel.
13:29
Huh, random thought: is this where the first Elementals came from? not the normal Elementals, but the Genies, Dao, Ifrit, etc? That could be an intriguing topic for schollarly research, to see if these beings were originally astral travelers that had their silver cords cut, but which managed to survive by becoming natives of one of the elemental planes. Could be neat!
It seems to me that Astral Projection is to Plane shift and Gate what walking would be to teleportation. The long way of getting to any other plane. This leaves me with interesting ideas.
A powerful spellcaster has a fortress in a segregated portion of the nine hells that cannot be entered by direct spells like Gate or Plane shift. So the party needs to find an indirect way of entering. Would be an avenue to have them aquire a means of using Astral Projection. Whether they learn it or have someone cast it and or make a scroll. The part that would Intrigue me the most is having my players come up with how they look in the forms that the hells create for them.
Wonder what would happen if you cast astral projection while in a body created by astral projection?
Add another silver cord to be cut...
I love the idea of this spell. It seems like alot of fun.
basically lay on your back, close your eyes, your brain gonna send a signal which will come as a itch or a reason to toss and turn , and that’s the indicator to see if your sleep or not, if your sleeping you won’t itch, so if you trick your brain by not itching it will put your body into a sleep state but your brain is still active, then your be induced into paralysis, then from there if you don’t astral project, your gonna either have very very vivid dreams and be able to lucid dream, and eventually one day your dream would start off as you looking at your body without noticing your actually looking at yourself, then if you get too scared and You might wake yourself up by accident because the excitement.
Interesting you mention that last detail about empty/soul-less bodies
On a GOD-like adventure (players being at lv 20, and we won’t +10 divine levels through the adventure)
a character actually had a deal with Spirit. It would possess the empty body for 100 years, or until it got a message it was time to end the bargain. Basically allowing the Spirit to enjoy life once more, and finish unsolved businesses, in exchange for keeping the body SAFE. (Idea took from the anime Bleach) but basically now we know it was completely possible by the rules.
soooo if I'm in the prime, and i do astral project, and pass through a portal to my prime when a ghost is possesing my body, do I get another body??
"And if I'm playing a bard, can I go fuck myself?" LOL
(Couldn't resist, just HAD to)
What would happen if you took a color portal to the material plane? Would you have two bodies and double your magic items?
Gate, or, how to put a cavalry charge "in" the side of an ancient dragon with it not being the wiser.
To specify... it's a spell that few PLAYERS used. But as a GM tool it is the ultimate power to both splice weird little side adventures safely as well as a plot device that allows craaaazy shenanigans.
Does the way of the astral self monk turn into their astral self like there arms?
That makes perfect sense.
Oh yeah, that would be interesting
I'm really glad you sponsored them
Would it be possible to find a pool in the astral plane that takes you back to the material plane without ending the spell? It'd be a neat way of cheating death, leave your real body somewhere safe, make a stash where you leave all your mundane loot, then end astral projection once the adventure is over and collect your hard won gains! If you're particularly paranoid, you could even use this simulacrum body semi-permanently.
But can the Astral body travel also to the prime material plane? Such as the worlds of eberron, grayhawk etc? Also to the plane where you casted the spell.
Can you do a video on the Wish spell
The pronunciation of Sigil (the City of Doors) as intended by the creators of Planescape is with a hard "G" making it sound like "Siggle" Or Seagull and not See-Jil (as in symbol)
This has given me the idea of an Archmage NPC who spends weeks at a time Astrally Projecting to steal things from Demons, Devils, Celestials, Fey, Elementals, and what not or an ARchmage who has been Astrally Exploiring Planes for so long the civilization and people who they were apart of have long since died off and become extinct that he has to wander a new world.
bit curious, what happens if you drop to 0HP in the astral while your body is being possessed? would it return normally and make the new situation so that you have to fight the spirit out of your body as if it were to possess you normally, or does something else occur?
I can't imagine this kind of niche situation really gets covered by the books, but I would love to know what it says if it does
Are you gonna do a video on psionic in dnd
Will you be doing a video about the feywild when The Wild Beyond the Witchlight comes out?
How does astral projection into a new body on other planes work with high level monks that can cast AP but take thier real body to astral plane?
Could you please explain me the societies in Forgotten realms? How they live, what they produce, what they eat, how is organized, how they are defended... And so on..
@12:29, you have your astral projection cast astral projection.
Do you think you could do a video on the differences and lore behind the Demons and Daemons?
What if you use Gate after using Astral Projection, would this allow you to sort of be in the same plane as where your own body was, while being made of a part of a plane of your choosing?
And if so can you use Astral Projection again, in combination with Gate, to create a 3rd body, or even more?
Yes
Astra Projection then plane shift to the material plane, plus have clones ready in the event something cuts your cord. Immortality made easy.
Manual of the Planes existed *before* Planescape. Manual of the Planes was first printed back in 1st Edition whereas Planescape didn't show up till 2nd edition. MotP was created for those planes hoping adventures back in 1E when you had the various worlds in existence (Greyhawk, FR, and DL).