House Rules & FAQThese are not official answers to anything, they are the opinions to common questions and the rules that various story tellers use in their games. Some of this is stuff is straight rules, other parts are their opinions of answers to common questions about the different games. General Section
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GeneralWhich Storyteller System? Revised, except where it clashes with something explicitly here. Soaking Damage These are the house rules that I use for soaking. Yes most attacks can be soaked even by mortals, although remember the average mortal has a couple of Stamina and would soak about one level. This hardly means they are walking away from being shot.
Aggravated damage is caused by:
And in the Shadowlands:
Some magical attacks are described as being unsoakable, if that is the case then no soak roll is allowed. The exception is some Magick attacks which are described as unsoakable, bur really are not. See the Mage part What happens with direct Pattern Magick attacks that are described as unsoakable? for more details. Damage in the Umbra Damage from physical attacks, blows from other Umbral travelers, falling and such things are soaked normally with Stamina. Attacks from spirits Rage are soaked differently.
These soak rolls so not apply to astral travelers who soak damage on Intelligence and take lose Willpower instead of Health Levels as damage to their silver cord. Rules for Spirits Use Werewolf Revised, except the difficulty to damage is 6 and not the spirits Rage. This stops high Rage spirits being unkillable. Spirits use Willpower for Initiative, and their attacks do Aggravated damage, Can Damage and Soak rolls be botched? No, infact ignore all 1's on such rolls they are just failures. This reduces those occasions when 10+ dice damage attacks do only 1 or 2 Health Levels of actual damage due to bad rolls. Do you use the permanent or temporary values of traits for rolls and difficulties? Permanent. A few powers specify temporary under their description so use temporary only when it specifies. Mage 2nd edition has some comments about permanent Willpower for Mages and temporary for sleepers (p135) with no mention of what for other supernaturals. In general sleepers have a pretty low Willpower anyway, so just stick with permanent for everyone. Can mortals use Willpower points for automatic successes? Both Mage 2nd edition (p135) and Vampire 2nd edition(p178) say they can't. However, they have a tough enough time in the World of Darkness as it is. Any player character or significant mortal can spend Willpower points for automatic successes, although the ST may not want to bother for minor characters. What are Mortals wound penalties? Mortals are the same as everyone else OK,-1,-1,-2,-2,-5, Incapacitated. The other penalties -1,-2,-3,-4,-5,Incapacitated comes from vampire 1st edition and should be ignored. Do wound penalties effect soak dice? No, soak is passive (called reflexive in Revised) and not part of the dice pool. Can '1's cancel the success gained by spending a Willpower point? Yes. If you spend a Willpower point then roll 9,3,1,1 on a difficulty 7 roll, that's still a failure. Yes this is different from the Revised Storyteller system, it means even with a Willpower point you can fail a roll. Do extra action affect initiative? They really should, someone who acts faster is going to react faster. For every extra action add one to the initiative roll (using Revised Wits + Dex + 1d10 system). That applies to multiple actions that are in effect at the start of the turn, including those gained from spending Rage, Demon Chi or using Celerity, where the stuff is spent before the roll, or the previous turn. If actions are gained during the turn through powers such as Magick or Cantrips then it doesn't effect initiative that turn, but will in subsequent turns for as long as the power lasts. Firearms The basic firearms rules are not very good. The best simple fix is to adopt a variation of the system in the Combat book. Single shot: remains the same. Also, here are some more modifiers.
Is the Upper and Middle Umbra the same place? In the Penumbra they are the same, but different travelers view it differently. So a Garou and a Mage who both step sideways standing next to each other will be next to each other in the Penumbra, but what they see could be very different. Outside the Penumbra where you can go is a matter of attitude, beliefs and mind sets. Also some realms are only accessible to those in a physical form, others only in astral form. Is the Digital Web and the Computer Web the same place? Not quite. The Digital Web is a zone and goes all over the place, the Computer Web only exists in the Umbra. Still the two are so interlinked that they are almost effectively one place. Just have Conduits = Macro Level and Sectors = Micro Level. What's with the current rating vs. new rating for experience points? Use the rating before you spend the experience points. Use it for maturation points from the Vampire Storytellers Handbook too. CrossoverComparing traits Kindred of the East had some good advice, as did Werewolf: the Dark Ages, and based on those, and based on the that here is a table.
