Homebrew Mage Merits

[Deionscribe]

These two seem like they should have some drawback, even if minor ones. The flavor text of Summoner's Soul says it might be referred to as a curse, and I'd think a stronger Supernal Nimbus would attract some attention (Abyssal or otherwise).

Summoner's Soul

Drawback: Abyssal Entities are more likely to sense the summoner's attempt at reaching out to the Supernal World. When the Storyteller begins rolling the Mage's unmodified Gnosis to determine the likelihood of an Abyssal intrusion, he gains additional dice equal to half the Mage's dots in Summoner's Soul, rounded up.

-=-

Not sure if Supernal Beacon should have a drawback, though, seeing as it's the Good Time Management Merit for Supernal Summoning. But even so, how would you write out the drawback?

Seems like this should require a Willpower dot, but maybe that's just me. It's only a 1XP per Supernal Anchor cost/tax anyways.

It's mentioned in the thread I put up the benefits of a Supernal Anchor compared to a regular soul stone, as well as the roll results for the soulcrafting roll.

[Vent0]

Summoner's Soul

Drawback: Abyssal Entities are more likely to sense the summoner's attempt at reaching out to the Supernal World. When the Storyteller begins rolling the Mage's unmodified Gnosis to determine the likelihood of an Abyssal intrusion, he gains additional dice equal to half the Mage's dots in Summoner's Soul, rounded up.

-=-

Not sure if Supernal Beacon should have a drawback, though, seeing as it's the Good Time Management Merit for Supernal Summoning. But even so, how would you write out the drawback?

Actually... something similar to the drawback you wrote above for Summoner's Soul. But, again, mostly based on flavor text as opposed to any "balance" reasons.

It's mentioned in the thread I put up the benefits of a Supernal Anchor compared to a regular soul stone, as well as the roll results for the soulcrafting roll.

<shrug> I just think that Supernal Anchors are a clear win since they don't cost you anything permanent like a regular Soul Stone does.

[Jakondite]

<shrug> I just think that Supernal Anchors are a clear win since they don't cost you anything permanent like a regular Soul Stone does.

Deionscribe Have to say I agree with this; in 1e the equivalent was not half as useful for as cheap and unrestricted. I actually think that this might be a bit much as is - a 5 dot merit in this merit just means you can get 5 soul stones from one very powerful supernal being at a higher risk; Its best benefit are at the first 1 dot level - just summon 5 rank 1 beings and call it a day. I think, while I do like the idea that higher ranked spirits netting you better soul stones, that this merit should be a flat 5 point and retain it's prerequisite of Gnosis 5 in order to perform

[Deionscribe]

Actually... something similar to the drawback you wrote above for Summoner's Soul. But, again, mostly based on flavor text as opposed to any "balance" reasons.

Maybe it's just the name and flavor text which should be changed. Maybe something that reflects the summoner's mindset, which nonetheless still allows him to summon Supernal entities within a shorter span of time.

I just think that Supernal Anchors are a clear win since they don't cost you anything permanent like a regular Soul Stone does.

Deionscribe Have to say I agree with this; in 1e the equivalent was not half as useful for as cheap and unrestricted. I actually think that this might be a bit much as is - a 5 dot merit in this merit just means you can get 5 soul stones from one very powerful supernal being at a higher risk; Its best benefit are at the first 1 dot level - just summon 5 rank 1 beings and call it a day. I think, while I do like the idea that higher ranked spirits netting you better soul stones, that this merit should be a flat 5 point and retain it's prerequisite of Gnosis 5 in order to perform

How about this version? It ties the Rank prerequisites to a Mage's Gnosis instead, and requires the Mage to have a certain amount of Gnosis before he can even learn the Merit.

-=-

Supernal Anchor (•••••)
Prerequisites: Gnosis 3
Effect: One primary reason for which Mages craft soul stones is the creation of a Demesne, a space attuned to a willworker’s Path Realm and which functions, effectively, as a Verge for the purpose of shielding spells from Paradox. Some Mages, however, aren’t content to divide their spirits in this manner, regardless of how useful it might be to have a place in which they can cast some of their most powerful magics. One answer to this conundrum is to be found in the process of creating a Supernal Anchor.

