Out of Character (OOC):
My comments are blue regarding my reviews of the system and my own personal recommendations for use in our Chronicle. These are significant changes to the item merits. As with other changes they are elegant and greatly mitigate the overpowered nature of the magical item systems in Mage: The Awakening.
Sources: The Merit as written, straight out of the advanced "beta" version of Mage: The Awakening 2nd edition. The Imbued Item example I converted is from our current campaign and straight out of the Reign of the Exarchs sourcebook and adapted from our first conversion (1.9 rules).
Imbued Item (•+, Special) Merit
Effect: An Imbued Item is an item storing a spell that does not have an indefinite duration, and Mana with which to cast that spell.
Activation - When creating an Imbued Item for your game, choose a spell. The item contains that spell, and a user (even a Sleeper) may trigger the spell if she knows the method of triggering. The method is usually a simple word or gesture, but the creator can make it as complex as he wishes. The spell always requires at least one point of Mana; if the spell would require Mana, use that amount. If it would normally not require Mana, it requires one point.
Use - When a user triggers the spell, the player rolls to cast it with a dice pool of the spell’s Arcanum rating plus the user’s Gnosis (if Awakened). This means you get a one Free Reach, always used to make the spell instant, meaning you get no free Reach.
Dot Rating - Each dot purchased reflects one dot worth of the spell the item contains. If a spell uses multiple Arcana, use the highest to determine the cost for this Merit.
Utility Attainments - Including a Utility Attainment in a spell effect (for example, an Imbued Item that can cast at Sympathetic Range) increases the cost by one dot for each Attainment included. Only Attainments that affect the imbued spell can be imbued.
Mana - By default, an Imbued Item has a single point of Mana. Points in this Merit (in excess of those required by the imbued spell) purchase a “battery” of two additional Mana each. This Mana can only be used to cast the spell within the item. Recharging the Mana reserves requires Mana and one hour per point. While an Imbued Item may only possess one triggered spell, the Merit is not limited to the normal five dots, because of this battery effect.
Paradox - Imbued Items can be used to cast spells that risk Paradox. Awakened users can spend the item’s Mana instead of their own to mitigate Paradox, but only up to the limit imposed by their Gnosis. Paradoxes from an Imbued Item cannot be contained, instead automatically releasing.
Errata: Imbued Items use their user's Gnosis-derived Paradox dice for Paradox, or 1 die per Reach if used by a Sleeper or Sleepwalker
Adding Arcanum dots - You may have additional dots of Arcanum built into the item at the cost of one dot each. Doing so increases the spell casting pool and gives more than the static reach.
Example Imbued Item:
The Clarity Room (Version 3.0)
(Imbued Item OOOOO OO 7 Dots)
Mana Capacity: 5/5
Description: Powerful spell built into the angles of the walls, the position of the window, the shade of paint and the shape of the door. Wits + Gnosis or Perception with Mage Sight (especially Mind) to notice. The spell consumes one Mana every time it is used.
*DATA MASKED* rolls 10 to activate it, he can do this instantly and multiple times or do a good clean hack by doing an Extended casting in form of a long conversation. Usually he uses Reach to make the spell last longer if its necessary.
History: This room, built into the council chambers 30 years ago by *DATA MASKED*
Activation - All a Key'd User has to do to activate the room’s spell is to say the words, “So I understand that you have a few problems,” and then to talk about how the Seer would like the recipient of the spell to reform his behavior.
Use - When activated, the user rolls 5 + the user's Gnosis (if they have it) and is withstood by Resolve.
Dot Rating - Base cost 4 dots for Mind 5 "Psychic Reprogramming" + 2 dots of Mana Battery + 1 for the Key'd Utility Attainment = 7 dots.
Mana Battery - Base of 1 Mana in the item + 2 dots of Mana Battery (2 points of Mana each) = 5 Mana storage total
To Notice: Everyone’s unseen sense goes off. Mind 1 will know right away with a Perception roll, alternatively they can roll Wits + Gnosis but must beat the successes of the spell on one of these checks.
