Avatar

Every mage has a spirit, a soul, an inner voice, a guardian angel or some otherwise mysterious force that ties him to the cosmos, and mages refer to this force as the Avatar. Indeed, many mages theorize that every single human being has an Avatar. However, the mage’s strength lies in the Awakening, which causes his Avatar to stir and become a force for change on the Tellurian. The power of that Avatar impacts your mage’s ability to channel Quintessence, the i. most primal force of energy in the cosmos.

Your Avatar Background has two main important effects.

Firstly, your mage can refresh Quintessence Traits equal to the Avatar rating automatically by spending time at a Node. You need only win a Mental Challenge using the Meditation Ability each game hour in order to refresh one Quintessence Trait until you reach an amount equal to the Avatar Trait total. However, you do not gain anything if you already have equal or more Quintessence Traits than Avatar Traits. Quintessence gained in this fashion is considered personal Quintessence, and it cannot be stolen from you by anything short of an Archmage of Prime.

Secondly, you can spend Quintessence only up to a limit of your Avatar Trait rating each turn. If you have one Avatar Trait, you can spend only one Quintessence Trait each turn. If you do not have the Avatar Background, you cannot spend personal Quintessence at all. However, you can still use Prime to transfer it to other people or sources, or to use it from Tass.

At the Storyteller’s discretion, your mage’s Avatar rating may affect his Seekings. A strong Avatar (many Traits in the Background) will almost certainly guide a Seeking more strongly and personally.