1. Basics
2. Rolling
3. Failures / Botches
4. Taking a break
5. Downtime
1. Basics:
Every mage needs preparation, some decide to plan their preparations for a life-time, while some do it temporarily because that's all they need. And every mage spends his own time brewing their own portion of magick unto themselves to survive what the night has to offer.
To begin a ritual, a mage will be following the core of focus, their practice as it is a long process, though this can be ignored for minor rituals. And finally, they'll need to decide on their mediums to cast such a magick over time, and they are instruments.
These long term magicks are called as Rotes.
And finally, they'll need to know the rotes in the first place. Orphans will have to learn the Rotes that are complex from others, as they have no backing from the three factions who have such knowledge. A mage will decide on what rote to perform and the Sphere combinations first hand before diving in.
Only a certain set of sphere combination rotes can be done in one sitting, as they are complex as they come. So if a mage decided to empower themselves with Life and Prime, they cannot follow up with another ritual at the same time which requires Correspondence / Time.
2. Rolling:
To begin the ritual, the mage will follow their methods to cast the rote, and then get to the rolling phase.
The Maximum rolls a mage can do in one sitting is Arete + Willpower amount of rolls.
The rolls are:
In case of coincidental effect:
Arete @ Difficulty 3 + Sphere Rating involved.
In case of a vulgar effect:
Arete @ Difficulty 4 + Sphere Rating involved.
The difficulty remains stagnant until the player fails / botches - Check 3. Failures / Botches.
Stamina Checks:
A mage can only stay at ease in a ritual only for so long, as they are generally long processes that require alot of focus and are exhausting.
And so to follow up with this rule, A mage can roll a number of *Arete rolls freely upto their stamina rating. And from then on, they will have to go on with Stamina checks prior to each roll, the difficulty is:
Stamina @ Difficulty 3 + The Max Sphere Rating involved.
And naturally, every stamina check adds a +1 difficulty to the next stamina check.
Example:
Myra's Stamina is 4; She's trying to cast a Mind Shield (Mind •)
She makes 4 arete rolls without any issues.
For the 5th roll, she'll be rolling Stamina @ Difficulty 3 + Sphere rating, that is 3 + 1 = 4. And if she succeeds on the roll, she can roll arete again.
And for the 6th roll, she'll be rolling Stamina @ Difficulty 4 + 1 = 5, followed by the 6th Arete roll and so on.
And in case of multiple spheres, say Prime 3 and Life 2, the first stamina check will be at Difficulty 6, taking the Max Sphere Rating into consideration.
In case of a failure on stamina check - Check 3. Failures / Botches.
Instruments and other situational modifiers:
Instruments will provide their modifiers as usual in rituals, which will remain throughout. Nodes and Sanctums will also offer the same benefits. But the difficulty reduction can never be more than -3.
3. Failures / Botches
For Arete Rolls:
Failures:
In case of a failed Arete roll, the following Arete rolls will receive a +1 Difficulty modifier on top, which will last throughout the sitting.
Example:
John rolled Arete @Difficulty 4 for three times, but on the fourth roll, he received a "fail", and in that case, John will add a +1 Difficulty to the base roll, which will be 4+1 = 5, throughout the following rolls.
If John failed again, he will add another +1 to his base roll, making the difficulty 5+1 = 6. And the following fail will make the difficulty 7, and so on, till the max difficulty being 10.
Botches:
In case of a botch, the mages face the dire consequences of paradox showing it's face to the mage, which can result in the effect back-firing in a twisted way, the period and complexity depends on the complexity of the ritual itself.
So in case of a botch, the mage's ritual is disrupted, he lost focus, he lost something that's vital from within, or got distracted by someone else through supernatural means. So in this case, the mage adds a number of paradox = the amount of arete rolls made throughout the ritual.
In case of Stamina checks:
Failures:
In case of a Stamina Check failure, the mage can simply spend a point of willpower to proceed, but the next stamina check will be +2 instead of a 1, or alternatively he/she can spend a point of willpower to end the ritual at that point, and take what they garnered till that point.
