// Practitioners of Magic · ley-line caster

Linewalker

Inspired by Rifts Ultimate Edition, p. 109 INT-key

Related rules: Magic & Psionics

Overview

The Linewalker is Rifts' generalist mage — a wandering wizard whose magic is amplified, sustained, and shaped by proximity to the dimensional ley lines that crisscross the world. Where most Rifts mages have a single niche, the Linewalker has breadth: combat spells, utility, divination, dimensional sense, and a small set of signature ley-line-only abilities (phasing, line-walking, line-teleportation) that no other class can replicate.

They are itinerant by nature — most Linewalkers travel because that's where the lines are. On or near a line, they are extraordinary: spells reach farther, hit harder, and their signature tricks come alive. Away from the lines, they're a capable arcane caster like any other. The class's identity is positional: your power follows the geography of the world's hidden currents.

At a glance

Key ability	INT
Class DC	INT
Hit Points	6 + CON per level
Key skills	Arcana, Society, Survival + 2 chosen (Survival reflects the wanderer's life)
Perception	Trained at L1 → Expert at L9 → Master at L17
Saves	Fort Trained / Ref Trained / Will Expert at L1. Will Master at L11. Fort Expert at L15.
Weapons	Trained in simple weapons. Expert at L11.
Armor	Trained in unarmored.
Spellcasting	Arcane tradition, prepared, INT-based, full slot progression (1st–10th rank by L19).
Focus pool	INT-keyed. 1 point at L1 → 2 at L5 → 3 at L9. Refilled by Refocus, by Line Tap, and (L11+) by Nexus Communion.
Signature system	Magic & Psionics

Class features by level

L1start

Arcane Spellcasting. Prepared caster, Arcane tradition, INT-based, full slot progression per the standard Wizard table. You have a spellbook; prepare spells daily per Wizard rules.
Spellbook + Rifts Signature Spells. Your starting spellbook contains the Wizard's normal complement of cantrips and 1st-rank spells, plus the following Rifts signature spells added free:
- Armor of Ithan (1st-rank, magical force armor; +2 item bonus to AC for 1 minute, plus Hardness 3)
- Energy Bolt (1st-rank, force damage ranged spell, 2d6 + 1d6 per heightened rank, attack roll)
- Carpet of Adhesion (2nd-rank, area control, creatures in 10-ft burst Reflex save or Stuck for 1 minute)
- Magic Net (2nd-rank, 15-ft cone, Reflex save or Restrained for 1 round)
- Sense Magic (cantrip, detect magic with magical-aura discrimination)
As you gain spell slots of higher ranks, you can add additional Rifts canon spells to your spellbook through the normal Wizard learn-spell process.
Ley Line Sense (passive). You can sense ley lines and nexuses within 1 mile of you. Within 30 ft of an active ley line, you know its direction and intensity. Within 60 ft of a nexus, you know its location and the number of intersecting lines.
Ley Line Communion. While within 30 ft of an active ley line:
- +2 status bonus to spell attack rolls and to your spell DCs
- Spell ranges are doubled
- On a 10-minute Refocus performed while on a line, you also recover one spent spell slot of your lowest available rank (this stacks with normal Refocus focus point recovery)
Other casters in the same terrain get only the smaller +1 ambient bonus from the Magic & Psionics rules; only the Linewalker gets this version.
Focus Pool. You have a focus pool with 1 focus point at L1. Maximum increases to 2 at L5 and 3 at L9. Focus is spent on ley-line trick features (Ley Line Walking, Phasing, Transmission, Teleport, Rejuvenation) and on class-feat focus options. Focus DC uses your INT modifier. Focus is refilled by:
- Standard Refocus. 10-minute rest, restores 1 focus point.
- Line Tap (see below). Passive trigger on a ley line, restores 1 focus point.
- Nexus Communion (L11+). 10-minute focused activity at a nexus, restores all focus points.
Line Tap. Passive trigger. After you Cast a Spell while you are within 30 ft of an active ley line, if your focus pool is at 0, you immediately regain 1 focus point. No action cost, no frequency cap to track. Cantrips and slot spells both trigger the regen. The "pool at 0" gate is the only constraint — you must actually have spent your focus before the regen can fire.
- This produces the class's signature focus rhythm: spend a focus feature → cast a spell → regen → spend again. The pool's maximum still governs how many focus features you can stack in a single turn (you only ever regen back to 1, not to max). Off a ley line, Line Tap doesn't trigger.
Line Tap's trigger threshold and regen amount improve at L7 and L17.
Arcane Thesis. Choose one Wizard Arcane Thesis at L1. Spell Substitution fits the "improvise on a ley line" feel; Metamagical Experimentation fits the "experiment with new spell forms" wandering-mage feel.

