10-02-2021, 09:10 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Re: Astral Projection
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I think I'm going to go for the astral plane being some kind of crazily disorienting environment, dazzling, flashing, the sound of crashing drums, cymbals, etc, with attacks and interference by astral beings a constant danger, so you keep quiet and stealthy to avoid combat. If a fellow Astral Traveller attacks you, then the resulting din risks attracting a lot of attention. I think Telepathy would work for communication, and I might allow some kind of IQ roll to communicate something in that mad clashy place. But I agree that allowing straightforward Astral Chats could be a step too far - even with IQ15 Wizards being relatively rare, every ducal court would surely have an open channel to every other in such a way. It's fascinating trying to work out the "game world" reality of Cidri like this, but sometimes the ambiguity is tricky! Cheers, Sarah |
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10-02-2021, 01:09 PM | #13 |
The Fantasy Trip Line Editor
Join Date: May 2021
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Re: Astral Projection
Yes, figuring out how things work in one's campaign can be very fun and interesting, and the differences between campaigns can be really interesting to discover and explore during play.
I posed the question to Steve, and we both feel the default "canon" situation would be that it would be possible to talk to other astral figures. Of course, you also need to have a way to agree on a time and place to meet someone at a distance. A GM could of course decide that in their campaign, there are difficulties such as you mention, either due to the nature of the astral plane where their campaign is, or the version of the spell known in your campaign, or whatever. But even without astral hearing, people could develop a sign language or figure out other ways to communicate. And dukes with court wizards can also arrange for other magical ways to communicate, such as Gates, Long-Distance Telepathy, etc. Whether and what they actually do of course is always up to the GM. (As a GM, I tend to want to add complications to Astral Projection, as you say.) |
10-05-2021, 01:06 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Re: Astral Projection
Thank you, Peter! That's extremely useful to have a "canon" decision about how Astral Projection works. Yes, GMs can definitely throw up problems to make AP communication non-trivial, but knowing how it works out of the box gives us a great baseline to work from. Thanks again! :) (y)
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02-07-2023, 03:14 PM | #15 | |||
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Astral Projection
Great thread. I was just about to ask about the following question in a new thread, but I came across this.
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Thus, I'm leaning more towards Kiedicuss's answer than to Skarg's. But I'd like to hear from others. (An official clarification would be most welcome.) I must confess that I was leaning towards Skarg's answer when I was considering NPC usage of Astral Projection, but once a player spoke up about gaining the spell, I somehow reconsidered. In a fairly panicky manner. |
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02-08-2023, 08:28 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Astral Projection
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3/ (After you arrive somewhere, you can see things, hear people and move about as if you were there, except you can move through all physical objects.) Yes and no. If there were a desk in a room you had visited physically, you could move through its hexes as though it wasnt' there. However, if there were a previously unexplored room beyond a closed door, you could not move through that door as though it wasn't there. Read on for more detail. My take on Assumption 4 (You could spend an hour exploring a house you had stood outside, or a city where you had once stood on the docks, and you would see what is actually there right now.) is both Yes and No. So long as there is no physical barrier to a previously unexplored area, I don't see why the astral traveller would not be able to move at normal speed to that area. Thus, the astral visitor could walk into a previously unexplored mausoleum that happens to be open, but not one whose door is closed. Similarly, one could walk from the neighborhood you lived in to a part of town you'd never been to, but you could not go inside any building which did not have an unobstructed opening. If you wanted to return to those newly explored areas on a second astral trip, you'd have to start at the beginning, since you had never been to them physically. Assumption 5 is not substantially different from no. 4, except that you can only fly if you have that ability or spell. 7/ (Would you allow the deck of a ship, or the arms of a lover to be 'places' you could astrally project to?) I agree with Kiedicus and Skarg that "place" is meant to signify a geographic location. |
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02-08-2023, 08:58 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Astral Projection
Interesting way to carve things, Shostak.
So, if you'd seen a cave mouth previously, though you'd never been inside, you could visit it again and enter the cave. Unless, say, someone had laid branches across the mouth of the cave to cover the entrance. Or perhaps a flimsy curtain? But it's a bit ad hoc, I think, to say that I could move through a desk (thereby occupying space that I hadn't seen, though there was matter blocking the space), but I can't move through a door into previously unseen space. Or could I not pause at the desk and move my astral head inside to have a look around? I can see how this gives the projector more mobility and options while still limiting scouting somewhat. I'm having trouble coming up with a good rationale for these restrictions though. Consider the following: I visit a house that I've never entered (nor seen the interior). The door stands open, but a magical Shadow is placed over the hex so I still can't see through the Shadow and into the house. Can I pass through the Shadow? If so, how is it different than passing through the closed door? |
02-08-2023, 10:06 PM | #18 | |||
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Astral Projection
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02-09-2023, 06:59 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Astral Projection
You're not wrong that Astral Projection needs some limits or else the scouting abilities are really stunning. If the party has time, there will be nary a surprise once a wizard has Astral Projection (except, of course, the surprise of nasty critters on the Astral Plane...).
And your suggestion does put some restrictions in place. I was thinking along the lines that one could move about as much as he wished so long as he limits himself to areas that he has been to or seen before. If you've seen the outside of the cave, you could go to the cave, perhaps enter a few feet in, since you've likely seen a part of the insides. You couldn't go further, even though you could see further. Now, that's weird too, but simpler I think than saying that physical barriers somehow prevent you from traveling to previously unobserved areas, but without such barriers, you can travel as far as your Astral feet can take you, into seen or unseen areas[1]. Here are our options, from most to least liberal: Once an Astral Projection has begun, the Astral figure may
Your option (2) is the most complicated, I think, but both (2) and (3) do have some oddities that are hard to explain. While I'm puzzled how physical objects affect movement into unseen areas and not into seen areas, I suppose the same puzzle applies to (3), more or less. What stops one from setting foot into a previously unseen area when there is no visible barrier, physical or otherwise? [1] After, of course, first appearing in a previously seen area. |
02-09-2023, 07:33 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Indiana
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Re: Astral Projection
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