CHAPTER FOUR:

 

THE PATHS

 

The forces of wnrd are like the winds and tides for a fisherman. If they are knoum, the sailor cam trim his sails to adapt to them. He can be in harmony with the forces and use power. But he cannot thereby change them.

 — Brian Bates, The Way of Wyrd

 It begins with a candle. “Fire Take you!

 A quick flare. A touch. A flame. À glow. “Fire Free you!”

Twelve more just like it, all guttering on shiny black wax. Suitably freed, one candle falls, spattering the carpet with Hands are raised. An invocation. A magician calls out to the black wax. dark. “Shit!!!”

“Hail to thee, O" Running Tuilight. The magician falls, grabs the candle, snuffs itamd thrusts his “Hail to thee, and to thy brood. fingers into the spill. Gooey beneath his fingers, the black stuff “Hail to the Sun now fallen, to the Moon ascendant clings to fiber.

“To the lion's whisper and the doormouse cry. A click. A creak. Sudden light from above. di emunnos Hail Maninenani Hail Brigit; ELA “Charles, have you done the laundry like 1 asked?” Ra! “Geeze, mom!” cries the magician. “I'm busy!!”

 “Fire Have you!

 THORNS, BLADES AND WISDOM

 

The heart of the magician is, of course, magic. While arrogant mages lay claim to the only “True Magick,” the sorcerer commands his own limited yet effective form of the art. Flowing down Paths carved by millennia of experimentation, wisdom and use, this static magic follows what is known and proven, rather than what is ultimatrely possible. While such Paths are somewhatr overgrown these days, the magician sets forth with compass and machete in hand. His compass is knowledge; his blade, the tools of his profession.

 It's not an easy journey. Thorns of disbelief, arrogance, half-truths and total lies rip at the sorcerer's hands. Striped and bleeding, he pushes on, determined. The mundane life is a waste of time. To the magician, the hidden city — mastery — is worth any cost.

 TOOLS OF THE TRADE

 The Masters of the World have always been able to produce their miracles by the power of Will, operating in harmony with the forces of Nature, without any other adjuncis, whereas lesser magicians have been compelled to use symbols and material things to obtain their results.

 — Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art

 Each sorcerer understands magic a bit differently. To the Christian Hermetic, it flows from secrets imparted by God. A Wiccan priestess calls upon the elements and her will. An ancient Uzoma might tap into the endless well of spiritual guidance, but even the modern Thal'hun devotee feels a deep sense of the Otherworld when she sings. Regardless of the wellspring, magical lore always seems to come from the past — from some secret our wise ancestors knew.

 The magician distrusts the present. Modem science seems too dispassionate, too removed, too impersonal to make a good mystic tool. Modern people wander around in a haze, faithless, trustless, consuming and destroying just to prove thar they're alive. If magical societies seem sacred, it's because they are. There's not much room for secular cynicism in the magician's realm — each act of magic is a leap offaith.

Most wizards look to some outside force to utilize their powers; such wellsprings might be gods, spirits, demons or elements, but they are never mundane. The mystic arts reject mundanity. To reach beyond your fingers, you must look beyond your eyes.

 MAGIC STYLES

 Magic, even hedge magic, isan art, nota series of combat maneuvers. To the magician, the beliefs that guide magic are more vital than the effects of the magic itself. The form these beliefs take shapes the caster's style and the rites that open the channels in the self, allowing the sorcerer to defy mundane reality.

 The bottom line with any form of magic in the World of Darkness is that intent shapes reality. Mages and magicians throughout the ages have disputed avhose intent shapes how much of which reality, but they generally agree that intent is the prime magical component. Thus, the magical practices of Chinese geomancers, Wiccan herbalists and Hindu fakirs are equally valid if the people themselves truly know what they're doing. Although many True Mages realize that foci are merely a means to an end, most un-Awakened practitionets swear by the art they study. Thus, the ceremonies they perform are always guided by the style of magic they pursue.

 Styles are not just special effects. Although they do not have much of an impact on game systems, the style your character practices colors her whole life. Through those rites, she learns to reach beyond, to look beyond, to accomplish things science deems impossible. In short, a magician's practice is the key roleplaying. Player or Storyteller, you should define your sorcerer's magic style and keep it in mind whenever magic comes into play.

RITUAL TOOLS

Rituals demand tools, instruments of the craft. Through them, a magician focuses her intentions, unlocks the mystic gates and directs her will. Many practitioners of the arts swear that the tools hold power themselves. The truth behind rhe claim isn't nearly as important as the role these instruments play in the magician's life story — or in your chronicle.

 Some instruments are harder to come by than others; some get damned expensive, while others are easy to find if you know where to look. The real significance of a magical tool isn't so much in the material as in the effort taken to obrain it. Magic isn't supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be special, Otherwordly, sacred. Most ritual implements stress that alien mystique in their form or usage. Herbs must be harvested under a full moon. Blades must be forged in special fires and quenched in blood. Salves must be prepared with ingredients like corpse fat and crushed maggots. Wands must be crafted from virgin ash or rowan, inscribed with obscure symbols that relate to the magician's purpose. Few magicians use their tools for mundane purposes, and fewer still allow them to fall into a stranger's hands. A ritual tool is a key to the unknowable and a link to the magician. It may be more symbolic than enchanted, but as any magician can tell you, the heart of magic is the symbol. A ritual tool is the symbolism incarnate.

 Most tools invoke sympathy — the connection between two parties. If you've literally gota man's heart in your hand, you've obviously gor some powerful connection to him. 

 Many tools create a sympathetic bond by standing in for something else. Really powerful — and dangerous — spells employ tools fashioned from actual remains. These spells set powerful energies in motion, but it's their tools — cotpse parts, personal effects — that are difficult ro obtain and dangerous to keep.

 HOW DO USE THEM?

 In game terms, tools define the magician, adding a new dimension to the story. A sorcerer's workings become much cooler when she lays the circle, consecrates the elements and calls the corners than if her player simply says, “I use Cursing 3 to make that asshole suffer” When you work your magic through your character, describe what she does to set the wheels in motion. That'll add a new flavor to your game.

 Magic tools spark stories, too. Let's say your magician employs a sword, one he inherited from his grandfather. What if one day he drops the sword, bending its blade? Where can he repair it, and who might he meer when he does? What if another party wants the sword and is willing to kill for it? What if that sword was quenched in the flesh of a child, and the child's brother, now a congressman, learns that you've got the blade that killed his sibling!

Even the search for ingredients can lead to stories. Most tools are eventually used up, and must be replenished or refreshed. Such items are never found easily. Imagine the complications that could arise from a simple herb-garhering mission. Most plants must be harvested nude, at night, often during certain times of the year. What if your magician needs belladonna but lives in Lynchburg, VA (not the most tolerant town formagicalneeds)? What ifshe needs it in December, or runs into her neighbor while creeping around naked, or happens to blunder into a Garou sept's caern? What if she entersa vampire's hunting ground, or meets a cop who “don't like them Satanists...”? The art of magic is full of potential complications.

THE TOOLS

As integral parts of a magical style, most ritual instruments simply allow the magician to do that which she could not do on her own. At the Storyteller's option, a really good focus — a powerful group rite, a specially prepared silver sword, etc. — might reduce the caster's difficulty or increase her Dice Pool by one or two. (We recommend the Dice Pool option; a large spell, like a large Dice Pool, can make things go really well or really badly, depending on the whims of fate.)

 Common implements of magic include:

 * Alchemical Laboratory: A complex collecrion of tubes, burners, vessels, charts, tables, ingredients and containers, the alchemist's laboratory is as much a reflection of the alchemist as it is a workplace. Some alchemists keep spotless shops, while others strew their tools haphazardly around the room. Although alchemical lore insists on many special tools, it's the shop itself that shapes mundane materials into magical elements. In the laboratory, those materials are transformed, broken down and rearranged to the magician's expectations. Thus, the shop becomes the instrument. No alchemist can work his art without processing the elements in his laboratory.

 * Blood and Other Bodily Fluids: The blood is the life, asthey say, and the fluids of the body carry that life even after they're removed. Fresh fluids — from tears to semen to piss to puss — are best, but some spells call for “aged” humors, fluids that have had time to ferment. Blood, the most common sacred element, often flows from live sacrifices, ritual mutilations, small incisions or deadly cuts. Blood seals pacts, creating bonds that can only be broken by death.

* Bones, Skin and Other Remains: Like blood, bones form the foundations of many living things. Carry the bone and you carry the being. Bones get ground up into powder, carved into other tools (see below) or snapped to pass a curse onto a living person.

 Skin protects its “wearer.” By extension, it also protects a magician who dons the skin after its “owner” is finished with it. Skins are stretched over drums, fashioned into garments, hoiled in cauldrons, or simply eaten to carry their protective powers onward.

 The same is true of hearts, livers, eyeballs and other organs that pass their purpose on to whomever consumes them. Hearts are eaten for valor, livers for vitality, eyeballs for vision — the list is as endless as it is obvious. Many primal practices employ cannibalism, notas an insult, butasan honor to the person being eaten; other more “civilized” practices — like the Catholic Eucharists — still use animal remains or symbolic representations to embody the same qualities.

 Remains don't have to come from live victims. Many spells require fingernail clippings, hairs, tears, excrement. Imagine trying to gather such items without being noticed. Imagine transporting them back home. Imagine the excuses you'll have to make if you get caught...

 * Books: As bearers of writing (see page 84), books trap thoughts, wisdom, observations and confessions, and set them down for others to see. Most magical texts are written in code or lost languages, either to protect them from the authorities or to safeguard their wisdom. Magic is all about understanding, and some truths are too sacred to be read by common people. The sorcerer employs books for study, spelleraft, mediation and reflection. In the Western traditions, it's a poor magician who cannot read or write. 

 * Cards, Dice, Straws and Lots: The term “sorcerer” comes from “one who casts lots.” The connections between fate and its influence are pretty obvious. Hence, a number of seemingly random tools — cards, dice, carved bones, sticks, shells, etc. — form the backbone of divination, blessings and  curses. Typically, the magician sets out a selection of lots, shuffles or mixes then draws a series of them to determine whatwillhappen. By fixing a certain lot with an intention — concentrating on drawing a “bad card,” for example — the sorcerer can turn events in her favor if her magic succeeds.

 * Celestial Alignments: While it's been said that “Our fates are not in the stars but in ourselves,” many magicians would disagree. Many practices depend on astrological conjunctions, celestial influence and precise “windows of opportunity” opened by the planetary dance.

 The intricate symbols and formulae connected to planetary influence are way beyond the scope of this book. Most of the basic connections are pretty obvious — Mars for hostile spells, Venus foremotional bonds, Satum for fate and time-based workings, the Moon for mystery, etc. If you're interested in the deeper significances, read a good book on astrology or symbolism.

 * Circles and Other Shapes: A universal symbol of infinity, unity and wholeness, the circle finds its way into rituals of all types. Sorcerers ftom all over the world link hands, carve circles, draw spheres and dance in the round. Other tools, like rings, belts and diagrams, often take the circle's shape in order to pass its qualities off to the magician.

 Other shapes, like squares, triangles and pentagrams, represent different qualities. The square represents stability; the triangle directs intentions upward or downward; the rectangle creates a base for Earthly matters; the cross reflects an intersection. Magicians draw the shapes into symbols (see page 82), trace them in the air, lay them out in powder or liquid, or work them into talismans, charms and artwork.

 * Cups, Chalices and Other Vessels: As the container of an essence, the chalice represents the sacred magician, a vessel of wisdom and change. Since cups usually hold water or some other liquid, they represent the feminine principle, symbolize mystery, and carry water (see “Elements”). A magician might share a drink from the cup, hold italoft, swirl its contents or leave it dry to invoke barrenness,

 Larger vessels — rubs, cauldrons, buckets, gourds — make common magicaltools, too. Some contain mixtures (the “witch's brew”), while others remain dry or are filled with dirt, seeds or stones to create noisemakers or small environments.

 * Dance and Gesture: Dancing is fun, especially when it's done with partners. Besides its obvious sexual overtones (which make dance a forbidden art in some cultures), dancing combines physical exercise, emotional passion and artistic expression. The combination raises lots of power, stirs the dancers and pleases the gods and spirits.

Most practices, especially the more primal ones, employ dances of some kind. More “civilized” or refined styles tum the wild dance into a ritualized set of movements (the righr arm is raised, then the left is lowered, then the right foot is placed firmly in front of the magician) that become significant mystic gestures and poses.

 * Drugs and Poisons: To transcend mortal vision, many sorcerers employ toxins. The shock to the magician's system brings on visions (hopefully). While most people tend to think of Mexican mushroom-droppers or Chinese opium smokers when “drugs” and “magic” are mentioned in the same breath, every practice uses toxins in its own way. From the ceremonial wine of the Catholic service to the moldy bread eaten by starving prophets, from the Hindu soma drink ro hallucinogenic body paint, magicians have eaten, drunk, smokedorsmeared themselves with awide variety of minor — and major! — poisons. Most sorcerers concoct the potions from natural or artificial ingredients, but some allow toxic animals like snakes, spiders and even bees to sting them into an ecstatic state, Please note that thissortof thing is best left ro storytelling description, not to live roleplaying!

 * Elements: What could be more powerful than nature? By working raw elements — earth, air, fire, water and sometimes wood, metal, ash and ice — into a ritual, magicians of all kinds evoke the spirits of the natural world and bind the materials to their commands.

 * Group Rites: “Raising power” is incredibly important tomost magicians. By gathering a group (magicians and non-magicians alike), focusing its attention toward a certain thing and then riding the wave of energy, priests and anti-priests alike enhance their workings. 

 Getting a bunch of people together is easy; getting them to concentrate deeply on one thing requires a bit of show-man ship and dedication. Ideally, groups should be worked to a frenzy by a single magician or his helpers, who often use music, chanting, prayer, speeches or sex to bring out the best (or worst) in the crowd. From there, the magician directs the energy as the participants reach a climax and then drop from exhaustion.

 * Herbs and Roots: Like the elements, plants hold living bits of Creation; like toxins, they often retain some special properties of their own. Magicians of all kinds mix potions, brews, salves, wines, powders and other ingredients out of herbs, roots and other plants. By drinking, smoking, eating, painting or dusting these concoctions, a sorcerer can invest a bit of the plant's essence with the object of the spell.

 * Houschold Tools: As extensions of the hands, tools become obvious magical instruments. Brooms, ploughshears, sickles, mirrors, scissors, knives, butterchums, pots, cauldrons, horseshoes, hammers, nails, pens, clocks and hourglasses have long magical pedigrees. More modern tools — computers, pagers, blenders, ovens, sound systems and cattle prods — have found their way into the mystic arts, too. In each case, a sorcerer simply uses her tools to create a magical bridge between the mundane activity — like cleaning or reflecting — and her magical intentions. Most magicians keep their ritual tools away from mundane tasks, but so-called “kitchen witches” use the instruments in everyday chores as well.

 * Machines: Tools built for specific magical uses can be pretty damned effective. In the hands of a Daedalus or a Dr. Frankenstein, technology can shape raw elemental power to a“sorcerer's” ends. While most mystic artificers cringe at the title “magician,” that is, in essence, what they are.

 Advanced inventions with a mystical bent can include cybernetics, robots, computers, odd weapons and unique widgets ina thousand varieties. While un-Awakened techno-magicians cannotreach the wild heightsofthe Technocracy's bertermoments, the sophisticated machinery ofthe Thal'hun demonstrates how thin the line between magic and high technology can be.

 * Sex: Sex is power, the power to create, the power to attract, to bind, to command. Sexuality forms the most intimate connections, breaks down barriers and inhibitions, makes people lose their minds and opens their senses. Anything that powerful deserves the name “the Great Rite,” and every magical practice employs (or denies) that unharnessed power. Orgies, abstinence, intercourse, stimulation without contact, even ritual mutilation of sexual organs — all focus sexual energy to mystical ends.

