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Curious about folks' game play experience with this. In my experience, this usually gets fudged to: "I start the day/adventure with full ISP/PPE," rather than calculating out ISP/PPE recovery per hour of rest/meditation.

I'm asking, in part, because, if applied literally, the ISP/PPE recovery rules would seem to be the great equalizer for psychics and magic-types.

Your average psychic or magic OCC starts with a little over a 100 ISP/PPE. With master psychics recovering 12 ISP/hour of sleep, and magic types recovering 15 PPE/hour of meditation (which they seem to be able to do in lieu of sleep) then psychics really only have access to 96 ISP/day (assuming they're able to get 8 hours of sleep) and magic types are down to 120 PPE/day, regardless of level or ability.

Which is basically equal to the ISP/PPE of a completely middle of the road 1st level character.

Sure, your totally maxed out, rediculously lucky, 15th level Ley Line Walker has a PPE base of almost 500. But, on a day to day basis, he can't deliver anymore than a middle of the road beginner.

I think this has interesting implications for world building: mediocre and begginer psychics and wizards have every incentive to burn through their energy base everyday, since they know they'll recover it.

Advanced psychics/wizards will tend to use their abilities at about the same frequency as beginners (essentially, using the part of their reserve they know they’ll recover each day) because they know if they burn through their base, it will take two or three days of non-use to recover their base.

The one clear exception is the Chi-Gung monk (China II), who recovers 28,800 ISP/day, even when active (at 1st level), meaning they're incentivized to use their powers absolutely all the time, and would probably be regarded as some kind of wild-man by other psychics.

What I want to know is if a caster were to encounter a ley line or a nexus, can he use it to rapidly recharge himself at 20PPE a turn?

As to your question, I think I agree that a higher level mage should be able to recharge at a proportionally faster rate.
I also don't personally think that meditation is a substitute for sleeping. Our casters have to sleep just like the rest of the team.

EliBenedict wrote:Curious about folks' game play experience with this. In my experience, this usually gets fudged to: "I start the day/adventure with full ISP/PPE," rather than calculating out ISP/PPE recovery per hour of rest/meditation.

I'm asking, in part, because, if applied literally, the ISP/PPE recovery rules would seem to be the great equalizer for psychics and magic-types.

Your average psychic or magic OCC starts with a little over a 100 ISP/PPE. With master psychics recovering 12 ISP/hour of sleep, and magic types recovering 15 PPE/hour of meditation (which they seem to be able to do in lieu of sleep) then psychics really only have access to 96 ISP/day (assuming they're able to get 8 hours of sleep) and magic types are down to 120 PPE/day, regardless of level or ability.

Which is basically equal to the ISP/PPE of a completely middle of the road 1st level character.

Sure, your totally maxed out, rediculously lucky, 15th level Ley Line Walker has a PPE base of almost 500. But, on a day to day basis, he can't deliver anymore than a middle of the road beginner.

I think this has interesting implications for world building: mediocre and begginer psychics and wizards have every incentive to burn through their energy base everyday, since they know they'll recover it.

Advanced psychics/wizards will tend to use their abilities at about the same frequency as beginners (essentially, using the part of their reserve they know they’ll recover each day) because they know if they burn through their base, it will take two or three days of non-use to recover their base.

The one clear exception is the Chi-Gung monk (China II), who recovers 28,800 ISP/day, even when active (at 1st level), meaning they're incentivized to use their powers absolutely all the time, and would probably be regarded as some kind of wild-man by other psychics.

Every game I've ever played used them. It was never a question.

Remember though, that Ley Lines are the great equalizer. You can draw something like 10 PPE per melee round from them, so even a 5 minute breather within 1 mile of a ley line will net you 200 P.P.E. of recovery.

Always used recharge rates as stated in RAW.

Re using LL to recharge... depends on the gameplay. Sometimes allowed it with meditation, sometimes not. General idea for saying no is that it forces the mage to see their internal PPE as a source of last resort. Encourages them to gather and use PPE from LL and syphoned from other people first before using their own. This extra PPE can total a lot as Nekira points out.

EDIT: Acknowledging that RMB has recharge rates without meditation. These were not included in RUE or BoM from what I can tell. This doesn't necessarily mean they don't still apply, but it is unclear. At 10-20 PPE/30 mins, it is not exactly a game changer in the heat of combat, but could play a factor wrt actions taken over time.

Agree with AceTW - would rule that meditation can rest the body like sleep, but it doesn't rest the mind. Sleep does more than turn the mind off, it allows the mind to process info gathered throughout the day. Reflective meditation can also do that, but not IMO with the sheer processing power of the brain during sleep and REM. If it ever came up, I'd apply penalties for depending on meditation alone for an extended time. However, this scenario hasn't come up.

Only when I want to make a point otherwise we usually assume between game sessions they recover. I'd also use it if they needed to gain power back during a session.

There is also the fact that the next time they use PPE/ISP might not be the next day. Often time Sessions/Adventures can be days or weeks apart.

I'm not sure why there's a general consensus to not allow meditation to cover rest/sleep as well. It's all over RUE (and other books) that it says it does.

RUE 101 - "meditation and is equal to two hours of sleep for the Fusionist when it comes to recovery from fatigue and physical rest."
RUE 116 - "meditation and is equal to one hour of sleep for this character when it comes to recovery from fatigue and physical rest"
RUE 119 - "meditation and is equal to two hours of sleep when it comes to recovery from fatigue and physical rest"
RUE 124 - "Meditation restores P.P.E. at 10 per hour of meditation and is equal to one hour of sleep for this character when it comes to recovery from fatigue and physical rest."
RUE 128 - "Meditation restores P.P.E. at 8 per hour of meditation and is equal to one hour of sleep for this character when it comes to recovery from fatigue and physical rest"

For psychics it generally specifies "12 per hour of meditation or sleep.". So if you're psychic but not magic, sleep. If you're both, meditate.

I can't speak for others, but my lived experience is that they are just not the same thing, game mechanics be darned. I'll take sleep over meditation any day.

Maybe in the mystic chaos that is Rifts a person can Om chant their way to full restfulness, but I just can't see how and that's my bias.

Meditation is pretty darn different as of Manhunters, comprising both a revised skill and power. It's pretty idiosyncratic, such that there are a couple of situations where it's better if a character can't meditate.

I'm not a big fan of ley line energies being able to recharge an individual's personal PPE. They can be stored up for a ritual to be performed on the line, but otherwise PPE is treated similarly to ISP pulled from a line: only available during that round. I've considered changing the rule such that ISP can be recharged on a line, because psionics will take whatever help it gets.