Introduction:
The Wizard’s
Annex
Everything you think, is true.
– Prince, acceptance speech for the 2006 Webby Awards
The old man’s ghost lives inside these ruins. I can feel his
bristly presence as I step into the room. The smell of him permeates
each corner, as it so often does when some living thing has spent
long hours in a space, but this is more than that. When I close my
eyes, I can hear the timbre of his voice, even though we’d never met.
A curious ozone tang, as if left by just-departed lightning,
hovers in this rain-washed debris. Echoes of his fingertips play
A Personal Treasure-Trove
Welcome to the annex – the storehouse of
secrets that escaped the mammoth confines
of Mage 20th Anniversary Edition and found
their way between these covers. Even with
projects of that scope and size, there’s never
room for everything, and although the book
in your hands isn’t exactly “everything” (how
could it possibly be that?), it’s filled with
expanded rules, optional Traits, Storyteller
guidance, suggested sources of inspiration, an
extension of the Mage 20 focus rules, and even more besides.
Back when we were putting Mage 20 together, we wanted
to make that book a definitive “one-stop shopping” tome for
Mage’s twenty-first-century incarnation. Yet it soon became
10 The Book of Secrets
across the pages of saturated books, their precious scribing turned
to decorative mush. A looming pressure builds behind me, as if the
regent of this blasted home is standing at my back. Each mystic
sense of mine cries out with him.
Though long gone, Archmaster Porthos lingers here.
I wonder what other traces I might find…
obvious that no book, regardless of its size, could contain
all the various goodies we wanted to include. About halfway
through the writing process, the Mage line developer and
primary author (that’s me) began setting aside half-written
sections and less-essential rules for inclusion into a second
book whose working title was The Wizard’s Annex. Like many
working titles, that was soon changed to its final moniker,
and that “annex” became the collection of magely lore you’re
reading now.
During Mage 20’s development, editing, and layout
processes, I began cutting the book down even further. From
a pre-edit draft of roughly 650,000 words, the final half-million
word-count was squeezed between two covers by mighty Mike
Chaney, Mage 20’s hard-working art director and graphic
designer. The remaining material went on to be expanded,
revised, and compiled into How Do You DO That?; this book;
and the currently-in-progress character sourcebook Gods,
Monsters & Familiar Strangers. The majority of that cut
material, though, can be found here, within this Book of Secrets.
What sorts of goodies do we have here for you, then? Well…
• Chapter One: Heroic Traits compiles a definitive
collection of new character Archetypes, secondary
Abilities, and Merits and Flaws. In many cases, these
Traits – especially the Merits and Flaws – have been
updated and revised in order to remain consistent with
the 20th Anniversary Edition rule systems. Oh, yeah…
and there’s plenty of new stuff here as well. Lots of it.
• Chapter Two: Expanded Rules features an array of
optional rules for things like combat, Resonance, com-
puters, Wonders, and more.
• Chapter Three: Matters of Focus introduces a selection
of new paradigms, practices, and instruments, plus
Examples in Play and a focus-based FAQ that address
the Mage 20 focus rules.
• Chapter Four: Justice and Influence provides a look
at crimes, punishments, and areas of influence among
the Masses for the Traditions, Technocracy, Disparate
Alliance, and Nephandi. For the Mad Marauders, who
really don’t have such coherent social systems, there’s
an examination of various kinds of Marauders and the
strange ways in which they function in a world that’s
too crazy for most of us but not quite crazy enough
for them.
• Chapter Five: To Speak of Many Things wraps this
book up with the M20 FAQ, Storyteller suggestions for
genre-based Mage stories, assorted essays that clarify
and expound upon topics raised in Mage 20, and a
collection of Suggested Sources that inspire and inform
Mage 20 in particular and Mage: The Ascension as a
whole.
So yeah, again, welcome to the annex. I’m sure you’ll
find something of interest for you here.
Enjoy!
introduction: The Wizard’s Annex 11
 Chapter One:
Heroic Traits
Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary.
- Gerard Way
“Market correction.”
“Excuse me?”
“The horns,” said Jeremy Post, dim bar-light shining off the
boney peaks projecting from his high forehead. “Another damned
market correction.”
