Out of Character (OOC):
The following is a conversion and upgrade of Ghost Mages as antagonists from Mage: The Awakening to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition. Sources: Ghost mages come right from Mage: The Awakening corebook.
Within the realm of the supernatural, all things are possible and all boundaries are shattered, even the boundary between life and death. Necromancers insist that when the soul dies, it loses that vibrant spark that makes Awakened magic possible, unless a mage finds a way to circumvent that boundary as well. Ghosts are driven by passions that sustain them beyond death. Some mages believe that a passion tied to a handful of spells, or even an Arcanum of magical influence, is strong enough to defy that very limitation.
A living mage possess the strength of will to pursue nearly any form of magic. A ghost capable of performing magic is limited to a handful of Rotes and spells, clinging to them like the earthly place it haunts. Unlike living mages, spectral mages have little or no free will. Instead, they demonstrate a ruthless tendency to protect or oversee the people or places that were important to them in life. These objects or people — the ghost’s anchors — are critical to the spectral mage.
Normally, the ghost mage uses the same powers that other restless dead possess (per CoW rules), but when its anchors are threatened, however, its instinct is to protect them with outright magic. This protection seems like a blessing, but it’s ultimately a curse.
A ghostly mage cannot affect its own anchors with magic. It can’t transform, alter, destroy or affect them in any way, and it cannot free itself by destroying of these connections. It can still use its Influence on its own anchors however, as per normal ghost rules. It also can, however, use its magic against anyone who tries to affect the things it protects. With Matter, it can manifest and recreate what has been destroyed. With Mind, it can weaken wills, recreate what victims once felt, or bring on episodes of insanity. If a ghost has command over Space, its influence can reach much further than a living occultist might suspect. Legends tell of modern ghosts exploiting advanced technology — televisions, cell phones, cursed videotapes and even the Web — to reach enemies who threaten them, no matter how far away targets flee.
As my good friend Lucas Powell pointed out (via Storytelling dealing with a powerful Ghost Mage), a ghost mage who is a Master of the Death Arcanum can add additional anchors to its founding ones. While then they can no longer be affected by its magic directly, the paradox that the ghost mage incurs can be inflicted on those anchors instead of the ones it really wants to protect. One of these Death Ghost Mages could perpetuate much longer and be much more active, effectively becoming impossible to banish to the Underworld so long as it leaves one of its anchors intact. And while the original anchors and protecting them are built into the very nature of why the ghost haunts the world in the first place (and it will still protect them the fiercest because it gives the ghost mage it's entire purpose), the artificially spell-created anchors forged by spells don't depend on the drive and emotional connection of the ghost and therefore the ghost mage has no compunction about using them for paradox fuel.
Destroying what you protect:
A ghostly mage’s anchors are well watched and carefully attended, but its presence has a corrupting influence. When the ghost uses magic to defend what it considers to be a threat to an anchor, any Paradoxes it suffers affect that anchor before it affects the ghost mage. The very people and places it protects risk the same fate as the deceased mage. If the ghostly mage died a violent death, those he protects may suffer a similar demise. When a mage dies through suicide, he might convince others to join him in death. Conflict with the outside world ironically leads the ghostly mage to destroy what it once loved.
An undiscovered ghostly mage can work this process more slowly. For all its good intentions, a darker shadow of the ghost’s psyche compels it to destroy the very bonds that sustain and anchor it. The people and places that anchor the mage degrade into dust and madness. The corrupting influence of a ghostly mage is far easier for a living mage to notice than it is for an unenlightened seeker of the supernatural.
What the Ghost Mage considers a threat to its anchors is up for interpretation. It may hound anyone who so much as lays eyes on one of its anchors, or spy on anyone associated with a person anchor, or kill any mage who witnesses or notices the effects of the ghost mage on the early.
Depending on its insanity-level of paranoia it may go out of its way to hide anything associated with its anchor, hide the anchor in incredibly hard to find. In the case of Lucas's particular Death Ghost Mage (great band title), the ghost sealed its anchor in a magically warded chest in the deepest Death Dominion it dared venture. This is not a common example, just an extreme case study.
