Hi everyone. I enjoy PS for a long time, but unfortunately I've read only materials from the Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set. Recently I got my hands on A Guide to the Astral Plane. I just finished reading it and I have several questions... Probably someone more experienced will help me out.
Lets assume that a wizard (or psionicist) from Prime Material uses an astral projection to go to the Astral Plane. Mind construct manifests on the Astral Plane, it's linked to the body (which stays on Prime Material) with a Silver Cord and all is good and well. What exactly happens when our planewalker goes through a conduit or a color pool to yet another Plane?
Yes, I understand that a new body forms, which is more suitable for the surrounding environment and if it's killed mind returns back to the original body on Prime, but does it mean it actually gives a "life" like in a computer game? You go through Astral via projection, form another body on another Plane and you know that you don't have to fear death, because you're in a spare body? Do I understand it correctly?
Another question arises. Does all this mean that the most risky part of such travel is through the Astral Plane (because Silver Cord might be cut by githyanki or whoever/whatver)? And further does this mean that for a planewalker it's safer to kill himself to return to his original body instead of going through the Astral Plane twice?
Thank you in advance.
P.S. I'm sorry if this topic doesn't belong in this forum, but I still have a hard time differentiating between sub-forums.
The whole reason why I pose these questions is because I have a feeling that my players are going to use astral projection and the Astral Plane as a means of traveling soon and I want to be familiar enough with what happens during such process.
IIRC, blipping back and forth between planes via the Astral is pretty much instant, depending on the spell/ritual/mechanic being used. Physically traveling through the Astral, for the most part, isn't necessary unless the PCs get dumped there (portable hole/bag of holding, or some other mishap). The Astral Projection spell can put a group on the Astral, but it's also a 9th level spell and not exactly something that's done casually.
Honestly, unless you given the PCs a reason to travel there, I wouldn't even worry about it too much. Much better to stick with stuff like plane shifting to get them to the planes.
Hmm...I see that I'm not answering your questions at all!
I believe that the silver cord projects through the color pool and that, though it's invisible on whatever plane a person manifests in, it's still present and attached to them wherever they go. Yes, quick way of returning from a plane through the Astral back to the Material would be to just kill yourself, but I can't imagine that does great things for one's psyche. I'd personally impose some sort of temporary penalty for doing so, since dying - even a "fake" death - has got to be pretty traumatic.
The riskiest part of traveling through the Astral is anything that might put the silver cord at risk. That includes the Githyanki, but there are other things that can target the cord (I don't recall what they are off hand though). Still, unless the PCs are spending a lot of time mucking about on the Astral and making enemies, the risk is pretty small. There are countless silver cords floating about the Astral and for the most part, they're ignored by the natives unless they have reason to pay attention to them.