Prime Directing
More Control Over Quintessence

Mage: The Ascension describes magical power flowing through the universe as quintessence. A mage may employ this mystical energy to increase the potence of her effects or to make it easier for her to alter reality. Indeed, quintessence is the very building blocks of that reality and therefore in some senses the master of the Prime sphere should grant incredible control over it. While the Revised edition of the game has greatly increased the usefulness of Prime magics and described all sorts of manners in which a Prime mage can manipulate the flow of quintessence, there remains one strange exception.

The use of quintessence points is a direct way to reduced the difficulty of magic. According to the Mage rules, one may spend one quintessence point to lower the target number by one or to reduced the number of threshold successes needed. A magician is limited to spending no more than her Avatar rating in quintessence. Of course it makes sense that someone with a soul weak in the flow of Prime energy would have difficulty manipulating that flow. However, it seems insufficient that even a Master of Prime should be similarly limited.

Therefore, I propose the following subtle adjustment to the use of quintessence in your chronicles. When expending Quintessence points to reduce magical difficulties, the limit should be the highest of the mage's Avatar rating or Prime sphere rating. Thus if a Master Prime mage was never gifted with an epic soul, but gained incredible influence over primal energies anyway, she would be able to suitably utilise this power. A mage with level 3 Prime and an Avatar rating of 1 would get to spend up to 3 quintessence points at a time. A mage with level 1 Prime and an Avatar rating of 4 would retain the ability to expend 4 quintessence. Of course the reduction of target numbers would still be limited to -3 with any further successes being applied against thresholds.

This is a very tiny rules alteration, but I think that it can serve to smooth the relationship a Prime mage should truly enjoy with the flow of quintessence throughout reality and magical effects. Furthermore, it fits in very well with the overhaul of Prime in the Revised edition of Mage: The Ascension and that work's success at bringing the most metaphysical of spheres into more useful application.

Written by Conrad Hubbard
All Material Copyright © Conrad Hubbard

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