Post by Phsycodelic on Feb 9, 2017 0:03:39 GMT
Forces
Specialties: Alchemy, Elements (Any Or All), Motion, Physics, Technology, Weaponry, Weather,
Specialties: Alchemy, Elements (Any Or All), Motion, Physics, Technology, Weaponry, Weather,
Many mages posit the existence of an additional Sphere or Spheres. Each Tradition has its pet theory as to a " 10th Sphere," and the Technocratic Union seeks a Grand Unification Theory. Still, despite years of study, no one group has been able to find an over-Sphere or a missing element to fill this mythical role. Like some posited Northwest Passage, the "10th Sphere" draws students but never reveals itself.
The levels of Sphere expertise feature five advancing steps:
Perception (Sphere Rank 1): An initiate grasps the essential principles and begins to perceive the ways in which that Sphere behaves. A Correspondence initiate learns to spot connections and reckon distances; a Forces initiate notes elemental phenomena; and a Time initiate achieves an uncanny sense of the ebbs and flows of time. The mage can't alter anything just yet, but she can put her observations to good use.
Manipulation (Sphere Rank 2): The mage begins to use the Sphere to make small alterations in her local reality. The Correspondence student can look across distances or pull small objects from "nowhere"; the Forces student can make burning candles flare or go out; and the Time student gains limited pre and postcognition. Although not yet able to perform dramatic Effects, the mage gains a small degree of control over the Sphere's principles... but for many tasks, a small degree of control is all you need.
Control (Sphere Rank 3): Achieving a greater level of accomplishment, the mage can make notable changes to elements connected with the Sphere. Our Correspondence devotee can step through intervening space; the Forces devotee could conjure winds or make fire leap; the Time devotee might speed up or slow down her speed relative to her surroundings. Remarkable feats become possible, and the mage approaches the realm of true wizardry.
Command (Sphere Rank 4): An impressive command of the Sphere in question allows the mage to perform dramatic feats. The Correspondence adept might appear in several places at once, the Forces adept conjures storms, and the Time adept can literally stop time in her vicinity. Even when such Effects aren't obviously magic, the mage attains significant influence over the principles associated with that Sphere.
Mastery (Sphere Rank 5): Magnificent feats become possible with such dominion within the Sphere. Our Correspondence master can stack several places into a single location; the Forces master commands vast phenomena - firestorms, blizzards, even nuclear blasts; the Time master can step outside of time, achieve limited immortality, or travel back and forth through time. Literally godlike miracles greet the master of a Sphere, and Reality literally shapes itself to her whim.
Rumor has it that levels of Archmastery exist for each Sphere, granting abstract powers that even gods might envy. In game terms, these would be the extremely optional Sphere Ranks 6-10. Such powers are beyond almost every mage alive, take centuries to attain, and turn chronicles into blasted wreckage. Groups that want to bring such powers into play can find them in the sourcebook Masters of the Art. We cannot, however, overemphasize the destructive potential of these, again, optional Sphere Ranks. Though technically canon, they should be avoided for all but the most outlandish Mage chronicles.
Quick Terminology Reference
Arete: The Trait rolled to cast an Effect. Enlightenment is the same Trait by a different name.
Coincidental Magic: An Effect that an average person would consider possible within the prevailing beliefs. Examples: Using a GPS to find something, making a lucky guess about something you shouldn't be able to know, employing karate to bust a hole in a wall, etc.
Conjunctional Effect: An Effect that uses two or more Spheres, combining their powers in order to do something that neither Sphere can accomplish on its own.
Effect: Game term for the effect you have on reality when you use magic to make things happen; also, Spell or working.
Focus: Game term that summarizes the belief, practice, and tools that a Mage character uses in order to craft Effects.
Mage: All characters who employ Sphere-based magic, regardless of their practices or affiliation.
Magic: Freeform reality alteration; done with Spheres and Arete. The word magic applies to making things happen by using the Spheres. Certain characters don't consider what they're doing to be magic.
Paradox: The reality backlash associated with Sphere-based magic.
Pattern: A material substance, filled with Quintessence energy.
Pattern Arts: The Spheres of Forces, Life, and Matter, which can create, adjust, and alter physical Patterns. Spirit is an "unofficial" Pattern Art which does not deal in physical materials or elements.
