Paradigms Unleashed

By Jonathan Lang (traveler@io.com)

Introduction

This document attempts to open up new possibilities for both Awakened magi and their hedge brethren. In so doing, it erodes away some of what separates them.

In fact, the difference between a magus (an Awakened mage) and a sorcerer (a hedge wizard) is overstated. A magus has Arete, while a sorcerer does not. And Arete is a two-edged sword; while it allows the magus to improvise in a way that a sorcerer cannot, it also subjects the magus to the scourge of Paradox, something that the sorcerer is immune to.

Notice: The rules and suggestions made within are not for most troupes; they require a degree of adaptability on everyone's part that not even the traditional spheres do. You have been warned . . . .

The Generalists

No doubt about it, the nine traditional spheres are a very useful tool to the magus. In fact, they are so useful that when the fledgeling Houses of Hermes invented them in the fifteenth century, even the Council's sworn enemies, the Order of Reason, quickly adopted them. Over the next five centuries, the only significant changes made to them was to one or two names; Connection became Correspondence, and -- for the Technocracy -- Spirit became Dimensional Science.

But despite their wild success, the traditional spheres remain an artificial tool. Many Disparates never adopted them when they were first introduced, and even today most Orphans and Crafts don't use them.

When creating a magical style that uses non-traditional spheres, decide how many spheres are in the magus' style; there must be at least three, but there is no upper limit. Refer to the following table for further details:

Non-Traditional Spheres

Total Spheres	3	4	5	6	7	8	9 or more
Starting Spheres	2	2	3	4	4	5	6
Freebie Cost	21	16	13	11	9	8	7
Improving Specialty Sphere (x new level)	18	14	11	9	8	7	6
Improving Other Spheres (x new level)	21	16	13	11	9	8	7
Gaining New Spheres	30	23	18	15	13	11	10

There are no hard-and-fast rules for deciding what a non-traditional sphere can do. A few guidelines, however:

• Try to keep the sphere domains roughly equivalent to each other. A style that has eight highly specialized spheres and one sphere of "everything else" is an abuse of the rules. In fact, any style that has a "catch-all" sphere is flawed.



• To get a rough idea of what a given level of a Sphere can do; consult the following list (from Mage: the Sorcerers Crusade, page 245):
  1. Sense something.
  2. Nudge it.
  3. Affect it in a lasting way.
  4. Do something big with it.
  5. Do something really big with it.
  
  
  
• There are several systems of alternate Spheres out there already. You could incorporate some of these into your style with little trouble. Also, Alistair Young has devised a Twelve-Sphere scheme that's worth looking at.



• Several other systems could be translated into Mage terms with some work. Ars Magica is an obvious source for this, as is GURPS' Rune Magic system. There is also a very nice Web expansion of the Ritual Magic system found in GURPS Voodoo that would work well as Sphere magic.

When do you start discarding foci, and how quickly do you discard them? It depends. If you're playing a modern mage, designate one ninth of your spheres as not needing foci for every point of Arete that you have beyond the first.Ffor technomancers, designate one fifth of them for every level of Arete beyond five. For Renaissance magi and Daedeleans, designate one third of them for ever level beyond six. Technocrats cannot discard foci until Arete 10, at which point they no longer need foci at all.

The Specialists

A sorcerer has no Arete. As such, he is incapable of learning spheres the same way that a magus does. But he can create new paths that mimic the spheres, though in a very limited fashion. To define such a "pseudo-sphere," choose a specialty of one sphere and select five effects of increasing potency that fall within that specialty. So one might define the Path of the Umbra as a specialty of Spirit, with the standard effects being Spirit Sight, the Spirit Kiss, Stepping Sideways, Breach the Gauntlet, and Deep Umbra Travel. Additional effects can be learned, but they follow the rules for Rituals; so the aforementioned sorcerer could also learn Gauntlet Prison, but since it is a Level 4 Effect, he would first have to attain four dots in the Path of the Umbra. Furthermore, these rotes will always require the use of magical tools ('foci' in Mage parlance), and their effects cannot be varied from their description.

The storyteller decides an appropriate combination of Attribute and Ability that would be used to invoke an Effect. Any Effect that would normally require a magus to expend Quintessence will cost the Sorcerer an equal amount of Willpower. Otherwise, use the normal rules for hedge magic as presented in World of Darkness: Sorcerer.

Other sources of inspiration for creating new Paths would be vampiric Disciplines, shapechanger Rites and Gifts, wraithly Arcanoi, and faerie Arts and Agendas. Each of these is, to a degree, dependent on the nature of the type of night-folk that they are associated with, but there are exceptions. The Risen, for instance, can learn a small selection of vampire-like Disciplines; these are actually specialized Arcanoi that mimic the effects of the associated Disciplines.

In a similar manner, a Storyteller might permit a sorcerer to create a new Path that is based on the powers of the night-folk. Be warned that this would tend to reduce the uniqueness of the various night-folk. Vampiric thaumaturgy and shapeshifter Rites would be the easiest to translate, followed closely by faerie Arts and Agendas and then by other vampiric Disciplines. The wraithly Arcanoi would be among the most difficult to mimic, if only because it is so rare for a mortal to witness their use, and equivalents of shapeshifter gifts would have to be learned as rituals, or not at all. Fae Realms are probably better treated as the basis for a set of non-traditional Spheres.

If a given Discipline or Thaumaturgic Path calls for a Blood Point expenditure, its hedge magic counterpart wuold require an equivalent expenditure of Willpower. Likewise with shapechanger rites and gifts requiring Gnosis or Rage, Arcanoi that require Pathos or Angst, and Arts calling for Glamour.

Magicks Great and Small

According to the official line, it is impossible for a magus to learn hedge magic. This has apparently been done as a way of evading "hybrid" characters, in an attempt to preserve game balance. It has the side-effect of making magi and sorcerers feel like two completely different groups. Yet, in the Book of Crafts, we are shown that there are a number of mystical societies that make little to no distinction between a magus and a sorcerer. Also, no one, magus or sorcerer, seems to have any difficulty learning the Technocracy's equivalent of hedge magic, science and technology.

If the Storyteller permits, a magus can learn paths of hedge magic. During character creation, they are purchased with Freebie Points, costing 4 points per dot. During play, they are gained and improved exactly like Spheres, except that they are not limited by the magus' Arete. They are, however, still subject to Paradox or the Scourge. Any use of a Path is treated as Coincidental or Casual Magick.

Why would a magus bother studying a Path? In the first place, he may have studied it prior to Awakening. Contrary to published material, a magus may not lose his hedge magic upon Awakening. Also, Paths provide a useful way to fine-tune a magical style.

With Storyteller permission, a magus may learn a Rote that he doesn't have the requisite Spheres for, provided that he has sufficient Arete. Alternatively, if the magus has studied a Path of magic that matches a given Rote's concept, the Storyteller can allow the magus to substitute his Path rating for his Arete for the purposes of learning that Rote. Rotes learned in this manner are effectively hedge magic rituals until the necessary Spheres have been learned. Suggested cost: 2 x the highest Sphere required by the Rote.