 * Symbols: All tools are symbols of greater rhings; some tools, though, are symbols in the most literal sense. Complex labyrinth patterns, crosses and crucifixes, swastikas, Hermetic designs, written runesor phrases (see below), alchemical sigils, hex signs and hexagrams, hieroglyphs, mandalas, yantras and other complex designs embody some magical truth and fix it to a place or object. The magician understands the power of symbols, and employs them in his workings.

 * Voice: The chant, the song, the prayer, the wail — each type of magic employs a spoken invocation that carries the magician's thoughts out into the open, declaring them to Creation. All spiritual magicians pray aloud for guidance or favor, while their secular cousins shape syllables into spells. Few magics, even subtle ones, work without a spoken component, and some employ the voice alone.

 * Wands and Staves: By lengthening a sorcerer's reach (and penis), a wand, staff or other masculine tool directs the magician's will. Whether the tool is carved from ivory, shaped from wood, or crafted from stone, glass or even bones, it serves as a badge of office. Waved during a spell, a wand gathers the mystic energy and sends it on its way.

 * Weapons: Like a wand, a weapon extends the hand past the reach ofamortalarm, carrying force to the magician's target. Common mystical weapons (masculine symbols of will) include blades, hammers, axes, spears, bullets, arrows, clubs and crossbow bolts. Most gods favor a certain weapon

 

Took off running but Dm takin” my time 

A friend of the Devil is d friend of mine

 

— Grateful Dead, “Friend of the Devil”

Some people are never satisfied. Driven by power-madness, they make bargains they cannot keep, mortgaging

their lives and afterlives to Otherworldly forces. The payment: a fast track to magic and a collection of powers that :

only the hellbound can possess. É E

 

Tt's a time-honored tradition: A sorcerer, frustrated by the discipline of learning and too proud, rebellious or

cynical to care about the consequences, calls upon forbidden entities and promises them his loyalty. More often than

not, his entreaties are ignored. Sometimes, though, he gets an answer. The so-called “powers of light” rarely respond -

 

“to prayers directly; other, sinister entities, however, seem eager to aid true believers. In return for good service and

perhaps a bit of metaphysical life force, the tempters are glad to make a deal.

 

All cultures have their version of soul-service: the anti-Christian warlocks and their Black Mass; the cannibal

corpse-eaters of Thailand and the Sahara; the bokors who petition Baron Samedi, Chango and Damballah; the left-

hand tantrikas who embrace the Twenty Thousand Demon Hosts; the African Nhanga and the Kys"Tayaa people

 

“of the Pacific island chains... The supplicants, rituals and patrons differ, but the bargain remains the same. First,

the petitioner asks for power and a visitation; assuming the wizard is lucky enough to get his audience, the new patron

demands some demonstration of the devotee's intentions. The test is dangerous, bloody and foul — murder is only

part of the equation. If the demon seems satisfied, it'll demand that the supplicant desecrate whatever he once found |

holy, renounce his former gods and pledge himself to darkness. If he agrees, the infernal one bestows its gift—the —

demonic pact.

 

E Popular misconceptions aside, such bargains rarely begin with soul-selling. That comes later. In game terms, the

 

“bargain works like a Merit and Flaw in one: It costs freebie points to purchase, but confers benefits that would

 

“normally cost more. The real price comes across in the story, not the systems. The initial pact grants the diabolist

three dots worth of some Path for “free,” without study, experience or additional time. Suddenly, the secrets are

revealed and the power flows through the black magician. If the Path requires Rituals, the pact grants three of them,

 

“too. Special Paths, called Ritualis Infernal, Dark Sorcery or Dark Thaumaturgy, can be bought only through a pact.

Unlike Hedge Magic, these demonie arts channel the power of the hells through their cracked but willing vessel —

 

“the warlock.

 

A greater pact, which includes the soul and a promise of servitude, bestows five dots worth of magic and six new

 

Rituals. The fun needn't stop there — demons love to encourage their pets to greater acts of perverse devotion —

“but each successive bargain gets harder to top. Demonic Investments, which grant literally unholy powers to helpful

“ servants, are the next step. These powers (which run beyond the scope of this boolc) rip the warlock”s humanity to

“shreds. With cach “gift,” he becomes less a man and more a demonic freak. Wings, claws, poisons, even toxic farts

 

— it should never be said that demons lack a sense of humor when it comes to granting Investments.

 

The upside? Cool powers with little work, an Otherworldly tutor and the mystique that always follows the

 

“forbidden. Suddenly the diabolist gains new insights, wild friends and a whole new perspective. Taboos disappear like

“plass beneath a sledgehammer and in their absence, confidence swells. Whogivesa shitabout good and evil? Morality's

“for pussies! Once the bargain is completed, the warlock becomes a whole new man, flush with Otherworldly strength

nd ready to take on the world. .

Powerful as he may seem, though, the soul-bound sorcerer is pathetic. He may excel at magic from that point

“on, may acquire great wealth, crush his enemies like dung beetles — it doesn't really matter in the long run. His life

nd his soul no longer belong to him and his magics seem fragile and hollow. Other creatures and sensitive humans

“ cansensehisallegiance; some might flock to him, butmost avoid his presence, One day, the patron will come to collect

the balance due. From that point, the very best thing the sorcerer can hope for is service in some greater demon's

“ houschold — not a pleasant duty, but an improvement over the tortures that await most mortgaged souls.

Character Point Costs :

Initial Pact 10

Extreme Pact | 15 + soul

New Path E sa

Path Levels. current rating x 5.

New Rituals : Path rating

(Dark Sorcery — the so-called Ritualis Infernal — and demonic Investments can be found in The Book of

* Madness on pages 137-141, and in the Storyteller's Guide to the Sabbat, pages 50-62.)

 

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FATHS

 

— Thor's hammer, Diana's bow, Michael's flaming sword, etc.; sorcerers who work toward that god's purpose often employ that deity's weapon.

 * Writings and Inscriptions: As students of the mysteries would tell you, language is the greatest magic of all. Writing, which captures magic and sets it into a permanent form, channels thought into reality. By writing a phrase, catving a rune, etching a blessing or pressing a holy glyph into clay, the magician sets her intentions into the material for others to see. Some castings demand that the writing be read aloud, but others simply lock the mystic forces onto an object once the thought has been transferred to it through writing.

 GAME COSTS AND EFFECTS

 Belladonna and aconite

 Give to me the gift of flight

 Take me up airborne in the night

 In a dream

 Across the sky

 Hundred million miles high

 Take me ever upwards in the night

 — Incubus Succubus, “Belladonna and Aconite”

 (Note: When referring to game systems, the phrase “Hedge Magic” will be capitalized for clarity. “You” refers to both the character and the player.)

 Each magical discipline is called a Path; in game terms, each Path allows you to do certain things, regardless of the practice you pursue. À witch, a shaman and a missionary all use the Healing Path to cure a friend's illness, even though the tools they employ will vary tremendously. The names below are offered for simplicity's sake. No healer's going to be caught dead saying, “I practice the Paths of Healing, Herbalism and Ephemera.” Each practice pives its own names to the arts, (In the original Hedge Magic system, each activity required a separate Ritual; now, Rituals have become separate spells that a magician can buy in addition to her Hedge Magic Path. You no longer need to purchase separate Rituals for every conceivable Path spell. Yes, this is an official revision, one that makes it cheaper and easier to play an effective hedge magician.)

 Other rules are as follows:

 BASIC CASTING

 * Cost: Asa magician, you'll begin with five fres dots of Hedge Magic and three Rituals. While each society given in Chapter Two favors certain Paths, you may place these dots anywhere you desire. One Path — the primary — must always be higher than the others. This reflects the magician's initial studies and her affinity for a certain type of magic.

 If you want to add to your Path rating, use freebie points as indicted on the Character Construction spread. No Path rating can rise higher than your primary Path's rating; a magician who specializes in spiritualism, for example, won't be better at Herbalism than at Ephemera. When you want to increase your current levels, see the experience point costs on the same chart.

 * Rolls: Most spells or Rituals require an Attribute + Ability roll, usually Intelligence + Occult. See the Path descriptions for details.

 * Difficulty: Unless a Path description states differently, Hedge Magic rolls go against a difficulty of the Path level +4. A Level Four spell or Ritual, then, would be difficulty 8.

 * Successes: Most Hedge Magic spells require a single success to perform. Really strenuousspells — difficult Healings or Enchantments, storm brewing, etc. — require one or two successes per Parh level before they'll work.

 * Time and Effort: Hedge Magic is not a rapid art — it requires time, patience and work to perform a spell correctly. Storytellers can assume that a spell takes at least one turn per level to cast properly (we'll get into improper casting in a minute). Hence, a Level Five Summoning would demand at least five turns, and probably longer.  

Although magical actions flow from intent and concentration, tools and rites are essential to Hedge Magic workings. You can'tsimply think up a spell and send it on its way — you must perform the proper ceremony (see “Magic Styles”) and steer your intentions during the entire spell. If you get distracted, the magic fails.

* Failure: If you fail a magic roll, nothing happens. The spell is wasted and must be started again at +1 difficulty. Subsequent attempts add another level to the difficulty; after three failures, for example, you're working at +3 difficulty.  

* Botching: As usual, a botched roll has messy consequences. Although Hedge Magick is immune to Paradox per se, the tides of creation work in unpredictable ways. No magician can afford to get too cocky.

 When things go wrong, the level of the Path or Ritual determines how bad the fallout gets. A botched Level Four Ritual will have more explosive results than a ruined Level One spell. Typical disasters can be found under each Path description. If some sort of damage seems appropriate, assume that you take one Health Level for each level in the Path or Ritual. This damage can usually-be soaked, although certain catastrophes (wounds that rip open instead of heal) might sidestep the usual soak roll.

 COMPLICATIONS

 * Fast Castings: In an emergency — like throwing up a Ward against an angry vampire — you may take half the usual time to cast a spell or Ritual. Doing so adds +2 to the usual difficulty (maximum 10) and requires a Willpower point.

 * Hitting a Target: Combat magic is pretty difficult. Most Paths and Rituals require that you prepare your subject in some way to accept the magic. A willing subject doesn't presenta problem; an unwilling one can be difficult to affect. Touching an opponent in combat demands a Dexterity + Brawl or Melee roll (dependingon what you're touching him with). A moving target can attempt a Dexterity + Dodge roll to escape a physical attack, or make a Willpower roll to fend off a mental one. Both “soak rolls” go against difficulty 6.

 * Willpower and Quintessence: À point of Willpower may be spent to grant one automatic success. Raw Quintessence, however, is useless to magicians. At the Storyteller's option, a really potent bit of Tass (materialized magickal essence; see Mage: The Ascension) might help a sorcerer reduce her casting difficulties by one or two if she employs it in some significant way — by eating a magic mush-toom, painting herself with potent blood, sprinkling enchanted dust on an object, etc. — before she performs the spell.

 * Learning: In story terms, you've got to dig up arcane wisdom, find learned mentors and experiment with new and dangerous spells to raise your Path ratings. In game terms, the Storyteller may require  some solo roleplaying, a personal quest, prolonged research or some other sacrifice to reflect the time and effort spent alongside the experience points. The Library and Mentor Backgrounds may help this process along (see Chapter Three), but the two bonuses cannot be combined to save large amounts of experience. 

 * Teamwork: If you want to cooperate with another magician to cast a single spell, both of you must possess the same Path. (An Herbalist won't be much good when a soul-bound sorcerer tries to invoke Hellfire.) Decide who the prime caster is from there. That person makes the magic roll.

 From there, each assistant rolls the appropriate Attribute + Ability as well. An additional tum may be required for cach magician after the second. For each successful assistant, lower the difficulty of the prime character's roll by one, to a minimum difficulty of 3.

 Teamwork failure leaves the prime character where she started, with no help or hindrance. Anyone who botches, however, adds two to the prime caster's difficulty, or subtracts two of her successes. If the task involves some heavy-duty power (a Level Five Spell, for instance), an unpleasant side-effect might be forthcomineg....

 * Combining Paths: Hedge Magic Paths cannot be combined for additional effect, nor may Rituals. A Ritual might be set in motion before or after a Path spell, but not during. Although some Rituals have lingering effects, a spell or Ritual must be completed before another magical action can begin.

 * Levels: Each Path has five basic levels, that cost the normal amount of points to achieve. À sixth level — supreme mastery — costs 50 additional experience points to attain, and demonstrates the upper limits of Hedge Magic. Storytellers might forbid this level to player characters if its effects seem too powerful for the chronicle concept.

 * Storyteller Prerogative: Magic moves in unpredictable ways, and tends to blend into the landscape. Without the power of the Spheres, human will only stretches so far; Hedge Magic cannot move mountains on command. If a player attempts some huge spell that obviously defies reality (making a truck levitate in broad daylight, shooting Hellfire out of her fingertips in a shopping mall, ete.) without backing the spell up with some serious roleplaying, the Storyteller is perfectly within her rights to simply say, “It  doesn't work.” Even then, massive workings might not succeed, Hedge magicians are enigmatic beings with mysterious powers, not Dr, Strange refugees.

 (Storytellers Note: This “loophole” is not intended to letyouscrew your playersover on awhim, simply ro reinforce the limitations of Hedge Magic while discouraging power-gaming. A spell conducted under dramatic circumstances with all the trimmings should be left to the usual systems, or even be granted immediate success.)

 * Additional Numina: “Numina” is a general term for unusual Advantages — the three Affiniries of Hedge Magic, Psychic Phenomena and True Faith. (See The Hunters Hunted, Ascension's Right Hand, The Inquisition, The Quick and the Dead or Project Twilight for these additional powers.) Few individuals are multi-talented enough to master several Numina at once, but some brilliant sorcerers manage to do so.

 If by chance you possess some additional Numina Affinity, those initial dots cost 14 points each instead of seven. If, for example, you wanted to begin the game with both Herbalism (Hedge Magic) and Telepathy (Psychic Phenomena), it would cost you at least 14 freebie points in addirion toyour original three Hedge Magic dots. Sorcerer characters cannot divide their three initial dots between Hedge Magic and other Numina; such talents must be purchased with freebie points or experience. Obviously, if you're learning the mystic arts, it helps to specialize.

 Unlike True Magick, Hedge Magic is not nullified by True Faith (see The Book of Shadows or Ascension”s Right Hand). However, high levels of Faith (five or more) may invoke the Echoes Flaw on nearby sorcerers. (See Chapter Three for details.)

 * True Magick and Hedge Magick: In case it needs repeating, Hedge Magick and Sphere magick are incompatible. An Awakened mage cannot use Hedge Magick, a sorcerer cannot use the other. (See Chapter Three for other crossover systems.)

 * Rituals: Sometimes, a working requires precise, specific knowledge — in other words, a Ritual created for that purpose. Since thousands of mystic rituals exist worldwide, we'll reflect those endless possibilities with three-point Riruals bought as “specialties” for a related Path.

 Certain Paths demand certain Rituals to obtain certain results. The various Path listings describe their affiliated Rituals (if any) and the things you can do with them. Each Ritual costs an addirional three points and allows you a bit of flexibility beyond the Path's usual limitations. In all other ways, a Ritual resembles a normal magic working: It takes the usual amount of time, requires tools and conforms to the sorcerer's magic style.

 COUNTERSPELLS

 

By North and South, I seal thee

By East and West, I seal thee

By Air, Earth, Fire and Water, I seal thee

 Three times three, protected and warded

 So Wall It, I

 So Mote It Be.

 — protective warding invocation

 Counterspells are elementary magic. Any magician who wants to survive learns the proper wards and counters before she sets out to possess stronger arts. Such protections take a thousand different forms, from the sandcirclesofthe Anjavho to the guardian runes of Norse vitkar, and the blessings that all religions teach their faithful servants. In plain terms, they slow or stop the effects of dangerous magics, unweave spells in progress or form a mystic barrier against mystic energies. 