Mind 4 “Psychic Reprogramming”
Mages create Imbued items using the Prime 4 "Imbue Item" Attainment:
The mage can infuse an item with magic, creating an Imbued Item. Imbued items are granted a single spell. In effect, whoever wields the imbued item gains the benefits of its spell, even though she did not necessarily cast it. See the Imbued Item Merit.
The mage can imbue an item with any spell she is capable of casting. Imbued items retain their magic indefinitely; a spell cast using an imbued item might run out, but the imbued item itself does not. Attainments may only be included if they modify a spell; for example, mages can imbue items with spells using Sympathetic Range, but may not imbue an item with Mage Armor or the ability to create Rotes.
The spell imbued into an item remains in the item’s creator’s spell control, even if the item only casts that spell when activated. If an imbued item casts its spell multiple times, however, it still only takes up one spell control “slot.” Most mages relinquish spells after they have imbued them, but if the Mage retains control over an item’s spell, she may alter its spell factors when the item casts it, and even cancel it as though she cast it herself. By spending Mana equal to the item’s rating, a mage can destroy an imbued item she retains spell control over, no matter where it is.
System: The player must spend Mana equal to the rating of all Arcana used in the spell. For instance, if the mage were to Imbue the Death 4 spell Enervation into a ring, it would cost her four points of Mana. If she cast a combined spell to imbue the item, combining Enervation with the Life 2 spell Mend (creating an object that would weaken one living creature and heal the wielder), the Mana cost would be six Points.
Dice Pool: Gnosis + Prime
Action: Extended (required successes = (Arcana dots in all imbued spells) x 2, one hour per roll)
Cost: See above
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
The Imbued Item Merit
My comments are blue regarding my reviews of the system and my own personal recommendations for use in our Chronicle. These are significant changes to the item merits. As with other changes they are elegant and greatly mitigate the overpowered nature of the magical item systems in Mage: The Awakening.
Sources: The Merit as written, straight out of the advanced "beta" version of Mage: The Awakening 2nd edition. The Imbued Item example I converted is from our current campaign and straight out of the Reign of the Exarchs sourcebook and adapted from our first conversion (1.9 rules).
Imbued Item (•+, Special) Merit
Effect: An Imbued Item is an item storing a spell that does not have an indefinite duration, and Mana with which to cast that spell.
Activation - When creating an Imbued Item for your game, choose a spell. The item contains that spell, and a user (even a Sleeper) may trigger the spell if she knows the method of triggering. The method is usually a simple word or gesture, but the creator can make it as complex as he wishes. The spell always requires at least one point of Mana; if the spell would require Mana, use that amount. If it would normally not require Mana, it requires one point.
Use - When a user triggers the spell, the player rolls to cast it with a dice pool of the spell’s Arcanum rating plus the user’s Gnosis (if Awakened). This means you get a one Free Reach, always used to make the spell instant, meaning you get no free Reach.
Dot Rating - Each dot purchased reflects one dot worth of the spell the item contains. If a spell uses multiple Arcana, use the highest to determine the cost for this Merit.
Utility Attainments - Including a Utility Attainment in a spell effect (for example, an Imbued Item that can cast at Sympathetic Range) increases the cost by one dot for each Attainment included. Only Attainments that affect the imbued spell can be imbued.
Mana - By default, an Imbued Item has a single point of Mana. Points in this Merit (in excess of those required by the imbued spell) purchase a “battery” of two additional Mana each. This Mana can only be used to cast the spell within the item. Recharging the Mana reserves requires Mana and one hour per point. While an Imbued Item may only possess one triggered spell, the Merit is not limited to the normal five dots, because of this battery effect.
Paradox - Imbued Items can be used to cast spells that risk Paradox. Awakened users can spend the item’s Mana instead of their own to mitigate Paradox, but only up to the limit imposed by their Gnosis. Paradoxes from an Imbued Item cannot be contained, instead automatically releasing.
