Índice 2: Aprendiz em Forças (••)

Control Electricity (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Crafts, Computers, Science

The mage may alter the flow of electricity as well as diminish its current. She cannot increase the current without some device capable of generating it, since she cannot create electricity from nothing. For example, the mage can direct the electricity in a building to single or multiple outlets, cut the power, or divide power going to one outlet to many other sources. This requires a method of conduction, like existing wiring or metal. She can also cause existing electrical currents to arc (such as striking a target near a wall outlet), or redirect it away from a particular device. Causing a short or using the electrical current to attack a target usually burns out the breakers or shorts out a device afterward, unless it’s made to withstand the stresses of power fluctuations. Damage caused by this spell uses the electrical damage rules on p. 224. By directing the flow away from a subject, she subtracts the spell’s Potency from the damage of an electrical source.

Each level of Potency in the spell allows the mage to control one line of power. If she diverts it somewhere else, the Storyteller determines what occurs — a socket or device could overload, or if the mage is careful she can avoid damaging components and simply change the course of power. If instead she wants to diminish the power, it drops by one level for each point of Potency; a Potency of 4 reduces a subway line’s current to that of an ordinary wall socket, for example, or Potency 5 cuts it completely. (See the table below under Transform Energy.)

Control Fire (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Crafts, Science, Survival

The mage can exert control over a fire, fueling it to increase its size and intensity or depriving it of fuel to snuff it out. She can only control existing flames at this level, but can change a small campfire into a roaring inferno or bring even an out-ofcontrol fire down to manageable levels. For each level of Potency, the mage chooses one of the following effects (see Transform Energy, below):

• Increase or decrease the heat of the fire by one level.

• Increase or decrease the size of the fire by one level.

If the fire’s heat or size are reduced to less than one, it is extinguished. Unless extinguished, once the spell’s Duration ends a diminished fire will eventually spread back out along available fuel.

Control Gravity (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Athletics, Occult, Science

The mage can redirect the force of gravity in an area. She can alter the direction of its pull, causing affected objects to “fall” upwards or horizontally. She can’t do more than change its direction at this level, but she can make it nearly impossible to approach a specific object or area without some means of overcoming gravity, like flight or climbing gear.

Anyone and anything affected by the spell that is not secured “falls” in the direction chosen by the caster. Victims may suffer damage if they collide with objects. Someone trapped in an area where gravity propels him upward might be stuck falling to the edge of the spell’s radius, then back down again as normal gravity takes over, only to fall upward again as he enters the spell’s area. A person or creature capable of action can make a roll to escape, at the Storyteller’s discretion, by grabbing onto a nearby object or otherwise finding the means to control her position.

Control Heat (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Athletics, Science, Survival

The mage can now increase or decrease the temperature of an area. Each level of Potency allows a change of 1 level of Extreme Environment to produce heat or cold, counting a temperate room temperature as “zero.” For example, with Potency 3, a mage could transform a Level 1 Extreme Environment based on cold into a Level 2 Environment based on heat

Control Light (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Crafts, Investigation, Science

The mage can dim or intensify existing light the spell’s area of effect, whether from an artificial or natural source. This can cause a 40-watt bulb to shine as brightly as a floodlight or make the sunlight on an overcast day like that of a clear summer morning. The magic modifies the light emitted by the source, and not the source or the emission itself, so this won’t cause a bulb to burn itself out or increase the heat of sunlight without other spells. Each level of Potency in the spell doubles or halves the light’s candescence.

The spell allows the mage to focus or disperse light, and even alter its wavelength on the spectrum. She could turn a torch into a blacklight, focus a lamp’s rays into a laser, split its lights into a rainbow spectrum as though viewed through a prism, or cause a refraction effect like looking upon something in shallow water. These effects cause the Poor Light Tilt in the affected area. +1 Reach: The spell can create a mirroring effect or complete black-out by turning all light in the area back on itself or away from onlookers. The spell imposes the Blinded Tilt in the affected area, or provides substantial cover, although as the effect is only visual the cover has no Durability.

Control Sound (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Expression, Stealth, Science

This spell allows a mage to amplify or weaken the volume of sound in the spell’s area of effect. She can make a loudspeaker into a thunderous blast or a barely audible squeak. Each level of Potency doubles or halves the volume of sound in the targeted area, creating a zone of altered sound. For example, casting this spell on a podium at the front of the room affects the sounds of anyone standing at the podium. The mage can also influence the direction of existing sounds. She can focus sound waves from across the room to hear a whispered conversation, ensure her own voice does not reach anyone but her intended target, or cause noises to emanate from nearby locations instead of their original sources. The Scale factor determines the area she can affect.

Loud enough sounds can cause the Deafened Tilt in combat. By directing her sound away from a subject that might possibly notice her, the mage inflicts a penalty equal to her Arcanum dots to the subject’s Perception rolls to hear her approach.

• Focusing sound waves to a specific point means that anyone outside of the chosen target (as determined by the Size of Target table) cannot hear the chosen sounds.

