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I've been playing Rifts since literally the day it came out and in all that time I have been using a ruling that ley lines are impassable to anyone other than a Ley Line Walker phasing into/through it. Anyone else stepping into a ley line gets vaporized, which is one reason travel in Rifts is so difficult. Either you have a hover vehicle that can go over it, or your stuck. Honestly have no idea if it was my first GM who came up with the rule, but I've been using it ever since.

But now, looking through RUE, I cannot find any reference to it, or any rule about traveling through a ley line, or anything related to it. So, is this an actual rule, or is this a house rule that I have been using all these years? It seems to make sense, a river of huge amounts of magical energy just seems like something that would be very bad to stick your hand into, or try to walk through.

House rule, so far as I know.

Welcome to the forum, Slider65.

I've never seen anything suggesting that in any Palladium book which involves ley lines, and have seen a great many things which would contradict it. A simple example would be how other classes can regain PPE at an increased rate while on a line or nexus, as detailed in several "The Principles of Magic" chapters found across multiple settings.

It's certainly a fun setting constraint, though, and one which would have wide-ranging repercussions.

Ley lines are relatively harmless to most creatures. They are intangible, and you can walk into them, drive over them, or even live in a building on one with zero harm done. There are official Rifts maps with ley lines going through cities and settlements, even.

Fade towns are, by definition, entirely on ley lines. Sure, the population fades away occasionally, but otherwise they're fine.

I'm sure I read some color text about psychics being irritable on a ley line, but don't recall any penalties or other rules regarding line exposure, with the exception of the occasional mutant, sea titan, or similar cropping up.

In ZEE-EE-ERO canon do ley lines disintegrate people. I would have remembered that.

I would say its a house rule.

I don't remember anything saying that there are damage based issues for going into or crossing a ley line.

with that said, I could see it effectively emping improperly shielded electronics. but even then its iffy because ppe is NOT em radiation

Ley lines are not physical barriers. That said, they are higher-risk areas:
-They tend to attract magic users, the supernatural, and psychics to dominate some parts of them.
-Psi-stalkers and Dog Boys tend to avoid them.
-They are areas where rifts can open without warning.
-Ley line storms happen along them.
-They are well-lit at night, making stealthy crossings more difficult.

Slider65 wrote:I've been playing Rifts since literally the day it came out and in all that time I have been using a ruling that ley lines are impassable to anyone other than a Ley Line Walker phasing into/through it. Anyone else stepping into a ley line gets vaporized, which is one reason travel in Rifts is so difficult. Either you have a hover vehicle that can go over it, or your stuck. Honestly have no idea if it was my first GM who came up with the rule, but I've been using it ever since.

But now, looking through RUE, I cannot find any reference to it, or any rule about traveling through a ley line, or anything related to it. So, is this an actual rule, or is this a house rule that I have been using all these years? It seems to make sense, a river of huge amounts of magical energy just seems like something that would be very bad to stick your hand into, or try to walk through.

Nothing like an actual rule.
By the book, you can't even see ley lines during the day, and can walk through them without even knowing (unless you can sense magic and such).

But it sounds like a kinda cool house rule.

Killer Cyborg wrote:

Slider65 wrote:I've been playing Rifts since literally the day it came out and in all that time I have been using a ruling that ley lines are impassable to anyone other than a Ley Line Walker phasing into/through it. Anyone else stepping into a ley line gets vaporized, which is one reason travel in Rifts is so difficult. Either you have a hover vehicle that can go over it, or your stuck. Honestly have no idea if it was my first GM who came up with the rule, but I've been using it ever since.

But now, looking through RUE, I cannot find any reference to it, or any rule about traveling through a ley line, or anything related to it. So, is this an actual rule, or is this a house rule that I have been using all these years? It seems to make sense, a river of huge amounts of magical energy just seems like something that would be very bad to stick your hand into, or try to walk through.

Nothing like an actual rule.
By the book, you can't even see ley lines during the day, and can walk through them without even knowing (unless you can sense magic and such).

But it sounds like a kinda cool house rule.

I agree it is kind of cool but I think I would be more likely to use it at just specific LLs and not all of them.

A long time ago I created, but never had the chance to use, a sort of ley line black hole that instead of radiating PPE absorbed it from the area, and living beings, around it. I set it up to absorb a percentage of your base, so the more you had the harder it hit, and when it was finished with PPE it started on your SDC/HP/MDC until you died. Same basic premise I wanted it as a barrier.

