ROTES

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ROTE

noun

mechanical or habitual repetition of something to be learned.

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This is the way mages (and players learn) how to spell cast.

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Rotes are reliable and dependable effects, or rather "tried and tested" effects. 

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LEVEL 1 INITIATE

LEVEL 2 DISCIPLE

LEVEL 2 APPRENTICE

LEVEL 3 ADEPT

LEVEL 5 MASTER

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A mage has the following requirements for using rotes.

1. A mage must have an occult ranking equal to the level of the rote they wish to learn.

2. A mage must have Arete ranking equal to the the level of the rote they wish to learn.

3. A mage must have the required spheres at the appropriate ranks  in order to learn the rote.

4. A mage may not take rotes for a tradition if they are not in that tradition. Simply put, Belief shapes the way Rotes work, If you don't use the same belief system, you can't really "Will" an effect into existence as you don't hold belief in the way the effect works.

However to make things simple Faction/Tradition rotes appear on the relevant faction pages.

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We recommend practising Rotes to get used to the Art of spellcasting. Think of it as learning music. Learning how a spell is put together, what rolls are required all better equips you for learning how to cast an actual spell. It also teaches you a little something about the -type- of spells your tradition typically uses. 

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ROTES

You will note the rotes used by traditions combine several spheres to create their effect.

The amount of successes required for combination rotes (not free formed magic) is equal to the combined dots of the highest two spheres used in the effect.

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Do Remember allocation of successes and success limitations still applies to rotes

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CUSTOM ROTES

Mages can write their own rotes however there is a formula that MUST be adhered to.

PREQUISTITES:

• Your Arete must be equal to the highest sphere level used in the effect.

• You must own ALL spheres used in the effect.

• Your OCCULT rank must be equal to the highest sphere level used in the effect.

• The amount of successes required is equal to the TWO HIGHEST sphere dots of the rote. (This means 10 successes is the highest required by any rote, while improvised magic requires an amount of successes equal to ALL the sphere dots combined, this is where rotes have an edge over improvised magic, less successes required overall)

• While the base difficulty remains unchanged you automatically subtract 1 for highest ranking sphere being affinity sphere and subtract 1 for it being a focus. However the rote must still be written with base difficulty as it is meant to be. As other difficulty modifiers may negate this.

• Your Custom Rotes can only be used by your tradition and those with the relevant spheres, arete and occult level.

• The vulgarity or coincidentally of a rote is still subject to scrutiny.

• There is a limitation on the amount of CUSTOM ROTES a mage may learn, this is to prevent a mage "ROTING" every single spell possibility. The limitation is as follows. INTELLIGENCE + OCCULT + ARETE (Maximum 20) If a mage wishes to replace a CUSTOM ROTE with another CUSTOM ROTE then that is not a problem, all CUSTOM ROTES muse be recorded on the character sheet. It's easy to learn things by rote that already exist, but composing your own rotes is harder and requires more creativity and memory.

• CUSTOM ROTES must be approved by a mage storyteller before being added to your sheet.

• There is no limit on the one dot effects listed in the rotes section or your tradition rotes.

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