Quintessence: The energy that creates and fuels all things.
Rote: A pre-prepared Effect; called an Adjustment or Procedure by the Technocracy.
Sphere: One of the nine Traits that define what a mage can do with magic.
Vulgar Magic: An Effect that the average person would consider impossible by the prevailing beliefs. Examples: Turning into a housecat, stepping out of thin air, snapping your fingers to make someone's bones snap too, etc.
Working: Another name for an Effect; also, effect or spell.
Although modern physics disputes the old lines between matter and energy, the venerable study of Forces transcends human politics. This Sphere commands the energies of Creation, and its specialists are among the most powerful mages alive.
On a metaphysical level, the Forces Sphere commands energetic Patterns: fire, air, momentum, gravity, radiation, light, sound, and radio waves… the kinetic elements that shape and channel Earthly forces. Quintessence flows within such Patterns, so a mage can conjure new forces simply by adding some Quintessence to "empty space." Different practices view such powers differently. Are they elemental spirits? Gods? Particles? Waves? Every Master has his or her own pet theory. In practical terms, however, this Sphere controls the Patterns of such forces - directing, transmuting, enhancing, or banishing their effects upon this world.
In game terms, Forces-based attacks inflict an additional success of damage. The nature of that damage depends upon the energies in question - see the Magickal Damage or Duration chart. Simple manifestations and manipulations are limited to the lower Sphere Ranks, whereas large-scale Effects demand higher levels of expertise. Most large Effects also demand plenty of successes and can become Paradox magnets for careless mages. Masters of Forces tend to carry a palpable aura of energetic command, with a Resonance that often alters their environments in uncanny, elemental ways.
[ 1 ] Perceive Forces [ Mage: The Ascension (20th Anniversary) - Page 515 ]
Description 1: Unlocking basic perceptions of the elements, a Forces-savvy mage can sense the flow of forces in her environment. She can boost her perceptions into the infrared or ultraviolet spectrums, notice electrons, see in the dark, view X-rays, discern the flow of sound or radio waves, spot kinetic energies, and hear frequencies beyond the normal human range.
Description 2: A mage must first understand what he wishes to control, and the apprentice of Forces learns to sense different Force Patterns, read their intensity and learn of the distinctions between different variants of Forces. The mage can sense positive and negative Forces, watch them interact, see where they emanate and where they go. He can determine the intensity of a light source as easily as he can determine the presence of radio waves or radiation.
Combined with other Elemental (Pattern) Spheres, Forces senses let the mage see how other Patterns interact with or create Forces. With ephemeral Spheres, the mage can see the Quintessence that flows to form forces, examine the spiritual archetypes of Forces, determine the origin of various forces and figure out where they're going.
[ 1 ] Darksight [ XXX - Page X ]
In the absence of visible light, the mage can shift his perceptions up or down the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. This allows him to view infrared or ultraviolet light, radio waves, X-rays, etc. He won't be able to discern colors, but he may read other interesting perceptions from the various spectra - X-rays would allow him to see an object's underlying structure, and he could see in the dark using infrared.
Virtual Adepts and Sons of Ether tend to use special visual lenses, filter programs or goggles for this Effect, and they look through scientific spectra. Mystical magicians use this power to see by heat or sound, often mimicking natural creatures that can do the same.
[ 1 ] Quantify Energy [ XXX - Page X ]
By invoking this Effect, a mage can sense the type and amount of energy at work around her. She can easily translate her perceptions into accurate measurement units such as volts, amps and teslas. Note that this quantification includes kinetic energy, which allows a mage to determine an object's speed in relation to her if she knows the object's mass.
Just because a mage can sense and quantify energy doesn't necessarily let her make sense of it. A mage could note the presence of radio waves, but he might not be able to translate and hear them immediately.
[ 2 ] Manipulate Forces / Elemental Touch [ Mage: The Ascension (20th Anniversary) - Page 515 ]
Description 1: Although she cannot conjure energies just yet, the mage may now alter the flow of existing forces. Sound can be muted or amplified; shadows can be gathered, shaped, or dispelled. The mage can warp light to make things invisible, change their colors by altering the spectrum of localized light, or render them silent by bending sound waves in their vicinity. With a wave of her hand, she can disrupt electrical currents; flare flames; or direct the course of winds, momentum, or gravity.
