Reading an Opponent
Rote · Mage
Battle-savvy mages can also use their Arts to “read” a struggle as they fight. A mage with at least two dots in Wits and two dots in either Brawl, Do, Melee, or Martial Arts may use one of the following Spheres to enhance his combat abilities: Correspondence, Mind, or Time. Due to the confusing nature of “piled on” perceptions –especially in a fast-moving fight – a wise mage uses only one Sphere at a time when reading an
opponent – see Muddled Perceptions and Sensory Overload in the Enhanced Perceptions section, p. 53.
In either case, the mage must be running a sensory Effect from the Sphere in question; knowing about Time won’t help you if you’re not using that knowledge during the fight. Assuming that he’s using the Sphere in question as an ongoing sensory spell, then he can either discern the spatial positions of his assailants (Correspondence 1); read their intentions before they move (Mind 2); or fluctuate his perceptions of time just enough to sense where and when everyone in that fight will be on a second-by-second basis (Time 2).
To “read” details from a fight, that mage must first take a full action to cast the Effect; this could involve focusing her mind; taking a bong-hit, adjusting his mirrorshade sunglasses, hitting a special stance – whatever action suits the mage’s focus. The player rolls that mage’s Arete (difficulty 4 or 5, depending upon the Sphere Rank involved), and then uses his successes to reduce the difficulties of his next few attack or defense rolls (only one type per turn) by -1 for one action per success. Three successes, then, would let him reduce the difficulty of one type of attack or defense roll for -1 for her next three actions.
By “one type,” we mean one particular Attribute + Ability roll. Marcus could use his insight to reduce the difficulty of his Dexterity + Martial Arts rolls for his three actions, but not reduce the difficulty of his Dexterity + Athletics roll one action, his Dexterity + Melee roll one action, and his Perception + Martial Arts roll for the third action.
For obvious reasons, the combat Trait must be the one that’s getting used in the fight; two dots in Brawling won’t help you shoot someone. This trick does not work at range unless the mage has Correspondence magick or a telescopic sight on the gun he’s using in that fight. This tactic CANNOT be used to reduce Arete rolls for magickal Effects, as it reflects insights into physical situations, not metaphysical potential.
The most direct applications of martial-arts magick put a magickal kick behind the more mundane (and typically coincidental) method of belting someone in the chops. Given the near-unlimited number of potential strikes (several of which are covered in Mage 20’s Chapter Nine Combat section), we’ll just focus here on techniques that add Awakened power to mortal violence.
As mentioned above under The Basics, a simple addition of Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Prime, or sometimes Entropy, Spirit, and/ or Time can enhance the effects of an apparently simple blow:
• Entropy spots flaws (Entropy 1) in order to reduce the difficulty of a normal attack, or lets a mage exploit them in order to inflict aggravated damage (Entropy 4).
• Forces bends the physics of a strike (Forces 2), or adds raw elemental power to a blow, as described above under