[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] The Mage Sights

 ((Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler))

IV.         The Mage Sights

a.    Peripheral Mage Sight (Sensorium Arcanum):

•           Sensorium Arcanum – Even without a spell a mage has innate senses about the world around them.  As their understanding of the Arcanum advances they start seeing more and more of the Supernal in the world around them.  The first dot of any Arcana grants a passive sensory ability that is always on.  All these sub-abilities are extensions of this ability flavored with the knowledge of a learned Arcanum.  These are inherent, passive abilities that represent an interplay between the Supernal, Fallen, and Supernatural worlds.  All abilities give the same general effect.  When a mage with certain Arcana is affected by or is near something within that Arcanum’s purview the mage gets a reflexive Perception Check (Wits + Composure) to notice subtle information.  A mage goes not need to bring up mage sights to study himself, he inherently knows when something within that Arcanum is acting on the self.  This allows mages to be able to counterspell so quickly after identifying the spell being cast upon them.  With all these subtle abilities spells of the same Arcanum can be used to veil what is detected.  Once again, these are passive, you cannot direct them to look for things, only notice things reflexively.  Disclaimer: These expanded abilities are not really an added Game Hack.  From the content of the Mage game books, examples or play, and nearly a decade of experience, we the STs of Mage II: The Dethroned Queen see these senses as self-evident and unwritten but inferred to by the reading material.

a.        “Pattern Recognition” (Prime 1) – Without an active spell the mage now has the passive ability to know the status of the active spells they control as well as the spells in the mage’s pattern.  The mage knows how full their pattern is and what is causing it.  They know if an enemy has placed a spell on the mage.  From there they can use Prime sight to identify and then dispel the active spell.  If something attempts to tamper with the mages soul they also know that their soul is being “touched” in some way.  A mage may also notice when they are near a Hallow or Leyline node by rolling Wits + Composure.  No specifics and no direction, you just can feel the whelming mystical energy nearby.

b.       “Source-Perception” (Forces 1)  – Without an active spell the mage knows when there is an focal point generating a force: electricity, electro-magnetic fields, heat, radiation, light, sound, kinetics.  Without a mage sight they get a reflexive Wits+Composure roll to notice these effects.  This may be an engine, a wifi device, a battery, fire, silent alarm, or a nuclear reactor.  Mages just know when they are near one (10 yards x Gnosis is again, a good metric.)  The ability doesn’t really get a direction sense, just knows when they are within an area where the density of produced forces is being created.  They also notice subtle but immediate changes in the ambient forces around them.  With a perception roll a Forces Mage can notice subtle vibrations in the ground, a change in the barometric pressure, the fields produced by a person’s watch or cell phone, etc. In the ancient past shamans would use this sense to know changes in the weather and was called “Storm Caller.”  With the advent of modern digital technology the amount of man-made forces has increased.

c.        “Ephemeral Insight” (Spirit 1) – Without an active spell the mage has the ability to know when a spirit is trying to apply the conditions Open, Controlled, Urged, or Possessed.  It may not know there is a spirit nearby except by Unseen Sense, but if the spirit attempt to mess with a mage’s pattern in a direct manner it pings for the mage so they can resist and cast spells to do something about it. If something attempts to tamper with the mages soul they also know that their soul is being “touched” in some way. With a Perception check they can detect when a Locus is nearby, the thickness of the Gauntlet where they are at, and any bald spots that are close by (Verges).

d.       Metabolic Awareness (Life 1) – Without an active spell the mage has the ability to know the living patterns of their own bodies.  They know their vital stats (everything from heart rate to stomach acid concentration) at any given time and can detect poison, toxins, and any damage as it occurs (with the Perception check).  With this knowledge they can exert meditation and breathing methods to exert some control over those processes, ST discretion on if they can alter their bodies’ involuntary processes without Life Magic spells and usually would require a Stamina+Resolve check.

