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I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

There are no rules.

There are no rules in the books, I've looked. I always played it as people on the threshold get launched one way or the other and occasionally even randomly Rifted somewhere completely diferent.

Carl Gleba, during a game he ran at a POH, once had a closing Rift spaghettify a shifter who was trapped in it when it closed.

I should note that Rift was going to Hades.

To me what happens in a Rift when it closes is up to you and the story you want to tell. That said I would say a closing rift killing anything more powerful then say hatchling dragon/demi-god but that's just me.

GM's call.

I need to recheck dimension builder, might've been something there.

I seem to recall something like when Tarn was halfway through her portal it glitched and instead of closing redirected

Axelmania wrote:I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

But like TB said, there are no texts covering this situation in the Rifts game. Additionally there is no text covering this situation in the PF2 Game's texts.

It might chop their physical manifestation into two parts. But not the spirit of the deity.
If parts get chopped, whether or not they stay around is up to the GM.

you don't really get to stand "halfway through a rift", you're either inside the rift or you're not. they're more like a magic dimension hose than a doorway. rift gets closed? someone pulled out the hose and capped the ends off.

rift's closed and you're on one end? stuck there now. inside the rift itself? well now you could end up anywhere/when......

i like the idea that until you pass all the way through, you are still connected to the other universe, and if the rift closes anything part way through just gets pulled back in.

this fits well with the fact that in most cases rifts do not allow the ambient air and water around it to pass through. it isn't a physical hole between worlds so much as a thin membrane you can pass through.

Either way, you don't want to be around a bisected god like that, because something weird, deadly, or that you'll get blamed for is going to happen.

Is it cool? Is it what you want?

If it is cool and what you want, yes.

If it is either not cool or not what you want, no.

I like the idea, if it's a climax and/or a plan the player's are trying to do. If it's incidental or accidental, I like "Thrown into a random dimension" from which they might come back.

Orin J. wrote:you don't really get to stand "halfway through a rift", you're either inside the rift or you're not.

even if a rift is like a 10ft long tunnel a 20ft long dragon might be out at both ends and linger

There should be a difference between a(n) PC/NPC stepping through and something long and drawn out going through; someone walking is much different than a snake moving through.

Someone merely stepping through would be in one dimension or the other depending on where the greatest mass is centered; it would be like being shoved forward or walking full speed into a wall.

You could also make the distinction between biological and inanimate objects. If you want to go that route, biological vs. nonbiological, then I would make the game interesting given all the living tech, cyborgs, and weird stuff in games.

You could always have them Save Vs Magic or PP check to react.

The first time I encountered the idea of a rift was in the novel Magican by Robert E. Feist. The way he had it, pardon 30 year old memory, was that you were on one side of a gray disc and then you were on the other. Unless you had the magic to stop in the 'rift space'. Which was a 'no-place'/non-dimension that all the 'places'/dimensions have between them.

All the artwork that I have seen for Rifts (think of the Xiticix coming through a Rift on page 40 of RUE) show them as large doors with some sort of frame of dimensional warping.

There is no tunnel or wormhole depicted in any of the descriptions but there is a threshold you can be on side A of the door, side of B of the door, or in the door frame. That frame might be a millimeter or might be a meter but there is a threshold so if you wanted something to get stuck there that is a GM call. My advice on a god killing Rift is my advice on everything and that is keep it consistent.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:The first time I encountered the idea of a rift was in the novel Magican by Robert E. Feist. The way he had it, pardon 30 year old memory, was that you were on one side of a gray disc and then you were on the other. Unless you had the magic to stop in the 'rift space'. Which was a 'no-place'/non-dimension that all the 'places'/dimensions have between them.

makes me wonder if TTGD's Mirrorwall was inspired by that

Warshield73 wrote:All the artwork that I have seen for Rifts (think of the Xiticix coming through a Rift on page 40 of RUE) show them as large doors with some sort of frame of dimensional warping.

There is no tunnel or wormhole depicted in any of the descriptions but there is a threshold you can be on side A of the door, side of B of the door, or in the door frame. That frame might be a millimeter or might be a meter but there is a threshold so if you wanted something to get stuck there that is a GM call.

Dimension Builder pg 27 says "usually only a step or two to get to the other side of the rift" and it's only potentially longer if a Displacement Storm happens, then it's a "long dark tunnel".

Axelmania wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:All the artwork that I have seen for Rifts (think of the Xiticix coming through a Rift on page 40 of RUE) show them as large doors with some sort of frame of dimensional warping.

There is no tunnel or wormhole depicted in any of the descriptions but there is a threshold you can be on side A of the door, side of B of the door, or in the door frame. That frame might be a millimeter or might be a meter but there is a threshold so if you wanted something to get stuck there that is a GM call.

Dimension Builder pg 27 says "usually only a step or two to get to the other side of the rift" and it's only potentially longer if a Displacement Storm happens, then it's a "long dark tunnel".

Thank you. I looked for 20 minutes for that quote but I thought it was RUE or the Magic book.

Warshield73 wrote:There are no rules in the books, I've looked. I always played it as people on the threshold get launched one way or the other and occasionally even randomly Rifted somewhere completely diferent.

Carl Gleba, during a game he ran at a POH, once had a closing Rift spaghettify a shifter who was trapped in it when it closed.

I should note that Rift was going to Hades.

To me what happens in a Rift when it closes is up to you and the story you want to tell. That said I would say a closing rift killing anything more powerful then say hatchling dragon/demi-god but that's just me.

Dang it and all this time I thought what happened in a Rift stayed in a Rift.

