[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] Yantras & Thaumaturgy Part 5/5

 ((Out of Character (OOC):

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

-          Sympathy Tools (aka Correspondences) (+1 Each) - Rather than defining the “what” of a spell, sympathetic tools define the “who” — the person, place, creature, or institution upon which the mage forces her will. She may have a person’s real name or a lock of her hair, a ghost’s anchor, a chunk of concrete taken from a building, or a company’s articles of incorporation. Whatever the case, sympathetic tools give her a much easier time working her subject into the spell’s imago. As such, a sympathetic link is always suitable as a Yantra against the specific individual.

1.       Each Tool that provides a Sympathetic link to the subject counts as a Yantra.

2.       While a mage must Sympathetic link to cast a spell on someone at Sympathetic Range, a mage does not need to have an understanding of the Space Arcanum in order to cast magic sympathetically.  If the caster has two dots higher than the requirement for a touch range spell or one dot higher than the requirement for a sensory range spell they can cast the spell sympathetically without Space. Sympathy Yantras can be used in these circumstances.

3.       Even if the spell cannot be cast Sympathetically, a Sympathetic Tool can still act as a Yantra for targets within sensory range.

4.       Sympathy Tools tend to be limited because they usually are only focused on a specific subject.  One can make a case that Sympathetic Tools can be used to create a Yantra for anything the mage can make a connection with.  A voodoo doll can be anyone the mage needs it to be for example.  For these reasons Sympathy tools don’t tend to last long and sometimes pull double duty as Sacraments.

-          Sacrament Tools - A sacrament is any magical tool symbolic of the spell in question that the mage destroys during casting. Many times — though by no means always — it also provides a sympathetic link to the subject of her spell. She may infuse bread with herbs and spices to make those who share the loaf work together smoothly. She may burn a man’s driving license and passport for a spell that removes him from government records. She may fire a male figure out of clay then crush it to powder when changing her body to match her gender. If she can find one of her enemy’s magical tools, she has both a sympathetic link and a sacrament for any spell that would hurt him. Some mages go further than finding or creating things to sacrifice during casting. Some engage on quests into the other realms of the Fallen World, leaving the flesh behind to uncover items with magical properties of their own. Destroying them during casting can make a spell flare with power. Particularly twisted mages kill animals and murder humans for the magical power. The surest way to kill a powerful enemy with magic is to sacrifice something close to him — a beloved pet, or a family member.

1.       Most sacraments grant a single die bonus. If the mage has to spend significant effort to find the right item or component, the bonus increases from +1 to +2, or +3 if the item comes from a realm other than the physical world.

2.       Using a blood sacrifice as a Yantra gives bonus dice equal to the amount of mana otherwise gained.

3.       Drugs and altered states of consciousness could be used as a Sacrament, a trip to get in tune with the mysteries.

4.       Extended Cast Spells requires some sort of a Sacrament Tool or the casting rolls all suffer a -1 penalty.

5.       Spell Components (Supernatural Merit: •••, ••••, or •••••) – You are a member of an Order and carry pouches of spell components in the form of herbs and substances to act as Sacrament Tools.  You always have what you need on hand to maximize the effectiveness of your workings.  Once per story you can spend your dots in Spell Components, and gain a +1, +2, or +3 on a single extended cast spell. This can stack with other correspondences worked into a spell but cannot exceed a +3 total.  These dots recover at the end of a story.

-          Correspondence Tools (+1 Each) – This is a category for tools used similar to Sympathy Tools but are broader than a specific target, representing ideas within the imago itself.  They are also similar to Sacrament Tools but they do not need to be consumed as part of the spell.  It is a catch all for the miscellaneous things that provide no additional benefit other than the Tool Yantra bonus and may have special rules involved.

1.       Arcana Tools – A subcategory of Correspondence Tools, these tools are attuned to each of the 10 Arcana.  They are mostly used to fill in gaps in a mage’s tool-set in Arcana that are not part of his Path or don’t represent aspects of their order.  Beyond that they carry no additional benefits.

