1000 Rotes

[Froggo]

Let's play a game! List a rote or two, or as many as you want. Be sure to include what sect(s) can use the rote, as well as the spheres required and a basic description of it's effects. Here's a few examples.

1. The Golem (Lions of Zion) Life 5, Mind 5, Matter 5:

The Lion using this rite takes fresh, unused natural minerals and sculpts a human figure out of it. Then, they invoke the name of Yahweh to awaken the golem while writing Hebrew for Truth on it's head.

2. Portal Gun (New World Order) Correspondence 3:

This Technocratic Procedure requires a small, arm-sized machine which some cyborgs use as a prosthetic. The portal is about the size of a person, and can take you anywhere within line of sight.

[menos125]

Let's play a game! List a rote or two, or as many as you want. Be sure to include what sect(s) can use the rote, as well as the spheres required and a basic description of it's effects. Here's a few examples.

1. The Golem (Lions of Zion) Life 5, Mind 5, Matter 5:

The Lion using this rite takes fresh, unused natural minerals and sculpts a human figure out of it. Then, they invoke the name of Yahweh to awaken the golem while writing Hebrew for Truth on it's head.

Why would a Golem need Mater 5 or life 5? Those levels are way too high for a Golem, what youre describing is more akin to an entirely new biological life form, not even homunculus needs that much spheres.

Funny fact though, by rules all you need to make a golem closer to the jewish myth is Spirit 3 and Awaken Spirit rotine. Of course the said golem would be quite weak and perhaps even incapable of locomotion at first, but a golem notheless.

[Cadmiumcadamium]

Why would a Golem need Mater 5 or life 5? Those levels are way too high for a Golem, what youre describing is more akin to an entirely new biological life form, not even homunculus needs that much spheres.

Funny fact though, by rules all you need to make a golem closer to the jewish myth is Spirit 3 and Awaken Spirit rotine. Of course the said golem would be quite weak and perhaps even incapable of locomotion at first, but a golem notheless.

Life 5 to give the creation life (to create a new life pattern from nothing), Matter 5 to match the life spell and to make the creation permanent until destroyed. Though I can see a Matter 5/Spirit 3 rote as well.

[Ambrosia]

I am not sure why Matter 5 is required in this case either way - depending on the nature of the artificial body it might well be enough to use Matter 2, especially in the classic tale of the Golem being made of clay.

The permanency of Matter 5 itself is only required for permanent re-shaping of matter without any spell duration. And even then, in this case it's enough to just get 6-7 successes counting towards the duration to make the Golem worthwhile - the permanency that Matter 5 would offer in terms of the shaping kind of becomes obsolete by the fact that the other aspects of teh Golem are still unweavable.

[MesmerOfLife]

I don't think there's need in Life. The golem is like a robot - an intellegence inside of unliving but moving body. So it's Mind 5 to create... wel... mind. And Matter 3 for simple body like living armor or Matter 4 for complex mechanisms such as robots.

[Bartimeo]

3. Trajectory calculations (Correspondence 1, Entropy 1, /Forces 2 or Correspondence 1, Time 1, Forces 1/2): Anyone who has an idea of how to make sniper shots can tell you that there is a lot of maths involved there, but with this rote you can elevate that yo a new level maximizing the reach of any firearm (especially rifles) and even shoting through walls/obstacles. This rote is usually used by technocratich spec-ops and the most adventurous Sons of Ether, but is not unheard of some mages from cabals with more mystical inclinations like Order of Hermes or the Euthanatoi using numerology with the same results.

Effect: Using Correspondence (to know exacly where and how far the objetive is) Time (to know how long the shoot will is) Forces and Entropy (to know the forces that will affect the bullet like gravity, wind speed, etc until the objective) you can make any shot at base difficulty no matter how long it is while is in the possible ballistic trajectory of the weapon with 2 succeses (3 if there is no line of sgiht wit the objective. Aditional succeses can drop the difficulty). Forces 2 can use aditional succeses to add succeses to the shoot or to ignore obstacles maximizing penetration.

[Sangros]

3. Trajectory calculations (Forces 1/2, Correspondence 1, Time 1, Entropy 1): Anyone who has an idea of how to make sniper shots can tell you that there is a lot of maths involved there, but with this rote you can elevate that yo a new level maximizing the reach of any firearm (especially rifles) and even shoting through walls/obstacles. This rote is usually used by technocratich spec-ops and the most adventurous Sons of Ether, but is not unheard of some mages from cabals with more mystical inclinations like Order of Hermes or the Euthanatoi using numerology with the same results.

Effect: Using Correspondence (to know exacly where and how far the objetive is) Time (to know how long the shoot will is) Forces and Entropy (to know the forces that will affect the bullet like gravity, wind speed, etc until the objective) you can make any shot at base difficulty no matter how long it is while is in the possible ballistic trajectory of the weapon with 2 succeses (3 if there is no line of sgiht wit the objective. Aditional succeses can drop the difficulty). Forces 2 can use aditional succeses to add succeses to the shoot or to ignore obstacles maximizing penetration.

Not only a great root, but also one of the mostrar common. Many of my gunfights are based on this. Nonetheless, I dont use time in this root. We dont even put in Forces If we are talking about making a bullet turn corners.

[Bartimeo]

Not only a great root, but also one of the mostrar common. Many of my gunfights are based on this. Nonetheless, I dont use time in this root. We dont even put in Forces If we are talking about making a bullet turn corners.

Thanks! ^^

It's true that with Entropy to know "random" variables Time and Forces is a little overkill... I will edit for a Correspondence 1, Entropy 1 OR Correspondence 1, Time 1, Forces 1 (Forces 2 to shoot through walls in both variants)

[Eadee]

Kinda sus (Virtual Adepts) Mind 2

Transfers all suspicion against the user to an innocent bystander. Developed by some Virtual Adept who got stuck on a Void Engineer spaceship.

[Muad'Dib]

Respect for whome it is due Mind 3
This Procedure of the Technoracy is a transfer of emotions and thoughts of sympathy from one person to another. That is, (for example) an Acolyte of a mystic Mage might find their sympathy for the mystic rapidly sapped as it is replaced by respect and sympathy for the Technocrat performing this Procedure. The Procedure is relatively obvious when it happens, and a person can very well snap of it (given time), but in a tense situation, it can make all the difference for a Technocrat.

[Muad'Dib]

What's mine is mine Correspondence 2
This Rote developed by Ecstatics shifts around any technically illegal substances around the person's clothes while she or he is being mundanely searched for them. The end result is that the drugs are not found, though they might have shifted around to different pockets. It has to be said that no self-respecting Ecstatic would attract enough attention to be searched by the police while just going around the city. However, there are some situations when searches are more likely to happen - like at music and entertainment festivals. Even if the occasions the Rote is useful are few and far between, knowing it is a point of pride for many drug using CoE Mages.
Some Tradition Mages have expressed interest in this Rote potentially being able to hide other items from a search, but no variants have been developed so far.

[gribblethemunchkin]

A bunch of rotes used by my Wu Lung character from years back by the name of Hu. Hu used his position in the Celestial bureaucracy to exert appropriate authority upon reality and used martial arts, energy work, alchemy and craft magic as well. Sadly he died when a mummy threw him at, and nearly through, another character. Forgive the cheesy names of the effects. I was aiming for something that sounds like it has been translated effectively word for word from a chinese language without any attempt to translate it into what we would say in English. I was also aiming for some of the oldey-timey kung fu movies feel that Hu was raised on.

Dance of the 8 Steps
Mind *, Correspondence *, Forces *
This rote, almost always coincidental is virtually indistinguishable from Hu's martial arts. With it he compartmentalises his mind, creating one train of thought for each combatant in the fight. Each mind then observes the combat using correspondence and forces magic to precisely gauge where his opponents are, where they are moving and how fast. This allows him an almost preternatural ability to avoid his enemies blows and to strike them in turn, slipping past blocks and attacking into dodges. In practical terms he enjoys a -1 on the difficulty to dodge and to attack when in combat for each success (will probably need a success for duration too). Attackers who he is unaware of are not subject to this as he won't have created a mind track for them. He can monitor one opponent for each success on his casting roll.
Foci: Martial Arts - Hu takes a sharp breath in and exhales while stepping through the 8 positions of combat taught by the Kuei Lung Chuan making note of each combatant.

Death of Demons
Prime **
Demons (such as vampires, wraiths, fallen magi, shapeshifters, etc) are notoriously hard to kill with normal weapons. Therefore Hu enchants all his weapons with this effect, renewing it weekly.
Foci: Alchemy - Hu washes the weapon in a mix of prepared oils and spring water and then burns a piece of paper with the kanji for ruin and death under the blade so that its smoke is absorbed into the weapon.

Surprising Powder that Engenders Great Confusion
Mind **
This rote is triggered by flinging a sachet of quickly torn paper full of powder into the face of an enemy. The powder is absorbed through the skin and particularly through the lungs and eyes and greatly confuses the target, leaving them briefly wondering what's going on, where they are and what they were just doing. This typically takes a few rounds to wear off at which point the target manages to make enough sense of their surroundings that they can function again, but until that time they are effectively out of the picture, only taking actions to preserve their life such as dodging attacks and staying away from obviously dangerous places like the edges of rooftops or cliffs.
Foci: Alchemy - Hu prepares the powder in advance, combining a number of ingredients such as beach sand, grave dirt and pepper. This powder is then magically fired in a kiln and mixed with ash from burnt pieces of paper covered with prayers and supplications to Hu's ancestors to muddle the thoughts of his foes. The powder is poured into sachets and when Hu throws these he does not consider that he is doing magic at all. As far as he is concerned, the magic happens at home.

Healing Tonic of the Phoenix Empress
Life **
As a warrior, Hu fully expects to be injured in the line of duty. Luckily his old cabal included a Phoenix Empress Wizard who taught him some of the healing arts. This rote involves mixing and consuming a tonic that mends bone and knits flesh. Its effects are vulgar if the injury was obvious but can be coincidental if the wound was not visible (even broken ribs can be put down to "nasty bruises"). Hu can make these tonics for himself but is not yet skilled enough to heal others through his alchemy.
Foci: Alchemy - Hu prepares a tonic from the 5 elements, mixing distilled water, rich loam, pure iron (usually filings) and burning them together using pure cedar wood. This renders down to a murky green liquid which is kept in a bottle or vial marked with a Fu (Paper charm) depicting the kanji for good health and wholeness.

Jackie Chan's Training Montage
Life ***
Much to the dismay of his master, who calls this rote Earthen Dragon Spirit Body, Hu insists that it more accurately should be called Jackie Chan's Training Montage as that is what it so closely mimics. This is a rote of self improvement, using extreme training methods such as lifting heated cauldrons with ones forearms, repeatedly slapping hot sand, training for hours and hours on the plum blossom stumps, performing 1000 press-ups over lit joss sticks and other over the top exercises. Performed over a week it can permanently raise physical attributes. The exercises used are dependent on the attribute raised.
Foci: Extreme training techniques. This also requires expenditure of xp to make the change permanent but only half what it would usually cost (i.e. it is the better body rote).

Leap of the Celestial Tiger Lord
Forces **
As the Book of Crafts, page 134.
This spell lets Hu engage in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style acrobatic leaps covering 20 feet per success. Hu generally doesn't go all out, jumping only as far as needed and often only using it to reach a handhold from which to pull himself up rather than making the extra five feet and falling foul of paradox.
Foci: Martial Arts - Hu take a deep breath and leaps at the same time as shouting a Kiai.

Deadly Tiger Claw Attack
Life ***
With this brutal move, Hu strikes his target with a flurry of tiger claw attacks, striking directly at one or more of their vital organs which is very badly damaged, usually killing them but certainly putting the target out of action and into great pain. This is a life attack that does two levels of lethal damage for every success after the first (which needs to be expended to affect someone other than Hu). In addition, since this is delivered as part of a martial arts attack, it needs to hit and does normal tiger claw attack damage. Both sets of damage are soaked separately.
Foci: Martial Arts - Hu attacks with a flurry of tiger claw attacks shouting a kiai with each one.

Ten trapped Thunders
Forces **
This handy effect can be used to empower a weapon with a forces effect but requires a source of energy. The weapon must be touched (or nearly so) to a source of energy such as a fire, electrical cable, moving car, etc and the energy is sucked into a trap around the weapons striking surface. The energy discharges on the next strike of the weapon which must be during the next round, any longer and the energy dissipates harmlessly. This effect is a useful way to perform forces counter magic, allowing Hu to catch fireballs or lightning bolts and use them himself. He can even use it against physical attacks, blocking the attack and stealing the kinetic energy to deliver back on his own strike. Unless there is a very good reason, the spell deals normal forces damage, but requires a successful attack roll. The form of the energy might have secondary effects, fire does aggravated damage to vampires, kinetic might knock someone off their feet, electricity might short out electronics, etc.
Foci: Hu adopts a receiving stance and holds the weapon boldly in front of him before either blocking or striking the energy source as appropriate and inhaling sharply. He then exhales sharply with a kiai when delivering the strike.

Incapacitating Acupuncture Meridian Strike
Life ***
Hu makes a precise strike with an acupuncture needle, slipping it into a vital meridian and forcing his own yang chi violently through it to disrupt the targets chi flows. This has the effect of paralyzing the target. The paralysis is immediately cancelled if the needle is removed. This is a difficult move to pull off and requires 3 successes on an attack roll with either martial arts or melee.
Foci: Attack with an acupuncture needle and a moment’s concentration to disrupt the chi flow.

Obedient Chi Flow Technique
Mind **
With access to a targets meridian points and a set of acupuncture needles, Hu can manipulate the targets chi flow to make them feel various emotions and elicit certain behaviours. His most commonly used trick is to render a target compliant and amenable to requests. With the needles arranged just so, the target becomes very obedient, obeying requests and answering questions to the best of their ability. Note that this changes their inclination, it doesn’t force the behaviour. A target could resist if they really wanted to, but unless the request is obviously self destructive or threatens something they love, they will comply. For this reason it is best to use this to aid interrogation, rather than to replace other methods. To access all the relevant meridians the target must be restrained somehow and their body must be mostly accessible.
Foci: This effect requires a restrained target, a set of acupuncture needles and to get a good effect, some gentle and sympathetic questioning.

