Metasorcerous Phylactery (Artifact ••••)

Note: This item is an item of the First Age. The knowledge of its construction is fairly lost during the 2^nd Age.

These talismans usually take the form of large jewelry items such as elaborate bracers, torcs and crowns, although some Chosen prefer staves or wands. Combing Creation’s four magical materials with Malfeas brass in elaborately complex designs, the composite wonder can be attuned (or built) only by sorcerers. Each requires combination of an inset level 3+ hearthstone and a 10 mote commitment to function. (Variants of this artifact using soulsteel and Underworld materials similarly boost necromancy.

Whenever a sorcerer casts a sorcery spell while attuned to exactly one metasorcerous phylactery, he may channel dots from the item’s inset hearthstone to augment the casting, temporarily reducing the stone’s power output (and rating). Until a drained hearthstone returns to full charge, it has no powers. Furthermore, an arcane link remains between the depleted stone and phylactery, preventing any other power source from fueling it during this time. Channeled dots return at the rate of one per hour and may improve a spell in any of the following ways, allocated as desired.

Cost: The Spell costs three fewer motes per dot spent (minimum 10 motes). Alternatively, the spell’s Willpower point cost decreases by one per three dots spent (minimum one Willpower point).

Power: If the spell references the sorcerer’s Essence rating, he is considered to have a rating one dot higher for every three dots spent.

Mastery: If the spell requires a dice roll, each dot spent adds one success to the roll.

Range: If the spell has a range measured in actual distance, each dot spent improves it by a factor of one (x2 with one level, x3 with two, etc.)

Duration: If the spell has a fixed Duration, every two dots spent increases this time by a factor of one (x2 with two levels, x3 with 3 four, etc.)

Trigger: For a cost of one dot, the spell does not have any apparent effect on its target (no rolls are made, if applicable). Instead, the effect happens when a specific event the sorcerer names at the time of casting takes place in the presence of the target. (The effect can be anything from a time delay to someone performing a specific action, etc.) In the interim, the spell remains visible to Essence sight and may be dispelled with countermagic. Once the spell goes off, it does so as if the target were adjacent to the sorcerer and the sorcerer’s player then makes any necessary rolls (using the traits his character had when he cast the spell). Suspended spells can remain dormant indefinitely if their trigger conditions never occur.

Manifestation: For a cost of one dot, the sorcerer may change the way a spell achieves its normal function, substituting a Storyteller-approved effect more appropriate to the sorcerer’s anima and mood. For example, a magma kraken might be changed to tendrils of electricity, but it would still inflict the same damage and would be the same spell. Other than providing a host of stunt possibilities, changing the effect decreases the likelihood that others will recognize the spell (+2 difficulty) and may circumvent narrowly defined defense (such as immunity to fire, which avails nothing against acid).