2 The Book of Secrets

© 2017 White Wolf Entertainment. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of White Wolf Entertainment Reproduction prohibitions do not apply to the character sheets contained in this book when reproduced for personal use.

White Wolf, Vampire and Chronicles of Darkness are registered trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment. All rights reserved. Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, and Storytelling System are trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Entertainment.

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Credits

Author and Developer: Satyros Phil Brucato

Additional Material: Brian Campbell (Roleplaying a Technocratic Operative)

Creative Director: Richard Thomas

Editor: Carol Darnell

Art Direction: Mike Chaney

Book Design: Josh Kubat

Art: Aaron Acevedo, Echo Chernik, Michael Gaydos, Michel Giorgi, Jeff Holt, Leif Jones, Brian LeBlanc, Vince Locke, Eric Lofgren, Ken Meyer Jr, Grzegorz Pedrycz, Preston Stone, and Andrew Trabbold

Brain-Trust/ Playtesters: Eva Cruz Andrade, Maria Archimandriti, Liz Argall, Rose Bailey, Hope Basoco, Raven Bond, Bill Bridges, Kate Bullock, Sandra Buskirk, Brian Campbell, Maggie Carroll, Mara Elkheart/ R.S. Udell, Tristån Erickson, Adam J. Faber, Khaos Farbauti, Antonios Rave-n Galatis, Nina Galatis, Boomer Hanke, Damian Lincoln Hector, James High, Oliver Hoffmann, Ernie LaFountain, Travis Legge, Êmili Lemanski, Shep Turner MacGregor, Ryan Macklin, Logan L. Masterson, Rafael Mastromauro, Camille Meehan, Balogun Ojetade, Isabella L. Price, Chris Rubenstahl, Michael Schatz, Zakariya Ali Sher, Thaynah Leal Simas, J.P. Sugarbroad, Bryan Syme, Richard Thomas, Allen Turner, Ioanna Vagianou, Brian Ward, Coyote Ward, Jason Weeks, Wendell B. Whittaker Jr., Travis Williams, and Lindsay Woodcock

R.I.P.: Logan Masterson. Be at peace, brother. You are missed.

For Stewart WieckThis book is dedicated, now and always, to Stewart Wieck,

the original creator of Mage: The Ascension, co-founder of White Wolf Game Studio, co-creator of the world of Darkness, and the man who inspired all of us who knew him, who loved him, or who have simply enjoyed his work.

Many hands and many minds have shaped the world of Mage. It all began, however, with the vision of one man, and with the courage and intellect he dedicated to that radical idea. Stewart’s concept of Mage departed from all previous depictions of wizardry within the roleplaying medium. A quarter-century after he began work on Mage, his vision challenges readers, creators, and often reality itself.

The final words on the final page of this book encapsulate not only the vision Stewart had for Mage but also the effect the man himself had on everyone who knew him.

I still can’t believe he’s gone from this world. His legacy, though, lives on forever.

Thank you, Stew, for Awakening us all.

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3Table of Contents

Prelude: The Secrets Game IX

Introduction: The Wizard’s Annex 10

A Personal Treasure-Trove 10

Chapter One: Heroic Traits 13

What We’re Made Of 13Archetypes 14

Archetypes 14Architect 14Artist 14Bon Vivant 14Caregiver 15Conformist 15Director 15Entertainer 15Guardian 16Heretic 16Mentor 17Romantic 17Tycoon 17Vigilante 17Zealot 17

Secondary Abilities 18Talents 18Cooking 18Diplomacy 19Instruction 19Intrigue 19Intuition 20Mimicry 21Negotiation 21Newspeak 21Scan 21Scrounging 22Style 22

Skills 22Blind Fighting 22Climbing 22Disguise 23Elusion 23Escapology 23Fast-Draw 23Fast-Talk 24Fencing /Kenjutsu 24Fortune-Telling / Assessment Analysis 24Gambling 25Gunsmith 25

