Talons

Rotes by Craft / Tradition

Description: Humans are such soft and fragile things, lacking the claws that distinguish other predators. Thanks to magick, however – or to cybernetic technomagick, anyway – a mage can grow claws (or, with Life 4, install them on another character) that make up for that silly lapse in “intelligent design.”

In its simplest and most traditional form, this spell extends the bones within the subject’s fingers, and perhaps his toes as well. Strengthening them into practical talons, the mage charges them with personal Quintessence, granting those claws a paranormal sharpness. Other applications graft steel, bone, or other substances into the subject’s limbs. Cyborgs, shapechangers, war wizards, and other combative types make deadly use of such appendages, and although the spell’s roots are rather primordial, its effects never go out of style.

System: Life 3 grows the claws on the mage’s own hands, and Life 4 allows him to grow them on – or attach them to – another character. Matter 2 allows the claw-crafter to work other substances into those Talons... an essential element for cybernetic enhancement. Prime toughens and charges the claws, often with a glowing nimbus of Quintessential power if the mage wants to show off his handiwork. Normally, the claws inflict lethal damage; the Prime 2 component makes this damage aggravated instead. In all cases, this rote allows the character to use the Claw maneuver described in Chapter Nine’s Combat section.

Source: Mage V20 - pg.609-610