Sunday, December 6, 2015

[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] - Patches after Patchwork (Magic Tables)

(Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler))





Patches after Patchwork

It's a brand new day in Los Angeles.  Eos lies in a hospital bed surrounded by her friends and cabalmates.  She has yet to regain conscious. In the aftermath of the Story: Patchwork, run by Storyteller Hannah Nyland, its time to take stock of how Mage 1.9 is working.

I usually split hairs with a few things, mostly on the instant cast penalties for different spell factors.  So I made my own tables for the system.  I also finally came up with some guidance for how Temporal Sympathy works!  Definitely looking for feedback on that.  So here we go.

For our gunslingers of the mage game, a little something for your trouble:




Aiming Clarifications:

Aiming does not take an action anymore.  It is considered a Delayed action in which every turn the character waits and aims they gets an additional +1 to their next firearm’s checks (or weaponry for bows or thrown weapons).  This means that a character can decide to fire earlier if some outside stimulus without having to wait between turns spent aiming.  This effect stacks to +3 only unless specified by a power or merit.  While aiming the character must stand still to aim or deal with environmental penalties that usually cancel out the bonus provided.  Within the character’s turn in combat a character can sacrifice their movement action to aim a weapon before firing and get a +1 to the shot.  Scopes actually make this impossible and the character must rely on other sights built into the gun instead.

All the tables, here are my adjusted tables for Instant uses of magic:




a.    Spell Factors (Instant) Potency
Potency:                       Dice Penalty:
1                                  -0
2                                  -1
3                                  -2
4                                  -3
5                                  -4
+1 Potency                   additional -1 penalty
Every additional penalty of -1 adds another potency



b.   Spell Factors (Instant) Basic Area-Affecting
Area-Affecting Radius:                        Defined Volume:         Dice Penalty:
1-yard                                      5 cubic yards                           -0
2-yard                                      10 cubic yards                         -1
3-yard                                      15 cubic yards                         -2
4-yard                                      20 cubic yards                         -3
5-yard                                      25 cubic yards                         -4
6-yard                                      30 cubic yards                         -5
8-yard                                      40 Cubic Yards                       -6
12-yard                                    60 cubic yards                         -7
16-yard                                    80 cubic yards                         -8
24-yard                                    120 cubic yards                        -9
32-yard                                    160 cubic yards                       -10      
Double the yards                     Double the area      additional -2 penalty, or halve the area for an additional -1


c.     Spell Factors (Instant) Advanced Area-Affecting
Area-Affecting Radius:                        Defined Volume:         Dice Penalty:
1-yard                                      5 cubic yards                           -0
2-yard                                      10 cubic yards                         -1
4-yard                                      20 cubic yards                         -2
8-yard                                      40 cubic yards                         -3
16-yard                                    80 cubic yards                         -4
64-yard                                    320 cubic yards                       -6
128-yard                                  640 cubic yards                       -7
256-yard                                  1280 cubic yards                     -8
Double the radius                    double the volume                   additional -1 penalty


d.   Spell Factors (Instant) Targets
Number of targets:                   Dice Penalty:
1                                              -0
2                                              -1
3                                              -2
4                                              -3
6                                              -4
8                                              -6
12                                            -7
16                                            -8
24                                            -9
32                                            -10
Double the targets        additional -2 penalty or half the targets for a additional -1 penalty



e.    Spell Factors (Instant) Target’s Size
Size of Target              Dice Penalty:
20 or less                                 -0
21-25                                       -1
26-30                                       -2
31-35                                       -3
36-40                                       -4
41-45                                       -5
46-50                                       -6
51-55                                       -7
56-60                                       -8
61-65                                       -9
66-70                                      -10
+5 to size                                 additional -1


f.     Spell Factors (Instant) Duration (Transitory)
Duration of Table                    Real Time*                  Dice Penalty:
1 turn                                       3-7 seconds                 -0
2 turns                                     6-14 seconds               -1
3 turns                                     9-21 seconds               -2
4 turns                                     12-28 seconds             -3
5 turns                                     15-35 seconds             -4
6 turns                                     18-42 seconds             -5
7 turns                                     21-49 seconds             -6
8 turns                                     24-56 seconds             -7
10 turns                                   30-70 seconds             -8
15 turns                                   45-105 seconds            -9
20 turns                                  60-140 seconds            -10
+5 turns                                   +15-35 seconds          additional -1
*Combat turns are cinematic in nature and can take between 3 to 7 seconds per turn but mechanically do not apply to anything else.  The amount of time is fluid and treated as the same unit of time. 