• Listening to sounds across an area uses the Area of Effect Scale factor, determining the distance at which the mage can listen in on something. Doing so does not rob the source of its sound. To do that requires focusing the sound completely away from the source (above).

This spell can also be used to alter the tone of a given sound, including modifying a target’s voice to sound like another. Emulating a specific voice might require an Expression + Subterfuge roll to get it right.

+1 Reach: The mage can create an echoing effect by “nudging” sound waves into nearby obstacles. This imposes a penalty to Stealth rolls in the affected area equal to the spell’s Potency, to a maximum of –5.

+1 Reach: The caster gains a bonus to hearing-based Perception rolls within the affected area equal to the Potency of the spell, to a maximum of +5.

Control Weather (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Academics, Science, Survival

The mage can control existing weather patterns. She can force a light shower to become a thunderstorm, summon up fog on a clear morning, make a warm day into an unbearably hot one or conjure a cooling breeze. Drastic changes from existing weather require Reach, as noted below. The weather begins to change immediately upon casting the spell, with new systems taking shape within minutes. This spell allows the mage to change or create weather-based Extreme Environments up to Level 4, as well as cause a wide variety of environmental Tilts. Potency determines the maximum amount by which an Extreme Environment can change, up to a maximum of Level 4 (and a minimum of level 0). Listed below is an example set of Tilts possible for weather patterns, but it is by no means exhaustive. Note that without further spells, the mage is not immune to weather ilts she creates.

• Blizzard
• Extreme Cold
• Extreme Heat
• Heavy Rain
• Heavy Winds

+1 Reach: The weather changes more gradually, over the next few hours, giving the caster time to prepare or making the weather seem more natural.

+2 Reach: Required for more drastic changes. Examples:

• Creating thick fog out of a sunny morning
• Making a hot summer day turn to freezing rain
• Clearing a blizzard into a cool but clear evening

Environmental Shield (Forces ••)

Practice: Shielding
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Occult, Science, Survival

The mage can shield herself against harmful environmental conditions. This spell provides complete resistance to any Conditions or Tilts caused by environments, up to an Extreme Environment level of the spell’s Potency. The spell only protects against indirect damage, like heat and cold and minor hazards like hail. The mage can still drown or be crushed by crashing waves. While the spell wouldn’t protect her against lightning if something forced it to strike her, she wouldn’t naturally attract the bolt. The spell requires a Clash of Wills to work against magical weather effects.

Invisibility (Forces ••)

Practice: Veiling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Larceny, Science, Stealth

This spell can render its subject completely invisible, masking it from all forms of light. Even cameras cannot detect the object, no matter what type of filter or lenses they use. This spell does not mask the sounds an object makes, although when Combined with “Control Sound” (see above), the target can be made invisible and soundless.

Kinetic Blow (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Science

The mage focuses the kinetic force of bludgeoning attacks to such a pinpoint that they cause damage like piercing weapons. 144 chapter four: magic This only works on the subject’s unarmed attacks and not any held weapons, though body-hugging objects like gloves and shoes benefit from the spell’s effect. Unarmed attacks (including those made in grapples) gain a weapon bonus equal to Potency, to a maximum of 5, and inflict lethal damage.

+1 Reach: The spell applies the Knocked Down Tilt.

+1 Reach: The spell applies the Stunned Tilt.

+1 Reach: This spell affects held weapons.

+2 Reach: The spell affects thrown weapons. Alternately, the spell affects firearms, granting them greater penetrative ability. Bullets gain Armor Piercing equal to the spell’s Potency.

Transmission (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Crafts, Expression, Science

The mage can hijack existing signals and change the transmitted data or its destination. She can shorten or lengthen the transmission, and even change frequency, such as turning a wifi broadcast into a television signal. At this level, she must still work with a signal already present. Mimicking specific sounds or information requires a Skill roll or access to the data to be transmitted.

+1 Reach: The signal sent can be “encrypted” so that only certain actions, like specific keystrokes or frequencies, can receive them properly. Otherwise, they simply turn up as unintelligible “noise.”

Zoom In (Forces ••)

Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Duration
Suggested Rote Skills: Investigation, Science, Survival

The mage focuses light entering her subject’s senses, greatly magnifying vision. Without an Unveiling spell like “Nightvision” (p.141), the spell can only affect visible wavelengths. For example, a mage using this spell on herself could look closely at a bird circling high above, or zoom in to great detail to examine a layer of dust on an object, but she couldn’t see things that would only appear under a blacklight.

If a character magnifies vision to focus on small-scale occurrences, the Storyteller may call for Intelligence + Science rolls to make sense of what she’s seeing. Every level of Potency doubles the distance the mage can see clearly before suffering penalties, although atmospheric conditions can still cloud her view. Add Potency to dice rolls to notice small details.

+1 Reach: The subject can see clearly out to a distance of 1 mile per dot of Forces.

+1 Reach: The subject can clearly discern dust-sized particles.

+1 Reach: The subject no longer suffers penalties from atmospheric conditions.

+2 Reach: The subject can see microscopic particles, even the molecular bonds between objects.