A Mage with this Merit can use a Supernal Entity whose Rank is equal to or less than half the Mage's Gnosis, rounded up, to forge an artificial soul stone. He need not be the one to summon it, but it must be resonant with his Path for him to affect. He must either defeat the Entity in combat by fully reducing its Corpus, or successfully convince it to agree to the binding. Either way, he can spend a Willpower point and Mana equal to the being's Rank to reflexively reshape the being into a corporeal fragment of the world in which his Watchtower stands. The spirit becomes bound in this new form (and within the Fallen World), acting as a soul stone belonging to the Mage for all intents and purposes, save that he cannot be held in thrall by losing the stone.

Drawback: Crafting a Supernal Anchor is an Act of Hubris against Enlightened and Understanding Wisdom, and is considered a Left-Handed practice by most Mages, even the Seers of the Throne. Furthermore, unless done in a Supernal Verge keyed to its Realm, destroying the anchor causes the Supernal Entity trapped within to immediately vanish into the Abyss, which is itself another Act of Hubris.

Note: The system for creating a Supernal Anchor can be found here.

-=-

As for a drawback to creating a Supernal Anchor, there are several I can name, including one I just thought up.

• It's an Act of Hubris against Falling Wisdom.
• It requires you to (likely) fight a Supernal being, which will be difficult unless you want to drag Sleepers in to weaken it (and further slide down to becoming Mad)
• It's a Left-Handed practice. And even then, the soulcrafter is going to draw a lot of attention if people find out he created such a soul stone.
• Perhaps the process inflicts a Paradox Condition, or even forces Paradox rolls if they exceed the dice pool? Unlike how it's usually handled, though, each successful roll would inflict a cumulative -1 penalty to subsequent rolls? Or even inflict backlash damage on the Mage and/or Supernal being?
• It's contested by the entity, who rolls Resistance opposite the Mage's binding roll.

Also, the target number for the soulcrafting is pegged at (10 * Rank), at the moment. What if I were to raise that to 15 successes per Rank? Or even 20?

[Jakondite]

Supernal Anchor (•••••)
Prerequisites: Gnosis 3
Effect: One primary reason for which Mages craft soul stones is the creation of a Demesne, a space attuned to a willworker’s Path Realm and which functions, effectively, as a Verge for the purpose of shielding spells from Paradox. Some Mages, however, aren’t content to divide their spirits in this manner, regardless of how useful it might be to have a place in which they can cast some of their most powerful magics. One answer to this conundrum is to be found in the process of creating a Supernal Anchor.

A Mage with this Merit can use a Supernal Entity whose Rank is equal to or less than the Mage's Gnosis, rounded down, to forge an artificial soul stone. He need not be the one to summon it, but it must be resonant with his Path for him to affect. He must either defeat the Entity in combat by fully reducing its Corpus, or successfully convince it to agree to the binding. Either way, he can spend a Willpower point and Mana equal to the being's Rank to reflexively reshape the being into a corporeal fragment of the world in which his Watchtower stands. The spirit becomes bound in this new form (and within the Fallen World), acting as a soul stone belonging to the Mage for all intents and purposes, save that he cannot be held in thrall by losing the stone.

Drawback: Crafting a Supernal Anchor is an Act of Hubris against Enlightened and Understanding Wisdom, and is considered a Left-Handed practice by most Mages, even the Seers of the Throne. Furthermore, unless done in a Supernal Verge keyed to its Realm, destroying the anchor causes the Supernal Entity trapped within to immediately vanish into the Abyss, which is itself another Act of Hubris.

Note: The system for creating a Supernal Anchor can be found here.

Much better IMO; Don't raise the successes needed; at 15/20 per rank it gets ridiculous. *10 is fine; that requires luck or skill for minor things, and downright perfectionist skills and even magic enhancement for rank 5

[Deionscribe]

Much better IMO; Don't raise the successes needed; at 15/20 per rank it gets ridiculous. *10 is fine; that requires luck or skill for minor things, and downright perfectionist skills and even magic enhancement for rank 5

Yeah. Magical enhancement would definitely be needed to bind a Rank 5 being. Especially if it's got a high Resistance score that allows it to reach its target number faster.