Detecting & Destroying a Ghost Mage
The same methods that can destroy a ghost work on a ghostly mage. Spectral mages possess all the qualities (and the same basic of all ephemeral entities) that ghosts have, but their supernal magic and numbus is detectable by all means that reveal mortal mages and all forms of Active Mage Sight. Anyone possessing the same occult knowledge (or Arcanum) as the ghostly mage can recognize its magic for what it is (instead of mistaking it for a ghost’s powers).
Additionally, Any mage who is an Initiate of Death can see detect clearly, the ghost’s influence on the world, including the people and places to which it is anchored. Any mage not only have the insight to detect ghostly mages, but the countermagic to oppose them (if they have the correct Arcana).
A Ghost Mage can venture into the Underworld using spells or Anverian Gates and return to the Fallen World the same way as long as they have one anchor left. If all anchors are destroyed it is forced into the Underworld. The one exception to this rule is that if the ghost mage happens to be on another plane of existence (Hedge, Shadow, Astral, etc), it can remain there until it tries to return, at which point it is quickly banished to the Underworld without a source of Essense to sustain it. Once in the Underworld without an Anchor to the Fallen World, the ghost mage loses access to its magic and cannot return to the Fallen World. The spellwork that tied it to the phemeral world and the things it protects are gone forever.
As with all ghosts, the Underworld sustains them, allowing them more freedom to move and act than the living world and they have no trouble straying from their anchors. This goes for anchored and unanchored ghost mages. Ghost mages do have a nasty habit of sneaking out of the underworld, even after losing their magic and becoming a normal ghost, having spent centuries growing stronger and can wreak havoc until exorcised.
The Creation of a Ghost Mage:
The existence of such horrors is merely a sign that true magic, like true evil, is not limited by the reality we know. Death itself cannot necessarily limit the power — or the danger — of magic.
Ghost mages are not playable characters. They do not gain experience when they haunt the world and are locked in a fixed state. They don't really learn or gain new understanding. They can only be what they are, an echo of magic in the world. Also, Numina are a Storyteller construct because they lack balance or rigor in design as player-driven mechanics.
Much like other ghosts, ghost mages are usually the result of dying an especially sudden or traumatic fashion, which tends to be more common in mage deaths than regular people. The resultant ghost mage is intelligent, sometimes very malevolent, with power over whatever kind of calamity killed them. Ghost mages are still rare, and automatically stronger and more independent than the majority of the restless dead. Ghost mages still feed on Essence, a spiritual energy created by the memories and emotions that build up in their Anchors and are fed directly to them when they are remembered by the living.
Advantages
Vice & Virtue: Switch places.
Wisdom: Is in a fixed state at the time of their death. They cannot take any action that would commit a Wisdom Sin. If they are somehow forced to do something (like protect their anchor) that forces them to cause a Wisdom sin they make checks as normal and can suffer degeneration and have no normal means of resolving the Conditions that come from a Wisdom loss.
When wisdom hits 0, they don't become one of the Mad and their souls don't crack (they don't have them). They do tend to lose all concept of morality and are not responsible with magic in any meaningful way. They also tend to burn out their Anchors in short order, hastening their banishment to the Great Below.
Fate: Per the optional Fate system in Chronicles of Darkness (CoW) corebook, all ghosts have a fate of "Forgotten," as they will eventually forgotten by anyone who missed them and their anchors will decay, eventually forcing them into the Underworld.
Attributes: (You can use the Rank table to determine how strong you want the ghost to be or convert the ghost mage's attributes from what they had in life)
• Power: Equal to the higher of Intelligence or Presence for mages, or just Intelligence for others. Used for Intelligence, Strength, and Presence tasks.
• Finesse: Equal to the higher of Wits or Manipulation for mages, or just Wits for others. Used for Wits, Dexterity, and Manipulation tasks.
• Resistance: Equal to the higher of Resolve or Composure for mages, or just Resolve for others. Used for Resolve, Stamina, and Composure tasks.
Rank: Associate the Rank of the Ghost Mage with with the ephemeral entity table and its current Attribute levels and caps. Even though ghosts are usually Rank 0-1, ghost mages will usually be at least rank 2 and no higher than rank 3.
Other Traits
Corpus: Resistance + Size (usually 5), doesn't take wound penalties.
