Magickal Difficulty Modifiers

Mage Information

Tools and Rituals
Activity	Difficulty Modifier
Using a personalized instrument	-1
Using a unique instrument	-1
Using a unique and specialized instrument	-2 (total)
Working with unfamiliar instruments	+2/ +1
Working without usual instruments	+3
Using instruments when you don’t need to	-1
Using personal item from target (sympathetic magick)	-1 to -3
Appropriate Resonance (personal, instrument, ritual, or Tass)	-1
Opposed Resonance (personal, instrument, ritual, or Tass)	+1
Manipulating Mythic Threads/ hypernarrative	-1
Time and Effort
Activity	Difficulty Modifier
Spending Quintessence	-1 per point, max. -3
Spending extra time	(per additional turn each roll; max. -3) -1
Fast-casting	+1
Turning time backwards	+3
General Circumstances
Activity	Difficulty Modifier
Researches lore about subject before using magick	-1 to -3
Near a Node	-1 to -3
Distant or hidden target or subject	+1
Juggling several Effects at once	+1 per two Effects
Mage distracted	+1 to +3
Mage in conflict with Avatar	+1 to +3
Domino Effect	+1 per two coincidences after first; see p. 539.
Outlandish to godlike feat	+1 to +3

Notes

• Maximum net modifier +3 or -3.
• Minimum difficulty 3, maximum difficulty 10. If you employ the Thresholds option, max difficulty is 9; in the latter case, extra modifiers add to threshold, requiring one additional success per +1 difficulty modifier.
• Modifiers that would take the difficulty above 10 add additional successes at a one-to-one ratio; a +3 modifier to difficulty 10, for example, would demand at least three successes.
• If you use both the threshold option and modifiers that take the difficulty above 10, then each additional +1 difficulty over 9 demands an extra success. A +3 modifier to difficulty 9 would require at least three successes.