My homebrew Sorcery system. Now 100% more user friendly.

Glossary​

• Terrestrials- Exalted and beings as "powerful" as a Dragonblooded.
• Celestial- Exalted and beings as "powerful" as Lunars and Sidereals.
• Solaroids- Exalted and beings as "powerful" as Solars, Abyssals and Infernals.
• Essence: The power stat of the Exalted. Substitute Powerstat/2 rounded down to a minimum of 1 for beings who do not have Essence.
• Excellencies - The generic dice adders that the Exalts used.
• Indefinite- The effect lasts till the Sorcerer removes it or dies, whichever comes first. The Sorcerer must commit one Willpower per effect.
• NPC - Short for "Non-Playable Character". These are the characters that are not played by the main players themselves and most often by the Storyteller.
• PC - Player Character. These are the main characters that the Players themselves control.
• Storyteller - The God of the game. You are their pawns, they control your fate.
• Schools: Schools of Magic. They contain a list of effects unique to each school.
• Spell: The active use of Schools. Spells invoke certain effects depending on schools used and the successes rolled. Spells are temporary but their consequences are not.
• Sorcery: Magic. Warp reality for fun and profit. Sorcery can be shared between Exalted of different types. It is separated into spells and Workings.
• Sorcerer: Someone who has been initiated into Sorcery.
• Means: Things that reduce the difficulty of Spells and Workings.
• Primordials: Once they were the masters of the universe. Then they fell to the might of the Exalted. Those of them who were slain by the Exalted became the Neverborn. Those who surrendered became the Yozis and were imprisoned inside their king.
• Workings: Essentially Rituals used to make permanent effects on the world.

Ancient Sorcery​

The forgotten Primordials built the Universe from chaos. By the power of the forgotten Primordials, the World came into existence and everything within it. Ancient Sorcery is this power, filtered down through fractured glimpses of understanding that cannot begin to describe the intricate elegance of the Universe.

The powers of Ancient Sorcery are divided into spells and sorcerous workings. A spell is a discrete power with a defined cost and effects. Ancient Sorcerous workings, on the other hand, are great changes made to the fabric of the world. Workings require considerable resources and effort to complete.

How do you become a Sorcerer?

The minimum buy in for becoming a Sorcerer is to have at least 7 dots in Willpower. After that, it is just a matter of awakening to the truth of the universe as the tattered remnants of an Ancient and forgotten Godking's Working guides your character to an awakening not seen in eons.

How a character awakens as a Sorcerer depends entirely on them. They can go on a journey that ends with them making a sacrifice or simply fall out of bed one morning and realise that they can see the truth of the Universe……..well a small part of it.

Steps to cast Spells/Workings

Step 1: Declare the school/Working you are going to invoke with base difficulty of 9.

Step 2: Declare which ability you are using. The rating of Ability + 1 is the limit on the level of the Aspect available.

Step 3: Apply all difficulty modifiers from various sources.

Step 4: Spend 1 Willpower or 3 Reagents and Roll Willpower + Essence at the determined difficulty

Step 5: Counter magic applies here.

Step 6: Count the success after reducing any successes lost to counter magic and repeat Step 4 until the player has sufficient successes to cast the Spell/Working.

Step 7: Distribute the Successes among the Aspects and/or effects and caste the spell/working.

Means

Means are things that help reduce the difficulty of the Working or Spell. Strictly speaking, Means are things that you try and stack to push things into your favor. While multiple different means stack, the same means does not stack multiple times.

Assistance: Qualified assistants who are initiated into sorcery.

Complementary Supernatural Power: If the Caster possesses a school, power or charm that helps the roll then it grants a reduction in difficulty.

Infrastructure: Dedicated infrastructure for sorcery like libraries with magic tomes, libraries with sorcerous reagents, etc.

Artifact or item: Special items. It grants a reduction in difficulty.

Bargains of Power: You bargained with a great or terrible power (or like Infernals are one) for Sorcerous might.

Others: Anything else you convince the Storyteller to agree that it will grant a reduction in difficulty.

The difficulty reduction of each Means is directly based on the power of the caster and how much they can gain from the assistance.

Terrestrials: Gain a difficulty reduction of -1 per mean which are together capped at Essence.

Celestials: Gain a difficulty reduction of -2 per mean which are together capped at Essence.

Solaroids: Gain a difficulty reduction of -3 per mean which are together capped at Essence.

Means are NOT necessary, but they are very good to have.

Spells​

To be a sorcerer is to be mad with jagged shards of cosmic awareness and with will and might enough to impose that madness on the world. Tapping into this legacy, a Sorcerer may give form to the inchoate. The Sorcerer spends one Willpower and casts the spell by taking a shape sorcery action.

To take a shape sorcery action, the sorcerer must first declare the general school of the spell she is attempting to cast. She then expends one willpower to make an extended (Willpower + Essence) roll at a base difficulty of 9 before the application of Charms and means. Excellencies NEVER apply to the Willpower + Essence roll.

If a being is using anything other than Essence as a power stat, then use Power Stat/2, rounded down in the place of Essence.

Spells are always cast instantly upon reaching the required number of successes. They last for a certain duration and are NEVER permanent, but the consequences of the said spell always are.

Indefinite effects exist and lasts till the Sorcerer removes it or dies, whichever comes first. The Sorcerer must commit one Willpower per effect. All indefinite spells are valid targets for countermagic and while they do not reduce in function, they stop working once the person casting counter magic gets more successes on the roll than the Sorcerer.