Class feat. Skill feat.

Skill increase. General feat.
Ley Line Walking. Spend 1 focus point. While on an active ley line, you can travel along the line at 100 ft per round (overland) for up to 1 minute (3 miles). No movement actions are required during the walk — you are carried by the line's energy. You can leave the walk at any point along the line as a free action. Duration extends at L7 (5 minutes, 15 miles).

Class feat. Skill feat.

Ability boost. Skill increase.
Ley Line Phasing. Spend 1 focus point. Requires that you are on an active ley line. You become partially incorporeal until the end of your next turn — resistance 5 to physical damage and the ability to move through solid objects (Stride through walls, doors, etc.). This is the Linewalker's flagship survival tool. Phasing improves at L7 (resistance 10) and L17 (1 minute duration, resistance 15).
Focus Pool Maximum: 2.

Class feat. Skill feat.

Skill increase. General feat.
Ley Line Walking (Improved). Ley Line Walking duration extends to 5 minutes (covering up to 15 miles). Focus cost unchanged.
Ley Line Phasing (Improved). Resistance from Ley Line Phasing increases to 10. Focus cost unchanged.
Line Tap (Improved). Line Tap's trigger threshold raises. Line Tap now triggers when your focus pool is at 0 or 1 after Casting a Spell on a line (rather than only at 0). Regen amount is still 1 focus point. You can spend a focus feature, drop to 1 remaining, and still regen on your next spellcast.

Class feat. Skill feat.

Skill increase.
Master Perception.
Ley Line Transmission. Spend 1 focus point. While on an active ley line, you send a 25-word telepathic message to any creature you've met on the same continent. The target receives the message and can reply (single sentence) at any time within the next minute, regardless of their location.
Focus Pool Maximum: 3.

L10

Ability boost. Class feat. Skill feat.

L11

Skill increase. General feat.
Will Master.
Ley Line Teleport. 1-minute activity. Spend 2 focus points (more expensive than the in-combat tricks — this is a major effect). Requires that you are at a ley line nexus. You teleport to any other ley line nexus you have personally visited. The activation cannot be interrupted by routine combat; significant damage during activation forces a Concentration check. You can bring up to 4 willing creatures within 30 ft of you.
Nexus Communion. 10-minute focused activity. Requires that you are at a ley line nexus. Restores all focus points (vs. standard Refocus, which restores 1). Once per hour. This is the Linewalker's "long rest near power" — a nexus visit fully recharges them.

L12

Class feat. Skill feat.

L13

Skill increase.
Ley Line Storm Defense. During a ley line storm (rare GM event), you are immune to the storm's direct mental damage and gain a +2 status bonus to saves against weather and elemental effects. While the storm is active and you are within it, your spell attack and DC bonuses from Ley Line Communion increase to +3 (instead of +2).
Expert Spell Penetration / Expert Wizard. Standard Wizard progression.

L14

Class feat. Skill feat.

L15

Ability boost. Skill increase. General feat.
Fort Expert.
Ley Line Teleport (Greater). Range extended to other continents on the same world. The focus cost increases to 3 points when teleporting between continents; standard 2-point cost for same-continent teleports.

L16

Class feat. Skill feat.

L17

Skill increase.
Legendary Perception.
Greater Ley Line Phasing. Ley Line Phasing now lasts for 1 minute (instead of 1 round) and resistance increases to 15. Focus cost unchanged (1 focus point per use); no daily cap.
Line Tap (Master). Line Tap's regen amount raises to 2 focus points when triggered (still capped at your focus pool maximum). Trigger threshold remains ≤ 1. A drained pool can recover most or all of itself in a single spellcast, making fast recovery from heavy focus-feature use possible on a line.

L18

Class feat. Skill feat.

L19

Skill increase. General feat.
Ley Line Rejuvenation. 1-hour activity. Spend all current focus points (minimum 3 — you cannot trigger this with an empty pool). Requires that you are at a ley line nexus. At the end, you recover all spent spell slots and all focus points as if you had completed a full day's rest. You also recover any conditions of severity 1 (frightened 1, stupefied 1, etc.) that you currently suffer. This is a major end-of-day-equivalent reset that costs your entire focus pool.
Master Spell Casting. Standard Wizard progression.

L20capstone

Ability boost. Class feat. Skill feat.
Walk Between Worlds. 10-minute activity. Spend all 3 focus points (the entire pool — this is the most expensive feature in the class). Requires that you are at a ley line nexus. You travel to a different dimension or plane (GM-determined accessibility, requires that the destination has a corresponding nexus). The destination can be hostile or unfamiliar. You can bring up to 6 willing creatures with you. After using Walk Between Worlds, your focus pool cannot be refilled by any means for 24 hours — the cost is your full magical capacity for a day, traded for opening a path to another world.

