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Can you long rest during Astral Projection?

The implications of this are that you can simply astral project, travel through the Ethereal Plane back to the Material Plane through the Silver Color Pool as if it were a foreign plane, and then live out your life as an immortal with your body in a closet somewhere safe.

Without the ability to long rest, eventually your ability resources would run out, so you'd have to drop Astral Projection, get some rest, and then recast the spell with its costly components.

Similarly, if you can't long rest during Astral Projection, can you short rest?

The above would now apply, but to Warlocks and Monks exclusively as their ability resources are refunded on short rests. The difference being they would never regain hit die and there are some daily resources for Warlocks which aren't reclaimed.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Are you referring to the spell astral projection? Or Astral travel in general? \$\endgroup\$
    – TheVagrantDog
    May 16, 2018 at 2:36
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    \$\begingroup\$ @TheVagrantDog Travel through the astral plane is only called Astral Projection if you are using Astral Projection. Otherwise, it's just planar travel. \$\endgroup\$
    – Axoren
    May 16, 2018 at 2:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ Well not really immortal... You could still have your chord cut (however that can actually happen). The spell also ends if your astral form drops to 0 HP. \$\endgroup\$
    – David Coffron
    May 16, 2018 at 2:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DavidCoffron While that is true, it's effectively immortal. Unless Githyanki hit squads are coming to the Material Plane to assassinate you, you have nothing to really fear. I'm only aware of two things that can cut a cord, and neither resides here on the Material Plane. \$\endgroup\$
    – Axoren
    May 16, 2018 at 3:02

1 Answer 1

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According to the spell description, that wouldn't work.

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 moment you return to the Material Plane, your body snaps to you- you can't reside eternally on the Material Plane in your astral form.

While you're in your astral form, you don't age or feel the effects of hunger, but no other effects are given, save one:

Since the Outer Planes are as much spiritual states of being as they are physical places, this allows a character to manifest in an Outer Plane as if he or she had physically travelled there, but as in a dream.

A character's death- either in the Astral Plane or the destination plane- causes no actual harm.

You could thus stash your body in a closet, astrally project, and become immortal in the Astral Plane or Outer Planes- or you could teleport about the Material Plane, Ethereal Plane and Inner Planes by means of astral projection, but only in the Astral and Outer Planes do you have the protection inherent to astral projection- most likely because those are the planes where you do not exist in a wholly physical form.

As for resting during astral travel:

It should be noted that several features of the Outer Planes take effect when you complete a long rest (notably psychic dissonance), and nothing about the Astral Planes says that you cannot take a rest, so you can indeed take long or short rests in astral form. In order to be kept from taking those rests, the spell description would need to specifically prevent you from doing so.

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    \$\begingroup\$ While the consequent scenario I mentioned isn't ironclad, could you answer the title questions as well? The main part of the question is whether or not resting to recoup resources is possible. \$\endgroup\$
    – Axoren
    May 16, 2018 at 3:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ Last part of my answer. If you like I'll alter the formatting to make that a bit clearer. \$\endgroup\$
    – TheVagrantDog
    May 16, 2018 at 3:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ You would only be immortal on the Astral Plane, not the Outer Planes - entering one of those triggers "If you enter a new plane ..." \$\endgroup\$
    – Dale M
    May 16, 2018 at 5:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DaleM The part where death on the Outer Planes causes no actual harm, combined with a bit later in the same paragraph that I didn't quote- "only... the death of his or her physical body on the Material Plane..." strongly implies that even if you die of old age in the Outer Planes, you pop right back into your unaged body in the "real world." Kinda Inception-y, that. \$\endgroup\$
    – TheVagrantDog
    May 16, 2018 at 5:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Entering a new plane transports your body to you, allowing you to re-enter and end the spell. That phrasing doesn't necessarily mean that you must re-enter when you change planes, the spell is only specified to end when you dismiss it, it is dispelled, or your body or astral form are reduced to 0 hp. It would be a serious hazard to use this for immortality though as the astral form trails a silver cord, cutting which results in instant death for the character. \$\endgroup\$
    – Perkins
    Nov 13, 2018 at 19:52

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