Traits

Points

Trait	Points
Attributes	Primary 7 / Secondary 5 / Tertiary 3
Abilities	Primary 13 / Secondary 9 / Tertiary 5 Note: No Ability may be over 3 without Freebies
Spheres	5 + 1 in Affinity Sphere
Backgrounds	7
Willpower	5
Freebies	15

Freebies

Trait	Cost
Attribute	5
Ability	2
Sphere	7
Background	1
Willpower	1
Merit	Merit Cost
Flaw	Flaw Gain. Note: You can take more than 7 dots in Flaws, but can only gain 7 Freebies from Flaws.

Affinity Sphere

Please remember to choose your Affinity Sphere based on the selections available to your Tradition in M20. Order of Hermes Mages may choose the Sphere associated with their House (see Tradition Book: Order of Hermes Revised for details).

Abilities

As per the game-wide House Rules, any Secondary Ability is full cost, but grants a -1 difficulty (except when used in combat).

Mage Staff, however, will never ask you to roll a Secondary Ability (they really are just stat bloat). If you have an Ability not on the Mage Primary Abilities list, you may ask to substitute it, but allowing this (and any other modifiers to the roll that may ensue) are at the discretion of the StoryTeller for the scene.

Primary Abilities

The Mage Primary Abilities are:
Talents -- Alertness, Artistic Expression, Aethletics, Awareness, Brawl, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation, Leadership, Streetwise, Subterfuge
Skills -- Crafts, Drive, Etiquette, Firearms, Martial Arts, Meditation, Melee, Research, Stealth, Survival, Technology
Knowledges -- Academics, Computer, Cosmology, Enigmas, Esoterica, Investigation, Law, Medicine, Occult, Politics, Science

Backgrounds

Please see the information below for each Background you have on your character, and follow the instructions listed. (In particular, please look at Avatar.)

Allies -- For each ally, please supply a NPC note with the name 'Ally - <Name>'. (Details on NPC notes can be found below.)
Alternate Identity -- Where applicable, please specify the name, criminal record, and very basic background in a +note
Arcane -- This Background is considered 'restricted', see Mage staff for details. No +notes are required.
Avatar -- Mages without at least 1 dot in Avatar will come under strict scrutiny. Please specify a +note describing your Avatar based on the information in 'Avatar' below.
Backup -- Please describe the type of Backup you have (based on the suggestions in M20 p306) in a +note.
Blessing -- Please describe what your Blessing does, where your Blessing comes from, and what acts might be considered anathema to the source of your Blessing in a +note.
Certification -- This Background is not in use. See the 'How To...' Merit in the Merits section.
Chantry -- This Background is not available to characters during Character Generation.
Contacts -- For each contact, please supply a NPC note with the name 'Contact - <Name>'. (Details on NPC notes can be found below.)
Cult -- Cult is not allowed for Mages. For an IC representation of a Cult, see 'Backup' above.
Demesne -- Please describe your Demesne in a +note
Destiny -- Staff will work with you to determine (in the vaguest terms) your character's Destiny and +note it.
Dream -- No notes necessary
Enhancement -- As per M20, the costs for this Background are doubled. Mystic Mages may take the Enhancement background. Please describe in a single +note what your enhancements are. Static Attribute/Ability adjustments will be made to the +sheet via the +effect system by staff.
Fame -- Please describe what you are famous for, and who your target group is in a +note
Familiar -- Please build out a statblock for your Familiar using the rules in Gods and Monsters 20th Anniversary (GM20). (See the Companion tab for additional details). Specify the statblock and any RP notes in a +note.
Influence -- Please note that we use the stock rules for this background found in M20, p316. Specify the source of your Influence in a +note.
Legend -- This Background is not available to characters during Character Generation.
Library -- For each dot in Library, please choose either 2 Abilities or 1 Sphere, and place them in a +note. Your Library rating may be substituted for any of the chosen Abilities for research purposes (as per M20, p318). Choosing a Sphere for this Background provides automatic Justification for raising that Sphere for the first 3 dots of that Sphere.
Mentor -- Please describe your Mentor using a NPC note. (Details on NPC notes can be found below.)
Node -- This Background is not available to characters during Character Generation.
Past Lives -- No Notes necessary
Patron -- Please describe your Patron using a NPC note. (Details on NPC notes can be found below.)
Rank -- This Background is not in use.
Requisitions -- As per M20, this Background is only available to Technocracy PCs. Note: Technocracy PC Applications are currently CLOSED.
Resources -- Please specify how your Resources are earned and managed (regular job with a regular bank account, drug running income buried in shell corporations, drug running income in cash in a storage locker, etc) in a +note.
Retainers -- Please specify (in a single +note) each Retainer's name and what purpose they fulfill for your character.
Sanctum -- As per M20, ththe costs for this Background are doubled. Please describe your Sanctum, including location, in a +note.
Secret Weapons -- As per M20, this Background is only available to Technocracy PCs. Note: Technocracy PC Applications are currently CLOSED.
Spies -- No notes necessary.
Status -- Please describe what your character has done to build their status in a +note. Note: This Background relates strictly to Tradition/Faction. For 'Status' among mortal institutions, see the Influence background.
Totem -- Totem is not allowed for Mages.
Wonder -- Please describe the Wonder based on the stats in the Toybox section of M20 (p651-653) in a +note.

