Astral Projection takes 1 hour to cast, and consumes 1100 gold pieces of gems and silver for each person affected.
Plane Shift takes 1 action to cast, and uses a 250 gold piece component which is reusable.
Astral Projection projects astral versions of the caster and up to eight willing subjects into the Astral Plane.
Plane Shift instantly teleports yourself and up to eight willing participants to any plane designated during casting.
Astral Projection is a risky spell, since the silver cord connecting your astral body can be severed and separates your body from your soul, killing you instantly.
Plane Shift has no chance of failure, and can even be used offensively to banish planar creatures back to their plane of origin.
Astral Projection is a 9th-level spell.
Plane Shift is a 7th-level spell.
In previous versions (not sure if it's still true in 5e), very few things can sever, or even detect, the silver cord. And if something "kills" your astral body without severing the cord, you "snap back" to your real-world body - so Astral projection lets you explore the Outer Planes at LESS risk than Plane Shift (which transports you body and all to another plane, permanently).
ReplyDeleteI was quoting directly from the 5th edition PHB above. 1st and 2nd edition versions of the Astral spell have no material components.
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