Subclass / specialization

The standard PF2e Wizard Arcane Thesis is the subclass slot. Options as printed in the Wizard rules: Improved Familiar Attunement, Metamagical Experimentation, Spell Substitution, Spell Blending, Staff Nexus.

For Rifts flavor, two recommended paths:

Wanderer Linewalker — choose Spell Substitution as Arcane Thesis. Fits the "improvise on the road" feel.
Storm Linewalker — choose Metamagical Experimentation as Arcane Thesis. Fits the "channel ley-line energy into novel spell forms" feel.

Class feats

Class feats available at each feat level — you gain one at every even level, and can always pick a feat of your level or lower.

Level 1

Armor of Ithan Mastery. You know Armor of Ithan as an at-will 1st-rank spell that doesn't consume a slot — but you can only cast it on yourself, and you can have only one Armor of Ithan active at a time.
Ley Line Pulse. (trigger: when you cast a spell while on a ley line) Expend a 1st-rank spell slot to heighten the spell by 1 rank (functions like Heighten metamagic but free-action and slot-cost only).
Wanderer's Stride. +5 ft Speed during exploration mode.
Dimensional Sense. You gain a +2 status bonus to saves against teleportation, banishment, and forced planar travel, and you can sense active Rifts, portals, and dimensional anomalies within 1 mile (direction and rough intensity).

Level 2

Slot Channel. Requires that you are within 30 ft of an active ley line. Choose one of your unexpended spell slots and burn it without casting the spell. Gain a number of focus points equal to the burned slot's rank, capped at your focus pool maximum. This is the Linewalker's deliberate slot-to-focus conversion mechanic — distinct from Line Tap (which is passive on spellcast). Strategy:
- At L1 (pool max 1): burning any slot gives 1 focus. Always sacrifice a 1st-rank slot — higher ranks are wasted overflow.
- At L5 (pool max 2): a 1st-rank slot gives 1 focus, a 2nd-rank or higher gives 2 focus (capped). Use 2nd-rank or higher only when you need a full refill.
- At L9+ (pool max 3): a 3rd-rank slot gives a full pool refill from any starting point. Lower-rank slots give partial refill matched to their rank.
- In all cases this is a real cost. A 3rd-rank slot you burn is a Fireball you don't cast. Use Slot Channel when focus matters more than the slot.
Ley Reservoir. While you are within 30 ft of an active ley line, your focus pool maximum increases by 1. Off a line, your pool returns to normal (you lose the temporary point if it would exceed the lowered maximum). The line itself deepens your well.
Reactive Shield. Trigger: you are hit by an attack. Expend a 1st-rank or higher spell slot to cast Armor of Ithan on yourself, gaining its AC bonus and Hardness against the triggering attack and for the spell's normal duration.

Level 4

Energy Bolt Mastery. Energy Bolt gains the Penetrating 2 trait. At L13, increases to Penetrating 5.
Ley Line Conduit. (trigger: when you Cast a Spell while on a ley line) Spend 1 focus point. The spell's range extends to encompass any creature you can perceive along the line, regardless of distance, for that spell only.
Spellbook Wandering. Your spellbook is enchanted; you can study from it during combat with a 1-action Read activity (instead of needing safety to study).

Level 6

Empowered Energy Bolt. Your damaging signature spells (such as Energy Bolt) deal 1 additional die of damage; while you are within 30 ft of an active ley line, they deal 2 additional dice instead.
Ley Line Step. Spend 1 focus point. Teleport up to 30 ft to a point you can see that lies on or adjacent to an active ley line.
Counterspell Conduit. You gain the Counterspell reaction. While you are within 30 ft of an active ley line, you can Counterspell using any prepared spell of equal or higher rank, not only an identical spell.

Level 8

Ley Line Awareness. Ley Line Sense range extended to 10 miles; you also know the rough distance and bearing to the nearest active nexus.
Carpet of Adhesion Cascade. When you cast Carpet of Adhesion, you can choose to create a second 5-ft burst within 30 ft of the first, sharing the same effect (single spell slot).
Ley Line Resilience. While on a ley line, you gain Resistance 5 to physical and energy damage from sources other than your own spells.

Level 10

Greater Communion. Your Ley Line Communion bonus to spell attack rolls and spell DCs increases to +3, and its range-doubling also applies to your focus abilities' ranges.
Ley Line Anchor. While you are on an active ley line, allies within 30 ft of you gain the ambient ley-line caster bonus (+1), and you may carry willing allies within 30 ft with you when you use Ley Line Walking.
Dimensional Recall. 1-minute activity. Spend 1 focus point. Teleport yourself (and up to one willing adjacent creature) up to 1 mile to an active ley line or nexus you can sense; you do not need to start at a nexus.