“Oh, Post,” his friend replied, her voice sliding into a half-scold
tone. “Haven’t you learned better than that by now?”
Jeremy Post, “magic man” of the Schofeld-Bloom bull-pit crew,
slammed something strong and amber from the shot glass in his hand.
The burn pulled his eyes tight for a moment. When he opened them
again, they seemed brighter somehow – not lambent, exactly, but
lit by a glow of rough satisfaction. His companion, Marjory Tate
Sinclair, sipped her own drink and shook her head in mock despair.
“Risk is where the magic is, Sinclair,” he said once the spirits
had quit welding his windpipe shut. Post’s voice had the rounded
tone of someone who’s been drinking light but steadily. “No risks,
What We’re Made Of
Although imagination is the most important element
of any Mage character, we must admit that a wide range of
optional Traits can make the game more fun. Sure, Mage 20’s
Chapter Six and Appendix II contain the game’s most essential
Traits; but for folks who want to play, for example, a heretical
blind swordsman with an impressive capacity for alcohol, the
no profits, you know that. Play too safe, and you’re drinking with
the Mail Room boys again.”
Sinclair snorted, her nose flaring with double-edged contempt.
“Been a long time since I saw even ONE boy in the Mail Room,
Post. That’s where they send folks like me.”
“Not like you,” Post assured her. “You’ve pulled your weight
here from Day One.”
“MY weight, your weight, even the Mail Room’s weight some
days, it feels like.” She regarded his horns again. “So what’d you
do, anyway?”
“Do I need to fill out the proper report forms, Ms. Sinclair?”
His voice mimicked the intern they’d both put through the ringer in
their early days at the firm.
She laughed, a quick bark. “No, Post,” she replied, reaching
out her hand to touch the right-side horn. “I think we can keep this
one off the records…”
following chapter features dozens upon dozens of Archetypes,
Abilities, Merits and Flaws that may spice up your chronicle
and add new flavors to an already brimming stew.
The following collection of Traits can be considered
definitive for Mage’s 20th Anniversary incarnation. As we’ve
mentioned earlier (and will reiterate later), several of these
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 13
Traits revise and in some cases replace Traits from older
editions of Mage. If your group prefers the original versions
of those Traits, then feel free to use them. Those earlier ver-
sions, though, might not square with the more recent 20th
Anniversary books, so consider the details before deciding
your preference. As with all of the other rules presented
throughout this book, these Traits are all considered to be
optional rules. Your Storyteller may allow or discard any, some,
or all of the Traits below.
This chapter contains the following Traits on the
following pages:
Archetypes
We humans are mutable little monkeys. We
can act like one sort of person while secretly
nurturing an entirely different personality.
That’s especially true of mages, whose secretive
dealings and unorthodox beliefs turn even the
most honest Awakened folks into psychological
halls of mirrors. And so, the modest selection
of Archetype Traits provided in Mage 20 ( pp.
250 and 267-273) can easily be expanded to
include the following options as well:
Archetypes
Architect Guardian
Artist Heretic
Bon Vivant Mentor
Caregiver Romantic
Conformist Tycoon
Director Vigilante
Entertainer Zealot
Architect
Structure is essential. Without it, life is chaos. It’s up
to you to provide stability and create things that endure. A
builder, a craftsman, a designer for better tomorrows, you feel
best when you’re constructing things of value and shaping the
foundations of a better tomorrow.
Dedicated Purpose guides your designs. You’ve got one
eye on your tools and another on the legacy you’ll leave behind.
While other people dream, you do. Contentment is not your
style; there’s always room for improvement somewhere.
Obsession, though, is your weakness. As far as you’re
concerned, your way is the best way, and that fixation
sometimes interferes with your ability to see the world in
any way other than your own. To Ascend, you’ll have to
learn to accept imperfections, diversity, and designs that
differ from your own.
14 The Book of Secrets
Archetypes (pp. 14-15)
Secondary Abilities
Talents (pp. 18-22)
Skills (pp. 22-30)
Knowledges (pp. 30-34)
Merits and Flaws (pp. 34-99)
Physical (pp. 35-42)
Mental (pp. 42-53)
Social (pp. 53-68)
Supernatural (pp. 68-96)
– Regain Willpower when you create or provide something
with lasting value or importance.
