SR5:MetaMagics List

5th Edition Lists
Gear // Magic // Hacking // Skills // Qualities // Packs // Creatures

Spell List	Ritual List	Spirit List	Adept Powers List	Mentor Spirits List	Metamagics List	Traditions List

Adept Centering (Adepts Only)

Adept Centering allows you to reduce negative dice pool modifiers to Physical and Combat skills (such as modifiers from adverse conditions) by performing some mundane action at the same time. This action is something you use to focus on what you’re doing (you center yourself), for example chanting, singing, shouting—it can be just about anything as long as it’s not subtle. Reduce negative dice pool modifiers by your initiate grade as long as you can perform your chosen method of centering, which is a Free Action you take during your Action Phase.

Centering

A magician who learns to center has an easier time resisting Drain. By using a mundane activity appropriate to your tradition to quiet your mind and block out distractions, you add a number of dice equal to your grade to all your Drain Resistance Tests. Centering is a Free Action. The actual activity for your technique is something you choose for yourself (appropriate to your tradition, of course), and could be something like chanting in Latin, playing a musical instrument, dancing, singing, making arcane gestures, screaming the names of ancient gods—just about anything that isn’t subtle. If you’re prevented from performing your centering technique of choice, you can’t use it.

Fixation

You magically infuse an alchemical preparation with Karma, extending its shelf life. When you create the preparation, spend at least 1 Karma (up to the Force of the preparation). When the preparation’s Potency starts to decay, instead of losing 1 Potency every hour it loses 1 every day. It also gets a dice pool bonus against Disjoining (p. 307) equal to the amount of Karma you spent on it.

Flexible Signature

You can alter your astral signature (p. 312) at will. You can disguise your aura so that it can’t be used to identify you, or forge the astral signature of another magician you’ve assensed, or simply reduce the amount of time your astral signature lasts. When someone attempts to assense your faked signature, add your initiate grade to the Assensing Test threshold—if a Grade 2 initiate leaves a forged astral signature, another magician could read the signature with 3 hits as usual, but at 5 hits would realize the signature is fake and spot the true signature underneath. You can only forge astral signatures you’ve read through assensing (your gamemaster may ask for a Memory Test). You can also reduce the longevity of the astral signatures you leave behind by your grade in hours—so that Grade 2 initiate can choose to leave no signature at all on effects that are Force 2 or less, and the signature of a Force 5 effect would last only 3 hours.

Masking

You learn to change the appearance of your aura (and astral form). You can make it look mundane, or make your Magic Rating look higher or lower by up to your grade. When someone tries to read your masked aura, the Assensing Test becomes opposed by your Magic + initiate grade—if they get any net hits, they see both your mask and your real aura. If you can use astral perception, you can even make your aura look like a different type (like a spirit or a focus—great for astral costume parties). You can also use this metamagic to mask the auras of as many of your bonded foci as your initiate grade.

Power Point (Adepts Only)

If you’re an adept, you gain a Power Point instead of a metamagic. You can take this as many times as you like.

Quickening

You can manipulate your sustained spells into a sort of loop, so that they sustain themselves instead of relying on you to do it for them. To quicken a spell, take a Complex Action and spend karma while you’re sustaining the spell. You must spend at least 1 Karma but may spend up to the Force of the spell. The spell becomes permanent and gets a dice pool bonus against dispelling (p. 295) equal to the amount of Karma you spent on it.

Spell Shaping

You can reshape your area spells at the cost of making casting them harder. For every –1 dice pool penalty you take to your Spellcasting Test, you may either increase an area spell’s radius by 1 meter, decrease it by 1 meter, or create a 1-meter-radius spherical “bubble” within the area of your spell that remains unaffected by it. You must declare the use of this metamagic when you cast the area spell. You may not take more dice worth of penalty than your Magic Rating.

Shielding

A character with the shielding metamagic learns to better protect herself and others against hostile spells as they are cast. When the magician declares spell defense, they can add additional dice to the spell defense pool equal to his initiate grade. These additional dice cannot be used for any other use of Counterspelling, including dispelling.

