Expanded Magician Quality Options

[Aurelius]

This is an idea for making magicians more variable than per standard SR4. The system is likely open to some degree of abuse, which is a cost of any modular system, but i would like feedback on any serious problems, as well as other comments you may have.
Notes: The critter powers may be problematic, and deserve oversight when chosen, and the prices may not be right. also, i need more positive 5p qualities to fill up for characters to the 10, 20 or 30 points. Finally, the ordinary Physical Adept is likely to disappear under these rules, since it is easy to add some other funky power to him. As some may notice, the Magical Talent quality is based on the same model as the Changeling Qualities in Runner's Companion. However, characters cannot buy additional Talent Qualities with their normal Quality points
Edit 1: Minor Edits to clarify. Put Mesmeric Talent and Dual-natured qualities under observation.
Edit 2: Clarified physical adepts. Put Concealment under observation. Added explanation of Talent qualities. Added sample packages. Added more notes where i am unsure of the best implementation.
Edit 3: Expanded Spell Knack quality to explain the interaction with the Physical Adept quality.
Edit 4: Added Favored Spell, Metaplanar Adept, Urban Adept and the Common Talent Pattern negative quality
Edit 5: Altered cost of Concealment to 20 or 25. Altered cost of Mesmeric Adept to 25. Added Gift of Silence and Gift of Mastery


New Quality: Magical Talent 5, 10 or 15 points
The character has a some sort of magical talent, accompagnied by the some kind of drawbacks, since magic never manifests perfectly in anyone. The character also starts with a Magic attribute of 1, which can be improved as normal. Also, the character gains the ability to use the enchanting skill as normal.
5 BP: Choose 10 points of positive Talent Qualities and 5 points of negative Talent Qualities.
10 BP: Choose 20 points of positive Talent Qualities and 10 points of negative Talent Qualities.
15 BP: Choose 30 points of positive Talent Qualities and 15 points of negative Talent Qualities.
Note: if used, this quality replaces the following other qualities: Adept, Aspected Magician, Astral Sight, Magician, Mystic Adept and Spell/Spirit Knack.

Talent Qualities
Talent Qualities are a special class of positive and negative qualities that can only be taken with the points gained from the Magical Talent Quality. You cannot take additional negative Talent Qualities over the ones allowed by the level of Magical Talent you have taken in order to gain more positive Qualities. Note: should you be allowed to do that?

Positive Talent Qualities:

Astral Talent 5, 10 or 15 points
The character can learn the astral combat and assensing skills. If this talent is chosen at 5 points, the character can astrally perceive, but cannot astrally project. If chosen at 10 points, the character can both astrally perceive and astrally project. If chosen at 15 points, the character can both astrally perceive and astrally project, and is particularly strong in astral space, gaining a +1 attributes bonus to his Astral Attributes.

Conjuring 5, 10 or 15 points.
The character can summon spirits and learn skills from the Conjuring skill group.
If this quality is chosen at 5 points, choose a single spirit type from the character's tradition. This type of spirit, as well as watchers and ally spirits are the only kind of spirits the character can summon, though he can still banish other types of spirits.
If chosen at 10 points, the character can summon all 5 spirit types from his tradition.
If chosen at 15 points the character gains the benefits of the 10-point version of the quality, and is also an unusually talented summoner, gaining a +1 skill bonus to all skills in the Conjuring skill group.

Counterspelling Adept 5 points
The character can learn and use the counterspelling skill.
Note: this quality is included for free in the 10-point version of the Sorcery quality.

Favored One 10 points
The character gains the critter power of Guard.

Favored Spell 10 points
A part of your Talent is an attunement for a specific spell, likely one that you learned early, and on your own.
Choose a single spell the character knows. The character does not suffer penalties for sustaining this spell. This can be used with the spell from the Spell Knack Talent Quality.

Gift of Mastery 10 points
The character gains the power of animal control for a class of animals appropriate to his background.

Gift of Silence 15 points
The character gains the critter power of Silence. No-one will hear you scream!


