A Discussion on Meditation

Apparently, an editorial by Brett Hegr
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Meditation is a skill known to all magicians and psychics, but in Beyond the Supernatural^tm (BtS) and in Nightbane^tm there is a psionic power of Meditation that all psychics are stated to have - and I must assume that magicians don't get it. Plus, magicians have a different recovery rate if I recall correctly (I don't have BtS). I think they recover half their P.P.E.^tm by sleeping four or five hours and all of it by sleeping eight or more.

In Rifts^tm, magicians recover 5 P.P.E.^tm per hour of rest or sleep and 10 P.P.E.^tm per hour of meditation (with one hour of meditation roughly equal to an hour of sleep) and a Ley Line Walker of Rifts® would have, on the average, 80 P.P.E.^tm (2d4x10+20 plus the P.E. attribute). Cool. Spells are capable of being cast and it is possible to recover in a reasonable amount of time.

The Mind Melter in Rifts^tm gets 3d6x10 plus the M.E. attribute for base I.S.P.^tm and recover 12 I.S.P.^tm per hour of meditation (which is equal to two hours of sleep) and only regain 2 I.S.P.^tm per hour of rest/ sleep. The average psychic can only recover 6 I.S.P.^tm per hour of meditation (which is equal to two hours of sleep) and only regain 2 I.S.P.^tm per hour of rest/ sleep. I'm led to assume there are some rules that were implied, but not stated in the book.

What's more, Meditation is listed as an actual skill in Mystic China^tm. As it is part of the Temple Philosophies and Skills category, I am unsure how to categorize it for non- Mystic China^tm characters who might wish to have it as a starting skill. It says that Chi, P.P.E.^tm, and I.S.P.^tm are recovered at an accelerated rate - how will this work with Ninjas and Superspies^tm, where Chi recovery is listed as half the base Chi per five hours of uninterrupted sleep and all the Chi is recovered? And what is the accelerated rate? And shouldn't Chi be more like the P.P.E.^tm and I.S.P.^tm recovery? What would it then be, since the average Chi level of a neophyte in it's discipline would be around 25 Chi? The Meditation skill description is also confusing when it states 'rolls based on meditation shoud use only the number provided by the character's Mental Endurance (M.E.) attribute.' Assuming this means we roll a 1d20, what do we do if the M.E. is above 20?

To consider all these things, this is what I come up with as a fair solution to a matter of equality and 'universally applicable rules:'

Meditation:
Duration: One hour at first level, plus +15 minutes per each additional level of experience. At sixth level, the meditation time changes to three hours of meditation plus a half hour per each additional level of experience. Add one half hour to the base time (one hour at 1st level and three hours at 6th level) for every two M.E. points beyond 20 (a 22 gets you 30 minutes, 24 gets you an extra hour, etc.)

For multiple hours of meditation, one skill roll is required per attempt. This can be attempted once per half hour. If successful, the character manages to meditate to the full duration. Failure means that another try must be made in another half hour.

Requires: M.E. of 8

Note One: This skill can be considered automatic to all magic, psychic, and martial arts character classes.

Note Two: Characters not of the above classes can acquire this skill at the cost of one other skill or for two secondary skills - consider Meditation a Technical skill that any character can select. If selected in this manner, add a +1 to save vs psionic attack and a +1 to save vs possession. Anyone who gets it automatically should not get these bonuses.

Note Three: I know it may be strange to complicate something as simple as meditation, but it should be considered a learned skill just like Prowl or Pick Locks. Don't roll for it unless it becomes critical. Besides, it would make for a cool (and scary for PC's) adventure if meditation became increasingly more difficult to achieve. Failure after failure after failure . . . what could be the trouble?

In this skill description I list all the recovery rates for when a person is active/ resting/ sleeping/ meditating to make things easier. The duration comes into play with the skill roll (described below). If the skill roll fails, the character wastes an hour of time (only has normal recovery) but can easily try again. Success means the character meditates to full duration - and to be fair within the constraints of the skill, GMs should allow partial recovery of energy in fractions of an hour. So for 15 minutes, you would have to take 25% of the values given for recovery of point totals during meditation.

Skill Rolls: Skill rolls on Meditation are done by rolling a 1d20. Rolls that tie or are less than the M.E. attribute are considered successes. If a character has an M.E. higher than 20, then a roll of a natural 20 becomes the only chance of failure. Subtract a -1 from the skill roll at levels two, six, and twelve (yes, a -1, so that the chance of success is higher).

P.P.E.^tm Recovery: Active - 2 per hour, resting/ sleeping - 5 per hour, and meditating - 10 per hour. Some races and classes of magicians might have a higher meditation rate as a natural ability or unique skill.

I.S.P.^tm Recovery: Active - 2 per hour, resting/ sleeping - 5 per hour, meditation: minor psychic - 7 per hour, meditation: major psychic - 10 per hour, meditation: master psychic - 12 per hour. Some psychics might have a faster recovery rate, but it is rare.

Chi Recovery: Active - 1 per hour, resting/ sleeping - 2 per hour, meditation: non- martial artist character - 3 per hour, meditation: character with standard HTH skills (like Expert or Martial Arts) - 4 per hour, meditation: martial artist with primary or secondary art forms - 5 per hour, meditation: martial artist with exclusive art form, Antiquarians, all Martial Arts O.C.C.s, all oriental spirits and demons, and all oriental magic/ psychic/ Chi based O.C.C.s - 6 per hour.

Fatigue Recovery: Each hour of fatigue (constant physical exertion whether hiking a mountain, walking, or fighting) causes a -2 to the Spd. attribute, -2 to initiative, -1 to parry and dodge, and -2 damage on all hand to hand attacks. One hour of sleep cancels out one hour of fatigue. One hour of meditation cancels out two hours of fatigue.

Sleep: One hour of meditation is equivalent to one hour of sleep for the purposes of rest, but all human beings and probably most denziens of the Megaverse^tm require at least an hour of solid REM sleep per 24 hour period. Experienced meditating characters (5th level and higher) can combine sleep in short bursts with extended meditation - allowing them to meditate for a few hours and get necessary minimum sleep, further reducing the time they are in a recovery phase.