Rotes & Procedures

You cannot learn the following techniques at the local YWCA. All of the following feats are considered to be “deep-practice techniques” – that is, secrets that you learn only through discipline and devotion to the practice in question. And so, in game-terms, a character cannot employ these feats until he has at least three dots in either Martial Arts or Do. He might have the Arete and Spheres to perform the technique from a magickal perspective, but lacks the skill to channel them through his martial-arts practice.

The most potent forms of esoteric martial-arts cannot be performed unless the practitioner has reached the highest levels of accomplishment. As a rule, then, assume that a mage cannot perform a magickal martial-arts feat if the highest Sphere Rank is higher than his Martial Arts Ability. If Marcus C, for example, has three dots in Martial Arts, he can’t use a technique of Sphere Rank 4 or 5, even if he’s got the Arete and Spheres to pull it off. This way, in game terms, a player must advance his character’s martial-arts prowess in order to refine his magickal power. For more details, see the sidebar Optional