Note that these are only guidelines. Also that Banality of non-changelings should not be determined with this chart. For the blank spaces there are two options. Either simply assign an appropriate difficulty (best for NPCs) or default to Willpower (best for PCs as it stops arguments). If the trait being defaulted to Willpower has normally a 1 to 5 range (such as a Virtue) ignore any other trait or constant modifier. So Wits + Self-Control or Courage +3 would both roll against straight Willpower. If it was straight Virtue (such as resisting Majesty) the ST might want to half the Willpower to give a fairer approximate. Conflicting Powers While I know that White Wolf have published some crossover rules in the Chaos Factor, I know many people who agree with me that they suck. So I have come up with some of my own that I am using in my games. Opposition is when two or more supernaturals are using their powers against something, but trying to achieve different things. Often the thing in question is one of the supernaturals. In some cases this occurrence is covered in the description of one of the powers being used (e.g. a vampire tries to dominate a Garou with the Mindblock gift). In such cases always use the rules given under the description of the power. At its most basic it can be resolved in the following way:
For example a Mage with Arete 3 uses a Forces 3 Prime 2 rote to throw a large object at a 4th rank Uktena Garou. The Uktena uses the Gift Hand of the Earth Lords to telekinetically redirect the object. The mage rolls Arete and scores 4 successes. The Garou rolls Dexterity + Occult and scores 1 success. The mage deducts one success for the Garou's higher level, and one for the Garou's success. This means that the effect has succeeded, with two net successes, and damage is calculated accordingly. What about Extended Rolls? Extended rolls follow the same pattern. If the opponent has a higher power level, then the successes are deducted from each roll. If this causes the roll to fail, this may increase the difficulty for subsequent rolls (if a failed roll would normally do so). What happens if the power does not have a roll? Sometimes supernaturals have powers that do not normally require rolls. If the use of that power is contested things can get a bit tricky. Here are some suggestions on who rolls what, when no roll is normally required. Ultimately use common sense and the Storyteller's discretion.
If in doubt, permanent Willpower is always a good default. Alternatively if the power doesn't have a roll, use the Mystic Power rating (see below) of the supernatural as the default number of successes. So a Ravnos with Chimestry 4 using the level 2 power would be treated as having 4 successes if her power clashed with another supernatural's. Mystic Power The power rating of the supernatural ability is judged from the following table:
For some things, like creatures with innate powers and Kami it may be simplest to give them and arbitrary power level, this works well for spirits too. What about countermagick? Countermagick against other supernaturals powers is not considered to be opposition. There is more in the Mage section on countermagick. More Examples A vampire with Auspex 5 is looking for a Fostern (rank 2) Ragabash using the gifts Blur of the Milky Eye (3 successes) and Blissful Ignorance (2 successes). The vampire uses Auspex 1 - Heightened Senses and rolls Perception + Alertness to try to see the Garou. She rolls 6 dice (Perception of 3 and Alertness of three), adding +3 to the difficulty due to the Blur of the Milky Eye gift, and subtracting 5 for her Auspex. She needs at least three successes. Since both powers modify the dice roll, just apply both sets of modifiers. A Rank 3 Garou attacks a Mage with the Gift Summon the Flame Spirit. The Mage has Arete 4 could use Forces 3, Prime 2 to create cold to nullify the heat. The Garou gets one success on the Manipulation + Occult roll, the Mage gets zero on his Arete roll. Although the Mage has a higher Mystic Power, his power didn't go off at all, so the Garou deducts no successes from her roll and the Mage takes the normal damage from the Gift. A vampire employing Presence 5 (Majesty) encounters a Mage with an active mind shield (Mind 1). The mage has an Arete on 4, and scored two success when activating it.. Both powers are already 'on' when the two meet each other. Majesty does not normally require a roll, so the ST decides that Charisma + Intimidation would be an appropriate