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Chapter One:
Character Creation
Chapter Two:
Traits
Chapter Three:
Powers
Chapter Four:
Systems
This supplement details rules for Mage venue games in the Camarilla's Sanctioned Mind’s Eye Theatre chronicle. These rules are intended for use with Laws of Ascension, Laws of Ascension Companion, and Dark Epics by White Wolf Publishing, and with the Camarilla’s Prime Supplement.
These rules, when used for Sanctioned play, are to be applied without change, deviation, alteration or addition by any member, save a country’s National Storyteller. This is to enforce a homogenous set of rules throughout the organization, insuring that wherever a member goes, they may play with a minimum of problems.
Storytellers are allowed and encouraged to use their judgment in the World of Darkness to develop stories and enrich the flavor of the game. If a Storyteller judges that the flow of the story would be enhanced by minor exceptions to the rules (on an individual basis only), this creative license is allowed. It is strongly suggested that Storytellers stick to the letter and intent of the rules in situations where one or more characters may die. Storytellers found to be abusing this occasional liberty are subject to review and possible disciplinary action. These licenses are not to be for such things as the approval of magic items or the allowing of players to play rare character Types.
Chapter One: Character Creation (Ma.1.0.00)
Mage characters are created using Laws of Ascension and Laws of Ascension Companion in conjunction with this supplement and with Prime.
Concepts (Ma.1.0.01)
There are slight paradigm differences between White Wolf’s source material and what is used for the Camarilla's Sanctioned chronicle. For example, the Avatar Storms in the Sanctioned chronicle occurred in May 2001 rather than September 1999.
Players are encouraged to limit their character's age upon entering play to that of a normal mortal lifespan. Concepts that include holding high positions in the various Traditions, whether past or present, require High Approval. High Approval is also required if the character is from another Realm. High Approval is required if the character is, or used to be, a member of a Technocratic Convention.
Some
Important Changes Made (Ma.1.0.02)
The Wonder Background is changed in the
Supplement, due in part to the release of the Laws of Ascension Companion. All wonders must be recreated under the
Supplement's Wonder rules. (The
ability for wonders to have extra Grades of Success was limited for game
balance.) The rules on Sanctums were changed to reflect
changes made in Revised material. The Merits and Flaws from LotN:R that were used in
previous editions are now removed in favor of the Merits and Flaws found in
LoA:C. Reallocation of Free Traits on Merits and Flaws to reflect this is
permitted, with Low Approval. Please note that in some cases,
different Merits and Flaws from each book have the same name, and to retain a
Merit or Flaw that appears in LotN:R but not in the Companion requires High
Approval. Existing characters must be approved by the appropriate level Storyteller(s) if something on the character sheet now requires a higher level of approval than it did previously. Prior to this series, MC 12 allowed members to purchase 5 Traits of Arete at character creation. This was used to populate the game with a few Masters right off, and encourage more players to join at the venue’s inception. To keep the venue from becoming overpopulated with Masters, this option is no longer allowed. Any characters that were created with 5 Traits of Arete must be registered with the High Approval Storyteller before they can be played. Any PC that has gained six or more Arete Traits must be registered with the High Approval Storyteller before they can be played. Characters are now all subject to the same time interval requirements between successful seekings, regardless of a player’s Membership Class. |
Some mages require special approval to play. Top Approval is required for anything not rated here.
Members of the Akashic Brotherhood, Celestial Chorus, Cult of Ecstasy, Dreamspeakers, Euthanatos, Order of Hermes, Sons of Ether, Verbena, or Virtual Adepts, require only Low Approval, as do Hollow Ones and Orphans.
Members of the Ahl-I-Batin, Sisters of Hippolyta, Taftani, Templars, or Wu Nung Crafts require High Approval.
Members of the Wu Keng Craft require Top Approval.
Membership Benefits
(Ma.1.0.04)
Players may not normally create characters with a starting Arete higher than two. Players with a Member Class of 4 or higher may start with three Traits. MC 9 allows the character four Traits of starting Arete, but this requires High Approval. These higher Arete scores must be purchased as normal.
Chapter Two: Traits (Ma.2.0.00)
A mage has Trait maximums of ten (plus her Arete) for each Attribute category, five for each Ability, and ten Willpower. The Beyond Human Limits and Archmage Spheres optional rules are used in the Sanctioned chronicle.
ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES (Ma.2.1.00)
The High Approval Storyteller can approve a character changing Traditions, moderating the game effects of such a change on a case-by-case basis.
