Alternative Spirit Meta-trait

[Biscuri]

I have a scenario where the "spirit realm" is a dimension, parallel to the physical dimension, something like the Umbra on World of Darkness.

Spirits in my scenario can materialize (coming forth to the physical dimension) and stay there for unlimited time, as long as it is at least a low-mana zone, as they depend on mana to survive like a human needs air.

That being said, the offical spirit meta-trait does not satisfy these conditions, because Insubstantiality and Invisibility imply a very limited time stay because of continuous FP consumption and also does not represent very well the different dimensions, so I'm searching for alternative ways of building a spirit race template.

I need an effect similar to the Planar Shift magic: you spend some FP one time and change from one dimension to another, until a similar effect is used to change again. But of course I can't say that all spirits have magery and know at least 10 magics from different schools just for the ability of planar shifting. It should require an effort, but that should be an innate power in the shape of an advantage, not a learned magic in the shape of a skill.

Anyone have ideas about how to do this? Or where to start?

[AlexanderHowl]

A Spirit template that would reflect lasting manifestations would have the following:

Spirit [190]

Doesn't Breathe [20]
Doesn't Eat or Drink [10]
Doesn't Sleep [20]
Immunity (Metabolic Hazards) [30]
Jumper (Spiritual; Limited Access, Home Plane, -20%; Naked, -30%; Reliable, +10, +50%; Special Portal, -20%) [80]
Vibration Sense (Sense of Perception, +100%; World-Spanning, +100%) [30]

In effect, the spirit transitions between the Material Plane and their Home Plane whenever they need to and have senses that cross the barrier between the worlds. They may also have other advantages and disadvantages, depending on their nature.

[Refplace]

An easy adjustment is use alternative limitations and add requires mana.
Also dependency on mana is typical for magical beings.
Note that in GURPS magic, spirit, and divine are separate power modifiers but of course any setting can have its own variations.

[Biscuri]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Vibration Sense (Sense of Perception, +100%; World-Spanning, +100%) [30]

Thanks, the Jumper part is exactly what I needed to the dimension transition, but I didn't understand these modifiers, what they do?

Also, is there a way to limit the need for food, air or sleep only to the spirit dimension?

Originally Posted by Refplace

An easy adjustment is use alternative limitations and add requires mana.
Also dependency on mana is typical for magical beings.
Note that in GURPS magic, spirit, and divine are separate power modifiers but of course any setting can have its own variations.

I had thought of mana dependency, but requires mana is news to me, and I totally skipped that Racial Magic section, interesting.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Biscuri

Thanks, the Jumper part is exactly what I needed to the dimension transition, but I didn't understand these modifiers, what they do?

Also, is there a way to limit the need for food, air or sleep only to the spirit dimension?
.

Sense of Perception is in Powers, p. 86 and basically makes Vibration Sense work without depending on Air or Water vibrations.
Limit the Doesn't Need advantages with Accessibility, only in Umbra or Spirit Plane. The value depends on how common that is vs. being on earth.

Not sure on why he added World Spanning to Jumper. might have meant Plane Spanning (Powers, p. 57) but the enhancement named is also in Powers, p. 109. Basically it allows reaching paralell worlds in adition to spirit worlds or the regular world. For most settings its overkill.

[AlexanderHowl]

? It is on Vibration Sense, and it is meant to represent the ability of spirits to 'peek' across the barrier between the worlds.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Biscuri

Spirits in my scenario can materialize (coming forth to the physical dimension) and stay there for unlimited time, as long as it is at least a low-mana zone, as they depend on mana to survive like a human needs air.

That being said, the offical spirit meta-trait does not satisfy these conditions, because Insubstantiality and Invisibility imply a very limited time stay because of continuous FP consumption and also does not represent very well the different dimensions, so I'm searching for alternative ways of building a spirit race template.

You could design "Either/Or Limitations" for "Usually On" (-40%) and Mana-Sensitive (-10%) which works out to being a -4% limitation: where you don't pay FP to materialize except in No Mana zones.

Another option would be either/or for "Always On" and "Mana-Sensitive": this would force you to remain insubstantial in No Mana zones while allowing you to freely adopt a physical form when there's at least Low Mana.

If you want mana to matter more (ie the -5 penalty in Low Mana or -10 penalty in Very Low Mana) you could add some kind of "requires (attribute) roll" but the problem would be inverting it, since I think that would normally work by preventing you from being insubstantial unless you pass the roll, rather than preventing you from materializing.

Originally Posted by Biscuri

I need an effect similar to the Planar Shift magic: you spend some FP one time and change from one dimension to another, until a similar effect is used to change again.

I think you could use Shapeshifting as a basis for this, where spirits just have the ability to spend FP to adopt an Alternate Form which has Insubstantiality.