Mesmeric Adept 25 points Note: This Talent is under suspicion of being utterly overpowered. Heavy GM discretion recommended
The character gains the critter power of Influence.

Metamagic Adept 10 points
The character knows and can use a single metamagic ability, even though he is not initiated. He counts as initiate grade 0 for effects depending on initiate grade.

Metaplanar Adept 5 points
You can journey to the metaplanes through meditation, without requiring you to be capable of any sort of astral perception or projection. If you initiate, halve the normal times required to prepare for a metaplanar journey.

Physical Adept 10 points Edited to clarify how the Physad's magic score works. This might not be the best way to do it, however.
The character gains 1 power point for each point of magic, as per the normal Adept Quality. If the character has any version of the Sorcery or Conjuring qualities, he must take the Magical Power adept power in order to gain a use for them. He uses his full magic score with any critter powers gained from magical talents.

Poltergeist 10p
The character gains the critter power of Magic Fingers.

Shadow Adept 10 points
The character gains the critter power of Shadow Cloak.

Spell Knack 5 points Edited to clarify for physical adepts.
Choose a single spell. The character knows and can cast this spell. He does not need the spellcasting skill, however, instead he uses Magic+Willpower for the spellcasting roll. He cannot use ritual sorcery with the spell. This power is incompatible with the Sorcery quality.
If this quality is taken with the Physical Adept quality, the adept exceptionally does not need to take the Magical Power adept power to use it. However, he must develop the Spellcasting skill, he cannot cast the spell with a simple Magic+Willpower roll.

Sorcery 5, 10 or 15 points.
The character can cast spells and learn skills from the Sorcery skill Group. If this quality is chosen at 5 points, choose two spell categories. Those are the only kinds of spells the character can cast, and he can only counterspell spells from these categories, as well. If chosen at 10 points, the character can cast spells from all spell categories, and counterspell all of them as well. If chosen at 15 points, the character gains the benefits of the 10-point version fo this quality and is also unusually adept at Sorcery, granting him a +1 skill bonus to all skills in the Sorcery group.


Subtle Magic 5 points
You have always been more subtly at using magic than other magicians. It's some small trick that others just can't seem to grasp. Increase the threshold for detecting your use of magic (BBB pp 168) by 2+your initiate grade.

Talent Manifestation (Positive) 5, 10 or 15 points
Choose a positive Metagenetic quality from Runner's Companion. The character developed that quality along with his Talent for some inexplicable reason. Should the character ever be reduced to 0 Magic, this quality will also disappear.

Telepathic Adept 10 points
The character gains the critter power of Mind Link.

The Hidden Way 20 or 25 points This might be too powerful too, like Influence, but has the benefit of aiding the entire group, and not just let the magician Influence away the need for any other character. Also, it allows super-stealthy ninja adepts, which is a plus in my book.
The character gains the critter power of Concealment. If this quality is taken at 20 points, the power is Self Only. If taken at 25 points, it works as described in the BBB.

Urban Adept 5 points
You are specially attuned to the mana flows of the city. You likely grew up on the streets, or otherwise have a close relationship with cities, such as being a detective, taxi driver or architect. You have also grown much more accustomed to the variations in mana that occurs where large groups gather.
You can ignore the effects of Rating 1 positive background counts. Rating 2 and higher positive background counts, and all mana ebbs affect you normally. You can also gather enchanting materials in urban areas (unlike other mages, who can only find them in areas of pristine wilderness). You use Survival as normal to locate the materials, but use the Etiquette skill to retrieve them.

Negative Talent Qualities

Astral Beacon -10 points
As the Astral Beacon flaw. SR4 (page

Cannot Bind spirits/Can only use bound spirits -5p
More common in the fifties, before conjuring was as well-understood as it is today, some magicians still suffer from this limitation.
If you have the Cannot Bind Spirits flaw, you are simply Incompetent in the Binding Skill.
If you can only use bound spirits, you are Incompetent in the Summoning skill, but can use the Bind spirits directly from the metaplanes, you do not need to Summon them beforehand.
You must have a version of the Conjuring quality in order to take this.