[Irioth]

The original version of this Merit (found here) was written to be used with the Circle of Degrees official hack (Mage Chronicler’s Guide p. 101) that allows every mage to have a personal Path with any two Ruling Arcana and one Inferior Arcanum in any possible combination. This version has been adjusted to work with the canon five-Path system (although it feels unfair and suboptimal to charge an Xp tax to get an equivalent exchange of Ruling and/or Inferior Arcana).


Thrice-Great (•, •••, or •••••)
Prerequisite: Gnosis ••• (••• version) or Gnosis ••••• (••••• version)
Effect: The mage with this Merit managed to adjust and broaden his Supernal resonance to make substantial changes to his Path’s typical affinities or include a significantly greater span thereof. This may happen during the Awakening, or with subsequent exploration of a Mystery or portion of the Realms Invisible with appropriate Supernal resonance, such as a Verge, Artifact, Supernal being, or an Astral travel to the citadels of the Aeons.
Personal Path (•) – Replace one of the character’s Ruling Arcana with one of your choosing. You may switch the Inferior Arcanum the same way. The Supernal affinities of the mage change to reflect the different Ruling Arcanum, including Mage Sight, the Nimbus, Path Yantras and Oblations, the Supernal beings the mage can summon, and any Demesne that includes a soulstone forged from a shard of his soul or a Supernal being he binds with Supernal Anchor.
Threefold Path (•••) – The character gains a third Ruling Arcanum for his Path, and all the Supernal affinities of the mage adjust to include it. You may change one of the character’s Ruling Arcana and/or the Inferior Arcanum, as per the one-dot version.
Dual Path (•••••) – The mage expands his Supernal affinities so much that he effectively doubles his Path in mystical breadth. He gets four Ruling Arcana, with all the corresponding Supernal affinities. You may change one of the character’s Ruling Arcana and/or the Inferior Arcanum, as per the one-dot version.
Drawback: Expanded Supernal resonance makes it much more difficult for a mage to reshape his Gnosis and align it with a Legacy, or develop his magic in areas that have a limited connection with his established affinities. With the three-dot version, the mage can only join, develop, or keep a Legacy that is based on one of his Ruling Arcana. With the five-dot version, he gets two Inferior Arcana, and becomes unable to join, develop, or keep any Legacy. He also has to pay double experience cost to learn a Praxis or Rote that does not have a Ruling Arcanum as its highest one.
Note: The player chooses the new Ruling and Inferior Arcana with ST approval. The Path’s original Ruling and Inferior Arcana can only be changed once, barring truly exceptional circumstances. To some degree, characters that have this Merit tend to develop a fairly flexible and holistic approach to magic and the Supernal.

[PenDragon]

I haven't had the time to properly read up Inviolate Name, but I'm glad you like the rest of the Merits that have been popping up here.

For Spellcasting Style Merits, perhaps making a write-up on the scrapped Brutal Sorcery Merit? I've also been trying to think of a way to modify the Mystic Arts done by Pendragon to fit neatly with a game that uses the core mechanics (more or less), in addition to my House Rules for Proximi and Homebrew Arcane Attainments (plus my House Rules for purchasing additional ones with Experience, based on Path).

Might i ask what about them you'd need to change? They are basically a reskin of Legacies with a bit of Paradigm stuck in and a shift in how Attainments are attained. Changing them shouldn't be too hard.

[Menace]

Something simple from me:

Runic Tattoos (*)
Reqs:none
Your body is covered in a varied complicated array of tattoos can you can use to bolster your magic. Pick an Arkanum, when casting spells from that Arcanum that target yourself you can use the tattoos as a Rune yantra. The appriopriate runes are assumed to be already present on your body.

[Deionscribe]

Might i ask what about them you'd need to change? They are basically a reskin of Legacies with a bit of Paradigm stuck in and a shift in how Attainments are attained. Changing them shouldn't be too hard.

