Editing Creating Magical Effects (section)

=PERMUTATIONS=

Magic isn’t as simple as all that, of course. Besides the basic Arete Challenge and the modifiers, you can influence your outcome in a couple of ways and incur a couple of potential difficulties.

==Abilities Enhancing Magic==

When you roleplay a focus properly, you can claim its benefits to your character. For instance, if you actually take the time to speak some mystical words, flourish your hands and grasp your mystic amulet, you may well represent your mage’s use of Linguistics: Emhian, and you’re certainly putting that knowledge to work.

If you spend a full turn on the roleplaying of your focus before you cast an Effect, that focus’ Ability helps with the result. The list of sample foci gives some ideas for appropriate Abilities for each focus. When you meet this requirement, you can use
that Ability for one retest on the Arete Challenge as long as you have any levels left.

==Using Quintessence==

As noted on the difficulty chart, using Quintessence allows you to make difficult Effects much easier. Each Trait of Quintessence that you channel, up to a maximum of your Avatar rating, lowers the difficulty of the Effect by one Trait. At best, you can have a net difficulty of three Traits lower than the base difficulty, to a minimum difficulty of two Traits.

==Spending Extra Time==

Should you choose to spend extra time, you can help to guarantee success in casting Effects. Taking a full extra turn to cast gives you a + 1 Trait modifier on the resolution of the Arete Test. You can stack this modifier with the use of a focus Ability.
Therefore, if you take three turns total (one turn for extra time, one turn for the focus, one for the base Effect), you can cast with a +1Trait bonus and an Ability retest.

==Interruptions==

If you're interrupted while casting an Effect - say, you're wounded while you're working your focus - you have two choices. You can either cast the Effect immediately and lose any bonuses from the extended casting, or you can take the penalty for being distracted and continue. Therefore, if you are trying to gain the 1 Ability bonus and casting an Effect, but you are wounded later in the same turn, you can decide to release the Effect without penalty but without gaining the retest. Similarly, you could continue to cast the Effect and gain a bonus for taking extra time, which would cancel the distraction penalty.

==Countermagic==

Sometimes you just can't let the enemy get the drop on you, and you have to find a way to fight or cancel his spell. That's where countermagic comes in. A mage works countermagic by using his own powers to cancel or wash out his enemy's Effect. Doing so counts as your action for the turn, so you can't do it if you've already acted. The three basic types of countermagic are sphere countermagic, anti-magic and unweaving.

===Sphere Countermagic===

This occurs when you have the Spheres necessary to know what the opponent is doing. You pit your Arete against the enemy's. In
such a case, you make an Arete Test, at the same difficulty as the opponent (although you take your modifiers for distractions and Resonance into effect). If you win, the spell is canceled. If you have Apprentice-level (or better) Prime and your Arete is higher than the opponent's, the Effect can be reflected back upon him, so he might be hit by his own fire bolt or wounding spell.

===Anti-Magic===

This uses Quintessence to strengthen the Patterns of reality against an Effect. You spend Quintessence to raise the difficulty of the opponent’s Effect. You can spend Quintessence up to the limit of your Avatar Background, as usual. 

===Unweaving===

This tries to tear apart a n existing spell. You make a challenge against the difficulty of the original spell (although your difficulty might still be modified by distractions or Resonance). You must have the Spheres necessary to have cast the Effect,
and you must have at least the Apprentice-level Prime Sphere. If you win, the spell loses one grade of success. Unweaving can degrade the duration of a spell. If the spell has no grades of effect left (i.e., it’s down to a simple Effect),then an unweaving destroys it

==Simultaneous Effects==

You can cast only one Effect in a turn.Even with Time magic, you are limited to channeling only so much magical energy. If you want to do multiple things at once, you will probably have to build a conjunctional Effect,if your game uses that optional rule.

However, some Effects have a duration, especially if you use the grades of success mechanic from performing rituals or using Willpower (see the optional rules on p. 138). If you have an Effect running already, it takes some of your concentration and makes casting other Effects difficult.

Performing any Effect that requires full concentration, like controlling weather with constant changes, precludes you from doing anything else. All of your attention is occupied on the spell. Even with Mind multi-tasking, you can’t divert your magical will to another feat.

Any other Effect typically requires a little magical will to sustain, but it’s not too taxing. For every two full Effects of this sort that you have running, you take a one-Trait penalty on all new casting challenges, because you’re slightly distracted. Therefore, you might keep up a Forces shield without difficulty, but if you also add on the Better Body rote, then you’ll suffer a one-Trait penalty to all additional Effects that you weave.