Willpower

Willpower costs 1x the new rating in XP. See the XP Chart.

Willpower ranges from 0 – 10.

Everyone has inner strengths, inner capabilities they can draw on to surprise everyone around them – even themselves. Willpower is a useful, but limited resource.

Willpower has two types. Permanent Willpower is what you buy with XP, and represents your total strength of will. Temporary Willpower is what you spend through the course of the game, and represents your current efforts and strength of mind. Each game, you start with Temporary Willpower equal to your Permanent Willpower.

Your Permanent Willpower is sometimes used as your defense against Mind magic.

When in a Challenge, you may expend a single point of Temporary Willpower to add 2 to your Attribute + Ability score. For example:

John has Offense 3 and Weaponry 2. He needs to win this Challenge, so he marks off a point of Temporary Willpower on his sheet, bringing his total up to 7 (3 + 2 + 2). He then rolls his D6, rolling a 3, bringing his total up to 10.

You must spend Temporary Willpower in this fashion before the D6 is rolled. You may do this on any challenge involving the dice, including tests to hit with or avoid magical attacks. The bonus only lasts for that specific Challenge.

If the ST tells you to do something – such as ‘You want to flee in terror from the monster,’ or ‘The tear gas chokes you, making you unable to fight,’ you may spend a point of Temporary Willpower each turn to act normally.

Temporary Willpower is represented by red poker chips.

Willpower

0 – Spineless

1 – Weak

2 – Timid

3 – Unassertive

4 – Diffident

5 – Certain

6 – Confident

7 – Determined

8 – Controlled

9 – Iron-Willed

10 - Unshakable

Virtue and Vice

Nobody’s average. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve thought about your background, I want to know the virtue and vice which exemplify them. Please choose one Virtue and one Vice for your character.

The seven virtues are: Faith, Hope, Charity, Courage, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence.

The seven vices are: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, and Sloth.

You may expand upon this list if you need to, but I want to keep the various Virtues and Vices down to a minimum.

Examples:

-A naturally born leader might find his Virtue to be Prudence, carefully making decisions, but his Vice to be Envy toward anyone else in power.

-An artist might find his Virtue to be his Hope, expressing dreams in his works, but his Vice is his Lust, being focused solely on the perfection of his art.

-Someone who just goes along with the crowd might excel at Faith, believing in what he’s doing, but suffer from Sloth.

This is mainly a roleplaying aid for you. It can be difficult to keep your character’s entire history and personality in mind at one time – but as long as you can remember your greatest strength and greatest failing, you’ll portray their personality convincingly. They do have an in-game effect, however. Your Virtue allows you to regain Willpower, and your Vice takes control when your will runs out.

Virtue: Once per game session, you may regain two points of Temporary Willpower by exemplifying your Virtue. This is an incentive for you to set goals in-character, and get involved in the social game.

Before each game begins, find an ST and tell them a goal you have for the night that relates to your Virtue, gives you purpose, and enforces who you are. (This is a good thing to do over e-mail, or even to send in while you send in your Downtime.) If the ST approves of the goal, then at the next session, you can try to complete it. If you do so successfully, the ST will reward you with two points of Temporary Willpower.

Vice: If you ever run out of Temporary Willpower during a game – by using it all on Challenges, or by having it taken by Paradox – you begin acting out your Vice, until the end of the game. Of course, you should always keep your Vice in mind – but this is a more severe instance, when you’re just tired of fighting your nature anymore.

This aspect of the game is meant to simulate hubris, and to make the roleplay more interesting as Mages become subject to their volatile emotions.

Regaining Willpower: Virtue

Charity: You can regain Willpower once per session by giving of yourself to others, without expecting anything back. The size of the gift doesn’t matter as much as how passionately and freely you give it. This doesn’t have to be a physical or monetary gift – education, advice, and sympathy are all valuable in the Mage world. Also known as: Compassion, Mercy.

Faith: You can regain Willpower once per session by making a choice on blind faith: convincing others to follow an unproven leader, trusting someone who you have no reason to trust, or signing your name to a complicated document without reading it. This doesn’t need to be a stupid decision – you just believe in people, or believe in fate, and don’t feel that you need to worry about covering every angle. It’ll all work out. Also known as: Belief, Conviction, Humility, Loyalty.

Fortitude: You can regain Willpower once per session by refusing to back down, even when the odds are against you. You may engage in battles you cannot win, or pursue an investigation that others left as hopeless. You can regain Willpower by resisting pressure to change your goals, and sticking with the course you’re on. Also known as: Courage, Integrity, Mettle, Stoicism.

Hope: You can regain Willpower once per session by taking a step towards your goal. Hope requires a goal – you hope for a better world, you hope people become more trustworthy, you hope you can make a friend. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, and the goal can change at any time – the point is, you have a dream, and you’re willing to make a concrete step toward achieving it every game session. Also known as: Dreamer, Optimist, Utopian.

Justice: You can regain Willpower once per session by ensuring that good deeds are rewarded, and evil is punished. (Of course, the definition of evil can be subjective.) You may actually bring a criminal to justice, or you may convince someone to make a moral decision – or you may simply fulfill your Virtue by being watchful, and creating an environment where injustice cannot flourish. Also known as: Condemnatory, Righteous.

Prudence: You can regain Willpower once per session by performing a thorough analysis. You might gather reports and build a battle plan, or analyze the artistic value of a painting. One way or another, you take your time – you gather information, process it, and create a useful conclusion. You can regain Willpower by finding the fatal flaw in a plan, or by taking the time to act intelligently instead of being rash. Also known as: Patience, Vigilance.

Temperance: You can regain Willpower once per session by expressing self-control. You swallow grave insults, avoid temptation, and never take the easy way out. Of course, this Virtue requires more than just politeness; a Temperate character never reacts to an insult, never takes offense at those better than him, and never thinks of revenge. You can regain Willpower by keeping yourself in check during a bad situation. Also known as: Chastity, Even-Temperament, Frugality.

Running Out of Willpower: Vice

Envy: When you run out of Willpower, you succumb to your desires. You immediately find someone who has something you’d like to have, and do anything you can to take it from them. Or you begin plotting against someone who is more powerful, skilled, or knowledgeable than you, and engineer their downfall. Also known as: Covertousness, Jealousy, Paranoia.

Gluttony: When you run out of Willpower, you need comforting pleasure. You immediately find an activity you like, such as eating, reading, or dancing, and indulge in that activity while ignoring everything else. Too much is never enough. Also known as: Addictive personality, Conspicuous consumer, Epicurian.

Greed: When you run out of Willpower, you no longer think about others. You immediately begin acting in the most selfish way possible, ignoring the needs and emotions of anyone but yourself. Also known as: Avarice, Parsimony.

Lust: When you run out of Willpower, you succumb to your inner urges. You immediately find something or someone you desire deeply, and seek to obtain it for your own at all costs. (Not to the point that you’re creeping out other players, though. Falling to Lust should be a tragic thing – you’ve kept these powerful impulses in check for so long, but your willpower has finally run out.) Also known as: Lasciviousness, Impatience, Impetuousness.

Pride: When you run out of Willpower, you become extremely sensitive. If anyone insults you, challenges your authority, or makes a comment that could be vaguely construed as negative, you immediately defend yourself, going to absurd lengths to show how great you are, that you’re in charge, and similar things. Also known as: Arrogance, Ego complex, Vanity.

Sloth: When you run out of Willpower, you’ve decided effort is meaningless. You immediately retreat, either going home or just crumpling in a corner, and avoid effort at all cost. Also known as: Apathy, Cowardice, Ignorance.

Wrath: When you run out of Willpower, you lose control of your inner rage. You immediately find someone you dislike and start a fight, or otherwise seek to solve your problems through destruction and rage. Also known as: Antisocial tendencies, Hotheadedness, Poor anger management, Sadism.