End of 2017 Holiday Break

Hi, all! No blog post this week, I'm spending time with family and getting ahead of my 2018 posts. Enjoy the holidays, and I'll be back with more Mage goodness in the new year!

Gladius of the Defender, A Homebrew Mage: The Ascension Wonder

Wonders that instruct or help with mundane tasks are great, but sometimes you need something you can count on in a fight, am I right?

Below is a Wonder I made for just such a purpose. Created for the mentor of one of my players, it may get passed on to him in the course of our gameplay, should anything dire happen in the course of the chronicle. (Dire? In the World of Darkness? Bwahahahaha!) Feel free to use it in your own Mage game, along with any of the Mage creations I've posted previously and will likely post in the future. And if you do use any of them, please tell me all about it!

Gladius of the Defender
4-point Artifact

When Inez Lellouche first joined the Knights of Radamanthys in the Chakravanti shortly before the Reckoning, her mentor Aramus gifted her with a remarkable Wonder that she has used as both focus and weapon in the course of her duties. This blade, a classical gladius, was passed on to Aramus from his mentor, and Inez will pass it on to her student when the time comes. In the meantime, it is an essential part of her arsenal as bodyguard to her chantryleader, and as mentor to her young charge.

In the hands of a Sleeper, this is just a short, wide-bladed sword that does Strength+2 damage. However, when the blade is unsheathed by a mage, it guides the wielder's sword arm to block, parry, and/or deflect any incoming physical attack, whether from melee or ranged, bullet or energy weapon, up to a number of times equal to their Dexterity rating each round of combat. The mage may make a free reflexive defense action to roll Arete (difficulty 5) and add each success to any roll used to dodge or block a direct attack. If all successes of the incoming blow are negated, the attack is deflected harmlessly, but scoring additional successes means the sword deflects the incoming attack back at the attacker. Damage for the counterattack is rolled as normal, adding each success beyond those necessary to negate the original attack roll as extra damage dice. However, failing the Arete roll does not trigger the artifact's counterattack effect but still permits the free defense roll, and botching the roll prevents the free defense roll entirely.

Use of this weapon can become vulgar depending on the attack being deflected. While it is ineffective against non-targeted attacks such as fire, smoke or falling debris, it can potentially deflect attacks from military-grade weaponry, up to and including guided missiles. Care should be taken in regards to when and where the blade's power is used.

The Magick System of Mage Part 2, or "Wait, There's MORE?!"

I could spend a blog post a week writing about the Mage: The Ascension magick system for two full months, and still not cover every facet of that magnificent free-form system. There's so much good stuff that Satyros Phil Brucato put into M20 and its books that it would be impossible to do them all justice here, but there are key components that might not jump out at you when faced with chapters of rules crunch. Here's another piece of the magick system that you should know when choosing Spheres for your character.

Last month, I posted a breakdown of the Sphere system at the core of the magick system. And last week, you may have noticed that the primer I posted listed one of those Spheres (Time) with a number next to it (1). But what does Time 1 mean in the context of the magick system? I'm so glad you asked!

No, Bill, what are you- THAT WAS MY KEYBOARD!!!

Each of the nine Spheres listed on a character sheet has five dots next to them. Each dot represents one rank in that Sphere, a measure of how skilled your mage is at manipulating that facet of reality. Max ranks denotes mastery of that Sphere, and no ranks means your mage hasn't learned how to do anything with it yet. The more Spheres you have ranks in, the more versatile you'll be in casting magick.

But what does each dot signify? Is this like Starfleet or something, where the more pips you have, the higher your rank? Well, yeah, kinda. The breakdown looks something like this:

