Color Pools: D&D’s Coolest Way To Planar Travel

The majority of Dungeons & Dragons campaigns often take place on the Material Plane. The Material Plane contains a number of worlds familiar to those who have played pre-built D&D campaigns, and include places like Toril from the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Aebrynis. However, the Material Plane isn’t the only plane of existence accessible during a D&D storyline, and using Color Pools in the Astral Plane is a stylish, if dangerous, way to accomplish Planar travel.

The Astral Plane is one of the Transitive Planes in Dungeons & Dragons. This means it can be used to travel from the Material Plane to the Inner and Outer Planes of existence. To reach the Astral Plane, players can use spells like Plane Shift or Gate. However, one of the safer and more accessible ways to travel to the Astral Plane is by using the spell Astral Projection. This projects the character’s consciousness into the Astral Plane. Dying while astral projecting doesn’t cause permanent death unless the character’s Silver Cord, their tether to the Material Plane, is severed or their physical body is mortally damaged.

Once a player has entered the Astral Plane, it is possible to encounter Color Pools. According to the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Dungeons & Dragons, these gateways are some of the most common structures found within the infinite expanse of the Astral Plane. Each color leads to a different plane of existence, which players can then choose to enter at their own risk. However, finding the right Color Pool can be difficult, as the types of pools are left up to chance when rolling 1d20. Players will have to travel 1d4 x 10 hours to locate the color they are looking for.

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Every Color Pool Found In The Dungeons & Dragons Astral Plane

Below is the list of different Dungeons & Dragons planes that can be accessed using Color Pools in the Astral Plane, as well as the required dice roll, and their corresponding colors.

  • 1 – Ysgard – Indigo Pool
  • 2- Limbo – Jet Black Pool
  • 3 – Pandemonium – Magenta Pool
  • 4 – The Abyss – Amethyst Pool
  • 5 – Carceri – Olive Pool
  • 6 – Hades – Rust Pool
  • 7 – Gehenna – Russet Pool
  • 8 – The Nine Hells – Ruby Pool
  • 9 – Acheron – Flame Red Pool
  • 10 – Mechanus – Diamond Blue Pool
  • 11 – Arcadia – Saffron Pool
  • 12 – Mount Celestia – Gold Pool
  • 13 – Bytopia – Amber Pool
  • 14 – Elysium – Orange Pool
  • 15 – The Beastlands – Emerald Green Pool
  • 16 – Arborea – Sapphire Blue Pool
  • 17 – The Outlands – Leather Brown Pool
  • 18 – Ethereal Plane – Spiraling White Pool
  • 19-20 – Material Plane – Silver Pool

Players using the Astral Plane to travel to other planes of existence during a Dungeons & Dragons campaign will want to look out for Psychic Wind,  a force created by intangible thoughts, when searching out the correct Color Pool. Psychic Wind can knock a player off course and set them back in travel time, send them through a Color Pool that wasn’t the intended destination, or even sever a character’s Silver Cord. Because of the dangers, a Dungeons & Dragons party will want to consider their strategy carefully before setting out into the Astral Plane to engage in Planar travel.

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