e.        Know Thyself (Mind 1) – without any active spells a mage has the ability to know when someone is making contact with their mind and resist outside influences and make mental defenses (Wits + Composure to notice).  The brain of a Mind Initiate is already a highly organized maze, they can hide memories, move things around and create a wall within his/her surface thoughts.  Special veils can hide the intrusion but not what it interrupts and the mind resists anyway.  A mind mage is never surprised by a mental incursion and almost always get their –Resolve or Resolve + Composure resistances.  Mind mages have a lot of power over their own mind by use of autohypnosis and visualization…

f.        Backtrack (Space 1) – Without any active spells a mage has the ability to know how far they have traveled and what direction whether on foot.  From the time a mage gains the knowledge of Space they continually track their relative position.  Once a route is traveled they can always follow that same path back and no how far away it is and can do so blindfolded.  You also know changes in spacial reality around you such as doors to another realm, the other side of the planet, or just entered a Space Ban.  You don’t get specifics but you roll Wits + Composure to notice the change.

g.       Internal Clock (Time 1) – Without any active spells a mage can keep perfect time at all times.  Subjective amounts of time, strange dimensions, and time distortions do not interrupt the precision of the internal clock.  They can compare this clock with what goes on in the world around them to make measurements and determine the how time is different but they will need an external measurement such as a watch or Time Sight.  They know when time is different and if their time is somehow being altered with a Wits+Compsure sense.

h.       Norn Sense(Fate 1) – Without any active spells a mage knows when someone is attempting to tamper with their fate in some way.  Unless this attempt is Veiled with Fate or Unseen Spy the mage can sense the alteration.  This may also manifest when a powerful act changes something connected to you (Person, Place, or Thing) that wasn’t supposed to happen and alters their fate as a result.  By making a Wits + Composure check the Fate Mage may notice when someone nearby has a high density of Fate.

i.         Discernment – (Matter 1) – Without any active spells a mage has a good chance to notice when something isn’t real, to perceive falsehoods or illusions.  Mage makes a Perception check when looking or passing by something that should be made of Matter but is not.  The Matter mage knows more about Matter and its attributes to be deceived by Prime Illusions, tricks of the light, or canvas made to look as a wall.  This sense can also be used to detect that part of the wall that should be brick is actually plastic.  Lastly the Matter mage can detect that a substance they taste or smell is harmful to their patterns.  Having this ability does not protect the mage from being deceived by mental illusions which cause the mage to ignore the spot.

j.         Thanosthesia (Death 1) – Without any active spells a mage always notices when a Ghost or Undead being attempts to use influences, manifestations, or apply conditions on them.  They also can roll perception to try to detect a nearby Underworld Gate.

•           The Bubble – Peripheral Mage Sight has a subjective range but Gnosis x 5 yards is a fair benchmark if one is needed. This applies to the Sensorium Arcanum and Unseen Senses.

•           Unseen Sense (All) – This aspect of Peripheral Mage Sight allows a mage to reflexively roll Perception (Wits + Composure) any time a supernatural entity spends supernatural energy (Mana, Essence, etc) or uses any supernatural ability (spell, Numen, Gift, Discipline, etc).  Success means that the mage knows something just happened and the Sensorium Arcanum may be able to provide more detail but on the whole the mage doesn’t know what just happened beyond (supernatural something) or where the focus of this feeling is coming from.  It manifests as any number of sensory effects or feelings.  These sensations are usually not visual but some other sense and extend to beings in Twilight.

•           Beneath Notice – Any form of supernatural concealment or requirement for a Clash of Wills instantly and automatically defeats Peripheral Mage Sight.  The mage isn’t paying attention and will miss anything that has been masked.  Also the presence of a Supernatural entity does not trigger Unseen Sense, it is only when they use an ability of some sort. 

b.   Active Mage Sight (Practices of Knowing):

•           Opening the Eyes – Active Mage Sight are spells that open the mage’s senses to the interactions of the Supernal Truths all around them.  After the first Mage Sight other Mage Sights can be incorporated into the same spell for 1 Mana a piece.  The mage sees the world as symbols and hallucinations feeding raw information into the brain on everything relating to the applicable Arcana.  This lasts one scene.

•           More Proto-Spells – Similar to both conventional spells and the passive Sensorium Arcanum, Active Mage Sights are treated as one spell when multiple are activated.  Newly Awakened have no trouble stumbling onto how to use Mage Sights as an almost innate quality of being a mage.  These senses are very overwhelming and the flood of information can be maddening at first.

