Mage/Rules

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	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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. All Effects cast by a player are considered 'fast-cast' (with the requisite difficulty modifier) unless they are among the Mage's Rotes.
2. Mages are granted a free Rote for every dot of Arete and Esoterica they have.
3. Rotes cost 1 Freebie to buy when building their character.
4. Rotes cost 1 XP per the highest Sphere Rank in the Rote.
5. Rotes may be selected from any Revised or 2nd Edition Mage supplement, subject to ST approval.
6. 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.)

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.