ADEPT ROTES

Prerequisites: Occult ◉◉◉◉ Arete  ◉◉◉◉ Relevant sphere rank ◉◉◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

 

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COROSPONDENCE

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Bubble of Reality
Correspondence ◉◉◉◉
By removing a Pattern from interaction with "space," a Correspondence Adept can cause an object to exist in its own sort of pocket dimension. Actually, the subject exists beyond the bounds of space, but the distinction doesn't matter much. What's important is that normal space and reality can't interact with the target. However, the mage can still make Correspondence connections between normal space and the "bubbled" subject, so that it's possible to see back out to the world or to scry on the object even as it's cocooned away. Normally, the object exists in its own non-space and the mage establishes a link at need. If the mage wants to keep a link going, cause the bubble's apparent linkage to move or encompass a large area, he must generate a sufficiently large Effect.

Hermes Portal
Correspondence ◉◉◉◉
Free-standing gates or doorways to other places are staples of magical travel. The Order of Hermes claims to have pioneered a specific version that creates a permanent Gate through the Tapestry and then includes a ban (see Ward) to prevent the passage of any thing but sentient, willing creatures. Such a Gate makes for quick and accessible transit between any two places desired, and the mage can make it usable by others easily.
Usually, a properly banned Gate seems like a darkened window; Correspondence Sensing allows the mage to trace and view the other end, or the Gate might not ban light and therefore would appear to be a panorama of the destination. Without a ban, anything on the other side of the Gate can pass through freely, which can cause all sorts of complications — the Wu Lung reportedly use an Effect called tsuiho that blasts an enemy with the fires of Heaven (Gated in from the sun). Either sort of Gate is a vulgar Effect, although a banned Gate is usually worth the additional work due to its greater safety. Of course, putting the bans on the Gate requires knowledge of the appropriate Spheres (usually Life, Mind and Matter).
Portals can also open into multiple and varied locations. Such a portal might be keyed to a specific thought or password (with Mind), to a sequence of places (passing through them with Time), or to different places according to the subject (with Matter or Life). A particularly defensive portal could cause anyone without the right password to be deposited in one place while all of their material possessions wind up somewhere else. Such portals are staples of travel between heavily guarded Nodes and Chantries, as the magical defenses let mages discriminate easily between who can use such portals and where they'll go.

Polyappearance
Correspondence ◉◉◉◉
Instead of disappearing from one place and reappearing in another, an Adept of Correspondence can choose to simply stack himself in multiple places simultaneously. The mage seems to inhabit all of the spaces at once. Onlookers in the various places see the mage react to the surroundings of all the locations. Thus, the mage could react to things that aren't there in one place but are present in another. The mage takes in the sensations of every place at once.
Just because the mage exists in multiple places doesn't mean that he can cause those multiple objects to interact, though. The mage might grab or use something in one place, but it won't have any effect on the other places that the mage exists, unless additional Correspondence magic teleports or co-locates the subject. The mage also suffers the consequences of everything in all the locations. If a mage is in an open area and a small room at the same time, the walls of the small room block the mage's sight entirely (since there's still really only one mage, just experiencing multiple spaces). Getting attacked by multiple people is a bad idea.... On the other hand, polyappearance can be advantageous. Akashic Brothers multiply their positions to strike from multiple angles at once, while Hermetic mages hold conferences with multiple groups simultaneously.
If the mage actually wants to process information from multiple locations, a Mind Effect is invaluable. With Life and Prime, the mage can also make additional bodies, and then use Mind to split her attentions between them, though only one body at a time can actually do magic (in effect, the mage's attention focuses only on one actual body at a time).
 

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ENTROPY

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Blight of Aging
Entropy ◉◉◉◉
Infusing a Life Pattern with excess Entropy can have all manner of negative effects, primarily by accelerating the process of decrepitude. The caster doesn't necessarily specify any sort of particular physical problem. Rather, the mage simply curses the creature, afflicting the being with a rapid aging and disease. Though Life Patterns are normally self-correcting, the right combination of Entropic factors can drive a Pattern haywire, eventually causing it to fall apart and destroy itself. Rapid aging, cancer, system failure and multiple infections can all result.
A significantly strong curse can reduce the creature to a decaying corpse in a matter of days. More subtle curses may cause the victim to suffer a relapse of an old wound, a nasty disease or a slow slide into a coma. The mage doesn't choose the result. Instead, she simply levies the curse and watches as the individual suffers the results (like in Steven King's Thinner). Medical attention might slow the onset of such a curse, but normal science can do nothing to prevent the deterioration. Victims wither and die slowly, or they just suffer some sort of debilitating disfigurement, and only an enlightened magician or scientist can find a way to battle the curse (with sufficient command of countermagic).
Life-destroying curses are a common (if powerful) staple of most magical styles, but they are usually relegated to the status of dire and dangerous magic. Dabbling in such magic is a quick path to Jhor.

