nWoD: Rules Cheatsheet

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New World of Darkness (core)

All page references in this section and subsections refer to the nWoD core book unless otherwise noted.

nWoD basics:

• Dice: d10s only (have about 10 of them)
• Successes (p125): roll result of 8s or higher (this can change)
• Exploding (p125): roll result of 10 allows a reroll for more possible successes (circumstances can change this to 9 “9s again” or even 8 “8s again”, p134)
• Exceptional Success: 5+ net successes (p131). GM decides what happens if the action you're performing doesn't have a specific effect as listed in whichever book.
• Dramatic Failure (p125): rolling a 1 on a “Chance Roll” (p125). GM decides what happens.
• Chance Roll (p125): when your die pool is reduced to zero, roll 1 die. If it comes up a 10 (you can reroll), success! If it comes up a 1, Dramatic Failure! (p125)
• Teamwork (p134) aka assistance: pick a primary actor, all assistors roll the same die pool.
  • Any successes from assistors' rolls are added as bonus dice to the primary actor's pool
  • A dramatic failure from an assistor levies a -4 penalty to the primary actor
  • Primary actors must proceed with their roll regardless of how the assistors' rolls turn out.
• One Turn is approximately 3 seconds (p121). Enough time for one person to take one action.
• One Round is combat-specific, and allows everyone involved in the combat to get 1 turn in.
• One Scene (p121) is like a single scene in a movie or tv show, it can be approximated as 1 hour if need be, but scenes can be longer or shorter than that.

(Basic costs nWoD p35, awarding xp nWoD p216)
(Mage-specific costs Mage p69)

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Mechanics (p95):

• Spend a temporary willpower point to gain 3 dice on any roll you want
• Spend a temporary willpower point to gain 2 to STA, RES, COMP, Defense, or Dodge to resist/avoid things
• Rate: You can spend a maximum of 1 temporary willpower per turn no matter how it's used.
• Timing: If you've already rolled, it's too late to spend a temporary willpower.
• Extended Actions: One expenditure of a temporary Willpower applies to a single roll of an extended action. A point can be spent for each roll.
• Temporary raising of Resolve and/or Composure during game play will increase your willpower, but goes away when the stat boost goes away
• Temporary willpower is regained by (p96)
  • 1/scene, fulfill your vice to regain 1 spent temporary willpower (subject to GM approval)
  • 1/session, fulfill your virtue to regain all spent temporary willpower (subject to GM approval)
  • 1/day, regain 1 point if you have a good night's rest
  • At any time, GM can choose to allow your character to regain 1 spent temporary willpower point if your character achieves a significant goal or does something cool
  • At the end of a story arc, regain all spent temporary willpower

Mage: The Awakening uses the nWoD base rules, and applies a Mage-specific ruleset on top of them as an additional layer. These Mage-specific rules are summarized and occasionally detailed herein.

Page numbers in this section and subsections refer to the Mage book unless otherwise stated.

Mage: Spell Casting basics:

• You can attempt to cast a spell listed in the book for any Arcana you have at that level
• You can attempt to cast a non-book spell in-line with any level of Arcana you have (GM approval)
• If you have the spell in your Rote list, it is a Rote spell. Otherwise it is Improvised.
• Rote vs Improvised spells (casting pool)
  • Rote spells must be specifically purchased with XP, and are cast with: Attribute + Skill (listed in the spell description) + Arcanum ranks.
  • Improvised spells are all other spells, and are cast with: Gnosis + Arcanum ranks. (use the highest Arcanum in a Conjunctional spell) Improvised spells cast outside of your Path Arcana cost 1 mana to cast.
• Instant vs Extended spellcasting (casting time)
  • Instant spell castings are cast on the fly during combat rounds usually, e.g., “fast casting”
  • Extended spell castings are cast outside of combat as Rituals, and can take as long as minutes, hours, or days. Time length is usually determined by Gnosis and how many successes are desired.
  • Some spells (noted in their description) can only be cast as Rituals (e.g., Extended)
  • All Instant spells can be cast as Rituals if the caster has the time to do so.
• Sensory vs Sympathetic spellcasting (casting range)
  • Spells cast on targets or areas you can sense in the general area of yourself are Sensory spells
  • Spells cast on targets or areas not in your general area, but that you have a personal connection to, can be cast Sympathetically if:
    • You have at least 2 dots in the Space Arcanum, and
    • At the cost of 1 mana and potential danger to you
  • Most spells can be cast either way (Aimed Spells cannot be cast Sympathetically)
• Aimed Spells (p116 side bar) directly affect the physical form of a target (not their Pattern)
  • Only applies to Instant action spells
  • Cannot be contested or resisted
  • Armor and ranged attack modifiers are applied against the caster's spellcasting pool
  • Countermagic can be used
  • Defense does not apply unless: 1) at point-blank range, 2) if the spell's descriptions says it does
  • Concealment, Cover, and Prone apply as usual
  • Range penalties apply. Short range (Gnosis x 10), Medium range (2x Short range), Long range (2x Medium range)
  • Aimed Spells cannot be cast Sympathetically or thru a Sympathetic Conduit
  • Spell Factors may apply, limited by GM
  • Failure on the spellcasting roll still manifests the effect. The GM decides what gets hit instead.
• Conjunctional spells require dots in more than one Arcanum to cast. Ex: “Fiery Transformation” (p172) requires Forces 4, Life 4, and (optionally) Matter 4.
• Duration:
  • Lasting spells create a permanent effect (e.g., forever),
  • Concentration means you have to concentrate to maintain the spell (usually up to one scene), and
  • Transitory is an instant spell (usually 1 turn).
• Concentration on a spell prevents the mage from doing anything else while concentrating on maintaining the spell.
  • Only Reflexive actions and movement can be taken while Concentrating.
  • Roll RES + COMP to maintain concentration if distracted by something (taking damage, etc).
• Dismissing a spell (p128 buried in a paragraph)
  • dismissing a spell is a reflexive action
• Relinquishing a spell (p120 sidebar)
  • Allow a spell you are maintaining to persist without counting against your active spell limit
  • Cost: 1 permanent willpower point (restorable at the cost of 8 xp)
• Dice Penalties: If you take on dice penalties for your Instant spell, you can increase the spell's effectiveness via Spell Factors.
• Success Levels: If you roll more than one success for your Extended spell, you can apply the extra success to increase the spell effectiveness via Spell Factors. (p118)
• Mana expenditure is required for some castings:
  • Casting a spell that lists Mana in the cost section
  • Casting an Improvised Spell from an Arcana not in your Path
  • Casting a spell that deals aggravated damage
  • Casting a Sympathetic Spell
  • Your mana expenditure per round is limited by your Gnosis (table p76).
• Paradox must be rolled if:
  • The spell you are casting is vulgar, or
  • If a sleeper sees you casting a covert spell, or
  • For a non-book spell as deemed to be reality-warping by the GM.
• Gnosis limits your max attribute, skill, and Arcanum (as defined in the table below) (p76)

Arcana determine what phenomena a mage has control over, and at what level of mastery.

Arcanum ranks learnable are limited by Gnosis for 1st Arcanum thru 10th:

Arcanum ranks imply a certain level of mastery of the Arcanum:

Mages are associated with a Path which determines their primary two Arcana and single opposing Arcanum.

• All spells can be cast as either Instant or Extended, unless otherwise stated in the spell description
• Instant spells are cast in combat rounds (in a hurry)
  • Take on dice penalties to add Spell Factors to your spell
• Extended spells are cast as rituals (slowly, with care)
  • Spend successes to add Spell Factors to your spell
  • Can make multiple rolls to accumulate the number of successes desired
  • Time spent for each roll is determined by Gnosis (see table below)

Spending Mana

• Mana: some spells require mana, some don't
• Improvised spells outside of your Path Arcana require 1 mana to cast (p126)
• Maximum mana spent in a given round is limited by your Gnosis (p76)
• Mana can be spent to increase the effectiveness of your spells
  • Add Sympathetic to your spell