•           Seeing the Unseen – Active Mage Sights are made to defeat attempts to conceal or mask the supernatural.  Active Mage Sights allow their casters to see the Immediate Nimbus of another mage when they cast magic and can also see their auras and any active spells.  Different Active Mage Sights can also reveal things hidden like beings manifest in Twilight, invisible assassins that still displace air. It all depends on which sights are being employed and they can easily defeat attempts to mask or veil information.  If the concealment is directly opposed by one of the Active Mage Sights (such as Aura Perception and Obfuscate) it will ignite a Clash of Wills.

-         Abyssal Perception (Space 1, Spirit 1, Prime 1, Death 1) – allows a mage to detect the presence of Abyssal phenomena

-          Forensic Gaze (Death 1) – reveals what killed/is killing someone in detail

-           Speak with the Dead (Death 1) – allows the caster to perceive beings in Twilight and speak to ghosts there regardless of language

-          Soul Marks (Death 1) – reveals the relative health of a person’s soul

-          Interconnections (Fate 1) – reveals Sympathy between subjects and senses manipulations of fate and destiny

-          Synchronicity (Fate 1) – reveals cryptic events and random input that provides guidance from fate itself

-          Night Sight (Forces 1) – allows the mage to see in the dark using virtually no light

-          Outer Music (Forces 1) – reveals electromagnetic signals from outer space

-          Receiver (Forces 1) – allows the mage to hear sounds beyond normal volume or pitch

-          Tune In (Forces 1) – allows a mage to listen and see electromagnetic signals and data steams with an automatic decryption function for most signals.

-          Analyze Life (Life 1) – allows the mage to study and gain information on a lifeform

-          Sense Life (Life 1) – allows a mage to detect the proximity, size and type of lifeforms

-          Breach Point (Matter 1, Death 1, Space 1) – reveals hidden structural vulnerabilities in walls and barricades

-          Crafter’s Eye (Matter 1) – reveals damage, wear and tear on an object and how to fix it

-          Craftsman’s Eye (Matter 1) – discover the functions and how to operate any machine or device

-          Detect Substance (Matter 1) – reveals the presence and proximity of a desired material

-          Discern Composition (Matter 1) – reveals exact measurements and portions of materials and elements in a subject

-          Eye for Destruction (Matter 1, Death 1) – discern the weak points in a machine or lifeless subject

-          Find the Hidden Horde (Matter 1) – Reveals any hidden doors or empty spaces in a location.

-          Sense Poisons & Drugs (Matter 1, Life 1) – Reveals any deadly substances

-          Aura Perception (Mind 1) – Reveals Auras and emotional states of minds

-          Sense Consciousness (Mind 1) – Reveals sentience and sapience, including in Twilight

-          Detect Alien Mind (Mind 1, Prime 1) – Detects possession of minds from outside normal reality

-          Know Virtue/Know Vice (Mind 1) – Examine a person’s fundamental character

-          Analyze Enchanted Item (Prime 1) – Reveals what a supernatural item does and how it works

-          Paths of Power (Prime 2) – Reveals Leylines and locates the nearest one.

-          Detect Banisher (Prime 1) – Reveals the damage in the soul of a Banisher in relation to their Supernal Connection

-          Discern Phantasm (Prime 1) – Reveals illusions

-          Gauge Essence (Prime 1, Life 1, Death 1 or Spirit 1) – Reveals how much Essence is stored in an object or entity.

-          Angle Vision (Space 1) – Allows a mage to look around corners of send his vision outside his body.

-          Omnivision (Space 1) – Allows a mage to look everywhere at once.

-          Correspondence (Space 1) – Reveals the Sympathetic Ties between subjects

-          Finder (Space 1) – Allows a mage to flawlessly track an item in his immediate surroundings

-          Moving Target (Space 2, Time 2, optional Prime 2) – allows the mage to predict the movements and location of a subject over time.

-          Track Projectile (Space 2, Time 2 or just Space 2) – reveals the path and location of a high-speed projectile

-          Spatial Map (Space 1) – Provides a tactical map of an area from above

-          Alien Spotter (Spirit 1) – Reveals entities possessing or hidden in a subject

-          Exorcist’s Eye (Spirit 1) – Reveals entities possessing a subject

-          Spirit Tongue (Spirit 1) – Allows a mage to see spirits in Twilight and speak First Tongue with them.

