House Rules

 Resonance and Scrutinizing (Read M:tA page 277)

Once "Mage Sight" is active, the world around you is filled with the hum and shimmer of meanings.  By focusing your attention on a subject resonance, you can learn a great deal about it.  Anything can be scrutinized.  A person, place, object, or spell.  This innate ability is a significant power of all mages...if used with patience and wisdom.  

A resonance is an emanation of all the things that make the subject that unique thing.  Some mages call it an object's 'aura'...but in all likelihood, these mages cannot read true "Auras" (that energy which surrounds a being showing their emotional and mental state).  Yes, it's confusing, as it should be considering human language is a poor way to define and communicate concepts.  

Object density and the particular arcanum used can have interesting results.  For example, Prime sight, used generally to read spells (which are constructs of willpower and consciousness), might have a harder time reading the resonance of a concrete pillar that entombs a 1930s gangster than Matter or Death.  The particular Arcana used may add additional effects to these supernatural perceptions.

In a narrative sense, the mage studies the target like someone looking at an oil painting.  At first they see the forms and colors.  But upon continued study identifies the strokes and application of the paint.  But that they might identify the tools used or the favored stroke style of the artist.  Mechanically, the player must choose a particular focus of their desired learning (such as "Nature" or "Qualities" [see page reference above]) and accrue successes with consecutive rolls.

To know more about any particular resonance, a Mage must focus on it and make it the center of their attention. After a few moments the target becomes more pronounced as the surrounding resonances fade into the background and the Mage can begin to look for specific things within it. They must sift through the twisting patterns and feelings emanating off the subject with a specific purpose.  This intense focus of the mind and spirit takes the mage away from their surroundings.  A mage can scrutinize for a number of consecutive actions equal to their wits, after which every additional round imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to all other rolls until they break their focus.  Understanding the true supernal nature of a thing may make a mage susceptible to surprises and attacks.

Hallows and Mana

Using Prime Sight near a Hallow, ambient mana can be seen as a fine sparkling mist in the air, slowly filtering into our reality from the supernal and filling the area in about a five yard radius around the center point of the Hallow for every level.  

Any spell cast within this area requires one less total mana to cast as the mage unconsciously draws from the ambient mana around themselves to work into the spell as opposed to the mana within themselves.  For most Hallows of sufficient strength, whatever mana has not been harvested or utilized settles into objects within half of its ambient mana radius, settling into the most ephemeral physical material first (water) and lastly into the heaviest material (dense stones).  Should the mana flow not be harvested it will continue to settle into everything within its range, and may cause unusual supernatural effects within the area or attract unusual creatures.