Ionic

A world inside a field strong enough to strip its own upper atmosphere and hold the result in place. It is a body of rock in a shell of charged gas: sheet lightning passes between the clouds and the ground at irregular intervals, aurora appears at every latitude, and the surface holds a static charge that a suit has to discharge or withstand. Few Ionic worlds have been surveyed, because unshielded equipment fails quickly on them.

Planetary environment

Crossing it

Navigate: DC 18
Forage: DC 20
Notice: DC 15

Instruments read the storm instead of the ground. Navigation is by eye where there is light to do it.

Exposure

Magnetic Disturbance

A world's or star's magnetic field in upheaval, so that instruments give false readings and comms fail.
- Instruments
  
  Navigation and comms fail beyond Long range. Any check made with electronic assistance has disadvantage.
- Powered gear
  
  Powered weapons and cybernetics stutter: a natural 1 on an attack or a check using them means the item is unusable until the end of the next turn.
- Induced current
  
  Long conductors take on induced current. Unshielded power and data runs fail, and a creature in contact with one takes 2d6 lightning damage.
- Channeling
  
  On a world with an active Rift tether, a natural 1 on a spell attack roll, or a target's natural 20 on a saving throw against a spell, rolls on the Surge Table.
Extreme Weather

Wind, whiteout or downpour heavy enough to take away visibility and then footing.

CON save, DC 13. End of each hour in the open. One level of exhaustion.
- Obscured
  
  The whole encounter is heavily obscured. Ranged attacks beyond 30 feet automatically miss and Perception by sight fails past that range.
- Wind
  
  A Medium or smaller creature in the open makes a DC 13 Strength save at the start of its turn or is moved 1d4 x 5 feet downwind.
- No travel
  
  A day spent traveling in it covers a quarter of the usual distance and still costs the hourly save.
- Shelter
  
  A built shelter, a vehicle or a sealed suit removes the save. A Wisdom (Survival) check at DC 12 finds or improvises one where the terrain allows.
- Grounded
  
  Nothing flies. A vessel caught airborne takes 4d6 bludgeoning damage per hour and its pilot makes a DC 15 check each hour to hold a heading.

In play

Charged air

Magnetic Storm applies across the whole world. Instruments, communication and anything powered work at a DC 15 Technology check each hour, and a failure leaves them dark for an hour.
Strike

Once per hour in the open, a creature carrying more than 20 pounds of metal makes a DC 14 Dexterity save or takes 4d8 lightning damage. Grounded armor and a discharge line remove the save.
Ion tide

The field rises and falls on a cycle of hours. At its peak all lightning damage on the world is doubled and no unshielded vessel flies.

Regions on it

Aurora The rings where a world's magnetic field funnels the star's wind into the upper air.
Cloud Deck The banded weather of a Zephyr, with no surface beneath it and winds running opposite ways a mile apart.
Jet Stream A narrow band of air moving two hundred knots in one direction at the top of the weather.
Storm Front Organized violent weather on the move, with high wind, whiteout and a visible advancing wall.
Upper Atmosphere The stratosphere and mesosphere, above the weather and below space, with no breathable air and little lift.