Earthdawn 4E: Anatomy of a Thread Item 56 - Astrally Filtered Spectral Lenses

This is the fifty-sixth 4E Anatomy of a Thread Item, an ongoing series about Earthdawn Fourth Edition. Introduction and Index.

Everything contained here is the work of a fan and not associated with FASA Games.

A thread item written for an online game I offered to help with thread items. This was written with in conjunction with a player creating the enchanting pattern. The goal was something with a spell matrix and reduced the effects of astral corruption on Astral Sight. The latter provided the inspiration for how these work and what things they do.


Astrally Filtered Spectral Lenses

Maximum Threads: 2
Mystic Defense: 14

Legend Point Cost: Warden

This bizarre contraption is only something a dwarf or a Wizard could possibly think was a good idea. A collection of various lenses is set in front of each eye and part of a brass mechanism is attached to a leather strap to firmly attach the whole affair to the victim’s head. Without a thread attached, the best that can be said is it is much sturdier than it appears.

With a thread attached, it is another story. When worn while using Astral Sight, the lenses automatically move in and out of place, adjusting distance, rotating, flipping, moving forward and back, all assisting the wearer’s astral perception. Astrally sensed entities and objects have a ghostly green outline.

Thread Rank One
Key Knowledge: The owner must learn the lenses’ Name.
Effect: The lenses contain a Standard Matrix with rank equal to the Thread Rank.

Thread Rank Two
Effect: The wearer gains +1 rank to Astral Sight.

Thread Rank Three
Key Knowledge: The owner must learn who created the lenses.
Effect: The wearer gains +1 to Mystic Armor.

Thread Rank Four
Effect: The owner gains +2 ranks to Astral Sight.

Thread Rank Five
Key Knowledge: The owner must learn the nature of the glyph on the lenses.
Effect: The wearer gains the Astrally Filtered Spectral Lenses ability. As a Simple action for 2 Strain, the lenses glow ghostly green and side shields fold out to prevent unfiltered astral energy reaching the wearer’s eyes. As they slide in and out and focus, they begin filtering out the background noise from astral corruption, improving the wearer’s detection limit. The wearer reduces the Difficulty Modifier to astral sensing from corruption by one region type (e.g., Corrupt to Tainted) until the end of the next round.

Thread Rank Six
Effect: When the wearer uses Astrally Filtered Spectral Lenses, the lenses provide the wearer additional information regarding the patterns of those astrally sensed. Red lines highlight weaknesses and possible vectors to assist in constructing patterns to better affect them. As a Free action for 1 Strain, the wearer gains a +2 to a test against a target’s Mystic Defense; the wearer must have astrally sensed the target. If the test uses the spell stored in the goggles’ spell matrix, it does not cost Strain.

Thread Rank Seven
Key Knowledge: The owner must learn how many iterations it took to get the mechanism to change the lenses to work correctly.
Effect: The Standard Matrix is now an Enhanced Matrix.

Thread Rank Eight
Effect: When the wearer uses Astrally Filtered Spectral Lenses, the Difficulty Modifier to astral sensing from corruption is reduced by two region types (e.g., Corrupt to Safe) and the benefit to a test against a target’s Mystic Defense is +4.