Willpower: Resistance + Finesse, with a maximum of 10 dots if less than Rank 6. Regains one willpower point every 24 hours.
Defense: Defense is equal to Power or Finesse, whichever is lower, except for Rank 1 spirits which use the higher of the two Attributes.
Armor: All ghosts have General Armor equal to their Rank.
Physical Attack: All ghosts do bashing damage using their Rank as a damage bonus. They can only harm the physical world if they use their magic to gain a body of some kind or have the Materialize Manifestation. They can attack other ghosts in Twilight however.
Speed: Speed is equal to Power + Finesse + a species factor (usually 5)
Language: Rank 1 ghosts can’t communicate verbally; they don’t have enough of their sense of self left to employ language. Rank 2 and higher ghosts know whichever languages they knew in life.
Path Tools: All ghost mages can manifest their Dedicated tool as part of their being, it no longer helps with Paradox or Yantra.
Skills: If the skill is something the ghost mage should be good at, then roll Rank + Attribute is rolled.
Bane: Ghost mages usually have a Bane relating to the way they died or the objects involved.
Ban: The ghost cannot directly affect its own anchors by any means. It can only call upon its Arcana if its spells are in defense of its Anchors, but this is up for interpretation (if the ghost can rationalize it, it may work). Simultaneously, they always inflict paradox backlash on their Anchors due to their subconscious desire to destroy the things they care most about.
Essence: They use Mana like Supernal Beings and Mages but they harvest Essence the same way as Ghosts and its converted into Mana when it enters their body. They cannot harvest Mana in any other way unless they can do so using their Arcana. They can use Mana in any way that other ephemeral beings use Mana.
Anchors: Dependent on the ghost mage but assigning the number of Anchors when the mage dies equal to what it's Rank will be. These are things that are emotionally charged by the mage in life and the ghost mage will do almost anything to protect them.
Abilities
Manifestations: They have the Twilight Form automatically and the number of additional Maniestations equal to their Rank.
Influences: Instead of Influences, a ghost mage retains all dots in its Arcana it had in life. Instead of using Gnosis + Arcana they roll Power + Finesse. They treat using these Arcana the same way the handled spells, paying Mana as needed. If a spell risks Paradox the ghost mage must attempt to contain the spell as backlash but any damage or conditions the ghost mage would normally suffer are instead inflicted upon one of its anchors. It has the ability to designate which anchor will take the harm inflicted.
Numina: The ghost mage has the number of Numina limited by its Rank (see table in corebook). These can be anything a ghost would have and may not have anything to do with magic. They will be all the power a ghost mage has it can use when its finally banished to the Underworld.
Rotes and Praxis spells may manifest as Numina. Arcana points can be traded for more of these spell-like Numina but can't be used to increase Arcana. Praxes retain their ability to gain Exceptional Successes with only three successes. Rote Spell Numina add the ghost's rank to the roll.
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
Ghost Mages
The following is a conversion and upgrade of Ghost Mages as antagonists from Mage: The Awakening to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition. Sources: Ghost mages come right from Mage: The Awakening corebook.
Within the realm of the supernatural, all things are possible and all boundaries are shattered, even the boundary between life and death. Necromancers insist that when the soul dies, it loses that vibrant spark that makes Awakened magic possible, unless a mage finds a way to circumvent that boundary as well. Ghosts are driven by passions that sustain them beyond death. Some mages believe that a passion tied to a handful of spells, or even an Arcanum of magical influence, is strong enough to defy that very limitation.A living mage possess the strength of will to pursue nearly any form of magic. A ghost capable of performing magic is limited to a handful of Rotes and spells, clinging to them like the earthly place it haunts. Unlike living mages, spectral mages have little or no free will. Instead, they demonstrate a ruthless tendency to protect or oversee the people or places that were important to them in life. These objects or people — the ghost’s anchors — are critical to the spectral mage.
Normally, the ghost mage uses the same powers that other restless dead possess (per CoW rules), but when its anchors are threatened, however, its instinct is to protect them with outright magic. This protection seems like a blessing, but it’s ultimately a curse.
