2nd Edition - Rote Skill

[heinrich]

Does one only get the Order Rote Skills as possible Rote skills ?
What if a spell in the book has none of these as suggested Rote Skill, is it likely that order doesn't teach that Rote or should one ignore the suggested Rote Skills and choose one from the Orders list, or is it allowed to use one of the suggested for that spell ?

[Scarlet Witch]

If the Storyteller is comfortable with you breaking form I don't see why not. HOWEVER, I suggest making the rote noteworthy if it uses an unorthodox skill. Like if you have a skill that brings good luck or augments your intelligence but uses Brawl so your Adamantine Arrow can use it? It is so unusual, so noteworthy, that it should stick around as a potential story hook


See rotes requisite skill is chosen and programmed by the inventor of the rote, meaning in my example, there must have literally been an adamantine arrow master who wanted to get smarter by punching.

The suggested rote skills are suggested because they make sense, and the rote specialties of the orders fit their personalities. But its only +1 die on a rote specialty so nothing to sing about or worry about capitalizing compared to the raw power ANY rote has. But, if you wanna min/max it, include the weirdness and eccentricity into your background characters, with arrows who get smart from punching or mystagogues who shapechange by reasoning with themselves.

The consilium is only as fun as its npcs, so if you have a rote that uses the wrong skill and the ST is okay with it, use that as an opportunity to have a Master, now or in the past, who had the same bizarre idea~

[Mrmdubois]

Any Rote can be encoded with any skill and any Mage can learn any of these Rotes. The Rote Skills given in the book denote examples of skills that easily come to mind to mesh with the example Rotes. The only thing the Rote Skill means is that when you employ a Rote that matches its encoded skill with your Order’s Rote Skill you will receive an extra die.

[heinrich]

So, I'm not sure what to make with this infos, to be honest.

I re-browsed over the spellcasting rules and the step-by-step in the appendix but kind of have no clue how to build the dice pool.

Is it Gnosis + Arcanum ?

Then, if I use a Rote, in addition to the described benefits, I gain one Skill Rating (as written with the Rote)?
Or only if Rote Skill of Order ?
Or Skill Rating (and +1 if Rote Skill of Order) ?

I get all the other modifiers, but the base Dice Pool eludes me...

[Heavy Arms]

Rote bonuses are lumped into Yantra bonuses rather than something separate; which is important to note as you delve more into things.

So the base dice pool of a spell is always Gnosis + Arcanum.

If you're using a Rote Mudra as one of your Yantra bonuses, you gain bonus dice equal to your rating in a Skill that was decided when the Rote was created (see the fifth dot Attainment section for creating Rotes), and if that Skill is also on your of your Rote Skills for your Order, you get an extra +1.

So you're obviously better learning Rotes that match your Order's teachings (and at character creation there's zero reason to not have all your Rotes coded to appropriate Order Skills), but if you're presented the chance to learn a Rote that isn't coded to your Order's Skills as play goes on, it's easily worth it despite not getting the +1.

[heinrich]

Thank you for the clarification.

[Tessie]

Any Rote can be encoded with any skill

As long as it makes sense. The example Rote Skills are those most easily relateable to the spell. If other Skills makes sense as Rote Skills for a particular spell they too can be chosen as the encoded Rote Skill by the Rote's creator. If neither player nor ST can find a good relationship between Skill and Rote, then that Rote/Skill combo might not be possible or at least be so rare that characters wouldn't be likely to start with them or find them to be available from their Order.

[BlueWinds]

This is delving into the realm of house rules, but I've occasionally worked with my ST to create Rotes that use Merit dots rather than skills - Eg, Martial Arts, Parkour, or similar merits that represent skill and training in the same way that actual Skills do. It's an interesting twist to the same basic idea.

[Heavy Arms]

My only issue with that idea, is that it's actually worse for the cost than just using a Skill. As long as the players get that, it shouldn't be a problem, but I couldn't see myself allowing it with new players.

[TenguGrib]

I typically handle it as the skills listed in the book are the most common versions of the Rotes that have been passed around enough to be easily accessible. I'd gladly allow versions of the Rotes that use other skills, but those versions would be rare, and possibly hard to find. They would usually need to be found, or traded for, or built from scratch. That's just my games though. I like the idea of mages trading for Rotes, so I like to include it.