 * A normal counterspell can be cast immediately, and protects its subject against hostile enchantments. Blocking an incoming spell requires a successful Wits + Occult roll (difficulty 8). Each success you win eliminates one success from your opponent's attack. Total victory on your part nullifies his spell completely. Willpower points may be spent to aid a counterspell, but you must score at least one natural success to complete the protection.

* An unweaving counterspell undoes another party's enchantments. You have to understand what you're attempting to undo, so knowledge of the Path involved is essential. If you've got at least one dot in the caster's Path, you may attempt an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 8). Each success cancels one of the original magician's successes until either you fail the roll (which ends the attempt) or his spell is undone. For long-standing enchantments, a Storyteller might simply tell her player to accumulate five successes or more; really strong or True Magick workings would demand LO or even 15 successes to unravel.

 * A warding counterspell (not to be confused with a Ward ftom the Path of that name) sets up a small protective field. First, you prepare the area — which can range from a three-foot circle-to a 20' x 20' rom — by inscribing mystic designs, marking out protective sigils and performing a blessing invocation. A rollof Wits + Oceult (difficulty 8) sets up a “barrier” of successes. To reach past the ward, a rival spellcaster must roll more successes than you had accumulated when you created the barrier. Once he does, the ward is broken and must be reset. Obviously, it's a good idea to make extended rolls when setting such protections, and to refresh them from time to time. Preparing a counterspell ward takes roughly five minutes for every 10 square feet in the protected area.

 Each form of counterspell costs three points to learn (see “Rituals”). Such protections usually guard the sorcerer himself, but may be used to shield another person instead. Basic counterspell rites can cancel the effects of Hedge Magic, True Magick, vampiric Thaumaturgy, and faerie cantrips cast against the magician or his protectorate. Spirit powers — Gifts, Charms and Arcanoi — require additional counterspell Rituals, which also cost three points each. Full “protection,” therefore, would cost you a total of 18 points. As most wizards would attest, it's worth it.

 CREATING NEW PATHS

 With the permission of a particularly brave (or stupid?) Storyteller, you might be able to create new magical Paths. The requirements, should the Storyteller allow this, are as follows:

 * Your primary Path rating must be at least five before you can design new magical roads.

 * The initial dor in the newly created Path costs 10 experience points; each level thereafter costs (curreht level x five).

 * In story terms, you'll have to do plenty of research, experimentation and practice before this new Path comes together. It's not unreasonable to spend years of game time developing some new occult talent, then perfecting it well enough to achieve consistent results.

 + All Path elements must be tied toa certain theme. The Path of Enhanced Senses won't allow you to fly.

 

THEPATHS

 

«magic is precisely that thing which cannot be explained or

predicted in ordinary physical terms.

 

— Donald Tyson, Ritual Magic

 

Tyson is right; even so, for game purposes, we need a

rough system to reflect the powers of the magician. The

following Paths represent those arcane abilities and the

 

* Hedge Magic is subtle and slow. No new Path will

allow a magician to blow up buildings with a wave of her

hand or transmute enemies into puddles of seawater. Really

powerful spells are the purview of True Mages, and they pay

the Paradoxical price for that power.

 

SUCCESSES NEEDED

 

Standard task (Conjuring a card) one

 

Difficult task (Healing a gunshor wound)

Impossible task (Binding a raging werewolf)

 

COUNTERSFELLS

 

Normal

 

Warding

 

PATH LISTINGS

Path

Alchemy

Conjuration

Conveyance

Cursing

Divination

Enchantment

Ephemera

Fascination

Healing

Hellfire

Herbalism/Brewing

Shadows

Shapeshifting

 

Summoning (Material)

Summoning (Daimonic)

 

Weathercraft

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS: SORCERER

 

Wits + Occult

Unweaving Intelligence + Occult

Wits + Occult

 

Difficulty 8

Difficulty 8

Difficulty 8

 

Effect

 

Transmutation of elements

Pull things from “nowhere”

Swift Travel

 

Cause bad fortune

 

Foretell the future

 

Create minor talismans

Deal with spirits

 

Charms people

 

Reduce pain or injury

Creates elemental attacks

Create potions

 

Shapes shadows, bends sounds

Changes caster's form

 

Call, Bind, Ward and Dismiss

 

Call, Bind, Ward and Dismiss

 

Changes weather

 

one per path level

one per path level, + 2 difficulty (LO maximum)

 

Roll

 

Willpower cost

 

Intelligence + Alchemy(Occult Science) | Willpower

 

Dexterity + Occult

Stamina + Occult

Manipulation + Intimidation

Perception + Forrune Telling

Intelligence + Occult

Charisma + Enigmas

(Social Trait) + Occult

Manipulation + Intuition

Manipulation + Occult

Intelligence + Herbalism

Manipulation + Stealth

Stamina + Occult

 

Charisma + Occult-to Summon

Manipulation + Occult to Bind

Wits + Occulrto Dismiss

 

Wits + Occult to Ward

Charisma + Occult to Summon

Manipulation + Occult ro Bind

Wits + Occult to Dismiss

 

Wits + Occult to Ward

Manipulation + Occult

 

(no cost)

 

1 Willpower

| Willpower

(nó cost)

 

1 Willpower

(no cost)

(no cost)

 

| Willpower

1 Willpower

(no cost)

(no cost)

 

1 Willpower .

 

(no cost)

1 Willpower

(no cost)

(no cost)

(no cost)

1 Willpower

Ino cost)

(no cost)

1 Willpower

 

things they allow a sorcerer to do. By necessity, these Paths are broad yet limited. The ultimate magic comes from the power of the story, not the power of the dice.

 Some of the following powers have been collected and revised from Halls of the Arcanum, Ascension's Right Hand and The Quick and the Dead; several others are brand new. It's important to note that although each Path indicates some pretty broad powers, your sorcerer still needs to cast different spells to set different things in motion. This idea really falls more under the heading of “Roleplaying” than of “Game Mechanics"; nevertheless, it shouldn't be ignored.

You begin with one particular Path in which you're especially well-acguainted. This primary Path marks your real talents, while the others reflect things you've learned along the way. No additional Path can be higher than that primary talent, though the others reach the same level.

 The magician's affinity to magic often shows through in his personality, dress and bearing. A sorcerer who excels at Hellfire is going to be a tempestuous soul with a sharp temper and aggressive mannerisms. Contrast that with the calm healer, the passionate shapeshifter and the absent-minded dream-mystic and you'll see how these dots can become story elements unto themselves.

 ALCHEMY

 The Great Art, Our Sacred Philosophy, the Divine Work, Ars Chemica — these terms surround the occult (some would say sacred) science/art ofalchemy. But what was, oris, alchemy?

 Popular conception remembers alchemy as medieval proto-chemistry — a pseudo-science that sought to transmute base metals (e.g., lead) into gold. While many alchemists putsued that goal (if only to pay the bills), the art itself concentrates on perfection of all kinds — material, mental, scientific and finally spiritual. The rransmutation of lead into gold is merely the symbol for the best alchemists' true goal: transformation of a mortal man into an immortal god. 

 As it's practiced in the West, alchemy is the epitome of the Hermetic tradition, the mystic discipline that draws together the myths of Egypt, Greece and Rome, mingles them with Biblical traditions and adds elements of the Kabbalah and Qur'an. Like the worm Uroboros, alchemy is endless, circular and symbolic. It defies description because, by nature, the practice ideally defies limitation. Alchemy crosses the borders between art and science, between spiritual discipline and scientific practice; it crosses Asia Minor and Europe, and has been practiced for over 2,000 years. 

 The key to — and often the aim of — Western alchemy is the Philosopher's Stone, sometimes called simply the Stone. Like the art itself, this rarefied material is a paradox; some alchemists claim it's an actual stone, others deny the claim. The Stone has been describedasa tincture, an elixir, a wax, a powder and, of course, a brilliant stone. In any case, it is this material (often soughr but rarely gained) that transmutes lead into gold, cures disease and grants immortality.

 The alchemical art brings nature to perfection. Prima Materia — the primal material — is the base substance that is turned, through a variety of processes, into the Stone. Naturally, alchemists disagree on the Prima Materia, too; some believe thar it should be a truly base material — dog droppings, bones, blood, etc. — while others argue that the Prima Materia itself is a supernatural substance. Part of the alchemical process involves experimenting with a variety of substances, observing the paths that ideally lead to the Philosopher's Stone. Once the alchemist chooses a substance for his experiments, he must determine a process toward perfection.

 The first step usually involves putrefaction, which culminates in nigredo (the black stage), when the substance is dead, or has been reduced to its first matter. The substance is then reborn in The Peacock's Tail, a stage of many colors, followed by albedo (the whitening), when a white elixir forms. Ideally, the process concludes with rubedo, when the substance becomes a red tincture, elixir or powder: the Philosopher's Stone.

The Great Work is not learned easily. True, there are many works in print that claim to detail the secrets of alchemy, but these are often analogical reflections, not “instruction manuals.” To understand anything beyond the most basic symbols of the art, an alchemist can spend literally lifetimes in study. The best sources of alchemical knowledge are personal experimentation, apprenticeship to a senior alchemist, or “revelation,” a collection of dreams and visions that unlock the symbols and confer — one hopes — the power of understanding.

 In game terms, the Alchemy Path allows you to synthesize various powders, potions and other concoctions, or to enhance some existing material to unusual potency (see Enchantment and Herbalism/Brewing, below). Unlike the Enchantment Path, Alchemy doesn't create “magic items”; rather, it brings out the item's innate powers, strengthens them and combines them with other enhanced properties. Like other Hedge Magic Paths, Alchemy is ráted in one to five dots; those dots reflect the principles you understand and the expertise you possess. The highest level of Alchemy theoretically expands beyond material things; in game terms, an Alchemist who reaches this exalted state may Awaken and continue his road with the Spheres.

 Alchemical workings depend on the proper tools, environment and preparation. You can't just fire off a spell if Alchemy is your calling; while items may be prepared ahead of time and carried along, creating new enhancements take both time and workspace (see “Tools of the Trade — Alchemical Laboratory”), Preparing a material or concoction may take days or weeks, depending on what it is and what it does. For systems" sake, assume that it takes one or two days to prepare materials of Path Levels One and Two, and one week per Path level for higher-level concoctions.

 Roll: Alchemy (Occult Science) + Intelligence Costs one Willpower per operation

 Effects

* Minor substances can be created, such as simple poisons, tranquilizers, anesthetics or even stimulants — nothing that's obviously “magical” or “supernatural,” but simply extra-potent versions of normal materials.  

— À liquid that, when imbibed, removes minor Health Level penalties (through Injured) until the individual is wounded again or heals. 

— À powder that, when combined with an alcoholic beverage, allows a person to recover instantly from a drunken stupor. 

— À mirror that cannot be chipped or smashed.

 ** More powerful versions of Level One materials. At this stage, you might also open the doors to a person's mystic insight, granting dreams or visions to whoever consumes your concoction.

 — A liquid that allows the drinker to go for an entire week with only one hour's sleep per nighr.

— À powder that grants a vision to whoever eats it; this vision is always clothed in symbolic language, and may either portend future events or show previously unknown aspects of a current situation.

— À blade with an ultra-keen edge, one that never needs to be resharpened.

 *** At this level, you can create items that have some obviously supernatural effects, or enhance existing materials to unearthly levels.

— À potion that imbues the drinker with some low-level, psychic power (perhaps one of the Psychic

Numina described in Ascension's Right Hand or The Hunter's Hunted) for one scene (or one

hour).

 — À dust that reveals hidden, disguised or invisible things for what they truly are.

 — A small weapon (a knife, a handful of bullets) may be altered so that it inflicts aggravated damage.

 **** Stronger versions of the previous creations may be made, and concoctions that enhance a person's

Attributes (by one or two dots only) may be brewed, 

— A drought of this potion raises the drinker's Physical Attributes by one each for an hour or so.

— A salve that, when applied to the eyes, grants the user the ability to see through the Shroud for one night (see Wraith: The Oblivion).

— À bullet that bursts into flames when fired. This projectile inílicts an extra two dice worth of fire damage and ignites flammable items whenever it lands. 

***** You may, given time, brew substances thar simulate the supernatural abilities of other denizens of the hidden world 

— vampire Disciplines, werewolf Gifts, etc. 

— from the first through the third level, or create concoctions that duplicate those creatures' innate powers (regeneration, steppingsideways, even frenzy). True Magick Spheres may not be simulated, although individual rotes may be copied at the Storyteller's discretion. Wraithly Arcanoi cannot be synthesized (how could you study the powers ofa ghost), nor may the cantrips of the fae (which depend upon their link to the Dreaming). Obviously, these elixirs require samples from the creature in question 

— ground vampire fang, werewolf dung, etc.

 — and often carry nasty side effects like blood-thirst and a hair-trigger temper. These droughts duplicate only one specific effect (Sweet Whispers, Blur of the Milky Eye, etc.), notan entire Discipline or tribal inheritance, and last for one day or less.

— À regenerative powder that, when consumed, allows the user to heal damage slowly (one level every other tum) for the duration of a story. As a side effect, the drinker sweats heavily and smells like a caged beast. 

— An elixir (requiring at least five Blood Points of vampire vitae) that simulates three dots in Potence for three hours. Sadly, this magical fluid also creates atavening hunger; for a day and a night, the drinker eats whatever food might be nearby.

— An amulet that protects the wearer from physical vampire attacks. The Kindred might employ Dominate, Auspex or some other “long range” Discipline against the protected one, but may not touch her so long as she wears the amulet. As a side effect, the  wearer feels cold whenever she's wearing the amulet. 

****** Formulae “above” Level Five exist: these are the pinnacle of the alchemical tradition, the most mysterious and sought-after formulae, including the Philosopher's Stone, immortality elixirs or transmutation potions. Disasters: Naturally, home-grown chemical compounds

— especially formulae created for the first time 

— can have all kinds of nasty side effects. A failed roll simply creates a worthless (and often foul) substance; a botched roll might very well indicate a poisonous mixture, a flawed item ora laboratory explosion.

 

CONJURATION

 

With this Path, you can move pre-prepared objects from one place to another. Rabbits can be pulled out of hats, coins moved around and swords summoned to one's hand. Mages who've studied the art declare that such feats are limited applicarions of Correspondence principles, but claim that the magicians lack the understanding or might to truly access the Sphere itself.

 Any object to be moved must be prepared in advance by some method of the caster's belief. If the conjurer is a Voudun mambo, she must make sacrifices to the loa, sprinkle the objects with blood, ash, bone dust or blessed earth, and consecrate them. Ifhe's a stage magician, he could hypnotize his assistant before sawing her in half A Satanist may dedicate his machete to Lucifer while a Wiccan witch might inscribe rhe item, call the comers and invoke the goddess and god (see “Magic Styles”). The magician's expertise determines the spell's maximum range. Failure means the Conjuration did not work, while a botch makes it go spectacularly wrong.

 Conjuration is difficult to use offensively. The item moved cannot be chosen at whim. It may be an animal (rabbit, cat, mouse, or even human), but may not be whisked in and out without prior ritual preparation. Unconscious beings may, with proper preparation (like hypnosis), be moved against their will by a powerful conjurer, but this Parh cannot be used against an enemy in combat,  

You can nudge or summon one additional object for every level above that required to move it in the first place. A magician doing the magic coin trick could move one coin at level one, two at level two, three at three and so on. Multiple living beings cannot be Conjured across space at the basic level; only the greatest of conjurers can move more than a single creature with this art.

 A series of related Rituals (see “Rituals”) allows a skilled magician to manipulate an object without moving it, make a coin spin in midair or a rope grow taut and hang ftom nothing. Once the subject is readied, it can be called or moved with a simple command (O Blade of my Father, 1 summon thee!). The item itself does not become magical in any way, and once the magic is used, it must be reset.

 With a bit of style and a good Dexterity + Subrerfuge roll, a conjurer can fool even the most sophisticated audiences into thinking that his magic is merely a good trick, or  can hide the conjured item until it's needed. This is difficult, though not impossible, with larger (or living) subjects. Just ask David Copperfield!

