QUINTESSENCE

It is possible that you may acquire more Quintessence than your Arete Rank however this extra Quintessence is lost the following day

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MAGE ESSENCE:QUINTESSENCE

Believe it or not quintessence is not that important to mages. There is no compulsory use of the stuff,(At least not until you start doing crazy stuff) but it can be useful. As such mages -rarely- if ever begin the game with a great deal of quintessence if any.

 

STARTING QUINTESSENCE

• ARETE RANK gives you an equal amount of starting Quintessence.

• SPEND 1 point of Quintessence per Arete rank per turn.

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GAINING QUINTESSENCE

THE MEDITATION ROLL.

• The meditation roll takes part at the Node Only 1 roll can be made per night.

• Meditation at node: Quintessence  may be gained by a prolonged scene of focusing intently upon the magical energies in the node

• ROLL: ARETE + OCCULT 

• DIFFICULTY: = 20 minus Arete Rank

• SUCCESS:  =  1 point of quintessence per success to a maximum of 10 total quintessence. These extra points of quintessence are lost the following day or when spent, which ever happens first.

• FAILURE: = No extra quintessence  is earned that night.

• BOTCH: =  All current quintessence is lost for the remainder of the night and 1 point of paradox is added instead. 

 

PRIME METHODS OF GAINING QUINTESSENCE

•  USING PRIME 1  a mage may sacrifice 1 point of health in exchange for 1 point of quintessence. This point of health must be healed naturally

• USING PRIME 3 a mage may drain the -essence- from another character in exchange for the same amount of quintessence. Sadly in the case of regular humans without -essence- traits, this is taken from their health. This quintessence -must- be spent immediately (during the scene)

• USING PRIME 4 a mage may create a wellspring which is a temporary node from which the mage or mages may make a meditation roll.(This is still subject to the once per night meditation rule, meaning if you've already meditated you gain no further benefit)

• USING PRIME 5 a mage may drain quintessence from the environment itself. Directly, without the need of a node. Each success on the spell roll grants 1 point of quintessence (maximum of 10 total)

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TASS

Is a solid or rather "Material" form of quintessence. Generally so as not confuse new players "Tass" Is just a term. Mechanically speaking, quintessence is the fuel source and it can be traded, imbued into an object or used to create things. The refining it into "Tass" is an unnecessary mechanic and does not exit in Nocturne.

In Nocturne other supernatural creatures have "Essence" which you may refer to as "Tass"

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QUINTSSENCE CAN BE USED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS

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PARDOX CLEANSE:

1 point of quintessence can be spent to erase 1 point of paradox providing the mage has PRIME 3.

ROLL: PRIME RANK + ARETE  

DIFFICULTY = 10 + Current Paradox.

SUCCESS = Each success means that 1 point of current quintessence can be used to remove 1 point of Paradox.

FAILURE  =  The attempt fails.

BOTCH =   All current quintessence is lost and REPLACED with equal amounts of paradox (max 10)

NOTE:       Paradox cleanse can be attempted once a week.

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REDUCE DIFFICULTY OF SPELL:

1 point of quintessence can be used to reduce the current difficulty of a spell by 1 point. 

NOTE: A spell difficulty cannot be reduced below 10+ and a botch is still a botch.

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USE DEFENSIVELY VERSUS DYNAMIC MAGIC

Each point of quintessence able to spent during a turn can be added to any magical resistance roll versus other mages.

Static magic (from non mages) requires the use of sphere effects.

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LOSING QUINTESSENCE:

Apart from hostile energy stealing powers the main way of losing quintessence is either spending it or gaining paradox.

PARADOX THEFT

When a point of paradox is gained a point of quintessence is lost.

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OTHER USES:

Quintessence has other applications though they are firmly defined within the context of wonders or spell effects.

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MAGE BALANCE:PARADOX

Paradox is reality seeking to asset itself against mages reality warping effects. It is the one thing, if not the only thing that mages truly fear.

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STARTING PARADOX:

Mages characters start with zero paradox on character creation.

 

GAINING PARADOX:

Spellcasting section goes in depth about gaining paradox, we need not repeat it here, but Vulgar With Witness  at any level accrues a lot!