A sorcerer needs only one success to successfully cast a spell though additional successes on the roll may enhance the spell by granting it additional aspects and effects. Sorcerers are explicitly barred from spending Willpower for the roll. Boosted Spells however, require hitting a target number. Once the number has been hit, then any success over the target count for the enhancement of the spell.

You can make as many rolls as you dare but each roll requires spending one Willpower and acts as your action for that turn. In addition, successfully casting the spell only returns 1 Willpower regardless of how much you spend on the spell.

Willpower

Spells cost one point of Willpower per roll as it takes a significant investment of the sorcerer's will to grasp and wield the Essence of the cosmos. This cost must be paid up front, when the sorcerer first begins shaping the spell. If the spell is cast successfully, the realization of the sorcerer's design fulfills her, restoring only one point of the total Willpower spent to fuel the spell. If the spell is lost, blotched, or countered, then all spent Willpower is simply lost.

Schools

There are many different Schools that a sorcerer can possess, for the mutability of the Universe is as limitless as imagination itself. Some examples range from creating illusions, to firing bolts of energy, to seeing the future, to rarer arts like animating the dead, summoning daemons from the hell, and the transmutation of matter.

These abilities usually begin as a basic, almost rudimentary form of the power. Over time, a sorcerer can learn more ways to fine tune that power for a variety of effects.

Each School is unique, different, alien. A school is a natural expression of a character's heroic willpower, powered by nothing but their desire to change the world and the ability that best defines their effort to make their desire a reality.

Spells are an abstraction, representing the act of imposing one's will on reality. Though they may be given memorable and evocative names by characters, spells are more of a mixture of personal desire and the harnessing of Willpower than a discrete power.

A spell has a base difficulty of 9. This difficulty is before the application of Charms, means, etc.

Upgraded spells are those spells that have been upgraded to the First, Second or Third Circle Respectively. Such spell's have their scope but not effects upgraded.

Unlocking and using Schools

How you gain a School is to perform a First Circle Working to crystallize the fragment of your truth and learn how to imprint that into reality, thus gaining an entire school of effects. Then a simple expenditure of willpower is all you need to manifest your truth onto the world and cast the spell.

Ancient Sorcery is the result of reality warping and not stable learning. Thus, a Sorcerer cannot teach another Sorcerer his truth. He can initiate another into Sorcery and guide them to craft or cast their own spells but never teach. Thus, while they may resemble native magic effects, they are a separate system in and of themselves, unique to each Sorcerer.

In addition, they are not as strictly bound to the examples given below. For example, if you use the ability Technology, then you can use the School of Healing to "heal" technology, with healing, you can inflict mental derangements with the Destruction School and so on.

Schools are conceptual and a Sorcerer is a mad mad lad who follows no rules but their own. Thus what a Sorcerer can do with a School is fairly broad, limited only by the successes rolled and the concept of the school. See List of Schools for more details.

The Mechanics in play

You do not purchase schools but instead gather ingredients and perform a Sorcerous Working to rewrite reality to allow yourself to cast spells.

All Sorcerers gain Counter Magic for free upon becoming Sorcerers. Roll Willpower + Essence at a base difficulty 9 with the same modifiers as spells and workings. Each success you score cancels one of the opponent's successes. If the opponent ends up without enough successes for the spell to go off, then it fails and she still loses whatever costs she paid, be it blood, Quintessence, Willpower or whatever. You must spend one Willpower per roll to cast the Counterspell. But you must score only one natural success for the Counterspell to work at all and get your one willpower back, even if you fail to stop the enemy spell. This works on all spells and magics.

Players do not start with Schools and have to earn them in game but if the character is starting as a Sorcerer from character generation, then they start with a limited number of schools. Normally, to become sorcerers, you need to work for it in game but certain merits like Brigid's Heir allows you to start the game as a Sorcerer.

Solaroids start with no more than 3 schools. Celestials start with no more than 2 schools. Terrestrials start with no more than 1 school.

Aspects

Schools have aspects and/or effects that the sorcerer must specify after casting. When they make as many or as little rolls as they want, the spell is cast and the player determines how much he wants to distribute successes to each aspect. NOTE, a Player can ONLY distribute Ability +1 successes per aspect or effect for spells and act as a limit on what level of Aspect can be used for a Working..

In essence, a sorcerer must divide up successes among various aspects of the spell and is capped on how many successes he can give to each aspect by the rating of the ability used.

If an aspect has a rating of 6, then you need to spend 6 successes from the rolls to use that aspect or can use Aspect 6 on Workings. Generally speaking, an aspect requiring more success is a straight up improvement from the previous ones but if the lower aspects have features not covered, then consider it covered.

Ability Rating

Each School of Sorcery is bound to a specific concept. But rather than purchasing dots in the schools, you use your basic ability as a focus. This not only determines what you can do but also how well you can do it.

A School or Working is not bound to any one ability but rather uses the ability most applicable and thematic. For example, teleporting yourself can use the Athlete's ability. However, teleporting objects may use the Awareness or Alertness ability. Casting damaging spells at range may use Firearms but using damaging touch based spells can use Melee or Brawl. If you are trying to teleport a car you and your circle are riding in, then use Drive and so on.

Storytellers are advised to be generous in interpreting which ability applies.

If the character has any special characteristic with regards to the ability, such as Exalted getting double 10s and 1s not reducing success, then those rules apply to the Willpower + Essence roll to cast the spell or Working.

NOTE: Things and Charms that increase or reduce difficulty or dice for an ability NEVER apply, but increases or reduction of difficulty or dice DO apply if they are applicable to all rolls. So Carms like All things Betray do NOT apply but charms like Cracked Cell Circumvention and Without Honor Without Hope do apply.