 Roll: Dexterity + Occult No Willpower cost 

Effects

*  Wow! You can nudge a tiny nonfunctional object (a coin, knife, business card) without touching it. The magic carries no real force behind it. Anyone who wants to stop the item from moving can simply pick ir up. Range is roughly 10 feet or less.

** At this level of expertise, you may move a small simple item (a book, jar, rope) or Conjure it across intervening space from up to 15 feet away. Anyone wishing to stop an object moved with this level of magic should make a Strength roll (difficulty 5).

*** A large or complex inanimate object (a sword, telephone, boom box, bottle of wine) or a simple life form (snail, ant, roach) can be moved, levitated ar snatched from thin air. This object can be no larger than a chair, and you must be within 25 feet ofit. An item moved at this level can support about 200 pounds; anyone attempting to stop it must roll her Strength against difficulty 7.

**** Where'd that rabbit come from? At this level, you can move, levitate or summon a living mammal, reptile or bird — any complex life form of less than half-human mass. Inanimate objects as large as steamer trunks can also be moved or levitated at this level. Maximum range is 50 feet or less.

 ***** Presto! Now you can move or manipulate a human or human-sized animal from up to 60 feet away. This subject must be either willing or unconscious. It's bestto work with a longtime partner when performing this trick, as the experience is disorienting and distressing. Botching this Conjuration roll can have disastrous consequences, At best, the magic will simply fail, At worst, well... ick.

 ******The ultimate mastery of Conjuration magic allows you to shift a large (roughly car-sized) object or being, or move up to three human-sized creatures. Maximum range is 100 feet. All the usual specifics apply.

 Disasters: When such spells fail, the conjured object either fails to appear, remains motionless or drops to the ground, Botched spells summon the wrong object, place it in the wrong place (like directly over your head), or destroy it. Things get especially messy if you were trying to shift a living being at the time. Some tales tell of magicians who attempted some spectacular feat of Conjuration, only to disappear themselves when the magic failed! The fate of such Sorcerers is unknown.

 CONVEYANCE

 To travel swiftly, without hindrance or delay, has been one of humanity's greatest dreams. Until the current century, a long journey — and “long” could mean 10 miles or less — meant inconvenience, danger, expense and time. Naturally, the earliest magicians sought a way around such hassles. In this Path, which bearsa traveler from one point to another while avoiding obstacles in between, they found an answer to their needs.

 This Path is not without its own risks and limitations. First and foremost, a magical traveler needs some means of travel. The archetypal witch's broom is bur the most obvious solution; some wizards employ friendly spirits, conjurer's cabinets, fiery chariots or flying beds. The “vehicle” depends more upon the magician's preference than upon the Path, and the ceremonies that imbue an inanimate object with the power of transportation vary from practice to practice. In practical terms, however, all of these methods accomplish the same goal — moving the magician from one place to another with a minimum of fuss. 

 The other constraints come from the innate unpredictability of magic, the suspicions of one's neighhors and the wild means oftravel. A flying broomstick isn't as safe or comfortable as, say, a Lexus; a flying carpet is a fragile thing, and the disorientation that comes from long-distance teleportation leaves the traveler sick and dizzy. By the same token, the nosy old lady down the block isn't going to keep the news to herself, if, by some chance, she notices you flying out the window on a broomstick. In today's skeptical world, the Path of Subtle Transportation is unpredictable, often failing when you need it most. Generally, it's safer just to use a car. When emergencies occur, however, this Path presents an option for wizards with a taste for tradition and the nerves for some serious magic.

 In game terms, you must first define the “vehicle” of transportation. Is it an enchanted broom? A teleportation booth? A carpet? A handful of blessed dust? Each method has its own limitations and rites, and few sorcerers use more than one Conveyance style. Once you choose the method you prefer, you'll have to “prime” that vehicle before each trip. Storytellers note: This should involve a bit of time and trouble — this Path evokes some serious juju. The final roll signifies the beginning of the trip; from there, the distance, method and time of the journey should determine its ease.

 You don't have to be the one who travels; this spell may be cast upon a willing subject. Once she departs, though, you cannot direct her flight; for better or worse, she ends up where your magics send her. Like Conjuration spells, Conveyance magics cannot be used against an enemy in combat. The subject must be prepared, ritually and emotionally, to take the trip before it begins.  

Like Conjuration, this Path works along the same principles as that most esoteric of Sphere magicks, Correspondence. Of all the Paths, Conveyance is the one most prone to failure. Depending on the method and distance cf your travels, the Storyteller should check at least once to see if some disaster occurs. À brief jump across the block should pass without incident; a flying carpet ride across the state ought to be a bit riskier. The “Travel Complications” chart reflects a few common methods and the problems that come with them.

 Once the trip ends, the magic dissipates. Unless the vehicle itself is enchanted (see the Witch's Steed in the Appendix), you'll have to cast a new spell to travel again. Finding your feer after a trip might take a tum or two, especially if you've just taken a long journey. Short trips — a quarter-mile or so — oceur instantly. Longer jaunts require some travel time, typically one turn per mile. Long trips — five miles or more — should become stories unto themselves, and ought to involve some extra risks. Who's to say what you might meet on an extended flight over Central Africa?

 Like most static magics, this Path depends more upon expertise than upon personal success. An exceptional roll (three successes or more) might grant you some helpful side effect, like an immunity to complications or an especially quick trip. For the most part, however, a skillful sorcerer can travel faster and further than an inexperienced one. This Path works better in remote, uninhabited places than in populated areas. A magician who wishes to travel across an area full of people (or during full daylight) should add two to her casting roll difficulty (maximum 10); on the other hand, asorcerer traveling across uninhabited regions — like deserts or rain forests — or at night might be able to double her effective range at the Storyteller's discretion.

 Complications  

loud of Smoke Wrong Destination

 

Slipping of/Unwanted attention

 

Bad batch

 

Temperamental — some bargain required

 

Unwanted attention

 

Too strong/Not strong enough

“Oops. a»

 

Roll: Magician's Stamina + Occult Costs one Willpower

 Effects

* You may move one small (10 Ibs. or less), object roughly 10 feet.

** Several small objects or one large one (100 Tbs. or less) may be moved about 100 feer.

 *** Onechuman-sizedlivingbeing may be moved roughly a mile.

 **** Thatsamebeingmay travel upto five miles. À large object (500 Ibs. or less) may move the same distance.

 ***** You may move up to three people roughly 10 miles, or shift a 1000 lb. object the same distance.

****** Up to five people (or 2000 Ibs. worth or material) may be moved up to 15 miles.

 Disasters: A failed roll leaves the traveler(s) sitting in place; a botched roll usually makes a mess, stranding the passenger in some dangerous place, dropping her from a great height, or melding her with the nearest wall. (The Fly and Star Trek I demonstrate the gruesome effects of botched teleportation rolls.)

 CURSING

 One of the oldest forms of magic, a curse imparts some

bad wish onto an offending party. This ranges from the Evil

Eye to a group malediction. Though anybody can direct ill

will at someone else, this Path allows you to vent your spleen

with real effect. At its most basic level, such a curse quickly

fouls up its victim's life, then dissipates, At its worst, potent

Cursing can last for generations.

 

Result

 

“Where am IP

 

Dexterity + Athleties roll to keep from

falling (also see below)

 

Travel power wears off too soon

 

Ending up in some hazardous place

 

Word gets around; attack may be fort

coming

 

Wrong destination, or faltering flight

 

Wrong destination (if you're lucky...)

 

e a da

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FATHS

 

The severity of the Curse is usually bound to the dots in

your Severity rating (the dots in his Path), and the effects

usually only happen once. With a number of successes,

however, you can make nasty things happen to more than

one person in a given group. A magician cannot Curse

someone more severely than his skill allows (i.e., above the

dotshe has) if working alone. Ifhe works with a group versed

in the same Path, however, his anger carries more clout.

 

The basic system for Cursing is simple: First, decide how much punishment you want to inflict (within your ability, of course), spend one tum per levelofSeverity magically collecting and focusing your (character's!) hate, then discharge it in some cathartic fashion (a scream, a dance, a venomous e-mail message, etc.). From there, you roll Manipulation + Intimidation to work the Effect and spend a point of Willpower. Your successes get divided between Relation and Severity (players choice), allowing you to customize a Curse: That Curse's Effect strikes soon afterward. At some point and in some way, it is determined by the Storyteller, not the magician; you can choose who you want to hurt, but not how it happens.

 If, for example, Jaymi Darkangel (with three dots in Curse) rolls four successes when Cursingher landlord, she could choose toinflictaserious injury on him, orcause embarrassment to both the landlord and his wife. Two days later, the landlord trips and falls, breaking his leg (Severity 3). If Jaymi had decided to humiliate the family instead, the fall might have ended in a pile of dog feces; the wife, meanwhile, burns thebrownies forher first PTA meeting (Severity 2). Simple, bur effective!

 Unlike most forms of Hedge Magie, Cursing can focus the will of a group into a force more potent than anything a single magician could muster. By acting in concert (see “Teamwork”), an angry pack of Curse-skilled hedge witches can bring down death and worse upon their enemies. In such cases, each additional member grants a new dot to the pool, adding to either Severity, Relation or both. Jaymi, therefore, could use up to four levels of Severity if she teamed up with Cheryl of the Five Rose Sect to curse the landlord, and her difficulty drops by one. In the case of group Curses, set the initial difficulty at 8 for simplicity.

 Curses do not force events to happen or rearrange the laws of nature (that's True Magick's providence). They do, however, subtly nudge things or people already in motion toward the caster's intent. A hedge wizard's Curse may take days or even months to occur, but it will happen. Someone successfully Cursed may not immediately walk through a plate glass window, but she may find herself under a falling windowpane the next time she passes a construction site. In magickal terms, such events are always coincidental and will only strike when a strong possibility exists for them to.

 An especially skilled magician may invoke the Death Curse. By spendingallher permanent Willpower, that wizard's player can add that Willpower to her Curse dots, and divide the total as she sees fit between Severity and Relation. The character then turns into a mindless husk and dies soon after, burned out by inner hatred. A witch with minimal skill in Cursing might only get four or five dots to spend, but a powerful one could wither a whole family!

 Supernatural creatures may be Cursed, but can resist the Effect with a successful Willpower roll. This rolP's difficulty will usually be 7 or 8, but might go as high as 9 if the magician is especially powerful or successful.

 Naturally, the being in question has to be aware of the Curse in order to resist it. Short problems will probably just happen and be done with, but a prolonged Curse can be discovered with a little work (consulting the spirits, checking auras with Prime magick or Auspex, reading probability with Entropy, etc.). A mage's or magician's Arcane Background can take successes away from a wizard attempting to Curse her on a one-for-one basis.

As any wise practitioner knows, rearranging the paths of fortune can backfire. Botching a Curse brings the effect back at the caster in ways that should delight the most sadistic of Storytellers. Even if the roll is successful, there's always some kind offallout from a Curse, especially ifit's a severe one. The nature of this payback lies more with storytelling than with systems, but should be in line with the general power of the Curse and the ill willofthe magician. Backripples range from dropping an expensive item (and having to pay for it) to foreclosure, physical aliments or sudden disappearing actson the parts of one's friends.

 No Curse needs to be used at full potency. You can choose to revoke the Curse at any time prior to its effect. A magician skilled in this Path can also try to undo another's Curse with a Wits + Subterfuge roll (difficulty 9) and a Willpower point.

 Roll: Manipulation + Intimidation

 Costs one Willpower

 Severity Effect (Path rating)

 A brief inconvenience (dropping an object, saying something stupid, closing a door on your fingers,

etc.)

 A slip-up that results in a lasting injury or embarrassment (stepping on glass barefooted, throwing up on the Japanese Prime Minister, breaking an heirloom, etc.)

 

A serious injury or illness, not incapacitating, but painful and inconvenient (broken limb, hernia, gunshot wound, etc.)

A lasting illness, not fatal, but debilitating (infection, stroke, heart attack, Alzheimer's disease, etc.) Death, usually by some ghastly means (decapitation, impaling, mangling, torture, disease, etc.)

 Relation

 One person only

One close relation or friend

Two similar relations (male heirs, lovers, parents)

 All close living relations or friends

 All relations and friends!

5 + Relatives or friends for generations to come

Disasters: As described above, a Curse can boomerang on its caster. A failed roll discharges the malediction into the surrounding area, peppering it with bad fortune (Storyteller's option as to what happens after that). A botched Curse roll infects the sorcerer with her own hatred, dropping the spelP's effects into her lap.

 

DIVINATION

 

“What's in my future?” For as long as human beings have

understood the concept of “future,” they've wanted to know

what lies around the next bend in the road. Foresight is impor-

tant, especially to rulers, merchants, warriors and magicians;

hence, this Path — often attributed to the gods themselves —

became a well-traveled road on the sorcerer's journey.

 

Throughout time, fortune-tellers have employed any

number of divinatory styles:

 

* Cartomancy — fortune-telling through card-reading.

Each card has a different divinatory meaning, and drawing

cards in certain orders offers insight into hidden or unknown

aspects of the past, present, or future. Cartomancy tools

include: Tarot decks, regular playing cards, or custom de-

signed selections.

 

e Casting — Tossing sticks, bones, stones, coins, shells,

or any other such objects on the ground, and finding mean-

ing in the positions in which particular objects fall (similar

to cartomancy, which could simply be considered a subdivi-

sion of casting). Different cultures use different objects:

Chinese sorcerers might use joss sticks for 1-Ching divina-

tion, vitki employ rune stones or staves for futhark, Yoruba

sorcerers would use shells for Ifa divination, etc.

 

e Dream Interpretation — Digging past the obvious

“Boy, that was a weird dream,” the diviner interprets the

symbols of the mind. Since all cultures possess archetypal

symbols (which may or may not come ftom the gods, depend-

ing on who you ask), a skilled sorcerer can make a good guess

about the meanings of a dream.

 

* Serying — Gazing into a shiny or reflective surface —

acrystal ball, a poolor lake, a bowl of water, a mirror, etc. —

in order to catch visions of the future. The surface, of course,

is less important than the sorcerer's own intuitive connec-

tion to the Otherworld; the reflection simply opens the

channel to farsighr.

 

Other divination methods include palmistry, tea leaves,

hibliomancy (opening a book up to a random page), entrail-

reading, and so on. In game terms, the method you choose

isn'treally important; in story terms, it may be vital. Fortune-

tellers specialize in one form of divination — you won't find

a Kabbalist casting joss-sticks with runic markings on them.

 

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PATH

 

A A AAA AMA AA

 

A O oii

 

That style can become the jumping-off point for any number

of stories; imagine the difficulties an entrail-reader will

encounter if she plies her trade in the United States, or the

perils of Tarot reading in Iraq....

 

Divination can only be performed after meditation and

prayer; depending upon how far ahead (or behind) you're

trying to see, that meditation time can vary from a half-hour

toan entire day. Since divination often means shaking hands

with the gods, most fortune-tellers cleanse themselves physi-

cally and spiritually before beginning the rite.

 

For you the player, Divination offers a tricky kind of

insight into coming events. It's far from accurate and never

literal; even so, a successful Divination roll can grant you a

glimpse at the forces behind your chronicle. What you do

with thar knowledge depends on you.

 

In game terms, you describe what you're looking for, the

method you're using and the results you expect to receive. A

simple Perception + Fortune-Telling roll determines the

answer'saccuracy, and the question determines the difficulty

(see chart). The more successful the roll, the more precise the

information.

 

Your Storyteller makes the roll (What? You expected to

know how accurate your divinations are?) and decides what

to tell you. Since divinations are symbolic, not literal, the

insights will appear as signs, not direct answers. Unless the

Storyteller wants to give you a healthy clue, she'll leave the

interpretation up to you:

 

Good Example: “The sticks fly up, fall to the ground and

scatter into a pattern. Threesticks lie at odds with the fourth,

and the fourth lies crossed over the fifth.”

