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[bibliophile20]

Finished Products:

Scholar:
Scholar is the repository of vast wells of knowledge and knows many things; he is the custodian of all accumulated knowledge and the patron to magical researchers. Magicians serving this mentor spirit tend to follow the Hermetic traditions. Although exceptions abound, as a group, they tend to revere the testing of logical reasoning as a form of ritual devotion in its own right, and distrust intangible resources like intuition, faith, and superstition.
Advantages: +2 for Detection spells, +2 for Knowledge skill tests
Disadvantages: Scholar magicians are easily distracted by new and/or unusual knowledge. When faced with something he has never seen before the Scholar magician must make a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test to resist examining the information/news/tome/etc at length. The magician will not put his life in danger
just to learn/study the information, but he will take the next safe opportunity to do so.

~*~

Philosopher:

Philosopher is the keeper of dreams and revealer of secrets; he is the custodian of all interpreted conceptual designs and the patron to seers, visionaries, and dreamers. Magicians serving this mentor spirit tend to follow the Shamanic traditions. Although exceptions abound, as a group, they tend to revere the interpretation of imagery and impressions as a form of ritual devotion in its own right, and as a means toward understanding the world beyond the limitations imposed by merely collecting facts, files, names, and numbers.

Advantages: +2 for Summoning spirits associated with Detection, +2 for Assenssing Tests
Disadvantages: When exposed to new and/or unusual knowledge, Philosopher magicians must seek deeper meanings and patterns, embracing the chaos beneath the order. When faced with something he has never seen before the Scholar must make a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test to resist evaluating the information/news/tome/etc at length. This evaluation can take the form of artistic expression, meditive contemplation, communion with spirits, or heated debates with other characters. The magician will not put his life in danger just to evaluate the information or express his opinions on it, but he will take the next safe opportunity to do so.



~*~

I have a few ideas that I'll be putting up here over the next little while as I refine them; please critique:

Lady Luck
Chance favors the bold, they say, and those that play the odds can be very bold indeed; trusting in their luck, the followers of this mentor take outrageous chances and often succeed--but not all the time, effectively playing Russian Roulette with their magic.
Special: Characters who follow this mentor spirit can overcast spells to twice Magic attribute Force, but only suffer the Drain of a normal Force spell, but, if they glitch during any test--casting, opposed test, or resisting drain--then they have to resist the full Physical Drain value for the overcasted spell.
Whenever they cast a spell, they may not use Edge, not for additional dice, and definitely not for negating a glitch.

Ex: Sam, Magic 5, casts a Force 10 Stunball at some Ares goons that are chasing him and his chummers. The not-to-bright goons, with Willpower 2, are all unable to resist the powerful spell with Sam's Magic 5 and Spellcasting 4 and slump to the ground. Now Sam has to resist Drain; as he has been doing fine with this spell, his DV is only 3, as if he had cast a Force 5 Stunball (DV F/2+1). He rolls his Willpower 5 and Charisma 5 and easily suppresses the Drain.

However, if any of the tests had glitched--maybe his roll against the goons, or his Drain resistance roll--then he would have had to resist the full Physical DV from the Stunball, which would have been a DV of 6--not so easy to resist. And Stunball is pretty light on the DV as spells go; If Same cast a Force 10 Toxic Wave and glitched, then the DV would be 10--equal to his drain resistance dice pool.

~*~

Critiques? I have some more ideas that I'll be putting up here as I refine them a bit.