Scion & Mage:The Awakening

[Seeker1728]

Over the spring this year I began to explore Scion2E alongside of Mage: The Awakening. It'd been quite some time since I did anything with WoD since 2003, and the entire CoD line was new to me. TBH, at first neither much appealed to me as I entered reading them with preconceived expectations and biases, but when my employer shut their doors for a couple of months I had a lot more free time than normal and decided to set aside my bias of old habits and pick up the books with fresh eyes. I'm very glad I did, both lines are very compelling and interesting.

I'm particularly partial to Storypath, and after discussing things with my players who are keen on playing MTAW, I pitched the idea of using Scion/Storypath at them. All of them had been reading the various SP titles and the idea was met with a good deal of enthusiasm, unfortunately right now all of us are dealing with the flipside of the lockdown earlier in the year where our spare time is less available than usual.

So trying to be a little strategic in managing it, I was wondering if I could lean on the community's wisdom for any things I should be particularly attentive to in moving MTAW into Storypath systems? I.E. any incompatibilities, or best practices to render MTAW concepts within SP's systems, etc.

[Stupid Loserman]

You're biting off a lot to chew here.

The Storytelling System used by Mage is primarily balanced around binary resolution. Either a roll succeeds or fails, with little gradation. There are occasional exceptional successes, and dramatic failures that mostly occur by player decision, but the fundamental mechanic is dice modifiers that increase or decrease the likelihood that at least one of the dice will roll a successful number. Storytelling System mostly doesn't care how many. If it's a huge number it's exceptional, but there's functionally no difference in an average roll between rolling one 8 or three 8s. What it cares about is the likelihood of any 8s.

The Storypath System is primarily balanced around gradation. Whether an action is successful is not a question of whether any dice beat the target number, but whether enough dice beat it. Entire systems are built around subdividing the effects of your roll into stunts, each with their own cost in successful dice. One of Storypath's major mechanics, enhancements which are effectively "free successes" added to a roll that already beats the base difficulty, is vanishingly rare in the Storytelling System outside of weapon modifiers.

In Storypath you beat a base difficulty and then count out a budget of successes which your traits add to. In Storytelling the difficulty is always 1 and your number of successes is deliberately not a major factor in the outcome of your roll. Mage: the Awakening Second Edition was deliberately designed around this structure, boiling all spellcasting down into dice bonuses or penalties with a binary result.

That's where you start. Eye every mechanic with the knowledge that Storytelling is trying to have almost no gradation and Storypath is trying to have gradation everywhere. I'm not personally sure it's worth the effort necessary to do it right.

[Mateus Luz]

It’s not Mage: The Awakening, but it may be a kick start to your idea.

Hermetic Magic from Ars Magica to Storypath

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3hwaem623crdnv/Hermetic%20Magic.pdf?dl=0

[Aristarkos]

I have tinkered on and off with trying to adapt Mage the Awakening to Storypath as faithfully as possible but as Stupid Loserman says, it is way easier said than done and possibly not worth the effort.

One alternative is to use what already exists in Storypath. You could look at the freeform magic system in Scion: Marvels (Scion: Hero, page 236-239). Instead of Purviews you have the ten Arcana from Mage, instead of Spending Legend you spend Mana and Boons can simulate Rotes. The players do not buy individual dots in the Arcana; they either access it or they don't. Gnosis is what is used to dispense more Arcana to a character as well as higher maximum Mana to fuel their spells and it can only be raised through completing Long-term Aspirations. You also don't roll to see if the spell succeeds in this system, you just spend a magical resource and it activates automatically.

I know it is not nearly as deep or dynamic as Mage spellcasting but I think its relative simplicity is elegant and usable. It could be worth trying as a less time-consuming alternative to playtest a full on conversion and it might give your group ideas for how to proceed with a system of your own.

