From: jayv@ux6.cso.uiuc.edu (verkuilen john v)
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf,rec.games.frp.storyteller
Subject: Alternative Sphere Advancement Costs
Date: 21 Jul 1996 21:24:07 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
NNTP-Posting-Host: ux6.cso.uiuc.edu

I'm probably going to start a Mage chronicle soon, and was looking over things
that are gamemaster necessities.  I got to the spheres advancement table and 
was kind of ticked off.  With all spheres costing basically the same thing, 
there's nearly no distinction between the traditions built into the system.  
It's not that one needs the system to make the sorts of distinctions that one
should do by roleplaying, but it's nice if the system reinforces the 
distinctions.  So, I decided to extrapolate the existing table a bit to 
try to represent the "mindset" of each tradition a little better.  As any 
mage knows, any given system of belief provides greater or lesser difficulty
at accomplishing a task.  


System:

Each tradition has Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary spheres.  It costs 5X
to advance in the primary sphere, 7X to advance in a secondary sphere, and 
9X to advance in a tertiary sphere.  Each tradition commonly teaches the 
primary and secondary spheres, although the tertiary spheres are not unknown--
just uncommon.

Tradition	Primary (5X)	Secondary (7X)		Tertiary (9X)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Akashic Br.	Mind		Pr, Sp, Li, En		Fo, Ma, Ti, Co
Celestial Ch.	Prime		Sp, Li, Ti, Co 		Fo, Ma, En, Mi 
CoX		Time		Pr, Mi, Li, Co		Fo, Ma, En, Sp
Dreamspeakers	Spirit		Pr, Mi, Ti, Li		Fo, Ma, En, Co
Euthanatos	Entropy		Pr, Li, Sp, Ti		Fo, Ma, Co, Mi
Ord. of Hermes	Matter(*)	Pr, Fo, Li, Co		Mi, Sp, En, Ti
Sons of Ether	Forces(*)	Pr, Ma, Li, Co		Ti, Sp, En, Mi
Verbena		Life		Pr, Mi, Sp, En		Ti, Fo, Ma, Co
Virtual Adepts	Corresp.	Pr, Fo, En, Mi		Ti, Ma, Sp, Li

Hollow Ones and all other Orphans have all spheres as secondary; all cost
7X to advance.  

Abbreviations:  Mi=Mind, Pr=Prime, Sp=Spirit, Li=Life, En=Entropy, Fo=Forces,
Ma=Matter, Ti=Time, Co=Correspondence.


Notes:  

This chart is not supposed to be a straightjacket, and I would certainly 
consider switching secondary and tertiary disciplines if it makes sense for a
character.  For instance, for a Dragon Scale Akashic Brother it might be more
appropriate to substitute Correspondence or Forces for Spirit and one could 
make a good argument for some Euthanatos having Mind rather than, say, Time.  
My choices in the secondary and tertiary columns were, in some cases, kind of 
arbitrary, so one could make a good case either way.  

The chart gives slightly lower costs than the existing cost.  For Tradition 
mages, the total bargain isn't much for someone who wants to learn lots of 
spheres, but I decided to reward the Orphans a bit, giving them a slight 
"discount" representing their more flexible approach to magick.  It is a lot
easier for a Tradition mage to become a Master in his or her Primary sphere,
but it is quite a bit more difficult to master those spheres outside the 
Tradition's mindset.  

(* I feel that the Sons of Ether (formerly the _Electrodyne Engineers_, after
all!) should be primary in Forces and that it makes more sense for the Order 
of Hermes to be primary in Matter, who seem to me to be alchemists.  Hence I 
switch them.)  


-- 
J. Verkuilen                                            jayv@uiuc.edu
"We are building a fighting force of Extraordinary magnitude."
	--Dr. Klahn, charter member of Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow