Editing Creating Magical Effects (section)

=ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL RULES=

== Using Willpower ==

Eliminates chance to botch. If the test is successful, you gain a one-grade bonus to the effect.

==Overbidding for Success==

If you win your Arete Challenge, you may choose to overbid if you have the required Traits (i.e., your Arete total equals or exceeds twice the difficulty of the Effect). If you win the overbid as well, you add one grade of success to the Effect at no additional cost. If you fail the overbid, you fail the Effect. ''(EDITORS NOTE: I think a better descriptor would be 'You fail the original Arete challenge, etc. In any case, your desired Effect does not work!)''

==Acting in Concert==

Multiple mages can work together to form an Effect that they'd have difficulty performing alone. Everyone involved must have at least Apprentice-level knowledge of the Spheres used (Rank 1), and they must find a way to make their paradigms and foci work in concert. A Ehtuanatos's knife probably can't enhance a Virtual Adept's computer program, for instance, but a Verbana's blood work could complement a Dreamspeaker's said paintings.

Each participant who has the Spheres necessary for the Effect can either choose to add one Trait to the main casting group's Aerete Trait total for purposes of the challengee, or he may add one grade of success to the spell if he also manages to make a successful test for the Effect.

Each participant who has at least rudimentary Sphere knowledge for the Effect, but not the level necessary to cast it, adds one Trait to the main caster's Arete Test. 

Each group of five un-Awakened acolytes who helps (generally by holding candles, chanting, forming circles, etc.) adds one Trait to the main caster's Arete Test.

Add all the modifiers to the Arete Test before any caster involved makes the challenge. Therefore, if 10 acolytes help and two mages work together on an Effect for which they have the right Spheres, both mages get to test. The acolytes add two Traits to both challenges, and if the assisting mage wins his test, he adds a grade of success if the main caster also wins.

==Rituals and Extended Magic==

By extending the time it takes to cast a spell and taking extra care, a mage can cause his spell to work far more Effectively. Many rotes have an entry for "Grades of Success". If  the mage wants to not just improve his chances to get a spell right, but to actually facilitate a more potent spell, he does so by performing a ritual.

When you use a ritual, you spend extra time to generate a stronger Effect. You don't get the bonus of taking extra time on the Arete Test unless you actually double your ritual time - therefore, if you spend an hour on a ritual, you must spend an extra hour to garner such a  bonus. You can still claim a focus retest, though.

The more time you spend, the Effect becomes more powerful, but the casting becomes more risky. A "simple Effect" is one listed with the normal Spheres, and which takes only a turn to cast. Rituals, on the other hand, may take an extra minute, an extra hour, or an extra day (the limit of human endurance). When you cast the ritual, you make a succession of Arete Tests, and you must succeed in all of them (win, or tie with more Traits, including retests for focus Abilities).

Each time-part you spend requires one test, so you test after the first turn of casting, then after the first minute, after the first hour, and finally for the end of a full day. If you fail any test, the difficulty goes up by one Trait, and you must recast that time part. So if you fail on the first turn, the difficulty goes up one, and you must take another turn. If you fail after the first minute, the difficulty goes up one and you must take another minute before testing again. The difficulty can continue to increase until it reaches double your Arete Trait total. At that point, the ritual botches utterly, and you not only garner Paradox for a botched Effect, you gain an additional Paradox Trait for each time-part you spend on the ritual (+1 for an extra turn, +1 for an extra minute, etc.).

You can cancel a ritual at any time. The spell fails, but you don't suffer any other penalties. You might cancel a ritual so that you can react to an attacker before the ritual is interrupted, or so that you can avoid a horrible botch as described previously.

If you're interrupted, the ritual typically botches. You can spend a Willpower Trait to keep going, but that time-part is considered a failure. Add one to the difficulty, and start that time part over again.

Each extension adds a grade of success to an Effect. The rotes all list ideas on the changes to the power grade. For instance, the Sense Forces rote normally lasts on yourself for a scene or on another subject for a turn. If cast as a one-minute ritual, it lasts on yourself for a session or on a subject for a scene.

==Superhuman Ritual==

Although most humans can concentrate only for so long, therefore limiting typical rituals to a day of work at most, a mage can use magic to boost her capabilities and then perform a superhuman ritual. It's very, very risky. Failure usually obliterates the caster, as the weight of Paradox is truly phenomenal. But it can shake the world.

To perform a superhuman ritual, the mage must have a magical means of prolonging his endurance (typically though an already ritually extended Life or Mind Effect to banish or ignore fatigue), or use up to two Willpower Traits for each additional day of casting.

Each day you add extends a ritual by one grade. This addition requires the additional test and bears the risk of increased Paradox on the botch. If a given day's work is failed or interrupted, the mage needs to make up one additional day, not the whole time spend already.

Generally, rotes don't list progressions for superhuman rituals. Its up to the Storyteller to determine the exact Effect. However, many rotes have a sample progression. Therefore, a superhuman ritua might be capable of casting a spell that lasts for a year, or one that inflicts a huge amount of damage (four or more health levels) in a single strike. Of course, such EFfects can be mightily unbalancing. Its upon the Storyteller to determine what's appropriate and to disallow abusive nonsense.

==Fast Casting==

Its possible to cast a rote that you don't know. Since its not something you've practiced, you're limited to coming up with the Effect on the fly, by improvising based on your knowledge of the Sphere in question. This trick is called fast-casting.

You pick a rote for which you have the necessary Spheres, but that your character hasn't learned. Add one Trait to the casting difficulty. Other than that, you cast the Effect normally.

==Dynamic Magic==

Skilled mages recognize that rotes are just a teaching tool. The real flexibility of the Spheres lies in the endless variety. With true dynamic magic, a mage can accomplish anything, so long as he knows the proper Spheres.

Each Sphere has a listing of general guides for each level. As long as an Effect doesn't exceed that level, the mage can create an Effect from scratch and customize it to do what he wants. For instance, the Initiate level of Forces allows a mage to channel enough power to inflict one health level of damage. The mage might instead decide to channel the electricity to jump-start a car. Since this amount of energy seems to be approximately equivalent, the Effect is possible. Similarly, Adept-Level Life magic allows major changes to life Patterns,such as shapeshifting. The mage could decide to give a target gills. Although there may not be a specific rote for such a change, its within the descriptive effect of the Sphere, so its possible.

Making a dynamic Effect is considered fast-casting, of course. 

If anyone present does not agree with the interpretation of a dynamic Effect, you must consult a Narrator or Storyteller. For this reason, dynamic magic should be limited to only the most experienced troupes, and only if they have sufficient Narrating staff.

==Conjunctional Effects==

By combining Spheres, a mage can often perform a greater Effect that overlaps different areas and thus performs a substantial transmutation. Any Effect that relies on multiple Spheres is called a conjunctional Effect.

A list of conjunctional rotes appears at the end of the Spheres descriptions. This list covers many special Effects that mages might try, although its by no means exhaustive. A mage can learn and use conjunctional rotes like any other rotes. The difficulty is based on the highest Sphere level, plus one for each extra Sphere added on, and one more for cast-casting.

You can also make a conjunctional Effect with dynamic magic. In this case, you sling together some of the powers of Spheres to arrive at a new combination. You might, for instance, decide to combine Mind and Forces, so as to create a free-standing Effect that reads a subject's mind and projects light pictures of his thoughts. Your Storyteller arbitrates the equivalent Sphere levels, and you add one to the difficulty for each Sphere added past the highest Sphere.