[wyrdhamster]

I was in OP general situation - being MtAw Storyteller by whole decade - and I simply went with running Scion 2E over Mage. It's because Scion ALREADY do what Mage can, in more logical and graduate way. Let's see:

• Magic - In Scion, you have Purviews ( static ) and Marvels ( dynamic) magic. Lighter magical system than Mage, but really enough.
• Graduate initiation of characters - starting Scion character is not 'know it all, Mary Sue' of Mage. Character also ( seems ) to be much more manageable on high Tier game. ( I was having this problem in Adept and Masters game in MtAw 2E - but Scion 2E not tested still for that. )
• MUCH lighter setting - using God's as source of PC powers made Patrons much easier to grasp than Paths & Orders. Whole Consillia, Orders and Legacies are crazy in build-up comparing to The World as such. Not too mention 'Consillium worth Mysteries' now. Scion just need good starting scene - and we are kicking chronicle.
• All New Weird and mythical settings elements, Atlantis included ( See Scion 2E Companion - Mysteries of the World book ) - You can literally rip of your game plots from real world myths. Books even encourage it!
• Actively supported gameline, with supplements coming twice a year, not once a three years like in MtAw. Mage the Awakening is sooo much big game, it needs supplements. However, gameline is semi-dead.
• Great Storypath mechanics. Storypath is great. Storypath is really next Storytelling system of MtAw.

Really, Scion 2E is Mage the Awakening 3.0, in disguise.

[Seeker1728]

So this was really useful feedback to get, my humble and sincere thanks to all 4 of you. This helps me dial in a lot more on what I need to focus on, let go of, consider for inspiration. Definitely a time saver, makes juggling the other projects I've got pinned on the wall a lot closer. Dumping the rest of my book budget into the Scion stuff as a result of this.

Stupid Loserman Wow...thanks!!! All night last night I was wrestling with this notion and couldn't put my finger on what was bothering me about the idea but after reading your post, there it was.As i read your post I /facepalmed because I should've seen exactly what you pointed out and completely agree with you. Why i didn't clue into that myself is beyond me, damn trees blocking my view of the forest I guess. (sky parts, sunshine falls upon me choir sounds) You saved me and mine a heck of a lot of headache nipping the idea in the bud, much kudo to you sir.

Mateus Luz Interesting I'm going to run this by my group in our upcoming zoom call. Definitely gave me a batch of ideas.

Aristarkos I'm going to have to give that another read, lot of rule clutter inside my head from cramming the two systems and it's various source books. But I like the suggestion and will give it a more thorough consideration. Thank you for the suggestion.

wyrdhamster Ok, glad to see I'm not the only one who was thinking this way. That very notion was bouncing around in my head while at work last night (hadn't had a chance to check the forums until this afternoon) and wondered if maybe I should just make a clean system break and use Scion2E "pure" without "translating" MTAW elements/mechanics into Scion. Given your particular history, I was wondering if you'd care to offer your opinion on the following:

My group's interest in MTAW was largely based in they liked the theme of it much better than MTAC's (i.e. pursuing mysteries, risks of hubris, pursuit of power, etc), the Ascension War was never much of a hit with them. Forgive a somewhat clumsy attempt at putting into words the gist of the discussion: Basically they really liked the mood of mystrey, hidden world of magic beneath the ordinary and co-habitation with other critter-folk of the CoD line. Your reply makes me think I can port all of that over, I just have to do the various critter themes (i.e. Vamps, Ferals, Magi, etc) Scion's way. Not to seem needy or imposing too much upon your time, but is there anything off the top of your head from your experience fall under the 'don't bother' heading? I.E. don't bother with Exarchs or Seers, Here's how to do Mage Sight, etc?

Or if anyone else who feels inclined to share thoughts/suggestions/ideas on how you would represent Seers, the Pentacles, etc in Scion? I.E. use them as inspiration and don't port over directly or can be ported over but most likely done through certain channels? No need for specifics (unless you want to, always grateful to look at how other people do this sort of thing), like how would I portray npc mages? Or am I mixing peanut butter and taco seasoning thinking of it this way?

[Maitrecorbo]

It might come out too late to matter for your game but there is an upcoming book titled Saints and Monsters that will look into sorcerous traditions in scions setting.
There wont be much similar to mage the awakening in terms of setting since scions and mage takes different approach to their lore but it could still prove very useful for a magic and sorcery themed game.

[milo v3]

One thing worth noting is that supernatural powers are far less frequent in scion compared to mage. In scion, things like Marvel's are once per scene powers. While spells can be used at will and get thrown around a lot.

[Mateus Luz]

Seeker1728 thanks. I would love a feedback, even if just a few comments on what you used from it. I haven’t had the chance to run it properly, only a few tests of the magic system.