Toxic Metamagic

Corruption

Corruption is a metamagic technique that allows a magician to twist a spirit into a toxic version of itself. This is done by making a standard Banishing Test (p. 301, SR5). The toxic magician may add his initiate grade as a dice pool bonus to the test. If the toxic magician succeeds in a Summoning Test after reducing the spirit’s services to 0, the spirit immediately turns into a toxic version of itself (see Toxic Spirits, p. 87).

Taint

Taint is a metamagic technique that increases the background count of an area. It uses all the same rules as Cleansing metamagic (see Cleansing, p. 122), with the sole exception of increasing the background count instead of decreasing it. In all other ways it follows the rules for Cleansing.

Blood Metamagic

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is the metamagic technique that defines a magician as following the path of Blood. In essence, it is the ability to draw magical power from the act of inflicting harm on another living being, with sentient beings generating the most amount of power. Blood magic in all its forms is universally derided by other practitioners of magic. Sacrifice is an exclusive metamagic technique that can only be learned from another magician of the same tradition who already knows it, or from a spirit that knows it. It can never be self-taught.In order to use Sacrifice, the magician must inflict Physical damage on another living thing, using a melee weapon that draws blood. The drawing of living blood is the powerful symbol that generates raw magical power referred to as Blood Magic Points. To do this the magician makes a standard melee attack using the weapon. If the target is able to defend themselves they may do so, but if they cannot resist (due to being restrained, for example) then the attack is unopposed. Additionally, if the victim is restrained and unable to defend themselves, the magician receives a +4 dice pool bonus on their attack.While any living creature can be used, the magic is more powerful when harm is inflicted on sapient creatures, especially the unwilling. If damage is inflicted on a living creature without the Sapience power or the victim is willing (such as the magician themselves), then every 3 boxes of Physical damage inflicted generates one Blood Magic Point. If damage is inflicted on a Sapient critter or unwilling metahuman victim, then every 1 box of Physical damage generates one Blood Magic Point. Spirits can never be used as victims, even if they possess a living body.

If not used, Blood Magic Points are lost after the following Combat Turn. Blood Magic Points generated by the act of Sacrifice can then be used in any of the following ways, in any combination:

• Increase the Force of a spell being cast by one per Point; this can exceed twice the caster’s Magic Rating.
• Increase the caster’s Magic Rating for the purposes of determining if the spell’s drain is Physical or Stun, by one per Point.
• Reduce the amount of Drain the spell inflicts by one per Point, to a minimum of 0.
• Store any number of Points in an athame focus (see Athame, p. 90).
• Summon a Blood Spirit (see Blood Spirits, p. 91).

Cannibalize

(ADEPTS ONLY)

Adepts and mystic adepts who follow the path of blood may learn a unique metamagic technique related to Sacrifice. When using Cannibalize, the adept draws blood from a victim and then consumes it to gain a measure of power. In game terms, the adept inflicts physical damage on a willing or unwilling victim exactly as per the Sacrifice metamagic to generate Blood Magic Points. The adept can then increase a physical attribute by 1 for every 3 Blood Magic Points they spend, up to the individual’s augmented maximum in that attribute. The same or different attributes may be increased in any combination with one Simple Action. This increase lasts (Magic x initiate grade) Combat Turns, but if the adept immediately spends Karma equal to the total number of attribute points increased, the duration is increased to (Magic x initiate grade) days.

Power Bleed

(ADEPTS ONLY)

Prerequisite: Cannibalize

Power Bleed is an advanced metamagic technique that builds upon the Cannibalize power. Power Bleed functions the same as Cannibalize, except that instead of generating 3 Blood Magic Points, the adept can siphon one critter or adept power possessed by the victim (if they have one), and may then use this power as if it were their own. The effect lasts for (Magic x initiate grade) Combat Turns, but the adept may immediately spend 3 Karma to extend the duration to (Magic x initiate grade) days.