Being too big for an astral domain

[Tor]

Scenario:
1) be 7th level Astral Mage, select Metamorphosis: Animal as new spell
2) create new tiny domain using basic tiny 0-point-size cost option
3) make the dimensions 6 inches by 10 feet by 20 feet
4) cast metamorphosis: animal to become something small enough, to be comfortable in such a low ceiling, like bird or mouse
5) spend 20 minutes reading a book, fall asleep
6) stay asleep for 2 hours, fail to wake up in time to re-cast the spell to keep yourself mouse-sized
7) revert to full human size
???

Do you figure you just get crushed to death in this case? Even if you didn't die, I don't think you would be able to inhale properly if your torso were compressed to 6 inches, right after it broke all your ribs.

I'm a bit unsure as to the 'hardness' of the dimensional barriers surrounding an astral domain though... particularly since it is supposed to be ectoplasm, which is supposedly pretty soft unless you harden it...

Do you think this might depend on what is chosen for Accessibility? I can see anyone who has Free/Hidden just being shoved out of their domain once they become too big to fit within it. It's not as if there are hard walls...

The trouble comes when you select Ectoplasmic Barriers... would your growing body begin to damage the barriers, and hopefully if you damage them enough they break and you can spill out without your body rupturing?

The REAL truble is from Retricted though (and Controlling/Forbidding work same) because it means portal-locked so you simply cannot pass through the dimensional barriers surrounding your realm....

So that makes me think it's almost like an Impenetrable Wall of Force and that it will wreck you no matter what you do...

I guess the question is... when a mouse grows into a man in a space too small to contain a man... is it an instant or gradual process? If there is some amount of (however brief) intermediary steps, will the human just stop growing? Would you just be like one of those square watermelons or Bonsai Kitten and deform as you regained human form? Would part of you just get chopped off and sent into some other dimension?

Note: for those who 6 inches seems fine for, try 3 inches by 20 feet by 20 feet in that case.

[Glistam]

8) The mage dies if the barriers can't be passed/overcome as he reverts to his true form, or if he can pass/overcome the barriers then he awakens in his true form outside of the astral domain, adrift in the Astral Plane.

[eliakon]

I would, personally, rule as follows
-if the domain has no borders then you are just in the astral with part of your body occupying the entire domain
-if the domain has borders then you expand to max size, and are then promptly shifted into the void.

I also would take steps as a GM to ensure that my players understand that if they chose to use this 'trick' as an 'instant death trap' for their foes then I will be forced to assume that such a use is common, and that they can expect to have it used against them. (you would be amazed at how well that prevents people from 'abusing' things that can 'break' the game)

[Tor]

Considering the difficulty of metamorphing opponents against their will (I mean, you could just morph someone into a slow turtle and then stab them to death) the expansion-death of a domain is not that big a thing.