Heavy Weapons 26Hunting 26Hypnotism 26Jury-Rigging 27Microgravity Operations 27Misdirection 27Networking 28Pilot 28Psychology /Psychoanalysis 28Security 29Speed-Reading 29Swimming 30

Knowledges 30Conspiracy Theory 30Chantry / Construct Politics 30Covert Culture 31Cultural Savvy 31Helmsman 31History 32Power-Brokering 32Propaganda 33Theology 33Unconventional Warfare 33Vice 34

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Merits and Flaws 34Time, Clarity, and Revisions 34

Physical Merits 35Acute Senses 35Alcohol /Drug Tolerance 35Ambidextrous 36Cast-Iron Stomach 36Catlike Balance 36Hyperflexible 36Light Sleeper 36Noble Blood 36Sterile 36Enchanting Feature 36Physically Impressive 37Poison Resistance 37Poker Face 38Daredevil 38Hypersensitivity 38Nightsight 38Huge Size 38Insensate to Pain 38Too Tough to Die 39

Physical Flaws 39Addiction 39Child 39Impediment 39Aging 40Easily Intoxicated 40Repulsive Feature 40Profiled Appearance 41Degeneration 41Monstrous 41Permanent Wound 41Short 41Horrific 41Mayfly Curse 42

Mental Merits 42Artistically Gifted 43Common Sense 43Computer Aptitude 43Concentration 43Expert Driver 44Language 44Lightning Calculator 44Mechanical Aptitude 44Time Sense 44

Code of Honor 44Eidetic Memory 44Inner Strength 45Natural Linguist 45Hyperfocus 45Iron Will 45Jack-of-All-Trades 45Scientific Mystic / Techgnosi 45Berserker 46Judge’s Wisdom 46Self-Confident 46

Mental Flaws 46Compulsion 46Hero Worship 46Impatient 46Inappropriate 46Mental Lock 47Nightmares 47Overconfident 48Shy 48Soft-Hearted 48Speech Impediment 48Vanilla 48Whimsy 48Amnesia 48Curiosity 48Icy 48Intemperate 49Obsession 49Phobia 50PTSD 50Rose-Colored Glasses 50Vengeful 50Short Fuse 50Absent-Minded 50Bigot 50Chronic Depression 51Deranged 51Driving Goal 51Extreme Kink 51Feral Mind 52Flashbacks 52Hatred 52Lifesaver 52OCPD 53Stress Atavism 53

Ability Deficit 53Social Merits 53Loyalty 53Family Support 53Favor 54Pitiable 54Prestigious Mentor 54Regal Bearing 54Unobtrusive 54Animal Magnetism 54Confidence 54Hideaway /Safehouse 55Natural Leader 56Officially Dead 56Perfect Liar 56Prestige 56Property 56Research Grant 57Sanctity 57Secret Code Language 57Socially Networked 57Subculture Insider 58Dark Triad 58Local Hero 58Noted Messenger 58Rising Star 58Ties 58Master of Red Tape 58True Love 59

Social Flaws 59Blacklisted 59Compulsive Speech 59Conflicting Loyalties 59Conniver 60Cultural Other 60Dark Secret 61Debts 61Discredited 62Enemy 62Esoteric Discourse / Technobabbler 62Family Issues 62Infamy 62Insane /Infamous Mentor 63Mistaken Identity 63Naïve 63New Kid 63

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Offline 63Rival House 63Sect Enmity 64Special Responsibility 64Sympathizer 64Twisted Apprenticeship 64Catspaw 64Diabolical Mentor 64Dogmatic 64Double Agent 65Failure 65Gullible 65Old Flame 65Troublemaker 65Expendable 65Narc 65Notoriety 65Rivalry 66Rotten Liar 66Sleeping with the Enemy 66Ward 66Echo Chamber 66Hit List 67Mr. Red Tape 67Overextended 67Probationary Member 68Rogue 68Witch-Hunted 68Fifth Degree 68

