Complex, Environment, Planar, Rift

Stealth +21 (expert) to notice subtle planar signatures in sensor data, ritual readings, and Metronome behavior; DC 31 to detect early from long-range scans or specialized Chronologist/Occult analysis.

Description
A region where a Rift realm’s reality—heaven, hell, fey court, infernal bureaucracy, etc.—has pushed outward into the Maelstrom and begun intruding toward Real-space. Currents near the front are tinted with the realm’s Devotion; landscape ghosts, sigils, and echoing hymns/screams flicker in the storm. On the Real-space side, sky, weather, and even social behavior start to conform to the realm’s themes.

Disable
You can’t “turn off” a bleed front with a single roll, but you can blunt its immediate hazard:

Occultism or Religion DC 30 to perform a large-scale warding rite keyed to the opposing Devotion/alignment, granting a +2 circumstance bonus to saves and checks against this hazard for the current crossing or scene.

Crafting or Piloting DC 30 to calibrate shields and course to skim tangentially across the weakest part of the front, reducing the severity of its pull by one step (see Pull effect).

Critical failures on these attempts might strengthen the local front (GM’s discretion), upgrading one effect that round.

AC —; Fort —; Ref —
Hardness —; HP —; Immunities object immunities, mental; Resistances all damage 20 (vast planar phenomenon)

Trigger
A ship, station, or group of creatures moves into or near the active region of the bleed front in the Rift, or remains in its influence while it advances.

Initiative Stealth +21

Routine (3 actions)

On its turn, the Planar Bleed Front exerts its influence in three ways: gravitational pull toward the realm, environmental “rule rewriting,” and ideological pressure.

◈ Planar Pull

The realm attempts to drag ships and creatures closer to its heart.

The Pilot attempts a Piloting check vs DC 30.

On a success, the vessel holds position relative to the front.

On a critical success, the ship slips along its edge; for this round, ignore any increase in pull severity.

On a failure, the ship is dragged 1 step inward along an abstracted track toward full translation (e.g., from “Edge” to “Shallow Bleed,” then “Deep Bleed,” then “Threshold”).

On a critical failure, move 2 steps inward.

You can track location in 3–4 abstract zones: Edge → Shallow → Deep → Threshold. Crossing into Threshold triggers a separate “translation” event (see below).

Creatures in EVA/small craft must succeed at a Reflex save vs DC 30 or be dragged 1 step closer along the same track.

◈ Reality Skew (Environmental Effects)

The front asserts realm-specific environmental rules in the region. Choose or roll one effect appropriate to the plane (holy, unholy, fey, infernal, etc.):

Consecrated Air: Creatures opposed to the realm’s devotion take 3d6 devotion damage (color type based on realm) on a failed Will save vs DC 28 (half on success, none on crit success). Aligned creatures instead gain a +1 status bonus to Will saves until the hazard’s next turn.

Warped Physics: Gravity, inertia, or elemental properties shift to mirror the realm’s nature (e.g., floating islands, burning rain, perpetual twilight). All creatures must succeed at a Reflex or Fortitude save vs DC 28 or become off-guard and take a –10-foot status penalty to Speeds until the hazard’s next turn.

Manifest Terrain: Ghostly structures—spiral staircases, spiked bulwarks, bone forests—phase in. Movement through affected zones is difficult terrain, and anyone in them must succeed at a Reflex save vs DC 28 or take 3d6 slashing or bludgeoning damage from manifested terrain.

Effects persist until the front’s next turn; choose new ones each round to keep things dynamic.

◈ Ideological Resonance

The realm pushes its Devotion/alignment into nearby minds.

All sapient creatures in the region must attempt a Will save vs DC 28.

Critical Success: You steel your identity; you’re immune to this Ideological Resonance for 1 minute.

Success: You feel an intrusive tug—guilt, zeal, temptation, or alien wonder. You take a –1 status penalty to checks directly opposing the realm’s themes (e.g., resisting its deities, refusing tempting bargains) until the next turn.

Failure: You gain a minor, temporary compulsion or bias aligned with the realm (GM-defined) for 1 hour; once per encounter during this time, the GM can require a DC 11 flat check to act against that compulsion.

Critical Failure: As Failure, but the bias is stronger and you also become stupefied 1 (overwritten mental load) for 1 hour.

Player-facing, this is a roleplay pressure tool rather than hard mind control; it provides hooks for bargains, corruption, or crisis-of-faith scenes.

Threshold Translation (On Reaching Threshold Zone)

If the ship or party is dragged all the way to Threshold, the front attempts to fully translate them into the associated realm or into a heavily assimilated Real-space area.

The party collectively attempts one last Piloting check vs DC 30:

Success: Partial translation—treat as arriving in a heavily tainted region just short of full planar transfer; local environment and NPCs are nearly realm-native, but escape is still feasible.

Failure: Full translation—scene transitions to the realm proper or a fully bled world; hazard ends and the adventure pivots into planar exploration/survival.

Critical Failure: The translation is rough; everyone suffers an additional 4d8 mental damage and some equipment or NPCs are left behind or scrambled (GM hook).

Reset

The front is an ongoing strategic feature. Locally, its intensity fluctuates; if the PCs retreat and return later, treat it as reset in terms of zone position and round-by-round effects, but its macro advance toward a target world or gate continues according to campaign needs.

Name[◈ ◇ ⮌](traits)Frequency how often it can be used; Trigger when a reaction or free action can be used; Requirements some actions require specific circumstances, listed here; Effect this section explains how the ability changes the world.