Common Talent Pattern -5 points
Your talent takes one of the most common forms. There are many magically active people with the same kind of talent as you, and such a pattern of talent is less likely to come with strong drawbacks or geasa.
If you have the exact level of the Magical Talent Quality and the exact positive Magical Talents of one of the entries on the list below, you can take this negative talent quality. It provides no drawbacks, but makes your character a little less exceptional.
Common Adept: 5-point Magical Talent, with 10p Physical Adept Talent Quality.
Common Mage: 15-point Magical Talent, with 10p Astral Access, 10p Conjuring and 10p Sorcery
Common Conjurer: 10-point Magical Talent, with 5p Astral Access and 15p Conjuring.
Common Sorcerer: 10-point Magical Talent, with 5p Astral Access and 15p Sorcery.
Note: The gamemaster is encouraged to modify this list to reflect his vision of the gameworld.

Dual-Natured -15p Note: This talent is under revision. It might be best if it required the ability to astrally perceive. The other option is that it replaces the 5p version of Astral Access, allowing free astral perception, which is how being dual-natured usually works. We could then either rule it to remove reduce the cost of the the 10 and 15 point versions of astral access by 5 points, or let them stand at their normal cost.
This quality only manifests in magicians with the very strongest talents, and they are thus usually given some respect, even though it is a hindrance in many ways. The character is dual-natured as per the critter power of the same name, and does not suffer the usual penalties for perceiving the physical and astral worlds at the same time.

Geas -5, -10 or -15 points
The character's magic is somehow dependent on external circumstances, either due to self-image or tradition. If you take the -5 point version of this, it takes the form of a Power Ritual. This works like the geas quality from Street Magic, and you choose a geas condition as normal, but the character never risks permanent magic loss for breaking the geas. If you take the -10 point version, is an ordinary Geas, as per Street Magic. The -15 point version is an Absolute Geas. The character simply cannot perform magic while the geas is broken, though he also avoids the risk of permanent magic loss.

Obscure Tradition -5 or -15 points
Your magical tradition is not common or well-known in the campaign area, and you have difficulty getting hold of magical materials, instructors or people to perform ritual sorcery with.
-5: Increase the Availability of all summoning materials, magical lodge materials, magical instructors and spell formulas for your tradition by 4.
-15: You must make all summoning materials, magical lodge materials, and spell formulas yourself. If there are anyone else who can provide such materials, or indeed is a member of your tradition at all, they require an entire adventure of their own to get in contact with.

Registered Magician -5 or -10 points
This is a variant of the SINner quality. The character is on file as a registered magician, along with his astral signature. If the -10 point version is taken, the character is on file as a criminal registered magician.

Talent-Induced Allergy -5, -10 or -15 points
This negative quality works like the Allergy quality in the BBB, except the allergy does not have to be something that could physically provoke an allergy. Common examples include rural areas, urban areas, churches, toxic areas and mundane 'antimagical' wards.

Talent-Induced Compulsion -5, -10 or -15 points
Choose a compulsion as per the Runner's Companion flaw Poor Self Control, pr a Mania or Phobia as per Augmentation. The character developed this compulsion along with his talent, and they seem to be linked. Such compulsions are often more exotic than those ordinary people develop.

Talent Manifestation (Negative) -5, -10 or -15 points
Choose a negative Metagenetic quality from Runner's Companion. The character developed that quality along with his Talent for some inexplicable reason. Should the character ever be reduced to 0 Magic, this quality will also disappear.

Sample Talent Packages, to clarify:

Classic Shaman: 15p Magical Talent. Talent Qualities. 10p Sorcery, 10p Conjuring, 10p Astral Access, Cannot Bind Spirit -5p, choose 10 points of other negative qualities.
Mystic Adept: 15p Magical talent. Talent Qualities: 10p Physical Adept, 10p Sorcery, 10p Conjuring. Choose 15 points of negative qualities.
Classic Sorcerer Adept: 10p Magical Talent. Talent Qualities: 15p Sorcery, 5p Astral Access. Choose 10 points of negative talent qualities.