Rotes & Procedures

Just because a feat is possible doesn’t mean it’s easy. The godlike power of the Spheres is often balanced by the effort necessary to accomplish great things… and when those great things involve displacing the momentum of consensual reality, the line between possible and impossible gets pretty hazy.

For players entranced with the idea of turning werecritters into silver with a mere glance (and for Storytellers appalled by the possibility of doing that sort of thing), it’s important to remember that Mage magick doesn’t merely demand the right Ranks in the proper Spheres buzt also the minimum number of successes on the Arete rolls. As shown on the Magickal

In the Mage 20 rulebook, the section called Rituals, Rolls, and Extended Successes details the process of gathering large numbers of successes. (See Chapter Ten, pp. 538-542.) Rituals, Quintessence, and other factors can decrease the difficulty of a spellcasting roll, but even then that difficulty cannot be mod-ified further than +/-3, and the difficulty cannot drop below 3 in any case. Thus, epic feats of magick face epic challenges too. Yes, mages can be among the most powerful denizens of the World of Darkness. Given the matter of successes and dif-ficulties, though, they’re not likely to turn the Vampire Prince of Las Vegas into cream cheese anytime soon.