Artist
Magick is an art, and Reality is your canvas. Guided by inspi-
ration, you reshape the world in accordance with your vision of the
Truth as you see it. Perhaps you’re a literal artist – a dancer, a painter,
an author, a performer – who uses artistic media and intentions to
focus your Awakened Arts; or maybe you’re a more abstract form of
artist, employing artistic principles to guide the reality you create. You
could, of course, do both. Regardless of your tools and affiliation,
your vision reaches beyond mere physical or metaphysical technique,
encompassing a greater Truth. Art, after all, speaks for those who
have no voice, and so you speak on their behalf.
Expression is your gift to the world. Through art, you channel
feelings and observations into a form that other folks can recognize.
Ideally, the things you express resonate with a wider audience,
inspiring them to change their world on an even greater scale.
As with many artists, though, you tend to get Stuck in Your
Own Head. Your vision can become so self-focused that no one
else can understand what you’re trying to express. At worst, this
can lead to egotism, disconnection, depression, and insanity.
Artists have a long tradition of going bugfuck nuts, and the Path
of Artistry runs dangerously close to the Path to Marauderdom.
– Regain Willpower whenever you create a work of art in
your chosen medium that communicates a sense of sublime
Truth to your intended audience.
Bon Vivant
Grabbing hold of all the fun you can find, you’re a devotee
of excitement and experience. It’s all too easy to weep and moan
in this world. Fuck that noise. As far as you’re concerned, it’s
better to laugh your way to hell than to zone out or crawl all
the way to your inevitable grave.
Joie de vivre (“love of life”) is your defining strength.
Nothing gets you down for long. Your ability to find enjoyment
in even the darkest circumstances is an inspiration to the folks
around you. More than simply being the life of the party, you
bring the party wherever you might go.
Your Superficiality, though, can be a trap. Not only do
your fun-seeking ways bring you into risky situations, they also
trivialize things that really do need to be taken seriously. Plea-
sure in itself is not wrong; to Ascend beyond such superficial
concerns, though, you’ll need to face whatever pain you’re
hiding beyond that party-hearty façade.
– Regain Willpower whenever you have a truly awesome
time and bring other folks along for the ride.
Caregiver
When people need you, you’re there. Although you
might lack the resources of a Benefactor or the vision of
an Architect, you give time, work, and compassion to folks
in need. This, to you, is merely what we, as human beings,
should do for one another. Perhaps you act out of religious
devotion, a generous philosophy, or a simple need to love
and be loved in return. Whatever your reason, you’re the
one people turn to when the strains of life become too much
to bear without help.
Kindness provides a wellspring for your strength. It keeps
you going and provides the emotional reserves you’ll need
in such a fucked-up world. Because kindness often inspires
other people to be kind in return, you’re often treated well.
This sustains your love at times when joy seems hard to find.
That said, there’s a distinct Insecurity behind your gen-
erosity. Maybe you feel as though folks will ignore you unless
you make yourself valuable to them. People also take advantage
of you at times… which, in turn, fuels your insecurities. To go
beyond the role of potential doormat, you’ve got to recognize
your own worth and stop seeking validation from other folks.
– Regain Willpower when you successfully protect, comfort
or nurture someone who really needs it. You’ve got to actually
help that other person in some way, but whether or not they
acknowledge your assistance, you still feel good about yourself.
Conformist
Every team needs players. That’s what you’re there for. Let
some other hotshot go for the glory; you’re the strong center
that will hold no matter what comes. For obvious reasons, this
is a common Technocratic Archetype. Other groups, however,
have people like this too – it’s not a group, after all, if no one
treats it as a team. As far as you’re concerned, stability is a
virtue, not a fault.
Cooperation is your greatest strength. Your reliability
stands as an example for others to follow. When malcontents
try to tear things down, you’re the walls, floor, and foundation
of your group. It’s not your place to call the shots, but if a plan
makes sense, you’re the first one to follow through.
In the long run, though, your eternal Compliance cripples
you. Sure, it’s great to provide support for other people’s work.
If you want to reach toward Ascension, you’ll need to know
when and how to become your own boss. As long as you choose
to be a cog, you’ll never leave the factory floor.
