This “building-in” process usually requires at least one more success, per new ability, than the usual amount of successes needed for that transformation. If Jennifer were to transform herself into a fire-breathing tiger, she’d need at least four successes (three for the tiger, one for the fire) in addition to the Forces 3/ Prime 2 Effect that would allow her to breathe fire in the first place. Extremely powerful new abilities – like the ability to radiate an aura of crackling electricity – may require two additional

successes or more, depending upon the Storyteller’s judgment and the power of that Effect. Transformation into a fire-breathing woman-tiger who could teleport around with inhuman levels of speed (high Ranks of Correspondence/ Life/ Forces/ Prime/ Time) would probably take seven or eight successes, maybe even more, to complete. And yeah – that’s vulgar as fuck.

Also as mentioned above, such abilities expend one point of Quintessence per use. A poisonous bite, for example, would cost one Quintessence per venomous injection. This Quintessence typically comes from the mage’s personal supply, or from the innate life-force of a living creature if that creature isn’t a mage.