Astral

A silver void with no ground and no sky, where travellers move by wanting to. Drifting islands of stone and the wrecks of things from other worlds float in it, very far apart. Only powerful magic opens the way in, and the same is needed to leave. Nobody ages, hungers or thirsts here, and that calm is the danger: some stay far too long.

Light
Lit
Going
Easy

Hear it

Hazards

  • Moving by will. There is nothing to walk on. One moves by thinking of where to go, and a stunned mind simply drifts. D&D 5e (House rule): Every creature here flies at its walking speed and can hover. A creature that is Incapacitated drifts 3 m (10 feet) in a random direction each turn.
  • Hunger all at once. The body forgets its needs here, then remembers them all on the way home. D&D 5e (House rule): A creature that comes back after more than a day must eat and drink a full day’s ration within the hour, or gain 1 Exhaustion.
  • Storm of thoughts. A storm of other people’s thoughts sweeps across the void: voices, memories and fears that are not one’s own. D&D 5e: Anyone caught in it makes a DC 15 Wisdom save, taking 3d6 Psychic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
  • No bearings. Silver on every side, and every distant speck looks like every other. D&D 5e (House rule): Holding a course toward a place one cannot see takes a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) or Wisdom (Survival) check each day; a failure loses the day.

A scene

  • Temple of the Stars. Coldness slinks around your body, clasping your bones. The scent of ozone is in the air, and the trace notes of discordant piping audible. They are warnings. And promises. Corners of reality peel back as you enter the Temple of the Stars. What peers from beyond? The full generator on the blog

Adventure hooks

  1. A ship has drifted in the silver void for years, its crew alive and not a day older. They want to go home, and dread what they will find when they get there.
  2. A floating island holds a library of books lost from many worlds. Its keeper wants one more volume, from the party’s world, that nobody there has written yet.
  3. An old traveller floats smiling in the void and has forgotten why he came. He asks the party to remind him, and he has left himself notes everywhere, all contradicting each other.
  4. Raiders in a ship of bone snatch travellers from the void and sell them. Among their captives is the sage the party came to find, and she is running their accounts and has no wish to leave.

What may happen

  1. A drifting island of grey stone, big as a town, carved with a giant face whose eyes are closed.
  2. The wreck of a sailing ship floats past, sails still set, with nobody aboard and a meal half eaten.
  3. A traveller who has drifted here for longer than she can count asks what year it is, then laughs at the answer.
  4. Armed riders on a long, sleek ship cut across the void toward the party, banners high.
  5. A circle of colour opens in the silver, bright as stained glass. Through it, a green hill under a blue sky.
  6. Two armies hang frozen mid-charge, so still that dust stands in the air around them.
  7. One of the party hears a thought spoken aloud in their own voice. They did not think it.
  8. Books drift in a slow cloud, pages turning by themselves. One of them is about the party.
  9. A sleeping figure the size of a mountain floats curled up, breathing once an hour.
  10. A small burning star tumbles by. Caught, it is warm, harmless and hums softly.

To bring back

Gith Ear, Mind Flayer Brain, Starlight Ray Mantle

Other planes

Feywild, Shadowfell, Ethereal, Elemental Fire, Elemental Water, Elemental Earth, Elemental Air, Infernal, Abyssal, Celestial, Hades

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

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