roll, and sets the difficulty as default 6. The vampire rolls and scores 4 successes. The mage decides to employ Mind to countermagick, so rolls his Arete difficulty 7, getting two success and reducing the vampires success to two. Now both parities have two success, so the defender, in this case the mage, wins. VampireDo all Firearms do Bashing damage to vampires? Generally yes. Even nasty rounds like hollow points, although they still get whatever extra damage bonus. Shotguns at point-blank range do Lethal damage, as do really high calibre things like support weapons at any range. Do all Melee weapons do Lethal damage to vampires? No, things like flick knives or rapiers only do bashing. Basically if the weapon relies on piercing the target consider it bashing. Bows, crossbows and stakes all do Bashing, although a successful hit to the heart may torpor the vampire, figure out if the attack has staked the vampire first, then if it fails halve it. How high can Ghouls boost their stats with blood? Since Ghouls Fatal Addiction was printed the rules for spending blood has changed, Ghouls can boost their stats up to 6. How does a vampire learn Disciplines? Any vampire can learn Potence, Celerity and Fortitude, just as Ghouls can. This can be done by "working out", for a vampire that means repeatedly spending blood on their physical stats (Strength, Dexterity and Stamina respectively). All vampire can learn their clan disciplines, even if they did not start off with them at character creation. Other powers are more tricky. The more common Disciplines (Auspex, Presence, Dominate, Animalism, Obfuscate) can be learned by anyone given time and practice. Drinking the blood of a vampire who has one as a Clan Discipline helps, as does having a teacher. The more rarefied disciplines (e.g. Protean, Obtenebration, Necromancy) are often tied to a specific clan and sometimes that clans weakness. Learning these requires drinking the blood of a vampire who has it as a Clan Discipline (the higher the level the better) and some instruction to at least unlocking the first level power. There are some risks with learning these powers. If the power has an associated weakness (e.g. Protean and animal features, Dementation and insanity) a student learning one of these Disciplines may occasional exhibit a lesser version of the weakness at the ST's discretion. If they botch a use of the power they may gain the full-blown weakness as a Flaw. How many disciplines above level 5 can a character learn? As many as they have the time and experience to. A vampire can learn multiple 6th level disciplines without them taking up the "space" of any higher level disciplines. What happens when you diablerise another vampire? You gain some of their power, and some of their memories, you may even gain some of their personality. The stronger the victim was in power relative to you the more you receive in terms of lowering generation and disciplines. The stronger their personality was relative to you the more memories you gain, the more abilities you may receive but also the more profound the effect it will have. A Diablerist may undergo severe personality changes afterwards, although this is best left to roleplaying. rather than systems. Also the lower the victims generation, the stronger the black veins are and the longer they last. Generally use the Vampire Revised rules and ignore the earlier things from the Diablerie books and Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand. Can a you use a melee weapon in Frenzy? Yes, under some circumstances. Using a weapon must be a natural thing for the character, they must have a Melee skill of at least 2 and it must cannot be more than one point lower than their brawl skill. Also the weapon must be in their hand and they can only make a basic attack with it. How much blood does a Garou have? Garou have 20 points worth of "life energy" but the quantity of blood changes according to their form. In roughly human sized forms, such as Homid, Glabro and Lupus, they have 10 points of blood in terms of volume with each point consumed providing 2 blood points to a vampire. In large forms, Glabro or Hispo, they have 20 blood points, each point consumed giving one point to a vampire. Use the rules in the Vampire Storyteller's Handbook for the effects of drinking it. How do Animalism, Dominate and Presence work on shapeshifters? Animalism 1 can always be used to talk to a creature in an animal form, or a near animal form (like a Garou's Hispo or a