Combining this Rank with other Spheres, that mage could also make an object (Matter) or organism (Life) attract or repel forces. Thus, she could weave minor protection spells or force-fields… or, conversely, turn that target into a magnet (perhaps literally) for the forces in question.
Despite its powers, this Rank is limited in scale. Assume that the mage can command energies around a single human-sized character or within a small area (20' or less). To affect a larger area, you need a higher Rank in Forces.
Description 2: Energy can always be diverted, and the Disciple who understands Forces can influence its direction and intensity. The mage can affect various Patterns easily, altering their direction, changing their qualities and controlling their dispersio n. The mage cannot yet create forces from nothingness or change forces into different states, but he can manipulate how the forces interact with the rest of the world.
By diverting a force, the mage can cause kinetic energy to change direction, thus changing an object's course. He can make fires dance according to specific images and spread to (or avoid) certain areas. He can lengthen shadows or bend light so that images reach different destinations. He can even reroute the passage of electricity or cause radiation to avoid him. The mage can thus render himself or someone else invisible, cause sound to manifest somewhere other than its origin, and otherwise protect an area from interaction with forces.
A mage can affect only individual Patterns offered at this level, and only on a scale that he can encompass himself. Thus, the mage could render a single individual invisible, but he couldn't cause an entire building to vanish. He could make a flame flicker with a particular image, but he couldn't control the course of a forest fire. Simply directing a force away is much easier than actually taking total control of the force and directing it with precision, but as long as the mage can reasonably influence the minor force, he can take total control of its direction and focus with enough effort.
Combining control of minor forces with other Pattern Spheres, the mage can give a certain item properties that repel or attract forces, make an object or pathway more susceptible to forces or shield part of an individual from interaction with a specific force. With the ephemeral Spheres, the mage can freeze a force in place while allowing it to continue to expend its energy, cause a force to affect a location far distant from its actual position or redirect spiritual energies.
[ 2 ] Electrical Chaos [ XXX - Page X ]
Virtual Adepts in need of a quick diversion often sabotage Technocratic equipment with a sudden electrical pulse. Akashic Brothers and Hermetic mages sometimes concentrate electricity around themselves or their weapons and use it to shock the enemy. Either way, the mage simply diverts the flow of electricity, causing it to concentrate in one area or discharge in another. Such an Effect is a damaging attack, striking against a .living opponent or a device susceptible to electrical damage.
[ 2 ] Energy Shield [ XXX - Page X ]
By bulwarking against certain forces, it's possible to not only defend against many attacks, but also to create a variety of interesting exceptions to "natural law." Bending away light makes a mage invisible, but it also means that she can't see. She must rely on other senses or use Correspondence to sense other locations. Pushing away sound renders the mage completely silent; the mage could also concentrate sound into an area, drawing in sound from around her and keeping it from being heard elsewhere. It's a simple matter to protect against electrical or fire attacks, too. Altering the direction of incoming kinetic energy allows the mage to stop or deflect bullets. By deflecting gravity, the mage can make himself essentially weightless, able to float or levitate, even controlling direction by allowing forces from certain directions to interact with her. Such a shield could also be helpful in repelling radiation or other esoteric sorts of rays.
Note that most mages only maintain a shield against one or two types offerees at a time. It's nearly impossible to make a shield that hedges out all incoming forces.
[ 3 ] Transmute Minor Forces / Telekinetics / The Dragon's Touch [ Mage: The Ascension (20th Anniversary) - Page 516 ]
Description 1: Now the mage can alter and invoke the energies she could only touch before. By adding Prime 2, she may conjure winds, fire, electricity, gravitational wells, and so forth. Combining this Rank with Life or Matter, she can transform people into electricity (Life 5/ Forces 3); change water into air (Forces 3 / Matter 3), or attach elemental force to material forms - making them fly, pinning them to the ground, and having other, similar effects (generally with Life or Matter 3). And by adding an ephemeral Sphere to this Rank, she might erode or enhance energies (Entropy 3); manifest thoughts into energies (Mind 3); transmute spirit-stuff into physical energies (Spirit 3); or set triggers for energy fluctuations at some later interval (Time 4). At this Rank, the scale of effect grows larger, now encompassing several dozen yards or a handful of characters.