Axelmania wrote:

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:The first time I encountered the idea of a rift was in the novel Magican by Robert E. Feist. The way he had it, pardon 30 year old memory, was that you were on one side of a gray disc and then you were on the other. Unless you had the magic to stop in the 'rift space'. Which was a 'no-place'/non-dimension that all the 'places'/dimensions have between them.

makes me wonder if TTGD's Mirrorwall was inspired by that

I doubt that, from the descriptions of the mirror wall, there is air there, not needing some sort of Bw/oA spell to stay alive.

When a rift closes on something, I don’t rule that it gets severed. The person in mid-crossing gets forced through to one dimension or the other. Alternately, I leave room for a small chance that such a person could end up in the limbo that exists between dimensions. This is the same limbo that created the “rift entity” as described in one of the Rifts Index and Adventures.

More importantly, if a closing rift chopped Angie in half, would it really matter?

It's a god.

Jefffar wrote:More importantly, if a closing rift chopped Angie in half, would it really matter?

It's a god.

Who's Angie?

Also I think it's a question of "how much damage does being chopped in half represent?"

not even crunch-crock GURPS actually has rules for chopping people in half at the torso and its decapitation rules need work too

It really depends on how it is opened in the first place. Something physically opened forcefully will want to close with the same amount of force, but this is magic.

Nothing in nature happens instantaneously no matter how fast it may appear to us. Even lightning has a few steps it must follow before we see the actual electrical arc.

If you want movies/TV shows to reference :
Ron Weasley was splinched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvpgvg_0neQ
Thanos couldn't have had his arm cut off by a portal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOL5Btr3200
Several Star Trek: TNG episodes

Axelmania wrote:I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

Pantheons of the Megaverse, in Zurvan's entry, it states that "He closed a rift which also destroyed the alien intelligence that created it"

This does not explictly say the Alien Intelligence was passing through the Rift when it closed, but as closing a Rift is generally nonfatal to the creator (there being spells to close rifts and no mention of this killing the person who opened it), I always read it to be "he closed it on it while it was passing through, and this was fatal"

Nekira Sudacne wrote:

Axelmania wrote:I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

Pantheons of the Megaverse, in Zurvan's entry, it states that "He closed a rift which also destroyed the alien intelligence that created it"

This does not explictly say the Alien Intelligence was passing through the Rift when it closed, but as closing a Rift is generally nonfatal to the creator (there being spells to close rifts and no mention of this killing the person who opened it), I always read it to be "he closed it on it while it was passing through, and this was fatal"

Perhaps there might also be some sort of custom rift-opening spell which is cheaper because it links the rift to your life force and damages you if cancelled?

One Hand Clapping wrote:Alternately, I leave room for a small chance that such a person could end up in the limbo that exists between dimensions. This is the same limbo that created the “rift entity” as described in one of the Rifts Index and Adventures.

if you mean the infinite white room dimension that shifters use, them ive known other GMs to do that also.

Nekira Sudacne wrote:

Axelmania wrote:I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

Pantheons of the Megaverse, in Zurvan's entry, it states that "He closed a rift which also destroyed the alien intelligence that created it"

This does not explictly say the Alien Intelligence was passing through the Rift when it closed, but as closing a Rift is generally nonfatal to the creator (there being spells to close rifts and no mention of this killing the person who opened it), I always read it to be "he closed it on it while it was passing through, and this was fatal"

I forget where, but I remember a list of different types of Rifts you could encounter (and damage they deal). If a Rift opens on your location, you take damage. Mages can also change the location of an open rift for cheaper then it is to open a new once.

So, technically, if you changed the type or location of a Rift as someone was stepping through then you'd effectively by damaging them by "closing" their Rift location and "opening" a new Rift location.

The different types of rifts are detailed in RUE.

Sohisohi wrote:I forget where, but I remember a list of different types of Rifts you could encounter (and damage they deal).
If a Rift opens on your location, you take damage

Couldn't find this in RUE 194-197 (section Drew mentioned)

Closest I can seem to find is in DB7 (Megaverse Builder) where pg 30's right column mentions a possible outcome of a Dimensional Vortex where a "Reversal" can inflict 4D6 SDC by tossing you around (reverses direction spitting person back into world)

I expect that's just interaction w/ the environment like the Soft Landing and Hard Landing outcomes though (maybe ignore all three if you get spit into a dimension lacking objects, like just gas?)

I think There are no rules.

I think there shouldn't be hard fast rules. By the few rules we have on rifts, there are multiple types of rifts with their own rules. So, a rift closing could eject someone hundreds of feet back, could chop them in half, could split them into two identical copies in different dimensions, literally anything. Gm's call for whatever works best for the story.

Sohisohi wrote:

Nekira Sudacne wrote:

Axelmania wrote:I can't remember what the rules are for if a rift closes while someone is halfway through it. Like if it actually damages/bisects or if there's some kind of safety like it will just teleport someone to one side or the other.

Pantheons of the Megaverse, in Zurvan's entry, it states that "He closed a rift which also destroyed the alien intelligence that created it"

This does not explictly say the Alien Intelligence was passing through the Rift when it closed, but as closing a Rift is generally nonfatal to the creator (there being spells to close rifts and no mention of this killing the person who opened it), I always read it to be "he closed it on it while it was passing through, and this was fatal"

I forget where, but I remember a list of different types of Rifts you could encounter (and damage they deal). If a Rift opens on your location, you take damage. Mages can also change the location of an open rift for cheaper then it is to open a new once.

So, technically, if you changed the type or location of a Rift as someone was stepping through then you'd effectively by damaging them by "closing" their Rift location and "opening" a new Rift location.

the Rifts Adventure Guide has a whole (optional material) section on different types of rifts.