Rules Fixes for The First Sunrise

Deadlier Firearms

• [Change] To balance out the fact that I won't have swords that only do strength+2, but I like that successes add to damage, this rule is in effect. Simply, the base damage for a firearm is not rolled, it is automatic. You still roll the dice for every level added through attack success and add it to the base damage. For example, a Light Revolver (damage 4), hitting a target with 6 successes, the damage would be 4 damage plus 6 dice of additional damage.

Serendipity Background

• [Addition] This background replaces and supercedes the Luck merit. It is, unsurprisingly, a measure of how lucky your character is, but also indicates how much freedom your character has within the fuzzy, unwritten areas of a setting. The major effect is how much leeway a character is given in defining equipment. While a low rating in this background requires the character to describe, within reason, exactly what devices, foci, weapons, and whatnot the character carries around, a luckier character is not so hindered. The more levels in this background, the more free the character is to call up any item that could be reasonably on hand, from foci, to weapons, to lengths of rope, as long as it would not be unbelievable (for instance, after a technocratic full-cavity search even the luckiest character is unlikely to have a blowtorch and a piece of duct tape). Additionally this background may be temporarily spent for a number of purposes. A level may be spent for a reroll, just as the Luck merit. Further, levels may be spent for lucky occurrences. Attempts to call on luck should sound similar to "It would be lucky if there's a gun in this car's glove compartment" or "I wonder if there's a chance that a clue would fall into our laps." The storyteller will assess the cost in temporary luck points for any such attempt. Each botch returns a spent point of the background, and the entire pool refreshes between stories. This background is available to all character types.

Autodamage and Soak

• [Change] To make things a bit more fair with the autodamage for firearms rules in effect, the follow rules apply. Any supernatural damage resistance adds its full effect as autosoak against an attack with autodamage. Supernaturally protected beings aren't troubled by a little hydrostatic shock. This applies to Metal Wards, Life-Armor, Forces-Fields, talisman protection and anything similar. For example, a mummy wearing a level 3 Metal Ward would subtract 3 levels from all firearms damage (and any other autodamaging metal source) before rolling stamina and armor to soak. Special note, shifters in any hybrid form count their full stamina as supernatural, and so will be little troubled by non-silver bullets. As it should be.

Botching

• [Change] Following one of the few useful ideas in Aberrant/Trinity, ones do not subtract from successes. However, a character with ones rolled and no successes will botch, with the number of ones indicating the severity of the botch. Basically, since you can't botch with successes rolled under the revised storyteller rules, this just means a higher average margin of success and more fun when botches do happen.

Increasing Tempers

• [Addition] I will be instituting rules for increasing Balance, Arete, Gnosis, and something appropriate for Sorcerers so it doesn't cost a monumental lot of experience to raise it. You will still be able to spend exp. on these things but following the tenets of Ma'at/Your Avatar/Gaia will be a faster way of increasing these things.