Some Tradition, Union, and Disparate Advantages give permanent Traits of some kind or another. These Traits act as normal but can exceed the character’s maximums.
Akashic Brotherhood (Ma.2.1.01)
Akashics do not need to have three levels of Brawl to possess the Do specialization. It requires High Approval for any non-Akashic to learn the Do specialization of Brawl.
Virtual Adept (Ma.2.1.02)
Virtual Adepts do not gain extra time to solve puzzles if doing so will disrupt game play. Instead, the Narrator should give them the extra clues.
Orphan
(Ma.2.1.03)
Orphans have no Advantage or Disadvantage, but may select a specialty sphere during the Assign Specialty Spheres step of character creation, as noted on page 76 of Laws of Ascension. Once selected, the specialty may not be changed. Hollow Ones do not get a specialty sphere.
ABILITIES (Ma.2.2.00)
High Approval is required for characters outside the Technocracy to have any of the following Abilities: Biotech, Construct Politics, Energy Weapons, Helmsman, High Ritual, Hypertech, Jetpack, Microgravity Operations, RD Data, and Subdimensions.
BACKGROUNDS (Ma.2.3.00)
Note that Node and Resources
can also be considered Chantry Backgrounds.
Additional Backgrounds can be found on page 53 of Dark Epics.
High Approval is required for the following Backgrounds: Backup, Requisitions, Secret Weapons, and Spies.
Adversarial Backgrounds are not used in the Sanctioned Chronicle.
Blessing (Ma.2.3.01)
If this Background duplicates a custom Effect that would normally require approval, the same level of approval is required. A blessing can only use one Sphere, and employs no additional Grades of Success.
Destiny (Ma.2.3.02)
Rather then making a test at any point in a session to regain Willpower, a character must expend a Destiny Trait at the same time he spends a Willpower Trait. If he succeeds in the Simple Test for Destiny, he immediately regains that Willpower Trait.
Enhancement (Ma.2.3.03)
This Background has been altered for the Sanctioned chronicle. A player’s character may gain Attribute Traits, mechanical devices, or biological modifications, but all Enhancements suffer from the Cyborg disadvantage.
Library (Ma.2.3.04)
Each Trait of this Background shaves two weeks off of the character’s learning time for Spheres. No Sphere may be learned in less time than two weeks per level.
Mentor (Ma.2.3.05)
Due to the scarcity of Adepts and Masters, four Trait Mentors are Mid Approval while five Trait Mentors are High Approval.
Node (Ma.2.3.06)
Due to their extreme value and rarity, two and three Trait Nodes require Mid Approval, while four and five Trait Nodes require High Approval. Nodes provide Tass once every two weeks, as detailed in Laws of Ascension.
Influence (Ma.2.3.07)
Because the Technocracy is the undisputed master of Influence among mortals, any mage who acquires a large number (twenty or more) of Influences should be warned that they risk drawing Technocratic attention.
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A Word on Background Maximums (Ma.2.3.08) While most Backgrounds’ levels are limited to a maximum of five, the total levels of Chantry/Construct, Familiar/Companion, & Wonder are not. Players should make suggestions for these Backgrounds regarding statistics and powers, but the Storyteller always holds the final decision on the specifics. |
Wonder (Ma.2.3.09)
A wonder can have an Effect that uses multiple Spheres, but not more then five Sphere levels. It can also have multiple Effects, as long as no specific Effect has more then five Sphere levels. Effects created by a wonder are at the first Grade of Success. (Effects may make use of one additional Grade of Success, but only to increase duration.) Thus, a wonder that duplicates Trick Shot is allowed, as that only requires four Sphere levels, but one that duplicates Void Strike is not, since that requires six Sphere levels.
Talismans will absorb all Paradox generated for using one to create a Vulgar Effect. If a Talisman absorbs Paradox equal to it's Trait value in a twenty-four hour period, it is rendered inoperative for twenty-four hours thereafter. Failing to create an Effect with a Talisman renders it inoperative for an hour or scene.
A talisman can only have more than one Trait of Arete with High Approval. (Each additional Arete Trait requires four more Wonder Traits). When using any Effect generated by a talisman, the mage uses the Arete of the talisman to create the Effect, ignoring modifiers for Resonance and any Effects the mage is maintaining, while reducing the difficulty by two Traits for using a Unique Focus. Talismans can benefit from the Spending Extra Time rule.