– Regain Willpower when you support an effort that goes
according to plan because you were there to back it up.
Director
You’re here to sort things out, lay down the law, and
make sure that people follow through on things that must be
done. The designated adult in all situations, you take your
responsibilities to heart. Firm guidance and clear command
are hallmarks of your approach. When stuff needs to get done,
you’re the best person to run the show.
Leadership is your gift to the world. While other folks
stand around dithering, you know what to do, how to do it,
and what will happen if things aren’t done properly. You’re
good at motivating people, and tend to be the most organized
one in your group. People look to you for guidance, and you
rarely let them down.
Your Intolerance, though, sometimes trips you up. The real
world never does run smoothly, and you can drive yourself (and
everyone around you) crazy trying to implement your vision.
In order to Ascend, you must integrate other possibilities into
your approach. Collaboration might sound like a bad word to
you, but a truly great leader learns how to accept compromise.
– Regain Willpower when you lead a group to accomplish
a challenging task.
Entertainer
Life sucks. Good thing you’re here to brighten things up!
Maybe you’re a satirist, kicking holes in the delusions surround-
ing you; or an actor, speaking for the folks who’ve forgotten
what they needed to say. You could express the yearning that
other people feel but cannot articulate, or simply bring a smile
when joy is hard to find. Whatever it is that you do, though,
it transcends mere silliness. Although you’re not as driven as,
say, the Artist described above, you are an artist too, revealing
truth through entertainment.
You’re Fun and Entertaining to be around – important
gifts when folks are fighting for their lives. Beyond that, you
inspire people to look past despair and find beauty and humor
even in ugly situations.
Ego, however, is your biggest hurdle. Doing what you do,
it’s pretty easy to get lost in your own illusions of importance.
Now, you need a strong ego in order to put yourself out there
day after day; unless you learn to balance it with authentic
self-reflection and restraint, however, you’re just setting yourself
up to be a punch line somewhere down the road. Ascension
demands more than artistic sensibilities. To transcend your
limitations, you need to swallow your ego and accept that you
can’t always be the star.
– Regain Willpower when your work makes some significant
change in the lives of people around you.
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 15
Guardian
Shepherding the weak through the Valley of Darkness,
you are truly your brother’s keeper and the finder of lost
children. You save your great vengeance and furious anger
for those who would poison and betray your brothers, sisters,
and so forth. Pop-culture quotations aside, you take your duty
seriously… someone, after all, needs to protect folks who cannot,
or sometimes will not, protect themselves. In essence, this ideal
guides all Awakened factions; even the Fallen, in their twisted
way, often justify themselves by claiming to be guardians of a
rejected world.
Courage is your calling card. It takes guts to do what you
do, and by all the Gods, you’ve got fortitude to spare.
Admirable though it may be, your dedication to Self-Sac-
rifice could be your Achilles’ heel. Lots of would-be Guardians
wind up ground into mulch by constant conflict. A knight needs
battle, true enough; but until she learns when to stop fighting –
to step aside, perhaps, and let people defend themselves or else
make their own decisions – a Guardian can become a martyr, a
bully, or just one more monster in a world already full of them.
– Regain Willpower when your actions directly save a
weaker group or character from assured destruction.
16 The Book of Secrets
Heretic
Grab your chainsaw and line up the sacred cows! Whatever
your companions regard as “orthodox” and proper is, to you,
anathema. Perhaps you follow a confrontational approach to
your culture’s institutions; or you undermine authorities that
you consider to be corrupt. You could introduce a decidedly
unconventional change to an established tradition (or Tradition),
or revere a path or godhead that most folks consider to be “evil.”
Linguistically, heretic combines implications of choice, belief, and
the act of taking something valuable. Whether your heresy is
religious, philosophical, political, or some mixture of them all,
you refuse to accept the popular (and perhaps demanded) creed.
Integrity drives you. After all, if you did not possess im-
mense (often dangerous) degrees of integrity, you would simply
go with the flow, not resist it the way you do.
And yet, that Iconoclasm could get you… and other people…
killed. That is, after all, what often happens to heretics. Folks don’t
like to have their cherished beliefs overturned, and so as you run
through life’s market flipping over tables in the name of your belief,
remember that one of those tables could very well land on top of you.
