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Mage-specific Merits

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Greater Tolerance (** or ****)
Prerequisites: Stamina **
Effect: You are better able to handle the stress of being under multiple spells, either due to natural talent or a rigorous training program. For two dots, your Spell Tolerance is increased by +1. For four dots, your bonus to Spell Tolerance increases to +2.

Ritualist (***)
Prerequisites: Occult **
Effect: Some Mages prefer the slow and steady method of enchantment, allowing them to steadily and inexorably interweave their own will into the tapestry of reality. These Mages gain great skill at Extending Spellcasting, calculating the spellcasting time as if their Gnosis rating was 2 dots higher than normal, allowing them to work these careful magics quicker than their peers. Such Mages are not as steady when forced to rush their magics however. Thus when Fast Casting, they lose the 10-again quality for their spellcasting roll. This merit is only available at Character Creation.

Spellcasting Merits

Many Mages are not content with simple mastery of a given magical effect, but instead seek to gain further control and potential with some of their Rotes. The following Spellcasting Merits reflect this never-ending quest for perfection, allowing the Mage to further increase his mastery of a given magical effect. Thus, all of the following merits work within the rote system (only working with one rote per purchase).

Increased Mastery (* to ***)
Effect: Your character has practiced extensively with one of his rotes, increasing its Imago to crystal clarity and gaining incredible skill at its evocation. Each dot increases his spellcasting pool with that rote by 1, up to a maximum of +3 to his pool.

Increased Potency (**)
Effect: All of your castings of this rote gain +2 to their Potency without penality. In addition to increasing the power of some spells, it also makes your castings harder to dispel or be worn away by Unravelling.

Extended Duration (***)
Prerequisite: Transitory or Prolonged Duration.
Effect: The mage gains advanced understanding of the rote in question, greatly increasing its potential duration beyond what his Arcana rating would normally allow. The exact effects depend on the Duration Factor used by the spell in question. A spell that uses the Prolonged duration chart now uses the Advanced Prolongation chart, while a spell that already uses that chart is even further advanced (as described below). This merit can also be taken with certain Transitory spells, giving them a Prolonged Duration, with the Storyteller's approval.

* The spell is permanent until cancelled or dispelled. Living Targets cannot normally be so effected, but at this level of mastery a Mage can sacrifice a permanent point of Willpower to do so.