Arete

In the world of Mage: the Ascension, Arete doesn't really exist (not as something measurable, anyway). The Spheres, on the other hand, do. Rank in the Traditions is measured by demonstrable skill with certain ranks of Spheres, not of Arete. The rules in M20 which limit Spheres based on Arete make sense from a metaphysical standpoint (your understanding of a Sphere cannot outstrip your understanding of Magick), however, they have caused Storytellers all over to be horribly afraid of Arete 5... when really what they should be 'afraid' of is Spheres at 5. This is further reflected in the NPCs we see in books. Quite a few NPCs have Arete 6 but don't have a single Sphere at 5.

Additionally, surpassing Instruments is a big step for a character, and starting with a surpassed Instrument already doesn't make a ton of narrative sense.

Keeping the following in mind, the Arete-based limits have been adjusted thus:

Arete	Techno Inst.	Mystic Inst.	Maximum Spheres
1	-	-	1, 1, 1 Note: The 3 remaining dots from Character Generation are held back, and awarded for free upon Arete 2
2	-	-	2, 2, 2, 1, 1
3	-	-	3, 3, 3, 2, 2
4	-	1	4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2
5	-	3	4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2
6	2	4	5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2
7	4	6	5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 2
8	6	8	5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2
9	8	9	NOTE: Not available for PCs

Casting

Base Casting Roll
Effect	Base Difficulty
Coincidental	Highest Sphere + 3
Vulgar without Witnesses	Highest Sphere + 4
Vulgar with Witnesses	Highest Sphere + 5

Paradox
Effect	Paradox Points
Successful Coincidental	0
Successful Vulgar without Witnesses	1 Highest Sphere
Successful Vulgar with Witnesses	1 Highest Sphere + 1
Botched Coincidental	Highest Sphere
Botched Vulgar without Witnesses	Highest Sphere + 1
Botched Vulgar with Witnesses	(Highest Sphere + 1) * 2

Casting Modifiers
Activity	Difficulty Modifier
Personalized Instrument	-1
Unique Instrument	-1
Unfamiliar Instruments	+2/+1
Working without Instruments	+3
Using Surpassed Instrument	-1
Sympathetic Magick	-1 to -3
Appropriate Resonance (via personal, instrument, ritual, or Tass)	-1
Opposed Resonance	+1
Manipulating Mythic Threads	ST Assigns
Spending Quintessence	-1 per point, max 3 (Ignores Maximum Net modifier)
Spending extra time	-1 per turn spent preparing, max 3. (See Ritual over in Clarifications)
Fast-casting	+1 (Casting without a Rote. See Rotes below.)
Turning Time Backwards	+3 (Heavily restricted, ST Discretion)
Research	-1 to -3
Near a Node	-1 to -3
Distant or hidden target or subject	+1 (Distant requires the use of Correspondence)
Concentration	+1 per 2 existing Effects
Distracted	+1 to +3
In Conflict with Avatar	+1 to +3 (May also restrict certain Spheres, ST discretion)
Domino Effect	+1 per two coincidences after the first (+1 at 3, +2 at 5, etc)
Outlandish feat	+1 to +3

Notes

Maximum net modifier is +/-3 from the Base Difficulty. Some Effects may modify the Base Difficulty. We employ the Thresholds option: The max difficulty is 9, each difficulty above that adds one additional success to the threshold.

Correspondence Sphere Ranges
Successes	Range	Connection
1	Line of Sight	Body Sample
2	Very familiar	Close possession or companion
3	Familiar	Possession or casual friend
4	Visited Once	Casual Acquaintance or object used once
5	Described Location	Briefly touched or met object or person
6	Anywhere on Earth	No Connection

Base Damage or Duration
Successes	Damage	Duration
1	None	One Turn
2	Two Levels	One Scene
3	Six Levels	One Day
4	Eight Levels	One Story
5	Ten Levels	ST's discretion
6	Successes * 2	ST's discretion

Notes

All Effects either deal damage or have a duration. These represent the 'Base Threshold'. The Base Threshold includes any other effects which normally would roll into an effect, with the exception of the 'Optional Dividing Successes Rule'.

What does this mean?

