Space and time, mind and spirit, and the Pattern Spheres of forces, matter, and life – the composition of reality is divided into these seven unique Spheres. The Sphere system is meant as a toolkit for players and Storytellers. Each Sphere lists the manner in which it's used (and the corresponding dot rating) and gives a few examples of what you might do with that level of mastery. If you're not sure exactly what to do, find the entry that best describes your effect. (Of course, if you're uncertain of what you're trying to do, it's probably not a rote, so your uncertainty is expressed in the normal +1 difficulty penalty for fast-casting.) It's important to note that effects created with Spheres usually aren't permanent: the Consensus exerts itself over reality even when your magic is superseding it, so it'll reassert itself when your spell ends. That's why physical or mental empowerment is temporary: your subject is better for the duration of your spell, but they revert to the way reality wants them to be when the spell ends. When generating an Effect which allows the subject to resist, the difficulty of the Arete roll is either the appropriate Sphere level or the subject's resistance successes, whichever is higher. For example, reading a subject's thoughts with Mind • is typically difficulty 1 (the level of Sphere being used), but if that subject were to resist with Willpower and score three successes, the difficulty would instead be 3. Correspondence• Perception Perfect spatial reasoning. Know your location. Sense the metaphysical (or just physical) connection between two objects. Probably coincidental. •• Control Fast travel. Scrying. Sympathetic magic, both on its own and involving other Spheres. Sometimes coincidental. ••• Alteration Resize people or objects, retaining their mass and strength and whatall. Change the direction of a moving object or person – the perfect dodge. Usually vulgar. •••• Destruction Cancel any other Correspondence effect by disrupting or destroying any of the affected space. Ward an area by suppressing (temporarily deleting) the space bordering it. Might be coincidental. ••••• Creation Create a portal or wormhole, allowing teleportation and scrying in which others can take part. Create a bubble of space outside of normal space so as to retrieve its contents at a later time. Vulgar. • Perception Perceive forces as they are. Expand your senses: see in the dark by viewing other wavelengths of light, hear a dog whistle by listening to higher frequencies of sound, etc. Quantify energy: judge an object's speed by its kinetic energy, read a circuit's amperage, etc. Coincidental. •• Control Shield yourself against a force or energy, letting it flow around you. Move or change the direction of a force: "At the last second it just arced over me!" Coincidental or vulgar, depending on how you play it off. ••• Alteration Transmute one force to another: friction curse, change radio waves into sound so you can listen without tuning in, etc. Probably vulgar. •••• Destruction Stop movement (Embracing the Earth Mother). Create cold by annihilating thermal energy. Dispel a storm or levitate by repelling gravity. Probably vulgar, but maybe not. ••••• Creation True telekinesis and flight. Conjure fire, sunlight, sonic blasts. Many, many boom spells. Oh man vulgar. Life• Perception Detect life. See into or through living things. Diagnose conditions. Usually coincidental. •• Control Heal yourself. Cause or retard growth, and guide it: make the vines grow thick on the wall, stunt the trees on this side of the house, etc. Evoke emotions. Rudimentary control of an animal or person's body. Sometimes coincidental, sometimes vulgar. ••• Alteration Heal others – it takes alteration to do to them what control does for you. Temporary physical empowerment and improvement or impairment and weakness. Possibly coincidental. •••• Destruction Decay organic things. Harm or damage life; with enough successes, extinguish it. Only rarely coincidental. ••••• Creation Resurrect animals – humans require minds and souls and more, so they're a no-go. Create a brand-new creature. Create mythic beings, into which normal animals can't be altered – a horse that's been given a horn is not a unicorn. Definitely vulgar. Matter• Perception Sense and perceive matter, even see right through it. Assess damage. Find weak points. Usually coincidental. •• Control Manipulate matter through magic: pull a lever, douse a lamp, etc. Usually vulgar. ••• Alteration Transmute matter from one form to another. Change the state of matter (solid to liquid to gas). Repair an object or alter its shape. Almost always vulgar. •••• Destruction Erode and destroy matter; it won't be gone – just torn apart and scattered – without enough successes to disintegrate it. Again, almost always vulgar. ••••• Creation Create a new form of matter, with unique properties: density, radioactivity, even inability to interact with other forms of matter, passing through them like a ghost. Vulgar. • Perception Detect minds: their presence, location, etc. Read surface thoughts. Read auras and emotions. See dreams. Coincidental. •• Control Temporary mental empowerment, making the target's mind faster, more powerful, more resourceful, etc.) or impediment (making them slower and such). Shield a mind against attack, manipulation, even detection. Empathic projection, impose your emotions on another mind to make them feel obvious and powerful. Do the same by leaving your Resonance and an emotional "weight" on a place or object as a psychic impression. Usually coincidental. ••• Alteration Probe thoughts and memory. Dominate minds. Telepathy. Direct manipulation of emotion. Memory editing. Iffy – coincidental unless there's some blatant mind control or the like. •••• Destruction Suppress memories, skills, or knowledge – they're also stored in the body and soul, so permanently deletion requires Life and Spirit as well. Full-delete short-term memory. Direct mental assault. Possibly coincidental, probably vulgar. ••••• Creation Inspire an entirely new idea or concept (at least for the target). Replace a psyche, displacing the old memory, personality, identity, etc. with new ones. Create a mind: ghost in the machine, awakened animal, etc. Only the first might be coincidental. • Perception Sense spirits and ghosts. Detect possession. See the world of the Penumbra. Gauge the Gauntlet. Coincidental. •• Control Summon and communicate with spirits Command spirits (which they'll resist) or bargain with them (which they enjoy). Sometimes coincidental. ••• Alteration Awaken an object by making its spirit manifest in the world. Bind spirits or make deals on which they always seem to look favorably. Possibly coincidental. •••• Destruction Destroy spirits and ghosts, with obvious resistance. Destroy spirit materials. Step sideways or open a portal into either Umbra. Vulgar, and there's the Avatar Storm. ••••• Creation Create a new Umbral realm. Create a new spirit or spirit material, even a ghost's fetter. Heal spirits and ghosts. Vulgar. Time• Perception Perfect time sense. Predict the outcomes of (if not the minutiae of) actions and scenes. See the past of an object with psychometry. Probably coincidental, depending on the prediction or information. •• Control Control causality to affect minor luck-based games of chance and the like. Coincidental unless you're really blatant about it. ••• Alteration Accelerate or decelerate someone's personal time, giving them greater or lesser Dexterity (and therefore Speed and Initiative, but not extra actions). Cause plants to grow faster or slower, stop a dropped teacup from hitting the ground before you can catch it, throw a really fast ball, etc. Almost always vulgar, though that teacup might not be. •••• Destruction Delete the past to rewind and redo a turn (or even a scene), retaining your knowledge of the previous try. Delete the future to disappear from the normal timestream and reappear in the near future. Vulgar, and it won't remove Paradox you incurred from a deleted turn or scene. ••••• Creation Perfect time: freeze the scene and effectively transmute your turn into a sub-scene; you have time enough (heh) for one major action like performing a powerful spell or disarming the bomb or what-have-you, but you can't use it for less-dramatic actions like taking a bunch of attacks – you're outside the time the rest of the world, so interacting objects outside of your immediate vicinity or any person ends the effect. Bubble a person or object in time, causing it never to age. Shunt your own time bubble into an alternate stream; if you go into the past or future of a timeline similar to ours, it's almost like true time travel, except that you can't affect your original timestream with your actions in the new one. Crazy vulgar. |
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Spheres |