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[Ambrosia]

Nooooot really. If I look around among the people I know, the majority of ailments, small and serious, are those that fall square under Life, and are fixable with life - where normal medicine is merely mitigating the issue(s).

Eh. They require XP ;P My mind breaks trying to translate to RL-ish terms.

Yeah, but this isn't quite a general Mage-character thread, and more 'What sphere would *you* pick for *your* life thread Life, hands down, for me....

[Ambrosia]

I'd choose Life in a heartbeat.
It doesn't have the long-term advantages of Entropy in your life, nor does it have the social advantages that Mind can give you, but Life effects themselves have their own side of a good....well life and happyness. Not just for you, but also others.

Stay physically fit to the End (if there is one)? Done. Prevent diseases, aging, heal all kinds of injuries? Done. Play with your looks at will? Done. 20/20 vision? That will be a step down from what you got. Bad hearing? Don't even pay it much thought. Enjoy the best sleeps one can get, as your body...

[Ambrosia]

@Aleph: Quite right, I forgot that one group is old!

As for the Mammonites, of note is that if you are reading the text Aleph posted....you might get a feeling, and it's correct. When doing a Werewolf crossover (and even possibly if not), yes, yes they have ties with Pentex. Lots of them. Pentex and the Mammonites are best buds.

[Ambrosia]

Felt like that needed adding
Essentially, those faction still exist, they still have sizable members, but the other, newer-age factions are making good use of the fact that everybody only knows about, and is focusing on the old ones......

[Ambrosia]

Mmmh, depending on the kind of game, it is pretty much the ST's job to vet the characters during character generation. A character who tries to purple paradigm everything pretty much circumvents a lot of the balancing mechanics that Mage tries to bring to the table, as Mage HEAVILY relies on the player putting self-restraints on their chacter. Their human beliefs, their magickal paradigm, moral code, or simply believing that they *can't* do certain things, period. Another reason why I am glad that M20 makes the point that, even if mages tend to drop a lot of instrument, their paradigm tends to...

[Ambrosia]

If the SI was the Technocracy, things would play out a bit different. The SI would, for one, not waste time with research and make such vague statements about vampire abilities, as are shown in the documents already displayed in the handbook - the Technocracy already has done lots of that kind of research, and they know much more specifics.

If anything, I presume the NuWW statement might refer to the SI fighting a proxy war against the Vampires - *for* the Technocracy - without even knowing it. It would be the easiest way for the Technocracy to not have to split up their own resources...

[Ambrosia]

To add to this: Corr quite simply takes care of your back. While 'clear sensory range' and paradigm might actually allow you to *hear* danger behind you, not every mage takes in things that way - I wager that most Mages focus on the sensory perceptions in the most common way: eyes. Sight.

So Cor 1 would make sure that that sensing at least extends to 360 degrees line of sight around you....

[Ambrosia]

Small correction: It's ( Arete (+1 if forces) ) x2
The forces sphere adds a level of damage - not a point of damage

People also often forget that willpower *adds* a success if used, so an Arete 3 mage could crank out 4 successes on an Arete roll with that. With forces, That's 10 aggravated from a starting mage in a turn. Though it's less likely overall, unless Quintessence is being used to lower difficulty....

[Ambrosia]

There are Nephandic rotes - in the yet to be fully released Book Of The Fallen. Backers have it for errata, but it will still be a short while before it hits the online shelves. It's all about Nephandi, front to back.

The rotes in the book are very much about

* Hiding their true nature
* Spotting flaws and guilt in people, seeing how they see themselves and prying at personal secrets
* Seducing them
* Amplyfying their urges
* Riling them up - indviduals or whole groups
* Turning truths into falsehoods or falsehoods into truth in the minds...

[Ambrosia]

Well, pretty much. There is ONE (claimed) actual redemption in the past Mage books, and that is old man Senex, the goddamn frickin' Archmage leader of the Euthanatos, having *somehow* purged his mad, Nephandic apprentice from her taint - he claims - which also potentially involved her dieing and being later reborn. He's not quite telling. And not everybody believes him either. One of the oldest and most powerful mages around.
So yeah, there's that....

[Ambrosia]

Yes, the inconsistency is a weird thing.

Personally, I *would* understand the requirement of at least Mind 2 to project the sensory magic into other people's minds as a default - to me it's more strange that Level 1 spheres would allow you to change other people's perceptions willy-nilly without it, to be honest.

[Ambrosia]

Adding to what Aleph said about using level 1 spheres offensively by tossing the perception onto somebody else.. (Just note that, at least according to HDYDT you also need Mind 3 to do it to an unwilling target in sight..)

Forces. The forces sphere is insanely good for distracting the hell out of people. Make them *see* sound and radio waves. We have so much sound and all sorts of wireless communications in urban and city environments, that if the enemy is not used to sensing them this way, and especially if you pile such things up at once, it will be like pointing a stroboscope at...

[Ambrosia]

Yes, in some of the presented creatures, though non at actual Al-Aswad or Abba-Il-Aeon levels....

[Ambrosia]

Oh god, there actually is a wonderful hommage in the book that made me laugh out loud!
Something funny. In this book, of all of them. Brilliant.
I won't spoil it, but it's a entry in the list of 'Memetic Entities', that lurk in the Digital Web.

[Ambrosia]

Reflavor, though the book contains Nephandic paradigms, instruments, rotes, wonders, merits, flaws etc.

The book has a truckload of NPCs - but not stats for many. Key Nephandic players are listed with each group. The book also contains Nephandic familiars, demons, entities, Paradox Spirits that tend to go after Nephandi, etc....

[Ambrosia]

Jihelu
Give it time. This is a LOOOOOOOOOT of text to read. Seriously. 200 pages. Don't expect an in-depth by-chapter review soon unless somebody spends the whole day reading it all. I'm also working my way through, still. I've not reached some of the Merit stuff that Aleph's already in, and I gotta head to work soon, But here's what I have so far:

It's the first 20th book with a big, fat "Content Warning, you can turn back" right at the beginning, and it's deserved. ArcaneArts is also right that foreword alone is a punch, and give a bit of insight on where parts of...

[Ambrosia]

Myes. The Wraith might quite possibly be able to suprise the technocrats the first time - generally speaking, the Technos don't tend to have Ghost problems on their home turf on average, simply because hauntings there are probably exceedingly rare in the first place.

That said, it also depends on what kind of technocratic facility we are talking about. Just some offices acting as a front for a cabal? A military instalation that hides out some serious Hypertech experimentations? The question wether or not the Wraith will be able to wreak havoc highly, *highly* depends on what the actual...

[Ambrosia]

I'm a bit suprised by the downplaying of Wits here;
Wits is needed every time a character has to mentally quickly react to something - as opposed to Intelligence, which is more aimed at moments where the character has time to really think and analyze, or Dexterity which is more physical reflexes. Or social attributes, when you had time to prepare or are not under time-constraining pressure.

Wits+Alertness is a roll that was heavily used in my last Tabletop to quickly react to sudden events that sprung out of nowhere - while Wits+Subterfuge, Wits+leadership or Wits+Empathy is...

[Ambrosia]

Prepare for impact in 3..2.....

[Ambrosia]

This forum needs a "wat" reaction button. Where is this hyperbole coming from? I think you're putting things into a way more extreme light - and amusingly partially in the opposite direction - than what M20 gave us, IMO.

First of, M20 explicitely states that Correspondence does *not* coincidentally call a cab or helicopter you own. I'm not even sure how that'd make sense, unless you use 1st Edition result-based rules.

Second, There is one big change between the base levels of the spheres that I've seen in the M20 corebook, and that's in M20, you need Life 3...