The system based in Trinity, not Scion. It’s close but different and may impact in the char gen, the way Specialities work and the fact there is no Edges in Scion.

[Manbat]

One of Storypath's major mechanics, enhancements which are effectively "free successes" added to a roll that already beats the base difficulty, is vanishingly rare in the Storytelling System outside of weapon modifiers.

Not strictly on topic, but just to clarify, enhancements are add to a roll if you get at least one success, not necessarily after you reach the difficulty of the roll (Scion Origin, pg. 64). Enhancements can be used to reach the difficulty of a roll, so they are much more useful.

[wyrdhamster]

Seeker1728 , in both games you can easily do ‘Hidden World’ idea. You can also do this in Hunter: The Vigil, I may add. To me, whole question about MtAw vs Scion comes to this choice – You want your game as ‘Pulp with a bit Dark Themes’ or ‘Dark with a bit Pulpish Themes’? First one is Scion, second one in MtAw. It comes with edition changes – MtAw 2E is double down on it’s themes such as ‘power corrupts, responsibility of power, magic destabilize reality and uncovering mysteries’. It’s distance itself with themes of ‘ancient civilizations and myths recreations’, compared to 1E MtAw. Scion 2E, in comparison, is very much lighter on those things, going with things in spirit of MtAw 1E more. I understand those changes when running ‘Secrets of the Ruined Tample’ game in MtAw 2E rules, few years ago.

Putting elements of MtAw in Scion context we have this comparisons:

Exarchs – They role as ‘bad deities wanting to rule the world’ in Scion nicely takes Titans. See Titanomachy book for making their more nuanced that ‘Norse Giants at the gates’. General Gods of Pantheons are much more direct take on the Oracles of Mage.

Mage Sight – In MtAw 1E I LOVED this game element. In 2E I got a big problem with it. Thing is 2E Mage is about uncovering Mysteries. But Mage Sight mechanics let you brute force it, almost any kind of Mysteries. From setting perspective, any Adept and Master mage can easily unravel Consillium creating Mystery. To say it’s needless mechanics – is not overstated. In Scion, on the other hand, you have nice and easy ‘Scent the Divine’ Knack, that even pre-Visitation Scions can have access. It’s simple, easy to use, and very flavor one.

Mysteries & Obsessions – Here is another large difference on themes between MtAw and Scion. Mage sets itself on the theme of uncovering Mysteries ( which 2E Mage Sight mechanics not working good with ) and responsibilities of magic – and Obsessions that get’s from there. Scion puts itself on mythological journey of Deeds to Godhood. One is much more ‘mystery investigation with super powers’, another is ‘mythological journey with super powers’. MtAw has mechanics of Obsessions, Scion has mechanics of Deeds – but they work ( mostly ) the same.

Hidden World – Both games do Hidden World tropes nicely. Only MtAw goes with much more literal interpretation – and vanilla ( main line ) Scion 2E goes with ‘on sight, but separated’. Scion 2E assumes that Pantheon gods never left Earth – but also they did not interfere in humans lives at large and stick to ‘secret’ realms of Terra Incognita. On the other hand, vanilla Scion 2E points that mythical beings - centaurs, amozons, etc. - are all visible to anyone seeing them. Myself, I have a problem with setting logics on this interpretation and use simple setting hack called ‘Gods in Hiding’ – that makes Gods a more distanced from humanity in game, compared to vanilla setting. It’s partially based on Myth Levels mechanics shown in Scion Companion – Mysteries of the World, which I also advise to look into. Scion 1E had the setting much more like Chronicles of Darkness main line, so you can look for inspirations there also.

Astral Space – Only thing I really missed in Scion, was MtAw Astral Space. In reality, it was already there, but not pointed nicely in Origin book text. Just see our topic on recreating Astral in Scion – it’s already there!

To sum up, MtAw is complex and (somehow) grim setting, with need to built a lot of chronicle setting beforehand by Storyteller. Scion is similar in many premises, only it’s much more action adventure and lighter in world building. In the end. I much more prefer simply to run Scion, stealing some ideas and supplements from MtAw gameline, because it’s simply more fun. 😎

[Kyman201]

One thing I want to clarify:

One thing worth noting is that supernatural powers are far less frequent in scion compared to mage. In scion, things like Marvel's are once per scene powers. While spells can be used at will and get thrown around a lot.