Examples

Casting 'Better Body' (Life 3): Since this Effect doesn't cause damage, it instead uses a Duration. Compare the Base Successes against the 'Duration' column of the Base Damage or Duration chart. Additionally, each base success is added to a physical attribute of the caster's choice. ex: 4 successes on a Better Body would mean that it has a Duration of 'One Story' and also allows the caster to add 4 dots to their Physical Attributes. If they want to cast this on a second target, they must get at least one additional success (following the Dividing Successes Rule).
Casting 'Force Barrier' (Forces 2): Since this Effect doesn't cause damage, it instead uses a Duration. Compare the Base Successes against the 'Duration' column of the Base Damage or Duration Chart. Additionally, each base success is added as 'Armor' to physical attacks against the caster. ex: 4 successes would mean that it has a Duration of 'One Story' and also grant 4 extra soak dice against attacks which use movement against the caster. If they want to cast this on a second target, they must get at least one additional success (following the Dividing Successes Rule).
Casting 'Immolation' (Forces 2): Enveloping someone in fire across a span of time is a tricky one. This Effect does damage, so the Base successes are spent on the Damage column of the Damage or Duration Chart. Additional successes are spent on the 'Duration' or 'Targets' methods of the Optional Dividing Successes Rule.
Casting Scry on a person (Correspondence 2): The Base Effect is based on the Correspondence Sphere Ranges table. Since this effect doesn't deal damage, the base successes are also compared against the 'Base Damage or Duration' chart to determine how long the scrying effect lasts.
Viewing the Past (Time 2): Time Sphere Timelines determines the Base Successes. Time is unique in that this chart does not determine the duration of the spell. Additional successes must be spent on the 'Dividing Successes Rule' to peruse the past for longer than one turn.
Viewing the Past of someone far away (Time 2 / Correspondence 2): Time Sphere Timelines AND Correspondence Sphere Ranges are combined to determine the Base Successes (whichever is higher). The Time Sphere requirement kicks in here, so additional successes must be spent on the 'Dividing Successes Rule' to get a duration longer than 1 turn.

Spheres

20th Anniversary Mage: the Ascension takes some pretty serious liberties with their expectations of the environment that Mage players experience. We have a different set of expectations, chief among them just how much Sphere 'bloat' has cropped up between 2e (2nd Edition) and M20 (20th Anniversary).

Below is a collation of the various rules in M20 that do not exist on RetroMUX. There's... a lot here. A simpler way to look at it is to just play like we did back in 1995: use the 2e rules about what Spheres can do. Officially, here are the edits:

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (M20)
1. 'Locking An Effect' section, pg 511-512: Strike the entire section, until the 'Sphere Specialties' section starts.
2. 'Most Effects require touch or close contact...', pg 513: More a clarification than an edit, we consider 'close contact' to be 'about the size of a living room'. Also, any magicks which are purely sensory in nature (predominantly Rank 1 Sphere Effects) have a range of 'as far as you can perceive without assistance'
3. 'When combining Correspondence with other Spheres, however...' , pg 513: Strike that paragraph.
4. 'Also, by combining Correspondence 3 with Forces..., pg 513: Strike the mention of Forces, Life, or Matter. Correspondence can do this on its own.
5. 'In many cases, offensive Mind effects', pg 519: Remove the entire paragraph. Difficulties for Mind rolls are the same as any other Sphere. Storytellers may, at their discretion, assign additional penalties for pushing a target too far outside their regular behaviors.
How Do You Do That? (HDYDT?) -- Strike it. The entire book. It's a dumpster fire.

Rotes

Mage: the Ascension has dedicated a lot of time and effort into making Rotes matter in all ways except mechanically. In order to help bear out the themes that the game suggests, the following House Rules will be in play:

All Effects cast by a player are considered 'fast-cast' (with the requisite difficulty modifier) unless they are among the Mage's Rotes.
Mages are granted a free Rote for every dot of Arete and Esoterica they have.
Rotes cost 1 Freebie to buy when building their character.
Rotes cost 1 XP per the highest Sphere Rank in the Rote.
Rotes may be selected from any Revised or 2nd Edition Mage supplement, subject to ST approval.
Rotes learned from the books contain all of the variations listed, subject to ST approval. (ex: Filter All-Space includes a note that 'adding Matter to this rote allows you to search for certain materials'. You do not need to learn a 'Matter version of Filter All-Space', just buying Filter All-Space includes its variations.)

What do you need in the rote?

Name: Obvi
Effect: What the rote does in layman's terms (as if your character were describing it to someone else). How it's cast. Be as precise as you can be with this. Once you've formalized a rote being done in ONE WAY, then that is the way you do it if you want the rote bonus.
Spheres: What Spheres are necessary for the Effect.
System: What the spell does, in system mechanics. This includes a minimum number of successes required for the base Effect.

For example:

Name: Furtum Parma Magica
Effect: By inscribing the common sigil of magical protection upon their person (A triangle surrounded by a circle), the Magus creates a funnel through which magickal power is viewed, drawn, and occasionally shaken loose when cast upon the target. Those who have a keen understanding of Resonances are able to filter for specific ones and allow them through.

