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[[house_rules|Back to the House Rules Index]] \\

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|  [[setting:sorcerer_house_rules | General]]  |  [[Paths]]  |  [[Psychic Phenomena]]  |  **Crosstraining**  |

====== Sorcerers and Psychics ======


===== Psychic Sorcerers and Sorcerous Psychics =====

In most cases sorcerers will stick to their paths and psychics to their powers. However, there are a few individuals who bridge that gap. Either they are psychics who sought out teaching in the ways of path-based sorcery, or they are sorcerers who awakened to the potential of their minds.

With the permission of the ST, characters may buy one of the following merits. Since sorcerers and psychics are considered to have an affinity for all numina, they pay the base costs. 

The rules presented in Sorcerer Revised about buying paths as powers or powers as paths are still valid, so players who are only looking to buy one or two numina from “the other side” will probably want to explore that possibility first.

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**Sorcery Initiation** (4 pt. supernatural merit) \\
You are a psychic who has been initiated into the secrets of sorcery. You gain additional practices and instruments, determined by your paradigm and the ways of the organization or individual who teaches you. You are also now able to use instruments with your existing Psionics practice, but only for paths that you have associated with the practice. \\
You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. All rules for the purchase and the use of paths apply as normal.
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**Psychic Awakening** (4 pt. supernatural merit) \\
You are a sorcerer who has realized the true potential of the human mind. You gain the Psionics practice if you did not have it already. You are able to associate this practice with any new paths you may learn in the future. But you cannot use instruments with psychic powers. \\
You don’t gain any free dots in psychic phenomena, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. All rules for the purchase and the use of phenomena apply as normal.
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===== Hekau =====


It is possible for sorcerers to buy the hekau presented in Mummy: The Resurrection and the Mummy Player’s Guide. In this case all sekhem costs listed in the descriptions of the spells and rituals have to be paid with mana instead.

The main caveat is that sorcerers can only learn this magic with the help of reborn teachers. Therefore usually only members of organizations like the Cult of Isis or the Children of Osiris, which work closely with the reborn, have this option.

====== Sorcery Dabblers ======

Since sorcery is an ability that is based on exploiting certain little-known properties of the universe and not dependent on any inherent power of the user, it is possible for many supernatural beings to learn it. However, please note that learning sorcery is a privilege, not a right. It requires the consent of both the Sorcerer ST and the ST handling the character’s main splat. Also please note that **Changelings, Mages,** and **Wraiths** are unable to learn sorcery. And no member of another splat can gain psychic powers.

The following XP costs apply to characters who learn sorcery as a secondary ability:

^Trait ^Cost ^
|New Path | 10  |
|Path | current rating x 7  |
|New Ritual | level of the ritual  |

===== Demon =====

It would not be untrue to say that demons are responsible for the invention of sorcery. They taught humanity the secrets that led to the development of the first paths. And demons/the devil teaching magic to unwary summoners is a common trope both in faction and in actual grimoires. So can demons do sorcery? Yes and no. They understand the principles behind sorcery, but that alone doesn’t suffice. Just because someone understands how a car works doesn’t mean that they can drive one (and vice versa). They can definitely help someone develop paths that are related to their lores. As such each demon counts as a teacher for several paths, depending on their house:

^House ^Path ^
|All | Alchemy, Conjuration |
|Namaru |Hellfire, Mana Manipulation |
|Asharu |Healing, Scrying |
|Annunaki |Enchantment, Conveyance |
|Neberu |Divination, Chronomancy |
|Lammasu |Fascination, Oneiromancy |
|Rabisu |Shapeshifting, Spirit-Chasing |
|Halaku |Summoning, Binding & Warding, Shadowcasting |

Demons can teach these paths up to a rank equal to their primary lore. While teaching someone a path is a valuable favor, it is generally considered less valuable than teaching a lore.

As for using sorcery themselves: Casting a spell is very different from evoking an invocation or a miracle. It requires the demon to get used to a completely different way of doing things. Demons can easily learn the paths they can teach. For others they usually need instructions.

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**The Teachings of the Ten** (5 pt. supernatural merit) \\
You have gone through the trouble of learning how to use linear magic like a mortal. You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. You receive the paradigm Divine Order and Earthly Chaos, and may choose your practices and instruments (including personalized and unique instruments) freely on the basis of this paradigm. \\
Demons can not possess the Mana background, but they may use temporary faith as a substitute for mana on a one-to-one basis. Demons can never learn how to summon other demons, or loyalists for that matter.
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===== Fera =====

The only fera with a notable magic tradition are the Bastet and the Kitsune. Members of these changing breeds may purchase the Cat/Fox Magic merit (W20 Changing Breeds, page 208) to gain access to linear magic. 

Bastet of the Bubasti tribe may purchase the Alchemy, Fortune, and Summoning, Binding & Warding paths even without the Cat Magic merit, but it has a downside. Bubasti in possession of any path at rank two or higher smell faintly of the Wyrm, which often hampers their relations with other servants of Gaia. See the sidebar on page 76 of W20 Changing Breeds for further details.

The Ju-Fu paper magic of the Kitsune (W20 Changing Breeds, page 135) is inaccessible to anyone but them and therefore outside of the purview of the Sorcerer rules.