Example:
Anakin failed a stamina check @Difficulty 6, he decides to spend a point of willpower and proceed, but the next Stamina check is @Difficulty 6+2 = 8, instead of 7.
Botches:
In case of a botch, the mage will have to spend a point of willpower and roll Willpower @Difficulty 8, if succeeded, the mage can resume as per usual without further worries, but this is applicable only once. The 2nd botch results in automatic failure of the ritual, opposed to backfiring.
4. Taking a Break:
Certain rituals require time and investment, and sometimes things may not go their way and they might feel like they'll need a break. And this is the right time, at any point of a ritual, a mage can simply spend a Point of Willpower and Pause the ritual.
During the break time, the mage can do what they want to, but they cannot perform any other ritual, and the break can only extend to a maximum of 7 days.
After the necessary downtime is spent for the first series of rolls (Check 5. Downtime), the ritual can be resumed with a successful Wits + Esoterica (For Mystics) / Science (For Technomancers) @Difficulty 3 + Sphere Rating. Stamina checks are reset, the mage can roll a number of times equal to their stamina before stamina checks start from the beginning again, but the Arete difficulty remains the same.
A mage can only take a number of breaks equal to the sphere rating in question, if it's a Rote involving a Rank 3 Sphere, then the user can take a number of 3 breaks; And 2 breaks in-between in case of a Rank 2 Sphere.
5. Downtime:
Rituals are exhausting, and a time taking process. And so, the mage will be busy for the time spent on a ritual, this translates to the mage not being able to do anything for the duration of the Downtime.
Downtime = Total Number of Arete Rolls used in the Ritual/2 Hours. ((OOC))
So if John made 6 Arete rolls in a ritual, he's down for 6/2 = 3 Hours.
(( Though it is suggested you take the breaks between the rituals realistically with your character in mind, this is just a cooldown set to not have players become overpowered in one night. ))
2. Rolling
3. Failures / Botches
4. Taking a break
5. Downtime
1. Basics:
Every mage needs preparation, some decide to plan their preparations for a life-time, while some do it temporarily because that's all they need. And every mage spends his own time brewing their own portion of magick unto themselves to survive what the night has to offer.
To begin a ritual, a mage will be following the core of focus, their practice as it is a long process, though this can be ignored for minor rituals. And finally, they'll need to decide on their mediums to cast such a magick over time, and they are instruments.
These long term magicks are called as Rotes.
And finally, they'll need to know the rotes in the first place. Orphans will have to learn the Rotes that are complex from others, as they have no backing from the three factions who have such knowledge. A mage will decide on what rote to perform and the Sphere combinations first hand before diving in.
Only a certain set of sphere combination rotes can be done in one sitting, as they are complex as they come. So if a mage decided to empower themselves with Life and Prime, they cannot follow up with another ritual at the same time which requires Correspondence / Time.
2. Rolling:
To begin the ritual, the mage will follow their methods to cast the rote, and then get to the rolling phase.
The Maximum rolls a mage can do in one sitting is Arete + Willpower amount of rolls.
The rolls are:
In case of coincidental effect:
Arete @ Difficulty 3 + Sphere Rating involved.
In case of a vulgar effect:
Arete @ Difficulty 4 + Sphere Rating involved.
The difficulty remains stagnant until the player fails / botches - Check 3. Failures / Botches.
Stamina Checks:
A mage can only stay at ease in a ritual only for so long, as they are generally long processes that require alot of focus and are exhausting.
And so to follow up with this rule, A mage can roll a number of *Arete rolls freely upto their stamina rating. And from then on, they will have to go on with Stamina checks prior to each roll, the difficulty is:
Stamina @ Difficulty 3 + The Max Sphere Rating involved.
And naturally, every stamina check adds a +1 difficulty to the next stamina check.