Level 12

Ley Line Beacon. 1-minute activity to place. Spend 1 focus point. Requires that you are at a ley line nexus. Leave a beacon at that nexus. Later, as a separate 1-minute activity (no focus cost to recall), you can teleport back to the beacon's location from anywhere on the same continent. Beacon lasts 30 days or until replaced.
Greater Phasing. Your Ley Line Phasing now also grants temporary immunity to mind-affecting effects during the duration. No additional focus cost.
Storm Caller. 1-minute activity. Spend 2 focus points; requires that you are on an active ley line. For 1 minute, a 30-ft emanation around you counts as an active ley line for you and your allies — granting the ambient ley-line bonuses and letting you activate your ley-line tricks even after you move off the natural line.

Level 14

Twin Spell Conduit. Once per round, when you Cast a 2-action spell while on a ley line, you may spend 1 focus point to also deliver a cantrip you know at the same target or area as part of that activity.
Phase Strike. While you are under the effect of Ley Line Phasing, your spells ignore the targets' cover, and you can target creatures and points on the far side of any wall or object you could phase through.
Ley Line Ward. Spend 1 focus point. You and allies within 15 ft gain resistance equal to half your level to one energy type you choose (acid, cold, electricity, fire, force, or sonic) until the start of your next turn.

Level 16

Walk in the Lines. When you activate Ley Line Phasing while on a ley line, the duration is sustained continuously for the rest of the encounter (cap 10 minutes) instead of the standard 1 round / 1 minute. Focus cost unchanged (1 focus point per activation).
Master Conduit. (trigger: when you Cast a Spell at maximum rank while on a ley line) Spend 2 focus points. The spell does not expend its slot. Once per minute.
Living Conduit. While on a ley line, your Line Tap functions as one tier higher than your level grants (treat its trigger threshold and regen amount as the next improvement up), and you can perform Nexus Communion anywhere along a ley line, not only at a nexus.

Level 18

Greater Ley Line Teleport. Your Ley Line Teleport no longer requires a nexus — you can teleport between any two ley-line points you have personally visited — and its focus cost is reduced by 1 (minimum 1).
Spell Bastion. When you Cast a spell of 5th rank or higher, you gain temporary Hit Points equal to twice the spell's rank (until your next turn) and a +1 status bonus to your next saving throw before then.
Unbound Caster. Your focus pool maximum increases by 1.

Level 20

Master of the Lines. You no longer need to be on or near a ley line to use your ley-line tricks (Walking, Phasing, Transmission, Teleport, Rejuvenation) or to benefit from Line Tap — you carry the connection within you. (Effects that specifically require a nexus still need one unless another feat removes that requirement.)
Worldwalker. Your Walk Between Worlds capstone costs 2 focus points instead of 3, its post-use lockout drops from 24 hours to 1 hour, and you can bring up to 12 willing creatures.
Avatar of the Ley. 1-minute activity. Spend your entire focus pool. For 1 minute you are continuously phased (incorporeal; resistance 20 to physical damage), your spells gain Penetrating 10, and your Ley Line Communion bonus applies regardless of terrain. Afterward, your focus pool can't be refilled for 10 minutes.

Playing off the lines

The Linewalker's "gear" is spell slots, focus points, and ley-line proximity. Three things can throttle you:

Off a ley line. The ley-line-specific features (Communion bonuses, Walking, Phasing, Transmission, Teleport, Rejuvenation, Beacon, the capstone) cannot be activated — they all require ley-line proximity or nexus contact. Line Tap is unavailable, so focus refill is limited to standard Refocus (10 min, 1 point per cycle). You still function as a standard arcane prepared caster with a small focus pool. On a line you can chain Phasing, Walking, and signature spells via the Line Tap refund cycle; off a line you're a small-focus-pool prepared caster with no in-combat regen. This contrast is the heart of the class.
Focus depleted. With a small pool (1–3) and many focus-cost features, you can run out quickly. Standard Refocus restores 1 per 10 minutes. On a line, Line Tap refunds. At a nexus, Nexus Communion (L11+) restores all 3 in 10 minutes. Empty focus means no Walking, no Phasing, no Transmission, no Teleport until refill.
Spell slots drained. Like any wizard, an empty slot list reduces you to cantrips and focus options. Refocus on a ley line also recovers a spell slot per Ley Line Communion.

There's no single signature item to lose — your signature is terrain. A GM running an indoor-urban-mystery campaign should expect to provide periodic ley-line access (or accept that the Linewalker plays at reduced power between lines).