A ghostly mage cannot affect its own anchors with magic. It can’t transform, alter, destroy or affect them in any way, and it cannot free itself by destroying of these connections. It can still use its Influence on its own anchors however, as per normal ghost rules. It also can, however, use its magic against anyone who tries to affect the things it protects. With Matter, it can manifest and recreate what has been destroyed. With Mind, it can weaken wills, recreate what victims once felt, or bring on episodes of insanity. If a ghost has command over Space, its influence can reach much further than a living occultist might suspect. Legends tell of modern ghosts exploiting advanced technology — televisions, cell phones, cursed videotapes and even the Web — to reach enemies who threaten them, no matter how far away targets flee.
Destroying what you protect:
A ghostly mage’s anchors are well watched and carefully attended, but its presence has a corrupting influence. When the ghost uses magic to defend what it considers to be a threat to an anchor, any Paradoxes it suffers affect that anchor before it affects the ghost mage. The very people and places it protects risk the same fate as the deceased mage. If the ghostly mage died a violent death, those he protects may suffer a similar demise. When a mage dies through suicide, he might convince others to join him in death. Conflict with the outside world ironically leads the ghostly mage to destroy what it once loved.
What the Ghost Mage considers a threat to its anchors is up for interpretation. It may hound anyone who so much as lays eyes on one of its anchors, or spy on anyone associated with a person anchor, or kill any mage who witnesses or notices the effects of the ghost mage on the early.
Depending on its insanity-level of paranoia it may go out of its way to hide anything associated with its anchor, hide the anchor in incredibly hard to find. In the case of Lucas's particular Death Ghost Mage (great band title), the ghost sealed its anchor in a magically warded chest in the deepest Death Dominion it dared venture. This is not a common example, just an extreme case study.
Detecting & Destroying a Ghost Mage
The same methods that can destroy a ghost work on a ghostly mage. Spectral mages possess all the qualities (and the same basic of all ephemeral entities) that ghosts have, but their supernal magic and numbus is detectable by all means that reveal mortal mages and all forms of Active Mage Sight. Anyone possessing the same occult knowledge (or Arcanum) as the ghostly mage can recognize its magic for what it is (instead of mistaking it for a ghost’s powers).
Additionally, Any mage who is an Initiate of Death can see detect clearly, the ghost’s influence on the world, including the people and places to which it is anchored. Any mage not only have the insight to detect ghostly mages, but the countermagic to oppose them (if they have the correct Arcana).
A Ghost Mage can venture into the Underworld using spells or Anverian Gates and return to the Fallen World the same way as long as they have one anchor left. If all anchors are destroyed it is forced into the Underworld. The one exception to this rule is that if the ghost mage happens to be on another plane of existence (Hedge, Shadow, Astral, etc), it can remain there until it tries to return, at which point it is quickly banished to the Underworld without a source of Essense to sustain it. Once in the Underworld without an Anchor to the Fallen World, the ghost mage loses access to its magic and cannot return to the Fallen World. The spellwork that tied it to the phemeral world and the things it protects are gone forever.As with all ghosts, the Underworld sustains them, allowing them more freedom to move and act than the living world and they have no trouble straying from their anchors. This goes for anchored and unanchored ghost mages. Ghost mages do have a nasty habit of sneaking out of the underworld, even after losing their magic and becoming a normal ghost, having spent centuries growing stronger and can wreak havoc until exorcised.
The Creation of a Ghost Mage:
The existence of such horrors is merely a sign that true magic, like true evil, is not limited by the reality we know. Death itself cannot necessarily limit the power — or the danger — of magic.
Much like other ghosts, ghost mages are usually the result of dying an especially sudden or traumatic fashion, which tends to be more common in mage deaths than regular people. The resultant ghost mage is intelligent, sometimes very malevolent, with power over whatever kind of calamity killed them. Ghost mages are still rare, and automatically stronger and more independent than the majority of the restless dead. Ghost mages still feed on Essence, a spiritual energy created by the memories and emotions that build up in their Anchors and are fed directly to them when they are remembered by the living.
Advantages
Vice & Virtue: Switch places.
Wisdom: Is in a fixed state at the time of their death. They cannot take any action that would commit a Wisdom Sin. If they are somehow forced to do something (like protect their anchor) that forces them to cause a Wisdom sin they make checks as normal and can suffer degeneration and have no normal means of resolving the Conditions that come from a Wisdom loss.