 

Acceptable Example: “According to thesticks, your group

will soon be betrayed from within. Someone's going to die.”

 

Bad Example: “Wintershade's going to betray you, and

Olaf is going to die.”

 

Your Path rating determines how well — and how far —

you might peer into the past or future. Since Divination puts

extra demands on a Storyteller's time, plans and patience,

she may decide to disallow this Path for player characters.

 

Roll: Perception + Fortune-Telling

 

No Willpower cost

 

Effects

 

º One week into

 

... Vision for one or two years before or behind; that

vision is fairly accurate, but has been known to be

wrong.

 

You might be able to see 10 years forward or back.

That sight tends to be pretty acute; even when

you're wrong, your information contains some

 

glimpses of truth.

 

seeee Youcanseeforalifetime or more with very accurate

results. Distant divinations (20 years in the future,

100 years in the past) raise your difficulty to 9 or 10.

sess ee Your prophecies may reach as far into the past or

future as your Storyteller choose to allow. Although

distant visions can become unreliable, there's some

element of truth in everything vou foretell.

Disasters: Prophecies are notoriously misleading. A

failed roll might indicate a false omen, or no omen at all. À

botched roll represents a vision inaccurate enough to be

dangerous (telling someone, “That pass is perfectly safe”

when in actuality a nasty ambush awaits).

 

ENCHANTMENT

 

The magical art of creating minor talismans (as opposed

to the more powerful True Magick Talismans), Enchant-

ment imbues an item with the spellcaster's essence. Crafting

magic from ingredients both eldritch and mundane, the

enchanter spends much of his time closeted in a laboratory

peering through foul smoke, containing minor explosions,

and tracking down bizarre magical ingredients.

 

Minor talismans differ from their magickal counterparts in

many ways. Each has a single power that usually operates a few

times under set circumstances. Even the strongest such talis-

mans pale in comparison to those crafted with True Magick.

Their-Effects aren't flashy, but they do get results... usually.

Although they carry a trace residue of magic (detectable with

Prime magick), they show up less readily than Talismans with a

capital “T.” Most reflect their homemade origins. Crafting a

talisman, evenaminorone, callsfor a certain degree ofmundane

craftsmanship, whichsomeenchanters have and some... well...

 

Talisman creation should flow more from story concerns

and good roleplaying than from die rolls. In game terms, you

begin the process with a ritual invocation, purifying your

workplace, meditating,

praying for guidance

 

the pastor future $ã

with notable in-

accuracy. :

Question

.. One month into

 

the pastor future

 

with some degree

 

of accuracy.

 

DORES

 

“Simple query/Recent events: 7

Complex query/a year or more past of future 8

Deeply hidden or distant information 9

- Protected or very-distant information - 10

 

and consecrating your

tools. After the prepa-

rationsare finished, you

set to work on the ob-

ject itself. Once the

talisman's form is

crafted (which may re-

quire a few Dexterity +

 

Difficulty

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS: SORCERER

 

Ability rolls), the item should be prepared in some special

way according to the belief or style of the magician — carved

with runes, inset with crystals, dipped in blood, blessed by the

son of a priest, etc. Useful Abilities for these tasks include

Crafts, Artistic Expression, Gunsmithing, Hunting, Traps,

Alchemy, Herbalism, Poisons, Stone Lore and Hearth Wis-

dom, depending on the purpose and manufacture of the

talisman.

 

After this, pick one purpose for the item. This is the

power it will have. A successful enchantment usually de-

mands a day or two of preparation per talisman level. A

simple Level One item would require only two to four days of

work, while a Fifth Level one would demand at least five. At

the end of this time, make an Intelligence + Occult roll

(difficulty is the talisman's level +4). A point of Willpower,

spent during final creation, infuses your magician's might

into the talisman.

 

No enchanter can create a talisman more powerful than

his Parh level. If He's got four dots in Enchantment, he can

only craft talismans of four dots or less in power. Once

created, a minor talisman will work within some specified

framework, i.e., when the moon is waning, when a blind man

coughs, when the blade is drawn in anger, etc. These condi-

tions should be colorful and very specific, tied to the purpose

of the enchanter, not to general utility. Such particulars

should be described during the creation process and must be

adhered to. Each minor talisman only works a certain num-

ber of times (usually based on the number of successes rolled)

and winds up useless, if decorative, thereafter.

 

Minor talismans vary tremendously, from the rowan

necklace that protects against faerie magic to bones that

allow one to (hopefully!) speak to one's ancestors. Such

talismans can be used by anyone. Some potential talismans

appear below and in the Appendix, but a clever enchanter

can create her own items with a little ingenuity and a lot of

work. First, decide which single Effect the talisman contains.

From there, describe the research and development process.

A simple “I create a Level Five talisman that makes me

invisible” will not suffice! Both player and Storyteller should

check the prospective talisman to make sure that it fits the

general guidelines offered below. After a period of story-

defined time (anywhere from a few days to a year or more),

make an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 9). Success

means your enchanter has discovered the secret of enchant-

ment and can proceed as described above.

 

Roll: Intelligence + Occult  Costs one Willpower

 

Effects and Sample Talismans

 

A small object with tight restrictions and a limited

power, perhaps a brief addition to an Attribute or

Ability, that's never obvious as magic.

 

— A silver toe ring that protects its wearer from

incoming projectiles so long as she goes barefooted

(two dots of Dodge vs. missiles).

 

— A coloted candle that grants the user some one-

time favor after it's been burned (two points of

Resources, Arcane, Allies or Influence, depending

on the color of the candle). The Background works

once to provide a favor, then fades. Each success

creates one candle.

 

— A handful of grave dust that enables the user to

sleep soundly. He awakens immediately if someone

approaches him with hostile intent.

 

— An oak picture frame that preserves any painting

or document placed in it for as long as the frame

remains intact. Both frame and contents must be

sealed with almond oil and sprinkled with pure

water.

 

A more potent version of a Level One talisman

(with an additional die or two of effect), or one that

alters reality more noticeably.

 

— A handful of bullets (one per success) that do

two additional dice of damage when fired from a

specially prepared gun.

 

— An iron nail that enables the user to cause

someone to painfully stub his toe. The nail must be

driven by an enemy into a footprint left by the

target.

 

— A golden charm that alerts the wearer when the

talisman maker (or some other single party) is in

danger. The charm must be sprinkled with wine

each time it is used and works once for each crafting

success.

 

— A towan ring that negates any fae cantrip used to

bewitch the wearer. This works for one incident per

crafting success, granting the wearer an effective

Banality of 10 until the enchantment fades away.

 

The item performs some obviously unusual func-

tion. Witnesses who know anything about magic

will sense it in the air. Clueless folks will be con-

fused; how did he do that?

 

— A salve that heals three non-aggravated Health

Levels worth of open wounds in a matter of min-

utes. This must be applied by moonlight by someone

who loves the wounded person. Each success cre-

ates one application of balm.

 

— An obsidian bull torque that strengthens the

wearer once after it is bloodied (three points of

Strength that last for one scene per success after

blood is wiped across it).

 

— A handkerchief that wipes away any normal

thing ir is used to clean (blood, ink, spilled food,

fingerprints). The user must hum softly while mop-

ping up. This works once for every success rolled

during creation.

 

CHAPTER POUR: THE PATAS

 

With a talisman of this caliber, the user can defy a

fair amount of conventional reality, albeit with

some restrictions. If these limits are ignored, the

magic is ineffective.

 

— Bones that allow the user to contact the person

they came from. Note that this isn't always success-

ful! If it is, however, the user can ask one question

per creation success. Whether or not the ghost

answers accurately is the spirit's (and Storyteller's)

prerogative, but it will answer if it can. These bones

work only three times, then crumble to dust.

 

— À book that translates anything written in it into

the reader's native language. This book must be

sprinkled with paper ash before the magic works. The

translation effect works once per creation success,

then reverts to the original language set down.

 

— A knife that stabs directly for the heart when

used. This inflicts Strength + five dice of damage,

and can be rhrown. The blade must first be drawn in

hot anger and washed afterward in fresh blood.

Works once per success.

 

Items this potent are rare and unpredictable. In

places where the people refuse to believe in magic,

such items might fail completely. Nevertheless,

they work some wonder that obviously defies the

seeming order of things.

 

— A black cloak that softens the user's footsteps,

even ifhe walks across a squeaky floor. While using

this magic's, the wearer is effectively silent unless

he speaks aloud. Silver threads must be sewn into

this garment; they break and fall away after the

magic expires.

 

— An exquisite piano that plays beautifully for any-

one who strokes its keys, even if she knows nothing

about music. À prayer to the nine Muses (by name!)

must be recited before the piano will play.

 

— A brass amulet that protects the bearer from

detection and observation by magickal means. This

amulet of the mists obscures its bearer from the flow

of magickal energies (adds four to the difficulty of

any roll made to locate the wearer magickally). The

user must first answer an enigma before the amulet

will protect him. This veil lasts a number of weeks

equal to the creator's successes.

 

Disasters: Botching a creation roll can be a bad thing.

Many an enchanter has disappeared in a sudden conflagra-

tion caused by something as prosaic as an untimely sneeze or

a misread passage in his alchemical notes. Obviously, talis-

man creation is not a quick and easy art! Failed rolls render

the item useless; botched castings can turn a beneficial

talisman into a cursed one, blow the laboratory to bits, drain

the caster's life into the item (one Health Level in damage

per “1” rolled), or make other horrible things happen.

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS: SORCERER

 

EPHEMERA

 

Since the days when flesh and spirit separated, mystics and

spirits have longed to reach the other side. Talented people —

mediums — can learn the Art of the Living Bridge — the Path

that turns a sorcerer into a doorway between worlds.

 

This Path allows you to reach across the Gauntlet or

Shroud and contact spirits or ghosts. Since most people, even

mediums, assume that all spirits are more or less the same (they

aren't), this can be a risky proposition. Fortunately, this body of

oceult lore includes a number of safeguards so that when the

worst does happen, you have something to fall back on.

 

Ephemera's learning curve is steep; the early steps of this

Path are dangerous but unavoidable. Amateur mediums get

themselves in trouble by confusing Banes with ghosts, or name-

less Spectres for ghostly loved ones. Less of an art than a shot in

the dark, Ephemera shows you the way, but does not teach you

how to walk it. That knowledge comes only with experience.

 

If your talents lie in this direction, the Ephemera Path

allows you to put them to good use. As a medium, you open

yourself up to the spirits — becoming, in effect, their conduit

into the material world. In story terms, you abandon most of

your self-control and allow the entity to take over. In Wraith

terms, you become a temporary Consort for a ghost with the

Puppetry Arcanos; as long as you both stay in touch with

each other, the ghost uses your body for its own purposes. In

Werewolf terms, you make yourself available to a nature

spirit with the Possession Charm (see Werewolf's Chapter

Seven, Mage's Chapter Nine, or The Book of Madness'

Appendix), lowering your effective Willpower by two points

so that the spirit can have an easier time getting into your

skin. Spirits have minds of their own, though, and many of

them (especially angry ghosts) take advantage of the “ar-

rangement.”

 

Thankfully, this Path includes a few defensive Rituals in case

the spirits ger nasty. Wise mediums are versed in the practices of

Warding and Forbiddence (Wraith, pages 287-289). Each of

these counts as a Level One Ritual and has the following system

effects:

 

* Warding protects an area from ghostly intrusion. By

using some precautionary charm (an intricate chant, a prayer,

painted sigils, iron nails, sprinkled salt, smudging with in-

cense), spending a point of Willpower, and rolling same vs.

difficulty 7, you can block wraiths from entering an area for

a certain period of time:

 

Duration

 

One hour

One day

 

One week

One month

Three months

 

Ward A uisnaddo

One

 

Two

 

Three

- Four

 

Five.

 

e Forbiddance immediately drives a wraith

from the area. By rolling successfully (Willpower vs.

difficulty 7), you can push a ghost out of your sight.

 

A willful wraith can oppose this Ritual by spending

one of its own Willpower per success, but until

you've left the area, he has to stay away himself.

 

Nature spirits are more direct, if more prob-

lematic, to deal with. With the Banishment and

Seal Rituals (Level Two), you can try to Forbid,

 

Ward or, with Dolor (Level Three), actually harm

 

a natural spirit. This last tactic uses your Willpower

 

rating as a weapon. Each successful Wits + Enigmas

 

roll takes a figurative chunk out of the spirit, subtract-

 

ing one point ofyour adversary's Power for each success

 

you win. A strong spirit probably won't be impressed, but

 

a weaker one may be wounded or even destroyed if your

luck and Willpower hold out. Despite these Rituals, throw-

ing your weight around is not a safe proposition, as the spirits

often fight back. Mediums tend to have high Willpower

scores!

 

Persuasion is often more effective than force. To.estab-

lish contact, roll your Charisma + Enigmas while calling out

to the spirits in the area. A number of helpers (see “Team-

work") can lower the initial difficulty, too. If you're trying to

reach a ghost, it helps to have a Fetter or Haunt nearby —

you're more likely to reach your quarry if you have something

precious to her nearby.

 

Locating the ghost or spirit usually requires an extended

roll (see below). Once you've found the spirit you're looking

for (or at least think you've found her!), you state your case

and try to win her over. There isn't anything special about

the systems for this point of the game — simply roleplay out

the talk. Such meetings ought to be a hell of a lot weirder

than your average conversation, though! Spirits, even ones

that began as people, have unsettling perspectives.

 

Many dead souls are beyond contact — they've passed

on to places the greatest medium cannot reach. Those who

can be called back may be summoned with an extended roll

of as many successes as the Storyteller sees fit. Contacting

your brother in the city where he died lastyear would demand

less work than finding a Colombian bishop killed in the

1970s. The Storyteller should decide whether or not the

ghost has passed beyond mortal reach, though the truth

should remain a secret from the players. An ill-intentioned

spirit might masquerade as the ghost the medium wanted to

meet, and this could cause all kinds of fun.

 

Unlike other Paths, the difficulty of reaching

across the barrier goes down with each level,

while your ability increases. A medium

with one dot in Ephemera works

against difficulty 9 and cannot

actually communicate with any-

thing other than human ghosts

 

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PATHS

 

(and then only if they wish to be spoken to). This goes down

by one step per dot, to a final difficulty of 5, but cannot go

lower than 3. As a medium's skill grows, she can speak with

natural spirits, see into the Penumbra (but not pass through)

and seek out specific entities.

 

Several Traits are especially appropriate to medium

characters. Enigmas and Spirit Lore are essentially required

(although the latter cannot be bought during creation — it

must be learned the hard way). Occult, Subterfuge, Aware-

ness, Cosmology and Intimidation are very helpful. The

Merit/Flaw Spirit Magnet is common, as are the Haunted,

Guardian Angel and Spirit Mentor permutations. Charac-

ters with the Shapeshifter Kinfolk or Medium Merits reduce

all Ephemera difficulties by one. Spirits, itshould be known,

make good allies — and terrible enemies! Behave.

 

Roll: Charisma + Enigmas | No Willpower cost

Effects

 

You can feel the spirits moving and even get their

 

attention with a successful roll. Whar they do is up

 

to them. This is a dangerous but necessary phase in

 

a medium's Path.

 

You can distinguish between spirits, and may call

 

up specific ones if you know how. If things get out

 

of hand, you can try to dismiss what you have

called.

 

... When you speak, something always comes. With

luck, you can address it, befriend it or dismiss it. If

you want to personally address a particular spirit,

you can try at this level.

 

eee Youcan pierce the veil between worlds and actually

 

see and hear those ephemera around you. Most

 

spirits respect you for your insight and ability. Some

show up even when you don't call...

 

eesee The spíirits of nature and the dead know your name

and often come when you call. You can hurt those

who displease you and dismiss those who offend

You.