While TECHNICALLY true that Marvels are once per scene, it's important to remember that BOONS are not limited by scene and rather are limited by how much Legend you have. I confess to knowing precisely zip about Mage so I don't know how magic works in it, but you may be able to use the framework of Marvels to have more general effects and remove the scene limit.

Other mechanics to keep in mind:

Complex Actions - These can represent intense researching and whatever crazy projects Mages have cooking in their workshops (dunno if that's a thing in Mage but if not it should be), of which Crafting projects are a subset of. Rather than coming down to one roll, Complex Actions (especially Crafting) are resolved by achieving a number of Milestones until the project is complete.

Oh also, there's a book in development called "Saints and Monsters" which I believe will cover the rules for various schools of what Scion calls Sorcery, which will probably be a huge asset to Mage-style shenanigans.

[Seeker1728]

It might come out too late to matter for your game but there is an upcoming book titled Saints and Monsters that will look into sorcerous traditions in scions setting.
There wont be much similar to mage the awakening in terms of setting since scions and mage takes different approach to their lore but it could still prove very useful for a magic and sorcery themed game.

Interesting, thanks for mentioning that, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that.

One thing worth noting is that supernatural powers are far less frequent in scion compared to mage. In scion, things like Marvel's are once per scene powers. While spells can be used at will and get thrown around a lot.

Hrm, thanks for pointing that out, I missed that on my initial read.

Seeker1728 thanks. I would love a feedback, even if just a few comments on what you used from it. I haven’t had the chance to run it properly, only a few tests of the magic system.

The system based in Trinity, not Scion. It’s close but different and may impact in the char gen, the way Specialities work and the fact there is no Edges in Scion.

Mateus I really like Trinity, in fact it's what made me pick up Scion2E again as my initial exposure to Storypath via Scion:Origin didn't set so well with me. Not that they were horribly presented per say but mostly due to needing to shed preconceived expectations and repeatedly running into WTF??? moments reading the rules, especially when both editions used the same terminology but things functioned very differently. A perhaps messy analogy is it was like popping a jelly bean expecting black cherry flavor and instead its black licorice, while I like both if I'm primed for one and get the other my senses get jumbled up till things click as to what's going on. Otherwise we would've been keeping pace with the supplements and the many options that seem to be available through them. But Trinity for whatever reason, gave me a much needed fresh perspective on Storypath concepts.

At any rate, we're going to discuss it in our meeting this week, though likely it'll take us a bit longer to decide on as we sort through the various books and integrate everything. I'll get back to you once I know more of what's what and how we're going to do things.

Seeker1728 ,
<snip>
To sum up, MtAw is complex and (somehow) grim setting, with need to built a lot of chronicle setting beforehand by Storyteller. Scion is similar in many premises, only it’s much more action adventure and lighter in world building. In the end. I much more prefer simply to run Scion, stealing some ideas and supplements from MtAw gameline, because it’s simply more fun. 😎

wyrdhamster Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on those subjects, I'll definitely be diving into them and making notes to discuss during this week's zoom meeting.

I particularly like your last comment as that's been my budding intention as I approached the two titles with a more open mind, I like a lot of what MTAW did with it's setting and theme, but as I've started to wrap my head around how Storypath handles action, procedural and intrigue operations my preference has landed squarely in it's court over Storyteller. I have a bit of a learning curve ahead of me, but all the feedback in this thread has given me a lot of enthusiasm and is knocking my thinking out of the ruts I had slowly entrenched myself in over the years.

[Aristarkos]

Ok, so I will share here what tinkering I have done from time to time to try and have a somewhat functional adaptation of the Mage magic system to Storypath. It is NOT 100% faithful since I designed it with my own thoughts and ideas in mind. Maybe the most radical change I have made here is that I eliminated the division between the Fraying and Unravelling Practices, combining them into one, and I moved the Making / Unmaking Practices to the fourth level. These changes are easy enough to reverse I would think, if you want to. I cannot promise it is a good system, or even slightly coherent, but maybe it can help you and your group.

GNOSIS
Unlike actual Mage the Awakening, Gnosis cannot be increased with Experience Points but is instead increased when the character fulfils a long-term Aspiration.