In addition, if for any reason a School Rating is required, then it is equal to the most applicable Ability + 1. If the base Ability being used is at rating 0, then you gain a +3 difficulty on the rolls.

When in doubt? Occult. Occult can be considered the God Stat of Ancient Sorcery. However, this does limit the spell strictly to the effect listed in each school.

Schools of Sorcery​

The below are a list of Schools, their aspects and effects but do not constitute an exhaustive list of schools to unlock. Truly spectacular effects require an expenditure of Willpower but minor effects with no consequences can be done with stunts.

Alteration

Alteration spells are about change, both in the caster and in the world around them. This is the school for those who wish to learn to alter their bodies, material or the general world around them. It is a very instinctive path and a careless Sorcerer can lose themselves if they are not careful.

Transformed objects retain their former shape, but react normally to their new materials; a liquid pillar would simply collapse. Such transformed items do not give sustenance when eaten but otherwise do not cause harm in such a manner when the spell ends if the Sorcerer means them no harm.

This school can also be used to make temporary magic items and potions. These items have a shelf life of the duration after which they stop working. Instant effects like healing are unaffected but lasting and ongoing effects, such as shapeshifting are limited to the total duration of the potion.

Magical beings and items can be altered but get to resist the effect, with a by spending one Willpower per roll to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Astral Projection

This School is one that reaches out through space, time and planes of existence to touch the mind of a person or being. It can be used to talk to them, observe their dreams and many other effects.

Mundane beings cannot resist being contacted but Magical beings can resist this, by spending one Willpower to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

If the target is not in visual range of the Sorcerer will requires some mystic link to the target, such as their True Name, some of their Blood, hair, nail clippings, saliva, urine, etc (It must be unmixed with other materials), a Prized possession or any item that is in frequent contact with or use by the target, such as clothing, etc.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Calamity Control

The act of intentionally creating, manipulating or altering natural disasters. The user can create, shape and manipulate all forms of natural disasters, including disasters such as avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hydrological disasters, meteorological disasters, wildfires, space disasters, violent thunderstorms, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and floods, etc.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Clairvoyance

The faculty of perceiving things or events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact. This is the skill of reading the past, present, and future. However, viewing and influencing are very different. As such influencing the present and the future fall under another school.

Keep in mind that the future is in flux and it is not possible to see the future by more than 15 minutes with any accuracy. In addition, multiple attempts to see the future will only get you the same result and not yield any new information unless you increase the Aspect.

Mundane beings cannot resist being scurried but Magical beings can resist this, if they are aware of it, by spending one Willpower per roll to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

If the target is not in visual range of the Sorcerer will requires some mystic link to the target, such as their True Name, some of their Blood, hair, nail clippings, saliva, urine, etc (It must be unmixed with other materials), a Prized possession or any item that is in frequent contact with or use by the target, such as clothing, etc.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Destruction

Destruction spells manipulate energy or tap any sources of power to produce a desired end. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and Destruction spells can deal large amounts of damage. This is the school that allows a Sorcerer to control powerful elemental attacks such as blasts of lightning, bolts of fire etc or shape any instant-duration, damaging phenomenon into existence to injure the target, even if the phenomenon is wholly imagined and has no natural counterpart.

Hitting a target with a spell requires no rolls as a successful spell will hit the target regardless but the damage can be soaked by the target provided it can soak the damage type.

The spell causes two dice of lethal damage per success spent on damage. The spell does not do aggravated damage by default and the Sorcerer must spend two additional successes for aggravated damage. Total damage of the Spell cannot exceed Essence + Ability + 1.

The Aspects applicable are below.


Special Effects

All special effects are optional and require the Sorcerer to spend their rating success on them.

• • This effect requires a large amount of relevant material, such as water, stone, wood, etc. A sudden wave of the material rushes the target and the target is engulfed by the said material and is crushed. If the target survives the attack, they have to dig their way free in a Strength roll against difficulty 6. They require as many successes as health levels suffer.

• Any nonliving material that the target is wearing or carrying begins to rust, decay, warp and generally fall apart within 3 turns. This does not affect any living biological beings, only items and tools. So a person will not, normally, be affected but if he dies due to the spell, his corpse will. Animated corpses and robots count as living until they are rendered inanimate, though their tools and items are still affected normally.

• Everything in close range is blinded for one turn per health level of damage inflicted.

• Freeze the ground surrounding the target, forcing all targets in range to make reflexive Athletics rolls to remain standing per turn.

• Surround the area of the target with poisonous smoke. Any one who breathes the poison takes one health level of lethal damage per turn, unless they leave the cloud.

Healing

Healing is a school that primarily enhances the target's abilities, often granting them superhuman recovery and curing them of even the most deadly wounds. The preview of Saints and Madmen, the Sorcerer can only force the body to perform its natural functions, if supercharged.

This school normally works by accelerating the body's natural processes, by helping it do what it would normally do anyway, only faster and better. A master of the Path can bring someone back even from death's door... but at a cost

The Aspects applicable are below.

Illusions

The school of deception. It allows the Sorcerer to deceive the senses of others. The Sorcerer can make people see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or otherwise experience things that are unreal.

This school does not directly affect beings so to resist the same, it must be counter magicked as per normal. The illusions also do not require an action to maintain but does take up an action to change.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Luck

Luck, both good and bad, are yours to command. The Sorcerer can control probabilities, alter the flow of events and change a target's future for good or for ill. This is the power of blessings and curses, the preview of infernal and divine beings.