Puissant Mandarin Sits at his Desk
Mind *
This is a very popular rote amongst the Wu Lung. With it active, a Dragon wizard can perform small miracles of administration quickly and accurately. Distractions fade away, numbers come trivially easy to work with and data can be processed, sorted and handled logically and reliably. So popular is this rote that most Wu Lung exams (of which there are many) assume that this rote will be in effect and are hence nearly impossible to pass without such aid. To get “into the groove” as Hu has it, he must put himself in the mindset of the ancient mandarins of old. This requires a writing desk, appropriate clothing (Hu uses mandarin robes, but office wear should suffice although he has not tried it yet) and the imbibing of a certain tonic, brewed from ingredients linked to clarity, thought, harmony and bureaucracy.
Foci: Mandarin robes, a writing desk, alchemical tonic and the paperwork that needs processing.

Iron Shirt Technique
Life ***
This common combat rote is unobtrusive, useful and handy for ambushes. Once cast, it provides lethal soak equal to the casters stamina. Hu casts the rote via a series of kata focused around bringing his yin chi to the surface of his skin, and deep breathing exercises to lock it in place. Hu is generally a yang driven person so he finds this rote slightly distasteful, but cannot deny its usefulness. In more dangerous times, Wu Lung who might reasonably expect trouble would cast this every morning before leaving the safety of their compounds.
Foci: Kuei Lung Chuan katas and deep breathing exercises

Divine Strike of Angered Ancestors
Forces ***, Prime **
This deadly attack uses forces magic to force extreme amounts of kinetic energy into an existing attack. With a cry out to his ancestors for aid and a quick exhalation of chi, Hu channels this energy into an unarmed, melee or thrown attack. This rote does normal forces damage on top of whatever damage the attack would normally have done, making it much harder to soak (i.e. the two damages are added together).
Foci: Shout to his ancestors and a chi expulsion combined with a strike.

Furious Parry
Forces **
With a flury of furious parries, Hu deflects a number of arrows, thrown weapons or even bullets, one per success. They deflect close to him as if parried. Thanks to martial arts movies, most people are willing to believe this when performed against thrown weapons or arrows as long as there are less than five or so. When used against more than that or against bullets, it is clearly vulgar.
Foci: Martial arts, needs a weapon like a spear or sword

Harmonious Hearth Suitable to Honouring Ancestors
Mind **, prime *
This effect makes a room or building feel soothing and harmonious. This doesn’t interfere with many emotions but will make it somewhat less likely that people will argue, worry or fight and more likely that people will enjoy each others company, be at peace and find satisfaction in the completion of even trivial tasks. Hu likes to cast this on his flat, making it a place where he can happily practise his art without worrying about things that really aren’t important.
Foci: Feng shui consisting of placement of furniture and fittings.

Quietly Reverential Place of Reflection
Mind **, prime *
This Feng Shui effect uses an uncluttered layout, furniture perpendicular to dragon lines and items of reverence such as funerary jars, calligraphy of noble sentiments and genealogical tablets to create an area that induces those within it to conduct themselves with dignity, reverence and righteousness. Places under this effect can exhibit the same feeling as a cathedral, the desire to talk only in whispers and abide in silent reflection. While violence is possible within such a space (as the effect is mild and subtle), its more likely that someone wishing violence to one within would enter, then leave again and wait for their foe to exit so as not to disturb others.
Foci: Feng shui consisting of placement of furniture and fittings.

[Muad'Dib]

A bunch of rotes used by my Wu Lung character from years back by the name of Hu.

These are some nice Rotes. I especially like Pussaint Mandarin Sits at His Desk, Harmonious Hearth Suitable to Honouring Ancestors, and Quietly Reverential Place of Reflection.

[Malkavian87]

24. Talking on the Dancefloor (Hollow Ones) Spirit 1, Prime 2, Mind 3 + possibly Correspondence 2
It allows normal conversation between every Awakened individual in a noisy environment like for instance a club or concert. In addition it also nullifies any language barriers between these mages.

[Muad'Dib]

24. Talking on the Dancefloor (Hollow Ones) Spirit 1, Prime 2, Mind 3 + possibly Correspondence 2
It allows normal conversation between every Awakened individual in a noisy environment like for instance a club or concert. In addition it also nullifies any language barriers between these mages.

A characterful Rote, but what are the Spirit 1 and Correspondence 2 needed for?