SPELLCASTING

1. Choose what spell effect you wish to accomplish and then pick the Practice most appropriate for that effect (see below).
2. The default spell has one specific effect and a difficulty of 1. Each dot in an Arcanum that is above the level of the Practice being used grants an extra +1e to the spell. Each spell also has an amount of Spell Factors, which are parameters to the spell such as duration (how long it lasts), extent (how far it affects) and range (how far away it can affect targets). If any of these parameters are incresed, it results in added Complications to the spell.
3. Roll an appropriate Arcanum + Gnosis to cast the spell. If the Mage is casting above the limit of their Spell Control (= Gnosis) they suffer +1c for each time they do so during the same scene.
4. If the roll beats the difficulty but not the Complications your spell goes off but you suffer a Paradox Condition. If it beats the Complications as well the spell goes off without a hitch. Excessive successes can be spent on the following Stunts:
   Potency (4s): Increase the raw power of your spell by one. If it is a spell that provides Enhancement then +1e becomes +2e. If it is a damaging spell it causes an extra level of damage as per other fighting rolls.
   Spell Factor (3s): Increase the level of one Spell Factor by one (see below).

GNOSIS	RITUAL Duration	Yantras	MAX MANA	HIGHEST ARCANA	OTHER ARCANA	Nimbus effect
1	3 hours	1	10	3	2	+1
2	3 hours	2	11	3	2	+1
3	1 hour	3	13	4	3	+2
4	1 hour	4	16	4	3	+2
5	30 minutes	5	20	5	4	+3

ARCANA
The Mage buys dots in Arcana individually. Gnosis only determines how many dots the Mage can have. Each dot costs 8 Experience for the Major Arcana, 10 XP for common Arcana and 12 for the Weak Arcana. The Arcana dots are then used in spellcasting rolls as well as to determine what Practice the Mage can utilize in their spells.

EXTRA COMPLICATIONS:	None	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5
Duration:	One scene / hour	One day / one episode	One week / one arc	One month	One year	Indefinitely
Extent:	A large house or building	A small warehouse or parking lot	A large warehouse or supermarket	A small factory or a shopping mall	A large factory or a city block	A campus or a small neighborhood
Sympathy	Self or touch	Sensory range	(Sympathetic) Token from the target	(Sympathetic) Seeing /hearing the target indirectly	(Sympathetic) Family, spouse, lifelong close friend	(Sympathetic) Target is described in detail

DAMAGE
A spell can deal damage directly, as in the case of a thunderbolt or an enervating touch, or indirectly, as in the case of rotting out a support beam to drop a house on someone.
The caster chooses an Arcana to wield as a direct weapon using Arcanum + Gnosis as normal. This weapon gains an amount of Tags equal to dots in the Arcana as befits the weapon.
Indirectly damaging spells aren’t subject to these limits: A spell that causes a roaring bonfire to spread and consume the victim inflicts the standard damage for exposure to fire.
Stunts:
Environmental effect (varies): create an environmental effect related to the damage, such as ”Frozen ground”, ”The house is burning” and so on.

HEALING
Healing spells are usually Perfecting (•••) spells. A Ruling (••) spell can boost a subject’s natural healing time.
A Ruling spell can halve the subject’s normal recovery time for its Duration, or quarter it with an additional success.
Healing Aggravated Injury Conditions costs Mana and +1c.

ENHANCEMENTS / COMPLICATIONS
Ruling spells (••) can tweak and manipulate the surroundings enough to gain Enhancements for the caster or complications for the opposition.
Attributes and Skills can gain Enhancements by a Perfecting (•••) spell. Gaining Enhancements to a Skill that has no dots is a Patterning (••••) spell.
The caster gains a +1e to specific rolls or imposes 1c to the rolls that their magic affects.