Description 2: Finally able to grasp and twist the Patterns of forces, a skilled mage can convert forces into other types, shift their intensity radically or even create force from nothing (and banish it to oblivion as well). Although he is still able to affect only individual small Patterns of force, the mage can cause the elements to dance at his whim. He can impart motion into an object, make a fire that burns cold or cause shadows to explode into bursts of light. Mages can use this power to fly, hurl lightning, pulse out electronics and perform similarly dramatic feats. The mage cannot create force from nothing without the use of Quintessence, but he can turn minor forces to his own advantage.
In conjunction with Pattern magic, the mage can convert a force into an object or even a creature, or disperse a material into raw energy. He can easily weave telekinetic controls around a creature or object, and he can cause his attacks to pass through objects or creatures harmlessly on their way to the target. Similarly, with the ephemeral Spheres he can transmute a pure idea into a construct of force, lay waste to a distant location or set up a special attack that waits until an appropriate time or event comes to pass.
[ 3 ] Friction Curse [ XXX - Page X ]
Turning a subject's motion into heat energy, the mage not only renders the subject unable to move, but causes the victim to heat up until he bursts into flame! This Effect essentially turns the subject's movement into damage, so faster objects are more susceptible. A modified version can cause the subject's own breathing action to create cold, freezing the subject in place and encasing him in a block of ice. Partial successes negate some motion and impart some heat; multiple successes can transform motion into damage. Better still, since the target can't move, he is hard-pressed to dodge the ensuing eruption of fire or cold.
[ 3 ] Telekinesis [ XXX - Page X ]
At low levels of skill, a mage can perform rudimentary telekinesis by altering the directions of motive forces on an object. With the ability to transmute forces, though, the mage can easily turn body heat, a shout, even ambient light into a push that controls or moves an object. (With Prime magic the mage could create telekinetic force from nothing.) It's easier to manipulate smaller objects, of course, and fine control is quite difficult. The mage must also have a constant source of force. If no outside force influences the subject, there's nothing to transform into kinetic control. On the other hand, since people generate all manner of forces, it's usually a simple matter to hinder an enemy's movements.
Some mages focus telekinesis by using dolls or representations of the subject, while others just use transformative runes or phrases to direct the motion. In many cases, mages find it easier to telekinetically manipulate the subject if they can act out the motion, but that action isn't always necessary.
[ 4 ] Control Major Forces / Gift Of Zeus / Weather-Witching [ Mage: The Ascension (20th Anniversary) - Page 516 ]
Description 1: Larger Effects become possible. Our mage may now use the lower-Rank Effects over larger areas - a mile or more - to change weather patterns; conjure darkness; drop or raise temperatures; protect locations… or destroy them; and otherwise employ the previous levels on a much greater scale. For obvious reasons, such Effects tend to be vulgar and demand many successes to achieve.
Description 2: The Adept of Forces can spread his knowledge to encompass entire groups of force and Patterns that exceed his own scale. With enough effort, he can redirect massive energies, bring disaster crashing down across a great area or shield entire groups of people from outside elements. Anything that is possible with control over minor forces is possible on a large scale now, with the mage able to focus great energy into a single point or disperse massive powers across a wide area. The Adept still cannot transm ute large scale forces except a little bit at a time, but he can at least divert major forces to gain time necessary to affect them later. Such massive Effects are usually vulgar, but sometimes there's no choice and you just have to rely on the big guns.
In combination with the other Spheres, Adept understanding of Forces lets the mage do many of the things that he could do with lesser forces on a much broader scale. He can insulate a whole building or area of forest from fire and electricity, divert light into a series of rooms, banish all sound from a huge cavern or render a Chantry invisible to normal sight. He can defend against the storms of power that sweep through the spirit world and redirect massive forces to other places and times.
[ 4 ] Embracing the Earth Mother [ XXX - Page X ]
The Earth Mother sleeps only fitfully, and the Dreamspeakers can cause Her to stir in Her slumber with their drums and calls. The weight of Gaia's attention draws around the target, focusing gravity about him. Virtual Adepts and Sons of Ether perform similar feats technologically, by concentrating and redirecting gravitons. Euthanatos sometimes freeze their targets in place with the "weight of terror."
