Can a cleric regain spells on the Astral Plane?

Question

A cleric has to pray at a certain time each day to replenish his prepared spells. But there is no time on the Astral Plane.

Can a cleric trapped on the Astral Plane still get his spells back?

Answer 1

I used to play a game with a lot of plane travelling. My DM found a quite elegant solution for this problem. Although it's a house rule, it works quite well.

Short answer: Yes, the pray at certain time requirement was lifted.

Long answer: Yes. We considered that, without a day-night cycle, the actual moment in time doesn't really matter. So, considering that the 'clerics must get their spells in a specific moment' thing is a restriction imposed by the deity, in another plane said deity would cut the cleric some slack - thus removing the restriction.

Why? Most clerics plane travelling around got some levels under their belts. Meaning they're often above the average cleric and thus get some special attention from their deity. So, the cleric would do his praying at any moment to get his daily allowance.

The main explanation is, without time there can be no 'right moment' for praying. But also means that can be no 'wrong moment' as well.

Answer 2

Yes, now let me explain why so you don't run into any other time / cleric power problems.

• A cleric must use a certain time of each day to replenish his prepared spells this is not linked in anyway to the time he is in, it is only concern with, weather or not his god can provide those spells to him at that time. (this can be different for each cleric)

• If a cleric dose not know the time of day it is he may have to make a survival check to realize what time it is and if or not it is time for him to pray for his spells.

• If their is no time then the cleric experiences no time and is frozen thus unable to do anything. There is always some form of relative time or "blind time" that is unrelated to the material plain thus giving it time that moves faster, slower or parallel to it when the two are compared.

• Your set time of prayer is always at that hour of your(understanding) of a day in your campaign thus no matter where you travel it will always be 3 hours past sun down for you at that time. This means that if you spend a day on another plain but zero hours have passed on the Material plain then you still have had the option to recover your spells.

• If your Cleric sets his time to morning and prays for his spells at the first light of the rising sun, that time never changes the only thing that will change is the time of day your cleric experiences for the rising sun on different Time-zones.

"(I pray at the setting of the sun when it returns behind the western mountains of my ancestor's lands; it just so happens that's when your strange sun rises on this exotic homeland of yours.)"

Manual of the planes: page 10 - Time: The rate of time's passage can vary among different planes, though it remains constant within any particular plane. Time becomes interesting when one moves from plane to plane, but it still moves at the same apparent rate for the traveler. In other words, time is always subjective for the viewer. If someone is magically frozen in place for a year, at the end of that time he or she thinks mere seconds have passed. But to everyone else, a year has elapsed. The same subjectivity applies to various planes. Travelers may discover that they'll pick up or lose time while moving among the planes, but from their point of view, time always passes naturally.

• Normal Time: This is the standard rate of time, compared to the Material Plane. One hour on a plane with normal time equals one hour on the Material Plane.

• Flowing Time: On some planes, time can flow faster or slower. One may travel to another plane, spend a year there, then return to the Material Plane to find that only six seconds have elapsed. Everything on that native plane is only a few seconds older. But for that traveler and the items, spells, and effects working on him, that year away was entirely real. When designating how time works on planes with flowing time, put the Material Plane's flow of time first, followed by the same flow in the other plane. For the example above, it would be 1 round = 1 year. For every year on the other plane, one 6-second round has elapsed on the Material Plane. The clever and the unscrupulous can abuse planes that have flowing time. The ability to step into a slower time flow for the purpose of healing and regaining spells is an effective weapon against others. You'll be back, completely refreshed, before your foes even know you're gone.

• TIME ALONG THE GREAT WHEEL Within the D&D cosmology, time flows at a normal rate, and all planes have the normal time trait. Planes with the flowing time trait or the erratic time trait change the game too dramatically for most players' tastes. The only exception to this is the Astral Plane, which is a timeless plane for purposes of aging, hunger, thirst, and natural healing.