Astral Projection and Ley Lines

[darthauthor]

As a statement of my own beliefs, I believe that a magic user or psychic who performs astral projection with their body within the area of influence of a ley line or nexus will have their duration increased 50% and 100% respectively.

Similarly, there is an argument to be made that one's astral (coexistence with the material world based projection) would go 50% faster or Mach 1.5 (or 1151 miles per hour / 1852 kilometer per hour).

I am still debating if it is over powered to give a character the option to draw PPE or ISP while their body is near a ley line. Their silver cord acting as a power cable. If so they would in a fashion have a limitless supply of power for their psionic or spells. However this cannot affect the material world only "other" astral travelers while they too coexist. Feels like they really just have unlimited ISP for the use of telepathy, empathy, seeing auras, presence sense, sense evil, magic, time and speed reading. All of which would make them great for spying or looking for a missing/hiding person but incapable of affecting people and things in the material world except to tell them things telepathically.

While if an astral projecting character or NPC were to travel to a ley line they would not get any duration boost or ISP supply. Not being effected by energy attacks or spells cast from the material world side it only seems fair that they cannot draw upon a ley lines energies and benefits.

On the matter of astral projection into the astral plane while ones body is near a ley line I haven't decided. I would give them great duration (as per the ley line and nexus point boosts). Beyond that I'm not sure. Is it to Over Powered to let a player have access to 10 or more PPS / ISP per round for their abilities while in the Astral Plane with 50% extra duration and range?

I think I would argue that could only work if there were no time dilation otherwise you are trying to draw a weeks worth of PPE/ISP in one minutes time in the material world

What do you think?

[darthauthor]

As a statement of my own beliefs, I believe that a magic user or psychic who performs astral projection with their body within the area of influence of a ley line or nexus will have their duration increased 50% and 100% respectively.

As best I can understand what would matter is your location at the time of activating a spell or a power. Like if a mage who casts a spell on themself at a ley line moves off the line you don't lose the extra duration, but in contrast if you cast before approaching a line it won't boost you.

What that would mean for example is if you're not already on a line w/ your body, you can't just mach-1 to the nearest line for a boost.

Similarly, there is an argument to be made that one's astral (coexistence with the material world based projection) would go 50% faster or Mach 1.5 (or 1151 miles per hour / 1852 kilometer per hour).

It sounds like a cool idea, maybe not concretely RAW but fits in the general spirit of 'effect' (speed instead of damage). I wouldn't oppose.

I am still debating if it is over powered to give a character the option to draw PPE or ISP while their body is near a ley line.
Their silver cord acting as a power cable.
If so they would in a fashion have a limitless supply of power for their psionic or spells.
However this cannot affect the material world only "other" astral travelers while they too coexist. Feels like they really just have unlimited ISP for the use of telepathy, empathy, seeing auras, presence sense, sense evil, magic, time and speed reading.
All of which would make them great for spying or looking for a missing/hiding person but incapable of affecting people and things in the material world except to tell them things telepathically.

I often forget about that part on RUE pg 366, yes 2-7 ISP per round to spend on powers is pretty nice (though you can't save it)

While if an astral projecting character or NPC were to travel to a ley line they would not get any duration boost or ISP supply. Not being effected by energy attacks or spells cast from the material world side it only seems fair that they cannot draw upon a ley lines energies and benefits.

Ultimately what's going to limit you is the maximum duration of Astral Projection itself (even boosted) on how much recon you're going to be able to manage.

Even if could fly at mach speeds, that's not going to speed up one's realistic difficulties in doing things like searching an empty house, for example. Yes there might be useful papers lying out in the open, but even though you can read them quickly ... can you actually NOTICE where the page is?

Plus there's other stuff to think about like - you can't read a closed book (telekinesis is off limits)

On the matter of astral projection into the astral plane while ones body is near a ley line I haven't decided. I would give them great duration (as per the ley line and nexus point boosts). Beyond that I'm not sure. Is it to Over Powered to let a player have access to 10 or more PPS / ISP per round for their abilities while in the Astral Plane with 50% extra duration and range?

You don't get 10 ISP you get 1D6+1

As for the extra PPE that would depend on how much magic you can cast while astrally projecting on the plane, I suppose.

One could argue though that what matters when casting spells is where one's mind is, not the body one's mind is linked to, even if the PPE the mind draws on to cast spells remains behind in that body.

