Types of Magic

Occult Practitioners

As the name suggestions these are people who actually practise the occult, people who work magic without ever doing any magick. They work purely within the bounds of static reality, it is just they live in a place

These people usually have almost nothing to do with the Ascension War, or the Traditions. Sometimes they might be friends, allies or acolytes of a Tradition or Craft Mage, but is unlikely they realise the difference between what they do and what the Mage does.

Metaphysics
The existence of these people is mandated by the Metaphysics of Magick. In any place where the consensus supports occult workings then people can perform them without any magickal abilities or awakened avatars. They just do what the people believe works, and if they do it right it will work.

Mechanics
The mechanics of occult practises are an Attribute + Ability roll just like anything else. These follow all the normal rules for rules, and the ST is the judge of what can be accomplished. The abilities in question are almost certainly knowledges and are specific to type of effect that is being produced.

Examples include abilities such as fortune telling, blessing, cursing, spirit entreating and alchemy.

If they try magic in a place where it is not believed in it will simply fail.

Rote Mages (Hedge Magicians, Linear Mages, Sorcerers)

Somewhere between the Occult Practitioner and the True Mage is the Sorcerer. Sorcerers are capable of defying the consensus to an extent. While they lack any true understanding of the Metaphysics of Magick or enlightenment into the real, malleable, nature of reality what they do have is belief and willpower. To Sorcerers there is only one truth, the truth of their paradgim.

Sorcerers often belong to magical societies and many are members of Traditions, Crafts and Conventions.

Metaphysics
Sorcerers believe completely and utterly in their paradigm. While its possible they have been told about the Metaphysics of Magick, and might even accept it in abstract, what they really, truly completely believe in is their paradigm. It is this combination of belief that allows them to effect reality, but only within the constraints of their paradigm and its tools.

Mechanics
Sorcerers have no Arete or Sphere ratings, rather everything they do they do through buying rotes. The cost of the rote depends on the number of levels of Spheres it uses. For each level of Sphere in a rote the Sorcerer must pay 4 experience points. So a Mind 3 rote would cost twelve experience points, as would a Mind 1, Prime 1 and Spirit 1 rote.

Each rote has an assigned foci, and an assigned Attribute + Ability roll. Rotes of a common theme are often collected together into Paths, and often share foci and Attribute + Ability rolls. To use a rote the difficulty is calculated as normal for an act of magick, the roll is made and the success is determined all as normal, with the addition that the Sorcerer must spend a point of Willpower to empower the magick. Paradox can be gained and lost as normal and Sorcerers may have the Avatar background, in which case they may use Quintessence, although it is not required. Rotes can be designed to do extended rolls, but these are usually grand rituals and even one roll may take minutes or even hours of time to achieve.

Ideally Rotes than contain Spheres above level 1 can only be bought if the practitioner already has at least one rote that uses the main (i.e. highest) Sphere at one level below the one used in the desired new rote. The existing rote(s) must also follow a strong central theme. For example a Sorcerer with the Fire Path may know detect fires (Forces 1), control small fires (Forces 2), create fires (Forces 3, Prime 2). He could then learn a Forces 4 rote, possibly with other auxiliary spheres of 4 or less, that was centred around fire. No rote can be learned if it contains any Spheres higher than the Sorcerers Willpower.

Some Paths won't fit nicely into a Sphere like the above example, in which case its more important that each rote follows on from the last in a sensible, thematic way rather than the exact levels and Spheres each contains.

Mages (True Mages, Awakened Mages)

These are the real deal, the people with the scoop on how reality really works and the will and vision to do something about it. Unlike their Sorcerer counterparts Mages have actually awakened to the nature of reality through an Epiphany, they are aware that it can be changed. They do tend to see this through the lens of their own paradigm, so Technomages may talk about the Observer Effect, and Dreamspeakers on how the spirits are shaped by our beleifs.

Mages know that the truth, and reality, is what you make it. The important question isn't what it is, but what do you want it to be.

Metaphysics
Mages warp reality through a combination of will and enlightenment. While they know and understand the nature reality they cannot just twist it with a thought and still rely on their foci and paradigm as a focus for their belief. As they grow in enlightenment they usually either transcend their paradigm, or expand it so that it can accomplish more and more things. Traditionalists tend to walk the former route, and Technomancers the latter,

Mechanics
All the normal rules. In addition they can learn and use Rotes just like Sorcerers. Each Sphere they already posses in a Rote costs only 1 experience point instead of four, and they don't have to buy rotes in Paths but they can't but rotes with Spheres more than 1 level above what they actually posses. If they meet all the Sphere requirements for a rote they don't have to spend Willpower to activate it, and can roll Arete as well as Attribute + Ability in the same turn, and total the successes.