Custom Advanced Metamagic, Yay Dune Options

[Mr. Smileys]

After the discussion of my custom qualities/martial arts (Prana Bindu & The Wierding Way) I started thinking about other things from the Dune universe I could port into SR.

The Advanced Metamagic ability I came up with is based on the spacing guilds ability to bend space and allow faster then light travel. I know this could potentially be a very powerful ability and so I want your opinion on if its cost/benefits are balanced?


Bending:
Prerequisite metamagic: don't know yet could use your input.
Restrictions: Magicians only
Description: By temporarily expending a portion of your magic you may bend the fabric of space through the metaplanes and join two points in space via a gateway thus allowing travel over large distances quickly. To establish the link to the ending location you must have made an assensing test on the destination within 1 minute of making the bend (while astrally perceiving or projecting) scoring at least 4 hits on the test and know the exact (within 1 meter) distance from your location to the destination.

The distance you can travel and the number of people who can use your gateway is based on the amount/number of magic points you expend when creating the bend (see range table below). The expenditure of this magic temporarily reduces your magic attribute by the amount spent. To regain these point you must make an extended willpower test with an interval of 8 hours, each hit on this test restores 1 point magic until you reach your normal/current magic. A glitch on this test means no matter how many hits you got you only regain 1 point of magic. A critical glitch (no hits & more then half Dice pool are 1s) means that that period of time was wasted and you must wait an additional 8 hours before rolling again (the gm can add other effects to a critical glitch as the situation fits).

Example: a magi with 6 points of magic spends 4 points to teleport himself 1 km thus reducing his magic attribute to 2, with his willpower of 5 rolling 2 hits he spends 8 hours of meditation and rest and regains 2 points of magic raising his magic up to 4, he then makes another roll scoring 3 hits and spending another 8 hours of meditation and rest thus raising his magic back up to his full 6 (the extra hit on the second test provides no additional benefit).

Range Tables
Magic____Distance Traveled
Spent____Alone
1_______1-40 m
2_______41-100 m
3_______101-400 m
4_______401 m-1 km
5_______1.1 km - 4 km
6_______4.1 km - 10 km
7_______10.1 km - 40 km
8_______40.1 km - 100 km
9_______101.1 km - 400 km

Magic_____Distance Traveled
Spent_____with 1-3 others
1________0
2________1-40 m
3________41-100 m
4________101-400 m
5________401 m-1 km
6________1.1 km - 4 km
7________4.1 km - 10 km
8________10.1 km - 40 km
9________40.1 km - 100 km

Magic_____Distance traveled
Spent_____with 4-6 others
1________0
2________0
3________1-40 m
4________41-100 m
5________101-400 m
6________401 m-1 km
7________1.1 km - 4 km
8________4.1 km - 10 km
9________10.1 km - 40 km

[TheOOB]

No, just no. Teleportation is just something that is not supposed to exist in shadowrun in any form, it's too powerful, too abusable, and goes completely against SR cannon.

[Halflife]

Per Street Magic p. 159:

Sorcery Cannot Alter the Fabric of the Space/
Time Continuum.
Spells cannot directly change distance or the
passage of time. Teleportation and time travel
are the holy grails of magical R&D departments
the world over, but no one has been able to un-
ravel the knotty problem of affecting space or
time with magic. Spells can speed up or slow
down processes, such as healing or chemical re-
actions, and allow subjects to move quickly, but
they cannot directly alter time or space.

So please no teleporting

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Yeah... NO.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Mr. Smileys]

Per Street Magic p. 159:

Sorcery Cannot Alter the Fabric of the Space/
Time Continuum.
Spells cannot directly change distance or the
passage of time. Teleportation and time travel
are the holy grails of magical R&D departments
the world over, but no one has been able to un-
ravel the knotty problem of affecting space or
time with magic. Spells can speed up or slow
down processes, such as healing or chemical re-
actions, and allow subjects to move quickly, but
they cannot directly alter time or space.

So please no teleporting

Thanks for pointing that out. this makes me a bit sad but ill live. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Per Street Magic p. 159:

Sorcery Cannot Alter the Fabric of the Space/
Time Continuum.
Spells cannot directly change distance or the
passage of time. Teleportation and time travel
are the holy grails of magical R&D departments
the world over, but no one has been able to un-
ravel the knotty problem of affecting space or
time with magic. Spells can speed up or slow
down processes, such as healing or chemical re-
actions, and allow subjects to move quickly, but
they cannot directly alter time or space.

So please no teleporting

However, to be fair, it is not Sorcery that is allowing this, as far as I can tell from the writeup, it is a Metamagical Technique. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
But yes, No Teleporting...

[Halflife]

However, to be fair, it is not Sorcery that is allowing this, as far as I can tell from the writeup, it is a Metamagical Technique. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

-.-


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Dez384]

Don't spirits do something similar by taking a shortcut through the metaplanes?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Don't spirits do something similar by taking a shortcut through the metaplanes?

Sort of... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Tanegar]

Spirits, being creatures of magic themselves, are capable of many feats that metahuman sorcerers cannot directly duplicate. What you're proposing might be within reach for a great dragon - to the best of my knowledge there is no hard data on what draconic magic is and isn't capable of - but certainly not for any lesser being.

[Halflife]

I think its mostly that they can exist entirely on either plane, Humans and even dragons to my knowledge can't completely divest their forms from the material plane.

[Halflife]

(oops doubles)

[Rasumichin]

Given that spirits have the metaplanar shortcut available, i could see an advanced metamagic that allows an astrally projecting mage the same.
With his astral body alone, though.
He would have to get Materialization somehow to physically transfer, and getting access to Materialization has been clearly ruled out by the errata for the Imbuing power.
So this would still work out differently than described in the OP.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I think its mostly that they can exist entirely on either plane, Humans and even dragons to my knowledge can't completely divest their forms from the material plane.

Ghostwalker would like to debate that theory with you...

[Makki]

want to teleport? play a Free Spirit PC. Done

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

want to teleport? play a Free Spirit PC. Done

Indeed.... Easy Peasy... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Faraday]

Don't spirits do something similar by taking a shortcut through the metaplanes?

That's like using a Xen relay...

[Halflife]

Ghostwalker would like to debate that theory with you...

The book did say that he picked up his body after appearing on the astral plane (always susceptible to the unreliable narrator problem I guess). I think it is more likely that they have a way of maintaining astral projection much longer than mages, rather than the ability to convert their bodies entirely into Mana and pass through the metaplanes in a way that would allow teleportation.

[Fyndhal]

On the other hand...if you wanted to do Spelljammer with the SR rules, the idea could be adjusted to do that.

[Muspellsheimr]

Astral Shift
Prerequisite: Dual Perception
> Astral Shift allows an initiate's entire being - physical, mental, and spiritual - to enter astral space for brief periods.
> Shifting to astral space requires a Complex Action, and the causes (10 - Initiate Grade)S Drain. Returning to physical space takes a Complex Action.
> While astrally shifted, an initiate uses all the normal rules for astral projection (p.192, SR4A) except they can only maintain the shift for up to Magic minutes. If, after this time, the initiate has not returned to physical space, they will die and their astral form dissipates.


Dual Perception
> Initiates with Dual Perception are capable of perceiving both the astral & physical planes simultaneously. While using Astral Perception, they may continue to use physical perception normally (including augmented reality, but not virtual reality), and do not take the normal -2 penalty to physical actions.
> This metamagic can only be taken by characters capable of astral perception.

Note that teleportation is specifically forbidden to Sorcery (spellcasting, ritual spellcasting, & counterspelling), not magic. Regardless of this, true teleportation should still be avoided at all costs.

What I have above does not result in instantaneous travel (merely very fast; sub orbitals & semi ballistics are still faster, but generally only used for intercontinental travel). It also does not result in movement from one location to another without traversing the intervening distance - it uses an unusual method of covering the distance (compare land vs air travel). Characters using it are also still subject to any astral barriers, most notably wards. And finally, this form of magic has cannon precedence. I would strongly suggest not making it a "public" metamagic; either you acquire a teacher (very few outside of great dragons, immortals, & high force free spirits are likely to know it), or the character decides to research the metamagic on their own, which would take a good deal of time & resources (I think there are rules for it in Street Magic, but cannot remember for certain).

Also of importance, all of my playtesting of Astral Shift was using a hard maximum of Initiate Grade 5; While most characters of that strength will shrug off 5 Drain, it will still frequently cause some damage.

[Kesendeja]

I think it's rather balanced for what it does, and remember in game terms magic is advancing in what it can do. This would be cutting edge research that could inspire a dozen runs on the very premise alone.

Personally, I would make it a normal drain test to regain magic.

[jizo]

one of the ways I removed a GMPC from player control was to have them cumulate some of their research that allowed them to physically move themselves to the astral realm, the only downside is they then had no way back until they could find a portal or other similar method

[Achsin]

From what I understood of Dune's spacefolding, it is actually a mechanically created effect. The Guild Navigators just do the Navigating, so as to avoid folding the ship into/through a sun or black hole, using their prescient abilities. The same concept is applied in a different manner to create shields.

That aside, If I were to introduce this metamagic I would apply similar side-effects to this type of travel. You cannot bend your way through solid objects, so no using it to teleport your way into a building. You can however navigate around the objects, so anything that you would be able to travel around normally would not impede you. I'd have there be some kind of Magic and Intuition based test to determine how successful you were in reaching your intended destination, something like the scatter rules. On a critical glitch I'd say that you accidentally plotted your course wrong, and smashed into/through something/someone, probably killing you or damaging/destroying the object (unless you resort to edge to downgrade it).

my .02¥

[Fringe]

As for prerequisite metamagics, I'd recommend Divining to reflect prescience and Psychometry and/or Sensing to reflect the degree to which the magician might have to know the astral signatures at the destination. You might further require Cleansing and/or Filtering for bends in which either the origin or destination lie within a background count. If you want to restrict the power to higher-grade initiates (as it might be when first discovered), require all of the above. If you want it to be more accessible, require fewer prerequisite metamagics.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

The book did say that he picked up his body after appearing on the astral plane (always susceptible to the unreliable narrator problem I guess). I think it is more likely that they have a way of maintaining astral projection much longer than mages, rather than the ability to convert their bodies entirely into Mana and pass through the metaplanes in a way that would allow teleportation.

