All house rules for Mages.
If your Mage 2e book tells you to get 6 dots of Rotes at chargen, you have an old version of the manual. Please find a current version of the manual where it says to just get 3 Rotes. Additionally, your starting Rotes must use your suggested Rote Skills.
Rote Name (Arcana+number)
Primary: Potency/Duration
Withstand: If applicable
Potency: after factor
Duration: after factors
Scale: if it's different than default
Casting Time: Immediate/Ritual (how long)
Free Reaches: Total number of them
Mana: if spent
Paradox: if provoked, contained/released
Gnosis+Arcana+Yantra+Willpower-Factors
+1 reach = add reaches for stuff like Immediate Casting
Brief description of the rote/what you want to achieve
i.e.
Ghost Invisibility (Death 2)
Primary: Potency
Withstand: Resolve
Potency: 4
Duration: 1 scene
Casting Time: Immediate
Free Reaches: 2
2G+3D+2HighSpeech+3ShadowName+3WP-2Pot
+1 reach = immediate casting
+1 reach = advanced Duration
Become invisible to death attuned creatures.
When a Sleepwalker with a Supernatural Tolerance (i.e. a Vampire) uses an Imbued Item, they use half of their SupTol rounded up as a substitute for Gnosis.
When using a Sleepwalker (or anyone else) as a Flag Bearer to hold a spell, a Mage must spend a Willpower point, as if relinquishing it unsafely.
When an otherwise mundane object reaches a tool bonus over +5 (which is the mundane limit) thanks to Supernal Magic, it will look overtly magical when used in the presence of Sleepers for the purpose of Dissonance.
An overtly magical object can't be hidden while being used without an appropriate roll (i.e. Dex+Stealth).
The visual effect might vary based on the Mage's Nimbus, their Path or their fancy when making the spell.
While reaching Arch-Mastery at the moment is not allowed in game, it can be an end game goal for a character (after which they must become an NPC). To achieve Ascension, a character must first achieve Arch-Mastery, so this step is required anyway. The following points must have been respected religiously for at least 3 in game months to unlock a Seeking (details in the next post):
- Wisdom 8 or more.
- Gnosis 6 or more.
- Legacy 4 or more.
- Master in all Ruling Arcana (including Legacy if applicable).
- Soul not tampered with (no Infernal Pacts, no Soul Stones, etc).
- No advantage obtained without XP (they either must be bought with XP or let go).
- The Obsession "I must obtain a Quintessence", which must have produced at least 1 Arcane XP on its own. Successfully studying a Sarira, a Manteion, a Nigissu, a Schism, a Chantry, some conserved enough Atlantean Ruins, an Ochemata, an Ananke, a Golden Road, or other similar objects/places of deep magical power can provide Beats for such Obsession.
When all these have been followed for 3 in game months, one's Seeking can be started. If any requirement is broken, like spending the Quintessence Arcane XP on something else, or spoiling one's soul through Infernal Pacts, the requirement must be obtained again and another in-game month must pass before the Seeking is available again.
A Seeking is a process where the Mage will be tested by the Supernal before Arch-Mastery is granted. It consists of a series of ST Scenes equal to the number of Ruling Arcana the Mage possesses, where knowledge of that Arcana is tested against Supernally enhanced mundane situations, like a super charged Adyton. This means that a Seeking of Life might involve healing a magical contagion, while a Seeking of Space might involve reuniting a family of warlords in supernatural conflict with each other, and so on. These won't be resolvable by magic alone, making a Mage over reliant in easy solutions fail, but by understanding the meaning of that Arcanum and applying this understanding to the situation to resolve it.
It costs 1 Arcane XP obtained by the Obsession "I must obtain a Quintessence" to start a Seeking. At the end of which, no matter the result, the character becomes an NPC. One can delay their own Seeking indefinitely, as long as the list of requirements keeps being respected (see previous post).