Rank 1: Extrasensory Perception - Considered a "sight beyond sight" rank, the first dot in a Sphere lets you perceive it in an enhanced manner. For example, Time 1 would let you see exactly what time it is without a watch or sun/moon position, Spirit 1 would let you see un-manifested ghosts around you, Forces 1 would reveal the source of sound or lightwaves, etc.
Rank 2: Minor Manipulation - Once a mage can see the Spheres in a different way, they can start interacting with them in small ways. Life 2 would let you heal yourself, but not others. Forces 2 would let you direct sources of light and sound to aid in stealth. Correspondence 2 would let you affect something that is nearby but not in your immediate field of vision.
Rank 3: Greater Control - Rank 3 is when a mage learns how to affect those Spheres in more obvious ways, effecting other people, places and things. Forces 3 would let you transform heat into cold and light into sound. Entropy 3 allows you to throw around blessings and curses. Matter 3 would let you convert copper into gold.
Rank 4: Major Command - This is when magick starts to get big and noticeable, affecting the Spheres in profound ways. Mind 4 allows for mind control, or astrally projecting yourself elsewhere. Prime 4 would let you drain a place of power of all its magickal energy. Forces 4 can affect weather patterns, either clearing up clouds or turning them into rainclouds.
Rank 5: Ultimate Mastery - The pinnacle of the Sphere ranks, mastery of a Sphere means you know that facet of reality inside and out and can use it to miraculous effect. If you can imagine it, you can do it. Everything from creating duplicates of yourself to pocket realities falls within the rank 5 effects, including time travel... though ultimate power also comes with ultimate consequence if it's abused.

That's a hell of a paradox backlash, Genie.

And that's how the Sphere ranks work! Using the above guide, you can form your own magickal effects for whatever best fits your character. For example, if you have a mage who wants to teleport himself between his home and his chantry, you would use Correspondence 3 to jump between those two locations, or Correspondence 4 to create a stable portal that others could also use to travel between those locations instantly. If you just wanted to pull your keys from one location to another, however, you'd just use Correspondence 2, and maybe Matter 1 to make sure it was keys that came through instead of something else.

Got any questions about Sphere ranks and how they work? Ask them below and I'll be happy to answer them!

Nate's Avatar Trance Club Mix, A Homebrew Mage: The Ascension Wonder

One of the fun bits of Mage: The Ascension is creating magickal items that your character and others can use in-game. Collectively called Wonders, these include everything from minor charms and primers to powerful talismans and artifacts. They can be purchased at character creation through the Wonder Background trait, or acquired through the course of the game. Some mages specialize in Wonder creation, and your character can either seek them out to have one made especially for them or become a crafter of Wonders yourself.

There are whole Mage sourcebooks dedicated to magickal items. The Technomancer's Toybox and Forged By Dragon's Fire contain some cool (if technologically dated) stuff, and the more recent Book of Secrets has a chapter with up-to-date Wonders and the rules associated with them. Below is a homebrew Wonder created for my chronicle, presented for inclusion in your own Mage game or as inspiration for your own Wonder. Enjoy!

Nate's Avatar Trance Club Mix (Primer)
2-point Wonder (Arete 1, Time 1)

Traditionally, when one thinks of a grimoire, the image of dusty tomes of forgotten lore springs to mind. One might even consider the oral grimoires of Traditions who pass information down verbally instead of written record. Very few mages, if any, would think of a mix tape as a grimoire, but that was exactly the inspiration behind Nate's Avatar Trance Club Mix.

An Ecstatic of some renown, Nathaniel "Nate" DeLaurentis was a musician and DJ who traveled the world and beyond until he met his end in the Horizon War. Before the Reckoning took him, however, he crafted a CD of his life's work, a legacy left to his chantrymates in San Francisco. Every week, the new chantryleader plays the full collection at the nightclub connected to their holdings and watches the crowd for those who are stirred to Awakening by the eclectic mix.

Lovingly mixed by Nate as a compilation of original works that blend from one song into the next, each piece of the club mix was inspired by his own Awakening. The first track hooks a listener with a simple but catchy beat, and the tracks that follow lead them through the chaos of discovery, the shock of Awakening, and finally the joy of ecstasy. Through each track, the bassline evokes the Lakashim, the divine pulse that thrums through all of Creation. And as a bonus track, Nate added a curious piece that imparts a unique way of perceiving Time through music with creative use of looping and repeating rhythms from earlier tracks.

Any musically-inclined mage may benefit from the primer, but the Sahajiya have a special connection to its usage. For obvious reasons, mages who are hearing impaired are unable to make use of this primer.