Supernatural Merits 68Burning Aura 68Green Thumb 68Bardic Gift 69Circumspect Avatar 69Faerie Affinity 69Medium 69Unaging 69Celestial Affinity 70Cloak of the Seasons 70Cyclic Magick 70Danger Sense 70Hands of Daedalus 70Lucky 71Manifest Avatar 71Mark of Favor 71Natural Channel 72Natural Shapeshifter 72

Oracular Ability 72Parlor Trick 73Spirit Magnet 73Spirit Mentor 73Supernatural Companion 74Stormwarden /Quantum Voyager 74Deathwalker 74Fae Blood 74Shapechanger Kin 74Twin Souls 74Umbral Affinity 75Unbondable 75Ghoul 75Clear Sighted 75“Immortal” 76Inner Knight 77Legendary Attributes 77Powerful Ally 77Shattered Avatar 77Spark of Life 78Guardian Angel 78Nine Lives 79Sphere Natural 79Avatar Companion 79Dual Affiliation 79Nephilim /Laham 80True Faith 81

Supernatural Flaws 81Anachronism 81Apprentice 81The Bard’s Tongue 82Cast No Shadow or Reflection 82Cursed 83Devil’s Mark 83Echoes 83Paranormal Prohibition or Imperative 83Gremlin 84Locked Vidare 85Strangeness 85Throwback 85Uncanny 85Vulnerability 86

Bizarre Hunger 87Blood-Hungry Soul 87Crucial Component 87Faulty Enhancements 88Jinx /Infernal Contraption 88Permanent Paradox Flaw 89Branded 89Demented Eidolon 89Haunted 90Primal Marks 90Oathbreaker 90Prone to Quiet 91Beast Within 91Blood Magick 92Bound 92Dark Fate 92Faithless 93Immortal Enemy 93Psychic Vampire 93Bedeviled 94Sphere Inept 94Phylactery 94Taint of Corruption 96

Merits 96Flaws 98

Chapter Two: Expanded Rules and Options 101

A Wealth of Options 101Expanded Combat Systems 102

Knocking People Unconscious 102Stunts 102Maneuvers Charts 103

Advanced Weapon Techniques 106Weapon Maneuvers 106

“What Have I Done?” 110Stunt Maneuvers 111

Certámen: Optional Tactics for Classic Wizard Duels 112Intimidation 112Blocking 112Botching 112Disarming Your Opponent 112Rearming 112Locus Dodge 112Switching Spheres 112

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Surprise Intimidation 112Refueling 113Psychological Warfare 113Reshaping the Spheres 114Tapping a Reserve 114To the Pain 114Attacking Your Opponent 115

Child-Mages: Creation Rules for Awakened Youngsters 115

Game Traits for Child-Mages 116

Computer Systems: Game Rules for InfoTech 116

Simple Use 117Programming, Repair, and System Architecture 118System Bypass and Subversion 118

Hacking, Reversing, and Cracking 119Cryptanalysis and Codes 120Social Engineering 121Van Eck Reading 121

Metaphysical Applications 121Computers as Instruments of Focus 121Enlightened Upgrades 121Trinary Computers 122Quantum Computers 122

Hacking Rules 123Static and Active Systems 123Opening the Window: The Hacker’s Dice Pool 124Backdoors 124Security Software and Sysadmins 124The Chase, Pit Bulls, Tagging, and the Visit 124Access and Alteration 125

Hacking in the Web 125Look, Feel, and Constraints 126Game Systems 126

Example in Play: Computer Hacking 126

Resonance: Physics of Consequence 128

Rules of Resonance 128Signature: The Expressions of Resonance 128Degrees of Resonance 129

Manifestations of Resonance 129Impression and Personality 129Influence on Others 130Metaphysical Practices 130Background Traits 130The Avatar 132Metaphysical Echoes 132Witch-Walks 132Paradox and Quiet 133

The Resonance Trait 133Dots 133Starting Dots 133Experience 133Flavors 133Roleplaying and Description 133

