Upgrading Sorcerer

[Dataweaver]

I'll have to look this over more closely; but on a once-over, it's looking like a definite improvement.

Specifically, what I'm looking to do is to compare these tables to their closest counterparts in m20. I figure that the results ought to be fairly similar, if not identical; and if not identical, just a tad under their M20 counterparts. I'm driving right now, so I'm not in a position to do the looking up.

[voidshaper]

Warning: Tables

Reworked Aspect system draft

Basic system: Path level is identical to Primary Aspect level. Casting works with the usual roll Attribute + Ability against Path level + 4. One success suffices to enact the power of the Primary Aspect and all zero levels of associated Aspects. Additional Aspect levels can be purchased with additional successes after the roll.

Changes to Aspect lists: Aspects have been consolidated into fewer general Aspects. These have been classified into Target Aspects for spell targets and Auxiliary Aspects for supporting aspects. Unique aspects to Paths have become Primary Aspects. Zero levels have been added to Auxiliary and Target Aspects. A single Target Aspect is chosen depending on the target of a spell or ritual: Mass for objects, Mundane for animals and humans, Essence for supernatural creatures.

Aspect table:

	Auxiliary Aspects				Target Aspects
	Space	Time	Accuracy	Empower	Mass	Mundane	Essence
x	touch	minutes	hazy	-	< 1 oz.	1	whimsical
•	3 ft	scene	vague	+ 1 die	ounces	2	tiny
••	6 ft	hours	crisp	+ 2 dice	pounds	5	weak
•••	10 ft	days	vivid	+ 3 dice	50 lb	10	average
••••	25 ft	weeks	accurate	+ 4 dice	100 lb	50	strong
•••••	100 ft	months	precise	+ 5 dice	500 lb	100	powerful
••••• •	1 mi	years	-	-	1000 lb	500	-
••••• ••	5 mi	decade	-	-	tons	1000	-

When targeting mundane animals, add + •• for small animals, or + • for medium sized animals.

Optional system: Sympathetic Connection has been reworked as a Casting Aid along with a few new ones. Each aid decreases the total number of successes needed for casting Rituals, and thus allow for more extended use of Aspects.

Casting Aid table:

	Sympathetic Connection	Correspondence Components	Ritual Time	Ritual Space
•	Any Possession	Common	Correct Planetary Hour	Proper Circle
••	Prized Possession	Expensive	Correct Day of Week	Historic Site
•••	Body Part	Exotic	Correct Moon Phase	Place of Power
••••	True Name	Rare	Equinox or Solstice	Telluric Nexus
•••••	Direct contact	Magic Material	The Stars are Right	Caern

These are meant as example, the sorcerer’s Focus and the type of spell should be considered.

Overview table with changes:

	Primary Aspect	Auxiliary Aspects	Target Aspects
Alchemy	-	-	-
Conjuration	Space + ••	-	Any (Mass + ••)
Conveyance	Travel Speed	Space + ••	Any (Mass + •)
Divination	Query	Accuracy, Time + ••	Essence
Ephemera	Spiritual Reach	-	Essence
Enchantment	-	-	-
Fascination	Willbending	Space + •, Empower (Social)	Mundane, Essence
Fortune	Severity	Time + •	Mundane, Essence
Healing	Healing	-	-
Hellfire	Damage	Space + • (Range), Space (AoE)	-
Illusion	Senses	Accuracy	Mundane, Essence
Maelstroms	Intensity	Space + •• (AoE), Time	-
M. Necromancy	Ghost Binding	Time	Essence
Necronics	Impedance	Space (AoE), Time	-
Oneiromancy	Dreamwalking	Space + •• (Range)	Essence
Q. Manipulation	Flow	Space (AoE), Time	-
Shadows	Shadowgrip	Space + • (Range), Space (AoE), Time	Any
Shapeshifting	Scale	Empower (Attribute), Damage	-
Starlight	Wending	Time + •	Any
Summoning	Mundane or Essence	Time	-
Binding	Binding Intensity	Time	Mundane, Essence
Warding	Mundane or Essence	Time + •	-
Weather Control	Intensity	Space + •• (AoE), Time	-

[voidshaper]

My next suggestion would be to make the spending of successes on Aspects something you do after the spell is cast, not before. One success gets you the minimum rankings in all relevant Aspects, and then subsequent successes let you increase the Aspects as you see fit. Increasing this a bit further, identify one Aspect per Path as its primary Aspect: the first success you get gives you that Aspect at your Path rating.