===== Hunter =====

While employing sorcery does not make you a supernatural being per se, it is still too close for comfort to many of the imbued. Religious sorcerers often consider sorcery to be a blasphemous act, although others, like the Society of Leopold (a religious order that regularly employs sorcery), oppose this view. Moreover, one of the primary tools of the imbued interferes with the practice: While a hunter’s Second Sight is active he is completely incapable of casting spells or rituals, and all active magical effects on him are immediately canceled. Therefore imbued sorcerers need to make use of effects that can be prepared in advance.

Hunters employ a path that is often called Aergis Venatoris. It is a variant of the Summoning, Binding & Warding path that forgoes summoning and binding in favor of focusing on warding off otherworldly beings. In exchange for this narrowed focus the Creatures Affected aspect of Aegis Venatoris rituals is always considered to be 6 without further cost, even if the hunter does not have sufficient mastery of the path to achieve an aspect on this level normally.

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**Messenger Sanctioned** (3 pt. supernatural merit) \\
The Messengers are allowing you to pursue a select few sorcery paths to help with the hunt. You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. Many imbued sorcerers follow the paradigm A World of Gods and Monsters, but other choices are possible. You may choose your practices and instruments (including personalized and unique instruments) freely on the basis of your paradigm. \\
Imbued sorcerers are limited to the following paths: Alchemy, Enchantment, and Aergis Venatoris.
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===== Mummy =====

The Reborn have always worked closely with sorcerers. The Spell of Life and the Spell of Going Westwards are usually cast by mortal practitioners (with some divine help) and the Elixir of Life of the Wu T’ian is often brewed by human alchemists. As such the reborn have relatively easy access to sorcery instruction.

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**Reborn Sorcerer** (5 pt. supernatural merit) \\
In addition to the hekau paths of your people you have undertaken the study of the paths of mortal sorcery. You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. Amenti and Teomallki receive the paradigm All Power Comes from Gods (M20 Book of Secrets, page 189) while Wu T’ian gain the paradigm Ancient Wisdom is the Key (ibidem, page 190). You may choose your practices and instruments (including personalized and unique instruments) freely on the basis of these paradigms. \\
While reborn can learn any path in theory, they usually find it difficult to learn sorcery that is opposed to their nature. Sakhmu find themselves unable to use Shadowcasting, Wu Feng cannot produce anything but fire with the Hellfire path while Tian Lung can only produce ice. As always the storyteller is the final arbiter of what is appropriate for a character and what isn’t. \\
Reborn cannot possess the Mana background, but they may use sekhem/waka/chi as a substitute for mana on a one-to-one basis.
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===== Vampire =====

Vampires can’t use sorcery. Not precisely. However, it has been shown long ago that they can use their cursed blood for something rather similar, and sometimes someone stumbles upon some forgotten (or suppressed) secrets. Because what they are doing is not really sorcery, vampires can not be taught by mortal sorcerers, or vice versa. That means that most practitioners have to figure things out on their own, usually through trial and error. 

Vampiric sorcery is always about the blood. Most spells and rituals require that it be spilled, which is why many vampire sorcerers are always carrying a knife (although their fangs will do in a pinch). Potions brewed by vampire alchemists always contain the vitae of its creator, consuming them carries the usual risk of a blood bond. It will, however, not lead to ghouldom, because the power of the vitae is tied up in the alchemical effect.

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**Blood Sorcery** (5 pt. supernatural merit) \\
You have discovered how to use your vitae in a way that mimics mortal sorcery. You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with freebie points (if this merit is bought during character creation) and experience points. Choose a focus as described elsewhere in these house rules, including the ability to assign personalized instruments to paths. Vampires always need to have the instrument Blood and Other Fluids, but they cannot assign their blood as a personal instrument to gain a reduction of the difficulty of casting rolls. \\
Vampires can never learn the following paths: Hellfire, Shadowcasting, Shapeshifting, and Summoning, Binding & Warding. Vampires cannot take the Mana background, but they may use blood points as a substitute for mana on a one-to-one basis. Moreover, all Willpower costs listed for spells and rituals become blood point costs instead. \\
This merit is not available to Tremere and Giovanni characters, as they have their own, separate kind of blood magic.
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===== Werewolf =====

The Garou Nation is generally suspicious of “namer magic,” and doubly so if it’s one of their own doing it. Still, there are a few camps that have developed sorcery traditions. As a general rule only werewolf characters who belong to one of these camps have access to the following merit:

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**Camp Initiate** (5 pt. supernatural merit) \\
You were taught the secrets of linear magic by the elders of your camp. You don’t gain any free dots in paths, but you gain the ability to buy them with experience points. You gain the paradigm Creation is Innately Divine and Alive (M20, page 569), and are able to choose your practices and instruments freely within the boundaries of that paradigm. You may choose a personalized or unique instrument for each path as normal. \\
Your favored paths are determined by your camp, but Garou may never learn the following paths: Enchantment, Shapeshifting, Spirit Chasing, and Summoning, Binding & Warding. \\
Garou cannot possess the Mana background, but they may use gnosis as a substitute for mana on a one-to-one basis.
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