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LOSING PARADOX:

• A mage resets to zero paradox every 24 hours. Unless  they have active spells still active. If they have even one spell active they do not lose any paradox.

• Another way of losing paradox is through a paradox backlash.

• Paradox cleansing with PRIME 3 can be attempted once a week.

 

AVOIDING PARADOX:

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• Making sure spells are coincidental will greatly reduce the chance of paradox!

• Casting a spell in ones own sanctum is a sure way to make sure spells are coincidental.

• Certain wonders or familiars can deal with paradox in their own special way.

• Some Prime 5 effects can WARD against paradox.

•  Paradox Cleanse can be a useful application of quintessence to lessen the chances of  paradox. (See Quintessence above)

• AVOID  VULGAR or VULGAR WITH WITNESS effects. These types of effects are almost guaranteed to generate paradox, this is how it has always been.

• Getting your ARETE RANK  up will minimise the backlash of paradox.

• There are many, many more ways you may discover. (Check Mage Backgrounds)

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BACKLASH:

As soon as a mage accumulates 10 points of Paradox they backlash on the mage.

Once backlash has occurred all paradox evaporates regardless of the roll result.

ROLL: +10 (no additional attributes or skills )

DIFFICULTY:  ARETE RANK 

• Using the table below link 2 outcomes (Damage, Difficulty, Flaw, Realm or Spirits) for the duration of the effect.

• N/A choices are NOT choices. You cannot link N/A to anything.

• For Example: You could with 3 successes link 3 points of bashing damage  with +1 difficulty to all rolls for remainder of the night.

• Duration column does NOT apply to damage, only difficulty, flaws, realm and spirits.

• Count Successes even if botch. Failure however means zero successes which does no damage at all. AWESOME!

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PARADOX FLAWS:

Paradox flaws are basically supernatural side effects related to the magic cast, that inhibit the mage in some manner that's appropriate. Paradox flaws will generally only affect the mage themselves, but others can notice it, and the most severe may hinder others as an indirect side effect.

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• Trivial Flaws: These are barely noticeable or slightly inconvenient, and probably lasts a short time. The mage's watch may run backwards due to Time effects, or his hair may stand on end due to Forces, for instance.

• Minor Flaws: A minor flaw may be troublesome and may stick around for a while, but it won't usually be dangerous. The mage's feet may stick to the ground for a turn due to Matter tinkering, or a Life effect may cause a sneezing attack. These generally cause a difficulty penalty of 1 or so for certain actions.

• Moderate Flaws: Moderate is a relative term, since these flaws can be dangerous and hamper the mage significantly and obviously. A Mind effect may cause the mage to suddenly only speak in a jumbled mess, for instance. These can cause a much larger difficulty penalty to a variety of tasks.

• Severe Flaws: Severe flaws are, well, severe, and incredibly obvious or dangerous. The mage might cause all cloth items that come nearby to writhe uncontrollably, or in his own case, dangerously (Choking or binding the mage), for instance.

• Drastic Flaws: These are the nastiest ways magic can backfire. A mage might suddenly start uncontrollably firing off magical attacks at himself or others, he may lose an Attribute or ability point due to some physical or mental degradation, or he may gain some minor Flaw as a permanent problem.

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PARADOX SPIRITS:

Paradox spirits embody the Consensus' desire to keep reality normal and uninterrupted. They tend to show up only when a mage suffers a significantly nasty backlash from paradox, and they rarely physically manifest. Generally, they'll work to correct the problem and hamper the mage that attracted them. Generally, the bigger the backlash, the more powerful the spirit.

No Spirit magic below level 5  can affect a Paradox spirit, other than to cause direct and vulgar damage (Compounding the problem). In addition, even a mage with Spirit 5 needs twice the successes as normal.

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PARADOX SPIRIT NOTES:

• Once destroyed come back with 1 extra point added to each of its attributes. (You destroy it, it comes back stronger!)

• Harass the mage wherever he may be when he attempts to  use magic. (Generally this will be an attack)

• Disappears ONLY when the duration is over.

• If the mage chooses Realm + Paradox Spirit, the Spirit will be in the realm -with- the mage.

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GENERALLY SPIRITS CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING ATTRIBUTES.