Example:
Myra's Stamina is 4; She's trying to cast a Mind Shield (Mind •)
She makes 4 arete rolls without any issues.
For the 5th roll, she'll be rolling Stamina @ Difficulty 3 + Sphere rating, that is 3 + 1 = 4. And if she succeeds on the roll, she can roll arete again.
And for the 6th roll, she'll be rolling Stamina @ Difficulty 4 + 1 = 5, followed by the 6th Arete roll and so on.
And in case of multiple spheres, say Prime 3 and Life 2, the first stamina check will be at Difficulty 6, taking the Max Sphere Rating into consideration.
In case of a failure on stamina check - Check 3. Failures / Botches.
Instruments and other situational modifiers:
Instruments will provide their modifiers as usual in rituals, which will remain throughout. Nodes and Sanctums will also offer the same benefits. But the difficulty reduction can never be more than -3.
3. Failures / Botches
For Arete Rolls:
Failures:
In case of a failed Arete roll, the following Arete rolls will receive a +1 Difficulty modifier on top, which will last throughout the sitting.
Example:
John rolled Arete @Difficulty 4 for three times, but on the fourth roll, he received a "fail", and in that case, John will add a +1 Difficulty to the base roll, which will be 4+1 = 5, throughout the following rolls.
If John failed again, he will add another +1 to his base roll, making the difficulty 5+1 = 6. And the following fail will make the difficulty 7, and so on, till the max difficulty being 10.
Botches:
In case of a botch, the mages face the dire consequences of paradox showing it's face to the mage, which can result in the effect back-firing in a twisted way, the period and complexity depends on the complexity of the ritual itself.
So in case of a botch, the mage's ritual is disrupted, he lost focus, he lost something that's vital from within, or got distracted by someone else through supernatural means. So in this case, the mage adds a number of paradox = the amount of arete rolls made throughout the ritual.
In case of Stamina checks:
Failures:
In case of a Stamina Check failure, the mage can simply spend a point of willpower to proceed, but the next stamina check will be +2 instead of a 1, or alternatively he/she can spend a point of willpower to end the ritual at that point, and take what they garnered till that point.
Example:
Anakin failed a stamina check @Difficulty 6, he decides to spend a point of willpower and proceed, but the next Stamina check is @Difficulty 6+2 = 8, instead of 7.
Botches:
In case of a botch, the mage will have to spend a point of willpower and roll Willpower @Difficulty 8, if succeeded, the mage can resume as per usual without further worries, but this is applicable only once. The 2nd botch results in automatic failure of the ritual, opposed to backfiring.
4. Taking a Break:
Certain rituals require time and investment, and sometimes things may not go their way and they might feel like they'll need a break. And this is the right time, at any point of a ritual, a mage can simply spend a Point of Willpower and Pause the ritual.
During the break time, the mage can do what they want to, but they cannot perform any other ritual, and the break can only extend to a maximum of 7 days.
After the necessary downtime is spent for the first series of rolls (Check 5. Downtime), the ritual can be resumed with a successful Wits + Esoterica (For Mystics) / Science (For Technomancers) @Difficulty 3 + Sphere Rating. Stamina checks are reset, the mage can roll a number of times equal to their stamina before stamina checks start from the beginning again, but the Arete difficulty remains the same.
A mage can only take a number of breaks equal to the sphere rating in question, if it's a Rote involving a Rank 3 Sphere, then the user can take a number of 3 breaks; And 2 breaks in-between in case of a Rank 2 Sphere.
5. Downtime:
Rituals are exhausting, and a time taking process. And so, the mage will be busy for the time spent on a ritual, this translates to the mage not being able to do anything for the duration of the Downtime.
Downtime = Total Number of Arete Rolls used in the Ritual/2 Hours. ((OOC))
So if John made 6 Arete rolls in a ritual, he's down for 6/2 = 3 Hours.
(( Though it is suggested you take the breaks between the rituals realistically with your character in mind, this is just a cooldown set to not have players become overpowered in one night. ))