Elemental boxes align themselves with one of the greater powers.
At a high level, boxes have either a positive or negative spin. Positive spins result in the creation of something (a fireball, a flower blooming, healing… all of these would be positive). Negative spins result in the squelching or nullification of something (a spell to sap the strength of an opponent, turning fertile soil to desert… and so on).
Beyond the boxes spin, they have an elemental bias. The element of magic applies to all manifest abilities, and as such, is highly sought after. Others may or may not apply to manifest abilities depending on the effect being invoked.
Using a box with an conflicting spin will always result in dramatic failure. Using a box with a opposing elemental bias only result in a dramatic failure if the the opposition is obvious (elemental water in a fireball), otherwise, the box will function with reduced efficacy. In the event of a dramatic failure, treat the box as a detonating explosive with a blast radius 5 yards. An elemental box can be coaxed to explode thematically with an activation role (but only if the one with the most sympathy to the box triggers it).
Activating an elemental box requires a single success on a vigor + eminence roll. This activation counts as an action.
Type | Affinity Bonus | Non-affinity Bonus | Explosive rating | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lesser | +3/1 | +2/0 | 3 | |
Greater | +5/1 | +3/1 | 5 | As lesser, but also an be used to power a level 2 arcana ability |
Epic | +?/? | +?/? | You're dead |
Bonuses are of the form +M/N. The +M corresponds to a die pool bonus, if desired. The N corresponds to a number of automatic successes that can be selected instead. The bonus must be selected a priori.
Instead of opening a greater box, it can be consumed in the invocation of an ability. For example, a manifest without fate could use the conditional trigger component of fate, or a manifest without space could use an ability sympathetically. If necessary, the effective arcana level of the simulated ability is the non-affinity bonus (3). This effectively obviates the need for a supplementary1) arcana.