When wisdom hits 0, they don't become one of the Mad and their souls don't crack (they don't have them). They do tend to lose all concept of morality and are not responsible with magic in any meaningful way. They also tend to burn out their Anchors in short order, hastening their banishment to the Great Below.
Fate: Per the optional Fate system in Chronicles of Darkness (CoW) corebook, all ghosts have a fate of "Forgotten," as they will eventually forgotten by anyone who missed them and their anchors will decay, eventually forcing them into the Underworld.
Attributes: (You can use the Rank table to determine how strong you want the ghost to be or convert the ghost mage's attributes from what they had in life)
• Power: Equal to the higher of Intelligence or Presence for mages, or just Intelligence for others. Used for Intelligence, Strength, and Presence tasks.
• Finesse: Equal to the higher of Wits or Manipulation for mages, or just Wits for others. Used for Wits, Dexterity, and Manipulation tasks.
• Resistance: Equal to the higher of Resolve or Composure for mages, or just Resolve for others. Used for Resolve, Stamina, and Composure tasks.
Rank: Associate the Rank of the Ghost Mage with with the ephemeral entity table and its current Attribute levels and caps. Even though ghosts are usually Rank 0-1, ghost mages will usually be at least rank 2 and no higher than rank 3.
Other Traits
Corpus: Resistance + Size (usually 5), doesn't take wound penalties.
Willpower: Resistance + Finesse, with a maximum of 10 dots if less than Rank 6. Regains one willpower point every 24 hours.
Defense: Defense is equal to Power or Finesse, whichever is lower, except for Rank 1 spirits which use the higher of the two Attributes.
Armor: All ghosts have General Armor equal to their Rank.
Physical Attack: All ghosts do bashing damage using their Rank as a damage bonus. They can only harm the physical world if they use their magic to gain a body of some kind or have the Materialize Manifestation. They can attack other ghosts in Twilight however.
Speed: Speed is equal to Power + Finesse + a species factor (usually 5)
Language: Rank 1 ghosts can’t communicate verbally; they don’t have enough of their sense of self left to employ language. Rank 2 and higher ghosts know whichever languages they knew in life.
Path Tools: All ghost mages can manifest their Dedicated tool as part of their being, it no longer helps with Paradox or Yantra.
Skills: If the skill is something the ghost mage should be good at, then roll Rank + Attribute is rolled.
Bane: Ghost mages usually have a Bane relating to the way they died or the objects involved.
Ban: The ghost cannot directly affect its own anchors by any means. It can only call upon its Arcana if its spells are in defense of its Anchors, but this is up for interpretation (if the ghost can rationalize it, it may work). Simultaneously, they always inflict paradox backlash on their Anchors due to their subconscious desire to destroy the things they care most about.
Essence: They use Mana like Supernal Beings and Mages but they harvest Essence the same way as Ghosts and its converted into Mana when it enters their body. They cannot harvest Mana in any other way unless they can do so using their Arcana. They can use Mana in any way that other ephemeral beings use Mana.
Anchors: Dependent on the ghost mage but assigning the number of Anchors when the mage dies equal to what it's Rank will be. These are things that are emotionally charged by the mage in life and the ghost mage will do almost anything to protect them.
Abilities
Manifestations: They have the Twilight Form automatically and the number of additional Maniestations equal to their Rank.
Influences: Instead of Influences, a ghost mage retains all dots in its Arcana it had in life. Instead of using Gnosis + Arcana they roll Power + Finesse. They treat using these Arcana the same way the handled spells, paying Mana as needed. If a spell risks Paradox the ghost mage must attempt to contain the spell as backlash but any damage or conditions the ghost mage would normally suffer are instead inflicted upon one of its anchors. It has the ability to designate which anchor will take the harm inflicted.
Numina: The ghost mage has the number of Numina limited by its Rank (see table in corebook). These can be anything a ghost would have and may not have anything to do with magic. They will be all the power a ghost mage has it can use when its finally banished to the Underworld.
Rotes and Praxis spells may manifest as Numina. Arcana points can be traded for more of these spell-like Numina but can't be used to increase Arcana. Praxes retain their ability to gain Exceptional Successes with only three successes. Rote Spell Numina add the ghost's rank to the roll.
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