-          Analyze Spirit (Spirit 1) – Reveals detailed information about a spirit

-           Peer across the Gauntlet (Spirit 2) – Allows a mage to look into the Shadow

-          Momentary Flux (Time 1) – Reveals butterfly effects in the immediate future

-          Perfect Timing (Time 1) – Allows mage to time actions to maximum effect

-          Precise Dating (Time 1) – Highly accurate dating of past events or subjects

-          Temporal Wrinkles (Time 1) - Reveals temporal disturbances

-          Time’s Mark (Time 1, and Life/Matter 1) – Accurately know age of subject

-          There are more examples of Active Mage Sights and while they use both the Practice of Knowing and Unveiling.  Many that require more effort than simply looking at the world around them require higher levels or Arcana or a legitimate spellcasting roll to determine its effects.

•           Sensory Overload – These data streams can be very distracting and while they affect sight the most all senses, including emotions are included.  No two mages see the world alike, the Supernal World is filtered through their souls and is biased as a result.  Mages using Active Mage Sight take -2 to all Attribute and Skill-based rolls due to distractions.  Also, after the first scene in which they are activated the mage must spend a Willpower Point per scene to keep the sights up.

C. Focused Mage Sight (Practice of Unveiling)

•           Digging Deeper - Focused Mage Sight is where the mage concentrates her awareness on a particular subject. The hallucinations and sensory artifacts deepen and become more obvious, which mages describe as seeing into the Supernal World.  It allows the mage to peel back the layers of resonance and meaning and go deeper and deeper into a subject for truths and meaning.

•           Sources of Power - Mana and other sources of magical power are now visible, and the Nimbus of other mages are visible all the time. Supernatural powers including attainments are visible, where only their effects were if covered by the Arcana earlier (for example, a Fire Spirit using its Influence to start a fire will show up under Forces in Active Sight, and both Spirit and Forces in Focused Sight).

•           Superlative Insight - Clash of Wills rolls to see through concealment effects of the Arcana involved now grant the Rote quality to the mage’s roll.

•           Scrutiny – The mage can take an Instant Action and concentrate on a subject to glean deeper insights.  The mage rolls Intelligence + Occult + 1 (if the applicable sight helps with what they are looking for) + Scrutiny Item Bonuses (Diamonds, glass, and other materials you see through grant bonuses on Scrutinizing things.  As long as the mage can stand to concentrate without taking any other action they can continue to do rolls and accumulate successes.  Successes on this roll cannot be accumulated unless Mana Shaping is used.  The mage can re-attempt to Scrutinize but losses the successes of the last attempt and takes an accumulative -1.

•           The Shape of Mana– The mage can release mana while Scrutinizing to see what shape, meaning, and resonance it assumes, being part of the Supernal World.  The mage can expend Mana per turn equal to what their Gnosis rating will allow and take any number of turns of sustained and uninterrupted concentration to expend as much as needed.  For each Mana expended the mage gains Automatic Successes to the Scrutiny rolls.  This allows the player/character to bid Mana with the Storyteller in addition to their roll, spending no more Mana then is required to uncover the truth or the clues about something’s nature. 

•           Plot Necessity– When using Mana Shaping to uncover deeper meaning, if the clues given by expending mana were necessary for the plot to advance the mage recovers all but 1 Mana at the end of the scene.  

•           Lost in the Truth – While using Focused Mage Sight the mage takes a -3 to all non-magical rolls.  The mage can only stand to use Focused Mage Sight for the number of turns equal to their Gnosis.  After that they must spend a Willpower Point every round beyond that in order to stand to continue soaking up Supernal imagery.

•           Burned into the Mind’s Eye – Using Focused Mage Sight is very intense and overwhelming and meant to be used in short bursts.  It takes deliberate and conscious effort to activate the sights and is quickly closed.  Things seen in their ultimate Supernal splendor are burned into the mind of the beholder forever.  Mages don’t need to roll to remember anything they saw using Focused Mage Sight.