Mundane beings cannot resist being scurried but Magical beings can resist this, if they are aware of it, by spending one Willpower per roll to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

If the target is not in visual range of the Sorcerer then the Fate school ALWAYS requires some mystic link to the target, such as their True Name, some of their Blood, hair, nail clippings, saliva, urine, etc (It must be unmixed with other materials), a Prized possession or any item that is in frequent contact with or use by the target, such as clothing, etc.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Mind Control

Mind Control spells….well mind control people. These spells affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. This can be resisted by those with enough willpower or if it is being used to force someone to do anything against their intimacy or take obvious suicidal actions by spending one Willpower per roll to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

Normally, each character makes this roll when the spell first goes into effect if they are awake and conscious. However, people with Willpower 9 - 10 make the check every day. Those with Willpower 1 - 2, make it once, if that at all.

Those who possess similar mind-influencing powers can also typically ignore attempts to influence them with this Path. Magical beings can make the Willpower rolls if they are aware of the influence in addition to the above rule.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Summoning and Warding

The ability to Summon, bind and control various natural or supernatural entities. Sorcerers can use their powers to command ghosts, demons, animals, even other people, both living and dead. A creature or object cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. This is to prevent a conjuror from destroying things by summoning things in other things. So summoning puppies inside people is not allowed but summoning puppies inside buildings is allowed. Essentially, it must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

NOTE: These rules are very much can be used to dead animate bodies or machine frames rather than summon them.

The Aspects applicable are below.


Warding Strength

Wards are a simple Willpower + Essence roll at the determined difficulty. The Strength of the Wards are limited by Ability + 1. Each success causes the subject to lose one die from all actions against the sorcerer.

With Ability at 3+, the sorcerer may create a Warding Circle that forces the creature to not be able to pass into or out of the circle, unless the creature scores more successes on a Willpower + Essence (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) roll than the Sorcerer scored on the Ward roll.

This is the ability used to usurp any stationary magical effects. While it can affect Workings, it cannot weaken or change them, only manipulate and switch things like foe recognition or ownership. This is temporary, limited by Duration.

Telekinesis

Telekinesis is the art of moving items, beings etc with the power of your mind. This is the power that allows a person to influence a physical world without physical interaction.

Once the spell is cast, the Sorcerer has control over the object till the end of the Scene and Counter magic does not degrade the spell unless the number of successes rolled is reduced to 0, in which case the Sorcerer simply loses control over the item.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Teleportation

What is the shortest route between two points? A Straight line? No, the shortest route is directly from Point A to Point B, no travel required. Teleportation is the art of just that, moving from Point A to B without the messy and time consuming travel time.

Non-magical beings cannot resist the effect and can be forcefully teleported but Magical beings get to resist the effect, if they are aware of it, by spending one Willpower per roll to make a Willpower (difficulty 4 + Ability + 1) extended roll until the rolls produce more successes than the Sorcerer's.

The Aspects applicable are below.

Upgrading Schools​

Spells from schools always affect only individuals by base, with very few exceptions. They do not affect Battle Groups or large areas such as villages or cities. But Workings can be used to upgrade the scope of Spells from a specific school. Take healing for example. With a First Circle boost, the healing effect can affect a magnitude 1 - 2 Battlegroup. With a Second Circle Working, heals can affect a small town. At Third Circle? It can hit a large City.

This explicitly scales with the setting. For example, in a Space Opera, entire planets can fall under the Third Circle, substituting for cities. Even entire galaxies can substitute for cities if the setting is big enough.

Using a Spell as a basis for a Working does not count as upgrading, even if you already have it. For example, healing an entire city in an instant counts as an upgrade, but permanently transmuting material according to the rules of Alteration school with a Working does not count.

Essentially? Anything that causes the spell effect to be permanent is a Working and anything that boosts spells from a school to hit more people is a Boost.

If I upgrade a School, can I still cast the base form? Yes, even if you upgrade a School all the way to the Third Circle, you can still cast it as a Second or First or even as a Base Spell.

Do I need access to the Second or Third Circle to upgrade a Spell to that Circle? Yes, normally speaking the Character must perform the Working but with Storyteller permission, you can have a Circle member or someone with access do the ritual for you, but be careful with trusting your soul to strange beings. .

Target Number

A spell in its base form does not need a target number. If you roll at least one success, the spell is successful. However, when spells are upgraded, you need to roll a certain number of successes over the course of a minimum number of turns before the spell is ready. Once you hit the target number, you can continue accruing successes until you are ready to cast the spell.

Base Spell: No Target Number needed.

First Circle Spell: 10 Successes, at least one turn.

Second Circle Spell: 20 Successes, at least two turns.

Third Circle Spell: 40 Successes, at least three turns.

Effects of Upgrading

First Circle Spell: Effects or summons a battle group of up to Size 2. Can increase the area of effect to include an area the size of a small village or the number of targets to the population within.

Second Circle Spell: Effects or summons a battle group of up to Size 4. Can increase the area of effect to include an area the size of a Town or the number of targets to the population within.

Third Circle Spell: Effects or summons a battle group of up to Size 5. Can increase the area of effect to include an area the size of a City or the number of targets to the population within.

NOTE: To actually affect a Size X Battle Group, you still need to select the corresponding multiple people option. So if you want to affect a Size 5 battle group, your spell has to affect 5 people by base. Similarly, if you want to affect a City sized area then you need to follow similar rules.

Pre-casting Spells

A character may only have one pre-caste spell active at a time for the unboosted spell and one for each Circle, so a maximum of 4 spells in total. The spells stored need not be related and can be from different schools.

• A Base Spell.
• A Spell Boosted by the First Circle.
• A Spell Boosted by the Second Circle.
• A Spell Boosted by the Third Circle.