Errata: Imbued Items use their user's Gnosis-derived Paradox dice for Paradox, or 1 die per Reach if used by a Sleeper or Sleepwalker
Adding Arcanum dots - You may have additional dots of Arcanum built into the item at the cost of one dot each. Doing so increases the spell casting pool and gives more than the static reach.
Example Imbued Item:
The Clarity Room (Version 3.0)
(Imbued Item OOOOO OO 7 Dots)
Mana Capacity: 5/5
Description: Powerful spell built into the angles of the walls, the position of the window, the shade of paint and the shape of the door. Wits + Gnosis or Perception with Mage Sight (especially Mind) to notice. The spell consumes one Mana every time it is used.
*DATA MASKED* rolls 10 to activate it, he can do this instantly and multiple times or do a good clean hack by doing an Extended casting in form of a long conversation. Usually he uses Reach to make the spell last longer if its necessary.
History: This room, built into the council chambers 30 years ago by *DATA MASKED*
Activation - All a Key'd User has to do to activate the room’s spell is to say the words, “So I understand that you have a few problems,” and then to talk about how the Seer would like the recipient of the spell to reform his behavior.
Use - When activated, the user rolls 5 + the user's Gnosis (if they have it) and is withstood by Resolve.
Dot Rating - Base cost 4 dots for Mind 5 "Psychic Reprogramming" + 2 dots of Mana Battery + 1 for the Key'd Utility Attainment = 7 dots.
Mana Battery - Base of 1 Mana in the item + 2 dots of Mana Battery (2 points of Mana each) = 5 Mana storage total
To Notice: Everyone’s unseen sense goes off. Mind 1 will know right away with a Perception roll, alternatively they can roll Wits + Gnosis but must beat the successes of the spell on one of these checks.
Mind 4 “Psychic Reprogramming”
Practice: Patterning
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: Resolve
Suggested Rote Skills: Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion
The mage rewrites the subject’s personality, changing the very essence of who she is. The mage may change one of the following aspects of the subject for each Potency of the spell: Virtue, Vice, Short-Term Aspiration, Long-Term Aspiration, Obsession, a non-Physical Persistent Condition, or may move one dot between two Social Skills, or between two Mental Skills.
Essentially Each level of Potency can affect a single aspect of the subject’s fundamental psychic makeup, such as turning a friendship into a rivalry, making the target fall out of (or into) love, or making him follow a new career calling.
Guardians of the Veil use this rote to deal with those individuals whose interference cannot be addressed in any way save but to completely alter who they are. By doing so, Guardians preserve life (either out of necessity or personal ethics) and still protect the Mysteries. They call it "Mindscaping" and their Rote uses the Persuasion Skill.
+ 1 Reach: The mage may also move dots between two Social Attributes, or two Mental Attributes per Potency of the spell.
+ 1 Reach: The spell is Lasting against Sleepers and uses the Advanced Duration Table on Mages and other Major Templates.
The mage can infuse an item with magic, creating an Imbued Item. Imbued items are granted a single spell. In effect, whoever wields the imbued item gains the benefits of its spell, even though she did not necessarily cast it. See the Imbued Item Merit.
The mage can imbue an item with any spell she is capable of casting. Imbued items retain their magic indefinitely; a spell cast using an imbued item might run out, but the imbued item itself does not. Attainments may only be included if they modify a spell; for example, mages can imbue items with spells using Sympathetic Range, but may not imbue an item with Mage Armor or the ability to create Rotes.
System: The player must spend Mana equal to the rating of all Arcana used in the spell. For instance, if the mage were to Imbue the Death 4 spell Enervation into a ring, it would cost her four points of Mana. If she cast a combined spell to imbue the item, combining Enervation with the Life 2 spell Mend (creating an object that would weaken one living creature and heal the wielder), the Mana cost would be six Points.
Dice Pool: Gnosis + Prime
Action: Extended (required successes = (Arcana dots in all imbued spells) x 2, one hour per roll)
Cost: See above
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