Bastet's Chatro). Other Animalism powers won't work on a sentient creature in animal form, even if they were born an animal (like a Lupus Garou). The only exception is when with some supernaturals who shape shift, like Mages and Reborn, spend too long in an animal form an start to think and act like an animal. When that happens Dominate and Presence stop having an effect and all the powers of Animalism will work. Dominate and Presence will work on shapeshifters in any form, including those who are not Changing Breed like Pooka and Reborn, provided they are sentient. Dominate does require that the user makes eye contact and the target hears and understands the commands, should the animal form prevent this then it will fail. Can you Ghoul and blood bond a Were-creature. It is possible, but very tough. Both Ghouls: Fatal Addiction and the Werewolf Players Guide (2nd edition) refer to Garou being violently allergic to vitae. If a Garou drinks vitae (or has it through another source, such as injection), roll the Garou's Rage, difficulty 5. Each success purges one point of vitae, along with any effects it would have. This includes preventing ageing and a step towards blood bonding. Keep rolling until either all the blood is gone, or the Garou botches their roll. Only if the Garou botches does the vitae remain, and then it is treated as normal. Vitae in living creatures is consumed by the creatures metabolism, as is the effects of the blood bond, being gradually eroded. Garou have a far more powerful metabolisms, and one point of vitae will hold off ageing for just one week before being burnt up. It takes one month for one step of the blood bond to metabolized. What about other shapechangers? Well those with Rage are treated the same as Garou. Nuwisha seem to have some immunity to vitae, as they cannot be embraced. They can happily guzzle vitae without any effect, either positive or negative. Ananasi convert vitae into their own unique blood type, in the process removing any of the special vampiric properties. Do vampire hearts ever beat? Yes, but only when they spend blood. This is completely unofficial, but a very cool idea. Creatures with really potent perceptual powers might even be able to hear it. What about sex? Vampires are physically capable of having sex, its just in general they don't enjoy it very much. Probably on account of not having hormones. Still, people get turned on by all sorts of things, so a vampire might well have a "sex fetish", after all there can be a lot more to it than just the physical pleasure. Drinking the blood of someone who is aroused might help to (since they do have hormones and those will end up in the vampire in the same manner as drugs). But aren't all the bodily fluids blood? No. If they were all vampires eyes and mouths would have either a) dried out or b) be bright red from blood. Since they aren't we can assume that they must be capable of generating clear bodily fluids. If Vampires deal with spirits, are they always Banes? No. Of the Middle Umbral Spirits generally only Banes will willingly work for Vampires. However much Thaumaturgy compels the spirits giving them no choice in the matter. Any spirit can be so compelled, although obviously they will tend to resent it. A few very rare Disciplines are exceptions to this, notably Ogham in the Dark Ages and Spiritus in modern nights, and nature spirits invoked through these powers are apparently neither forced or corrupted. High Umbral spirits aren't normally subject to the same prejudices about dealing with walking corpses and may deal with vampires if the Kindred can persuade them to. Indeed Demons are often all to keen to do so... Kindred of the EastWhat is rolled for balance? When rolling for Dharma with the Thousand Whispers, use the average of your highest and lowest virtue, from among Yin, Yang, Hun, and P'o. Thus, if you have 2 Yin, 4 Yang, 4 Hun, and 3 P'o, you'd roll 3 dice (average of high/4 and low/2). What happens with Kuei-jin in the Umbra? Ignore all the stuff about Hun for Gnosis and P'o for Rage, it seems silly to simply roll Hun for all Social and Mental rolls. Kuei-jin in the Umbra are physical beings, and follow exactly the same rules as Mages and Werewolves. That is use normal Attribute + Ability rolls, but add +1 to all physical difficulties. Kuei-jin are solid in the Umbra and can interact with spirits, they soak damage by rolling their Dharma scores. WerewolfHow does shapeshifter breeding work? OK, in general something like this.