THE VALUES OF EACH ATTIBUTE ARE EQUAL TO THE POINTS VALUE INDICATED ON BACKASH TABLE.

RAGE (Strength Value = to points)

GNOSIS (Mental and Social Dots = to points )

WILLPOWER (Physical Dots = to points)

ESSENCE: (Health Value = to points)

 

ROLL VALUES:

ATTACK  = WILLPOWER + RAGE

DEFENCE  =  GNOSIS + WILLPOWER

WILLPOWER ROLLS: WILLPOWER

MENTAL & SOCIAL FEATS :GNOSIS

PHYSICAL FEATS: WILLPOWER

MOVEMENT: WILLPOWER

ACTIONS: Spend 1 rage point for additional actions. (str does not decrease)

MAY SPEND WILLPOWER : To ignore mind/mental effects for one scene. (wp rank does not decrease)

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For the sake of Crossover, Garou have no trouble affecting a Paradox Spirit with their normal gifts and rites; as creatures of static reality, the Paradox spirits have no special protection against them. However, that doesn't mean they won't be angered if their tasks are interrupted. Most shifters see Paradox spirits as an odd type of Weaver spirit, punishing Namers for altering reality without permission.

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NOTE: Paradox spirits can only exist in the umbra or the real world. They cannot enter the shadowlands or the dreaming.

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PARADOX REALMS:

Paradox realms are places for the worst offenders of vulgar casting. Generally, a Paradox Realm reflects the sphere and specific effect used to cause the problem, and using magic to try and get out likely makes things worse. A mage must either wait out their punishment or find a mundane solution, depending on the specific case.

This is going to be a roleplay situation and the duration and what you experience depends on the storyteller. Generally it should not be treated as a vacation but a terrible experience you do NOT want to experience again.

Paradox realms are "OH NO" rather than "OH WOW!" You should emerge from the Paradox realm with some humility at the very least!

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WHITEOUT : THE PARADOX GLITCH

Even a reality as flexible as the Digital Web has its limits… and when those limits get pushed by too much energy and information shifting around at once, the Web crashes. The resulting Whiteout can be as innocuous as a localized slowdown or as vast as the Great Crash that took the entire net offline in ’97. Anyone with a lick of sense fears a replay of that particular incident, so folks online tend to avoid throwing their weight around too freely.
THE LAG
Story-wise, Whiteouts de-rez the offending netizen. Large ones crash parts of a sector, and really large ones trash the area and everyone in it. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can spot an impending Whiteout by the lag: a stuttering effect that slows and pixelates everyone in the surrounding area. Experienced netizens know to log out immediately when lag shows up. If a sector starts lagging, a Whiteout’s on the way.

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A netizen can invoke the Whiteout when he accumulates five Paradox points or more, especially if he accumulates them all at once. 
Thankfully, Paradox doesn’t carry over between Earth and the Web unless the offending mage has climbed up into the Web from some other area of the Umbra. Going offline dumps a mage’s net-based Paradox; he can return a minute or so afterward with no ill effects.

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GETTING OUTTA DODGE
A large-scale Whiteout – that is, one involving more than 10 points of Paradox – signals its approach with lag. Every character nearby, except the one who provoked the backlash, gets one action in which to ditch out and avoid the blast.

ROLL: WITS + TECHNOLOGY (COMPUTER) 

DIFFICULTY 16+

SUCCESS: The  character was able to drop offline in time to escape the Whiteout.

FAILURE: The character gets hit with half damage

BOTCH: Means the character takes full damage.

 

If a bystander plans to stay online and ride out the backlash, then she takes half damage from the Whiteout. The person who triggered it, however, has no such options. He’s stuck. It’s worth mentioning that folks who court Whiteout aren’t terribly popular online.

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The Chaos Dump
The dread of every netizen alive, a chaos dump blasts both the icon and its user’s consciousness into fractals. The meat and the mind remain connected through the process, which results in an awful kind of Internet oblivion. Fortunately, chaos dumps are rare – typically the result of a huge Paradox backlash in the web. Among netizens, deliberately inflicting a chaos dump on someone is like
using nerve gas on a crowded subway – the unforgivable act of someone too far gone for salvation. This is not to say, of course, that people don’t do such things; those who do, however, are hated and hunted by almost everyone

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