Character lost to the Astral Plane. Is it possible for him to get back?

[Kryx]

A player of mine was eaten by a Bag of Devouring. Another party member pierced the bag, sending him to the astral plane.

I'm not so knowledgeable about planes. Is there a way for him to get back, or the party to rescue him? He's a level 7 Druid. We have a Wizard.

[SharkForce]

fixable, I'd say, but probably not simple to achieve with your current resources. (that is, you can't just cast a spell that one of you already knows and fix the problem).

what your druid needs is basically to get banished. if he can find someone who can cast the spell, he can probably get "home" (as in, "on his home plane") relatively easily. alternately, there are a lot of creatures that can use plane shift with no material components required that he might be able to trade with (some traveling will still be required).

[Keltest]

Theoretically, he absolutely can. But the astral plane is big. Locating him is going to be incredibly problematic. Anyone who could do that should at that point be able to transport him back as well.

However with your level of resources, he is functionally dead. If you talk to the DM, he might let him come back later as a PC or NPC who got lucky and found a way to get back on their own.

[Kryx]

I rolled on the random encounter table from The Manual of Planes and got an Inevitable, Marut (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-marut) who does indeed have Plane Shift in PF.

I think the player may not be dead, but now I need to figure out what the Marut would want.

[Inevitability]

I rolled on the random encounter table from The Manual of Planes and got an Inevitable, Marut (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-marut) who does indeed have Plane Shift in PF.

I think the player may not be dead, but now I need to figure out what the Marut would want.

Well, they also have Geas as a SLA in 3.5. Just have the inevitable geas him to destroy a certain undead creature (maybe a wraith?). Alternatively, a well-intentioned cleric has been Raising lots of people who died non-natural deaths, which while causing much happiness also disrupts cosmic balance (moral dillemas yay!). Have the Geas be worded to 'deal with the problem', which should leave the PC to handle it any way he wants.

[SharkForce]

yeah, maruts are pretty easy to figure out.

find someone who should be dead, but isn't. the marut will invariably consider that to be a problem.

[Louro]

Tough encounter.
It's not that the Marut is gonna kill him but he will just ignore the druid. Although being a druid maybe he has a small chance.

[JackPhoenix]

In previous editions, Astral Plane had color pools that worked as portals to all other planes. They aren't common, and you can't choose where will it dump you, but that can work as a hook for a whole adventure, if you can somehow contact the rest of the group and tell them you're back on Material, though on another continent...

[Corey]

I rolled on the random encounter table from The Manual of Planes and got an Inevitable, Marut (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-marut) who does indeed have Plane Shift in PF.

I think the player may not be dead, but now I need to figure out what the Marut would want.

Just so long as it's not the Kobayashi Marut. :smallbiggrin:

[Kryx]

There is a Lich nearby (Raugsmauda from Pathfinder). I guess I just opened up a 3rd plot to go along with my other 2 main plots.

[Louro]

I smell profit!

Players should focus on speed up the slow Maruts to beat that Lich so they can pillage his lair.

[SharkForce]

i don't think i'd want to be providing backup support for a marut in assaulting a lich's stronghold, unless the lich is atypically low level...

[Kryx]

i don't think i'd want to be providing backup support for a marut in assaulting a lich's stronghold, unless the lich is atypically low level...
The Marut isn't joining them.

The lich will indeed have to be much later level with a fair amount of plot leading up to it.

[SharkForce]

hmmm... a marut doesn't seem like the sort to care if the party dies horribly in the process of paying their debts. they pretty much just care about one thing. that's the thing with inevitables in general, really.

[Forum Explorer]

A Marut also doesn't seem to be the type to be in a rush. As long as the party is actively working towards destroying the Lich, I don't think the Marut will mind if they take their time to gather powerful weapons and train.

[kaoskonfety]

A Marut also doesn't seem to be the type to be in a rush. As long as the party is actively working towards destroying the Lich, I don't think the Marut will mind if they take their time to gather powerful weapons and train.

See Roy's Blood oath "Get to it before you die, that would make defeating a lich more difficult, and most methods to do so; I would disapprove of."

