How to Make a Mage: The Awakening Character

Materials:
The only thing you need to start out is a character sheet; no dice are needed for character creation. Each character gets the same amount of points to spend on attributes, skills, magic, etc. Mage: The Awakening is very egalitarian that way

Background:
Mage: The Awakening takes place in a darker version today. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires, demons, and less classifiable monsters exist. The run-down house on the hill is haunted. Big corporations are not just greedy, they're evilworking as fronts for supernatural creatures, running unspeakable experiments on employees, plotting world domination or total apocalypse. Governments are frequently the same. Regular people may have the sense of dark things lurking in shadows and behind bureaucratic red tape, but live their lives in an uneasy denial. Mages are people who spontaneously 'awaken' not only to the existence of the supernatural, but to the realization that they can bend reality to their wills. At some point in their lives, they enter a dreamquest or have a wakening hallucinations of bizarre events or creatures, mystic symbols, which lead them to a towerperhaps a real place hidden in a higher reality, some form of platonic ideal, or perhaps a subconscious archetype of the 'wizards tower.' From this tower, the mage draws power to shape the physical (and other) worlds; the kind of tower the mage identifies with determines his or her magical strengths. Mages do have mythology surrounding the creation of the towers. Ages agowhen magic was much more powerfulawakened individuals were drawn by dreams to an island, where mages from all over the world built the first (and last) awakened city: Atlantis. They controlled nations, protected against creatures now enshrined in myth, and collected arcane lore from the ends of the earth. Eventually, however, they set their sights higher. They built a tower to pierce the heavens and enter into a higher reality they called 'the Supernal Realm,' from which they hoped to shaped reality directly with god-like power. There was a war between factions who sought for complete domination of reality and those who resisted the power-mongers. Atlantis and the tower were destroyed and the awakened were scattered again across the world, but perhaps not before some of the most powerful mages arrived in the Supernal Realm. Some, called Exarchs, arrived and began to shape reality and to drive a gulf between the mundane world and the Supernal, making magic more difficult and more dangerous to use for other mages. Others, called Oracles, created five towers of magic to help guide the few awakened to the paths of powerand perhaps eventually overthrow the Exarchs. Regardless of whether the myth of Atlantis is true, it seems that reality is stacked against mages. Fewer and fewer awaken. Magic that blatantly violates natural laws causes horrible side-effects, from temporary insanity to opening rifts into other worlds (usually filled with demons). Mages are divided. Some, the Seers of the Throne, idolize the Exarchs and seek to suppress other mages. Others, the

banishers, view awakening as a curse and seek to destroy arcane lore and other mages for the good of humanity. Some mages serve diabolical entities and work towards even darker goals. And mages have plenty of enemies from outside as well, including werewolves, vampires, malevolent spirits, witch hunters, and nameless, well-funded organizations that would love to get their hands on a mage for research purposes.

Game Mechanics
For creating a character it helps to know two things. One, that when you're choosing how many points to give to a stat, the number of the stat determines how many dice to you get to roll when using that stat. Two, you don't get experience points by killing monstersyou get experience by learning, by role-playing your character well, and by being heroicyour character does not have to be able to fight in order to get experience. Mage: The Awakening, like all WhiteWolf games, is based around 10-sided dice. For any action with an uncertain outcome, you roll 10-sided dice. On a 8, 9, 10 you succeed (and you get re-roll 10s). The better you are at something, the more dice you have. However, you might get few dice if conditions are particularly adverse. Usually you add multiple stats together for a dice pool, for example Stamina (an attribute) + Athletics (a skill) for long distance running. For example, if you have Stamina 2 and Athletics 3, your dice pool would be 5. If the terrain is very hilly, you might get a -1, for a total dice pool of 4. As for experience points, you just need to know that you don't need to create a killing machine to get experience. Whatever character you create, you can still get experience.