Effects of Resonance 133Bonus Dice 133Similar or Opposed Energies 133

Acquiring, Changing, and Losing Resonance 134Identifying Signatures 135Cloaking Resonance 135Prime Magick and Resonance 135Identity 135Concealment 136Familiarity 136Potent Resonance 136Cleansing the Signature 136

Four Flavors of Resonance 136Flavors, Descriptions, and Signatures 137Devotional 137Elemental 137Stabilizing 138Temperamental 138

Intimate Mysteries 138Wonders: Objects of Enchantment 139

Type of Wonders 139Artifacts 140Charms 140Devices 141Fetishes 142Gadgets 143

Grimoires 143Inventions 144Matrices 144Periapts 145Primers 146Principiae 146Relics, Cybernetics, Biocrafting, and Soulflowers 147Talismans 148Trinkets 149

Wonder Systems 149Activating a Wonder 149What do I Believe I Can Use? 149

Wonders and Paradox 150The Coincidental Edge 150“Silent Wonders” 150Permanent Paradox 150Wonders Absorbing Paradox 150

Background Costs 150Points and Requisitions 151Background /Experience Cost for Crafted Wonders 151

Crafting Wonders 151Traits and Rolls 151Group Creation 151

The Creation Process 151Step One: Foundation – Materials and Craftsmanship 153Step Two: Energy – Quintessence, Tass, and Resonance 154Step Three: Investment – Quickening the Wonder 155Purification: Keeping Things Clean 156

Features and Flaws (Optional Rule) 156Wonder Features 157Wonder Flaws 158

Repairing, Unmaking, or Destroying Wonders 158Tech Repair 159Unmaking Your Own Creation 159Destroying Someone Else’s Wonder 159

Selected Wonders 159•• Bond Fine Tobacco Products (Gadgets) 159

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•• Kismet Bindi (Periapt) 159••• Ectoplasmic Disruption Rounds (Gadgets) 162••• Energy Drinks (Gadgets) 162••• Ginger Dragons (Charms) 162•••• Oracle: The Essence (Trinket /Primer) 163•••• Wolf-Paw Amulet (Talisman) 163•••• or ••••• Totem Tattoo (Talisman) 164••••• SPECM (Standardized Primal Energy Containment Matrix) 165

A Tale for Every Treasure 165

Chapter Three: Matters of Focus 167

How Focus Works 167Focus, Step-By-Step 170Focus FAQ 171Examples in Play 175

Able Ferox 176Ashpaw Ten Sticks 178Corvia Delbaeth 180Dr. Hans von Roth 182Sanjay Sachdeva 184Tanisha Royale 186

Expanded Paradigms 188Aliens Make Us What We Are 188All Power Comes from God(s) 189All the World’s a Stage 189Ancient Wisdom is the Key 190Consciousness is the Only True Reality 190Embrace the Threshold 191A Holographic Reality 192Transcend Your Limits 192Turning the Keys to Reality 194We are Meant to be Wild 195We Are NOT Men! 195We’re All God(s) in Disguise 196

Expanded Practices 196

Animalism 197Bardism 199Elementalism 200God-Bonding 201Invigoration 201Mediumship 202Psionics 203

Expanded Instruments 205Body Modification 205Cannibalism 206Cybernetic Implants 207Genetic Manipulation 208Internet Activity 208Medical Procedures 209Transgression 209

Chapter Four: Justice and Influence 211

Behind the Scenes at an Ascension War 211Among the Traditions 212

Tradition-Style Justice: The Tribunal 212Crimes 213Punishments 215

Tradition Punishment Brands 217

Tradition Influence Among the Sleepers 219

Within the Technocratic Union 223

Offenses, Evaluation, and Judgment 223Technocratic Punishments 227Technocratic Influence Upon the Masses 230

Among the Disparate Crafts 233Crimes Against the Alliance 233Alliance Offenses 236Punishment 236Disparate Influence Among the People 237

Among the Fallen 240Crime and Punishment 240Nephandic Influence Upon the Cattle 242

Among The Mad 243

There’s No Justice Here 243Disconcerting Influence 243Madness is Like Gravity: Fellowships Among the Mad 243Faces of the Storm 246