I think I would argue that could only work if there were no time dilation otherwise you are trying to draw a weeks worth of PPE/ISP in one minutes time in the material world

What do you think?

I think if your body is pulling in 10 PPE per melee round in the real world, that's only 10 extra PPE per WEEK in the astral plane, so it's not going to make a huge difference.

One might also argue that one needs to be inhabiting one's body to draw PPE from a ley line one's body is sitting on.

The body is generally dormant and unable to do many things it can normally do via active intent.
When the mind is projected, drawing PPE seems like it ought to be one of those things.

As a statement of my own beliefs, I believe that a magic user or psychic who performs astral projection with their body within the area of influence of a ley line or nexus will have their duration increased 50% and 100% respectively.

As best I can understand what would matter is your location at the time of activating a spell or a power. Like if a mage who casts a spell on themself at a ley line moves off the line you don't lose the extra duration, but in contrast if you cast before approaching a line it won't boost you.

What that would mean for example is if you're not already on a line w/ your body, you can't just mach-1 to the nearest line for a boost.

Similarly, there is an argument to be made that one's astral (coexistence with the material world based projection) would go 50% faster or Mach 1.5 (or 1151 miles per hour / 1852 kilometer per hour).

It sounds like a cool idea, maybe not concretely RAW but fits in the general spirit of 'effect' (speed instead of damage). I wouldn't oppose.

I am still debating if it is over powered to give a character the option to draw PPE or ISP while their body is near a ley line.
Their silver cord acting as a power cable.
If so they would in a fashion have a limitless supply of power for their psionic or spells.
However this cannot affect the material world only "other" astral travelers while they too coexist. Feels like they really just have unlimited ISP for the use of telepathy, empathy, seeing auras, presence sense, sense evil, magic, time and speed reading.
All of which would make them great for spying or looking for a missing/hiding person but incapable of affecting people and things in the material world except to tell them things telepathically.

I often forget about that part on RUE pg 366, yes 2-7 ISP per round to spend on powers is pretty nice (though you can't save it)

While if an astral projecting character or NPC were to travel to a ley line they would not get any duration boost or ISP supply. Not being effected by energy attacks or spells cast from the material world side it only seems fair that they cannot draw upon a ley lines energies and benefits.

Ultimately what's going to limit you is the maximum duration of Astral Projection itself (even boosted) on how much recon you're going to be able to manage.

Even if could fly at mach speeds, that's not going to speed up one's realistic difficulties in doing things like searching an empty house, for example. Yes there might be useful papers lying out in the open, but even though you can read them quickly ... can you actually NOTICE where the page is?

Plus there's other stuff to think about like - you can't read a closed book (telekinesis is off limits)

On the matter of astral projection into the astral plane while ones body is near a ley line I haven't decided. I would give them great duration (as per the ley line and nexus point boosts). Beyond that I'm not sure. Is it to Over Powered to let a player have access to 10 or more PPS / ISP per round for their abilities while in the Astral Plane with 50% extra duration and range?

You don't get 10 ISP you get 1D6+1

As for the extra PPE that would depend on how much magic you can cast while astrally projecting on the plane, I suppose.

One could argue though that what matters when casting spells is where one's mind is, not the body one's mind is linked to, even if the PPE the mind draws on to cast spells remains behind in that body.

I think I would argue that could only work if there were no time dilation otherwise you are trying to draw a weeks worth of PPE/ISP in one minutes time in the material world

What do you think?

I think if your body is pulling in 10 PPE per melee round in the real world, that's only 10 extra PPE per WEEK in the astral plane, so it's not going to make a huge difference.

One might also argue that one needs to be inhabiting one's body to draw PPE from a ley line one's body is sitting on.

The body is generally dormant and unable to do many things it can normally do via active intent.
When the mind is projected, drawing PPE seems like it ought to be one of those things.

Hello Candy,

Thank you for your reply. I think your last statement is the most insightful. The idea that one might have to inhabit ones own body to draw PPE or ISP into ones body makes a good point.

If I read your writing correctly you agree with a character getting 50% increase in duration and range when astrally projecting under the influence of a ley line.

First reading the books, I could find a reason why a magic user or psychic would not live on or at least near a ley line for the benefits. I eventually found some material in Beyond the Supernatural 1st edition that states some headaches and insanities that follow from over stimulation to psychics (and perhaps magic users) unless you are a ley line walker/rifter, nega psychic or ordinary person.