Character Creation
1. Concept. Who is your character? What does he spend his time doing? What are his goals, and what is his background? How old is she, does she have a job? Sometimes it's nice to have a succinct two-three word phrase to start with: 'egotistical reporter' or 'academic artifact hunter.' Once you have an idea you can fill a history: age, family, education, work. How you character awakened. 2. Vice and virtue. Throughout a game session, your character can spend willpower points (described later) to get bonuses on rolls. One way to regain willpower is via vices and virtue. Several times per game session your character can indulge in a vice to her possible detriment or risk and regain one point of willpower. Once per gaming session, acting on a virtue despite personal risk allows your character to receive all her lost willpower points back. Virtues: charity (helping others), faith (making sense of chaos and tragedy), fortitude (sticking to your goals despite pressure to give in), hope (encouraging/helping others achieving their goals despite resistance), justice (righting a wrong), prudence (refusing a tempting course of action from which you might gain), temperance (refusing to indulge in a behavior despite obvious rewards). Vices: Envy (getting an advantage over a rival), gluttony (indulging in appetites to the exclusion of all else), greed (acquiring something at someone else's expense), lust (indulging in any activity that victimizes another), pride (maintains his image or power over others at risk or harm to others), sloth (avoiding work despite repercussions), wrath (unleashes anger regardless of danger or harm to others).

3. Attributes. From the character sheet, there are three boxes of attributes that represent mental, physical, and social traits. Choose which box is primary, which is secondary, and which is tertiary. Every attribute automatically starts out at one. You have 5 dots to add to traits in your primary good, 4 dots to add to your secondary box traits, and 3 dots to add to your tertiary. For example, if you choose Mental traits as your primary, you start out with Intelligence 1, Wits 1, Resolve 1. You then have 5 points to add to these attributes. You could add 3 to intelligence, 1 to wits, and 1 to resolve for a total of 4 intelligence, 2 wits, and 2 resolve. NOTE: The fifth dot of an attribute costs 2 points. So if you have mental attributes as you primary box, and want intelligence 5 (the normal maximum), you would have to spend all of your points on intelligence, leaving you with Intelligence 5, Wits 1, resolve 1. Intelligence: how smart your character is, used for learning, understanding, and remebering Wits: how you think on your feat. Used in initiative, perception, reacting to surprise. Resolve: how strong your will is. Used in resisting coercion, partially factors in willpower. Strength: muscle. Moving objects or hitting things. Dexterity: physical quickness and finesse. Picking a lock, shooting a gun, climbing. Stamina: physical endurance. Holding your breath, staying awake, long physical exercise. Factors in health. Presence: Your raw impact on other people. Could be attractiveness, could be intimidating demeanor, could be any influence you have on other people. Manipulation: Persuasiveness. Lying, disguising, cutting deals. Composure: Poise, and ability to remain calm. Resisting shock, emotional manipulation or some forms of mind control.

4. Skills. Skills are similar to attributes, except skills start out at 0. You can spend 11 points on your primary skills, secondary skills get 7 points, and tertiary skills get 4 points. NOTE: The fifth dot of a skill costs two points. So if you want to start with a skill at level 5, you have to spend 6 points on it. 5. Skill specialties. You can choose 3 skill specialties they can be all for one skill, or all for different skills. Each skill specialty allows you +1 die when using the skill in your area of expertise. For instance, if you have Intelligence 3 and Occult 2 with a specialty in vampires, you would roll 6 dice to see if your character remember a crucial piece of lore about vampires. 7. Choose a mage path. All mages can potentially learn every kind of magic, but they are stronger at some than others. (a) Acanthus These mages are strongest with Time and Fate, weakest with Forces. These mages are stereotypically charming, happy go lucky, or whimsical. Composure + 1. (b) Mastigos-- Strongest with Space and Mind magic, weakest with Matter. Mages tend to be subtle and manipulative. Resolve + 1. (c) Moros Strongest with Matter and Death, weakest with Spirit. Understandably somber.