Sorcerous Workings​

Sorcerous workings allow characters to permanently reshape the world through their sheer Willpower. Workings are PERMANENT unless countered by another Working. Making the spell of a school permanent with a Working is possible and such a permanent effect CANNOT be countermagicked and has to be opposed by another working. Though take note you do not need to know the school to make a spell from it permanent.

Every Working begins with the sorcerer's intention: what they wish to accomplish. Once this intention has been established, the working is then assigned three separate regents.

Enacting the working is an extended (Willpower + Essence) roll, with a base difficulty of 9. This roll does not require a Willpower expenditure.

The combined roll for First Circle Workings last for an Hour. All Exalted and reasonably-powerful mortals and Spirits have access to this circle.

The combined rolls for Second Circle Workings last for a day. All Celestial Exalted and only powerful beings have access to this circle.

The combined rolls for Third Circle Workings last for a week. Only Solaroids and Creator Gods have access to this Circle. Yes, that is a capital G in God.

Even if you gain all the successes you need to complete the Working, you are still bound by the time taken for the Working to complete. However, Charms like Craftsman Need no Tools or similar apply to Sorcerous Workings, reducing the time needed to finish the working.

While the Storyteller determines how a successful working manifests in the world, it cannot defy the player's intent. The Storyteller can add catches, quirks, or twists that make the working more interesting or flavourful but not ones that the Player dislikes.

While what is possible is left at the hands of the Storyteller, the player gets veto rights on the rest.

Can my Character (PC or Storyteller controlled Big bad) access Sorcery Circles they do not normally have access to?

Yes with GM permission, but it adds +4 difficulty per Circle you access. Meaning a Dragon blooded has a +4 difficulty in all Workings of the Second Circle and +8 Difficulty in the Third Circle while Celestials have +4 difficulty in the Third Circle.

How Workings Work

The combined rolls for a First Circle working lasts as long as it is indicated. Each roll is instant and you can make rolls as per the rules are provided below. Sum up all the successes from the rolls and if you hit the target total, your working is a success. This is capped at the First Circle and additional successes cannot reach effects that fall under the Second and Third Circle.

Second and Third Circle Workings do not do anything on their own, instead acting as a booster or cap breaker for the First Circle Working. How it works is as follows.

A Second Circle working is simply a first Circle working but boosted by the Second Circle Working. You make the First Circle rolls as usual until you hit the cap. Then you make a single roll for a Second Circle Working and a single success on that roll ensures that the cap is broken. Then continue making more First Circle rolls until you reach the target number for the effects of the Second Circle.

A Third Circle working is the same as above but doing a single Third Circle roll to remove that cap for the Third Circle when you reach it. As previously, the roll must succeed with at least one success for the Working to work. Then, continue rolling First Circle Workings until you get the desired number of successes.

The successes rolled in the Second and Third Circle roll always count towards the target total. If at any point you fail either the Second Circle roll or the Third Circle roll, then the entire Working is wasted and you will have to start from the beginning.

How many rolls can I make?

To determine the number of rolls that can be made before the Working fails, add together the factors for the workshop and their reagents. If you're missing either, you can't even start.

Then add bonuses for extra time taken, the help of others, complementary abilities, relevant magic, and anything else that seems appropriate. Not all of these are necessary, but they are very good to have.

A normal Spirit or magical item can only grant an initiation that reduces difficulty by -1. Gods and powerful items can grant an initiation that reduces difficulty by -2. Only truly powerful beings like a head of a Pantheon or Creator Gods can grant an initiation that reduces difficulty by -3.

Blessings

+1 rolls for a blessing from a spirit or a demon. (Celestials gain this for free)

+2 rolls for a blessing from a God or Godlike being. (Solars gain this for free)

+3 rolls for a blessing from a Supremely powerful God or being. (Infernals gain this for free)



Workshop

This does not stack with itself.

+1 rolls for a basic workshop, with all the standard tools.

+2 rolls for a master's workshop, which contains a high quality example of every tool a normal craftsman in the field would ever want.

+3 rolls for a supernaturally excellent workshop. A character using Craftsman Needs No Tools or its equivalent of craft charm has this level of workshop for most projects.

Note however that manses and extremely large Artifacts may require large numbers of laborers as part of the workshop.

Reagents

This does not stack with itself.

+2 rolls for using resonant mundane reagents.

+3 rolls for using one resonant magical reagent in addition to the above.

+4 rolls for using mostly resonant magical reagents.

+5 rolls for using purely resonant magical ingredients.

Assistance

+1 roll for working with a master assistant or a team of competent workers.

+2 rolls for working with supernaturally excellent help.

Time

This does not stack with itself.

+1 roll for taking five times as much time as is standard.

+2 rolls for taking ten times as much time as is standard.

+3 rolls for taking fifteen times as much time as is standard.

Other

+2/+1 roll for having an Ability related to the Working at 5, or at 3.

+1 roll for having a Charm, spell, anima power, or other magical ability that's related to the Working or Spell.

+1 roll for tools suffused with resonant Essence. Tools made from charms apply if the user's Essence is resonant.

+2 rolls for having a resonant Essence. For Infernals, this is limited to their Favoured hells.

+3 rolls for using a helper with resonant Essence.

Undoing Workings - Primacy

You cannot undo a Working Directly. Instead, you need to weaken it with another working equal to it or destroy it with a working of a greater Circle. Generally speaking it is easier to destroy than to create and as such, weakening or undoing a Working only requires a single roll of the Corresponding Circle or greater.

