Countermagic
There are 5 different types of counter-magick. The type of counter-magick must be declared before any contested rolls take place.
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Basic counter-magick has the countering mage engage the caster in an Arete challenge. If the countering mage wins, the effect is canceled. You can only use basic counter-magick on yourself, however. The countering mage must have at least one rating in one of the spheres involved in the effect, and the mage must know the effect is coming, either by the Awareness ability, or through some other method. |
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Offensive counter-magick is when a mage tries to stop a magical effect cast at another target besides themselves. The countering mage must have at least one rating in one of the spheres involved in the casting, as well as one rating in Prime. To stop the spell, the countering mage must defeat the casting mage in a contested roll with at least one success. To reflect the spell back at the target, the mage must defeat the caster in a contested roll with at least three success. If the mage tries to reflect an effect, this must declared before any of the tests take place. |
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Sphere vs Sphere counter-magick is a variant of Basic counter-magick where the mage need not know any of the spheres involved in the effect, but rather uses a magical effect to disrupt the casting mage. The effect must be possible to cast, and must be tailored to distract the casting mage. The effect is countered if the countering mage defeats the casting mage in a contested roll with at least one success. The countering effects do no damage to the caster, just distracts them long enough to cancel the effect. |
NOTE: You may now use counter-magick on Vampiric Thaumaturgy, Faerie Glamour and Garou Gifts. It must be Sphere vs. Sphere counter-magick. In the case of Thaumaturgy, you must defeat the casting vampire in a contested Arete vs. Willpower roll. In the case of a tie the mage may spend willpower to temporarily increase their effective Arete by one for the purposes of the counter-magick. In the case of Fae Glamour, the mage must defeat the fae in a contested Arete vs. Glamour roll. In the case of Garou Gifts (or Wraith Arcanos, if it's ever converted), the Sphere being used to counter must be Spirit, and the mage must defeat their opponent in a contested Arete vs. Gnosis roll.
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Anti-Magick has a mage use Quintessence to re-enforce reality around a casting mage, making it harder to cast the effect. The countering mage must be at least an Initiate of Prime. The countering mage gets to attempt their Arete rating in complex tests, with each success allowing the countering mage to spend a point of quintessence to give the casting mage a negative magical influence, not subject to the normal +/- two maximum for modifying the effect difficulty. |
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Unweaving involves removing an already-existing magical effect, such as a ward or ban, that has been placed on an area. Normal counter-magick will not work on a previously-existing magical effect unless the countering mage was present at the time of the casting, and attempted to counter the initial casting. Unweaving a magical effect required the countering mage have at least one rating in all the spheres involved in casting the magical effect, as well as one rating in prime. The tests for an unweaving are exactly the same as Anti-magick, except that each effect result rating lowers the rating of the ward by one. Each effect result rating generated from the unweaving requires the mage concentrate near the ward for 10 minutes per effect result rating. As well, the mage who casted the ward in the first place will detect the unweaving if they win a static challenge vs. 7. |
Countering the effects of a Talisman is handled in the same fashion as the above methods describe, with the exception of Sphere vs. Sphere.
Countermagick and Other Supernatural Creatures
Mages can employ countermagick to stop the magickal attacks of Vampires and Werewolves, and Ghosts. To counter Garou Gifts or Spirit Charms the mage must have the sphere of Spirit plus any other Spheres appropriate to the particular Gift or Charm. The ability of Garou to shift forms cannot be countermagicked, however, conjunctional Life 4 and Spirit 3 could be used to hold a Garou temporarily in a particular form.
To counter most Vampiric Disciplines, the mage need only have those Spheres involved in the particular use of the Discipline being countered. Thus Dominate can be countermagicked by a mage with the sphere of Mind. Those disciplines that use Blood Points must be countered with Prime as well.
Wraith Arcanos can be countered if the Mage has Entropy plus any other spheres appropriate to the particular Arcanos (or Thorn) being used. In most cases, when the Wraith must reach across the Shroud to attack the mage, Spirit will also be necessary.
When facing non-sphere magick, the Mage must have all of the necessary Spheres to perform Countermagick. Countermagick using a single Sphere and Anti-Magick (both detailed in the Book of Shadows) cannot be used.
Sphere Effects:
Werewolves are affected much the same as normal humans (or wolves). One exception is the use of Life 4 to transform Garou. A Garou can make an extended Stamina + Primal Urge roll, difficulty equal to the difficulty of the spell used to transform him (typically 7) to return to one of his forms, regardless of what he has been changed into. The conjunctional use of Matter and Life to change a Garou to non-living matter circumvents this advantage.
Vampires are completely unaffected by direct Life magick. However they can be affected by direct use of Matter. Matter 3 or higher can be used to damage Vampires and this damage is aggravated if the effect is Vulgar and Prime of at least 2 is employed. The amount of damage done is standard. Matter 4 can be used to transform Vampires only if cast conjunctionally with Prime 3. Entropy 3 can also do direct, aggravated damage to Vampires - 3 Health Levels per success. Finally, Prime 4 or higher can be used to damage or alter a Vampires pattern. As with Matter, the amount of damage is standard, and is aggravated only if Vulgar. Finally, it is possible to steal quintessence from a Vampire using Prime 3 or greater. Each success reduces the Vampire's Blood Pool by one and gives the mage a corresponding point of Quintessence.
Wraiths are unaffected by direct Pattern Magick. Indirect Pattern Magick can still work if the Wraith is manifested in the real world or if the mage is confronting it in the Umbra. Wraiths can be affected by Spirit magick in the same way the living are affected by Life. Likewise, Relics can be affected by Spirit in the manner of the Matter sphere. The mage must have some understanding of Entropy in order to do so, however, as stuff of the Shadowlands in permeated by it.