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#Post#: 293--------------------------------------------------
Resonance, M20, and us.
By: Chance Date: December 8, 2024, 10:45 am
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With some prompting, I have been looking over the M20 Resonance
rules and I swear to the gods, I hate them. There is no need for
two different kinds of magical resonance, and I honestly think
the system in Rev for determining Resonance worked better.
I was also reminded that I had created a system for working with
Resonance for MageRev back in Dusk days, and having re-read it,
I think it works pretty well. I'd like to hear from all the Mage
players what they think of the Resonance rules in M20, if they
understand them at all, and if they'd be up to considering the
old revision I did for Dusk.
The old Resonance system I'd created is below.
[hr]
Resonance is the mystical 'flavor' of all the magic your
character works. It describes his magical effects and their
'aura', if you will. This allows you to give your mage a style
all his own, and as your character advances
All additional dots in Resonance after character creation must
be approved by the Mage ST. See the rules on How to Gain
Resonance, below.
Resonance is divided into three groupings:
Dynamic: Things in motion, change, new ideas in action.
Examples: Quick, Smooth, Hopeful, Angry
Entropic: Destruction, death, decay, renewal, primordiality.
Examples: Bitter, Rotting, Unweaving, Unmaking
Static: Principles of definition and construction.
Examples: Logical, Artistic, Steady, Unyielding
A mage starts with three traits in Resonance, to be assigned
within these groupings. In general, the strongest resonances in
your magic will be tied to your Essence, your Nature, and your
Demeanor. Your initial Resonances will have one dot in each
category. Choose these descriptors carefully, as they will
define your magic throughout your career.
Example: Joe Tytalus is a fire mage of the Dynamic essence, with
a Bravo demeanor and a Competitor nature. He is known for his
fiery temper, and his tendency to tackle a problem head-on,
often unwisely. Joe's resonance might be rendered as:
Dynamic: Blazing ●
Static: Dominant ●
Entropic: Ashen ●
Each of these traits may gain additional dots later on, or you
may gain additional traits within a category; this describes the
relative strength of each aspect of your magic in relation to
the others. Two dots in a specific resonance trait will make it
appear twice as strong as a single dot, and so forth.
House Rules:
Since Mage Revised did very little with the concept of
Resonance, we have worked up some house rules to use it in play
to give Mage its own special feel, and to make the willworking
aspect of magic more obvious and more interesting to play.
Gaining Resonance
As a mage grows in power or becomes more focused in a certain
sphere or type of magic, he may gain additional Resonance
traits. These Resonance traits can gain him additional ability
with magic that is within his normal paradigm and pattern.
Note that you may have more than one descriptor in a category,
over time. Joe, in the example above, could wind up adding
Crackling to his Dynamic Resonance traits, for example.
Benefits of Resonance
Any Resonance of 3 dots or more can grant you a -1 difficulty
with magic of that type. Note that this is cumulative with all
other difficulty reductions for magic from Quintessence, etc.;
the total reduction in difficulty is still -3 maximum. In
addition, casting magic in which you have a high related
Resonance can negate a single 1 on rolls for that specific type
of effect for the purpose of avoiding botches.
Let's return to Joe as an example. Joe advances in Arete and
gains more experience with his Forces magic in particular. His
Resonances have become:
Dynamic: Blazing ●●●, Crackling ●
Static: Dominant ●
Entropic: Ashen ●
If Joe casts destructive fire magic, he can now draw on his
Dynamic/Blazing resonance to make those effects easier. He gains
a -1 difficulty for having 3 dots in Blazing, only to be applied
to destructive fire magic, and if he rolls any 1s, one of those
can be negated and turned to a 2 for the effect of calculating
botches. This is cumulative with all other difficulty modifiers.
.
The Down Side of Resonances
In addition, any magic that opposes a strong Resonance within
you is cast at +1 difficulty. Example from above: Joe wishes to
cast an effect that summons water to put out a house fire. This
is directly opposed to his Resonance, so he will gain a +1
difficulty for doing so. This is cumulative with all other
difficulty modifiers.
.
How to Gain Resonance Dots
Note that you cannot buy up dots in Resonance. You gain
Resonance in two ways: from magical workings, and from Seekings.
Magical workings: Any time you garner a botch, or cast an effect
with 20 or more successes, roll the total number of successes or
1s as appropriate at a difficulty of (11 - highest sphere used).
To gain a new Resonance trait, you must attain as many, or more,
successes as you have total dots in Resonance.
Note that all of these rolls must be logged and mailed to the
staff for approval. You should request the type of trait you
want, and describe the effect that you were casting when this
happened. The ST will decide where to assign the dot from the
information you provide, so give as much detail as possible.
You may gain, at most, 1 point of Resonance per month.
Seeking: When your character undergoes a Seeking for higher
Arete, he gains a dot in a Resonance of your choice as well.
.
Identifying Magic Based on Resonance:
Another mage can use Prime magic to 'read' the Resonance
lingering in an area where you worked magic recently. Each
success on the Prime scan roll will give the scanning mage one
dot of your Resonance, with the highest ones first.
How Long Does Resonance Linger?
Resonance lingers based on the number of successes you garnered,
and the number of dots you have in Resonances. The more dots you
have in any one Resonance, the longer it will take to fade.
Each sphere dot used in the effect (total ALL dots used, not
just the highest one): 1 hour
Each success garnered on the roll: 1 hour
Each dot of resonance you possess: 1 hour
Botch: 1 day per dot of the highest sphere used, plus 1 day per
dot of Resonance you possess.
Optional Advanced Rules
This set of Resonance trait rules is optional -- a player has
the option of using these rules, but is not obligated to do so.
If you choose to use them, please list your modifiers on your
sheet along with your Resonance for reference.
1:
-1 difficulty to detect similar effects +1 difficulty to detect
opposed effects
2:
-1 difficulty to analyze similar effects using Enigmas or Magic
Theory; all above, plus +1 difficulty to analyze opposed effects
using Enigmas or Magic Theory
3:
all above, plus -1 difficulty to cast similar effects; all
above, plus +1 difficulty to cast opposed effects
4:
all above, plus -1 difficulty to counter similar effects; all
above, plus +1 difficulty to counter opposed effects
5:
all above, plus -1 difficulty to unweave similar effects; all
above, plus +1 difficulty to unweave opposed effects
Resonance-Related Rotes
Cleanse Resonance (●●● Prime) - This rote
allows you to remove the traces of your personal Resonance after
casting a magical effect. Note that this rote cannot be
fast-cast. It requires an extended roll, at ten minutes per
additional roll. Each success garnered can negate one dot of
personal Resonance.
Read Resonance (● Prime) - This rote allows you to detect
the traces of any magical effect cast in an area. Use the
timetable above to see how long after the casting it can be
detected. Note that this rote cannot be fast-cast. It requires
an extended roll, at ten minutes per additional roll. Each
success on the Prime scan roll will give the scanning mage one
dot of the casting mage's Resonance, with the highest ones
first. A complimentary Perception + Awareness roll may be made
alongside each Arete roll, with every two successes on the Per +
Aware granting you one success to the Arete extended roll for
detection. Note that you must recast this rote for each mage's
workings in an area that you wish to read.
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