Upgrading Sorcerer

[voidshaper]

I was looking through deprecated Merits / Flaws and there's a 5pt Blood Magic Flaw (erroneously marked as Merit) in Revised. It's not a very good Flaw but I think blood sorcery should be part of linear magic in some form, if only because it is historically relevant- blood as a spell or ritual component has always been around.

Trading a health level for a powerful effect or as substitution for QE would be fair imo, but what do we think about access to vamp blood sorcery paths? Vampire got a lot more love from the writers for linear magic than Mage and thus has a huge selection of Paths, it seems there's a lot of potential for plundering. The equation "Health Level + Quintessence = Vitae Substitute" is very simplified, on the other hand it's for powering Paths, not Disciplines.

[adambeyoncelowe]

I was looking through deprecated Merits / Flaws and there's a 5pt Blood Magic Flaw (erroneously marked as Merit) in Revised. It's not a very good Flaw but I think blood sorcery should be part of linear magic in some form, if only because it is historically relevant- blood as a spell or ritual component has always been around.

Trading a health level for a powerful effect or as substitution for QE would be fair imo, but what do we think about access to vamp blood sorcery paths? Vampire got a lot more love from the writers for linear magic than Mage and thus has a huge selection of Paths, it seems there's a lot of potential for plundering. The equation "Health Level + Quintessence = Vitae Substitute" is very simplified, on the other hand it's for powering Paths, not Disciplines.

Seems fine to me. I'd use Numina XP costs, though, rather than Discipline costs.

[Dataweaver]

A number of the Merits and Flaws from SRev can be found in Book of Secrets; and Blood Magick is one of those. I would simply make it a “silver lining” of that Flaw that the magician can be taught vampiric Thaumaturgy as a Hedge Path. I would just use the Blood Magick rules for that, though.

If I wasn't so tired from work, I'd track down what other Merits and Flaws from SRev made their way into Book of Secrets.

[voidshaper]

A number of the Merits and Flaws from SRev can be found in Book of Secrets; and Blood Magick is one of those. I would simply make it a “silver lining” of that Flaw that the magician can be taught vampiric Thaumaturgy as a Hedge Path. I would just use the Blood Magick rules for that, though.

Oh I completely missed it in BoS! Thanks for the pointer.

Seems fine to me. I'd use Numina XP costs, though, rather than Discipline costs.

I would sketch it like that:

Blood Magick (3pt or 5pt Flaw)

As written, but additionally:
- The character may learn Blood Sorcery at usual Path costs
- If a Path power calls for expenditure of vitae, a point of Quintessence must be spent in addition to the health level
- as a 3pt Flaw, the character may use a different source for the blood (animal sacrifices.. or worse)

Blood Letting (2pt Merit)

- The character may inflict one point of unsoakable bashing damage upon themselves instead of spending a point of Quintessence

If I wasn't so tired from work, I'd track down what other Merits and Flaws from SRev made their way into Book of Secrets.

I got you:

Physical
Revised Name	Value	M20 Source	M20 Name	Value
Sterile	+1 / -1	Book of Secrets	Sterile	+1 / -1
The Flow of Ki	+2	Sorcerer	The Flow of Ki	+3
Social
Name	Value	M20 Source	Name	Value
-	-	Sorcerer	Innocent	+1
Faction Favorite	+2	Book of Secrets	Prestige	+2
Force of Spirit	+2	Sorcerer	Force of Spirit	+2
Ritual Congregation	+4	Core	Cult Background	n/a
Mistreated Minority	-1	Book of Secrets	Cultural Other	-1 to -5
Big Mouth	-2	Book of Secrets	Compulsive Speech	-1 / -2
Mental
Name	Value	M20 Source	Name	Value
Strength of Psyche	+2	Sorcerer	Strength of Psyche	+2
Detached	+4	Sorcerer	Detached	+4
Black and White	-1	Sorcerer	Black and White	-1
-	-	Sorcerer	Isolated Upbringing	-2
Pacifist	-5	Sorcerer	Pacifist	-5
Supernatural
Name	Value	M20 Source	Name	Value
Psychic Ritual	+2	-	-
Style Sleeper	+2	Sorcerer	Style Sleeper	+2
Twin Link	+4 / +6	Sorcerer	Twin Link	+4 / +6
Wild Talent	+4 to -4	Sorcerer	Wild Talent	+4 to -4
Path Natural	+5	Sorcerer	Path Natural	+5
Struggling Awake	+5	-	-
Totem	+5	Core	Totem Background	n/a
Psychic Feedback	-1 / -2 / -6	Sorcerer	Psychic Feedback	-1 / -2 / -6
Unsettling Effect	-1 / -3	Core	Echoes	-1 to -5
Psi Focus	-3 / -5	Sorcerer	Psi Focus	-3 / -5
Blood Magic	-5	Book of Secrets	Blood Magick	-5
Path Inept	-5	Sorcerer	Path Inept	-5
Ritual Sleeper	-5	Sorcerer	Ritual Sleeper	-5