Learning Spheres:
1. Basics
2. Rolling
3. Backgrounds
4. Cooldowns / Downtime
5. Paradigms
6. Learning by Self
1. Basics:
Whenever trying to learn a sphere, a character will need to spend an ample amount of time understanding the core concepts of such sphere, complex knowledge such as these can only be given by mentors / books / tomes.
To learn a sphere, a character needs to have a source material to learn, this can be a mentor who knows the said sphere, or your library having the material, once they're cleared, a player can move onto learning them.
A player can do one session per day to learn a sphere (And only one learning roll), and can practice right after, as many times as they like.
2. Rolling:
Learning Phase:
Spend sometime learning the concepts and principles behind the sphere, and at the end of the session, an Intelligence + Esoterica (If Mystic) / Science (If Technomancer / Technocrat) roll is required, Difficulty being 5 + The rating of the sphere being learnt.
Mind modifiers and enhancements give a bonus to such rolls, employing instruments and using other spheres to get a glimpse of it is also possible, if you have the right idea.
Successes Required:
Rank 1 Sphere: 4 successes.
Rank 2 Sphere: 8 successes.
Rank 3 Sphere: 12 successes.
Rank 4 Sphere: 16 successes.
Rank 5 Sphere: 20 successes.
Practicing Phase:
After learning, the character will need to perform a feat from the new powers acquired atleast once as a final requirement. The rolls in question are just standard casting rules, Difficulty 3 / 4 (If Vulgar) + The Sphere Rating + 2 (Using for the first time). The difficulty can obviously be lowered by using instruments and certain bonuses provided by merits/flaws/backgrounds such as Sanctum.
3. Backgrounds:
Library:
1pt. Background: 1 (Rank 1 Sphere) of your choice.
2pt. Background: 1 (Rank 2 Sphere), 2 (Rank 1 Spheres) of your choice.
3pt. Background: 1 (Rank 3 Sphere), 2 (Rank 2 Spheres), 3 (Rank 1 Spheres) of your chocie.
4pt. Background: 1 (Rank 4 Sphere), 2 (Rank 3 Spheres), 3 (Rank 2 Spheres), 3 (Rank 1 Spheres)
5pt. Background: 1 (Rank 5 Sphere), 2 (Rank 4 Spheres), 3 (Rank 3 Spheres), 3 (Rank 2 Spheres).
6pt. Background: 2 (Rank 5 Spheres), 3 (Rank 4 Spheres), 4 (Rank 3 Spheres).
7pt. Background: 3 (Rank 5 Spheres), 4 (Rank 4 Spheres), 2 (Rank 3 Spheres).
Mentor:
A mentor can be customized as they player liked, but drafting it as specified in the library is preferred at the moment. It doesn't specifically mean the mentor is incapable of teaching higher, but it means they're only interested in teaching you this much at the moment.
Alternatively, they seek to get something in return for such a favour aswell, so give something, take something.
Additionally, Library and Mentor backgrounds give bonus dice equal to their rating to the Intelligence + Esoterica/Science Roll. This can only be employed in one session though. For Mentor, it depends on their sphere rating, if John had Life 5 and taught Jane Life 2, Jane can roll 5 dice atop her Intelligence + Esoterica roll, given John's Life rating is 5, he's quite experienced and has mastered his understanding over the Sphere of Life.
4. Cooldowns / Downtime:
Cooldowns:
After learning a sphere, a said duration is put in place so you won't progress unrealistically in game terms.
Rank 1 Sphere: 4 Days.
Rank 2 Sphere: 6 Days.
Rank 3 Sphere: 8 Days
Rank 4 Sphere: 10 Days.
Rank 5 Sphere: 12 Days.
These are the amount of days it takes to learn a sphere of a rank for a player, and a player can do only One Session per day to learn, though he can practice as many times, even right after learning. Though on the last day, they may receive the sphere and move onto learning their next sphere in mind on the following day.
Downtime:
As there's some sort of leniency in terms of gameplay, a downtime is at every weekend (Sunday) where characters can freely apply for instruments and practices they gained throughout, along with minor backgrounds they can attain to ease their progress. This will obviously be monitored by the mods and other admins aswell.
5. Paradigms:
Paradigms play a vital part in the understanding of magick aswell as the world for a mage, this also means how they see "their magick" and perform "their magick". And to understand someone with a different view is just simply hard, but at the sametime learning from someone with the same view is very easy.
And so, a chart was made,
If the Library/Mentor belongs to the Same Paradigm: No Requirements.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Close Paradigm: No requirements.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Similar Paradigm: +3 Successes on top is required to learn the sphere.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Distant Paradigm: +6 Successes on top is required to learn there sphere.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to an Opposite Paradigm: +36 Successes on top is required.