Midwife's Blessing
Entropy ◉◉◉◉
Remember all those stories about fairy godmothers and blessed children? Such blessings are possible with the right command of Entropy. The mage's blessing doesn't ensure specific qualities, but it does help to ensure that the child will grow with health and strength. The usual Verbena form of the Effect is a laying of hands on the belly of the mother-to-be, with the blessing, "Grow tall, straight of limb and well favored." Hermetic mages have been known to enchant for specific qualities in their children, instilling specific forms of vis (Quintessence) with Resonance designed to protect against negative qualities. Progenitors are more straightforward, deliberately engineering genetic qualities to remove negative traits and disease susceptibility.
Obviously, ensuring that a child is completely bereft of mischance is too difficult to perform, but a well-cast ritual can at least prevent birth defects or fatal diseases. Protecting a child all through childhood would require an extremely strong ritual (as noted on the Damage and Duration table). The mage also can't specify any specific gifts for the child; all she can do is ensure that harm or misfortune just won't come the child's way.

FORCES

Embracing the Earth Mother
Forces ◉◉◉◉
The Earth Mother sleeps only fitfully, and the Dreamspeakers can cause Her to stir in Her slumber with their drums and calls. The weight of Gaia's attention draws around the target, focusing gravity about him. Virtual Adepts and Sons of Ether perform similar feats technologically, by concentrating and redirecting gravitons. Euthanatos sometimes freeze their targets in place with the "weight of terror."
Successes scored on such a result focus the force of gravity around the target, making the victim seem to weigh more. A good guideline is that each success beyond the initial casting requirements increases gravity around the subject by one g (Earth gravity), so with four extra successes a subject would feel five g's (normal gravity plus four). Thus, a 75 kilo man would feel as if he were a whopping 375 kilograms! (That's about a 165 pound man to an 825 pound man, for all you English weight system users.) The character can probably stand in g forces up to his strength rating. Beyond that, he's reduced to hugging the ground, and if the forces exceed twice his Strength rating, he starts taking damage from his own body weight — excess levels of gravity score damage on the damage chart normally.
Hermetic mages are known to concentrate surrounding forces like fires and electricity into their opponents as well, diverting massive power to strike their enemies.

Storm Watch
Forces ◉◉◉◉
By redirecting wind forces and heat patterns, the mage can bring rapid change to the weather. Verbena and Dreamspeakers in particular perform such rituals with dances, sympathetic magic or paeans. The mage can banish wind, bring up or disperse clouds and cause the surroundings to become hotter or colder. With two successes, die mage could perhaps stir up a light breeze or cool off a hot day, while with 10 successes, the mage could generate a heat wave or bring in rapidly moving clouds over a small area.

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LIFE

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Mutate Form
Life ◉◉◉◉
The mage can alter the form of any living creature, changing its appearance and function much like the Better Body Effect. Disguises and beneficial alterations are popular among Tradition mages in varying degrees — Verbena sometimes give their pets unusual capabilities, Euthanatos might change the appearance of their confederates and Hermetics would just deform people with whom they became irate.
The mage can also transform himself, taking on animal form, changing shape and generally screwing with the basic nature of his Pattern. In this case, the mage can actually turn his Life Pattern's true nature into that of another creature; he can become a true cat, for instance, and thus avoid the problem of Pattern bleeding due to internal conflict. On the downside, the mage fundamentally is whatever form he assumes. He must spend a point of Willpower each day to retain knowledge of his former self, his intellect and human instincts; he may also need time to adapt to his new form (as adjudicated by the Storyteller — two experience points is a good measure). Certain Mind magic can help the mage to get around some of these problems, which is fortunate, because if the mage runs out of Willpower in his animal form, he completely loses his identity and believes himself to be a normal animal of that sort.
The successes rolled determine the scale of change possible with this Effect. As with any gross physiological change, there is a risk of Pattern bleeding if the true nature of the Pattern isn't altered.