Some races work differently (e.g. Nuwisha don't have Metis), if so it will be in the Werewolf Players Guide or the appropriate Breedbook. What happens when a female shapeshifter is pregnant? A Garou mothers body won't let them shapeshift into a form that will harm the baby. For the first trimester they can change however they like. After that they can only change into larger forms that would not harm the child. So a mother with a human/Homid baby could be in Homid, Glabro or Crinos, while one with a wolf/lupus baby could only be in Lupus, Hispo or Crinos. How do they recover Rage by seeing the moon? They get it back according to how full it is, the first time they see it that night. If the moon is the same as their auspice, they get it all back, if not
This isn't quite the same as the book, which has waxing and half at 3 and waning at 2. This seems a bit silly as a waning gibbous gives less than a waning half. As always a Garou seeing their Auspice moon get back their full Rage. What about other Shapeshifters? Those with a silver vulnerability have ties to Luna and get back Rage from seeing the moon. This is the Bastet, Ratkin, Gurahl, Nagha and Rokea. None, except Gurahl, have Auspices so they do not get the Garou advantage of regaining all their Rage under their Auspice moon. Mokolé and Corax have a closer tie to Hellos than Luna. They regain Rage from seeing the sun the first time during the day. They get back between 1 and 3 points depending upon how visible and bright it is, or 0 if its totally obscured by cloud cover. Nuwisha and Ananasi don't have Rage anyway. Can non-shapeshifters learn Gifts? Only shapeshifters and a few lucky (and living) Kinfolk can learn Gifts, they are the only ones with the right spiritual connection to be able to do this. Now other supernatural type can, even if they are Kinfolk. Some of the stats in Hengeyokai are different from the Players Guide, which is right? Hengeyokai for Nagah, and the Rokea use the bite damage, shark-skin and the Chasmus form Stamina of the Same-Bito the Players Guide had a few mistakes. Do vampires on Path ratings smell of the Wyrm? It depends on the Path in question. Paths such as Harmony or Self-Focus don't generally smell of the Wyrm if they are at high (7+) levels. Paths like Night or Typhon always smell of the Wyrm. Consider the vampire in question and how they act. Do they show compassion? Do they corrupt or destroy with good (to a Werewolf) reason? Do Demons and Infernalists smell of the Wyrm? Sort of, they will turn up on the Gift, at a higher difficulty. However the smell is rather different. While some Garou may not notice this subtlety it might give others cause for thought. The same goes for Specters and other servants of Oblivion, although the difference is less pronounced in such cases. Can a you use a melee weapon in Frenzy? Yes, under some circumstances. Using a weapon must be a natural thing for the character, they must have a Melee (or Klaive dueling) skill of at least 2 and it must cannot be more than one point lower than their brawl skill. Also the weapon must be in their hand and they can only make a basic attack with it. Basically they will smash stuff with the weapon, that's as refined as it gets, What's the deal with Klaive Dueling and the maneuvers? If you have a point in Klaive Dueling you can use all the maneuvers. Indeed, if you have a point in melee you can use them all as they are common to almost all human fighting styles as well. Klaive Dueling is a secondary Skill, so its cheaper to buy, it also provides knowledge about famous Klaives, dueling champions and dueling etiquette, but will not help with any other melee weapon. The Disarm maneuver in the Player's Guide is different from the on in the main book, which one is right? Use the one from the main rule book, otherwise its just too easy to disarm an opponent in a fight. Must Rage for extra actions expenditure be announced at the start of the turn? No, otherwise Garou vs. Garou fights become bluffing contests on spending Rage. A player can spend Rage during the turn for extra actions or to ignore a stun. However only Rage spent at the start of the turn for extra actions will add to the initiative roll (see above). If your spending Rage so you can dodge or parry an attack then you must announce this before the dice are rolled for the attack. Limitations for spending Rage still apply. Who is immune to the Delirium? Any living creature that isn't human, this includes animals and Bygones. Spirits are immune, even those emanations that