PRACTICES
1st
Compelling – Nudge a target to a preferred and possible outcome
Examples: make a dice fall on six all the time (Fate), cause an already frightened person or animal to flee in panic (Life), turn on the lights without switching the button (Forces)
Knowing – gain knowledge of phenomena
Examples: divine the cause of death for a corpse (Death), know which way is north (Space), know the personality and traits of a person (Mind)
Unveiling – expose things hidden to the mage’s senses
Examples: see spirits who are hiding in Twilight (Spirits), see hidden magic runes (Prime)

2nd
Ruling – a more complete control over how a target acts and behaves
Shielding – protection from things under the Arcanum’s purview
Veiling – hide things from notice by mundane senses, supernatural senses cause CoW

3rd
Unravelling – cause direct damage to a target (create a ranged weapon with an amount of tags = Arcana dots)
Perfecting – make a target stronger, better and more perfect
Weaving – change nearly any property of an object without transforming it into something completely different
For example: change the properties of a weapon, armor or tool you wield by

4th
Patterning – transform a target into something else completely
Making – create something completely out of nothing
Unmaking – outright obliterate a target

5th
Dynamics – create a spell that dyamically changes properties to circumvent obstacles.

Rotes
Rotes are spells that the mage has practiced time and again until they can cast them almost automatically. These spells use so called Mudras that are techniques for using mundane skills to greatly improve the reliability of the spell. Mages pick a relevant mundane skill and appropriate for the spell (for example Science for a spell of calling lightning) and add the dots in the skill to the casting of the spell.

Praxis
Praxes are similar to rotes but instead of being reliable they hit harder. The mage chooses a spell and gains an enhancement bonus to it equal to Gnosis / 2 rounded up. The Mage gains 1 Praxis for each dot of Gnosis they possess. The praxis can later on be refunded into a Legacy Attainment. A spell cannot be BOTH a Praxis AND a Rote at the same time but must be cast as either one or the other.

Casting multiple spells during an action? / Casting a spell and doing a mundane task at the same time?
Yes, you do it using the Mixed Actions rule. Certain situation may REQUIRE you to do the spell as a Mixed Actions, such as casting while in a car chase, when grappling, while dodging bullets and so on.

Attainments
UNIVERSAL
Pattern Restoration: May use Mana to restore their health. 2 mana restore a Bruised Condition, 4 Mana restore an Injured Condition and 6 mana restore a Maimed Condition

1-dot
Counterspell: Clash of Wills, Gnosis + Arcanum vs Gnosis + Arcanum to cancel a spell.

2-dot

Mage armor: Reflexive action to pay 1 mana to gain an extra armor that stacks with mundane armor. The mage gains an amount of tags = level of Arcana. The tags available are:

NAME DESCRIPTION TAGS COST Special resistance 1-5 enhancement to defence versus a specific damage source (such as fire, metals or so on) a specific arcana or a specific type of entity (werewolves, vampires etc). 1-5 Hard Armor 1 or 2 additional Injury boxes (cannot be combined with Soft Armor) 1 or 3 Innocuous The mage armor is not visible to mundane senses, a CoW is necessary to see it with magical senses 2 Soft Armor +1 or +2 Soft armor (cannot be combined with Soft Armor) 1 or 3

Lesser utility attainments: Gains a minor utility based on the Arcana.

ARCANUM	ATTAINMENT	EFFECT
Death	Eyes of the Dead	Peripheral Mage Sight reacts to ghosts, can see ghosts and souls in Twilight with Active Death Sight. Can spend mana to interact with them for a scene.
Fate	Conditional Duration	Create condition under which spells end, in exchange for bonus to Duration. Costs Mana to use.
Forces	Directed energy	May pay Mana to ignore the +1 difficulty for sensory range to spells for one scene.
Life	Improved Pattern Restoration	Reduces Mana cost for Pattern Restoration by 1.
Matter	Permanence	May pay Mana to increase the duration of a Matter spell.
Mind	Mind's Eye	Peripheral Mage Sight reacts to Geotia, Astral entities and other projections in Twilight. Active Mage Sight can see them. Can spend ● to interact with them for a scene
Prime	Universal Counterspell	Can use Counterspell on any spell. Can spend Mana to target the least Arcana of that spell rather than the greatest
Space	Sympathetic Range	Can cast spells using Sympathetic Range
Spirit	Spirit Eyes	Peripheral Mage Sight reacts to spirits in Twilight. Can spend Mana to interact with them for a scene
Time	Quick thinking	Spend mana to gain half Enhancement = Time to Initiative rolls.

3-dot
Supernal summoning: May enact a ritual to summon a supernal being using Occult + Attribute and with half enhancement from Arcana.