Composure + 1. (d) Obrimos Strongest with Forces and Prime, weakest with Death. Frequently driven with a higher purpose or divine quest. Resolve + 1. (e) Thyrsus Strongest with Life and Spirit, weakest with Mind. Frequently very earthy attracted to rural areas. Composure + 1. 8. Choose an order. Each order is like a fraternity for mages. They have their own goals, hoard their own arcane lore, etc. They also teach rotes memorized spells that make spell use easier. Rotes take advantage of mundane skills in the spell casting, so you usually have more dice using a rote. A roll for a Forces rote might include Intelligence + Science + Forces (rather than Gnosis + Forces). (a) The Adamantine Arrow Were the soldiers of Atlantis, frequently take the role of defender. Get bonus on rotes with: Athletcs, Intimidation, and Medicine. (b) The Free Council Newer, modern, and more democratic society of mages. Not all convinced there was an Atlantis. Get bonus on rotes with: Crafts, Persuasion, and Science. (c) The Guardians of the Veil Were the secret police of Atlantis, they protect mage society from sleepers. Get bonus on rotes with: Investigation, Stealth, and Subterfuge. (d) The Mysterium Were the scholars of Atlantis, they search out and archive arcane lore. Get bonus on rotes with: Investigation, Occult, and Survival. (e) The Silver Ladder The political leaders of Atlantis, they organize the awakened. Get bonus on rotes with: Expression, Persuasion, and Subterfuge. 9. Choose Arcana. Each area of magic is called an arcanum, there are 10 total arcana. (a) You choose three arcana, put 2 dots in the first, 2 dots in the second, and 1 dot in the third. However, two of these three arcana must be the arcana of your path. For example, a Mastigos mage could have Space 2, Mind 2 and Forces 1or Space 1, Mind 2, and Forces 2. (b) You can then put another dot in any arcanum you want. In the example above the mage could use this dot to improve Mind to 3, or get Time 1. Death: Ghosts, decay and the Underworld. Fate: Manipulating luck, chance, destiny, oaths and curses. Forces: Fire, gravity, storm all material forms of energy. Life: Healing, transforming and controlling life forms. Matter: Shaping, transforming, and creating inanimate, physical matter. Mind: Reading and controlling thoughts. Prime: Power over magic itself. Counter magic, enchanting places or material objects, or creating things out of pure magic. Spirit: Communication and control of spirits, traveling into the Spirit world. Space: Control of space. Scrying/clairvoyance, and teleportation. Time: Seeing the past or future, controlling the passage of time.

10. Calculate other advantages. Defense: lowest of either Wits or Dexterity. Size: 5 (average adult is 5, 4 for a child, 3 for young children 5-7) Health: Stamina + Size (5, for normal adult) Initiative: Dexterity + Composure. Speed: Strength + Dexterity Wisdom: Starts at 7. Willpower: Resolve + Composure. For will power, you have temporary points that start out equal to your willpower dots. You can spend a point of willpower to get 3 extra dice on a given role. You regain these temporary points (up to your maximum) by means of indulging virtues or vices, or at the end of a story. Mana: starts out equal to Wisdom (7). Mana is used in casting improvised spells (non-rote spells) if they are not in your path's specialty. For example, a Magistos mage can cast improvised Mind and Space spells for free. Mana is also used for casting spells at targets out of sight (if you have the Space magic to be able to do so), to make a damaging spell more harmful, or in spells that are particularly powerful. Mana can also be used to heal yourself, at a rate of 3 mana per point healed. Gnosis: (raw magical talent), starts at 1. When you cast a spell that is improvised (not rote), you roll Gnosis + Arcanum (wither it's Death magic or Forces or whatever). Also limits how much mana you can spend in a turn, how much Arcana you can learn, and how fast you can cast spells that require extended rituals. 11. You also have 6 points to spend on rotes, and 7 'merit' additional points to spend on anything you want... it's best to look up in the book how to spend these. NOTE: you can spend these merit points on attributes, skills, arcana, gnosis, and backgrounds (there are backgrounds in both the regular and mage books). Look up what the costs for merit points in the book.