Successes scored on such a result focus the force of gravity around the target, making the victim seem to weigh more. A good guideline is that each success beyond the initial casting requirements increases gravity around the subject by one g (Earth gravity), so with four extra successes a subject would feel five G's (normal gravity plus four). Thus, a 75 kilo man would feel as if he were a whopping 375 kilograms! (That's about a 165 pound man to an 825 pound man, for all you English weight system users.) The character can probably stand in g forces up to his strength rating. Beyond that, he's reduced to hugging the ground, and if the forces exceed twice his Strength rating, he starts taking damage from his own body weight - excess levels of gravity score damage on the damage chart normally.
Hermetic mages are known to concentrate surrounding forces like fires and electricity into their opponents as well, diverting massive power to strike their enemies.
[ 4 ] Storm Watch [ XXX - Page X ]
By redirecting wind forces and heat patterns, the mage can bring rapid change to the weather. Verbena and Dreamspeakers in particular perform such rituals with dances, sympathetic magic or paeans. The mage can banish wind, bring up or disperse clouds and cause the surroundings to become hotter or colder.
With two successes, die mage could perhaps stir up a light breeze or cool off a hot day, while with 10 successes, the mage could generate a heat wave or bring in rapidly moving clouds over a small area.
[ 5 ] Transmute Major Forces / Conjuring Infernos [ Mage: The Ascension (20th Anniversary) - Page 516 ]
Description 1: With godlike power, a Forces Master works her Will upon vast areas. She can conjure tornados on a clear day, calm tides, and ignite the very air into a firestorm. Such mages earn the title "Nuke," though few of them survive long enough to enjoy it. It's easier to invoke such forces under the right conditions, of course - a cold snap comes more easily in winter than in summer - and such radical alterations have repercussions that often outlast the original Effect. In game terms, massive Forces spells should disrupt the weather and leave massive Resonance echoes behind.
Description 2: The Master of Forces is not to be trifled with. Through exertion and will, he can create power on an incredible scale, creating Effects that include storms of fire, massive charges of electricity, shadows that blot out entire city blocks and typhoons even in the midst of a calm day. The mage can disperse such forces as well, dousing a forest fire or bathing an entire area in light at night by transmuting darkness to illumination, Although conjuring or banishing forces from nothingness still requires Quintessence, the mage can easily turn any existing force to his own ends with his knowledge of forces alone. Incredibly Paradoxical, such Master strokes can unleash force on a tremendous scale, capable of laying waste to entire cities. Mystical sorcerers command the hand of nature, ride the winds and rip light and darkness alike from the moment of inspiration. Technocrats bring forces to heel with containment fields, magnetic bottles and the power of the atom.
When a Master of forces combines his power with other Effects, the carnage is unlimited. A Master can create an Effect in a distant place or one that hangs and explodes outward at a later time. He can create the forces from nothingness with Prime energy and set up strokes that befall only specific victims or unfortunates. These mages are the terror of their enemies, for their mighty forces can destroy whole cabals. Few Masters of Forces survive to an old age.
[ 5 ] Inferno [ XXX - Page X ]
By sucking all the light and sound out of an area and transforming it into heat, the mage can cause a small area (like a person or building) to suddenly burst into all-consuming flames. If the mage spends several turns gathering the Effect, the subject may notice an odd darkening and silence, almost as if doom itself hovers over him. Once released, the Effect raises the subject's temperature rapidly, causing it to explode or melt. Naturally, this Effect is vulgar as all hell, but it still scores damage normally. Plus, it's aggravated to boot.
[ 5 ] Tempest In A Teapot [ XXX - Page X ]
The stormwives of the Verbena use this magic to harness the pull of the moon and the flow of the tides and brew a tempest, using a small copper kettle inscribed with runes and a length of cord as their foci. Multiple witches may act in concert, dancing around a larger cauldron. The Verbena of England claim that the storm that wrecked the Spanish Armada was their doing. Existing storms may be called and controlled with Forces 4, but with this level, the witch weaves the tempest out of the energy of the moon herself.