Sorcerer Rules

This page will guide you through the basics of playing and creating a Sorcerer Character for this Ex Infernum. This includes particularities and house rules, as well as lists of allowed and banned paths, phenomenas, as well as backgrounds, merits and flaws. Note that the only material allowed in this game comes from the M20: Sorcerers book.

First, we will go through how magic in this game will be a bit different than how it is described in the book. ( That's the semantics part ).

Hedge Magic and Psychic Phenomena

In the M20 Sorcerer book, Hedge Magic and Psychic Phenomenas are portrayed as completely different types of power wielding by two completely different archetypes; Sorcerers and Psychics/Psions. In this game, both Hedge Magic & Psychic Phenomenas will be considered as Hedge Magic, and will be wielded by sorcerers. Their mechanics will remain the same, whereas Hedge Magic is more flexible, but also more tedious and time consuming, while Psychic Phenomenas are more instantaneous.

In this game, Hedge Magic will be referred to as Rituals, while Psychic Phenomenas will be referred to as Magic Paths, Sorcery, or whatever it is that your character does.

In short, each character will have access to a number of dots in Hedge Magic Paths and Psychic Phenomenas.

Hedge Magic will serve as rituals that can be enacted in groups whether through sacrifices, catalysts or elaborate chants and rites, and fulfill that magic covenant/cult fantasy. Psychic Rituals, on the other hand, will fulfill the more gratifying fantasy of unleashing instant displays of flashy and devastating powers.

Spells vs Rituals
Spells: Each path is divided into spells and rituals, spells are quicker pieces of magic and can be put together spontaneously when nevessary. Spells take one turn per level of the path being cast. Casting a spell costs 1 willpower point.
Rituals: Rituals are larger workings, taking 10 minutes per level of the ritual being cast, unless specified otherwise in the path description. House Rule: In this game, using rituals does not cost willpower.
Path Rolls: Casting Attribute + Path Ability at a difficulty of Path Level + 4.

Spell and Aspects
Aspects are variables that sorcerers may use to empower their spells, in exchange for increasing the number of successes required for the spell to work. For example, one could increase the the damage done by a spell, it's range, its duration, or the area of effect. When casting a spell, a sorcerer may choose to increase a spell's potency by picking aspects. They must choose what level of aspect they want to include. You can increase a given aspect as high as your character's path level, and the highest aspect determines the level of the spells. When the spell is cast, it requires one successes for each rank in each aspect, plus a single success for the spell as a whole.

Example: Stephan wishes to use the Hellfire path. He has 2 dots in the Hellfire Paths, which means he can increase any aspect up to level 2. Since his opponents consist of a small group of thugs, he wishes to increase the damage aspect to increase the damage inflicted by his spell. He also wishes to increase the Area aspect, as he hopes to be able to afflict all of his enemies with one single spell. He chooses to increase the Damage Aspect to level 1, which allows him to add two dices of lethal damage to the dicepool of the spell. He will also increase the Area aspect to level 2, allowing him to target a small area of three feet by three feet.

• Since the highest aspect is Area 2, this means the spell is considered a level 2 spell. The difficulty will be 4 + 2, so 6.
• Since the spell is considered level 2, it means the spell will take 2 turns to complete.
• The number of successes required will be; One for the spell as a whole, One for the Damage aspect, and Two for the Area Aspect. For a total of 1 + 1 + 2 = 4.
  
  

The list of aspects can be found in the M20: Sorcerer book at page 14.

Rituals
In exchange for taking longer than spells to enact, rituals can be significantly more powerful than spells of the same level. This additional power can take one of three forms:
First Form: First, a ritual can empower the magician to attain a level of aptitude they cannot normally access, allowing them to cast a spell as though they had one additional rank of their path. Example: A character with 2 dots in Divination could only cast a level 2 spell, but may cast a level 3 ritual.
Second Form: The second form of ritual expands the scope of intended effect.Using a ritual grants the magician their Path Ability rating in additional successes with which to purcase Aspects for the spell, provided they achieve a success when performing the ritual. For example, a character with 4 dots in the Hellfire path, enacting a level 3 Hellfire ritual, may gain an additional 4 dots to purchase Aspects IF the ritual is a success. ( Aka, earning at least one success )
Third Form: Some paths come with sample rituals which characters may purchase as separate abilities that may only be cast as rituals. Players may also attempt to develop homebrewed rituals with their storyteller's approval.

Optional Rules
The book provides a handful of optional rules called 'Complications'. Below you will find a list of the optional rules we will use in this chronicle:

• Quintessence: We will use a simplified rule of the Quintessence optional rule; characters with Quintessence will be able to spend 1 point of quintessence to lower the difficulty of a spell by 1. ( Maximum of 1 per spell ).
• Teamwork: When casting rituals, the group must pick a ritual leader who will make the final path roll. Characters who assist the ritual leader and share the same path being cast may choose to make a path roll, on success, they may choose to lower the final ritual roll's difficulty by 1 ( down to a minimum of 3 ) or increase the final number of successes by 1. Characters who do not share the required path may instead make a path roll, and in the case of success, may only increase the final numbers of successes by 1. Botches either increase the difficulty by 1, or reduces the number of successes by 1.
  
  

We do not use the following optional rules; Simplified Aspects, Countermagic, Hanging Spells, Witnesses, Fast Casting & Extended Rolls or Greater Rituals.