Homebrew Mage Merits

[Deionscribe]

At long last, the list on the main post has finally gotten big enough to be moved into its own GDocs. Feel free to review them in the following links while adding your own contributions to this thread.


• Awakened Merits
• Sleeper Merits
• Sleepwalker Merits
• Proximi Merits

[Juhn]

Doesn't sacrificing a human for Mana qualify as a Falling-level Wisdom sin and only give you 1 die anyway?

Although looking at it again, "deliberate and premeditated murder" seems to be listed under Understanding-level.

[Deionscribe]

Doesn't sacrificing a human for Mana qualify as a Falling-level Wisdom sin and only give you 1 die anyway?

Although looking at it again, "deliberate and premeditated murder" seems to be listed under Understanding-level.

I may have to revisit the Wisdom rules for that, again. But I was porting over the Harvester Merit from 1E with some House Rules I have in mind. One of which includes Wisdom degeneration (roll the whole stat with penalties based on current rating and level of the sin).

[Deionscribe]

Added the following Merits....

* Gesture Lore - Basically a sort of "Interdisciplinary Specialty" for Rotes which allows for Combined Rote Casting so long as they use the same Skill.
* Page Master - A Merit which might be of use to Mages who prefer to cast Rotes from Grimoires.
* Rote Mastery - A Merit that represents deeper mastery in a single rote spell.

[Mr.F.I.X.]

I really like page master just for the imagery of a mage casting from a grimoire but I feel that having the rote trait for the dice pool may be to much. It'd be good for giving mages the ability to cast Rotes within as if they were rotes known. Simply allowing reach to go toward instant casting but without the rote quality when used in this way.

[Deionscribe]

I really like page master just for the imagery of a mage casting from a grimoire but I feel that having the rote trait for the dice pool may be to much. It'd be good for giving mages the ability to cast Rotes within as if they were rotes known. Simply allowing reach to go toward instant casting but without the rote quality when used in this way.

How about this, then? This revision was inspired by Pendragon's tweaking of it for his 2E House Rules.

-=-

Page Master (••)
Prerequisite: Awakened, Grimoire •+
Effect: Knowledge is power, and Grimoires are fonts of Supernal lore. Yet while most Mages value them simply for the rotes they have to offer, you have gained enough experience with one Grimoire that you need only a quick reference to replicate the spells inscribed in it. When using this Grimoire to cast a rote, you may either do it as a ritual with duration based solely on Gnosis, or spend Reach to make the roll an Instant action. If you have already purchased the rote through Experience, you may add half the Grimoire's dots (rounded up) as a dice bonus to the dice pool. This Merit may be purchased multiple times for different Grimoires in your possession.

-=-

Admittedly, I was thinking of scrapping the rote quality altogether for casting rotes from the Grimoire and replace it with something else. What that would be, though, is something I'm still thinking on.

[JayTee]

Not sure of the balance on this, but I'll throw it out there just for fun.

Arcane Asceticism (•••••)
Prerequisite: Awakened
Effect: Shunning tools, you refine your magic to new heights based on raw will and arcane insight.

Benefit: Should the dots in this merit meets the Arcana dots required to cast a spell, the Mage may gain one additional point of Reach
Drawback: The Mage cannot use a Tool-based Yantras. For every dot in this merit, the maximum bonus gained from a Tool-based Yantra after mitigating penalties is reduced by 1

[Mr.F.I.X.]

Not sure of the balance on this, but I'll throw it out there just for fun.

Arcane Asceticism (•••••)
Prerequisite: Awakened
Effect: Shunning tools, you refine your magic to new heights based on raw will and arcane insight.

Benefit: Should the dots in this merit meets the Arcana dots required to cast a spell, the Mage may gain one additional point of Reach
Drawback: The Mage cannot use a Tool-based Yantras. For every dot in this merit, the maximum bonus gained from a Tool-based Yantra after mitigating penalties is reduced by 1

So I assume that while benefiting from the merit (additional point of reach) one can not use a tool and at other times the bonus from the tool is reduced, am I correct? Because if so you may have to alter the drawback.
I may suggest something along the following lines:
"Drawback: While benefiting from this merit a mage can not use a tool based yantra."

Because the next sentence does not effect when penalties are being mitigated I feel that it is unique and still gives tools a use even when they would give no bonuses. Since a tool often only gives +1 I feel you may also need to clarify that this is a reduction in bonuses from tool yantras as a group not individually. This change would just be "From a tool based yantra" to "from tool based yantras as a group" or something. It'd clarify that of the usual maximum of +5 only X could come from tool yantras instead of each tool's bonus being reduced individually.

I also assume this is a 1 to 5 dot merit based

[JayTee]

Thanks for the feedback, here's the revised version:

Arcane Asceticism (•••••)
Prerequisite: Awakened
Effect: Shunning tools, you refine your magic to new heights based on raw will and arcane insight.

Benefit: Should the dots in this merit meets the Arcana dots required to cast a spell, the Mage may gain one additional point of Reach
Drawback: While benefiting from this merit a mage can not use a tool or rune based yantras.