appear like humans. Mages, Vampires, Wraiths and Reborn are all immune, as are Changelings unless they have forgotten themselves. Kinfolk are immune as are humans with 3 or more points in a single type of Numina. Most Ghouls and Kithain are effected but less susceptible, give them +3 on the Delirium chart. Ghouls with 3 or more points in Disciplines are completely immune. Fomori are susceptible unless they have the Immunity to Delirium Power, and most do. Familiars are immune, as is any natural inhabitant of an Otherworld such as an Umbral Realm. The Hakarr has different stats in the Bastet book and the Players Guide, which one is right? Use the Bastet stats, (Diff. 6 Str +4). Even that's rather generous, Hunga-Munga may look intimidating but they are primarily hunting weapons, not used in a melee. What Auspice is a Garou who is born during an eclipse? Whatever Auspice she would have been had the eclipse not happened (that is Ahroun for a lunar eclipse since they happen on the full moon) Can Wild West and Dark Ages Gifts be learnt in the modern age? Yes, although finding a spirit to teach them will be tricky. Also Gifts that draw power from or rely on the Storm Umbra won't work in the modern day, as there is no Storm Umbra. MageThis is based around mostly the Mage 2nd edition system and setting, since that is what I use, along with the Revised botch rules, initiative and bashing damage. Can the Spheres do things not listed under their description? Yes, in fact with the right levels in the spheres a Mage can do anything, except possibly violate some of the rules of magick itself like paradox. If the effect is not defined then the ST determines what level of what Sphere it should be, using existing effects as a guideline. How high do the Spheres go? Six as per Horizon, although the powers listed there are not the only ones available at that level. It costs 120 experience points for a level six sphere. Using one is not automatically vulgar and learning it does not stop you reaching Ascention. Damage Damage is calculated by the following formula:
As always, Forces adds one success, Mind deducts does bashing. For conjunctual Magick, take the highest Sphere level. Alternatively, to cut down on dice rolls, just halve the number of damage dice and round up, and take this as the number of health levels inflicted. Hitting If a target can dodge an attack, the it follows that the Mage can miss the attack. It is also rather unfair that the Mage has only their Arete pool to hit with, where the target has their Dex + Dodge. In a situation where the Mage could miss the target, the Mage rolls Perception + Sphere as their dice pool to hit. This happens at the same time as the Arete roll and does not require a split dice pool, or another action. It the Mage is using a Foci that must hit the target, she can substitute an appropriate Attribute + Ability roll for the Perception + Sphere roll, with the same rules applying. Typical rolls might be Dex + Do for a punch or Perception + Technology for a death ray. If they foci is also doing damage itself, such as a weapon or a blow, then the accompanying Magick will be fast casting with an appropriate penalty. This only applies if it is happening in a fight where the opponent is active as the Mage will have to quickly pick their moment to strike. The target may roll Dex + Dodge, the difficulty will depend on the availability of cover for ranged attacks, just like a firearms attack, or 6 for brawl or melee combat. Any power that directly affects the Mage. The Mage must have certain Spheres however. Generally the Mage must have at least one point in each of the Spheres that would be required to duplicate the effect in the same way. Without knowledge of the Spirit Sphere (or Dimension Science influence for Technocrats) all attempts to counter Gifts, Arcanos and Charms are at +1 difficulty. Hedge Magic and Thaumaturgy can be countered with basic countermagick, with no special Sphere requirements. Cantrips can also be countered without any special Sphere requirements. (For the record, Obfuscate does not affect the vampire using it, but the minds of those around it. Mind Magick will counter Obfuscate, but will only make things clear to the Mage, not reveal the vampire to anyone else.) For Cantrips are two different systems, one in the Mage book, and one in the Book of Lost Dreams. Use the ones in Mage p234 the Mage can roll either Willpower difficulty 7, or Arete difficulty 6 but not both. Creating Opposing Effects If the Mage cannot use basic countermagick