Ask a simple question, Awakened edition

[EvilSqueegee]

How much Sympathy (if any) would a key have for a matching lock? Drafting a keyring that opens portals between doors whose keys are on the ring, but I'm not sure what the Withstand would be.

A pair of wedding rings has a Medium connection (Mage the Awakening, p. 173). P. 172 specifies that a strong physical connection can also create sympathy. I would argue that a key and it's lock aren't much different sympathetically than a pair of wedding rings.

[Tessie]

A pair of wedding rings has a Medium connection (Mage the Awakening, p. 173). P. 172 specifies that a strong physical connection can also create sympathy. I would argue that a key and it's lock aren't much different sympathetically than a pair of wedding rings.

It's an example of items with strong emotional ties, so a person usually have a medium strength connection to their own wedding ring.

[EvilSqueegee]

It's an example of items with strong emotional ties, so a person usually have a medium strength connection to their own wedding ring.

You're right, I misread the paragraph. Apologies.

[21C Hermit]

1. Serendipity has primary factor Potence, it has extra reach effects that refer to skill usage. The spell is not lasting, so those effects require recasting (or having active) the spell before using a skill, right?
2. If the primary factor is of a spell is Potence, can you use advanced duration WITHOUT switching the primary factor to Duration? If so, how many reach do you need for it?

1. Seems so.

2. Yup, access to Advanced spell factors have nothing to do with primary spell factors. Just spend 1 Reach. (Though this leaves you at Advanced Duration 1 = 1 scene/hour, so spend some dice to get days, weeks, etc.) (And indefinite Duration requires 1 Reach for accessing Advanced Duration and +1 Reach for a total of 2 Reach and -10 dice and 1 Mana).

[Cauthon]

1. Seems so.

I'm 99% sure that as a Knowing spell, the omens you receive are Lasting knowledge than you can leverage on the one relevant roll.

[21C Hermit]

I'm 99% sure that as a Knowing spell, the omens you receive are Lasting knowledge than you can leverage on the one relevant roll.

As I see it, the knowledge of “I can do This particular thing in That innovative way” is lasting, but ability to answer “Can I do This any other way” is not.

I.e. only one roll per casting.

[Cauthon]

As I see it, the knowledge of “I can do This particular thing in That innovative way” is lasting, but ability to answer “Can I do This any other way” is not.

I.e. only one roll per casting.

I read it as the spell giving the character a brace of symbolism to interpret, which the player gets to define after the fact. That is, if my character wants access to the Blue Sun City Library's restricted section, and I as the player want to substitute, say, Survival, then the omens are something like

"The knowledge you seek dwells in the house of the azure sun. The gatekeeper can be circumvented through a test of the wilds".

It's vague enough to be applied to whatever way you want to interpret the roll (the Librarian you talk to is a doomsday prepper who can be convinced to bend the rules for a "fellow survivalist", for example), but you still only have that one instance where the knowledge can be reliably applied to a roll. If you botch the roll, you don't get to reuse the substitution and try again

[21C Hermit]

I read it as the spell giving the character a brace of symbolism to interpret, which the player gets to define after the fact. That is, if my character wants access to the Blue Sun City Library's restricted section, and I as the player want to substitute, say, Survival, then the omens are something like

"The knowledge you seek dwells in the house of the azure sun. The gatekeeper can be circumvented through a test of the wilds".

It's vague enough to be applied to whatever way you want to interpret the roll (the Librarian you talk to is a doomsday prepper who can be convinced to bend the rules for a "fellow survivalist", for example), but you still only have that one instance where the knowledge can be reliably applied to a roll. If you botch the roll, you don't get to reuse the substitution and try again

Which… doesn’t collide with what said, I think?

No wait, I think I got this — I say we need to recast the spell because I assume we only ask this question (of whether we need to recast or not) when the Potency ‘charges’ are all spent. You assume we still have some left. Was this the issue all along?

[Cauthon]

Which… doesn’t collide with what said, I think?