Chapter Five: To Speak of Many Things… 253

Straight-Up Magick: The M20 FAQ 253

M20 in General 254Mage 20’s Metaplot 259Mage 20 Rules 263

Storytelling, Genre, and Mage 272Fantasy 275SF 279Action-Adventure 280Crime 282Horror 283Comedy/Satire 284Romance 285Tragedy 285Historical 286

Illuminations and Restless Rambles 286

Do You Believe in Magic(k)? 287Al-Andalus 287Weird Science, High Adventure 288Ascended Masters? 289Magick and the Fascist Urge 289Taking Other People’s Stuff? 290Gender, Sex, and Magick 291Sympathetic Magic 292Transhumanism, Techgnosticism, and Technopaganism 293The Math of Mortal Metaphysics 294

Suggested Resources 295Books 295Websites 297Films 298TV Shows 298Music 298Sam

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IXThe Secrets Game

You cannot muzzle a tempest with a cobweb…– Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right

“Tell me,” I whisper as he screams.

Oh, it’s not a loud scream. He makes no sound at all. I locked that sound inside his head, and locked his jaw so he can’t make noise. I can hear it, though. In his head. Lovely echo. I hope it hurts.

Hope? Hell, I know it hurts. I made sure of that, and so did he.

The PsychOps torturer sits rigid in his office chair. His eyes stare into hells he created for himself while in-flicting them on others. He can’t move, can’t talk, can’t do anything except sit there until I set him free through death. Time, inside his skin, has been suspended. It’s just a long, frozen moment for his body, and a long, endless nightmare for his mind. That’s the least I can do for him, and much better than what he’d have done for me if he’d had the chance.

He can’t actually tell me anything. He doesn’t need to – I know it all. You don’t have to strip a mind down to its core components in order to find out what’s inside. You just need to know what you’re doing. And I do.

The “Tell me” part? I guess that’s just me being cruel.

Justice can be like that sometimes.

He’s earned some rough justice, this rapist of psyches. He deserves to be broken because breaking people is what he does. So now I’m helping him feel what he’s made so many other people feel. Really, it’s the least I can do.

Never underestimate a cute little hippie-chick with a grudge, boys. You never know what she can do when she sets her heart on doing it.

He doesn’t believe in hell, the guy in the chair. Not in gods or judgment or anything other than the gleam of technology and the rightness of his own purpose.

He’ll believe in hell now, though. Because I’ve just opened up the hell inside him, and I’ve let him feel its flames.

Unlocking secrets was his game. It’s my game too – and I just won. In a different life, I’d be the one in his chair. Giving up my secrets. Not the other way around.

But here we are. And Turnabout, as the saying goes, is fair play.

It’s cold down here – not just the physical tempera-ture, but in every element I sense, in all directions, as far as I can reach. The walls and floors and ceiling rebuff every sort of probe I try. My senses slide off of them like water off a Teflon pan. I could have died in a place like this, a long time ago. I would have, too. If it hadn’t been for John.

So this one’s for you, John. A thank-you gift for my salvation, courtesy of one of the men who made you what you are.

The torturer’s eyes well with unshed tears. Poor baby. I think he’s had enough. And really, it’s time for me to go. I’ve got more work to do here. More secrets to unlock. More games of Turnabout to win.

My lips brush his forehead, a faint sarcastic kiss.

“Good night, asshole,” I whisper.

Then I snap my fingers, and his life goes out.

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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

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…

A Personal Treasure-TroveWelcome 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

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

Introduction: The Wizard’s

Annex

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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.

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13Chapter One: Heroic Traits

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,

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…”

What We’re Made OfAlthough 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

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

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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 (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)

ArchetypesWe 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:

ArchetypesArchitectArtistBon VivantCaregiverConformistDirectorEntertainer

GuardianHereticMentorRomanticTycoonVigilanteZealot

ArchitectStructure 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.

– Regain Willpower when you create or provide something with lasting value or importance.

ArtistMagick 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 VivantGrabbing 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

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