•           Catching Notice – Sometimes when you peer into the Supernal World and see the truths behind everything you get noticed by the things that live there.  Mages may sometimes spot a Supernal Being (per the Summoners sourcebook) in its natural habitat without the need to have that being summoned.  If spotted the entity may spot the mage and will be able to affect the mage with its abilities until the mage drops their Focused Mage Sights.  Using Focused Mage Sight too often or two long increases your chances for getting unlucky or seeing things that hurt the mind or the soul.  Suffering Breaking Points from seeing too much is a common risk with using Focused Mage Sight.  Mages always encounter entities associated with their particular Supernal Realm.

•           The Many Flavors of the Tapestry – Each Arcana has a single Focused Mage Sight that helps a mage understand and scrutinize things within the purview of that Arcana:

-          -- The Grim Sight (Death 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110), perceiving the supernatural through the lens of Death. He sees the weight of death around a person — not his likelihood of death (unless the subject has a terminal illness), but how often he has rubbed shoulders (knowingly or not) with the dead or dying. Those who have suffered the loss of many loved ones or who have killed many people tend to bear heavy burdens. This sight also applies to things or places.

-          -- The Sybil’s Sight (Fate 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He detects the particular qualities a given mystic force has in its interactions with fate. Many describe the result as a “thickness” or “gravity,” a tangling of threads.

-          -- Read Matrices (Forces 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He can perceive energy and magical resonance, detecting the presence of all of the universe’s various forms of energy: heat, gravity, electromagnetism and the like, including the presence or absence of different sorts of radiation, such as x-rays or cosmic radiation, either visually or through tactile perception. An undiscerning mage might be fairly blinded by the overwhelming variety and sheer quantity of energy that moves around her at all times, unable to process the ever-shifting tapestry of power that is all but invisible to the untrained eye.  The mage is also especially aware of resonance’s energetic aspects and flow, its vibratory frequency and movement.

-          -- Pulse of the Living World (Life 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He is able to detect the presence of mystic vital animation in the area, effectively reading resonance as a function of reality’s living energies.

-          -- Dark Matter (Matter 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). This spell is especially good for reading resonance that is ponderous (“thick”, “sluggish” or “dense” as some have called it).

-          -- The Third Eye (Mind 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He senses when others nearby use exceptional mental powers, such as telepathy, psychometry or ESP, reading the telltale ripples left by the movements of exceptionally advanced thought. The mage can also read resonance, discerning the emotional and psychic qualities of it: the particular nuances of will, conscious or otherwise that went into creating it. He can feel the mental processes that went into creating the resonance (such as strong emotional states or a powerful exercise of will), effectively detecting its context within reality, the “why” behind the resonance.

-         --- Supernal Vision (Prime 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). This is the most potent of the resonance-detecting senses and the Storyteller should be lavish with its details, explaining intricacies of any given source of resonance that would likely be invisible to one using another Arcanum. Some details, however, are best analyzed with other Arcana (in the way that Matter is best suited to “thick” or “ponderous” resonances), or better still in conjunction with Prime. Many mages describe this sense as sight, though some claim to “smell” or “taste” lingering sorcery on a person or place. Others simply speak of a sixth sense or other esoteric perception that defies ordinary categorization.

-          -- Spatial Awareness (Space 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He can detect spatial distortions and manipulations. He is capable of discerning disturbances in the local fabric of space (typically caused by use of more advanced applications of this very Arcanum). He can detect when someone has altered the spatial axes of an area (for example, making a place larger on the inside than outside), used a location as the origin point or terminus for teleportation, or created (or overcome) a Space Ward (see below). This sense transcends the normal five senses, but most mages tend to understand it in terms of sight.

-          -- The Second Sight (Spirit 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He can also determine the Strength of the local Gauntlet (see “Gauntlet Strength,” p. 282).  This mage sight is good for peering at the resonance of spirits or spiritual activity.

-          -- Temporal Eddies (Time 1) - The mage gains the Mage Sight (see “Mage Sight,” p. 110). He perceives resonance through the way in which it “snags” things, people and events moving through the timestream, by the magnitude of its presence (in much the same way as scientists determine the presence of a black hole by witnessing the phenomena around it). He can also tell perfect time, anywhere, discerning the passage of instants with such clarity that his sense is more precise than even those most carefully maintained clock.