Ley Lines as impassible physical barriers to anyone that isn't a Line Walker? That's... an amazing idea. It would really change the complexion of the setting and make activities in ley line rich areas like the Magic Zone pretty different.

Cities like Tolkeen wouldn't be able to exist in the forms given, that's for sure.

Eh, must have been something my GM came up with when the game first came out, and I just assumed it was a rule. That was the way we played it back when the game was first released at least, and it has stuck around in all of my games since. And we've always played it that you could walk right up to one without any danger, it was just trying to step into one that was bad for your health. So, build all the stuff right up to the edge and your fine. Try to walk through it, and well, bug zapper time.

Even made sense as a way to restrict travel, or why jet packs, flying armor and wing-boards were so popular. But I just recently got back into the game, and there are a literal ton of new books and settings to catch up on, and I realized I couldn't find the rule anywhere when I was reading about the ley lines. Just seems strange to me that a huge river of magical energy does... nothing if you walk through it. Use that same energy to fuel a spell, and zap. But the raw stuff? Harmless...

Might keep the rule around just because I'm stubborn, but I stopped collecting the books back in 2000 or so, and I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, thanks for the help folks.

MadGreenSon wrote:Ley Lines as impassible physical barriers to anyone that isn't a Line Walker? That's... an amazing idea. It would really change the complexion of the setting and make activities in ley line rich areas like the Magic Zone pretty different.

Cities like Tolkeen wouldn't be able to exist in the forms given, that's for sure.

I had not even considered that aspect. Even things like Millennium Trees would have to be changed to account for a destructive ley line effect.

Warshield73 wrote:

MadGreenSon wrote:Ley Lines as impassible physical barriers to anyone that isn't a Line Walker? That's... an amazing idea. It would really change the complexion of the setting and make activities in ley line rich areas like the Magic Zone pretty different.

Cities like Tolkeen wouldn't be able to exist in the forms given, that's for sure.

I had not even considered that aspect. Even things like Millennium Trees would have to be changed to account for a destructive ley line effect.

It would eliminate all ground/water travel and make large nations impossible to maintain. Not to mention put all wild life in limited preserves that do not allow for migration.

Destructive ley lines also invalidate every rule about ley line storms, fade towns, wizards other than line walkers using the lines, lines in cities, line-powered TW vehicles and generators, and just about any other mention of line usage.

Now, if SOME lines were destructive, or if a specific line or set of lines were mysteriously hostile for reasons the players must investigate, I think there's a game.

Definiently a House rule.

Ley lines are also tall (I don't think how tall is defined...but If I was a GM, I might go as tall as they are wide. This does mean that driving along the ground would mean you are driving through them....not over them.

There are defining penalties for psions when they are on a Leyline. Not just Descriptive text saying that they find it irritating.

Many people will avoid LL & LLN because rifts appear more frequently on them.

ITWastrel wrote:Now, if SOME lines were destructive, or if a specific line or set of lines were mysteriously hostile for reasons the players must investigate, I think there's a game.

Now this idea might make a good background for a campaign or story arc.

No, there is no mention of them being impassable as far as I have known - and yes we started playing when Rifts first came out (we had played Robotech and TMNT previously).

I can see where this might have come from; ... "A group of adventurers marvel at the 300 foot wall of magical energy..." (RUE p34) This image and quote are in the original book as well as RUE. Note this is also where it mentions height of "this" ley line (300 foot). It also gives a bit of an indication of how wide they are - they look almost cylindrical. If you look at the image on the page before they are visible from space which would make them miles wide or insanely bright. That image also makes them look like they cover half the planet in huge long lines.

However, every map I have seen shows them as straight lines (yes I get the straight lines on a globe issue) BUT that picture shows the line curving almost 90° over the mountains? Does everyone take them as straight?

hup7 wrote:No, there is no mention of them being impassable as far as I have known - and yes we started playing when Rifts first came out (we had played Robotech and TMNT previously).

I can see where this might have come from; ... "A group of adventurers marvel at the 300 foot wall of magical energy..." (RUE p34) This image and quote are in the original book as well as RUE. Note this is also where it mentions height of "this" ley line (300 foot). It also gives a bit of an indication of how wide they are - they look almost cylindrical. If you look at the image on the page before they are visible from space which would make them miles wide or insanely bright. That image also makes them look like they cover half the planet in huge long lines.