This 'stealing magickal shield' serves three purposes. First, it provides the caster with the ability to see magicks anywhere within their sight (this functions identical to the Watch the Weaving rote). The second purpose is as a set of general all-purpose passive countermagick, automatically attempting to counter any Effect (harmful or benign) which targets the caster. The third purpose enables the caster to 'drain' magickal power from effects that they actively attempt to counterspell or unweave.

Spheres: Prime 3 (optionally Mind 2)
System: 2 successes are necessary for this effect, with additional Base Successes allocated to the passive Countermagick dice. If Mind is added to allow Resonances through, each Resonance (including the caster's) requires an additional success. Whenever the caster attempts to actively counterspell or unweave, and gain at least one success, the caster gains a single point of Quintessence.

Please setup each rote as its own note, and then submit a request when you want your rotes reviewed.

Custom Rotes

Most Rotes that a Mage knows are found in one of the various Mage books over the years. These are well-distributed among the various Traditions, and readily available to be learned. Beyond these, each Mage eventually will personalize their magick, to the point of having a few Custom Rotes, ones that are often carefully guarded secrets. To create a custom rote for yourself, you must have at least 3 dots for any one Sphere in the Rote. To teach a custom rote to others, you must have at least 4 dots for any one Sphere in the Rote. Each Mage may have a number of Custom Rotes equal to their Arete (this does not increase your number of Rotes in total, it simply allows a number of the ones you get for free to be Custom Rotes). Creating or learning Custom Rotes beyond this limit will require lengthy justification, usually in the form of some PRP.

Rituals

Most of the rules in M20 are in use with regard to rituals on RetroMUX. However, there are some deviations / clarifications, cataloged below.

The 'Simultaneous Effects During Rituals' rule is not in use, however the difficulty modifiers for multiple sustained effects are (in effect, there is no hard cap to the number of concurrent Effects you can have during a Ritual, however, they will affect your Difficulty normally).
The 'Spending Extra Time' modifier does not exist for Ritual casting (you're already taking your time by virtue of casting a Ritual).
The Fast-casting Modifier does apply. Rituals of non-Rote effects will incur a +1 difficulty penalty.
As a reminder, difficulty modifiers to Rituals from Sanctum are in use.
When employing the 'Mundane Skills and Magickal Effects' option, only one roll is necessary to specify the difficulty modifier receieved for the duration of the ritual. If you stop a ritual mid-cast and pick it up later, you must re-roll the pool for this option. Willpower may be spent on the Mundane Skill roll as well as the first Arete roll in the ritual (considering the timelines involved, those two rolls do not occur within the same 'turn').
The use of Quintessence for a Ritual to lower Difficulties only applies to a single Arete roll. Large Rituals require a lot of Quintessence.
Collaborators:
1. Each Collaborator in a ritual must choose whether they are Equal Collaborators or Enlightened Assistants. (The book says only one option may be used at a time, but it doesn't specify if that is across the ritual or per collaborator. We assume the latter.)
2. Equal Collaborators:
  1. Must have all of the Spheres necessary to perform the Effect in question.
  2. May utilize the 'Mundane Skills and Magickal Effects' option, however their successes may not exceed the Ritual Leader's successes on the same roll.
3. Enlightened Assistants:
  1. Must have at least one dot in each of the Spheres necessary to perform the Effect in question.
  2. May not utilize the 'Mundane Skills and Magickal Effects' option, as they are not rolling Arete.

Daily Rituals

The M20 rules as written are particularly harsh on the concept of 'daily ritual'. Mulitple successes take hour upon hour, more than one standing effect causes Arete penalties, and yet, the lore is quite full of 'daily preparations', particularly for experienced Mages. As such, Mage Staff have developed the following systems to allow Mages to follow the setting but also not spiral out of control.

A Mage may have an allotment of Daily Ritual spells of no more than their Arete.
These Daily Rituals count as a single Effect under the 'Juggling several Effects at once' rule.
Daily Rituals may not have more 'Base Successes' than the highest Sphere in the Effect.
1. Example: Mind Shield, for a Mage with Mind 3, cannot have more than 3 Base Successes, which would set the potency of their Shield at 3.
2. Exampmle: Better Body, for a Mage with Life 4, cannot have more than 4 Base Successes, which would grant them 4 dots of Physical Attributes.
Daily Rituals must fall under the 'Basic Rite' category of Rituals. This means they cannot require more than 5 successes in total.
As the name 'Daily' suggests, these Effects last no more than a day.
Each Daily Ritual will be approved by Mage Staff, including the final potency of the Effect. This decision will be based on difficulty of the Effect (Coincidental vs Vulgar, Rote or Fast-Cast, Arete of the Mage, etc).