Explain me Rotes

[Undead rabbit]

If I remember correctly in Mage the Awakening 1ed Rotes where pre-built spell casted using Att + skill+ Arcanum.

I was reading the 2nd edition of Awakening and I saw the things quite changed.

1) What's now the difference between Rotes and Improvised spells? Do they use both Gnosis + Arcanum?
2)Rituals can be done now with improvised spells?
3)How do Mudras works?
4) What are the "suggested skill" for rotes after each spell in the spell sections? (probably this will get an asnwer after you will answer the first or third question...but nevertheless...)

[Stupid Loserman]

1. All spells roll Gnosis + Arcanum. A spell cast as a praxis rolls exceptional successes more easily (on three rolled successes instead of five). A spell cast as a rote calculates Reach (but not dice pool) as if you had five dots in the Arcanum, and if cast as an extended ritual directly out of the grimoire, applies the rote quality (reroll failed dice). Neither praxes nor rotes cost Mana to cast spells outside your Ruling Arcana, unlike improvised casting.

2. Improvised spells can be performed in ritual casting time. As a matter of fact, you have to exert a reach to move an improvised spell out of ritual casting time; it is the baseline.

3. A mudra is an extremely potent yantra or magical focus which is part of the teaching of a rote spell. If you know a rote, you may perform its mudra as an action while building up to casting the rote. The mudra yields a dice bonus to your spellcasting equal to your rating in the rote's mudra Skill (plus a die if it's one of your Order's Rote Skills). This is technically distinct from simply having a dice pool of Gnosis + Arcanum + Skill because the number of yantras you can apply to one spell is limited, and because the sum of all your yantra bonuses on the spell is capped at +5.

4. They're common suggestions for possible mudra Skills for rotes of that Skill. Rotes are varied but not fluid. This is to say three masters may each encode a rote for the same spell, and if they focus and formulize it differently, those rotes can all have different mudra Skills: rotes are varied. A student studying from a grimoire, however, will cast the rote he learns using the mudra Skill encoded in that taught rote, regardless of whether another master's rote somewhere uses a mudra the student would grasp better: rotes are not fluid.

[Tessie]

1.a) Rotes doesn't cost a Mana to cast from common or inferior Arcana, have access to the Mudra Yantra (which adds your character's rating in a chosen Skill) if cast from memory, and grants Rote Action if cast from a Grimoire (or if you personally created the Rote).
1.b) The dice pool is the same for both, but Rotes grants access to a Mudra and/or Rote Action depending on how you cast it.
2.) Yes.
3.) Mudra is used as a Yantra. The dice bonus equals the mage's rating in the chosen Skill (to a maximum of 5) and adds one extra die if the Skill is one of the mage's Order Rote Skills.
4.) Every Rote is connected to a Skill (which is used for the Mudra). The three provided are examples for what Skill that spell might have as a Rote. They might instead use an unlisted Skill if that Skill would make sense for the Rote, but the three listed are the most common Skills.

[Isator Levi]

Rotes still have reduced Paradox, don't they?

[Mrmdubois]

Rotes still have reduced Paradox, don't they?

Sort of, you’re less likely to risk Paradox because of the Reach bump.

[LadyLens]

Also, if you have a grimoire holding the Rote you can take a *lot* of extra time to gain the Rote quality for the spell, meaning that any dice that fail on the first roll, you re-roll. That's in addition to the skill bonus (if you've actually learned the rote as well as having it in the grimoire) and the extra Reach (which you get either way).

[Undead rabbit]

Thanks for the answers, I am tempted to use Awakening rules with Ascensions spheres and setting, so I needed some clarifications.

[Gallus]

Rote spells also gain the Rote quality if you are the one who made it, not just if it's from a grimoire. Though, use of grimoires is going to be the most common way to get that benefit.

[BlueWinds]

Thanks for the answers, I am tempted to use Awakening rules with Ascensions spheres and setting, so I needed some clarifications.

That's what I've been doing with great success. It's a rather easy port, all told.

I ended up
A) Ditching Wisdom entirely
B) Replacing 'Path' with 'Choose any two ruling Arcana and one inferior'
C) Throwing out the list of Yantras from the book, and replacing them with a mage's choice of 7 Tools from the M20 book, then requiring every spell to include at least one appropriate yantra.

Let me know how your attempt goes, if you do decide to run it! Always curious to hear about other people using Ascension's setting.