Mystic Aegis
Jamie's Esoterica / Jamie's Character Sheet
Provisionally Approved. Research was begun in July of 2029. Roll every 2 years, Base Difficulty = 11 -3 (library) - 2 (familiarity with the concepts) = 6. Need 36 Successes. 16 dice per roll (6 int + 6 occult + 1 Specialty in Kaballah + 3 library).
| Roll # | Successes | Total Successes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | 10 | 24 |
| 4 | 5 | 29 |
| 5 | 7 | 36 |
Total of 5 rolls = 10 years research time.
Level 6 Hermetic Thaumaturgy
This rune provides protection against magic that affects the protected object or person. Blood Sorcery, other forms of “hedge magic,” and the True Magick used by the mortals who call themselves Mages are all more difficult to use against the target.
System: The caster starts by drawing onto or etching a rune into the item to be protected. A rune etched into a mystic talisman or a tattoo may serve to protect a person: the materials used to make inks or stains are specific to the material the object to be protected is made of, and generally quite rare. The caster then infuses the rune with quicksilver, while reciting a complicated chant that takes 20 minutes to complete.
If the caster is attempting to tattoo the protection onto a vampire, the recipient may spend a point of willpower. If the recipient does not spend the willpower, the tattoo disappears normally as his or her vampiric body reverts to its "natural" form over the course of the next day. Obviously, the failure of its physical anchor will destroy all affects of Mystic Aegis.
Once the rune is completed, it provides one level of protection per two successes on the casting roll (round down). Each level of protection removes 1 success from any magic that affects the protected object or person. Protected individuals are alerted whenever the Aegis is activated. A botched Mystic Aegis increases the effect of any hostile (storyteller's discretion) magic that affects the protected object, and randomly alerts the user about bogus attacks.
Mystic Aegis grants only limited protection from area effects such as Lure of Flames: The area effect is reduced (or negated) by the appropriate number of successes for the protected object or person only, but has full effect everywhere else. Thus, a well-enough protected individual may be able to walk untouched through a bonfire created by Lure of Flames, though the character must still roll Rotschreck, and may be affected by secondary fires started by the magic.
Mystic Aegis may "stack" with the effect of the Path of Countermagic: re-enforcing reality in multiple ways is encouraged, not discouraged, by consensual reality.
Via Email, Brian suggested that the effect should be limited to protecting a person or an object, but not either.
Metaphysically, I don't see the difference between affecting a person or any object - humans are a sub-category of "all things." Thus, it comes down to the means by which one anchors the protection. With many objects, it is simple: Draw a rune in a permanent manner. This works for most inanimate solid objects, humans and other living things who may be tattooed (though as the skin ages, the tattoo may no longer hold the correct shape and thus fail), and vampires who have sorcerous talismans (since the talisman is metaphysically part of the vampire).
For other vampires, and those who cannot (or won't) for whatever reason be tattooed, a protective amulet is traditional. This is where Brian's criticism comes in: If the amulet bears the protective mark, and in the case of all other types of objects, the mark protects the thing it is written on, then it should be the amulet that is protected, not the wearer. Thus, amulets become entirely different from everything else: not a sub-set of "everything." Clearly, my solution is metaphysically suspect, in addition to being cumbersome.
However, there is a way around this: I think that a rank 6 ritual may incorporate a very specific effect of a lesser magical power that the creator of the ritual knows. In this case, Biothaumaturgic Experimentation 5 (or 4 in the case of ghouls). By invoking this, a vampire may be tattooed and therefore protected. With the permission of Storytellers, I'll make this change to the ritual.
-Jamie
