Rote Modifiers

Once you’ve selected your Rotes, or created new ones, you can apply these optional modifiers to them. These are simple templates for replicating some of the different options for using magic in Mage. You may even use multiple templates at once – Cooperative Ritual Magic is common. The XP cost is the same as the original Rote – the Sphere Levels in XP. All of these modifiers must be declared when the Rote is being bought, and may not be changed – a Coincidental Rote is always a Coincidental Rote. You might even own multiple versions of the same Rote, with various modifiers.

Ritual Magic

Ritual magic is extremely slow – it takes at least twenty minutes to gather materials and prepare, and 10 minutes to cast the spell. Once you’re actually casting the spell, if you have to leave the ritual for any reason – even if it’s simply to talk to someone – you must make a Resolve + Meditation challenge to resume without destroying the ritual.

Once that’s done, the Rote goes off as normal, but acts as if two Quintessence had been spent on it. It will last longer, be more powerful, affect more targets, etc. The Mage chooses how these bonus Quintessence will be spent when creating the Rote, and he may still spend more Quintessence on the Rote.

The Rote still gains the normal amount of Paradox. You take the Paradox for using a Ritual as soon as you begin the casting phase, so even if you’re interrupted at that point, you’re still hit with Paradox.

All magic used during Downtime is actually done in the Ritual Magic style, but you don’t gain any bonus for taking extra time. The ritual is simply to overcome the distance between you and your target – another reason why Mages prefer to use their magic face-to-face.

Cooperative Magic

When several Mages want to work together to create a larger effect, they use Cooperative Magic. Each Mage purchases a Rote normally, and all the Rotes essentially go off together. One Mage using Scrying, one using Infrared Vision, and one using Invisibility to Light would be able to stay hidden while looking through a wall and seeing what’s on the other side in infrared. Each Mage only has to know the Spheres for his part of the Rote, which allows for cross-Sphere effects to be used more easily.

Paradox is shared evenly among the Mages. If one Mage uses a Rote which would normally cause 1 Paradox and the other uses a Rote which causes 5, they both take 3 Paradox (6 divided by 2). Any remainders go to the Mages who have invested the highest number of Sphere Levels in the Rote.

The upside of using Cooperative Magic is that the effects of the Rote are applied to all the Mages involved. For example, on the above Rote, all three Mages would be invisible, and all three would be able to see through the wall in infrared.

Cooperative Magic also gains another bonus. For each aspect of their Paradigm that all the cooperating Mages share beyond the first, they gain a free point of Quintessence to use on the Rote. The Mages choose how this Quintessence will be spent when creating the Rote. However, they can only gain a maximum number of bonus Quintessence equal to the number of Mages beyond the first.

Example: Two Mages from the same Tradition and Faction would get one bonus Quintessence. If they were also from the same Cabal, they would still only get 1 Quintessence (because there’s only one Mage beyond the first.) However, if they found another Mage from the same Tradition, Faction, and Cabal, they could get 2 Quintessence free.

The maximum is five Mages who all share the same Tradition, Faction, Essence, Cabal, and Personal Paradigms, who would thus gain +4 Quintessence on their Rote. (In order to gain a bonus based on your Personal Paradigms, you must talk to an ST and show him that the Paradigms are similar.)

A Rote must be declared as Cooperative when it is being created, otherwise it cannot be used as Cooperative Magic. All of the cooperating Mages must share at least one aspect of their Paradigm – so they must all be from the same Tradition, or the same Cabal, or the same Avatar Essence. A Cooperative Rote can only be used when all the Mages involved in its creation are present and within a few feet of each other. If even one member of the group is distracted or incapacitated, the entire Rote fails.

Cooperative Magic may be used during Downtime, although it takes up one of the Downtime Actions of all the Mages involved.

Coincidental Magic

Sometimes, a Mage really wants to slip a magical effect into being without anyone realizing where it came from. The biggest trick when using Coincidental Magic is for the Mage to convince himself – his human soul – that no magic occurred.

When casting Coincidental Magic, the player rolls a single, unmodified d6. He must roll above the number of Sphere Levels involved in the Rote. So for a Sphere Level 1 Rote, he must roll 2 or above. For a Sphere Level 4 Rote, he must roll 5 or 6. Rotes with 6 or more Sphere Levels can never be Coincidental.

If the Mage makes this roll, the Rote incurs no Paradox, and takes effect in a very subtle fashion. Even if watching him directly, observers must make an Intelligence + Awareness challenge against the Mage’s Intelligence + Arete to realize that a Rote was cast. If the Mage fails this roll, the Rote incurs its normal Paradox, and the Mage is temporarily stunned. If he is in combat, he can take no other actions this Turn. If he is not in combat, he cannot move or speak for about 5-10 seconds as a wave of nausea washes over him.

In the case of Cooperative Coincidental Magic, only one Mage makes the d6 roll. If it fails, it fails for everyone.

Coincidental Magic may be used during Downtime, with the same risks.