Arcane/ Cloaking (mage V20)

Mage Information

Arcane/ Cloaking

You know the fine art of disappearing. Whether this involves a not-so-simple trick, the ability to cloud men’s minds, nanotech sensory disrupters, or some nameless power of obscurity, you possess a talent for getting lost. Especially in the age of cell-phone cameras, global databases, electronic trackers, DNA samples, and Closed Circuit TV monitors on every corner, Arcane – or its Technocratic version, Cloaking – is a useful Trait to have. Records get lost; cameras malfunction or record fuzzy images in your place; folks recall “Some guy... or girl, I guess – I’m really not sure.” Although this talent isn’t invisibility per se, it helps you blend in with crowds, blurs your features on camera, and allows you to slide in between the cracks of an increasingly monitored world.

To mystic mages, Arcane is a bending of reality caused by fluctuations of metaphysical energy, like echoes or Resonance. As far as the Technocracy’s concerned, this is a perfectly explainable phenomenon... and they’ll get back to you with a reasonable explanation as soon as one meets the rigid criteria for disbursed information. The Union prefers to keep track of mysterious individuals, like Secret Agent John Courage, who manifest this Cloaking effect; doing so, however, is easier declared than achieved.

Game-wise, you add your Arcane/ Cloaking dots as extra dice on all Stealth-related rolls. Your opponents reduce their Perception or Investigation dice pools by that same amount whenever someone tries to track you down. This benefit lasts for as long as you remain inconspicuous. In combat, folks can see you normally, although videos or pictures of that fight remain blurred. A Cloaked character who runs around shouting and being obvious will be obvious, although witnesses will probably disagree about his exact description after the event has passed. The Arcane/ Cloaking effect does not conceal really memorable features. A purple-haired dude with facial tattoos is going to get noticed, although folks may disagree about the shade of purple or the patterns of his tattoos.

X -- You’re as obvious as anybody else.

• -- You blend into crowds.

•• -- Your presence slides out of memory.

••• -- You’re that person no one easily recalls.

•••• -- Records, pictures, even memories of you are few and hard to find.

••••• -- You’re like a ghost in this world, known only to the folks you want to trust.