 

sessve You may cross the line in the other direction,

entering the spirit world in an astral form. Leaving

your body behind, your spirit travels into the Pen-

umbra or Shadowlands; Physical Traits become

Mental and Social ones — Wits replaces Dexrerity,

Manipulation serves as Strength and Intelligence

serves as Stamina. Connected to your mortal form

byasilver cord (which may be snapped by a spiritor

wraith, stranding you in the spirit world), you

traverse the Penumbra. Your Willpower rating be-

comes your Health Level rating; when you're

dropped to O Willpower, the precious silver cord

snaps....

 

Rituals

 

(Each type costs three points; until you reach the proper

level, however, you may not buy a given Ritual. Example:

Randi Marsellia, a medium with Ephemera 2, cannot acquire

a Level Three Ritual until she reaches Ephemera 3.)

 

Level One: Call Ghost, Ward, Forbiddence

 

Level Two: See Ghost, Call Naturae, See Naturae,

Seal, Banishment

 

Level Three: Gossip (allows the medium to “spread

the word” around her chosen contacts), Dolor

 

Level Four: Grasp (medium becomes a Fetter for a

chosen wraith for seven days), Command (medium can order

aminor nature spirit to do one task and expect to be obeyed),

Deny the Veil (allows medium to see into the Penumbra;

actually two separate Rituals, as one grants a view of the

Shadowlands and the other a look into the nature spirit

world)

 

Level Five: Distant Call (Medium can attempt to

speak briefly to one who has passed on to some afterlife or

punishment. This works within Storyteller's discretion)

 

Disasters: Dealing with the spirits (ghosts or otherwise)

is always perilous. Letting them possess you is a major leap of

faith, and a mistake can be eternal. Failed rolls still have bad

consequences — the wrong spirits can and occasionally do

answer fumbled calls. A botched seance might open the door

for evil spirits — Spectres, Banes, even minor demons.

Remember The Exorcist...!

 

FASCINATION

 

“Bewitching” reassumes its old meaning when this art

comes into play. Many people once feared that a witch could

steal their souls; to a degree, they were right. By working the

charmsand bindings of the Fascination Path, you can shackle

the will of another and bring him to your side.

 

Spells from this Path take several forms. The most

obvious domination flows directly from the sorcerer to her

target; a more devious route travels through an amulet,

charm or potion that the witch gives to a third party, either

tocarry or to use. The most insidious weaving carries through

the air, unseen and undetected. One moment the target is

himself, the next, he belongs to the enchantress, or to her

client.

 

“Client” is the best term for a person who hires a

Fascination sorcerer. Many sorcerers make good livings by

weaving entrapment spells for third parties — would-be

lovers, business rivals, political conspirators and so forth.

While folklore exaggerates the power of willbinding, there's

no doubting its effectiveness. That control doesn't usually

lastforever, but it often gets the job done, at least for a while.

 

Bewitchment takes a multitude of forms; some enchanters

enhance their physical beauty or instill themselves (or their

clients) with confidence or guile, while others channel a mystic

snare into some object or concoction. The doll impregnated

with personal effects; the spell woven from words, hair and

helpful spirits; the love philter; sweet glance or pillow book —

all are classic examples of Fascination at work. Either form

requires a ritual beforehand to set the spell in motion. À

“glamour” spell is easy: The enchantress simply performs some

personal rite upon herself, calling upon whatever powers she

employs to make her more impressive. In the case ofa client, she

wotks the magic on her patron instead. The client collects the

benefits, the sorcerer collects her fee, and the magic works in a

general way; everyone the subject meets falls under her spell.

 

An enchantment against a specific person is a bit more

difficult: Raising a connection between the caster and her

subject, the binder employs bits of the victim's hair, naiíls,

skin or bodily fluids, conjures whatever mystic energies she

prefers, and performs some “knotting” rite. This could in-

volve braiding the hair into acircle, makinga doll with blood

and clay, mixing semen into a potion, etc. — that chains the

subject to the caster, her client or an object. If there's a third

party involved, the sorcerer must include some bit ofhim (or

it) in the spell. If the caster succeeds, she snares her prey.

 

Once ser in motion, Fascination creates a bond of influ-

ence. As the enchanter, you'll gamer a certain amount of

influence, eitherfor yourselfor for your client. Dependingon the

nature of the spell, that attention may come from several people

or from a single, Lovetom sap. The more specific the spell, the

more powerful its effects; a roomful of people may notice a

literally fascinating person, buta guy who has been linkedto that

same person by a magical thread may find it impossible to ignore

her. Both kinds of influence have their downsides, of course; a

charismatic individual stands out whether she wants to or not,

and may receive unwanted attention, too. An entrapped man

might fawn on his beloved, but he'll obsess over her, too. That

could get unhealthy... very unhealthy for both parties.

 

In game terms, you roll an appropriate Social Trait +

your Occult Knowledge whenever you cast a Fascination

spell. That Trait depends on the method you've chosen to

employ, and the roll is the same whether you cast the spellon

yourself or on your client. Generally, such spells play on that

client's best features; if she's attractive, the Fascination may

enhance that beauty (Appearance); if she gets her way

through cunning, a Manipulation-based spell might work

better; if force of personality is her strong point, a wise

sorcerer will play to that strength (Charisma). Each en-

chantment is woven especially for the circumstances,

however; if the extraordinarily attractive Lilavati Chandra

prefers to emphasize her wiles over her looks, her player

simply rolls Manipulation rather than Appearance.

 

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PATHS

 

- E

 

General enchantments don't actually alter your physi-

cal features or make you more sociable; instead, they “blend

the edges,” setting you in your best light. People see you

differently — you don't change, their perceptions of you do.

Specific Fascinations work differently, snaking into your

subject's heart and wrapping ir up in a package. Since both

types seek different results, each form of Fascination works

differently. To be proficient in one type, buy the Path

normally and specify your specialty; To be an accomplished

enchanter, pay an additional three points and purchase both

forms. The two types cannot be combined.

 

* General Enchantment: With this form, you attract

attention from a large group of people. None of them will be

especially bound to you, but they'll become very attentive to

your desires. Infatuation, loyalty, respect, lust, even fear —

folks feel what you want them to feel until the spell wears off.

 

A general Fascination's effects depend on the sorcerer's

skill. Setting things in motion requires a (Social Trait) +

Occultroll. Ifyou're playing Fairy Godmother to some other

character's Cinderella, roll her (Social Trait) + your Occult

rating. The difficulty is normal (Path Level + 4), although a

good Social roll or really appropriate circumstances might

lower that number by one to three places. The better the roll,

the longer the magic — and the Dice Pool bonus — lingers

(one hour per success rolled). Note that a large Dice Pool is

a double-edged blade; a really impressive person can make a

really memorable mistake.

 

Path Rank Effects

 

. You make an impression; add one die to your Social

Dice Pools.

 

se You cause a stir; add two dice.

 

... You've got them in the palm of your hand; add three

dice.

 

sese Fveryone wants to be where you are; add four dice.

 

seeee You sway the multitudes; add five dice.

secs ce Whenyouwanttobe, youcan becomea legend; add

six dice.

 

e Specific Fascination: One person is chosen to become

your slave (or your client's plaything). As itsays above, you'll

need some of the victim's personal effects in order to work

this enchantment. When the spell is cast, roll your (Social

Trait + Occult) against your target's Willpower, or roll the

client's Social Trait + your Occult if you're setting things up

on another's behalf. The successes you win determine the

effecriveness of your enchantment (one roll only):

 

Effects

 

A turn of the head; subject's attracted to you.

 

Successes

 

One

 

Two Immediare atrention; subject makes a point to be

around you.

 

Three Infatuation; subject goes out of his way for you.

 

Four Lasting love; subject will sacrifice a lot to please

 

you.

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS: SORCERER

 

Obsession; subject does anything to be near you.

Virtual ownership; subject will do whatever you

ask.

 

To resist being Fascinated this way, the target rolls his

Willpower against your Path Level + 4. Each success reduces

your influence by one level, but under most circumstances,

he may only rollonce, when the casting takes place. If you're

abusive or demand really unreasonable things (shoot a cop,

give me your gold card, etc.), your paramour immediately gets

another roll. If he succeeds, the Fascination breaks com-

plerely right then and there. Naturally, “abusive” and

“unreasonable” are pretty subjective; a man with low self-

esteem might take an awful lot from his “beloved” before

cracking, and a smitten gangster might be perfectly willing to

shoot a cop if you ask him nicely. The breaking point will

depend a lot on the characters and their relationship up until

then. Unless this Fascination is dispelled, it lasts until some

event breaks ir.

 

Certain people are immune to this Path's effects. Char-

acters with similar mind-influencing powers (Domination,

Presence, Dementation, Psychic Phenomena, the Mind

Sphere, etc.) can wave Fascination away without effort,

while innately mystical creatures (shapechangers, faeries,

etc.) can counter the spell with Rage, Glamour or Quintes-

sence if they care to (each point reduces the enchantment by

one level). A Blood Bound character will never turn against

her previous master, though she might be Fascinated by

someone else for a short while. Spirits, ghosts and inhuman

creatures are totally unimpressed; they might look fondly

upon a charming mortal, but cannot be drawn in by this

magical bond.

 

Five

Six +

 

A general Fascination spell can be easily undone; you

perform some “smothering” action (a hood thrown over the

enchanted one's face, a whispered unweaving spell, a denial

of the subject's beauty, etc.) to undo your own enchantment.

Breaking a specific charm is much harder; a new spell, similar

to the first, must be woven with many of the same materials

as the first. Even then, the affected person makes a Will

power roll to resist the second rite; if he succeeds, the spell

remains in effect, even if all parties concerned want it

broken!

 

Outside parties can break an entrancement if they've

got the skills to do so. A character with this Path (or any of

the aforementioned mental powers) can detect a Fascination

spell placed on another person by making a Perception +

Occult roll (difficulty 8). From there, he might be able to

dispel it by placing a counter-command on the Fascinated

party (all normal rolls apply). Five successes or more breaks

the sorcerer's hold over the victim. To reassert control, the

enchantress might appeal to her thrall with a psychic push

through the existing bond (Manipulation + Occult, diffi-

culty 6). This effort, which can be done only if the enchant-

ress is present, acts like a soak roll against the meddler's

attempts. Whoever wins this roll wins the victim — for now.

 

Despite the sexual connotations of the Path, Fascina-

tion is more a matter of heart than hormones. The entrancee

simply wants to please — and possibly to possess — the

entrancer. Depending on the personalities involved, the

goals of the entrancer and the activities they pursue together,

the bond may or may not be sexual. Since many people

equate intense desire with sexual attraction, the spell might

raise a few unexpected issues, too; a CPO who commissions

vou to make his underlings loyal to him could discover that

many of them — including the men — suddenly have

crushes on him, too. This is the nature of magic: to set forces

in motion. Where they go once they're released is out of the

enchanter's hands.

 

Roll: (Social Trait) + Oceult No Willpower cost

 

Effects: See above.

 

Disasters: This sort of magic can go wrong in several

ways: You might end up looking really horrible and get the

opposite of what you wanted (reverse the planned effects);

vou could fry your victim's mind and end up stuck with a

besotted lapdog; other people could get jealous (homicidal,

even); or your target could simply snap and decide to keep

you safe forever — even if it meant killing you to do so.

 

HEALING

 

This Path allows you to quell pain or even heal illnesses

or small injuries. Such Healing is not a miracle cure-all. Tt

takes a long time to treat an illness or injury and longer still

for the patient to fully heal. Even the simplest magics,

though, can ease pain for as long as you've got your hands on

the ailment, and the risk of infection drops greatly when

you're working on a wound.

 

Healing magicians usually need some form of Medicine

Knowledge, though that Ability need not be Western medi-

cine (in fact, it's usually more effective when it's not).

Meditation, needles, chanting, massage, herbs and foul-

smelling brews are common ritual tools. Some healers believe

that medicine is simply a matter of contacting (or driving

our) the right spirits, while others insist that internal energy

must be guided around an obstruction. If you've chosen to

run a healer character, you ought to decide what her magical

and medicinal outlook is before the game begins.

 

Healing isn't quick or easy. This Path saps a certain

amount of energy from the healer — it's easy to burn yourself

out by healing too much too quickly. Magical healers often

have a strong sense of duty and compassion, and the traumas

ofthe World of Darkness often use up such people long before

their time.

 

This Path cannot heal aggravated wounds.

 

Effects

Roll: Manipulation + Intuition

Costs one Willpower per illness or injury

. You can soothe a headache, backache or other

minor pain. The ailment doesn't go away, but your

patient feels better for a while.

“e. Sprains, migraine headaches, flu, minor infections

— you can speed the healing process by 50% or

more with a little wotk.

A cure for the common cold! Broken bones and

nasty wounds heal twice as fast as they would

normally and without infection. You can help an

Incapacitated character to her feet and get her

moving, though you cannot heal the injuries.

Chronic diseases (asthma, arthritis, diabetes, etc.)

are not beyond your care, although healing them

will take hours or weeks. Broken hones and severe

trauma heal 50% faster than normal, and your

touch banishes all but the worst pain.

 

With effort, you can cure deadly conditions (AIDS,

cancer, meningitis, stroke), though it takes a lotout

of you and requires weeks of treatment. When these

diseases go, they're gone for good. Broken bones

and major trauma heal in oneto three weeks of care,

and infection poses no risk as long as you're on the

 

job.

 

HELLFIRE

 

As its name implies, this Path comes from sinister

places. At the very least, it taps into the most destructive

aspects of the elements or the gods. In most perspectives,

however, this art comes from the Infernal Realms, from

malicious spirits and tempter demons. The arts of Hellfire are

simple, direct and messy. The magician who understands

them receives respect, suspicion and fear.

 

Ifyou happen to be that sorcerer, this Path allows you to

summon violent elemental attacks — firestorms, lightning

bolts, sleet, earthquakes, clouds of deadly smoke or other

phenomena. Each variety requires a different Ritual; in game

terms, it costs three points to buy each different kind of

elemental attack, though you get the first for free when you

buy the Path. Each variety inflicts a certain amount of

damage but carries special effects of its own:

 

* Earthquake: The ground cracks open, swallows a target

and crushes him for the damage indicated. He'll have to dig his

way out afterward (Strength roll against difficulty 6 until he's

free). Normal damage.

 

e Fire: An explosion engulfs the target; after the blast,

the fire burns, inflicting half the usual damage, for one tum

per caster's success. Aggravated damage.

 

RM o, YVONNE NT W

 

CHAPTER FOUR: TRE PATHS

 

e E

 

* Lighting: A sudden arc of electricity fries the target.

Any conductive material (metal, water, wires, etc.) shares

the damage with whoever happens to be connected to the

target. Aggravated damage.

 

e Rust: Anyferrous-metal object on the targer suddenly

rots. This effect destroys up to five pounds of metal per

caster's success. No damage to living targets.

 

* Sleet: A blinding sheet of freezing water slashes across

the target, inflicting the damage indicated unless he's wear-

ing some kind of insulation or is otherwise immune to the

cold. Normal damage.

 

* Smoke: À thick, noxious cloud fills the area. Every-

one within 10 feet per caster's success takes one Health

Level's worth of aggravated damage unless they've got some

sort of protection or (like vampires) do not need to breathe.

This lasts until the damage level is reached (two turns at level

one, six turns at levelfive, etc.). Aggravated damage to living

targets.

 

* Tanglewoods: Any living plants or dead wood suddenhy

lashes out, throwing splinters or thoms into the target. A lucky

magician might be able ro stake a vampire this way, but it'sa really

difficult proposition (five successes, difficulty 9). If the target

happens to be standing amid thick vines or brush, the plants drag

him down and wrap him up (Strength roll, difficulty 7, to escape).

Normal damage.

 

* Drowning Tide: Requires a large body of water; a

strong current or sudden wave drags the target down, forcing

water into his lungs or battering his body (and boat, if he has

one) for the damage indicated. (See drowning rules in the

main rulebooks.) To escape, he'll have to fight his way out

(Strength roll, difficulty 8). This lasts until the target escapes

or dies. Normal damage.