Physiological Emotion Control
Life ◉◉◉◉
Many Virtual Adepts view human beings as biological computers. By inducing certain reactions within the physical body, the Adepts can "reprogram" a person's behavior. Emotions like anger or fear can be induced by causing the body to release adrenaline, while endorphin stimulation can bring on intense pleasure. Even depression has biological causes. This "tyranny" of the physical body over the mind is one of the reasons that the Virtual Adepts wish to attain a virtual reality state, where that body is left behind and the mind is no longer a slave to the body's desires.
Any Adept of Life can induce emotions in a subject by causing the person's body to release or stifle the correct hormones. More successes on the Effect roll make the emotion more severe.

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MATTER

Alloy
Matter ◉◉◉◉
By grabbing two Patterns and compressing them together, the mage makes an alloy out of solid objects. He can shove a chunk of wood into the middle of a piece of plastic or blend two types of metal into a composite. Such an alloy still retains the properties of its individual components, but it might have its own characteristics if it's mixed finely enough. That is, a chunk of wood stuck in a wall of plastic would still burn, but if the wood were diffused throughout the plastic, the wall might have a pleasing wooden texture while remaining fire retardant (although it could well give off poisonous smoke when it did catch fire).

Transformers
Matter ◉◉◉◉
Complex and radical changes in composition let a mage with the appropriate knowledge alter the function of various devices. A mage could turn his wrist-watch into a dart-firing weapon or cause his stereo system to also house a telephone. There's almost no limit to what can be done, although the mage must have the knowledge necessary to build and use the device. Such devices are just reorganizations of existing Matter, so they must still conform to the general laws of the consensus. That is, the mage could cause his wristwatch to also have a dart-firing mechanism (since someone could conceivably build such a device normally), but it wouldn't be able to also serve as a teleporter.

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MIND

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Manipulate Memory
Mind ◉◉◉◉
Altering memories is delicate work that requires incredible finesse. An Adept of Mind can not only probe and delve into the subject's memory, but he can alter such memories, implant false history, wipe areas blank, give the subject special knowledge or even leave the victim a tabula rasa. Such work is not to be taken lightly; the mage must invade the subject as per Possession, and then accumulate successes to alter memories. Unless the mage also takes some precautions like immobilizing the victim or performing this Effect in the subject's sleep, the target is likely to notice the sudden gaps and changes in memory. Although the subject can't remember what's changed, the process is a terrifying one to someone who's not expecting it. Thus, it behooves the mage to work with the utmost subtlety, unless he plans to simply rip apart the victim's memory and leave it at that. Acting this way is a good way to pick up nasty Entropic Resonance like Destructive and Obliviating.
When the mage alters memory, he can make the memories as realistic or artificial as he likes. The subject might be left with only vague recollections, cartoon-like images that can't possibly be real or crystal-clear images of a life he never lived. A subject wiped of all memory does not necessarily lose his Talents, Skills and Advantages, but he certainly doesn't know what he can and can't do. Subjects who have special knowledge implanted can call on rudimentary Knowledges, although until they've become accustomed to their new database of information (by spending experience), they will be able to access only the basic Knowledge (one dot). Still, memory-alteration is a great way to de-empower enemies without killing them, or to implant important knowledge into someone's head quickly

Possession
Mind ◉◉◉◉
One of the more fearsome Effects possible for Adepts of Mind, Possession allows a mage to exert direct control over the subject's thoughts. If the mage succeeds in Besting the subject's Willpower, he can control the target's actions directly, either taking over the subject completely or just influencing specific, desired parts of the mind.
When the mage takes total possession of a target, the victim's thoughts become overlaid with the mage's. The mage needs only think the appropriate actions, and the victim performs them naturally, often oblivious to the invading mage. The mage can direct the subject's body easily (to the subject's normal limits, of course) and dig through memories or surface thoughts as with Probe Thoughts. The subject will even remember all of his thoughts as his own; his entire mind is subsumed by the mage's power.
Should the mage decide to exert control over a simple part of the target, she can command the subject's motive processes jerkily, seize emotional responses, direct the target's thoughts or perform any combination of such. Unless the mage seizes the target's thoughts, the victim will be aware that someone is controlling him.
Establishing partial control, of course, is much easier than totally suppressing a victim's personality. Simply making a subject jerk an arm or start crying uncontrollably would only require two or three successes. Actually overpowering someone's mind requires the caster to at least best the target's Willpower rating. Even if the mage only exerts partial control, the target is likely to remember the incident unless the mage also uses additional magic to control or erase the target's memories.

