Spheres

Mage Information

To make a terrible pun of it, Mage’s Spheres reflect a well-rounded knowledge of nine different yet interrelated elements of reality. In story terms, these nine constructs represent a sort of “unified- field theory” of Earthly metaphysics. In game terms, they measure what your characters do and cannot do, based upon their understanding of theoretical knowledge and practical results.

Each Sphere features five different levels of progress and result. That progression is represented by the number of dots in your Sphere Trait. As detailed in Chapter Two, within the sidebar Levels of Sphere Progress and Expertise (see p. 68), each successive level allows your mage to understand a bit more about the principles of that Sphere. As a result, he can do more things with it, adding a new level of abilities onto the previous levels of accomplishment:

• Rank 1: Perception – the ability to perceive and observe the forces in question. With such basic (yet useful) understanding, a character can sense things that few mortals ever recognize.

•• Rank 2: Manipulation – the ability to do small things with those forces. At this point, the mage begins to exert minor control over the phenomena she sees, and may use it to work small changes upon herself.

••• Rank 3: Control – the ability to alter reality in noticeable ways, though these are usually restricted to the mage’s self. In most cases, the Sphere begins inflicting damage at this level, and allows the character to work small alterations on other characters.

•••• Rank 4: Command – the ability to perform major acts of alteration through the principles of that Sphere. Generally, this level allows the mage to make significant changes to the Patterns of other characters.

••••• Rank 5: Mastery – the ability to command vast forces in connection with that element of reality. By now, the mage knows almost everything there is to know about the principles of that Sphere and can perform godlike deeds with them.

(Higher degrees of Sphere mastery might exist, but those are rare and optional so we’re not exploring them in this book. Groups that want to bring such powers into play can find them in the sourcebook Masters of the Art.)

The metaphysical principles behind those Spheres can be found in Chapter Two, under A Brief Overview of the Spheres and Their Properties , (pp. 67-71). Here, we’ll deal strictly with the levels of progress and the things you can do with each level of expertise.