Shapeshifters and Mages.
Okies, dude, here's my take on combining shapeshifters and mages. There are two
types of mage/shifters. One is when one came first, then the other, the second
is when both comes at the same time.
(Ignore this part if you don't care about the theory.)
First off, the theory. How it works. Essentially, a mage and a shifter are both
awakened to the deeper reality of existence. However, a Mage sees the
foundations of existence, and, as everything has the power to influence
reality, now knows where and what to push. The 'avatar' is just an embodied
urge to ascension created new every time a mage awakens. Yes, I do have WoD
lore to back this up. In particular the fact that you CAN be a mage without an
avatar, by putting no points in the avatar background, and the circumspect
avatar merit, which states that an avatar can be nothing more than the mages
subconscious. Technically, one could awaken just through force of will, desire,
or such things.
Shifters, on the other hand, essentially have a stained glass window between
them and true reality, which affects how they can interact with reality. That
'window' is what creates the link between them and the spirit world, by causing
them to interact with spiritual energies that way. So, it would be possible for
a shifter to awaken as a mage. It would be incredibly rare, like maybe 4-5 in
the entire course of the world's history, but possible. It would also need some
DAMN impressive cause. Essentially, what you're asking is for someone to awaken
TWICE in his life, the second reality being even harder to see through. It'd
take a very special person, likely someone who'd been an extremely powerful
arch mage in the past life, or some such. And you'd need a very powerful cause,
as I said. Surviving being thrown into the Well of Souls, being tortured after
your family is tortured to death before you ect. I'd say a wp of 8-10 would be
needed.
Another option is the Struggling Awake merit from Sorc:Revised. Essentially the
shifter through contemplation, exposure to magic or mind blasting events or
some shit has had their view of reality begin to crack. This gives occasional
usage of sphere magic (if you want I can type up the merit) Criteria for how
long, and if someone with that merit would take to awake, what it takes for it
happen, and if it just goes away I would leave to the St, player, and plot.
Using this system, I'd say there's a slightly higher chance of having awakened
shifters.
Third, there's outside influences. Spirits, mages with spirit 9, someone with
alchemy 6, could all make a shifter awake. And of course, there's whatever
other reasons you'd find appropriate.
Now, how can a mage turn into a shifter? Once again, outside influence is a
good cause. And if the mage has sufficiently strong bloodline, under extreme
duress it would be possible. Essentially, the mage still sees reality as a
mage, but also interacts with reality as a shifter, to a degree.
The second kind of mage-shifter is the one that became them both at the same
time. Usually they come from an experiment, performed when they're in the womb,
or tube, or whatever. These beings are usually WAY fucked in the head, due to
being raised by their creators, or being raised by their people, which would
usually involve extensive physical, mental and likely sexual abuse. The spirits
don't care, so wouldn't penalize the rank of the perpetrators. These beings can
learn gifts, substituting quint for gnosis. They also begin play with 10 points
of psychological flaws. Usually they're to messed up to be able to use their
power with any good effect.
Note. I speak of the social consequences of being a mix many times, but I
cannot stress how bad it is. They are outcasts. They are not welcome. That is
made clear to them, even by the most accepting breeds. The St is encouraged to
be as harsh as he wants, while still maintaining the fun. NOBODY likes them.
Except possibly their pack and the friendly npcs. And that last ones a big
maybe.
Shifter/Mage
A mage or shifter who's awakened a second time.
-Auspice: Tribe, auspice, whatever remains the same. Mages do NOT get tribe or
auspice, outside of extraordinary circumstances. A shifter uses her original
chart for gaining rank. Those who're originally mages use the ragabash chart.
-Avatar: Shifters don't get the avatar background. Their urge to ascension
isn't strong enough to manifest itself as an avatar. Gaining Arete takes force
of will, an active labor towards ascension. A mages avatar rating stays the
same.
-Rank and Renown: Gaining rank is somewhat harder now, as the spirits are less
willing to associate with you. Gain a maximum of 1 point per category, per
game. Lose double the amount when the spirits take it away. Mages start at rank
0. Shifters keep their rank upon awakening, but lose their temporary renown
-Rage and Gnosis: Mages start with 1 rage, shifter rage is same as normal. Rage
is normal price. All gnosis and gifts are lost. However, if one has the
opportunity to study a gift long enough,
-Arete: An awakened shifter starts at Arete 1-3, if they have the exp to buy 2
and 3.