 

º Dust Storm: A blinding cloud of dirt whirls through

the area, scouring everyone within 20 feet per success for one

turn per Path level. Although this dust inflicts half the usual

damage, all living (or undead) creatures in the cloud get

blinded for one turn per success. Normal damage.

 

Hitringa moving target requires a Dexterity + Melee roll

(difficulty 7); striking an area lowers the difficulty to 5 but

offers the subject a chance to escape (see “Hitringa Target”).

The difficulty might be reduced if the subject is standing

right in the middle of a briar patch, wading in the ocean,

walking through a desert, or otherwise surrounded by the

element in question.

 

Hellfire's a risky Path to pursue — casters are not

immune to their own elemental spells, and most societies

consider Hellfire to be black magic. Many Hellfire ceremo-

nies involve blood sacrifice, corrosive concoctions,

blasphemous incantations or favors to violent spirits, in

addition to samples of the element in question. It'salso worth

noting that such magics still demand the same ritual prepa-

rations that other spells require. If you want to use these arts

in combat, it's a good idea to plan ahead.

 

WORLD OF DARANESS: SORCERER

 

Roll: Manipulation + Occult  Costs one Willpower

Effects

. Two dice of damage

“. Three dice of damage

see Four dice of damage

Five dice of damage

sesee Six dice of damage

ses eee Fight dice of damage

Disasters: Isn't it obvious? The attack rebounds on you.

A failed roll does nothing; a botched one sends the element

back in the caster's face, inflicting the usual damage.

 

HERBALISM/BREWING

 

This elemental Path allows you to brew natural ingredi-

ents into potions, salves, oils, incense, poultiçes, stews and

powders with real potency. It requires the Herbalism Knowl-

edge to perform and usually involves dozens of harvested

materials — plants, mosses, grains, molds, earth and some-

times bodily fluids or remains, depending on the herbalist's

practices.

 

Many herbalists believe that the magic they work comes

through an affinity with the innate power of living things.

Most dispute the concept of will-driven magic, arguing that

allthings have powerful properties (or inner spirits), essences

that must be respected. Herbal magic is not simple enchant-

ment — it is a relationship between the wise one and the

Earth.

 

Like the Enchantment Path, magical Herbalism de-

mands a certain investment of time, effort and material.

Only the right ingredients will do! The basic system for

herbal magics works the same ways as Enchantments, but the

concoctions take longer to prepare. Each level of Effect

demands two to four days of harvesting, sorting, mixing and

aging before the results can be achieved. This time can be

reduced by a well-stocked pantry or ready garden, but will

almost never drop below one day per level. These things take

time, dearie!

 

Herbal concoctions are usually good for a single use and

a single purpose. The potency of the broth, salve or brew

depends on the herbalist's successes (Intelligence +

Herbalism). A single success indicates a bitter batch that's

only marginally effective, while four or more indicate an

especially enticing bit of work with double potency and a

pleasing form. Victims of the darker variety of Herbalism

should be allowed to resist the Effect by rolling their Stamina

(or Willpower) against the herbalist's successes.

 

Because of the slow and subtle nature of herbal and

brewing magics, their exact Effects are better left to stories

than to systems. We encourage you to devise your own

recipes, using the samples below as guidelines.

 

Roll: Intelligence + Herbalism No Willpower cost

Effects

 

You may concoct poultices and brews that cure

minor aches or rashes, induce or prevent sleep,

alleviate symptoms ofslight illnesses, preserve foods

when they would otherwise spoil, and other minor

effects that would never he considered magic.

Atthis level, your creations can quickly cure minor

illnesses and pains, avert or confer pregnancy with

100% certainty, tadically alter a person's mood,

discourage or attract animals or insects, induce or

cure intoxication with a few sips, and other notice-

able effects that, while not apparently magical,

seem remarkable.

 

These potent concoctions can put people to sleep

with a pinch, reduce the effects of deadly poisons

andserious illnesses, speed recovery ofopen wounds

and broken bones by 50% or more, put folks into

light trances or randy moods, and perform other

obviously unusual functions with amazing speed.

Brews and items created with this level of Herbalism

can accomplish some obviously unearthly things —

adding one or two dots to a Physical or Social Trait

for a scene, clearing up an infection in a few min-

utes, aid recovery from life-threatening illnesses

and such. Obviously, these effects are subject to

both accepted local reality and Storyteller judg-

ment; they are not sudden, flashy or long-lasting.

These are the magic brews of legend — sleeping

potions, love oils, deadly poisons, healing salves,

instant cures, all-night aphrodisiacs, flying oint-

ments and other impossible (or at least improbable)

solutions. Such potions, if they work, allow the

imbiber to defy conventional reality for a scene or

two. Like Curses, the reality such concoctions dis-

place is open to interpretation. Did this person

really fly, or did she just think she did? Did the apple

kill her, or was there strychnine in the apple?

Players should not merely drink some potion and

turn into swans — the effects of the mightiest

herbal arts remain subtle and subjective.

 

SHADOWS

 

The art of deceit has always proved rewarding. Building

on the idea that shadows conceal the truth, black magicians

crafted this mysterious Path, a discipline that reworks light

and sound to hide the magician or his treasures.

 

By making a servitor of darkness, you may hide yourself,

your friends or your property from casual inspection, or drive

a helpless target to distraction and possibly to madness. This

isnot, shall we say, a holy art; tales claim that demons helped

 

lay this Path, and that they guard it still. Magicians who

make soul pacts (see page 83) often receive the Path of

Shadows as their first “gift”; by learning to deceive, they open

themselves to greater forms of corruption.

 

Reflecting their sinister origins, Shadow castings often

demand blood, dust, bone, tears or a combination of them all.

Dark magicians call upon their patron spirits, urging them to

conceal the spellcaster's secrets, and sprinkle the subject

with appropriate “blessings.” As the shadows obey, the room

grows darker. Sounds blur into muddles, like whispering

currents of half-hidden noises. If the magician prefers to

distract rather than to conceal, he sends this muddle settling

over his target's head; if he elects to hide, those impressions

smear all observations. This blurring extends to machines;

film fogs, tapes crackle and hiss, video recorders skip and

lights dim slightly. The shadows swallow all.

 

In game terms, you simply make the appropriate roll.

The effect lasts roughly two tums (or two minutes) per

success and travels with the subject of the spell. You may cast

that spell upon any appropriate party (see below), or upon

yourself. To peer through the shadows, an observer must

make a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty =

caster's Path rating + 4), or must possess some mystical

perception (Level One Sphere magick, the Clear Sight

Merit, vampiric Auspex, etc.).

 

Roll: Manipulation + Stealth No Willpower cost

 

Effects

 

By shifting sounds or shadows nearby, you can

distract another person — she sees things “out of

the corner of her eye” or hears “faint murmurings in

the distance.” By casting the spell on yourself, you

may “blur your edges,” making it harder to recognize

you for who you are (add one die to Arcane, Dis-

guise, Intimidation or Stealth Dice Pools). This

level affects one person or human-sized object.

 

By “bending” the local shadows or sound waves,

 

you may disguise yourself to some degree, baffle your

words or cause the surrounding darkness to rise.

Things get eerie when this magic kicks in; lights

fade, shadows deepen, sounds become watery and

indistinct. If such spells are cast out of malice

against another person, that victim's mind begins

playing tricks on her. If cast on yourself, this magic

allows you to add two dice to Dice Pools involving

Arcane, Disguise, Intimidation or Stealth.

As above, but more unsettling; darkness seems to

rise, colors seem to fade and sounds become mere

bleats and thumps. À victim may need to make a

Willpower roll (difficulty 7) to avoid minor panic.

If you've cast this magic to conceal something, add

three dice to the appropriate Dice Pools.

 

CHAPTER POUR: THE PATHS

 

+ mira

 

The shadows may swallow two or three people or

one large object. Sounds become completely indis-

tinct and local cameras and recorders malfunction.

Unless a victim succeeds with her Willpower roll

(difficulty 8), she breaks into a panic attack (or fear-

frenzy, if appropriate). Engulfed in darkness, you

add four dice to Arcane, Intimidation or Stealth

rolls under the right conditions; the swelling black

cloud around you makes you stand out unless the

area was dark to begin with.

By twisting shadows and sounds, you may drive your

target to distraction or even insanity, or conceal

yourself from mortal sight. À victim who fails her

Willpower roll (difficulty 8) becomes a terrified

heap, shivering and weeping until the spell effects

fade. If she was afraid of the dark in the first place,

she might need extended psychiatric care. Any

person(s) or objects within the cloud of darkness

become totally invisible unless some form of mysti-

calsightpenetrates the gloom. Mundane technology

simply fails until the magic ends.

 

see cs eFveryvthing within 50 feer or so poes black and stays

that way until the spell ends. This does not work in

direct sunlight.

 

Disasters: An unsuccessful sorcerer may ruin his own

perceptions. À botched roll drops the Path's unsettling

effects down around the caster's head, muddling his vision

 

until the spell runs its course. Some tales speak of shadow-

demons that emerge from conjured darkness to strangle the

sorcerer responsible. Given the left-hand origins of this Path,

such a fate would not be inappropriate...

 

SHAPESHIFTING

 

The ancient providence of witches and shamans, the so-

called “animal art” allows you to take beast form for short

periods of time. Spells for doing this sort of thing usually

involve prayers to the animals spirits, skins, bones or body

parts from the beast in question, body painting or other

decorations, and trance states from which you awaken as an

animal.

 

According to most mythologies, humans once were

animals themselves, or were closely related to them at the

very least. Some greatact— an original sin ora god's blessing

— moved the humans down a slightly different track, but

most cultures still reserve a bit of respect for their animal

cousins. À magician who masters the tricky art of beast-

magic can turn back the clock, stepping into the form of her

 

WORLD OF DARKNESS: SORCERER

 

brothers. lt's a difficult art to study, and it certainly leaves its

mark on you; for those with the talent and dedication,

however, the animal craft becomes a passion.

 

Shapeshifters tend to be wild-looking people, abrupt

and direct about their needs and shameless about fulfilling

them. The more experienced the shapechanger becomes, the

more animalistic she grows. Às the line between human and

beast thins, most “normal” people either shy away from the

magician or attracted by her, literally, animal magnetism. If

you choose to follow the Beast Path, you ought to reflect the

changes that the art works upon your character.

 

Learning this art requires intense study — study of

animals, of other people, of bodies, minds and emotions.

Before you can shift between forms, you must understand the

creatures you want to become. This bond often leads to an

odd combination ofempathy and remove: On one hand, you

can look outat yourselffrom behind an endless ser of eyes and

empathize with all kinds of beings. On the other hand,

though, you eventually understand the pragmatic, unsenti-

mental viewpoint the animals share. To a beast, life just is.

Things happen; things pass. It's not always pleasant, but it

happens and then one day you die. Animals don't worry

about the things we humans consider so important; after a

while, a master shapeshifter doesn't, either.

 

In game terms, this art's pretty straightforward; a suc-

cessful roll transforms you into an altered shape. At lower

levels, those changes are limited and superficial; as you

advance, the alterations grow more distinctuntil youachieve

actual transformation. This costs one Willpower point each

time the shift occurs, and demands total concentration.

 

Although most magicians retain their own minds while

assuming a beast-shape, some risk still exists. Uponachievingan

animal state, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to

keep your own mind. À failed roll sends you into beast mode.

Every morming, you can make another Willpower roll at +1

difficulty per day. Some peoplenever make itback, butthat'sthe

price of magic...

 

As a side effect, you gain one additional Social die for

each Path Level you attain; this die reflects your connection

to your primal nature, and is especially handy during fighes,

seductions or bonding sessions with real animals. A really

accomplished shapeshifter might also make small changes in

her Physical Traits, reflecting her body mastery. The extra

Social dice cost nothing to employ; additional Physical dots

costone Willpower point and require a small, quick spell to

set in motion.

 

(Animal Traits can be found in the following books:

The Vampire Players Guide, The Book of Mirrors: The

Mage Storyteller's Guide, Ways of the Wolf and The Dark

 

Ages Companion.)

 

Roll: Stamina + Occult

Costs one Willpower point to shift,

another to return to normal

 

Effects

You may alter one minor physi-

calfeature (eye color, skin color,

nose shape, hair length, etc.).

You can change one major fea-

ture (height, weight, build), or

several minor ones.

Youmight make oddalterations

to yourself (grow claws, see in

the dark, leap great distances)

that normal humans can't pos-

sess. At this level, you can also

add one dot to some Physical

Trait.

You may transform into one particular animal shape

(cat, hawk, wolf, etc.) and acquire its natural

abilities. At this level, you may also add two

dots to your Physical Traits.

 

Any normal modern animal (no

gargoyles, dinosaurs, dragons,

etc.) can be your new shape for

a limited time. The sizes range

ftom mouse to elephant — no

larger, no smaller. You may also

 

add three dots to your Physical

Traits.

 

see ses Any animal you can study,

vou can become.

 

Disasters: Failing a Shapeshifting

roll changes norhing; you're still the per-

son you were when you closed your eyes.

Godshelpyouifyoubotch, however. You might

assume some unexpected feature (whiskers, a

snout, excessive hair, etc.), lose your mind (see

above) or lapse into a frenzy (see the Vampire or

Werewolf rules for specific game effects).

 

SUMMONING, BINDING AND

WARDING

 

The most dangerous kind of magic, Summoning Path rites draw forth creatures—from rats or birds to vampiresor werewolves —, guard against  them, or press them into service. It's a complicated Path, loaded with precautions and Rituals, and even under the best of circumstances, it creates lifelong enemies.

 As with any other form of Hedge Magic, there are multitudes of Summoning styles, ftom simple pagan appeals to the creatures of the goddess to elaborate medieval rituals, Aboriginal soul-snarings and modern black magic compulsions. Few such spells are designed with politeness in mind; most order some being to appear, bind him magically when he does, and keep him at arm's length until he does what you want him to do. The style of magic and outlook of the magician will have plenty to do with the Summoned creature's disposition — and its desire for revenge.

 Most Summoning Rituals require long preparations. You don't want to compel something, especially something powerful, to appear without covering your ass first. These protections require different Rituals (see “Rituals”) — a separate one for each different kind of being. After these Wards are laid, the Summoning begins. This too requires a specific Ritual; one cannot Ward against a dog, then Summon a vampire. Finally, when the creature does arrive, a Binding may be laid to force some kind of service. À Minor Binding merely requires one task to be performed before the  Binding dissipates. A Major Binding compels servitude until some condition is met, and usually creates an eternal grudge. No one, not even an animal, likes being forced into service. Some magicians prefer to use only Wards or Summonings to protect themselves or to call upon aid. Only a fool would dare to lay a Binding without protection, although some sorcerers have tried. Dismissal Rituals offer the magician some sort of compromise. If the rite is successful, the Summoned being will leave in peace — for the moment, at leasr. The forms these Rituals take can range from dancing around aconsecrated mound to human sacrifice, bended-knee prayers or intricate circles that take days to engrave. Players and Storyrellers should play such ceremonies to the dramatic hilt. Calling a creature and compelling it to obey is strong magic indeed. The bare-bones systems for such actions work as follows:

* Warding: The magician lays some sortof Ward (a  pentacle, a triangle of salt, an offering of food and good liquor, gold, herbs, a plate of wolfsbane and blood, etc.) and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty is the Path's level + 4). The target of the Ward will have to spend one Willpower per the magician's success to enter the area protected. A Ward lasts for one scene per success. À fair but devious Storyteller might make the Ward roll herself, leaving the magician to wonder whether or not his Ward will hold!

 This Ritual acts like countermagick (one die per success) or reduces any incoming Gift or Discipline by one dot ofeffect for every one of the wizard's successes. Wards do not, however, restrict gunfire.