she may still be able to oppose an effect by using Magick. If the mage can interfere with the power, or create the opposite effect then use the normal rules for opposition to determine who wins. Any power can be opposed if the mage if she has the right combination of spheres. Often more than one combination will do the job. However, this is a normal Magickal effect and therefore brings with it the normal risks of paradox. Against Gifts that get a spirit to do something, or Wraithly Arcanos, Spirit Magick can often be used to raise the Gauntlet or Shroud rating. Although this might in theory increase difficulty numbers it is often easier just to treat this as a normal opposed roll. Creating opposing effects should be treated as opposition. Sphere vs. Sphere countermagick This is replaced by opposing effects. The Mage creates an effect that will disrupt his opponents Magick, and it is resolved by standard opposition rules. This does require the Mage equal or beat the opponents initiative to pull it off in time. Who can coutermagic Magick? Hedge Magicians may counter True Magick if they have the counterspell ritual (WoD: Sorcerer p87), the roll is Wits + Occult difficulty 8. Mummies with a Buckle of Isis Amulet (Mummy 2nd edition p93) receive 5 dice countermagick. Other Amulet Wards will deduct success from magick is they protect what the magick is targeting. So an Ab Ward will deduct success from Mind magick and an Ujat Ward will deduct success from Life magick, or Entropy magick which targets the Mummy's body. Vampires can use the countermagic rules from the Vampire Storyteller's Handbook, page 164. That is they roll Thuamaturgy + Thuamaturgical Countermagic, difficulty the Mage's Willpower, with every two successes removing one of the Mage's. Tremere can also use the counter magick rules from Blood Treachery against Hermetic magick. In theory a Nagarajah might be able to do the same against a Euthanatos but its probably never been tried, Changelings may counter magick with Glamour difficulty 7. They usually gain a point of Banality for this, but may not do for countering some effects, usually technomagickal ones, at the ST's discretion. Rotes As presented in the Mage 2nd edition rules, rote are just example effects. Any Mage with the correct Spheres can perform the effect for the first time as easily as a Mage who has practiced the effect a hundred times. Also rotes are described as being teaching tools, a way for Mages to practice and learn new powers. A Mage may buy a rote with experience. The cost is equal to the number of Sphere levels in the rote. So the Spirit Blast rote (Force 3, Prime 2, Spirit 2) would cost 7 experience. Once bought a rote is at -1 difficulty to cast, provided it is cast in the way learned. This means that the Mage must use the same set rituals and foci in the same manner (i.e. do it by rote). If a Mage learns a rote with a foci, and that foci later becomes unnecessary, he must still use it with the rote to gain the difficulty modifier, although nothing stops him performing exactly the same effect without using the foci. The rote could always be bought a second time, this time without foci. Rotes were designed as ways to teach Mages, and that is there real benefit. If the rote is learnt from a teacher or library, one level in one Sphere of the rote may be one point higher than the Mage possesses (still limited by Arete). This represents the Mage slowly learning about the higher levels of Magick. When the Sphere in question is actual bought, one experience point is deducted from the cost, as the Mage has already had some practice with the Sphere. Rotes that contain a Sphere higher than the Mage possess are at +1 difficulty, as the Mage is trying to use something he has not yet fully mastered. For example, Bloodoak the Verbena has Arete 3, Mind 1 and Life 2. He wants to learn the Stirring the Blood rote (Life 3, Mind 1), and provided he has a source to learn from, may do so for 4 experience. Later, when he increases his Life sphere to 3, it costs him one less experience point. Affecting other Supernaturals with magick
