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An Astral Academy

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 8:52 pm
by Mack
Had a fun thought while perusing the Astral Projection ability.

Since one week in the Astral Plane only takes one minute in the physical world, someone could set up an Academy to teach certain skills and use the Astral Plane to accelerate pace of learning.

Suppose Bob wants to teach Fred a skill, like Literacy. Instead of spending a lot of time in the physical world working on it, they both hop over to the Astral Plane instead. Now for 5 minutes of "out of body" time in the physical world, they can accomplish 5 weeks of instruction. (Yes, 5 weeks is a lot, too much really. But they could easily knockout several hours of instruction in just a few seconds of physical time.)

And thanks to the wonders of Techno-Wizardry, they don't need to have the psionic ability. One (or even both) could use a simple TW Helm of Astral Projection since there's an identical invocation.
Spoiler:
TW Helm of Astral Projection - Works the same as the spell, at an effectiveness of level 5.
- Spell Chain: Astral Projection
- Gems: 5 carats of Citrine, plus 0.26 carats of Diamond for PPE storage
- Construction: 52.6 hours (6.6 workdays) and 105.3 PPE
- Activation: 5.3 PPE
- Payload: 1 activation's worth of PPE is stored in the Diamond, allowing non-psychics / non-mages to use the helm.
- Duration: 25 Minutes
- Build Cost: 29,211 credits


The downside, of course, is that the Astral Plane can be a dangerous place. For this to work on a recurring basis, or to set up an actually Academy, one would need a powerful benefactor in the Astral Plane to protect the endeavor.

Nonetheless, it's a nifty concept to toy with.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:32 pm
by Marcethus
I think your spell chain is missing its power source spell. IIRC all TW items use a spell such as Energy bolt for powering the spell chain. Or some such other vague reason.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:34 pm
by Marcethus
As to the Astral Academy idea. its a very interesting idea to toy with if GM's allow characters to learn skills between levels or at a level where their class doesn't normally give them one.
Also its an interesting way to describe teaching a character a skill when they gain one at level too.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:31 pm
by drewkitty ~..~
Yep that is the time differential for the outer plane.

It there was an established academy , it would be set up in an Astral Realm that had the time flow of the outer plane. (ARs are detailed within the Between the Shadows book.)

Another good effect that could be added to the Realm would be for the people within the Realm do not age when talking about those that Astral Transference.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:43 am
by Marcethus
IIRC You don't age at all while in the astral plane unless the realm specifically states that time flows as if it were Earth.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:57 am
by drewkitty ~..~
Marcethus wrote:IIRC You don't age at all while in the astral plane unless the realm specifically states that time flows as if it were Earth.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Yep that is the time differential for the outer plane.

It there was an established academy , it would be set up in an Astral Realm that had the time flow of the outer plane. (ARs are detailed within the Between the Shadows book.)

Another good effect that could be added to the Realm would be for the people within the Realm do not age when talking about those that Astral Transference.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:37 pm
by Marcethus
Quoting yourself doesn't answer the question. I just skimmed though Between the Shadows and it doesn't have a feature that can be purchased that specifically stops aging.

Now I know that it says specifically that the Astral Lord and Mage do not age while in the Astral plane. But I am not sure if that is specific to them and their link to the Plane or if it is a general creatures do not age while in the plane thing. Because I haven't found any mention going one way or the other as of yet in skimming the book.

There might be such a feature in Rifter 9 the one that has a bunch of additional stuff for the Astral Plane. But I haven't gotten that one out yet.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:10 pm
by drewkitty ~..~
You ignored half the sentence you were responding to with your response comment.
It would also go well with realms with "Physical World Portals".

Under physical laws #7 "Other". Which specifically references that things players thing up that couldn't be listed in the table.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:55 pm
by Marcethus
I wasn't ignoring anything. Adding the ability not to age while in the realm may not be needed if one does not age while in the Astral Plane physically.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 10:54 am
by drewkitty ~..~
Could you tell me where the 'doesn't age' text is found?

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:33 pm
by Marcethus
As I said in my earlier post it is specifically found under both the Astral Lord and the Astral Mage. What I am not sure of is if that is a specific to them or a general feature of the Astral Inner and Outer Planes.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:12 pm
by drewkitty ~..~
Found what you were talking about in the Astral Lord Flavor text. Which is probably why I didn't remember it. Because it is but a single line and not within the stats, and does not seam to be repeated elsewhere. My apologies.

Re: An Astral Academy

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 4:43 pm
by Axelmania
I always figured this was why the wizards in HU/TMNT all had astral projection to begin with. If I were wanting to risk teaching a pupil it might be safer to do so without having to meet them in person. Surprised they didn't get it as a starting spell for Sorcerers in Nightbane.

It could also be a timesaver to teach someone in the dreamstream too. A master could know the 'dream senses' spell and teach students while the student slept.