This can be translated as you attempting to draft your own understanding by taking the knowledge of others, and can be roleplayed as such in game aswell.
The link to the Paradigm Chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15xkxbwQMCa4bjDa9EUqExtaCnG8iV_qAQa75cMsLZb4/edit?usp=sharing
Note: Just because rolling is required a day to learn, even if you achieved the required successes, you can still learn further everyday iC'ly or use it as a reference in game until you attain the deadline to receive the sphere. Enjoi
6. Learning by Self
Alternatively, a mage can also watch the nature or grab the understanding of a certain power in question by witnessing other races employ such power or through self research. It is a hefty task but in the end, the results are promising. The same systems are used when other races teach you certain principles to attain a power.
To self learn a sphere, a mage will require Required Successes + 5 successes to learn the sphere, since it's learning by self, it will be considered Same Paradigm in terms of calculating successes. The regular CD's apply. Alternatively, stories can be written regarding how the character will be attaining the power aswell.
The Self Learning can be done for Spheres upto Rank 3, and the Affinity Sphere upto Rank 4.
Note: Self Learning is very vague and requires creative applications, if your concept strays aside from the power in question, the mods may deny it.
Examples:
To attain a better understanding over Prime Sphere, John decides to employ his etheric senses and logically think of a concept to draw out the raw essence from within him externally. As he's a Martial Artist, he forms a new Kata which he thinks will enable him to control his "chi" better, and use the movements to control the flow and finally lock and release to send out a Body Of Light.
A werewolf shows his regenerative abilities over to a mage who has Life Perceptions active so he can copy the core principles and elements involved in the process to boost his own regeneration speed and heal up faster than usual, essentially learning a part of Life 2.
Stories:
Stories aswell, can be written if the character had the source material and/or can learn by themselves. A story should contain the vital parts necessary to learn the spheres, akin to what should be roleplayed in game, the impact on their personality and how they progress.
Story Standard Requirement:
Rank 1 Sphere: 250 Words minimum.
Rank 2 Sphere: 500 words minimum.
Rank 3 Sphere: 750 words minimum.
Rank 4 Sphere: 1000 words minimum.
Rank 5 Sphere: 1250 words minimum.
Note: The limitation to attaining spheres through stories are Arete * 2 number of spheres. Further will require in-game learning. The limitation does not reset if the player ascended.
1. Basics
2. Rolling
3. Backgrounds
4. Cooldowns / Downtime
5. Paradigms
6. Learning by Self
1. Basics:
Whenever trying to learn a sphere, a character will need to spend an ample amount of time understanding the core concepts of such sphere, complex knowledge such as these can only be given by mentors / books / tomes.
To learn a sphere, a character needs to have a source material to learn, this can be a mentor who knows the said sphere, or your library having the material, once they're cleared, a player can move onto learning them.
A player can do one session per day to learn a sphere (And only one learning roll), and can practice right after, as many times as they like.
2. Rolling:
Learning Phase:
Spend sometime learning the concepts and principles behind the sphere, and at the end of the session, an Intelligence + Esoterica (If Mystic) / Science (If Technomancer / Technocrat) roll is required, Difficulty being 5 + The rating of the sphere being learnt.
Mind modifiers and enhancements give a bonus to such rolls, employing instruments and using other spheres to get a glimpse of it is also possible, if you have the right idea.
Successes Required:
Rank 1 Sphere: 4 successes.
Rank 2 Sphere: 8 successes.
Rank 3 Sphere: 12 successes.
Rank 4 Sphere: 16 successes.
Rank 5 Sphere: 20 successes.
Practicing Phase:
After learning, the character will need to perform a feat from the new powers acquired atleast once as a final requirement. The rolls in question are just standard casting rules, Difficulty 3 / 4 (If Vulgar) + The Sphere Rating + 2 (Using for the first time). The difficulty can obviously be lowered by using instruments and certain bonuses provided by merits/flaws/backgrounds such as Sanctum.
3. Backgrounds:
Library:
1pt. Background: 1 (Rank 1 Sphere) of your choice.
2pt. Background: 1 (Rank 2 Sphere), 2 (Rank 1 Spheres) of your choice.
3pt. Background: 1 (Rank 3 Sphere), 2 (Rank 2 Spheres), 3 (Rank 1 Spheres) of your chocie.
4pt. Background: 1 (Rank 4 Sphere), 2 (Rank 3 Spheres), 3 (Rank 2 Spheres), 3 (Rank 1 Spheres)
5pt. Background: 1 (Rank 5 Sphere), 2 (Rank 4 Spheres), 3 (Rank 3 Spheres), 3 (Rank 2 Spheres).