MERITS
AND FLAWS (Ma.2.4.00)
Note that the rules in Prime for Merits and Flaws override those on page 54 of the Laws of Ascension Companion where they conflict. Thus, a character can gain a maximum of seven Free Traits from Flaws, and any Merit with a Trait value of eight or greater defaults to Top Approval.
Physical Enhancement, Resistant Pattern, Sleepwalker, and Twin Souls require Mid Approval.
Dual Traditions, Fae Blood, Ghoul, Shapechanger Kin, and Stormwarden require High Approval.
Shattered Avatar requires Top Approval. Bigot, Construct, Inner Knight, and Technobabbler require Top Approval for non-Technocrat player characters.
Non-Technocratic player characters may not take Demented Eidolon, Fifth Degree, or Rogue.
Sphere
Inept (Ma.2.4.01)
This Flaw is only worth one Trait in the Sanctioned chronicle, unless it is taken with the mage’s specialty Sphere.
ARETE (Ma.2.5.00)
The Extended Challenge rules in Prime are not used for Arete Tests.
In addition to spending Experience Traits and succeeding in a Seeking to raise a character’s Arete, there is a minimum amount of time required to have passed since the character's last successful Seeking (or since its creation). This minimum time is a number of months equal to two plus the character’s current Arete. Thus, someone with an Arete of three must wait at least five months before attempting to undergo a new Seeking to raise his Arete to four.
Characters with Arete ratings of five, six, seven, and eight require High Approval for a successful Seeking. Characters with Arete nine require Top Approval for a successful Seeking.
Chapter Three: Powers (Ma.3.0.00)
Gaining Spheres and Rotes (Ma.3.1.01)
Characters training with a member of their Tradition (or using the Mentor Background) learn Spheres at the rate of two weeks per level. It takes one month per Sphere level to learn a Sphere from another type of teacher. Add another month to the learning time if you don’t have a teacher at all. Learning time for your specialty Sphere is halved. All learning times for Archmaster-rank Spheres are doubled. These latter two factors cancel out if you are learning an Archmaster-rank Sphere in your Specialty. The Library Background can help improve learning times.
A mage must have a higher level of the Sphere than the level they are teaching, with these two exceptions: A Master of a Sphere may teach up to Master level in that Sphere, and an Archmage of a Sphere may teach up to Archmage levels in that Sphere.
The cost of Rotes is changed to one Experience Trait for every five Sphere levels involved in the Rote (or fraction of thereof). Thus, Trick Shot would require one Experience Trait, while Void Strike would require two.
Upon learning each level of a Sphere, a character automatically learns one Rote of the appropriate level for that Sphere. A Rote requiring additional Spheres may be selected if the mage also meets the other Sphere requirements.
Custom Rotes (Ma.3.1.02)
Custom rotes require Mid Approval, unless they cause a Restricted Effect (see below). If a character with custom Rotes is played in another Storyteller’s game, that Storyteller (or the Narrator) is at liberty to disapprove or alter the system for any new Rote.
USING MAGIC (Ma.3.2.00)
High Approval is required for any Effect that attempts to bring a dead character back to life. Returning from the dead is one of the most Paradox-ridden actions a Mage could attempt to perform, and it rarely works in the post-Storms Tellurian.
High Approval is required for any Effect that fundamentally changes the nature of a supernatural creature for longer then a turn. Few mages possess the power and knowledge necessary to rid a vampire of the Curse, return a ghost to life, rob a shifter of the blessing of Gaia.
High Approval is required for any Effect that interacts with an Avatar. This includes forcing a Sleeper to Awaken, destroying an Avatar through Gilgul, interrogation of an Avatar, or any attempt to negate a mage's ability to use magic.
High Approval is required for any Effect whose area extends outside the area of the current scene. For an example, Ball of Abyssal Flame should not normally be allowed to damage everything within half a mile of the casting. This rule is not intended to keep Correspondence Effects from functioning. This rules is intended to keep the effects of a game contained within the game (and under the authority umbrella of the Storyteller running the game). It is extremely difficult to moderate effects that cross the boundaries of other games, venues, regions, etc. and mages have a higher than average ability to create such effects.
High Approval is required for any Effect that will change the history of the chronicle beyond that of the current scene. The events of the past made the present. It is possible to see the past and even change the immediate past, but those who tamper with long settled history will fail and fall to Paradox.
High Approval is required for any ‘finite duration’ Effect that becomes permanent or lasts longer than 6 months due to Grades of Success applied for duration. For an example, see the Adept and Master levels of the Prime Sphere. Any Effect that results in the creation of permanent magic must be cast via Superhuman Ritual.