Well, I wanted to make them coexist alongside Legacies somehow. Use them in a reskinning of the Magical Traditions found in 1E. That way, even if you only dedicate yourself to one Legacy (using the Core rules), you can refine your approach to magic through casting via the lens of a given Mystic Art. Basically, Mage-exclusive Style Merits which offer advantages to one's spells but limits your ability to apply it in other ways.

I hope this doesn't come off as too confusing.

[PenDragon]

Well, I wanted to make them coexist alongside Legacies somehow. Use them in a reskinning of the Magical Traditions found in 1E. That way, even if you only dedicate yourself to one Legacy (using the Core rules), you can refine your approach to magic through casting via the lens of a given Mystic Art. Basically, Mage-exclusive Style Merits which offer advantages to one's spells but limits your ability to apply it in other ways.

I hope this doesn't come off as too confusing.

You could drop the casting limitations (which I'm considering) & Path Attunement, and keep the Yantras and Metamagic stuff that isn't already covered by Arcana. The design of those Attainments is pretty different from the design of Legacy Attainments (metamagic vs paradox free spells), so there isn't a reason they would have to clash, but Arts were designed as a Legacy replacement (I can get into why if you'd like, probably a question for the hub thread though) so they are extremely similar.

[Deionscribe]

You could drop the casting limitations (which I'm considering) & Path Attunement, and keep the Yantras and Metamagic stuff that isn't already covered by Arcana. The design of those Attainments is pretty different from the design of Legacy Attainments (metamagic vs paradox free spells), so there isn't a reason they would have to clash, but Arts were designed as a Legacy replacement (I can get into why if you'd like, probably a question for the hub thread though) so they are extremely similar.

I think I get why you designed the Arts to be Legacy replacements (more or less). But as for your suggestions, I might take them to consideration if/when I do work on my take on Mystic Arts for a more 'by-the-book' campaign.

[Aspel]

Since someone linked me this thread, a suggestion:

Traditional Magic (•)
Prerequisites: Techne in the tradition in question
Sleeper society has many occult traditions, some members of which are able to perform magic of their own, even if they can only use the occulted secrets of the Fallen World. While Diamond Mages may say these are nothing more than shallow, blurred reflections, the Free Council knows better. By "hiding" her Supernal magic in the occult practices of a Sleeper magical tradition such as Vodoun, Catholicism, or even stage and street magic, a Libertine may avoid Paradox.
When you purchase this merit, choose a Rote with a spell and skill that fit your magical tradition. When using that Rote, consider it to be a Dedicated Tool in addition to its skill bonus. If the Paradox dice pool is less than 1, you don't risk Paradox at all, and if no successes are rolled, your spell doesn't suffer Dissonance and the effects of Quiescence are lessened. The spell won't cause a Breaking Point, but Sleeping observers will still find it hard to accurately recount the specifics of your spellworking. You may purchase this merit multiple times for different Rotes or traditions.
Drawback: While a Mage can hide her light in a bushel to keep the Abyss at bay, it's a trick that requires carefully treading the line. Sleepers still add to the Paradox pool, and if there is a Paradox roll that succeeds, this Merit's effects are negated and the Paradox gets one free success. If that light of the Supernal shines through the symbols of the Fallen World, the Abyss perverts them that much more, like a bright light to eyes used to the dark.

[Deionscribe]

Since someone linked me this thread, a suggestion:

I'd revise it a bit to say Diamond Mages instead of Pentacle Mages, since you are trying to refer to the four Diamond Orders. Not to mention change Dissolution to Dissonance. Other than that, though, this looks good as an additional advantage for the Free Council.

[Aspel]

Deionscribe Whoops. Although after going back and reading the bit about Quiescence, I may be remembering things in a more 1e fashion, where it either was or was treated like there was a piece of the Abyss in every Sleeper. Still, even if you're not directly hiding the Magic from an Abyssal aspect, the concept of hiding Supernal magic as knock off Fallen occultism is a neat idea. I tweaked the wording on it to reflect that.