Using Magick

On other games, some staff ask for something called 'Phenomenon, Action, Theory', or a PAT. We don't use the PAT approach. We just use the process capsulized on page 501 of M20 Core:

Process

Step One – Effect: Identify what you're trying to accomplish and what spheres you're using to do it. For example: "I'd like to use Prime 1 to sense magickal energies."

Step Two - Ability: Identify how your mage can do it. Touch on the following points:

• How does your character focus belief and practice into making it happen?
• Which tools and/or rituals are you using?
• Are any allies assisting you?
• Do you have any mundane skills that might help?
• How long does it take? (Optional - ST will determine based on required successes and instrument of choice)
• Is what you're doing vulgar or coincidental? (Optional - ST will determine based on IC details and chosen effects)

In order to answer "How does your character focus belief and practice into making it happen?", write a sentence that ties one of your character's Practices into one of your Paradigmatic Keyphrases. For example, a mage might have "High Ritual Magick" as one of their three practices and "Ancient Wisdom Is The Key" as one of their Paradigmatic key phrases. They might say, "As Ancient Wisdom is the Key to power over sprits and otherworldly beings, I can bind a specter through an act of High Ritual Magick."

Next, to answer "which tools and/or rituals are you using?", single out one or more of your Instruments. For example, "I will draw a Magick Circle on the floor inscribed with Latin and then use an Invocation."

If you are not sure if you have "mundane Skills that might help," don't hesitate to ask your storyteller. A mundane skill is a literal skill on your sheet, like Crafts, Meditation or Firearms. If one of your instruments reasonably would be expressed as a skill roll, this is a 'mundane skill that might help'. For example, if your mage is using dance as an instrument, they might roll Dexterity + Performance.

Put it all together:

I want to summon a ghost with Spirit 2 (and this here fetter). Because Ancient Wisdom is the Key to power over sprits and otherworldly beings, I can summon a specter through an act of High Ritual Magick. I will draw a Magick Circle on the floor inscribed with Latin and then use an Invocation to command the Spectre to manifest within the circle.

If you are the sort of person who likes to break down the mechanics, you are welcome to provide them, but all we require is a sentence that says what you want to accomplish, the Practice you use, the Paradigmatic keyphrase that empowers that practice, and the instrument(s) that facilitate that practice.

How Much Time Does It Take?

The amount of time something takes is informed largely by the amount of necessary successes to achieve an effect. Your choice of a particular instrument might also inherently come with a time frame depending on what it is, but that is a little self-explanatory (one doesn't have to know the mage mechanics to know that dealing some tarot cards takes less time than, say, bringing a big cauldron to a boil). If you are in doubt about how long a particular instrument's usage should take, ask your storyteller.

We use the Dividing Successes rule (page 504 M20 core) and we use the Ritual, Ceremony, And Great Work rule (page 541 M20 core), and so when finding out how much time a spell will take to cast, work out the successes you need.

Casting In Combat

When in combat, a spell can go off instantly inside of one single combat round (and the fast-casting penalty will apply unless the spell is a rote or the instrument used is violence, see p 415 M20 core). This means that a spell cast in combat can resolve almost instantly (in 3 seconds or less, as a combat round is 3 seconds).

When casting in combat, please note that you cannot accumulate successes over multiple Arete rolls. You roll arete once, and you get the successes or you don't. The moniker 'fast-casting' is poorly chosen and is referring to casting under pressure or unprepared, not when trying to cast something as fast as possible.

There is an exception to this rule: if you specifically state ahead of time how many successes you are going for and then acquire half the required successes for an effect (each arete roll), then you can carry your spell into the next combat round at +1 difficulty.

Examples:

Jimbo Bani Ignis wants to murder someone with the iconic fireball (Forces 3, Prime 2, Vulgar). He does not specify how strong he wants his fireball to be, rolls Arete vs 7, and gets only 1 success. That would do no damage, so he tries to continue to cast in combat round 2. The storyteller says, 'tough titties, man.'

Jimbo's time to shine comes again. In this combat, he's says, "I'm going to do a 4-success fireball so I can murder Tim." He rolls his Arete vs 7 and he gets 1 success. Womp womp. Jimbo then gets cracked in the face by Tim, who was meanwhile studying the blade.

In his next fight, he tries the 4 success Fireball Of Death again. His first Arete roll gets 2 successes. He can now roll Arete again in the next combat round at a difficulty of 8. The next combat round comes around. He gets 1 success. Womp womp: he needs to get the other half in the second roll and he didn't. Jimbo then gets cracked in the face by Tim, who was meanwhile studying the blade.

Third time's a charm. Jimbo fights again. He rolls his Arete vs 7 and gets 2 successes. He can nearly taste victory. "Kame hame!" he cries, in combat round 1, looking forward to his imminent "Ha!". Jimbo then gets cracked in the face by Tim, who was meanwhile studying the blade and is by no means going to stand there and let Jimbo charge his laser. if Jimbo wants his "ha!" then he must succeed on a difficulty 8 Willpower roll (see "Interference", page 540).

Jimbo passes his Willpower roll. Combat round 2 rolls around. He gets 2 successes. At last, he casts his fireball. Fireballs can indeed be dodged, but oh lawd, that fireball comin'.

Brief Rites

When a prepared spell requires 5 or less successes, that is a "Brief Rite". Each Arete roll for a brief takes an abstract amount of time that is significantly longer than a combat round, but typically no longer than a couple of minutes. There are no stamina rules that apply to Brief Rites, and so there is plenty of narrative flexibility for how long a particular spell should take to achieve. Still, each roll should represent a block of time long enough that application in combat is unrealistic.

Ceremonies

When a prepared spell requires 6 to 10 successes, that is a "Ceremony". Each Arete roll for a ceremony takes an hour. Additionally, as pointed out on page 541, a Mage can cast for one hour per dot of Stamina until they have to make Stamina checks. Narratively, storytellers and players may depict that an Arete roll doesn't take a full hour and instead takes something other (still considerable) amount of time, like the better part of an hour. Mechanically, for fairness, each Arete roll in a ceremony is treated as if it is one full hour.

When casting Ceremonies off-screen, such as in +jobs or through automated systems, one Downtime point gets deducted from a Mage for every completed Ceremony. This downtime cost is not applied when you're actively in a scene with a storyteller but it does count when casting in any off-screen context.

Great Work

When a prepared spell requires more than 10 successes, that is a "Great Work". Each Arete roll for a great work takes a demanding and significant span of time: five hours, straight. While storytellers can be a little wibbly with the time passage for narrative purposes, each Arete roll will still represent multiple consecutive hours. For fairness in mechanics, even though a storyteller may be slightly lax with the narrative, the mechanics will still be applied equally as "each arete roll takes 5 hours, stamina rules apply." The rules breaking down the particulars are found on page 542.

For clarification regarding the stamina rolls described there, you do in fact need to perform all your Stamina rolls before 'unlocking' your first Arete roll for a Great Work. That is to say, if you have Stamina 3 and set out to perform a Great Work, you'll need to roll Stamina twice before you can roll Arete, and then for each Arete roll you want, you'll need to roll Stamina 5 times.

When casting Great Works, one Downtime point gets deducted from a Mage per Arete roll. You can go into negative downtime for simplicity (you'll just not be able to take other off-screen actions until your downtime pool is replenished). This downtime cost is applied even when you're actively in a scene with a storyteller.