6pt. Background: 2 (Rank 5 Spheres), 3 (Rank 4 Spheres), 4 (Rank 3 Spheres).
7pt. Background: 3 (Rank 5 Spheres), 4 (Rank 4 Spheres), 2 (Rank 3 Spheres).
Mentor:
A mentor can be customized as they player liked, but drafting it as specified in the library is preferred at the moment. It doesn't specifically mean the mentor is incapable of teaching higher, but it means they're only interested in teaching you this much at the moment.
Alternatively, they seek to get something in return for such a favour aswell, so give something, take something.
Additionally, Library and Mentor backgrounds give bonus dice equal to their rating to the Intelligence + Esoterica/Science Roll. This can only be employed in one session though. For Mentor, it depends on their sphere rating, if John had Life 5 and taught Jane Life 2, Jane can roll 5 dice atop her Intelligence + Esoterica roll, given John's Life rating is 5, he's quite experienced and has mastered his understanding over the Sphere of Life.
4. Cooldowns / Downtime:
Cooldowns:
After learning a sphere, a said duration is put in place so you won't progress unrealistically in game terms.
Rank 1 Sphere: 4 Days.
Rank 2 Sphere: 6 Days.
Rank 3 Sphere: 8 Days
Rank 4 Sphere: 10 Days.
Rank 5 Sphere: 12 Days.
These are the amount of days it takes to learn a sphere of a rank for a player, and a player can do only One Session per day to learn, though he can practice as many times, even right after learning. Though on the last day, they may receive the sphere and move onto learning their next sphere in mind on the following day.
Downtime:
As there's some sort of leniency in terms of gameplay, a downtime is at every weekend (Sunday) where characters can freely apply for instruments and practices they gained throughout, along with minor backgrounds they can attain to ease their progress. This will obviously be monitored by the mods and other admins aswell.
5. Paradigms:
Paradigms play a vital part in the understanding of magick aswell as the world for a mage, this also means how they see "their magick" and perform "their magick". And to understand someone with a different view is just simply hard, but at the sametime learning from someone with the same view is very easy.
And so, a chart was made,
If the Library/Mentor belongs to the Same Paradigm: No Requirements.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Close Paradigm: No requirements.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Similar Paradigm: +3 Successes on top is required to learn the sphere.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to a Distant Paradigm: +6 Successes on top is required to learn there sphere.
If the Library/Mentor belongs to an Opposite Paradigm: +36 Successes on top is required.
This can be translated as you attempting to draft your own understanding by taking the knowledge of others, and can be roleplayed as such in game aswell.
The link to the Paradigm Chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15xkxbwQMCa4bjDa9EUqExtaCnG8iV_qAQa75cMsLZb4/edit?usp=sharing
Note: Just because rolling is required a day to learn, even if you achieved the required successes, you can still learn further everyday iC'ly or use it as a reference in game until you attain the deadline to receive the sphere. Enjoi
6. Learning by Self
Alternatively, a mage can also watch the nature or grab the understanding of a certain power in question by witnessing other races employ such power or through self research. It is a hefty task but in the end, the results are promising. The same systems are used when other races teach you certain principles to attain a power.
To self learn a sphere, a mage will require Required Successes + 5 successes to learn the sphere, since it's learning by self, it will be considered Same Paradigm in terms of calculating successes. The regular CD's apply. Alternatively, stories can be written regarding how the character will be attaining the power aswell.
The Self Learning can be done for Spheres upto Rank 3, and the Affinity Sphere upto Rank 4.
Note: Self Learning is very vague and requires creative applications, if your concept strays aside from the power in question, the mods may deny it.
Examples:
To attain a better understanding over Prime Sphere, John decides to employ his etheric senses and logically think of a concept to draw out the raw essence from within him externally. As he's a Martial Artist, he forms a new Kata which he thinks will enable him to control his "chi" better, and use the movements to control the flow and finally lock and release to send out a Body Of Light.
A werewolf shows his regenerative abilities over to a mage who has Life Perceptions active so he can copy the core principles and elements involved in the process to boost his own regeneration speed and heal up faster than usual, essentially learning a part of Life 2.
Stories:
Stories aswell, can be written if the character had the source material and/or can learn by themselves. A story should contain the vital parts necessary to learn the spheres, akin to what should be roleplayed in game, the impact on their personality and how they progress.
Story Standard Requirement:
Rank 1 Sphere: 250 Words minimum.
Rank 2 Sphere: 500 words minimum.
Rank 3 Sphere: 750 words minimum.
Rank 4 Sphere: 1000 words minimum.
Rank 5 Sphere: 1250 words minimum.
Note: The limitation to attaining spheres through stories are Arete * 2 number of spheres. Further will require in-game learning. The limitation does not reset if the player ascended.