Thousands of years is a hell of a Technique... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Manunancy]

What I have above does not result in instantaneous travel (merely very fast; sub orbitals & semi ballistics are still faster, but generally only used for intercontinental travel). It also does not result in movement from one location to another without traversing the intervening distance - it uses an unusual method of covering the distance (compare land vs air travel). Characters using it are also still subject to any astral barriers, most notably wards. And finally, this form of magic has cannon precedence. I would strongly suggest not making it a "public" metamagic; either you acquire a teacher (very few outside of great dragons, immortals, & high force free spirits are likely to know it), or the character decides to research the metamagic on their own, which would take a good deal of time & resources (I think there are rules for it in Street Magic, but cannot remember for certain).

Also of importance, all of my playtesting of Astral Shift was using a hard maximum of Initiate Grade 5; While most characters of that strength will shrug off 5 Drain, it will still frequently cause some damage.

Another limiting factor is that you're taking your body along for the travel and that's it (well, bonded foci will probably follow through, especially if they're active since an active focus take it's astral form along the mage's in astral projection). While this isn't much of a concern for a great dragon, a metahuman may need to exercise some discretion. And maybe do a terminator-style run for clothes...

[Hagga]

If you must have teleportation.. turn the Bone Circle nethermancer spell into a metamagical technique. It's quite well done.

[Elfenlied]

Isn't there at least one character in the SR canon that can actually teleport? I vaguely remember Harlequin being able to do it.

[hermit]

Given that spirits have the metaplanar shortcut available, i could see an advanced metamagic that allows an astrally projecting mage the same.
With his astral body alone, though.
He would have to get Materialization somehow to physically transfer, and getting access to Materialization has been clearly ruled out by the errata for the Imbuing power.
So this would still work out differently than described in the OP.

What sense would this make? It's cutting what, a few seconds of travel time?

Isn't there at least one character in the SR canon that can actually teleport? I vaguely remember Harlequin being able to do it.

He can take metaplanar shortcuts, because, like all immortal elves, he is part dragon.

[Mr. Smileys]

Thanks for all the input. I agree with all of you that teleportation is a very powerful ability and should be allowed only under specific circumstances. This is why i gave it such a high cost (temporarily loosing a portion of your magical ability can hurt almost any magi) and made it so you have to have assensed the destination and scored well on that test, thus you would not be able to get into places that are protected by magical wards.

I have not decided yet if I will bring this ability into my campaign or not. But as a couple of you pointed out I could use this ability as a plot device for several sessions.

As for prerequisite metamagics, I'd recommend Divining to reflect prescience and Psychometry and/or Sensing to reflect the degree to which the magician might have to know the astral signatures at the destination. You might further require Cleansing and/or Filtering for bends in which either the origin or destination lie within a background count. If you want to restrict the power to higher-grade initiates (as it might be when first discovered), require all of the above. If you want it to be more accessible, require fewer prerequisite metamagics.

I agree that this should require multiple metamagic (and maybe advanced metamagic) techniques in order to be able to learn this.

[KarmaInferno]

The biggest problem with teleportation isn't the lore.

It represents the ability to bypass most obstacles. Much of the game is built around runners having to figure out how to defeat or negotiate obstacles. With teleportation, some runs might be reduced to the runners delivering a package before the initial meeting with the Johnson is even over.



-k

[Manunancy]

Though if you factor in the need to assense the target location first, it's less of a problem - though unless the place is warded, a quick astral recon might do the trick. It's also a great 'get out of a sticky spot card', though one that will leave the rest of the party to die (free sprirts PCs have the same problem).

Which can cause some grumbling from the other players if the magician keep getting away and developing his character when they need to make new ones. Especially if hte mage gets cocky from his ability to escape at a snap of the fingers and is the one gettigng the party in the pot.

[jakephillips]

Given that spirits have the metaplanar shortcut available, i could see an advanced metamagic that allows an astrally projecting mage the same.
With his astral body alone, though.
He would have to get Materialization somehow to physically transfer, and getting access to Materialization has been clearly ruled out by the errata for the Imbuing power.
So this would still work out differently than described in the OP.

I agree a Mage could use this techinique to teleport anywhere in the astral plane of the earth. I know people in astral are fast 6k an hour but even at those speeds it would take an hour and a half to cross the US and about the same to reach the UK. Some kind of metamagic that let you travel much faster or circumvent wards or barriers like earth could be useful and not against cannon.