-Seekings: As normal, for both mage and shifter based chars.
-Sidestepping: An awakened shifter is subject to the avatar storm, and takes 1
soakable aggravated for every succ on an arête+permadox. A mage can sidestep
w/o risking paradox, but is still affected by the Avatar storm
-Shifting, Gifts and sphere magic: Shapeshifting, soaking regeneration, all
those vulgar shifter things remain casual. Mages gain those abilities as well.
Spheres can duplicate gifts, if the char has had the opportunity to study the
gift, and has the rank.
-Social Status: Most shifter races would NOT be happy to have an awakened
shifter in their midst. They'd respond most violently to any awakened shifter.
Exceptions: Ananasi (who're to practical), kitsune who'd drool all over you
then try to take you apart to see how you did it, and likely the cats. Don't
know about the other breeds, but that's likely it. Oh. And the BSD would be
overjoyed to have one. Simply put, making it known what you could do would
likely be a death sentence. Or at least cause most of the shifters around you
to put you through a living hell on a daily basis.
-Spirits: They ain't happy. You're less likely to find ones willing to become
fetishes, teach gifts, speak with you.
-Paradox: Same as a normal mage.. Note: Spirits, if you can find willing ones,
CAN absorb paradox from a shifter. For a high price.
-Cost: Arete and Spheres chave normal cost.
-Learning spheres: Have fun finding a teacher.
-Flaws: This isn't painless. Upon gaining shifterhood or magehood, gain 5
points of psychological flaws.
Exceptions: Offhand, I can think of the Ananasi and the Nagah as exceptions.
Ananasa judges the ananasa and gives them their gifts. As long as the spider
remains loyal, I'd see her as LIKING them awakened. They gain and lose renown
as usual. And Ananasa is perfectly willing to teach them gifts to duplicate. As
for the Nagah, as long as it does it's job, the Sesha and the Wani would likely
approve.
Wyrmy tainted shifters:
1: Don't get penalized as far as rank goes. When gaining renown, they in fact
get a bonus, equal to ½ their arête. The wyrm tainted shifter distributes his
new renown points as he chooses.
2: Think about it. A bsd whos danced the black spiral is almost certainly going
to turn Nephandi. A BSD/Nephandi. Does this strike you as Egon Bad?
3: They can use Rites. Essentially, bane spirits like them a lot, their society
also likes them a lot. Power is always attractive..
4: Bane spirits in many cases are very willing to shield the BSD from the
avatar storm, and negate it's paradox.
5: Arete and Spheres can in fact be bought cheaper, if they find the right
spirit and meet it's price.
2nd version
Shapeshifters and Mages. (Skip this if you don’t care about the theory. Colored by my opionion anyhoo)First off, the theory. How it works. Essentially, a mage and a shifter are both awakened to the deeper reality of existence. However, a Mage sees the foundations of existence, and, as everything has the power to influence reality, now knows where and what to push. The ‘avatar’ is just an embodied urge to ascension created new every time a mage awakens. Yes, I do have WoD lore to back this up. In particular the fact that you CAN be a mage without an avatar, by putting no points in the avatar background, and the circumspect avatar merit, which states that an avatar can be nothing more than the mages subconscious. Technically, one could awaken just through force of will, desire, or such things.Shifters, on the other hand, essentially have a stained glass window between them and true reality, which affects how they can interact with reality. That ‘window’ is what creates the link between them and the spirit world, by causing them to interact with spiritual energies that way. So, it would be possible for a shifter to awaken as a mage. It would be incredibly rare, like maybe 4-5 in the entire course of the world’s history, but possible. It would also need some DAMN impressive cause. Essentially, what you’re asking is for someone to awaken TWICE in his life, the second reality being even harder to see through. It’d take a very special person, likely someone who’d been an extremely powerful arch mage in the past life, or some such. And you’d need a very powerful cause, as I said. Surviving being thrown into the Well of Souls, being tortured after your family is tortured to death before you ect. I’d say a wp of 8-10 would be needed.Another option is the Struggling Awake merit from Sorc:Revised. Essentially the shifter through contemplation, exposure to magic or mind blasting events or some shit has had their view of reality begin to crack. This gives occasional usage of sphere magic. Criteria for how long, and if someone with that merit would take to