NPC Notes

For each NPC Note, please include the NPCs name, their relationship to the character, what is is they can do for your character, and some basic roleplaying notes. This doesn't need to be heavily detailed. For example: "Damon and Lil' Fade grew up on the same streets, and almost ended up with the same life, until Lil' Fade saw the potential in Damon and forced him out of the gang. Lil' Fade still has a paternal instinct toward Damon, and will occasionally secure illicit goods, or step up to violence."

Merits

A lot of Merits in M20 either just don't work in a MUX environment, or run counter to the Themes we're trying to develop. Below is a list of edits/notes/expectations for Merits. Any Merit not on the list can be taken by players without restriction or additional information necessary.

Acute Senses -- If you take the 1-pt version, please add a +note specifying which Sense is Acute.
Artistically Gifted -- In what can only be an editing mistake, this Merit does enhance magick-casting rolls just as other Merits of its type (since all the other ones do). However, that enhancement only comes in the form of the 'Abilities Enhancing Magick' rule on M20 p533.
Berserker -- This Merit is not allowed for Mage PCs.
Concentration -- This Merit is just... really, really good. That's all.
Code of Honor -- Please list your code of ethics (in particular, what can violate it) in a +note.
Enchanting Feature -- Please specify which Feature is Enchanting
Insensate to Pain -- This Merit will incur some scrutiny.
Language -- Please specify which Languages you have learned by adding the 'Lang <Language>' trait to your character at level five (for example, to show that you know German, add the 'Lang German' stat at 5 dots). You need not add the 'Language' Merit as long as the Languages are specified.
Noble Blood -- Please specify which 'royal' family you are a member of, and how that shows itself in your appearance.
Self-Confident -- This Merit is not allowed.
Sterile -- Without stepping into the morass of the pros and cons of child birth, this Trait is considered a 0-pt Merit and never a Flaw. In essence, you can choose to be Sterile (or not) for whatever story purposes matter to you, and take this Merit if you need it.
Too Tough to Die -- This Merit will incur strict scrutiny.

Flaws

Addiction -- Please specify your Addiction in a +note.
Bigot -- While NPCs may exhibit these behaviors from time to time, they are inappropriate for PCs. This Flaw is not allowed.
Child -- Child PCs are not allowed.
Compulsion -- Please describe your compulsion in a +note.
Deranged -- While forms of Derangement make a lot of sense for the game of Mage: the Ascension and what a character may go through, this Flaw requires strict scrutiny from Mage staff in order to make sure that these very serious conditions are treated with the proper care.
Driving Goal -- A Driving Goal of 'reaching Ascension' or other such goals that point directly to the same will not be allowed. Please note your Driving Goal in a +note.
Extreme Kink -- C'mon, really? You can roleplay this, but you're not getting freebies for it.
Hatred -- Please describe the subject of your Hatred in a +note.
Hero Worship -- Hero Worship of other PCs will not be allowed. A known NPC in the game, however, is an option. Please specify the subject of your worship in a +note.
Impediment -- Please describe the condition, how much it affects your character, and whether or not people can tell that you have it in a +note.
Inappropriate -- Characters of this nature are just plain disruptive. While they may be great for a laugh every so often, they do not foster long-term roleplaying. As such, taking the Inappropriate flaw at greater than 1 dot will be met with strict scrutiny.
Mental Lock -- This is one of those Merits that sounds great on paper, and is a mess for a Storyteller to administrate. While we do allow this Flaw, it will require a lengthy discussion with your Storyteller.
Obsession -- Please describe your Obsession in a +note.
OCPD -- This Merit is not in use. The condition of OCPD is instead expressed by the 'Deranged' Flaw.
Phobia -- Please describe your Phobia in a +note.
Profiled Appearance -- While this Flaw may seem 'simple', Houston is the 1990's was a more tolerant city among a more tolerant state (among the South, anyway) than the Bible-thumping transgender-hating hellscape that it is today. Please describe in a +note what it is about your character that would cause their appearance to be Profiled.
PTSD -- While forms of PTSD make a lot of sense for the game of Mage: the Ascension and what a character may go through, this Flaw requires strict scrutiny from Mage staff in order to make sure that this very serious condition is treated with the proper care.
Repulsive Feature -- Please specify your Repulsive Feature in a +note.
Shy -- The mechanical effects of this Flaw do not apply when in comfortable company. (In essence, it matches the 'Shy' Flaw of V20.)
Sterile -- Without stepping into the morass of the pros and cons of child birth, this Trait is considered a 0-pt Merit and never a Flaw. In essence, you can choose to be Sterile (or not) for whatever story purposes matter to you, and take this Merit if you need it.
Stress Atavism -- This Flaw is not allowed for Mage PCs.
Vanilla -- We consider this a roleplaying choice, rather than a true detriment. This Flaw is not allowed.
Whimsy -- This flaw universally ends up a rather large barrier to roleplay. Use caution before taking it.