Regaining Mana

• oblation - meditate for an hour at a Hallow. Roll Gnosis + Composure, each success = 1 regained Mana
• scour - degrade a Physical attribute by 1 to regain 3 Mana, the attribute restores after 24 hours
• blood sacrifice - a living creature, size 2 or more, restores 1 Mana. make a Wisdom degeneration roll.
• death arcana - provides various spells to steal Mana from other beings
• prime arcana - eating solid tass regenerates mana after 1 hour, drinking liquid tass after 10min

Paradox is a mechanic that comes into play when a mage casts reality-warping spells:

• When casting a vulgar spell
• When a sleeper sees the mage casting a covert spell
• As determined to be reality-warping by the GM when casting a non-book spell

Paradox dice are determined by your Gnosis (p123 table) + extenuating factors (p123 other table). Paradox pool is modified by certain factors:

• +1 Each Paradox roll after the first for the same caster in the same scene.
• -1 If casting a Rote spell
• -1 When using a magical tool (p89)
• +2 When one or more Sleepers witness the effects of a vulgar spell

Mitigating Paradox:

• Spend Mana points at 1 per die subtracted from the Paradox die pool (p123 sidebar). Subject to mana expenditure rate limits based on Gnosis.
• Backlash occurs when the mage chooses to absorb the Paradox successes into their own body to contain it or reduce it.
  • Take 1 bashing damage per Paradox success
  • Voluntary and automatic
  • All or in part may be absorbed (of the successes)
  • Cannot be healed with magic. Must be healed normally (sleeping it off).

Duration of the Paradox is as follows:

The Sympathy mechanic is a level of familiarity you have with a person, place, or thing in your life, or from your past.

• Allows most spells to be cast on places or targets not in the same area as the caster (e.g., not in Sensory range)
• Sympathy is the domain of the Space Arcanum. You must have 2 ranks of Space to be able to cast any spell Sympathetically.
• You must spend 1 point of Mana to cast a spell Sympathetically
• You gain a dice penalty based on your familiarity with the target or area
• You must have +1 dots in the Arcanum than the spell cast, if the spell impacts the target in a way where they would normally resist (e.g., attack spells) (this does not change the Space 2 requirement for sympathetic casting)
• Creates a Sympathetic conduit between caster and target
• The caster loses their Defense while casting Sympathetically
• Aimed Spells cannot be cast Sympathetically

Sympathetic Conduits

• Are established between a caster using Space 2 to cast a Sympathetic spell, and their target
• Last for as long as the spell that created it
• Allows the target to cast spells back at the caster without requiring Space 2 (the usual Sympathetic/familiarity penalties still apply though)
• Does not allow the target to cast spells at anything other than the target (not other people in the room, nor AoEs, etc)
• Aimed Spells cannot be cast thru a Sympathetic Conduit

For Instant spells (cast in combat rounds), take on dice penalties when casting in order to increase the spell's effectiveness (p118).

† If your Arcanum rating is at least 1 level higher than the spell being cast, use this column instead.

When casting Extended spells aka Rituals (cast in non-combat rounds), apply extra successes on the roll in order to increase the spell's effectiveness (p120).

There are 3 options for countering magic:

• Dispel Magic (p220)
• Magic Shield (p222)
• Counterspelling

Counterspelling Requirements:

• You must have at least 1 dot in at least one of the Arcana used to create the spell or spell effect (p123).
• Generally only vulgar spells can be countered, as covert spells require a successful Scrutinize Roll (p278) first.
• A spell aimed at multiple targets does not need to be countered for each target.
• A mage with Prime can use “Counterspell Prime” (p222) to counter any spell regardless of Arcanum, and can use this spell to counter covert spells as well.

If you meet the Arcanum requirements, you can Counterspell using these statistics:

• Practice: Shielding
• Action: Instant and contested; successes are compared to the spell's Potency
• Duration: Lasting
• Aspect: Covert
• Cost: 1 Mana
• Roll if Rote (must be learned separately for each Arcanum): INT + Occult + Arcanum
• Roll if Improvised: Gnosis + Arcanum
• Mechanic: Counterspell successes are subtracted from the spell's Potency. If the spell is left with no potency, it is canceled entirely.