No wait, I think I got this — I say we need to recast the spell because I assume we only ask this question (of whether we need to recast or not) when the Potency ‘charges’ are all spent. You assume we still have some left. Was this the issue all along?

Yyyyyyes, more or less. The original question was

1. Serendipity has primary factor Potence, it has extra reach effects that refer to skill usage. The spell is not lasting, so those effects require recasting (or having active) the spell before using a skill, right?

Which I read as "the character used Seredipity but didn't make use of the substitution before the spell's Duration elapsed, do they need to recast to keep benefiting?"* To which I say no, since Serendipity is simply producing knowledge you then need to act on to benefit from.

Your response was "Seems so", which I interpreted as meaning your stance is needing to have the spell up to use a substitution

* lbeaumanior, can you confirm/deny?

[lbeaumanior]

Yyyyyyes, more or less. The original question was


Which I read as "the character used Seredipity but didn't make use of the substitution before the spell's Duration elapsed, do they need to recast to keep benefiting?"* To which I say no, since Serendipity is simply producing knowledge you then need to act on to benefit from.

Your response was "Seems so", which I interpreted as meaning your stance is needing to have the spell up to use a substitution

* lbeaumanior, can you confirm/deny?

Yes, but it is weird then since I cast to say use Any skill... Before knowing which skill I will use in that future situation. So, that is why I assumed I got to recast the spell.

What about a complementary question. If I cast Serendipity WITHOUT using the skill usage capabilities, and after, when the situation arises I want to get the effect of skill substitution, does recasting suffices or I have to make do as it is?

[Cauthon]

Yes, but it is weird then since I cast to say use Any skill... Before knowing which skill I will use in that future situation. So, that is why I assumed I got to recast the spell.

Ah. That's where you have to separate mechanics from character. Your character isn't choosing to use the Survival Skill in my example, they're asking for a method that will play to their strengths. The player is specifying that it'll be a Survival roll.

What about a complementary question. If I cast Serendipity WITHOUT using the skill usage capabilities, and after, when the situation arises I want to get the effect of skill substitution, does recasting suffices or I have to make do as it is?

I would allow recasting with the Reach effect to work. "My first try didn't work. Fate! I call for your aid!" or "I'm not confident I'm charismatic enough for this. Fate! How can I resolve this with my muscles?"

[orathaic]

If a Combined Spell is being cast, and the caster spends the Reach to have each spell's Scale separated, how do you calculate the final dice pool for the spell? Do you charge dice for Scale twice?

My understanding is that a combined spell is meant to be two effects with the same spell factors so they both have the same scale, potency, duration etc. which allows you calculate the dice pool (-2 dice pool per combined spell).

But as said elsewhere, the rules are unclear.

[EvilSqueegee]

There was a 1e Legacy that involved slowly becoming a spirit. You took a totem and gained influences and I can't seem to find it anywhere anymore, does anyone remember what they were called and/or what sourcebook they were in?

[Satchel]

There was a 1e Legacy that involved slowly becoming a spirit. You took a totem and gained influences and I can't seem to find it anywhere anymore, does anyone remember what they were called and/or what sourcebook they were in?

Katsinam Suukya, from Summoners, beginning on page 195.

[Cauthon]

This may be a strange question, but are there any rules for how diseases spread in CoD? I want to make a Contagion illness that spreads along Sympathetic Connections, with stronger connections being more virulent vectors.

"she must target some form of carrier depending on the disease’s transmission methods (water, food, living hosts). It’s contagious as soon as the mage creates it, requiring a reflexive Stamina + Resolve roll, modified by the Severity, to resist contracting it. "

From that I assume any exposure to a given vector causes the same Stamina + Resolve roll, so a Sympathy-based Illness would trigger the roll whenever interacting with and infected Connection. Does that seem accurate?


Tangentially related - if you use Borrow Threads (Stealing, not copying) and then use Cut Threads on those stolen connections, are they then severed for the original owner when Borrow Threads ends?