– Regain Willpower whenever you challenge a commonly
held conviction and manage to change people’s minds about
that belief.
Mentor
You’ve got knowledge and experience that can benefit
other people, so you share it as freely as you can. This might
involve having a single pupil, apprentice or protégé, or it could
involve several people learning what you have to teach. More
than simply a teacher, though, you make a personal investment
in your student’s progress. An instructor can leave the classroom
at the end of the day, but a Mentor’s role might last for life.
Dedication is your source of strength. It’s important to
you that other people share in what you have to offer. Because
you care about the results, and probably about the students
too, you’ll put yourself out there in surprising ways. (See the
Background: Mentor for certain effects of a mentor /student
bond.)
On the other hand, you can be Pedantic. Lecturing becomes
a habit, with every circumstance providing an opportunity
for more lessons. Occasionally, even the most accomplished
teacher must step out from behind the podium. Your potential
for Ascension depends in part upon humanity, and that’s a
hard thing to hang on to when you’re always in the Professor
role. (There’s also a great potential to develop problematic
and possibly unethical bonds with your protégé, but that’s an
entirely different sort of lesson to learn.)
– Regain Willpower when your guidance helps your pupil(s)
accomplish something that had been beyond their reach before.
Romantic
In a world filled with ugliness, you seek and find beauty.
Said beauty could be tragic (as detailed under the entries for
Romance and Tragedy in this book’s Chapter Five section
Storytelling, Genre, and Mage, pp. 285-286), but that sense of
melancholy makes it pure. High drama is your heartbeat. Passion
is your joy. In the words of Patti Smith, you “seek pleasure…
seek the nerves under your skin.” This quest is often painful,
but that pain tells you you’re alive.
That Passion provides your deepest strength. When other
folks hesitate, you plunge in, reveling in the raw excitement
of life’s dance.
Enchanted by that dance, you can be pretty Careless about
its effects. Like the original Romantics, your excesses hurt a lot
of people. Eventually, you’ll need to develop a greater sense
of responsibility and moderation if you ever wish to Ascend.
– Regain Willpower when you throw yourself into a
gloriously ruinous affair or reveal life’s howling beauty to a
previously hesitant soul.
Tycoon
Money makes the world go ‘round, and you’re at the
controls for that particular ride. You’re probably wealthy, with
vast Resources at your command. Power is your drug, influence
your bread and butter. Sure, you like the money and all the
goodies it can bring. It’s the game, though, not the prize, that
provides your true reward.
You’re Savvy, with an eye toward long-term profits. Calcu-
lating enough to get things done, you’re a master manipulator
and an asset to your cause. You know how to shake up your
world, bringing good things to everyone concerned.
That said, you’re a Greedy bastard. “Enough” is not part
of your vocabulary. It’s been said that gold blinds those who
love it most, and in your case that’s probably true. Before you
can Ascend to greater things, you’ve got to love more than
money, power, and the game of winning both.
– Regain Willpower when a long-shot plan of yours pays
off in grand style. Not simply with money – that’s too easy –
but with influence, love, or other marvelous achievements.
Vigilante
The law is a farce. True justice comes only from those
willing to take it up themselves. When the system is utterly
corrupt – and you know that it is – someone must live beyond
the law. That someone is you: the nightmare of unjust souls.
Though you’ll do everything possible to protect the innocent,
guilty parties must pay… often with their lives. You’re the Fist
of Justice in an unjust world, and no sacrifice is too great for
the common good.
Retribution is the hammer in your soul. This dedication
keeps you going long after other folks would have given up.
Delay is acceptable, but compromise is not. Extremism in
pursuit of justice is no vice at all.
Unfortunately, your Ruthlessness poisons both your cause
and your soul. Tangled up in the idea of beating whomever
you’re after, you can’t look yourself squarely in the mirror. If you
could, you’d see how little difference there is between you and
your enemies. To rise beyond this sort of thing, you’ll have to
leave the warpath and cultivate compassion beyond vengeance.
True Justice is more than simple punishment.
– Regain Willpower when you inflict major suffering on
your target of choice. This target must be larger and more
powerful than a single person. It could be an organization, a
mage-sect, a government conspiracy, or an aspect of the under-
world. Whatever it is, it’s big enough to consume your entire
life… or end it. Such vigilance is an endless task.