Take Solar Circle workings as an example. You must first weaken it with another Solar Circle Working that uses the reagents that are directly dissonant with the Working you want to Weaken. A single Solar Circle roll is enough and you do not need to make any Second or First Circle rolls. If successful, it now reduces to a Second Circle Working. You can now use another Solar Circle Roll with the same rules of reagents as previously to completely unmake the Working or use Second Circle Working with the same rules as above to weaken the enemy Working into a First Circle Working and so on.

This however, absolutely requires you to find reagents that are directly dissonant with the Working, i.e you need to investigate the enemy working and gather the required dissonant reagents, spending not insignificant screen time doing so.

First Circle Working

5 Successes

• Permanently gain a new School (Once per Story).
• Make up to the one success effect or Aspect of a Spell permanent.
• Make small and minor alterations to the geography. This cannot be magical and only those effects which can otherwise be achieved through mundane means, such as a spring that gives fresh and clean water, enhanced fertility of farms etc.
• Make permanent Wards over a town or neighborhood-sized region against a particular type of mundane nuisance, such as forest fires, crop-eating pests, or rabid animals.
• One Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.

10 Successes

• Make crossbreeds between two different species of plant or animal to create a hybrid species with the best traits of both. The restriction is that it is not possible to crossbreed a plant and an animal.
• Remove or Grant mutations to oneself or a willing subject.
• Instill a plant, animal, or object with human-level intelligence. The newly sapient and sentient being is not compelled to be loyal to you, nor does it need to have a human mindset.
• Ward a chamber or building against magical intrusions such as scrying, teleportation, or intrusion by a particular type of spirit.
• Animate a Size 3 group of automata or zombies, or a dozen or so modestly customized corpses.
• Make up to two success effects or Aspect of a Spell permanent.
• Two Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.

15 Successes

• Upgrade a Base Spell to the First Circle.
• Make up to the three successes effect or Aspect of a Spell permanent. This includes the spells boosted by the First Circle.
• Three Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.

Second Circle Working

20 Successes

• Bind two characters allowing them to mentally communicate at any distance.
• Transform a room so that its interior resembles a natural biome.
• Alter a building so it can be bigger on the inside, have separate biomes in each room, etc.
• Make up to the four success effects or Aspect of a Spell permanent. This includes the spells boosted by the First Circle.

25 Successes

• Make alterations to the geography. This can be magical which can not be achieved through mundane means, such as eternally fertile farms, alter the weather and seasons of a town-sized region, a lake made out of fresh pepsi, etc.
• Enchant buildings and towns to strengthen them against danger or give them a measure of resilience to supernatural powers.
• Grant a supernatural power to one's self or to a willing subject. These are Fomori powers but without any downsides.
• Make alterations to the nature of a willing supernatural being. This is additive, so granting a spirit of peace the concept of healing may change it so it can now heal mental afflictions, granting it new charms.
• Spread mutations throughout the mundane flora and fauna of an entire ecosystem.
• Make up to the five success effects or Aspect of a Spell permanent. This includes the spells boosted by the First Circle.
• Four Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.

30 Successes

• Make up to the Six success effects or Aspect of a Spell permanent. This includes spells boosted by the Second Circle.
• Enchant the architecture of an entire structure to grant it limited mobility, the capacity to rearrange its internal structure, intelligence comparable to a human, or similar powers.
• Open a permanent portal between two different realms of existence, such as a small shadowland or a faerie ring that leads travelers into the deep Wyld.
• Five Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.
• Upgrade a First Circle Spell to the Second Circle.

Third Circle Working

35 successes

• Make major alterations to the geography. Transform deserts into rainforests, drain seas, etc. It can cause fantastical weather effects such as rain made of dreams, rivers made out of denial, or a mountain composed out of color blue.
• Freely extract and manipulate souls.
• Grant limited immortality.
• Make up to the Six success effects or Aspect of a Spell permanent. This includes spells boosted by the Third Circle.

40 successes

• Alter major metaphysical properties of a city-sized region, such as making it mobile etc.
• Alter the flow of time in an area the size of a city.
• Enchant a city-sized region or a regional ethnicity, altering the nature of the afterlife for those people.
• Utterly transform the nature of a supernatural being, such as remaking a demon as a god, etc.

45 Successes

• Create an Extremely powerful being.
• Cast a city-sized region into a different realm of existence, or outside of time and space altogether, with set conditions for when it returns or how it can be accessed.
• Six Dot Rituals mentioned in Sorcerer Revised Chapter 4.
• Upgrade a Second Circle Spell to the Third Circle.

Variable Working

Variable workings are those working that vary in which circle they fall under depending on the action taken.

Alter the Cosmos

Make subtle alterations to the metaphysics of the entire cosmos. The Circle, target number of dice all depends on the alterations and is set by the Storyteller.

Resurrection

The corpse is returned to life at 0 health levels points. The subject loses one dot of Stamina. If they had only one dot of Stamina to begin with, the working fails and they cannot be returned to life. The corpse must be reasonably preserved. If you have only a finger it will not work.

The Circle and target total needed for this working depends on the nature and power of the being involved. Exalted always count as and are brought back as mortal, their exaltation fleeing their corpse at the moment of their death. While brought back as a mortal, they have the chance to Exalt once again depending on various factors.

Convert Reagent

This working converts one Non Magical reagent into a specific Non Magical reagent, or changes a concept of a Non Magical reagent into a specific concept. How this works is that upon successfully completing the First Circle working with the target number as determined by the Storyteller, count the number of successes over the target number. Accordingly, you get the results.

You do not always get what you want. Depending on how well you roll, you get the following results. For example, let us say you want steel essence. You will not get exactly what you want but depending on how well you roll over the target successes, you can get a reagent that can substitute for it. See the table below.

