Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Spell: Ward (Space ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Athletics, Subterfuge, Weaponry
Space is mutable, until a magician wills otherwise. Cast on an area or individual subjects, this spell locks its subject down, preventing the space within from being manipulated. Magic that uses the sympathy of Warded subjects or attempts to warp Warded areas provokes a Clash of Wills. The mage is aware when one of her Wards is attacked.
This spell creates a barrier to bar the passage of other Space spells, closing a given locale out from remote sensing, teleportation, spatial tampering and the like. Effectively, this spell “locks” the current Space template of an area into place, making it difficult to overcome that inertia without considerable effort. The Ward effectively renders a person, place or thing immune to Space tempering, monitoring and the like until such time as the spatial barrier is overcome.
+1 Reach: The mage may specify a Key that allows use of Space magic on the Warded subject.
+2 Reach: The mage may cast Ward upon an Iris or its Key, preventing the Iris from opening while the Ward remains in effect. Supernatural powers opening the Iris provoke a Clash of Wills.
Spell: Ban (Space •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Intimidation, Science, Stealth
In the quest for self-knowledge, it is sometimes useful to cut oneself off from the outer world so that one can understand that the world is contained within. By means of this spell, the mage inverts an area of space, such that nothing inside the space can get out and nothing outside the space can get in. Try to step in and you find yourself on the far side, carried in a single step. Try to get out and you’re just stepping right back in again. Magic
that manipulates space, like a teleportation power or the ability to step from one world to another, provokes a Clash of Wills to allow ingress or egress. Even light and air can’t pass through: From the outside, the space appears to “lens” as the observer approaches it, as light jumps directly across the Ban. From inside, it’s an island of light in a vast sea of darkness.
Add Any Arcanum ••: Either exclude one or more phenomena under the Arcanum’s purview from the spell (for example, to let air or light through) or create a Ban that only prohibits phenomena under that Arcanum’s purview.
It should also be pointed out that you can choose not to sever an area off from the universal spatial fabric and impose a Ban that still shuts out a phenomena. A classic example would be casting a Ban that includes Fate and Mind but not severing his sanctum off from the world. Instead, the Sanctum clouds the minds of those trying to find the sanctum who bear the owners ill-will.
When combined with the appropriate dot of the Arcanum governing a given phenomenon, the Ban can prevent that phenomenon from entering an area at all, by any means. Thus, a mage with the right Arcanum knowledge could prevent insects (Life), metal objects (Matter), spirits (Spirit) or even people (Life) — or all four if he desired — from intruding upon a given location.
The subject of a Ban can be as general or specific as a mage wishes, ranging from “all energy” (meaning that the energy currently within the location remains there and no new energy can enter), to “thrown rocks” (meaning that rocks can be carried in, but those thrown at the space are repelled), to “Jerry’s albino boa constrictor, Lucifer” (which keeps that one snake, and only that snake, out). “All energy” might impose a –3 penalty (and require Forces), while “Jerry’s albino boa constrictor, Lucifer” might invoke no penalty and require Life.
They really Other spells that similarly shield someone in the manner of a Ward or Ban include:
Spell: Warding Gesture (Fate ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Brawl, Occult, Subterfuge
The mage creates a ward protecting the subject against supernatural effects that manipulate her fate — a geas, a supernatural compulsion to act against her will, or having her fate manipulated
by Fate magic or similar supernatural effects. Each attempt to change the subject’s destiny provokes a Clash of Wills with the mage. This spell has no effect on pre-existing alterations to the subject’s destiny. Additionally, the mage may selectively exclude the subject from any area-effect spell he casts. If cast on multiple subjects, this spell allows the mage to exclude each valid subject on a case-by-case basis.
+ 1 Reach: The mage can selectively exclude the subject from any spell she casts or any Attainment she uses.
+ 2 Reach: The mage may selectively grant protection from supernatural effects that target an area instead of individuals.
This provokes a Clash of Wills to exclude the subject from the effect, which the mage may automatically pass if protecting subjects from his own spells.
Spell: Wards and Signs (Prime ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Intimidation, Occult, Survival
By cloaking her subject in Aetheric symbols of victory and indomitably, the mage shields the subject from the effects of hostile magic. When the subject is the target of a spell, that spell is Withstood with the Potency of Wards and Signs. Only spells that directly target the subject can be
Withstood; a spell that turns the air around her into fire cannot be Withstood. Likewise, if the subject is one of many subjects, Wards and Signs only Withstands the spell with regards to her. Other subjects suffer the full effects
It should be noted that wards (little w: from the archaic use "to guard or protect") and bans (little b from the meaning "to restrict or a restriction") are nothing more an elaborations on the Apprentice Attainment of Mage Armor in spell form using the Practice of Shielding. Any shielding spell that does something applicably similar to a ward or ban could be called such. Take care not to confuse your players (like I do) by using little letter wards and bans with the spells Ward and Ban...
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Wards & Bans
My comments are in orange. We've had a lot of confusion about Wards & Bans. What they can do, how the old ones work verses how the new ones work. Common terminology is included and so forth. Most of the confusion has been my fault to date because of bad habits and loose definitions.