g.   Spell Factors (Instant) Duration (Prolonged)
Duration of Table                                Dice Penalty:
One Scene/One hour                             -0
Ninety Minutes                                     -1
Two Hours                                           -2
Six Hours                                             -3
Twelve Hours                                      -4
Eighteen Hours                                    -5
Twenty Four Hours                              -6
Thirty Six Hours                                  -7
Two Days                                            -8
Three Days                                          -9
Four Days                                            -10
+One Day                                            additional -1



h.    Spell Factors (Instant) Duration (Advanced Prolonged)
Duration of Table                                Dice Penalty:
One Scene/One hour                            -0
12 Hours                                              -1
24 Hours                                              -2
36 Hours                                              -3
Two Days (48 Hours)                           -4
Three Days (72 Hours)                         -5
One Week (168 Hours)                        -6
Two Weeks (336 Hours)                      -7
One Month (720 Hours)                       -8
Six Months                                          -9
Indefinite OR One Year*                     -10
Double the Years                                 additional -1
*Inanimate Objects can have spells with indefinite durations on them, living things cannot



m. Spatial Sympathy

True Names: True Names are the full names of the subject given by its own lips in its correct and precise inflection or a full signature that has not been copied.  For living things this may degrade as their sense of identity changes or through cell regeneration (every seven years a person completely regenerates their cells and the remembered intonation or signature expires.  Generally a mage’s true name is their birth name in the way it was scrawled upon the Watchtower.  Objects that do not have a True Name do not inflict a penalty for sympathetic casting.  Sentient and sapient of the supernatural world have a True Name that is precise and elaborate and not usually the normal “go by” name.

Real Names: Similarly, sentient and sapient things have names that they “go by” that can count as a partial True Name or Real Name.  The first name of a person is considered a Real Name.  Specific scientific names or real names of plants and animals can also provide this bonus.

         Sympathetic Connection                               w/o Names | w/ Real Name | Object or w/ True Name
Sensory Range                                                                                     -0 | -0 | -0
Lovers/Cabalmates                                                                               -5 | -3 | -1
Intimate (Prolonged Physical contact)                                                    -6 | -5 | -2
Known (Friends seen often or have picture)                                           -8 | -6 | -4
Acquainted (Know the person, multiple visits)                                      -10 | -8 | -6
Encountered (Met once)                                                                       -12 | -10 | -8
Described (Description, details, names)                                           Impossible | Impossible | -10
Unknown                                                                                 Impossible | Impossible | Impossible
 Unknown (Archmaster Caster)                                                            -14 | -12 | -10



n. Temporal Sympathy

Temporal Sympathy is how connected to a moment in time of interest.  Fundamentally this works like Spatial Sympathy except the penalties involved don’t relate to Real and True Names but rather how intimately the caster is with the Exact Time in question, the Subject within that time, and the Place where the event occurred.  The penalty for each of these things is added up to get the total temporal value.  All of these are in relation to an Event that the caster is trying to interact with.

When it comes to the Subject of the casting, not knowing the True, Real, or partial name of the subject still hinders the casting.  -2 if they have a Real Name, -4 if they don’t even have that.

       Temporal Connection Relating to Exact Time of the Event of interest                
Level of Precision                                           Penalty
Witnessed the Event Personally                                   -0
Know the Exact Time Event Occurred (Second)           -1
Exact Time Accurate to the Minute                              -2
Exact Time Accurate to the Hour                                 -3
Exact Time Accurate to the Day                                  -4
Exact Time Accurate to the Week                               -5
Exact Time Accurate to the Month                              -6
Exact Time Accurate to the Year                                -7
Exact Time to the Decade                                           -8
Exact Time to the Century                                           -9
Anything less specific                                            Impossible


Temporal Connection Relating to Place where the Event occurred                
Level of Precision                                           Penalty
Caster witnessed the event and is at location          -0
Caster is currently at location when casting            -1
Intimate sympathetic connection to location            -2
Known sympathy to location                                  -3
Acquainted sympathy to location                            -4
Encountered sympathy to location                          -5
Described Sympathy to location                             -6
Location is unknown                                              -7


Temporal Connection relating to a Subject involved in the Event                
Level of Precision                                           Penalty
Caster witnessed the event with the subject              -0
Caster is with the subject at the time of casting         -1
Intimate sympathy with the subject                           -2
Known sympathy to subject                                      -3
Acquainted sympathy to the subject                          -4
Encountered sympathy to the subject                        -5
Described Sympathy to subject                                -6
Location is unknown                                               -7

Example: Chimera is at a murder scene.  She knows from other spells and her good sense that the murder happened in a matter of hours.  There are no bodies present but lots of blood.  She post-cogs the event and we check the Temporal Sympathy Tables:

Chimera didn’t witness the murder but she is present at the crime scene meaning a -1 penalty to the post-cog. She can’t narrow it down to the exact hour so she is at a -4 for that.  She also doesn’t have the people involved or know who they are, she has the blood from someone giving her an Intimate link to the victim BUT she doesn’t have a partial or True name so the penalties get out of hand (-4 -4 -1 = -9). 

However she changes the subject of the Post-Cog to the blood itself, making it so she can witness when it was shed, meaning she takes the -1.  Add the penalties up -1 + -4 + -1 for a total penalty of -6.  If that is still too much she could spend more time determining the more precise time of the event.







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