 * Summoning: After a long series of recitations, entreaties and preparations, the wizard rolls his Charisma + Occult with the usual difficulty. He must accumulate twice as many successes as his target's (permanent) Willpower rating, making one roll per hour. The range of the compulsion is one mile per level of the Path rating used; a Path Level Three Summoning, for example, has a reach of three miles. Once the call is sent forth, the first such being within the area of enchantment will be compelled to go to the wizard as rapidly as possible.

 This magic does nor instantly conjure a creature out of thin air. The Summoned one comes ather own speed. If there isn't a suitable being in range, the wizard may have to continue until he finds one, For each Willpower point spent, he may add another mile to the range. This is a dangerous tactic, because if it works... 

 * Minor Binding: Once the subject arrives, the magician can try to compel her to service — if he dares! A Minor Binding pits the wizard's will against his subject's, using the Immutable Laws of What Is. True Mages claim that such a contests pit one Avatar against another... with perhaps a bit of outside help from other concerned parties. 

 To affect a Minor Binding, the wizard spends a Willpower poinrand performs his Ritual (Manipulation + Occult).  His target rolls her own Willpower (difficulty of the wizard's own). If she wins, the Binding has no effect. If she loses, she must perform one task for him before she is freed. This should be spelled out in as complete a form as possible. Rest assured that any Bound being will be looking for the way out.

 * Major Binding: The system for a Major Binding works like a Minor one, except that both parties extend their rolls to amass 10 successes. For each roll, each party spends a Willpower point; whoever reaches 10 first (and still has Willpower left over) wins. If the Summoned one loses, she's bound to the wizard until some condition is met. This “contract” must be specified at once and can be anything from “Until my hair goes gray” to “Until Haley's Comet next approaches Earth,” so long as it is a possible event (conceptions of “possible” can ger pretty fluid, however!).

 If the wizard loses, he's toast.

 * Dismissal: If the wizard wants his subject to depart in peace, he performs another Ritual (involving some sort of thanks, a benediction and a request to depart, usually with a healthy bribe attached). A simple Wits + Occult roll with normal difficulty “persuades” the Summoned one to leave without ripping the wizard a new asshole. This does not prevent later animosities, but for now, the being will leave content. This Ritual will not work after a Major Binding has been artempted.

 Hedge Magic Summonings work only on material beings. Ephemera handles spirit-dealings, while Daimonic Summoning or the Dark Sorcery Path of Summoning (see The Book of Madness) handles Otherworldly entities. Vampires, werecreatures, mages and changelings can counterattack with their own magical abilities unless a Ward or some other outside force prevents them from acting. This Path is best performed with allies standing by to help.

 The Rituals above need not be performed together. Bindings or Wardings can be used on their own if the circumstances permit. Players and Storytellers should be flexible, dramatic and fair when running such Summonings. This magic Path could stimulate either suspenseful storytelling or intense debate.

 Rolls: Wits + Occult (Warding) No cost

Charisma + Occult (Summoning)  No cost 

Manipulation + Occult (Binding) Costs one Willpower

Wits + Occult (Dismissal) No cost

 Effects

* This level's Rituals affect only small animals — rats, bats, birds, lizards, etc. You may Summon three

of these creatures per success. 

** The higher mammals (chimps, dolphins, cats, dogs, wolves, apes) may be Summoned and controlled at this Path level. You may control two of these per success.

*** Normal humans can be Summoned at this level. If you want to compel someone to arrive, you'll have to obtain some personal effect of hers and add it to the Ritual. This spell summons only one person at a time,

**** Minor supernatural beings (ghouls, Kinfolk, other consors or familiars, fomori, etc.) can be brought forward and Warded. The limitations of normal humans apply.

*****Major supernatural beings (vampires, werecreatures, mages, faeries, and some types of earthbound monsters) can be Summoned and Bound with these Rituals. Only one individual can be so treated, and some bit of fur, blood, armor, clothing, etc. must be used. This is really dangerous territory; one blown roll and...

 Path Rituals

 This Pathgives you the knowledge you'll need to employ these Rituals, but does not grant you automatic command. Each different kind of subject, whether bird, wolf, or vampire, has a unique ser of Rituals, and each Ritual must be purchased separately.

 Let's say you wanted to Summon a werecat; that would require a Level Five Ritual designed especially for Bastet. You couldn't use the same rite to calla Garou, nor would that Summoning Ritual Bind the Bastet. To Summon, Bind, Ward and Dismiss a werecat, you'dneed five dots in the Path, plus four three-point Rituals. It seems expensive, but this is an especially powerful type of magic!

 Warding, Summoning, Minor Binding, Major Binding and Dismissal all require separate Rituals as well. Rather than write out an exhaustive list of Rituals — Summon Bastet, Bind Bastet, Ward Against Bastet, etc. — we can simply assume that Rituals exist for any sort of creature found within the World of Darkness. Each Ritual corresponds to the appropriate Path level; an cagle-call would be Level One while a human-Summoning spell would be Level Three and so on.

 Unlike most other Paths, Summoning, Binding and Warding has only five Path levels, not six.

 SUMMONING, BINDING AND WARDING (DAIMONIC)

 Wizards have always excelled at godplay. Safe (they believe) in their sigils and wards, practitioners of the mystic arts have always sought to command the Otherworld. Through this art — a perilous one, to be sure — an accomplished magician can do just that.

 Unlike Ephemera (which creates a passage from the spirit world), this Path opens a direct gateway to the Otherworldly Realms and invites an occupant through for a while. With the proper charms, offers and protections, you can call an incarnate elemental, a demon, an angelic being or even a totem avatar. Tales claim that a powerful sorcerer can summon the Devil himself, but the nature of that entity may be up for debate in the modern world. The wizard could, of course, summon a devil, and assuming he was strong enough to hold it, actually demand some service.

 In story terms, this is the most hazardous kind of magic imaginable. No one with half a brain performs it carelessly, though some poor fools have been known to do just that. A proper summoning demands ritual tools galore — designs, elements, swords, candles and some form of offering for the invited party — and lots of preparation. Ideally, you should bathe, meditate, pray and fast for at leasta day beforeattempting  such work, Certain designs are considered essential — pentacles of various kinds, a circle and some holy or unholy text — and certain offerings are considered polite. The particulars depend on who you are and what you want; an American Satanist and a Jewish Kabbalist would obviously call upon different entities, and employ different instruments to do so. Once the preparations have been arranged, the Ritual begins. Each type of Otherworldly creature demandsacertain kind of call; itwouldn't do to summon a Christian angel with a rite intended for a Chinese devil.

 Although their origins are as mysterious as their powers, the gods do indeed exist. Some sources claim that every demon, god and celestial host in human history has a counterpart somewhere in the Endless Realms. Each magical practice has its own rites for calling upon its gods. These Rituals can be very hard to find, but if you're resourceful enough, its tools are at hand. Once the invocations have been performed, some entity — hopefully the one you're looking for — arrives within the circle. Once the creature appears, you'll have to be clever, strong-willed and fortunate. There are reasons the gods do not walk the Earth, and one of them is because those gods don't wish to be disturbed.

 This art tears a hole in reality as we know it. Most manifestations shift the environment in their favor, whipping up storms and setting rooms ablaze while others simply appear in near-human form and ask “What do you require” in deceptively soft voices. These are usually the ones to fear the most. Depending on the entity, the summoned one may be angry, resentful, pleased or afraid; most tend to be in a bargaining mood when they appear, however, and despite their horrific threats, seem interested in helping — for a price.

 Ah, yes — the price. This too depends on the creature you have summoned. Obviously, an angel won't demand a crucified baby, though she very well might demand an oath to God or some other charitable act be performed in exchanged for her services. Most Otherworldly creatures havefairly obvious tastes; Mammon, the demon of wealth, seems more eager for jewels and golden offerings than, say, Damballah the Burning Serpent of Wisdom. The “fee” might be negotiable, but Otherworldly beings drive very hard bargains.

 Once the price is agreed upon, the summoned being performs one service, then departs. The length and nature ofthe service depends on the Binding (see below) and the wizard's power. No wizard can compel a major manifestation to remain in his service indefinitely, however; sooner or later, the being will break free. Any human stupid enough to contain itwill then suffer an appropriate punishment unless somereally hard bargain is struck. It's far safer, therefore, to ask a brief service, let the being fulfill it and set it free without further coercion than it is to try to make a pet out of an unearrhly creature. In game terms, this variation works exactly like the normal Summoning, Binding and Warding Path; the stakes are simply much higher. Otherworldly beings have inhuman levels of Willpower; few mortal sorcerers can keep up with a full-fledged demon, let alone an angelic being or a divine avatar. A Major Binding (see the previous Path) demands 15 successes, not 10, and if you lose this contest, you lose big. Otherworldly entities tend to have many powers at their disposal, and it's perfectly reasonable for one to try to take you home for its own amusement if you've tried to imprison it yourself.

 (The following books have a variety of Otherworldly creatures for Storytellers to choose from: Beyond the Barriers: The Book of Worlds, Axis Mundi: The Book of Spirits, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, The Book of Madness, Vampire: The Dark Ages and Dark Ages Companion. Full descriptionsof the Otherworldly hosts and their abilities can be found in those sources.) 

Roll:  Wits + Occult (Warding) No cost 

 Charisma + Occult (Summoning)  No cost

Manipulation + Occult (Binding) Costs one Willpower

 Wits + Occult (Dismissal) No cost

 Effects

* A minor Summoning calls forth a simple entity — a weak elemental spirit, or Minion Umbrood, an

infernal host creature or a spirit-animal Gaffling that serves a preater totem.

** This slightly more powerful version of a simple Summoning calls a fairly potent or intelligent mi-

nor entity.

*** The lower infernal and celestial hosts are at your disposal; elementals of some power, demonic servitors, minor angels, Jamakspiritsand minor Jagglings attend this level.

**** Powerful entities — infernal tempters, Umbrood Preceptors, powerful Jagglings and lesser angelics — answer the call of the powerful and crafty sorcerer who understands this level's secrets.

***** The lesser Lords — demon barons, Umbrood Lords, totem avatars, greater angelics and the most powerful elementals — might answer your entreaties. Such beings are fairly powerful; a Greater  inding against one requires 20 successes or more, and the summoning area will probably bear traces of the entity's presence for decades to come. 

****** lf it is indeed possible to summon the Devil, a sorcerer of this level would know how. Although such an entity would never send his only personal form to such a meeting, an incamation of Old Scratch — or some other Greater Entity, Celestine or Divine (capital D) avatar — may well appear. Such beings are not bound, only begged. If you're nice, it might help you.

Disasters: You really don't want to know. Ever heard of the Hell of Being Skinned Alive...?

 

WEATHERCRAFT

 

One of the most revered yet terrifying abilities of the traditional witch isher affinity to storms. In a good mood, the weatherwitch might water the fields, nurture a harvest or queneh the parched soil; on a more destructive whim, she might call the thunder, chill the crops or whip waves to a frenzy. Although some cultures (notably the tribal Africans) connect weatherwork to male sorcerers, most folklore draws a parallel between woman's fertility and the bounty of the Earth and elements. Hence, this tends to be a feminine art, one that has awed men since the dawn of magic.

 As a weatherwitch, you can summon and shape the environment to suit your needs. Temperatures may rise or fall; winds may surge or still; at the greater levels, rempests may literally be brewed in teapots and directed at your enemies. While Weathercraft is a slow and steady art — its rites and effects are measured in hours, not minutes — the forces it commands are awesome to behold.

 Weather rituals usually involve sacrifice and sympathy. The caster draws the connection between a living being (often, but not always, herself) and the elements, calls the atrention of suitable spírits, and asks them for a favor. By giving the spirits something in retum (often blood, occasionally a whole life), she completes the circuit between woman and weather, and shapes the latter to her will. Even the most benign workings demand some powerful sacrifice. To conjure a wind, you might shed a drop or two of blood; to conjure a storm, you may have to kill an animal, a person, or even yourself, depending on your beliefs, practices and patrons. 

 In game terms, things get a bit simpler. The Path level determines the power of your influence; a series of rolls — played out over several turns or even scenes — builds the power of the storm. Once the weather patterns are in motion, the Storyteller takes over, describing the results in dramatic detail. Some spells provoke drastic effects — thunderstorms, hail, tempestuous seas, etc. — which rise then quickly disappear; others create more subrle but enduring climates — soft rains, cool breezes, warm days, fertile soil — which may last for days or even weeks, Generally, the most dramatic and damaging weather lasts for a few turns then fades, while slow and gentile changes endure indefinitely. The successes rolled may affect the weather patterns to some degree, but destructive tempests tend to dissipate quickly. 

As mentioned above, Weathercraft requires time and effort. Since nothing occurs in a vacuum (especially not magic), the weather patterns you shift will manifest in other, less-obvious ways across the region. While small spells — a sudden shift in room temperature or a single breeze — may be cast quickly, it takes longer to rouse a tempest. Assume that large workings require at least one hour per Path level to set inmotion. Once they begin, Weathercraft magics are hardto undo — a counterspell will have to negate a lot of successes to shift the balance back to where it was. Even then, the effects of a conjured storm linger for quite a while. Imagine the weather as a pond surface, then picture  Weathercraft as a rock tossed in. A small rock might skip across the waters, but even then the ripples spread; a larger spell becomes a stone or even a boulder. The most successful workings still make waves; botched workings can send those waves crashing down on your own head.

 Roll: Manipulation + Occult  Costs one Willpower

 Effects

* You may conjure some small, sudden disturbance — a cool breeze, a room-temperature drop, a flare of candlelight — or a slighr tilt in the local environment — a richly fertile garden, a softening of the light in a single room. Neither option inflicts any form of damage. Requires at least one success; affects roughly 50 square feet.

** You may do any of the above in a larger area. Requires at least three successes; affects roughly 1000 square feer.

*** Drastic changes become possible; you may raise or lower the local temperature by as much as 30º, conjure strong winds (up to 30 mph), summon a rain shower or cause existing light to brighten or darken by dramatic degrees. On the “softer” side, you may enrich a large field, cool or warm a house for several days or stir strong currents in the local seas. Although these climate changes aren't damaging per se, they might eventually lead to accidents, crop failures or bountiful harvests. Requires at least five successes; affects roughly a mile or two.

**** Storms rise at your command; drastic weather changes include driving rains, winds of up to 40 mph, sudden cold snaps or hot spells (up to 40º difference), or a rapid crop failure or bloom. Subtle effects include vastly improved harvests, homes that remain cool or warm despite the temperature outside. You may also cause “boosts” to existing climates (longer rain showers, colder winters, stronger currents, etc.) tharmay extend a natural weather pattern for days. An additional Manipulation + Oceult roll (difficulty 7) during an existing storm may direct some damaging phenomena — a light- ning bolt, hailstones, powerful waves, etc. — to harm a specific target. With the exception of lightning bolts, this attack inflicts non-aggravated damage (four Health Levels + caster's successes; a new roll must be made for each attack). Conjuring such storms requires at least 10 successes; this level affects roughly five miles.

 ***** You may alter the climate asabove, but over a larger area (10 miles ot more) and for longer periods of time. Wearher-based attacks inflict five Health Levels + successes on a separate Manipulation + Occult roll. Reguires at least 15 successes.

****** You may call the most destructive kinds of storms: tornadoes, hurricanes, monsoons, floods, killing frosts, ocean tempests, raging thunder, dust storms, crop blights, dry spells, etc. Damage from the worst effects may inflict six Health Levels + attack successes. Dramatic storms last for an hour or less, but slow, subtle changes can drag on for weeks. These weather patterns disrupt the local climate for weeks or months afterward. Requires at least 20 successes; affects roughly 20 miles.

 Disasters: The weather is not twisted lighrly. Even failed rolls create eddies in the local climate that might lead to some odd phenomena in the coming days. Botched rolls send disastrous forces into motion, especially if they come during large workings. An unlucky magician might find herself roasted by her own thunderbolts or drowned in her own currents.