For lower level issues perhaps some Slaadi or similar "raw chaos" have gotten into the world and need stopping before they cause serious issues - he's busy (with a lich), you go deal with it.

[SharkForce]

See Roy's Blood oath "Get to it before you die, that would make defeating a lich more difficult, and most methods to do so; I would disapprove of."

For lower level issues perhaps some Slaadi or similar "raw chaos" have gotten into the world and need stopping before they cause serious issues - he's busy (with a lich), you go deal with it.

the marut most likely doesn't care about slaadi. they typically do the exact opposite of making people live longer than they should, which is pretty much all the marut cares about. inevitables are pretty one-dimensional.

on the other hand, if the cosmology is like 2e, you might be able to persuade the marut to send you home for free (if you're persuasive enough) because iirc time passes oddly on the astral plane... such that a creature on the astral plane will not die of old age (or indeed, age at all) until leaving it. at which point time catches up with them and they instantly age.

but i might be remembering that wrong.

in any event, if you can talk the marut into sending you home so that you won't live indefinitely, that would avoid derailing the main plot :P

[kaoskonfety]

the marut most likely doesn't care about slaadi. they typically do the exact opposite of making people live longer than they should, which is pretty much all the marut cares about. inevitables are pretty one-dimensional.

on the other hand, if the cosmology is like 2e, you might be able to persuade the marut to send you home for free (if you're persuasive enough) because iirc time passes oddly on the astral plane... such that a creature on the astral plane will not die of old age (or indeed, age at all) until leaving it. at which point time catches up with them and they instantly age.

but i might be remembering that wrong.

in any event, if you can talk the marut into sending you home so that you won't live indefinitely, that would avoid derailing the main plot :P

see... and I've always run Inevitables as bizarrely and alien-ly focused, a bad case of mission based OCD with an utter disregard for intangibles like "hope" and "suffering" and "life", but still full, intelligent persons within said context.
"Yes, your Prime is at threat from agents of the swirling chaos. That is not my job, so I will not expend my mission resources or risk myself dealing with it, I am busy. You however appear to be a free agent of the natural order of your world (as messy and maddening as it is) and I get plane shift often enough that using it to aid you is not a cost to my mission. As Slaadi overrunning your world does NOT help me defeat a lich, and may in fact hinder me, I can help you out of this mess - in payment you will help me out with the generalized stomping out of disorder and prevent potential Sladdi from getting in my way. Because you are a fickle mortal and are easily distracted *GEAS*. Excellent, my mission is served. Hail Primus, The One."

That said any number of "helpful" "creatures" live in the astral, some of whom would likely be perfectly willing to help out a poor helpless traveller ("You can't cast Planeshift? Like... at all?! My gods, how do you LIVE with such handicaps? You poor thing!") - passing devils offering bargains, a lantern archon who can point the way to a Gith settlement where you can hitch a ride to the plane of water which has a portal to the bottom of the local sea/huge lake... but you're a druid so the bottom of the ocean isn't that a big deal.

If you and the player want the character back: they get back. Perhaps a sessions where they have 2-4 roleplay inserts while the rest of the party tackles standard fare, and they show up near the end, a bit worse for wear but with a tale of 7 to tell.

[Vogonjeltz]

A player of mine was eaten by a Bag of Devouring. Another party member pierced the bag, sending him to the astral plane.

I'm not so knowledgeable about planes. Is there a way for him to get back, or the party to rescue him? He's a level 7 Druid. We have a Wizard.

Yes, the character is now on the Astral plane, so he's relatively speaking, safe, as creatures on the Astral Plane don't age or suffer from hunger or thirst. More specific details are found on the DMG page 47. He moves by thinking and he can get to another plane of existence from there by entering a color pool; which is a gateway to another plane. There is a chart on page 47 of the DMG that lists what color of portal leads to what plane, you could always just make up colors yourself if you're so inclined.

The primary threat to the Druid is the Astral Wind. This can do a variety of terrible things to his mind, found on page 48 of the DMG. Otherwise you could have a variety of encounters for the Druid.

I'd advise that you just roleplay a session (or an aside) with him to see how he finds his way back.