Hey folks!
A question about the Astral Lord's astral powers.
If an Astral Lord uses the "Astral Travel" ability to bring others to the Astral plane, does that result in their bodies being comatose and them having a silver cord (and the Lord having the same)? The entry never says they do, but then it describes it as "Astral Projection" not "Astral Transference". My assumption is the Lord can do Transference on just himself, but if he ever wants a posse to come, they must all have cords and a still-physical and comatose body. Correct?
Regards,
RD
Astral Lords
Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones
Re: Astral Lords
I would be inclined to think that passengers had cords and left unconscious bodies behind, as you say, except for it saying:
This "transform" vocabulary kind of makes it sound like only the Lord is projecting with a cord and he is doing an Astral Transference on his passengers so they can piggyback on his cord (since he still spends ISP to keep them astral if they aren't in his domain or the real world)
Strangely... while using Astral Transference to coexist with the real world is clear enough (1 ISP per 5 minutes) I'm not sure if Astral Travel lets the cord-connected Astral Lord coexist with the real world or not...
I sort of think it does for free indefinitely if you pay the 2 ISP.. possibly even his friends since it says there isn't an ongoing ISP cost in the real world.
It doesn't even say the others you bring along need to consent to go, or give any kind of range.
For game balance I would require passengers have to touch the Lord to come along, and probably should get a save vs psi to resist coming along if they don't want to.
People brought into the Astral Plane are temporarily transformed into "astral forms,"
This "transform" vocabulary kind of makes it sound like only the Lord is projecting with a cord and he is doing an Astral Transference on his passengers so they can piggyback on his cord (since he still spends ISP to keep them astral if they aren't in his domain or the real world)
Strangely... while using Astral Transference to coexist with the real world is clear enough (1 ISP per 5 minutes) I'm not sure if Astral Travel lets the cord-connected Astral Lord coexist with the real world or not...
I sort of think it does for free indefinitely if you pay the 2 ISP.. possibly even his friends since it says there isn't an ongoing ISP cost in the real world.
It doesn't even say the others you bring along need to consent to go, or give any kind of range.
For game balance I would require passengers have to touch the Lord to come along, and probably should get a save vs psi to resist coming along if they don't want to.
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RainbowDevil
- Explorer
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Re: Astral Lords
Yeah, that sentence did make me wonder as well.
I do wonder about those other parts too. I think the intention was the Transference was meant just for the lord and the Projection power is just meant as a way to take others to the Astral Plane. Otherwise you'd basically have the power to make yourself, and possibly your companions, permanent ghosts. Or perhaps it lasts as long as the normal Astral Projection power would if you don't go to your home?
That also raises the question, can the Astral Lord use Transference on himself and then Projection on his team-mates, so that there is no cord involved? I'd probably say yes, but obviously you'd need to spend the extra points.
I agree entirely with your saving throw suggestion.
Regards,
RD
I do wonder about those other parts too. I think the intention was the Transference was meant just for the lord and the Projection power is just meant as a way to take others to the Astral Plane. Otherwise you'd basically have the power to make yourself, and possibly your companions, permanent ghosts. Or perhaps it lasts as long as the normal Astral Projection power would if you don't go to your home?
That also raises the question, can the Astral Lord use Transference on himself and then Projection on his team-mates, so that there is no cord involved? I'd probably say yes, but obviously you'd need to spend the extra points.
I agree entirely with your saving throw suggestion.
Regards,
RD
Re: Astral Lords
This is an Astral Mage issue too since they have the same two powers. They're interesting to use for an example since unlike the Lord they MUST spend their PPE to make a realm.
They will have a minimum of 33 PPE and spending at least 1/3 to build a realm means they need to spend at least 11.
Unless a GM lets you start off having co-created with someone else, I'd round that up to the minimum of 20 points to make a Tiny Domain, which would leave them with 13 PPE for casting spells.
They can immediately take passengers to their domain which prevents ongoing ISP cost, so it's only 2 ISP to do that.
"Same as the astral plane" laws are free, meaning anyone they bring and leave there won't need food to survive and will not age.
RAW there appears to be no savings throw but even if you allowed one (or even if you required cooperation) I would imagine that an astral lord or mage could (and many WOULD) bring a great number of people to an astral realm to make them unaging unstarvable creatures.
The risk to this, is that you need to prevent them from leaving the realm, because as soon as they do, they would start costing you ISP.
Ectoplasmic Barriers would be one way to prevent that, in this case using them to keep prisoners in instead of keeping invaders out.
I dont' think 'Hidden' would help in this respect. Restricted/Controlled/Forbidding are also worded in a way about preventing entrance, not exit, although Forbidden does mention a percentile penalty for using magic/psi portals to exit (nothing about preventing physically walking out)
People may try to leave via the ectoplasmic barriers (punching through them is feasible, for example, if you can inflict more than 10 damage per round. Someone doing 1D4 per punch with 4 attacks would eventually manage that via the extra damage from natural 20s. More than one, or a strong/fast person certainly could.
If they do, limiting them via Astral Restraints could work. You could do that as long as it takes ectoplasmic barrier to regenerate damage.
Buying ectoplasmic barriers multiple times is also a good idea.
They will have a minimum of 33 PPE and spending at least 1/3 to build a realm means they need to spend at least 11.
Unless a GM lets you start off having co-created with someone else, I'd round that up to the minimum of 20 points to make a Tiny Domain, which would leave them with 13 PPE for casting spells.
They can immediately take passengers to their domain which prevents ongoing ISP cost, so it's only 2 ISP to do that.
"Same as the astral plane" laws are free, meaning anyone they bring and leave there won't need food to survive and will not age.
RAW there appears to be no savings throw but even if you allowed one (or even if you required cooperation) I would imagine that an astral lord or mage could (and many WOULD) bring a great number of people to an astral realm to make them unaging unstarvable creatures.
The risk to this, is that you need to prevent them from leaving the realm, because as soon as they do, they would start costing you ISP.
Ectoplasmic Barriers would be one way to prevent that, in this case using them to keep prisoners in instead of keeping invaders out.
I dont' think 'Hidden' would help in this respect. Restricted/Controlled/Forbidding are also worded in a way about preventing entrance, not exit, although Forbidden does mention a percentile penalty for using magic/psi portals to exit (nothing about preventing physically walking out)
People may try to leave via the ectoplasmic barriers (punching through them is feasible, for example, if you can inflict more than 10 damage per round. Someone doing 1D4 per punch with 4 attacks would eventually manage that via the extra damage from natural 20s. More than one, or a strong/fast person certainly could.
If they do, limiting them via Astral Restraints could work. You could do that as long as it takes ectoplasmic barrier to regenerate damage.
Buying ectoplasmic barriers multiple times is also a good idea.