Completely unrelated (i.e. steel and cake): 0-2 success
Generally, elementally associated (i.e. steel and marble): 3-4 success
Close variations or compounds (i.e. steel and iron): 5+ success

Create Magic Reagent

This working converts one substance into a Magical Reagent. How this works is that upon successfully completing the First Circle working with the target number as determined by the Storyteller, count the number of successes over the target number. Accordingly, you get the results.

Completely unrelated (i.e. steel and cake): 0-2 success
Generally, elementally associated (i.e. steel and marble): 3-4 success
Close variations or compounds (i.e. steel and iron): 5+ success

Resonant Reagents​

Sorcerous Workings cannot work without resonant reagents. For example, if the player wants to obtain a limited form of immortality, then they will need reagents resonant with the concept of immortality. The peaches of Immortality from the Gardens of the August Celestial Jade Emperor or the Golden Apples of myth from Greece would be considered to be resonant.

However, reagents need not be magical in nature. Take the same example, a fossilized snake skin which would also count due to the myth of Gilgamesh and the snake that stole his herb of immortality.

Optional Content on how to design reagents

Every item has multiple concepts associated with it. This may be natural, i.e fire = hot, entropy, fuel etc, or manmade, Lotus = Enlightenment, purity, rebirth, etc. Even mythical reagents like the Peaches of Immortality = Immortality, vitality, divinity, etc. So then a player character gains or comes across a reagent, assign 3 concepts associated with that reagent.

The Quick and Dirty is to roll a D100 3 times. If the result of the first roll is 50+, the player can choose one concept associated with that reagent. If the roll fails, the Storyteller assigns a concept of their choosing. For the second roll, the target for the player to choose is 75+ and the third is 90+

Rules for Reagents

Non-magical reagents need not be unique but they should not be common as well. It must take at least some in game screen time to gain the reagent. You cannot simply walk into Walmart and buy them. Well, you or your circle member may buy them in bulk but you will still need to barter with Spirits and demons for them and otherwise put in some in-game effort to get them.

However, if the Storyteller has the reagent fall out of a plane and smack your character in the face? Then thank the Storyteller and go collect your reagent.

Now, with Magic Reagents, they must be willingly given as a Gift or as payment for services rendered. They may also be forcefully taken via Right of conquest or secretly stolen via a great act of Larceny, etc.

Basically? You or your circle member need to pull off something reasonably impressive for the Magic Reagent to count for your working. The exception is harvesting or creating Magic reagents via workings.

Optional Content on Reagent acquisition

Can I grow ingredients? Short answer: yes, Long answer? Take a Lotus as an example.

You can grow a bunch of Lotus flowers but for them to count, you need to take in-game action to form an association with the ingredient. So you would need to build or roleplay ordering or hiring people to build a pond and roleplay ordering, or harvesting the Lotus seeds and then having them planted. You can always make a Working to make the Lotus followers grow faster and it would be a perfectly valid way of getting some reagents.

Say, you want to gather crystalised Sunlight, which would count as a Magic Reagent. This is a Terrestrial Circle Working and you would need Reagents associated with gathering or transforming Sunlight.

So, you make a mirror. Yes a mundane mirror but one which must have a minimum of 5 successes to count. Then you would need one of the concepts of "REDIRECT" or "REFLECT".

Then you will need a Solar Panel that converts Solar power into energy. This is something you cannot simply buy but would need to design by roleplaying in game. Once done, you can make it or have others mass produce it. But you need some involvement in its acquisition. The concept you will need may be "CONVERSION".

NOTE: You do not HAVE to make it personally and a Party member can do it for you. The important thing is the screen time, not necessarily the effort you put in to get it.

Then you will need a battery and will be subject to the same rules as the solar panel. It will have the concept of "STORAGE" and need to be a battery designed to take the energy from Solar panels. So just any battery will not work.

Assuming you have the concepts, you can now use the concept of "REDIRECT" or "REFLECT" with "CONVERSION" and "STORAGE" to transform Sunlight in a Terrestrial Circle Working into a Magic reagent containing three concepts.

Concepts and Workings

When placed one after the other, they must thematically mean something. Take the above for example, Redirect or reflect, well does the same to Sunlight. The Convert concept transforms sunlight into a Magic reagent. The storage concept ensures that the magic solidifies into a Magic Reagent. Thus:

• Reagents must be related to the Working conceptually, i.e immortality requires reagents associated with immortality.
• You need three relevant reagents.

Storytellers are advised to be generous with the interpretations of resonant reagents.

Reagents and Circles

All Workings requires three reagents to work.

For First Circle workings, these need not be magical in nature but are still subject to the normal rules regarding reagents.

In addition to the reagents gathered and used for the First Circle working, the Second Circle Working requires at least one magic reagent, so two non magical and one magical.

In addition to the reagents gathered and used for the First Circle workings and the Second Circle Working, Third Circle Working requires three Magical reagents.

Crafting​

Artifacts , Menses and other Wonders

Artifacts and Manses projects can be attempted using the table below to determine the difficulty, interval and goal number based on the artifact rating. These intervals assume about four hours of work each day, but cannot be decreased by spending more time working (though a character would work on multiple projects simultaneously if they had nothing else to do).

Repairing a broken artifact is generally as difficult as creating one a dot lower in rating, except that the interval may be significantly shorter depending on how extensive the damage is.

Legendary artifacts and Manses, which go beyond the five dot scale, use difficulties, intervals and goal numbers chosen by the Storyteller - not all Legendary Artifacts are created equal, but they're all very difficult.


Use the same rules as a Sorcerous Working to determine the number of rolls available.