Zealot
A flipside to the Heretic, you pursue your beliefs with
extreme enthusiasm. Moderation, to you, is weakness – a true
believer will do pretty much anything for the cause! Whatever
your cause may be – a political philosophy, a theological creed, a
social movement, whatever matters most to you – it’s something
that inspires and guides your behavior, associations, activities
and, most importantly, your focus: the beliefs, practices, and
instruments through which you shape your magickal feats.
Obviously, the player for a zealot mage must determine,
in detail, what his character believes in, why he believes in it,
how it shapes his personality, and what it takes to challenge
and perhaps alter or destroy that belief. Zealots hold deeper
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 17
convictions than even the average mage would hold, and so it’s
vital to know what those convictions might be.
Conviction is your armor, shield, and sword. That steadfast
confidence in your beliefs will stand with you when no one
and nothing else will do.
Such Extremity, however, can inspire abhorrent acts in
the name of your beliefs. A zealot, after all, is by definition
someone who will sacrifice anything and anyone for the cause. A
zealot mage, in particular, can be a terrifying force. The Fallen,
Mad, and Technocracy have plenty of uses for such people, and
even the supposedly moderate Traditions and Disparates have
members who’d sooner kill a busload of kids than step back
on their convictions.
– Regain Willpower whenever your deeply held beliefs are
proved right through your behavior.

Secondary Abilities
Mages have to be good at many things. And
although the common range of Ability Traits
has been covered in Mage 20, Chapter Six,
certain new secondary Abilities (see Mage 20,
p. 289) can round out the more specialized
areas of a character’s expertise.
As with all the expanded Traits featured
in this chapter, the following Abilities
are optional rules. Most of them could be
considered Hobby Talents, Professional
Skills, and Expert Knowledges, as described in Mage 20,
p. 277; some of them are, in fact, mentioned as such on that
page. For players who want a more detailed assessment of such
Abilities, however – or who simply want to be completists
with regards to published Abilities – we offer the following
Talents, Skills, and Knowledges to expand further upon
those possibilities.
Talents
As described in Mage 20, Talents represent Abilities for
which your character has an innate gift. Practice hones that
gift, of course, but the basis for a Talent Trait comes from a
knack that certain folks have and other folks do not.
Cooking
Food’s your thing. You’re good at preparing it, pulling meals
together from odds and ends, and noting when something’s not
quite right. What good is this sort of talent for a mage? Ask any
decent witch! A gifted cook can whip up an impressive meal
on the go (perhaps even working some Life, Matter, Mind, or
Time magicks into the mix to spoil or sweeten the food); spot
tainted or poisoned chow; discern unusual ingredients (grif-
fin, horse-meat, Soylent Green…); or create nutritious meals
from whatever’s close at hand – a vital skill in the wilderness
or certain Realms!

Secondary Abilities
Talents

Cooking Intrigue Negotiation Scrounging

Diplomacy Intuition Newspeak Style
Instruction Mimicry Scan

Skills

Blind Fighting Fast-Talk Heavy Weapons Networking

Climbing Fencing /Kenjutsu Hunting Pilot
Disguise Fortune-Telling /Assessment Hypnotism Psychology /Psychoanalysis
Elusion Analysis Jury-Rigging Security
Escapology Gambling Microgravity Operations Speed-Reading
Fast-Draw Gunsmith Misdirection Swimming

Knowledges

Conspiracy Theory Cultural Savvy Power-Brokering Unconventional Warfare

Chantry /Construct Politics Helmsman Propaganda Vice
Covert Culture History Theology
18 The Book of Secrets
• Novice: Pretty decent in a kitchen.
•• Practiced: Good enough to work a restaurant gig.
••• Skillful: A culinary artist.
•••• Expert: Able to make food from normally
inedible substances.
••••• Master: A master of each aspect of food prepa-
ration, from skinning to serving.