Agreeing with all your points, and this one in particular. The difficulty increase for higher Path powers already takes care of success mitigation for a primary Aspect.
As an alternative for defaulting to one success, I thought about that maybe adding a zero level and adjusting the Aspects a little could be more intuitive. It might also be nice to consolidate certain Aspects into groups (Mass, Time, Space) with a Small / Medium / Large grading. That way, it would be easier to make a table for quick reference.

[Dataweaver]

In the wake of the release of M20 Sorcerer, I'm restarting my Updating and Expanding Sorcerer thread.

The purpose of this thread is to note things that M20 Sorcerer didn't include that were in earlier editions, and to propose house rules to upgrade the effectiveness of sorcerers.

M20 Sorcerer didn't include any of the Backgrounds from SRev. This isn't necessarily a problem: those Backgrounds were Cholé (a Background that's more appropriate to the Bata'a and those with similar Practices than to Sorcerers), Guide (which is essentially just a Familiar), Mana (which is mechanically identical to Avatar, save only that the Avatar is Sleeping and won't be providing any guidance to the sorcerer unless and until it Awakens and the sorcerer becomes a mage), and Status (which appears in M20). It adds Artifact, though I'd argue that that's redundant: just like you can use Avatar to represent SRev's Mana, you can use Wonder to represent Artifact. There's no reason why Wonder must be restricted to magical items created using Awakened Magick.

A number of the Merits and Flaws have also been removed; but I'm not seeing anything that I regret losing. Either they're implemented in other ways (e.g., you don't need Ritual Congregation when you have the Cult Background) or they really don't have anything to do with sorcerers (why in the world did S20 include Sterile or Mistreated Minority?). I miss more the fact that Character Creation section doesn't mention the Equal for All option.

The sixth dots of the Paths are gone.

My main bullet point from the old thread has been incorporated into M20 Sorcerer: Paths no longer list specific Attribute + Ability pools; instead, the sorcerer assigns a Practice to the Path and uses that to decide what Attribute and Ability should be used for it. While I like it, it does make Sorcerer slightly less “shovel-ready”; so one thing I intend to do here is to provide “sorcerous approaches”, which start as cheat sheets for the hedge wizards featured in Hunters Hunted II, Kinfolk, and Ghost Hunters, listing not just which Paths they feature but also what pools each Path uses. I intend to expand to the various Affiliations featured in M20 Sorcerer.

Psychic Phenomena, on the other hand, don't need this treatment, at least not for the purpose of keeping things simple: all Psychic Phenomena that have rolls now use your Willpower as their dice pool. This is perhaps too simple; and an option might be presented making Psychic Phenomena more like Hedge Paths by basing their pools off of the Psionics practice found in Book of Secrets: the nutshell version is that the associated Abilities are things like Awareness, Empathy, Meditation, and Alertness.

In terms of house rules to further empower sorcerers: the first and foremost one is to remove the Willpower expenditure for casting a spell, performing a ritual, or activating a psychic phenomenon. This is the single biggest hindrance that sorcerers face in working their magic, forcing them to use their Paths very rarely. I might make an exception for Fast Casting: unlike earlier editions, M20 Sorcerer doesn't require you to spend another Willpower to Fast Cast. But that might be appropriate if you don't have to spend Willpower to cast in the first place.

My next suggestion would be to make the spending of successes on Aspects something you do after the spell is cast, not before. One success gets you the minimum rankings in all relevant Aspects, and then subsequent successes let you increase the Aspects as you see fit. Increasing this a bit further, identify one Aspect per Path as its primary Aspect: the first success you get gives you that Aspect at your Path rating.