What happens with direct Pattern Magick attacks that are described as unsoakable? These are described as unsoakable because they cause Aggravated damage which under the standard Mage rules cannot be soaked. The official ruling is that creatures that can soak Aggravated damage can soak these attacks. Under these house rules everyone can soak Aggravated under most circumstances including these attacks. How can magick be resisted? Any effect that do damage give soak (unless the target has a specific weakness). Direct effects that don't do damage can be resisted with Willpower, difficulty 8. Indirect effects may usually be dodged, although this requires the target be aware of the attack. All Mind magicks may be resisted with Willpower, difficulty 8 provided the target is aware of the magick. Remember, supernatural creatures get a Perception + Alertness (or Awareness, Primal-Urge or Kenning if they have it) roll to sense incoming magick. How much Quintessence can a Mage spend? Up to her rating in either Avatar or Prime, which ever is highest. The difficulty of a magick roll can never be reduced by more than -3, but more than 3 points can be spent to offset positive modifiers. When is Quintessence and Willpower spent for Arete rolls? Quintessence is always spent before the dice are rolled. Willpower may be spent either before for one automatic success or afterwards to negate a botch, but not both. Can a Mage be a Ghoul or a Revenant? Yes, but there are some problems. The only Disciplines they can learn are Potence, Celerity and Fortitude which are purely physical. The others are beyond them due the inability of Mages to work static magic. Prime 1 can turn one point of ingested vitae into Quintessence, as it can with normal blood. Why do some spirits have a Quintessence rating and a Power rating if 1 Power is 1 Quintessence? Beats me, add them together and let the spirits use Power as Quintessence. Spirits don't have Avatars as such, so spending Power for magick is limited by Prime. Remember no modifier can reduce the magick by more than -3. Does successful vulgar magick only ever gain 1 Paradox point? No, the ST can always award more for spectacularly vulgar effects. For extended effects 1 Paradox point per roll made is not unreasonable. It does always give 1 point though. How does dropping foci work? Tradition Mages may drop one foci for every point of Arete after the first. Mages normally drop foci for the Spheres in which they are most advanced. Tradition and Orphan Technomancers may drop one foci at Arete 5. They then drop two foci per point of Arete until they reach Arete 8. At Arete 9 and 10 they drop just foci. Members of the Technocracy may never drop foci. Craft Mages may drop foci purely at the ST's discretion. With exposure to other magickal styles a Craft Mage could drop foci as quickly as a traditionalist. On the other hand an isolated Craft Mage who remains locked in his own paradigm might never lose a foci. How does the Spirit Sphere work in the Umbra? Use the rules from the Book of Worlds, it effects Spirits (and Wraiths) as life and objects made of ephemera (or plasm) as Matter. So a Spirit could be healed with Spirit 3 and ephemeral object created with Prime and Spirit. The Gauntlet Crossing the Gauntlet is resolved at the normal difficulty of a magick effect, determined by the Sphere level. The Gauntlet rating determines the number of successes needed.
The presence of a Node can reduce the or increase the number of successes needed. Most Nodes reduce the difficulty for Spirit, but increase it for Dimensional Science. Technocratic nodes do the opposite. With Spirit 3, taking basic clothing and small items requires an additional success, taking large or bulky items require 2 additional successes. With Spirit 4 each additional person requires an extra success. Mages crossing the Gauntlet do not have to roll for damage, whatever there Arete or Permanent Paradox there are no Avatar Winds. What about Do? Use the rules from WoD: Combat, minus the mystical moves as they require magick. In essence it functions as Brawl but provides +1 Accuracy, +1 to damage and the special combat manoeuvres. Be sensible with the manoeuvres, deflecting bullets and other really outlandish things will require magick, although the Do manoeuvre may be a focus for it. Damage is rolled and not automatic. Funky Do attacks a magick, and require Spheres. What about Jhor? Ignore it. People mucking around with death magicks may pick up a resonance, but it requires no special rules it is purely a roleplaying thing. Can other supernaturals powers be used as coincidences? Only if the local consensus supports those creatures and the Mage could pass for one. Generally supernaturals either pay with unbelief like Bygones or can completely ignore the consensus like Garou. Even "semi-supernaturals" like Ghouls or Kinfolk can not try and pass magick off as some static power they might other wise have unless the local belief will support it. |