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More info?)
"Dragon Hammer" <dragonhammer@nospam.it> wrote in message news:<tqGRc.116261$5D1.5825981@news4.tin.it>...
> 1) I did never use Seasonal Play. Can't help you here.
Its XP, not the multiplier. Incidentally, I chose to shorten Seasonal
study for my own game to "any substantial bit of downtime."
> 2) For rotes we apply "house rules".
> I give 1 rote each one of them. A bonus of +1 rote if their INT is 4, +2
> rotes if their INT is 5. (very hard to explain or roleplay. Yes I do expect
> them to roleplay and explain their "5" attributes!). Usually at the end of
> the chronicle (or very long chapters), if there is some downtime (very
> often) I let them learn (or find) 1 rote (if they have the resources ... not
> automatically). My two cents.
"Officially," mages know all of the rotes in the core book. GttTrads
talks about how to get more.
Inicdentally, one thing I always wanted to eventually write up for
print was a system to modify the Sphere requirements for an Effect.
Make this an aspect opf "seasonal" study that requires an
Intelligence+Occult roll, difficulty 9, min 2 successes. Quintessence
or Library (but not both at the same time) can be used to reduce the
difficulty of the roll. The resulting successes allow you to ajust a
rote you can already cast so that it uses a different set of Spheres
that you also know.
Successes/Rank Adjustment
2/1
4/2
8/3
What this means:
You may use the rank adjustment to trade requires Sphere ranks in one
rote and assign them to another Sphere. You must (of course) be able
to justify the alternate Sphere choice. Once you alter the rote, you
may cast it in either form, gaining the rote bonus for each one. You
may also teach this rote to your apprentices.
*The rank 2 cutoff*
You cannot reduce a previously required Sphere below rank 2 without
the Storyteller's permission, and the redistributed ranks must be put
into another Sphere to raise it to at least rank 2. If none of the
reqiured Spheres are rank 2 or higher, you must transfer an extra rank
into another Sphere that you know.
*Mastery and Beyond*
transferring the 5th rank of a Sphere counts as transferring 2 ranks.
Archsphere ranks cannot be trasferred.
*Making Magic Harder*
Note that you can also *increase* the required rank of an Effect
without removing ranks from elsewhere. This is normally done for
arcane research purposes ("How do a make a nuclear reaction as faint
as candelight?") or to bedevil students or spies. Instead of using the
table, you can add one rank per success and even perform this on
multiple rotes, making your occult library a morass of overly complex
spells.
*Mythic/Ontic Requirement*
You may further reduce the difficulty of the roll by adding a foci
requirement that must be used to allow the rote to work at all. This
requirement trascends paradigm and is an innate part of the magic
because it draws on a Mythic Thread or harnesses an external
principle. If the foci requirement is especially arduous, you also
gain a free rank to transfer, assuming you succeed in reformulating
the rote. Bonuses are as follows:
Focus/Bonus
Focus is moderately inconvenient (a full turn of chanting in
unaccented Sumerian; Burning 10,000 dollars)/-1
Focus is very inconvenient (ritual human sacrifice; special access to
a nuclear reactor)/-2
Focus is incredibly incvonvenient (ritually sacrificing 100 red haired
men; getting 2 minutes of advertizing space in the Super Bowl)/- 2 and
bonus rank.
Example:
Mark Gillan wants to create magical explosions more easily. He knows
the traditional Hermetic Ignis rote (Forces 3/Prime 2). He spends a
season studying the Quintessence used in caasting Ignis to see where
exactly it comes from (spending 2 point) and meditating on the origins
of fire. His player rolls his Intelligence+Occult at difficulty 7 to
represent the season's work and gets 2 successes. Mark realizes that
he can easily find points of *potential* ignition using Entropy and
just needs to manipulate them, then "pump them up" with Prime.
He now knows a version of the Ignis rote that uses Forces 2/Prime
2/Entropy 2. Even though Mark's player transferred 1 rank, he must add
another to Entropy because the whole rote is only rank 2.
Thus, we have a system that allows mages to create the legacy rotes
you see in various books.
M.
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