Astral Projection
Mind ◉◉◉◉
The Astral Realms are reaches of pure thought. Because of their ephemeral nature, it's often difficult to navigate or survive in them. Adepts of Mind can make short jaunts into astral space; Masters can separate the mind from the body to make extended journeys. In such realms, the mage experiences pure thought constructs, meets beings of thought and passes with incredible speed through the highest reaches of the spirit world. Successes scored on such an Effect determine how long the mage can remain outside of his body, and how deeply he can penetrate into the Astral Umbra.
Unlike Spirit magic, which allows the mage to enter the spirit world physically, Astral Projection releases the mage's consciousness as a free-floating thought. The mage can be detected with Mind senses, but he is otherwise invisible and intangible. Since the mage has no body, he must rely on magical senses to detect or influence his surroundings. He can still use other Mind Effects, of course, and he could take control of a subject thus if necessary. Without recourse to ritual and magical foci, the mage may have difficulty with successive magic, but at least such magic is coincidental in the Umbra.
If the mage draws his consciousness down to Earth (or just never heads for the Astral Umbra), he can zip about the material world as a formless and massless entity traveling at the speed of thought. The expenditure of a point of Willpower enables the mage to manifest for a single turn as a ghostly, hazy and idealized image, but he cannot interact with the world physically without using magic.
Astral entities can interact with other astral beings and similar thought-constructs only. Since the physical body means nothing, the mage uses Wits instead of Dexterity, Manipulation instead of Strength and Intelligence instead of Stamina. Ghosts, spirits and other astral forms can do combat with the mage. Such attacks injure the psyche of the mage and sap his will, draining Willpower points instead of health levels. If a combatant runs out of Willpower, he is disrupted. A spirit or mummy would simply dissipate into the Umbra, while a mage finds that his silver cord, the tether between body and mind, snaps.
A mage lost in the Umbra fades away into the Epiphamies (realms of pure thought). A Master can avoid this fate for a time, but his will erodes slowly, and the individual vanishes into the mists of the Umbra, never to be seen again. Mages have reported meeting once-human astral beings that seemed quite capable of surviving as pure minds, but such an existence is beyond the capabilities of even a Master, The only recourse for a mage lost in the Astral Umbra is to reconnect to a physical body using Possession — be it his own, or someone else's.
Note that a mage who projects his awareness astrally has no sense of his physical body unless he uses other Effects (like Correspondence) to maintain a sensory link to his body. Thus, the mage is well-advised to keep his physical form hidden and protected.

 

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PRIME

Create Talismans and Artifacts
Prime ◉◉◉◉
Although it's technically possible to create some forms of minor magical items with lesser Prime power, most potent objects require at least an Adept's knowledge of Prime. The mage essentially concentrates Prime energy and reweaves it into the desired Effects (using other Spheres known, or guided by special grimoires and mentors), imbuing the object with a magical Pattern in addition to its own natural qualities. The item gains certain powers, perhaps even taking on elements of the mage's Resonance and personality.
A mage can also use this power to create a Soulgem, a special Periapt that concentrates Quintessence with her own Resonance. Such an item is tied intimately to the mage's Avatar, and it can be used by only the mage herself.

Flames of Purification
Prime ◉◉◉◉
Mages of the Celestial Chorus are not destructive by nature. Still, they have been known to wield the power of Prime to cleanse reality of abominations. By fanning her focus over a chosen object, a Chorister can invoke this Effect and cause the object to burst into mystical flames. This fire sheds no heat, yet it devours the target quickly.
The mage releases the object's Quintessence back into the ephemera of the Tapestry. The item suffers aggravated damage, and its Pattern evaporates into nothingness if it's destroyed completely. Only inanimate objects or forces can be dispersed with this power. With the Bond of Blood variant, the mage can even channel a tiny amount of this Quintessential destruction into a separate Effect.

