D&D 5E Leylines?

[Zardnaar]

Just wondering how the forums would rule this. We are running a Midgard game that uses leylines.

Soellcasters can tap into these leylines via feats and the geomancer wizard archetype. You have to be within 30' if a leyline or 1 mile with the feat.

The guidelines seem to indicate leylines are everywhere except farmlands and urban areas. Major and Titanic ones are specific though.

Fantasy not Egypt the Nuria (Not Nile) is a Titanic leyline so even in the cities and farms along it's bank you will have access to it with the 1 mile feat. The feats do other stuff as well but that's the rough idea of the leylines.

Tapping them isn't automatic but on a good roll you could hit up to 6 targets with a single target spell. Mess it up and backlash DC10 (plus spell level fail by 4 or more backlash). You get to add your spell caster modifier to the roll.

So out in the wilderness just wondering what people's opinions are. The leylines would be weak except for fey crossroads, dragon lairs, dolman areas etc.

 

[dave2008]

I don’t know about the mechanics, but I definitely like the idea of ley lines. I like the idea you need them to cast certain spells or level of spell

 

[Randy_Robertson]

1) Why none in farm lands? I can see why not in urban areas, but none in rural?

2) Do you include for the possibility for "dead lines" or inactive lines in "hibernation"?

 

[Celebrim]

I have leylines on my world, but they only come in the important kind. The nearest one could be 60 or 100 miles away. I haven't however fully mapped them out and mostly use them as a plot device. Certain kinds of magic in my game are severely limited. For example, teleport has a maximum range of 1 mile. If you want to teleport further, you have to go to a leyline and teleport along it, usually to the next intersection. Centuries or even millennia before, these intersections were marked by prior civilizations with rings of standing stones that along with astronomical purposes, marked the leylines and indicated where they connected to. So if you find 'Stone Henge' in my game, you can be fairly certain that there are leylines there and if you need to fast travel, this is essentially a rail terminal where you bring your own train.

Along time ago, it was popular to build cities at leyline intersections, but while this was convenient it also meant that it was particularly hard to stop unwanted spellcasters and other magical beings from popping into the middle of your city, so that practice fell out of favor. Typically cities are now built relatively far from the nearest ley line hubs, and the average person doesn't even know what they are for aside from the fact magical creatures congregate their for dubious and magical reasons.

What you seem to be talking about as 'leylines' though I call 'nodes', and they aren't lines and pop up anywhere in my game that doesn't change in the sense of having a basic nature and not departing from it. So I can see why urban areas would mess up most of them, because people are always moving within them and changing them - although they do tend to show up in say catacombs or graveyards or temples and I can imagine something civic or urban having enough tradition around it to create a node. Most of the places that I put nodes are places that are in some sense serene, tranquil, unspoiled, and whatever change occurs there is in stasis and balance - such as the heart of a fetid swamp where death is balanced with life, teaming fertility with rot and decay. As such, I wouldn't think to put one actually in a dragon's den or in a fey hold, though both are the sort of beings that would know where one was and might make use if it.

 

[Beleriphon]

So out in the wilderness just wondering what people's opinions are. The leylines would be weak except for fey crossroads, dragon lairs, dolman areas etc.

To use a human body analogy: major and titanic leylines are the major blood vessels of the body, while minor ones are more like capillaries. There are areas where capillaries don't extend (say hair and fingernails, or tooth enamel) but you can otherwise always find one.

If that is the case I'd just rule you can always use leyline magic of at least the most minor variety, unless something stipulates otherwise.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

1) Why none in farm lands? I can see why not in urban areas, but none in rural?

2) Do you include for the possibility for "dead lines" or inactive lines in "hibernation"?

Even farmland is not "natural". A lot of the mythology surrounding leylines is British, and in England most of the native forest was destroyed in order to make way for agriculture and livestock.

 

[Zardnaar]

1) Why none in farm lands? I can see why not in urban areas, but none in rural?

2) Do you include for the possibility for "dead lines" or inactive lines in "hibernation"?

1. The land can't be worked.

Big difference between farms and nature IRL.

2.Nope.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don’t know about the mechanics, but I definitely like the idea of ley lines. I like the idea you need them to cast certain spells or level of spell

Spells work normally but leylines enhance them.

Minor can power level 1-3, sting 4-6, Titanic 7-9.

You roll a d10 for the effect if tapped.

 

[Zardnaar]

To use a human body analogy: major and titanic leylines are the major blood vessels of the body, while minor ones are more like capillaries. There are areas where capillaries don't extend (say hair and fingernails, or tooth enamel) but you can otherwise always find one.

If that is the case I'd just rule you can always use leyline magic of at least the most minor variety, unless something stipulates otherwise.

The leylines are seen as that of Veles iirc the creator of Midgard.

 

[Quartz]

You could work off how the Flows of Essence work in Kulthea / Shadow World or how the moons affect magic in Dragonlance.

And I'd definitely have powerful ley-lines in the wilderness. An archmage seeking privacy might build her tower at the intersection of several.