However, every map I have seen shows them as straight lines (yes I get the straight lines on a globe issue) BUT that picture shows the line curving almost 90° over the mountains? Does everyone take them as straight?

they are basically straight.
the thing is you have to remember that for all practical purposes Ley lines are the magical equivalent of a magnetic flux line. they just are a line /conductor/river of magical energy not electro magnetic/electrical energy. so they try to conform to the rule that the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line... if it can't really go through the ground.

Warshield73 wrote:

MadGreenSon wrote:Ley Lines as impassible physical barriers to anyone that isn't a Line Walker? That's... an amazing idea. It would really change the complexion of the setting and make activities in ley line rich areas like the Magic Zone pretty different.

Cities like Tolkeen wouldn't be able to exist in the forms given, that's for sure.

I had not even considered that aspect. Even things like Millennium Trees would have to be changed to account for a destructive ley line effect.

Yeah, it really would change everything about the setting. I mean, might make for an interesting alternate universe to throw into a dimension travel game, but you'd really need to think through the consequences. Because it really would change everything.

It sure as hell would amplify the effective power of Ley Line Walkers.

MadGreenSon wrote:

Warshield73 wrote:

MadGreenSon wrote:Ley Lines as impassible physical barriers to anyone that isn't a Line Walker? That's... an amazing idea. It would really change the complexion of the setting and make activities in ley line rich areas like the Magic Zone pretty different.

Cities like Tolkeen wouldn't be able to exist in the forms given, that's for sure.

I had not even considered that aspect. Even things like Millennium Trees would have to be changed to account for a destructive ley line effect.

Yeah, it really would change everything about the setting. I mean, might make for an interesting alternate universe to throw into a dimension travel game, but you'd really need to think through the consequences. Because it really would change everything.

It sure as hell would amplify the effective power of Ley Line Walkers.

It would also make flying power armor, hover vehicles, and flying creatures like gryphons and dragons way more powerful than any vehicles or creatures that can't fly.

Truthfully I really like the idea of incorporating this into a type of corrupted LL to use as a roadblock for players.

Warshield73 wrote:It would also make flying power armor, hover vehicles, and flying creatures like gryphons and dragons way more powerful than any vehicles or creatures that can't fly.

Oh yeah. The changes to the setting would be massive and all encompassing. It could be fun to think about just because it's such a fundamental shift to how the world works.

Warshield73 wrote:Truthfully I really like the idea of incorporating this into a type of corrupted LL to use as a roadblock for players.

Yeah, there's unquestionably all kinds of uses the idea could be put to. What sort of situation were you envisioning?

The players are visiting a city in the magic zone when the ley line triangle encompassing the town suddenly surges! The lines are acting like a giant bug zapper, killing anyone who touches them!

After three days, the city gets a ransom note! Deliver a Big pile of bucks and we'll release the city!

PCs Investigate!
Then you give them a side quest to an opportunist gang of cyborg rats who just wanted a quick buck, they have NO idea what's going on.

Then you give the PCs a clue, and the clue says... Evil Lizard Mage on the hill!
Adventure in his secret underground death-cult with it's tomb of horrors, undead and bloodshed, but in the end, he also knows nothing.

Meanwhile, the town is running out of toilet paper.

I bet we can get a year's worth of sessions out of the why, let's figure that out later.

Or... random ley line turns into a roadblock. Tolkien dispatches a team to investigate, but so does the CS's RCSG and Dunscon's City of Brass (maybe even Psyscape too). Each would have their own suspicions and motivations for finding the cause.

Do the teams work together? Sabotage one another? Open warfare between the groups? And then there's whatever powerful mcgruffin the GM creates to be the source.

PCs are in a long campaign against a necromancer eventually tracking him back to his lair on a nexus point. He is the middle of ritual when the kill him. The PC's think it's over but when they get outside all the LLs have transformed into walls of destructive energy.

The PCs are raiding a secret CS lab located on a major nexus in the ruins of Tolkeen. During a battle a a large device is damaged. It turns out the CS was trying to create a device that would drain LLs making them useless to mages but instead it turns the LLs into walls of destruction and the PCs have to escape CS reinforcements on the ground while avoiding the destructive lines.

The closest thing I can think to this are the occasional ley line storm which causes energy bolts that might destroy stuff passing through, but that's so rare I don't think it would stop much travel, people would just wait them out if they saw the signs.

Unless of course the terrain was rough and you were halfway through when one began.