I assumed stone pyramids cut off the "supply" of benefits, ISP, and PPE unless you are on or in a pyramid. Which would make living in Tolkeen no headache.

Would you share your insight about underground ley lines?

I am running a game where an Earth Warlock, Ley Line wizard and a Stone Mage are excavating the land to build a stone pyramid undergroud. If they finish, it will be out of sight. Ending ley line storms and random rifts but cuting everyone off from the PPE supply.
I don't know if it is accurate but I believe ley line storms (underground) would cause localized earthquakes and upheavals but no one knew why. Then a ley line walker felt the presense of a ley line nexus. In their digging they found pockets created when random rifts occurred and earth went out. Occationally people and things came in and got buried underground. So their are "surprises" waiting to be discovered.
I just wanted to get it right (in the Rifts dimension).

Very Respectfully,

[darthauthor]

Yeah. You are a fountain of good ideas.

Beyond the Supernatural ley line 1st edition rule was that spending more than 10 hours a day in the influence of a ley line or nexus cause things like headaches and insomnia. This led to penalities in initiative and skills. Also a percent chance of developing phobias and obsessions.
The penalities disappeared when you left the area of influence and slept for a day.

This all came up when I was trying to think like a CS general or intelligence speciallist. I wanted to imagine what intelligent humans would do if they knew about ley lines. They can't destory them or turn them "off."
From the CS point of view, their only direct benefit to humans are to those with psychic powers.
The are the source of the rifts, which, according to CS propoganda and philosophy brings chaos and creatures from heyond who are a threat to humanity (The CS is xenophobic)

So I asked myself what I would do about them.

I thought, "Why not bury them?"
I imagined if a rift opened up anyone traveling through it would run smack into rock and earth killing them or blocking their entry into Rifts Earth. The rest of the time the CS would set up a kill box around it to knock off any DBees, Magic Users, and supernatural creatures that came out of it or to it.
The only problem with this "containment" operations are ley line storms.

One of my adventure ideas is to have the Vanguard scretly build stone temples to stop ley line storms and random rifts from happening.

Any insights about how this would or would NOT work?

Very Respectfully

[hup7]

I thought, "Why not bury them?" ... Any insights about how this would or would NOT work?

Well, it might not be easy to do so.

"Ley lines represent a natural resource rooted to a narrow strip of land (a small one being a half mile to about one mile/0.8 to 1.6 km wide and 2 - 10 miles/3 .2 to 16 km long) and run in a straight line." ... "they do not physically cut through the land like a river of water, but radiate up from it and flow over it. Ley lines, in and of themselves, are not intrusive, flowing across and over the regional terrain like a transparent mist or the air itself."

They are huge, burying them might be difficult or even impossible (the text hints that they go over terrain, whether or not this is only natural terrain is up to the GM). Now there is no mention (that I could see) on how high they are but images indicate they are sort of tubular, which makes sense. But burying something between ½ to 2 miles high? That is not an easy feat. Only to then have the line move up over the terrain, or simply disappear and reappear a mile to the left. And are you thinking making a wall? Burying the entire mile high, 100 mile long line? If it is just a wall would it even block the travel along the line?

One of my adventure ideas is to have the Vanguard secretly build stone temples to stop ley line storms and random rifts from happening.

Personally, I don't understand the existence of the Vanguard. IF people know they exist - they are exposed; the hypocrisy of the CS is exposed, and either the CS denounce them and hunt them down - or the entire foundation holding the CS together falls apart and the CS collapses. The only way the vanguard can exist is to do nothing that exposes their existence. Building a huge pyramid? Pretty sure most of the CS military would missile it without even checking with their uppers. So the question is WHO knows the Vanguard exist? There are NO secrets in a world with mind reading magic and psionics. vOv

Just my thoughts.

[darthauthor]

Thanks for the reply,

They are all just our thoughts. Except for fact reference from the source books.

I was thinking something like a wall to overlap a ley line.

I was unaware that ley lines could and did move. I thought they were permanent and never moved. Would they rise up if someone build a wall or mound of earth overlaping them?

Also, that the effects of the ley lines boosting psychic and magical powers were felt one mile away. So all a wall would do is hide the ley line from sight, not from those who could feel it. Although random or accidental rifts would leave no place for travelers to go escept to walk into a wall or earth and stone. One of the few advantages (from the CS point of view) would be that ley line walkers could not enter the ley line.

What do you think?