I also assume this is a 1 to 5 dot merit based

Yes, although I'm considering adding more potent effects at the 3 and 5 dot levels to spice it up and make it more interesting than just big numbers. Maybe letting the mage relinquish a spell by paying Mana instead of a Willpower dot, or allowing the mage to use Willpower in place of mana a number of times per day equal to the merit level. In exchange for these benefits though, their Yantra options could be increasingly cut off. Probably external sources of magical power, like Demesnes or supernal verges, forcing the mage to rely entirely on their own skill and will.

[Mr.F.I.X.]

Yes, although I'm considering adding more potent effects at the 3 and 5 dot levels to spice it up and make it more interesting than just big numbers. Maybe letting the mage relinquish a spell by paying Mana instead of a Willpower dot, or allowing the mage to use Willpower in place of mana a number of times per day equal to the merit level. In exchange for these benefits though, their Yantra options could be increasingly cut off. Probably external sources of magical power, like Demesnes or supernal verges, forcing the mage to rely entirely on their own skill and will.

The reason I asked was because at the moment it looks like a 5 dot not 1 to 5 though the text implies it is the latter.

I do like the idea of a spell being able to be relinquished without degrading as it would for a willpower point but I feel that it may be hard to get it right. Maybe at the third dot a single point of mana can replicate a spell being relinquished as by a point of willpower then at the 5th dot mana can replicate relinquishing a spell for a dot of willpower. However I'd say that it should not be a mana in place of a will power dot. Maybe a number like 3 to 5 with a dice roll that is a potential risk of wisdom at some level. Something to make refinishing a spell in this way still have a cost of some sort even if not the ridiculous thing I just presented.

[JayTee]

How's this?

Arcane Asceticism (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Awakened
Effect: Shunning tools and external resources, you refine your magic to new heights based on raw will and arcane insight.

Benefit: Should the dots in this merit meets the Arcana dots required to cast a spell, the Mage may gain one additional point of Reach
Drawback: While benefiting from this merit a mage can not use a tool or rune based yantras.

Benefit: At 3 dots, the Mage may spend 1 Mana in place of a willpower point when relinquishing a spell. At 5 Dots, the mage treat their Gnosis as being half again higher (round up) for the purpose of determining the number of active spells they can maintain.
Drawback: The mage may not invoke environmental Yantras in to a spell. Including Demesnes, Hallows or Supernal Verges.

[Mr.F.I.X.]

How's this?

Arcane Asceticism (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Awakened
Effect: Shunning tools and external resources, you refine your magic to new heights based on raw will and arcane insight.

Benefit: Should the dots in this merit meets the Arcana dots required to cast a spell, the Mage may gain one additional point of Reach
Drawback: While benefiting from this merit a mage can not use a tool or rune based yantras.

Benefit: At 3 dots, the Mage may spend 1 Mana in place of a willpower point when relinquishing a spell. At 5 Dots, the mage treat their Gnosis as being half again higher for the purpose of determining the number of active spells they can maintain.
Drawback: The mage may not invoke environmental Yantras in to a spell. Including Demesnes, Hallows or Supernal Verges.

It is an interesting way to achieve the result I like it personally.

Now for my own
Familiar Yantra (* to ***)
Your bond with your familiar is especially close and you can call on your familiar as others call on their shadow name. As long as the familiar resonates with the spell you are casting may call on it as a Yantra. The bonus of the familiar as a Yantra is equal to the merit dots in this merit.

I am debating if it should cap at 3 like shadow name or go to a max of five.

Other than the bonus as a Yantra I am unsure what benifits it should have if any.

[JayTee]

Made a small tweak/clarification, but other than that, glad it's not as imbalanced as I thought it would be.

[Deionscribe]

Familiar Yantra (* to ***)
Your bond with your familiar is especially close and you can call on your familiar as others call on their shadow name. As long as the familiar resonayes with the spell you are casting may call on it as a Yantra. The bonus of the familiar as a Yantra is equal to the merit dots in this merit.

I am debating if it should cap at 3 like shadow name or go to a max of five.

Other than the bonus as a Yantra I am unsure what benifits it should have if any.

I like this.

[Deionscribe]

Another 2E conversion.

On a related note, does anyone want to try their hand at making a write-up for that scrapped Brutal Sorcery Merit?

---

Body-Ravaging Magic (•••)
Prerequisites: Awakened
Effect: The Mage can expose her body to the raw power of the Supernal Realms, opening a more potent channel for the energies of her spells. If she willingly suffers up to as many points of resistant bashing damage as the lower of her Resolve or Composure, she can add dice equal to the damage suffered to the dice pool of a single spell, which must be cast around the time of the injury. Body-Ravaging Magic manifests differently for every Mage. Some suffer spontaneous burns, cuts, and contusions. Classic stigmata and spiral burns over the chakras have been reported. Others cough or cry blood, or simply tremble and turn pale.

Drawbacks: Aside from the injuries inflicted upon themselves, each use of Body-Ravaging Magic is considered a sin against Enlightened Wisdom. Furthermore, many Awakened tend to be wary of those who resort to such suicidal methods, which may levy penalties to Social rolls.