Mage/Rules
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)
- 'Locking An Effect' section, pg 511-512: Strike the entire section, until the 'Sphere Specialties' section starts.
- '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'
- 'When combining Correspondence with other Spheres, however...' , pg 513: Strike that paragraph.
- 'Also, by combining Correspondence 3 with Forces..., pg 513: Strike the mention of Forces, Life, or Matter. Correspondence can do this on its own.
- '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.
Wards (and Bans)
By default Correspondence 2 can set Wards that inhibit or enhance the actions of targets within the ward (difficulty modifiers, slowing the ability to cross a distance, etc) and Correspondence 4 can actually Bar (completely disallow) entry or exit. Because this does affect the relevant patterns it requires the Spheres at the appropriate level to cast the effect being added to the ward. SEP fields (Somebody Else's Problem) require Mind 2, for instance, and fire attacks require Forces 2 and an appropriate source of fire, or Forces 3, Prime 2.
Wards and their Triggers can be confusing because the concept of a 'Trigger' isn't really used elsewhere in Mage. Trigger spells need to be able to determine when the trigger conditions for the Ward/Ban happen. Your ward needs to understand what a Vampire is before it knows to Ward the space against them.
This always takes the relevant spheres at rank 2. Setting triggers does not involve transmuting, altering, or in any way affecting a pattern so the rank doesn't vary with the target. Instead it functions like sensory magic (although it requires Rank 2 of the Pattern Sphere). Setting triggers against iron is Matter 2, against cats is Life 2, and against Vampires is Life 2, Matter 2.
So your Ward that sets all Vampires who step within it on fire is Corr 2 (for the ward), Life 2, Matter 2 (to set it for Vampires), and Forces 2 or Forces 3/Prime 2.
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 | Mystic Inst. | Techno 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 |
Seekings and Epiphanies
Seekings are always a subject with a lot of variance between Storytellers, so we want to be upfront about what we want to see with Seekings.
The game of Mage: the Ascension is not about firing cool looking laser guns, having tea with spirits, or about sticking it to the Technocracy. Mage: the Ascension is about reflection, enlightenment, and discovery, and a Seeking is a brief flash of that ultimate truth (rather than a training session where your Avatar shows you how Rank 4 Spheres work). With this in mind, there are a few things that we look for in a Seeking, and expect players to have answers to the below questions in mind before asking for a Seeking.
- What new magickal understanding do you expect to reach?
- A Seeking is a measure of achieving enlightenment, but achieving enlightenment means changing, enhancing, or expanding your world view. Your Paradigm note will change in some way with each Seeking. General ideas are better than specifics.
- What 'truth' is demolished or created?
- A Mage is a belief machine. They eat, breathe, and live their paradigm, which only works because, for the Mage, their Paradigm is Truthtm. A Seeking will make some Truths suddenly not so truthy, or make completely new Truths for you to tangle with.
- If you are surpassing Instruments for a Sphere, which ones?
- Understanding of those Spheres should play into the Seeking itself.
- What about your character will change?
- All of the items above lead to this main question. How has your newly expanded horizon, which has changed what you believe (and with belief being so central to a Mage), how has that made who you are different? This can (but is not required to) make alterations to your sheet. For example:
- Nature
- eg. The Stodgy Hermetic who realized that their emotional distance from people meant that they had few allies, and allies would be necessary to achieve their goals, so part of their Seeking led them to be much more outgoing and welcoming to people. Nature changed from Sage to Benefactor
- Shifting Attributes
- eg. The Akashayana who used to practice for hours and hours, but the Seeking teaches them that practice doesn't truly prepare you for using your skills, and so he goes out into the world to learn through experience. Drop a dot in Stamina, gain a dot in Perception
- Merits and Flaws
- The examples here are numerous, but with as transformative as Seekings are, there are a lot of possible options.
As with the above, there are a few notes and expectations that players should have:
- Seekings at Arete 5 and above have the potential to be lethal.
- Gaining the 4th dot in a Sphere requires an Epiphany. Epiphanies of this nature will be much more related to the Sphere itself, and are not quite so in-depth and transformative as a Seeking.