4-dot

ARCANUM	ATTAINMENT	EFFECT
Death	Inviolate Soul	Spend Mana to CoW any attempt to tamper with your soul, influence Nimbus or Aura, or attempts to possess you.
Fate	Unbound fate	Spend Mana to CoW any attempts to change your fate or destiny
Forces	Environmental immunity	Spend Mana to become immune to effects of extreme environments for one scene. May also spend Mana to CoW any attempts to target your character with harmful energy.
Life	Body Autonomy	Spend Mana to CoW any attempts to alter your body against your will.
Matter	Malleability	Spend Mana to gain half enhancement = Matter to all rolls to work with matter.
Mind	Social control	Spend Mana to gain half enhancement = Mind to all social rolls
Prime	Imbue item	Can make items that contain spells
Space	Everywhere	Can spend Mana to increase the Extent of a spell one level
Spirit	Spirit Rank	Gains half enhancement = Spirit to social rolls and mundane attacks (not magic rolls) vs spirits
Time	Time in a Bottle	Can spend Mana to perform a ritual in one turn

YANTRAS
Yantras are various types of instruments, methods and tools for making your magic safer and more potent. Your Gnosis limits how many Yantras you can apply to any one spell.

• Concentration: The spell has no Duration, instead it lasts as long as you focus on nothing else but maintaining the spell. If you try to do Mixed Actions while concentrating you suffer Complication = level of Practice to that roll.
• Dedicated magical tool: Reduces Complication to spellcasting rolls by 1.
• Demesne (spell is cast in the mage’s own demesne): +1e
• High Speech chanting (mage recites the spell loudly in High Speech): +1e, but does not go unheard by anyone close by (not even deaf people).
• Persona: +1e for the 1-dot Shadow Name Edge, +2e for a 2-dot Shadow Name Edge
• Runes (mage writes down runes to affix the spell on an item or a place): Increase the Duration Spell Factor by one
• Ritual, DOES NOT COUNT FOR YANTRA LIMIT (spell is cast as a lengthy ritual): Roll an appropriate Skill + Attributet that reflect the ritual in question (for example Athletics + Resolve for ritualistic dancing, Science + Intellect for alchemy etc). The resulting successes from the ritual roll turn into Enhancements for the subsequent spellcasting roll.
• Sacrament: +1e for items found with significant effort, +2e for such items from another realm or near-unique reagents found in few other places
• Supernal Verge: +2e
• Tools (symbolically loaded and meaningful tools): +1e

NIMBUS
The Mage designates their Nimbus. It is an effect that is mostly narrative but can have mechanical effects by spending Mana. The Mage specifies exactly what their Nimbus does and then spends a point of Mana to have it trigger, granting an effect equal to the Enhancement in the Gnosis table above.

LEGACIES
I have not gotten this far in my tinkering

[Seeker1728]

Aristarkos Wow...very thoughtful presentation there my friend, very thoughtful indeed, meant to reply sooner but currently very short on time.

I'm torn between a couple of impulses after reading this, on the one hand I want to run with it. In fact, I'm very likely to, as I've had next to no time in being able to work up something for my own upcoming campaign where I want "Magi" to have a place at the proverbial table of supernatural agents. I was going to wing it a bit by treating Magi as having a Supernatural Path accessing Purviews but TBH that didn't set all that well with me. It's true to Scion's system, but MTAWs Spheres have a different feel to them and there's plenty of flavor behind MTAW magick that isn't presented the same via using Purviews. or if there is, it's not immediately obvious to me.

The other impulse is to see what the official splat book does, but my suspicion is that while it will likely be a pretty good addition, it won't attempt to recreate MTAW any, as I have a hunch it'll try to keep Scion characters at a higher priority of ability. Anyway, pardon my ramblings here.

The thing i wanted to mention is this strikes me as damn solid work and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to post this with such depth and concise formatting. . I'm going to use this as my guideline for doing Magi (who are for the moment entirely NPCs) in my Scion game until OPP releases their splat book on the same theme, and give a read before deciding fully. While we ultimately decided to do "pure Scion", I want and need Magi of this sort present as elements in my setting co-existing with the all the other supernatural factions/actors beyond just the "divine myth" faction, especially as I favor a high Heroic/low Bronze mythic dial in the Evidence category. I'd give you a couple of my own home brewed pints of beer (or coffee if alcohol isn't your thing) if we were near to each other if I could, just as a show of gratitude .