Balance​

So, the entire system of Workings is balanced by the High number of successes needed to do the working, the fact that the rolls are made at a difficulty of 9 and that each roll requires fresh sets of Reagents or Willpower.

Mechanically, Rolling Willpower + Essence means that you cannot use excellencies, 1s reduce success and 10s do not normally count as double successes.

You are also only ever going to roll 6 to 11 dice at any given point of time at the early stages of the game. Because by the time a PC reaches E5, balance has been dead for a while and its body has been looted a long LONG time ago.

XP wise – You need to max your willpower, which costs 30xp as a buy in. It also balances acquisition of schools by giving partial control over to the Story Teller.

18th of November 2006 A.D.

It takes everything you have not to tear this one's head from its neck and take of racing to save your friends. Somehow, you manage. Two minutes won't change much, a difference of one spark of essence spent to enhance your movements to make up for the time spent interrogating this raving beast.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 12/15
Regained 2 Essence -> now at 14/15

False bestman, false chimera's get. Five words slip between the cracks of your mind like like acid rain hissing though the cracks of in a roof once of gold-now-of-brass. Moon curse you, moon curse him. Reflexively your eyes go up to the pitted face of the too close silvery disk above. It is not what you are looking for, though you could not say why.

But as you ask the question eyes unfurling: What does this one's master plan, you see much more than you expected.

Alec and Izzy's faces, both sleeping, far more peacefully than anyone should with, shadow-dappled beside them in the dark, in what looks to be the back of a van. At least they are not hurt. It has the eyes of a tiger and the nose of a wolf, the ears of a desert fox and a wicked smile that only a man's face can hold

On the far wall there is a map with pins stuck all though it: red and blue and black, the first for you, the second for Harry and the third an aggregate of those you had vanquished, Katrina, the Will of Kakuri, the Walker at the manse. Foul as it it and full of malice Naagloshii does not want to fight, you are not its quarry, Harry is.

Amber eyes look down at the small silver form of a flip phone, Izzy's phone, like some strange gem in the monster's paw. Broken Seeker is waiting for a second signal to call you and offer some kind of deal once it gets your measure. The power of your crown unravels as white light unravels into colors in the place where plans end and decisions stand yet unmade.

"Tell me what your master's forces are..."

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 13/15 (Melee Excellency)

That is as far as you get before a sound half howl half yowl half scream of rage echoes from the chest of the beast you had thought subdued. It leaps, gouging deep furrows in the earth and you barely manage to get your sword before its claws, the reek of its breath on your face as it strikes and strikes again, blows that would eviscerate a troll where it stood lashing out left and right rising gripping, tearing stripping. By the thinnest fraction of an inch you raise sword and shield together, batting off a claw here in a shower of sparks, warding off slavering jaws with the hiss of hellfire

The beast is as not as fast as Lord Skavis was in the grip of the Walker, but it is a near thing. This is a mortal? Was mortal? You wonder with horror and with awe? All the while you wonder if you should summon your armor or other gifts beside... but then ears sharp as your eyes are far seeing hear the telltale creak of a joint being forced too far by the savagery within, the wheeze of lungs that are still flesh and blood.

You are the reed that bends in the wind... and then you are the wind itself moving turning and twisting around him free of earth's embrace even as he must leap and scramble, grasp and gnash, your every blow a rebuke to hollow furry even as he rises from branch to branch.

Lesser Shape-shifter Rage Reduced to 0

"You are better at climbing than I have you credit for," you mock coldly as the attack finally abets into ragged breathing. "Are you part squirrel as well?"As he leaps upon you again you deftly catch him... you are unfortunately quite sure it's a him at this point forms made for purest murder leaving little room for modesty.

Flesh bubbles and pulls apart.... A sacrifice of flesh you realize queasily as its very form is fed into the flames of cannibalistic rage.

Lesser Shapeshifter Uses Primal Anger -> Rage at 3/5 ; Takes 1 Aggravated Damage -> Now at 6/7

Pain spikes at your temples as it claws at the light of your anima, almost seeming to shape apart the Essence that holds it, but this time you know what to expect. The telekinetic grip holds

Lesser Shape-shifter at 1/5 Rage

"If you want Hank's tongue Burning One you can rip it from my skull," he growls.

"How very poetic of you squirrel-kin, but I have more of an interest in the words that tongue can make, for now." You let the silence gather and silence it is indeed for neither bird, not beast nor deathless spirit yet dares come near to the scene of the fight. "What are your master's forces and why was he so quick to seek your death?"

"Ruined ambush, curdled fear, you would know what to expect... their screams wouldn't cut as deep," the beastman spits. Then with something that might be genuine curiosity. "Why do you keep them close? What worth are they to you?"

It is only the fact that you know from the question whose focus he had been that Broken Seeker plans to use your friends as more than torture props that keeps you from cutting off his head here and now

"You are not the one asking questions Hank," you wag your finger and tighten your grip around his throat, just a little. Truth be told you are not sure if you could strangle him, you would probably have to use your sword, but the threat is well received. "How many of you are there!"

"A dozen with the Great One... the False One!" he corrects, eyes now glowing the color of old blood. "The rest sent out as spies."

What do you do?

[] Kill Hank as efficiently as you can, the world is a better place without his madness and you need to get back home

[] Hank seems to have taken his master's betrayal quite personally, maybe you could be allies... he is no worse than a Count of the Red Court and his band

[] Write in

OOC: And that is the power of enemies that are build like Garou, they can just keep throwing rage-fueled actions at you. Of course to someone who rolls 20 dice for Dex+Melee with excellency doing full defense one still is not enough to crack her guard... but there are more of them around and Broken Seeker besides. You might want to be careful.