awake, what it takes for it happen, and if it just goes away I would leave to the St, player, and plot. Using this system, I’d say there’s a slightly higher chance of having awakened shifters.Third, there’s outside influences. Spirits, mages with spirit 9, someone with alchemy 6, could all make a shifter awake. And of course, there’s whatever other reasons you’d find appropriate. Now, how can a mage turn into a shifter? Once again, outside influence is a good cause. And if the mage has sufficiently strong bloodline, under extreme duress it would be possible. Essentially, the mage still sees reality as a mage, but also interacts with reality as a shifter, to a degree. Shifter/Mage A mage or shifter who’s awakened a second time. -Auspice: Tribe, auspice, whatever remains the same. Mages rarely get tribe or auspice, outside of extraordinary circumstances. A shifter uses her original chart for gaining rank. Those who were originally mages, and don’t gain an Auspice, use the Ragabash chart.-Avatar: Shifters can gain the Avatar background, however, unless they have an appropriate background that’s no longer applicable and could reasonably be related to Avatar, they must purchase it with exp. 3x current rank. This is ONLY when first awakening, unless the ST allows for the Avatar background to be increased with exp, as some others can. A mages avatar rating stays the same.-Rank and Renown: Gaining rank is somewhat harder now, as the spirits are less willing to associate with you. Shifters, upon awakening, lose all temporary renown. Mages start at rank 0. Renown is gained at a slower rate, determined by the st.-Rage and Gnosis: Mages start with 1 rage, shifter rage is same as normal. Rage is normal price. All gnosis and gifts are lost. However, if one has the opportunity to study a gift long enough, once can replicate it with spheres coincidentally. Convert gifts/gnosis into exp. This can be spent to buy Arete/spheres/Avatar-Arete: An awakened shifter starts at Arete 1-3, if they have the exp to buy 2 and 3, or if the st rules they start at Arete higher than 1.-Seekings: Done as normal for mages and shifters. Altho it might be a bit more difficult.-Sidestepping: An awakened shifter is subject to the avatar storm, and takes 1 soakable aggravated for every succ on an arête+permadox. A mage can sidestep as a shifter, w/o risking paradox, but is still affected by the Avatar storm-Shifting, Gifts and sphere magic: Shapeshifting, soaking, regeneration, all those vulgar shifter things remain casual. Mages gain those abilities as well. Spheres can duplicate gifts, if the char has had the opportunity to study the gift, and has the rank. Rites can no longer be used.-Social Status: Most shifter races would NOT be happy to have an awakened shifter in their midst. They’d respond most violently to any awakened shifter. There are exceptions, such as the Bastet, Kitsune and Uktena. For the foxes, cats, and Uktena, you’d have the opposite problem. They’d probably make you miserable by liking you to much, following you around, trying to figure how you did it, possibly dissecting you. The Ananasi wouldn’t really care, and perhaps some others wouldn’t.-Spirits: I personally would say most would be leery of interacting with you. St discretion.-Paradox: Same as a normal mage, except that you can study gifts and learn to replicate them, if you’re of high enough rank. Note: Spirits, if you can find willing ones, CAN absorb paradox from a shifter. For a high price.-Cost: Arete and Spheres have normal cost.-Learning spheres: Have fun finding a teacher. If you do, spheres are learned as normal. Certain Traditions wouldn’t be happy to see you, but others would. Again, ST discretion.-Flaws: This isn’t painless. Upon gaining shifterhood or magehood, gain 5 points of psychological flaws.-Hedge Magic: Vulgar effects now have a chance of causing amassed paradox to backlash. Roll 1d10. 1-5, no backlash, 6-10 backlash.-Shifting: Has a chance of causing amassed paradox to backlash. 1d10, 1-5 no backlash. 6-10, backlash.-Rites: They can be used as foci for magic, but otherwise hold not particular power. Wyrmy tainted shifters:1: Don’t get penalized as far as rank goes. When gaining renown, they in fact get a bonus, equal to ½ their arête. The wyrm tainted shifter distributes his new renown points as he chooses.2: Think about it. A bsd whos danced the black spiral is almost certainly going to turn Nephandi. A BSD/Nephandi. Does this strike you as Egon Bad?3: They can use Rites. Essentially, bane spirits like them a lot.4: Bane spirits in many cases are very willing to shield the BSD from the avatar storm, and negate it’s paradox.5: Arete and Spheres can in fact be bought cheaper, if they find the right spirit and meet it’s price….