Any
effect that would create a Shallowing must be undertaken at the strongest of
Nodes. It takes a Node with a minimum rating of four for any attempt to create
a Shallowing to work. Otherwise, Shallowings are High Approval.
Spending Extra Time (Ma.3.2.01)
The advantage of “Spending Extra Time” when creating an Effect is one Bonus Trait on your Arete Test as detailed on page 136 (ignore the contradicting one Trait reduction indicated by the chart).
Inflicting Damage with Spheres (Ma.3.2.02)
It requires at least Adept level to directly harm a living creature with Entropy. All damage caused solely by use of the Mind Sphere is automatically bashing. The Telekinesis Effect found on page 151 does a base of two levels of damage (not three).
Healing Damage with Spheres (Ma.3.2.03)
The Life Sphere can be used to heal aggravated damage. Such Effects are always vulgar, except in the caster's Sanctum (where they are coincidental for the caster). Healing aggravated damage with magic requires the expenditure of one Trait of Quintessence per level healed, to be spent by the caster, the target, or a combination of both.
Mages do not need to spend Quintessence to heal aggravated wounds in the normal way, at the normal rate. (See Prime for rules on normal healing.)
Magical healing of Paradox damage is automatically Vulgar if done within twenty-four hours of the backlash.
Using Quintessence (Ma.3.2.04)
The lowest possible difficulty for an Effect is one. This is true even if there are other modifiers that would theoretically reduce the difficulty of the Effect below this minimum if you stacked them on after spending Quintessence.
Arete and Foci (Ma.3.2.05)
A mage may discard the use of a focus for one Sphere at Arete six, as stated on page 117 of Laws of Ascension. (Ignore the contradictory statements on page 178.)
Chapter Four: Systems (Ma.4.0.00)
Rules and clarifications for using magic can be found above in Chapter Three: Powers.
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MET Optional Rules used in the Sanctioned Chronicle
(Ma.4.0.01) The following Optional Rules are used in the
Sanctioned chronicle: Acting in Concert, Archmage Spheres, Beyond
Human Limits, Conjunctional Effects, Dynamic Magic, Extended
Grades of Duration, Fast-Casting, Merits and Flaws, Negative
Reputation, Optional Casting Modifiers, Overbidding for Success,
Power Source Separation, Reputation Maximums, Rituals and
Extended Magic, Slow Reputation Build, and Using Willpower. The Contested Effect Optional Rule is used,
except where the published text of a power specifically says a follow-up
challenge is not required, such as with Slay Machine. The Extended Grades of Duration Optional Rule
is used, with the addition of "one week" and "one month"
to the chart found on page 119 of Laws of Ascension Companion. These do not require an additional Grade of
Success to be used. The Superhuman Ritual Optional Rule is used,
but each application requires High Approval. The following Optional Rules are not used in
the Sanctioned Chronicle: Half-Dead, Final Retribution, Grades of Power,
Mixed Paradigm Flaws, Reputation Erosion, Stacking Backgrounds,
and Staggered Reputation. The following Optional Rules may be used for an
Orphan with Low Approval: Avatar Filter and Do-It-Yourself
Paradigm. The following optional rules may be used in a game
with Low Approval: Animal Form Knowledge, Consensus
Coincidence, Paradox Flaws, and Paradox Realms. Any use of these rules must be noted in
the Venue Style Sheet. The following optional rules are superseded (in part
or in full) by rules in Prime: Combat Mobility, Limited Mobs, Merits
and Flaws, and No Instant Kill. |
Avatar Storm Damage (Ma.4.0.02)
To clarify pages 165 and 220, crossing the Gauntlet inflicts one level of aggravated damage on the mage for every two of his Arete Traits (rounded up). In addition, the mage is one Trait down on all challenges for the next ten minutes.
Digital Web (Ma.4.0.03)
The Digital Web follows all the mechanics for an Umbral Realm, though the flavor text differs. This may change with the future release of the Revised Traditionbook: Virtual Adepts. As such, virtually entering the Web via Mind is the same as Astrally Projecting to another Realm, but holistically entering the Web via Spirit, Life, or Correspondence subjects the mage to the fury of the Avatar Storm.
Testing Mechanics (Ma.4.0.04)
Any Background or Effect that would cause the addition of "The Bomb", or "Win All Ties", or other such Rock / Paper / Scissors modifications from other Sanctioned source material requires High Approval.
Ascension (Ma.4.0.05)
Achieving Ascension, becoming an Ascended being, or any interaction with Ascended beings requires Top Approval.