2.       Magical Components (Supernatural Merit: • to •••••) An Apostate mages create components: symbols and occult techniques they can use to enhance their spells. This compensates for their lack of formal magical training, but learning to use them requires some tutelage — usually, rough and tumble tips from other indie mages.  Effect: The mage can perform special actions to add power to an improvised spell. The mage’s total Merit dots govern the maximum strength she can gather from the combined effect of multiple components, measured in component points. These components are limited to the number of Yantras that can be used by the mage.  Once gathered, component points can be expended in a number of ways different from regular Sympathy Tools:

a.       Base Components:

                                                                                                                                       i.      Art (+1-2 CPs) - The mage creates a work of art that acts as a physical extension of the spell’s imago. This can be a drawing, painting, sculpture, song, poem — any original work (though it can be a remix or cutup of somebody else’s art). It doesn’t need to be particularly good for a one-point bonus, but a two-point bonus requires exceptional success (5 or more) on the applicable Attribute + Skill roll.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Arcane Beats (+3 CPs) - The mage draws on his experience with the supernatural for inspiration instead of investing it through study and contemplation. Accordingly, the player spends one Arcane Beat to empower the spell.

                                                                                                                                   iii.      Ecstasy or Torment (+1-3 CPs) - The mage undergoes an intense mind-altering experience. She might experience significant (and perhaps impairing) effects from a drug, complete the spell at the moment of orgasm, or cast while suspended from hooks piercing her skin. At one point, the ecstatic experience is mild enough that it won’t seriously inconvenience the mage. At two points, it’s enough to inflict a mild disadvantage, such as a momentary –2 penalty to mundane dice pools. At three points, the ecstatic experience makes it difficult to perform any action other than spellcasting. It imposes a –4 penalty to mundane dice pools or an equivalent drawback.

                                                                                                                                   iv.      Performance (+1-3 CPs) - At one point, the mage dresses in a way that ritually invokes the spell’s power, or slaps together prefab artistic elements for display. At two points, the mage actually weaves the spell’s Imago into a performance. At three points, this performance must involve multiple participants or an audience of uninvolved bystanders.

                                                                                                                                     v.      Commitment (Mandatory) (+1 or -1 CP) - If the spell supports the mage’s stated ideology or other creed, add one to the total component points.

                                                                                                                                   vi.      Passion (Mandatory) (+1 or -1 CP) - If the spell would satisfy the character’s Sub-virtue Virtue or Sub-Vice.  If it does the opposite then subtract a CP.

                                                                                                                                 vii.      Repetition (Mandatory) (-1 CP for each) - If any of the spell’s components are reused in roughly the same form as before during the same chapter, reduce the total components gathered by one point for each reused component.

b.       Expending Component Points

                                                                                                                                       i.      Arcane Inspiration (-4-5 CPs): The mage can spend four component points to cast the spell as if he possessed one dot in an Arcanum he doesn’t possess — one dot higher than usual, or one dot in an Arcanum he doesn’t know at all. This cannot be used on the mage’s inferior Arcana. Five components for five dot or higher Arcana stuff. This cannot extend into Archmastery with regards to capabilities but could feasibly provide advanced spell factors.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Factor Bonuses (-1-5 CPs): If the spell succeeds, the mage can spend components to add additional spell factors after the fact, even if these were not originally entrenched in the spell’s Imago, on a one-for-one basis.

                                                                                                                                   iii.      Mitigate Combinations (-1-5 CPs): Reduces the mana cost for Combined Spells by 1 Mana per point spent.

•              Abstract Yantras – Stranger things, aligned with the way you think and the construction of your mind and how it is organized than anything physical.