Sources: The original source material is from Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition. Also extrapolations from the original Mage: The Awakening corebook.
Spell: Ward (Space ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Athletics, Subterfuge, Weaponry
Space is mutable, until a magician wills otherwise. Cast on an area or individual subjects, this spell locks its subject down, preventing the space within from being manipulated. Magic that uses the sympathy of Warded subjects or attempts to warp Warded areas provokes a Clash of Wills. The mage is aware when one of her Wards is attacked.
This spell creates a barrier to bar the passage of other Space spells, closing a given locale out from remote sensing, teleportation, spatial tampering and the like. Effectively, this spell “locks” the current Space template of an area into place, making it difficult to overcome that inertia without considerable effort. The Ward effectively renders a person, place or thing immune to Space tempering, monitoring and the like until such time as the spatial barrier is overcome.
+1 Reach: The mage may specify a Key that allows use of Space magic on the Warded subject.
+2 Reach: The mage may cast Ward upon an Iris or its Key, preventing the Iris from opening while the Ward remains in effect. Supernatural powers opening the Iris provoke a Clash of Wills.
Spell: Ban (Space •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Intimidation, Science, Stealth
In the quest for self-knowledge, it is sometimes useful to cut oneself off from the outer world so that one can understand that the world is contained within. By means of this spell, the mage inverts an area of space, such that nothing inside the space can get out and nothing outside the space can get in. Try to step in and you find yourself on the far side, carried in a single step. Try to get out and you’re just stepping right back in again. Magic
that manipulates space, like a teleportation power or the ability to step from one world to another, provokes a Clash of Wills to allow ingress or egress. Even light and air can’t pass through: From the outside, the space appears to “lens” as the observer approaches it, as light jumps directly across the Ban. From inside, it’s an island of light in a vast sea of darkness.
Add Any Arcanum ••: Either exclude one or more phenomena under the Arcanum’s purview from the spell (for example, to let air or light through) or create a Ban that only prohibits phenomena under that Arcanum’s purview.
It should also be pointed out that you can choose not to sever an area off from the universal spatial fabric and impose a Ban that still shuts out a phenomena. A classic example would be casting a Ban that includes Fate and Mind but not severing his sanctum off from the world. Instead, the Sanctum clouds the minds of those trying to find the sanctum who bear the owners ill-will.
When combined with the appropriate dot of the Arcanum governing a given phenomenon, the Ban can prevent that phenomenon from entering an area at all, by any means. Thus, a mage with the right Arcanum knowledge could prevent insects (Life), metal objects (Matter), spirits (Spirit) or even people (Life) — or all four if he desired — from intruding upon a given location.
The subject of a Ban can be as general or specific as a mage wishes, ranging from “all energy” (meaning that the energy currently within the location remains there and no new energy can enter), to “thrown rocks” (meaning that rocks can be carried in, but those thrown at the space are repelled), to “Jerry’s albino boa constrictor, Lucifer” (which keeps that one snake, and only that snake, out). “All energy” might impose a –3 penalty (and require Forces), while “Jerry’s albino boa constrictor, Lucifer” might invoke no penalty and require Life.
They really Other spells that similarly shield someone in the manner of a Ward or Ban include:
Spell: Warding Gesture (Fate ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Brawl, Occult, Subterfuge
The mage creates a ward protecting the subject against supernatural effects that manipulate her fate — a geas, a supernatural compulsion to act against her will, or having her fate manipulated
by Fate magic or similar supernatural effects. Each attempt to change the subject’s destiny provokes a Clash of Wills with the mage. This spell has no effect on pre-existing alterations to the subject’s destiny. Additionally, the mage may selectively exclude the subject from any area-effect spell he casts. If cast on multiple subjects, this spell allows the mage to exclude each valid subject on a case-by-case basis.
+ 1 Reach: The mage can selectively exclude the subject from any spell she casts or any Attainment she uses.
+ 2 Reach: The mage may selectively grant protection from supernatural effects that target an area instead of individuals.
This provokes a Clash of Wills to exclude the subject from the effect, which the mage may automatically pass if protecting subjects from his own spells.
Spell: Wards and Signs (Prime ••)
Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Intimidation, Occult, Survival
By cloaking her subject in Aetheric symbols of victory and indomitably, the mage shields the subject from the effects of hostile magic. When the subject is the target of a spell, that spell is Withstood with the Potency of Wards and Signs. Only spells that directly target the subject can be
Withstood; a spell that turns the air around her into fire cannot be Withstood. Likewise, if the subject is one of many subjects, Wards and Signs only Withstands the spell with regards to her. Other subjects suffer the full effects
It should be noted that wards (little w: from the archaic use "to guard or protect") and bans (little b from the meaning "to restrict or a restriction") are nothing more an elaborations on the Apprentice Attainment of Mage Armor in spell form using the Practice of Shielding. Any shielding spell that does something applicably similar to a ward or ban could be called such. Take care not to confuse your players (like I do) by using little letter wards and bans with the spells Ward and Ban...
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