Possessed By: Chefs, Hunters, Ecstatics, Restaurant Critics,
Gourmands, Parents
Suggested Specialties: Grab-n-Go, Fast-Food Prep, Gour-
met Meals, “Something from Nothing,” Primitive Conditions,
Special Diets, Magickal Enhancement, Seduction via Food
Diplomacy
You’ve got a knack for smoothing things over, making
friends, and getting people to see past their differences. When
you need to, you can also back up your guile with spine. A
combination of ingratiating people skills, social psychology,
knowledge of the situation, and innate timing allows you to
gain people’s respect and then maneuver them to your desired
point of view. A good diplomat can be transparent about his
motives and yet still have people doing what he wants them
to do while believing it’s their idea to do so. As an adjunct
to Mind-based magicks, this Talent can become a huge (and
occasionally fearsome) edge in group dynamics.
• Novice: Advice columnist.
•• Practiced: Relationship counselor.
••• Skillful: Hostage negotiator.
•••• Expert: Noted diplomat.
••••• Master: Jimmy Carter.
Possessed By: Counselors, Psychologists, Lawyers, Politi-
cians, Special Agents, Tycoons, Mediators, Therapists, Religious
or Political Activists
Suggested Specialties: Relationship Intervention, Hostage
Negotiations, Arbitration, International Diplomacy, High-
Stakes Moderation, Inter-Faction Mediators, Non-Violent
Communication
Instruction
You’re really good at relaying information, teaching mate-
rial, and helping other folks understand potentially complex
principles. It’s not so much that you’re an expert on the subject
at hand (though you might be), but that you’ve got a knack for
taking your subject and making it easier to comprehend. A very
useful Talent for mentors, professors and, of course, instructors
for any given course of study, this Ability helps your character
share his expertise with other characters.
In game terms, you can use Instruction to train other char-
acters in any Skill or Knowledge that your character possesses.
(At the Storyteller’s discretion, Talents might be teachable too,
assuming that the student already has at least one dot in the Trait
in question; this way, the instructor helps that character refine
a knack she already has.) You cannot raise another character’s
Trait higher than the level your own character has achieved,
or teach something your own character doesn’t already have.
Let’s say that Legacy Brown wants to teach Spider Chase some
medical skills. Legacy has Medicine 3, so she could teach Spider
up to three dots in Medicine before hitting the limits of her
own knowledge. For each month of tutoring, Legacy’s player
rolls her Manipulation + Instruction against a difficulty of 11,
minus Spider’s Intelligence rating; if Spider has Intelligence
4, that difficulty would be 7 (11 – 4). For each success rolled,
Spider’s player gets to spend an experience point; if Legacy gets
four successes, Spider spends four points toward Medicine.
This way, a skillful teacher can speed up the learning process
for new Abilities.
As an alternate rule, the Storyteller may decide to allow each
success to save one experience point from the cost of learning or
raising an Ability; in this case, Spider’s player would save four
points when buying and raising the Medicine Knowledge. For
this option, the instructor’s player rolls only once, not once per
month. This way, you can teach Abilities faster and cheaper in
a chronicle where time is of the essence. This option, however,
should be not combined with the normal rule. Choose one or
the other, not both.
In story terms, this Talent reflects a teacher with an
engaging and memorable style. Even if you don’t get into the
point-spending element of education, your character is one of
those teachers that students recall years or even decades after
they’ve spent time under his instruction.
• Novice: You can pass along basic concepts.
•• Practiced: A topic’s finer points are easy for
you to express.
••• Skillful: Assuming you know something, you
can teach it.
•••• Expert: You’re one of those folks that people
want to learn from.
••••• Master: A master of all aspects of learning,
you’re a teacher that pupils recall for the rest
of their lives.
Possessed By: Mentors, Masters, Teachers, Tutors, Cranky
Old Folks with Much to Share if You Prove Worthy
Suggested Specialties: Classrooms, Private Tutoring, Eso-
teric Subjects, Fast & Practical, In-Depth Approach, Engaging
Style, Memorable Mentor, Hard Knocks, Good with Kids,
Sink or Swim
Intrigue
Machiavelli’s ghost smiles upon you. In the vicious whirl-
pools of backstabbing power, you’re a force to be reckoned
with. A combination of instincts, audacity, knowledge, guile,
and ruthlessness gives you insights and edges that most folks
lack. You may serve a greater purpose, work toward hidden
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 19