-          Persona (+1-2) (Aka Magical Style) - Some mages invest in their shadow name, coming up with a whole new persona as a willworker, independent — or at least, significantly divergent — from who they were as a Sleeper. A persona binds her magical style, her personal mysteries, and her Shadow Name into an identity that, over time, leaves its mark on the Fallen World. By playing to this fictional persona, she can tap in to a level of Supernal sympathy. Her actions must play in to her personal story, her theme or concept.  Trying to cast a spell at odds with this Persona won’t work as a Yantra.

1.       Provides +1 to spellcasting works of magic aligned with your Shadow Named Persona and their personal story.

2.       Provides an additional +1 if your spell or intent is aligned with your Sub-Virtue or Sub-Vice.

3.       Additionally, if a spell meets ONE of the following criteria:

a.       Spell in caster’s Ruling Arcana

b.       Spell is a Rote

c.        Spell exploits use of the caster’s Merits (ie using Eidetic Memory to make a better memory altering spell)

4.       Then the spell may receive one of the following benefits after spending a turn incorporating the Persona Yantra.

a.       -1 to Mana Cost

b.       Receive a casting bonus equating to the Merit’s benefit of +1-3

c.        Reduce paradox by 1

d.       Remove a paradox dice trick for Sleeper Witnesses

e.         Applies a -2 to the paradox pool that has Sleeper Witnesses involved.

-          Cabal Symbolism (+1-5) – Same as Persona only this one draws upon your identity and role in your Cabal.  This may be the same or fundamentally different than their Persona.  The benefits are the same so long as you act within that role or within the symbolism of what your Cabal represents.

1.       Requires Cabal membership and the Ritual Synergy Merit for that Cabal at any level.

2.       Grants +1 to spellcasting that pulls upon your Cabal Role identity

3.       Grants an additional +1 for each additional Cabalmate present and also acting in their role.  This only works if the Cabal has fewer than 6 core members.

-          Magical Tradition (Supernatural Merit: ••) (See Magical Traditions sourcebook or Second Sight sourcebook) - Your character has studied a particular Sleeper occult tradition, its body of beliefs and spellcraft, and can glean special magical benefit from working within that tradition. Knowledge of a tradition itself is represented by the Academics or Occult Skill Specialty, while this Merit represents a special kind of knowledge available only to the Awakened that allows a mage to learn the rote spells of that tradition. Whereas Sleepers cannot evoke magical results from these rotes (although they might erroneously believe the spells do work in some unseen fashion), mages with this Merit can divine the Supernal echoes reverberating in the tradition’s myths and symbols, and so gain special magical benefit from them.

1.       Requirements: Occult 2, Specialty Skill in Occult of Academics for that magical tradition.  The merit can be bought multiple times for different traditions but can only be bought once for each point of Gnosis.

2.       Benefits:

a.       Sleeper Acceptance: When casting a MT Rote Sleeper witnesses do not add +2 or additional dice tricks for risking Paradox.

b.       Conditional Duration: Tradition rotes benefit from the Fate 2 “Conditional Duration” modifier. Even if the casting mage does not know Fate 2, he can incorporate a conditional duration into the tradition rote casting.

c.        Spell Tolerance Mitigation: Tradition rotes seem more tightly woven into the fabric of the Fallen World; they don’t cause as much mystical interference as other spells or rotes. The first tradition rote cast upon someone does not count toward that person’s Spell Tolerance. Any successive tradition rotes cast upon him will count normally — until the first spell expires, and then the next active tradition rote in line inherits its Spell Tolerance mitigation effect, and so. So, the first one is free, the rest levy a cost as normal.

3.       Drawbacks:

a.       Foci: The mage must use a culturally appropriate focus to cast the tradition rote.

b.       Environment: Some rotes require that the spell be cast at a particular time (midnight) and/or in a particular type of place (cemetery).

c.        Traditional Combinations: Tradition rotes cannot be cast as a combined casting with non-tradition rotes.

d.       Group Casting: All those participating in a group casting ritual must know the relevant Magical Tradition Merit (in addition to the usual Arcana requirements), although only the group leader must know the rote.