Wellspring
Prime ◉◉◉◉
When a mage finds a place of strong Resonance that matches her own power, she can reaffirm her place in the Tapestry and draw strength from the matching emotions. The mage simply "opens up" to the power carried by those emotions, and refreshes her Quintessence naturally. It's like a sudden shot of energy that comes straight into the mage's innermost drives.
What constitutes acceptably strong and appropriate Resonance is, of course, up to the Storyteller. A mage generally needs to use an Effect of this sort at a place where the Resonance is powerful enough that it's felt even by normal people. Even if the location isn't a Node, the mage can draw a small amount of Quintessence from it (generally one point for every three successes scored on the Effect, up to a limit of the mage's Avatar rating). Once the mage has filled up her reservoir of Resonance (drawn out Quintessence equal to her Resonance Trait rating), she's "used up" the metaphysical power in the place, and she will have to come back later for more.

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SPIRIT

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Affix Gauntlet
Spirit ◉◉◉◉
By hardening the Gauntlet in an area, the mage can cause any number of effects. He can trap a spirit into a place or object, create a ward that ejects a spirit from a space, or tightly control an environment and protect it against spirit entry. Successes scored on such an Effect generally raise the Gauntlet, but they could have other consequences.
By warding an area, the mage can prevent spirits from entering or leaving a space. Successes generate an area and a duration for such a ward. This ward exists in both the material and physical world — any construct of ephemera cannot pass through unless it can defeat the potency of the ward.
An interlocking pattern of Spirit energy can trap a spirit in place, or force it out of an area. The mage's player must score more successes than the victim in a contested roll — typically the mage's Effect versus the subject's ability to travel in spirit form (be it through Spirit magic, a spirit's powers or whatever). If the mage succeeds, he can banish a spirit from a place or person (with exorcism) or lock it in place so that it can't escape. Such powers are a staple Chorus and Order of Hermes' means for dealing with demons and other evil spirit manifestations.
Trapping a spirit in an object creates a fetish. A willing spirit can empower an object deliberately; an unwilling spirit must have its will broken by the mage's Effect. If the mage succeeds, the Effect creates a temporary fetish. With a willing spirit the fetish lasts as long as the deal allows; for an unwilling spirit, the mage must use successes to generate a duration for the spirit trap.
Lastly, the mage can place a spirit in possession of a body temporarily. Most often this is done by wrapping shards of the Gauntlet around the mage, holding the spirit in place so that the mage can tap its power, but the mage could also cause a spirit to possess an unwilling victim. In the former case, the mage must best the spirit's will (if it resists), but can then draw on the spirit's special Charms and powers; in the latter case, the mage must overcome the victim's will, and then can inject the spirit into the victim for the determined duration.

Breach the Gauntlet
Spirit ◉◉◉◉
Like the earlier power of Stepping Sideways, this capability lets the mage cross into the spirit world — but he does so by tearing open a hole in the Gauntlet (or, perhaps, bringing spirit and material worlds completely together again). For the duration of the Effect, any being that's not specifically warded can travel the gate, entering or leaving the spirit world.
A breach of the Gauntlet is generally quite vulgar, but it can be the only way to get allies or Sleepers without Spirit skill into the Umbra. Some spirits also crave entry into the material world, but they do not have the power to cross over on their own.
Naturally, this Effect is very difficult; the difficulty varies with the strength of the Gauntlet, and the successes required are usually high (five or more plus duration and area affected). Note that passengers through the gate do take storm damage from the Umbra just as per the Stepping Sideways rote! (Sleepers, ironically, therefore enter the Umbra with the least risk.)

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TIME

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Contingent Effect
Time ◉◉◉◉
By placing a hold on a magical Effect, the mage turns it into a contingency: a spell that doesn't go off until some specified condition comes to pass. Doing so requires the use of other Spheres. (NOTE: THIS IS NOW COVERED UNDER HUNG SPELLS AND IS AVAILABLE AT ALL LEVELS OF TIME)

Programmed Event
Time ◉◉◉◉
The mage stops time in a localized field and sets a time when it shall resume. Say she lifts a cup from a table and drops it. By freezing time around the cup for one scene, she causes the cup to hang in midair until the scene ends. At that time, the cup falls and breaks. When events in physical reality are frozen for extended periods, Paradox forces usually erode the magic and free the events from stopped time prematurely. Also, if someone were to grab the cup, static reality would reassert itself and the magical field would disperse.
It's possible to generate stasis over a fairly large area, but it's both difficult and dangerous. Anything more than a yard or two of area causes a significant temporal disturbance, noticeable by mages nearby (say, in the same city). The Backlash from such a tremendous casting can be painful as well. The larger the area, the more quickly outside time erodes the stasis, so such fields fend to collapse rapidly.

 

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