True Magic

• Failure and Paradox: [Change] No paradox is gained for a failed magical effect unless there are extenuating circumstances (such as failure through countered successes).
• Shroud/Gauntlet and Paradox: [Addition] At the Storyteller's option an exceptionally low Shroud or Gauntlet rating might indicate that reality is "thinner" in this area and that Vulgar magic will cause less automatic Paradox on successful casting. Typically, this will only be appropriate in areas with a rating of 5 or less, and at least one point of Paradox will be accumulated for a successful effect in all but the thinnest areas.
• Backlashes and Paradox:  [Clarification]  Backlashes are rolled automatically whenever you take five or more paradox from one effect, accrue ten or more points on your wheel, or it is appropriate to the story.  These instances tend to provoke damage, quiet, spirits, and realms.  Characters can choose to unleash their personal paradox at any time, and it is rolled as normal (paradox pool vs. difficulty 6), but will normally result in flaws rather than the other types of backlash.  Each backlashed point of paradox in one of these rolls becomes a temporary flaw of the appropriate level, while points over seven result in weaker but effectively permanent flaws.
• Rotes: [Addition] Characters must learn rotes to have easy magic on hand. Each character begins with one rote of any level for every sphere known. Non-rote magic is considered fast-cast unless one turn per highest sphere level is spent on the effect, and is at an additional +1 difficulty penalty if cast in less than one turn. After the effect has been successfully performed by the character a number of times equal to twice the highest sphere level, or one exp. is spent on it in downtime, it is considered a learned rote. After a rote is learned characters may choose to spend exp. and downtime improving the efficiency of a rote. Each rote may have exp. equal to its highest sphere level spent into it to gain an Improved x1 rating, and this may be increased to x2 and x3 for the same further expenditure. The improvement rating is a difficulty reduction of its level, and may not exceed -3.
• Resonance: [Clarification] Resonance is tracked in three categories on your sheet.  You, as usual, begin with one dot of resonance.  Your resonance subtly colors all magic that you do, tagging every bit of quintessence that passes through your pattern.  Only being apparent to the most perceptive in normal circumstances, every use of personal quintessence used makes it that much easier to track a magical effect back to you.  However, there are ways to make your resonance work for you.  In any magical situation where you can include one of your resonant adjectives in the spell description the difficulty decreases by one without making it too much easier to track the effect.  You may go further beyond this, though, and add your resonance trait rating in which the adjective came from to your arete pool when casting appropriate spells.  This marks your magic in such a way that it becomes blindingly obvious who invoked the effect to anyone with the ability to sense it, and the trace lingers longer and stronger the better the effect was pulled off.  Additionally, paradox gained from the effect is colored by your resonance for when it backlashes.  Finally, each time you add resonance to magic, the next attempt of opposed magic suffers a one-die penalty (e.g. Adding resonance to three destructive effects makes the next three constructive effects suffer a one-die penalty).  You gain more resonance on very successful resonant effects, and lose it on particularly unsuccessful ones, at the ST's option.  This rule is subject to playtesting.

Sorcery

• Aspects: [Clarification] All aspect levels automatically achieve level 1 of each aspect with a minimal success. The rating at which the path is cast at for the spell is a number of extra levels that may be distributed into aspects on a minimal success. Each success past one may increase any aspect by one level per success. No aspect level may exceed the level at which the path is cast. For damaging effects two dice of damage may be traded for one level of damage, determined before rolling for damage.
• Damage Step Aspect: [Addition] A new aspect, available to any path that deals damage.
            1 - No change to damage.
            2 - +1 Die of damage/success.
            3 - +2 Dice of damage/success.
            4 - +3 Dice of damage/success.
            5 - +4 Dice of damage/success.
            6 - +5 Dice of damage/success.
• Improved Casting - Fast-Casting: [Addition] The character may choose to spend downtime and experience streamlining and learning to incant a spell quickly. The player determines which spell will be learned as a fast-cast effect, and pre-spends the path levels into aspects, then spends a number of experience equal to the path level required in the casting. This spell becomes castable as a standard action in one turn without incurring a fast-casting penalty. Example: The character spends 3 exp. to learn a Level 3 Hellfire effect that will do 6 dice of lethal damage at a range of up to 10 feet with one target before successes are applied. At minimal success it will always do the same thing, but can be cast in one turn without penalty.
• Improved Casting - Difficulty Reduction: [Addition} The character may choose to spend downtime and experience learning to cast a spell with ease. The player determines which path level will be learned at a reduced difficulty, and spends a number of experience equal to the level of the path for each -1 difficulty reduction. This reduction applies every time that path level is used, and may not exceed -3 or the path level, whichever is lower. Example: The character spends 3 exp. to learn Level 3 Hellfire at Reduced Difficulty x1. Every future casting of Hellfire 3 is one level of difficulty lower. Difficulty Reduction and Fast-Casting may be learned for the same path level and spell.
• Improved Casting - Reduced Cost: [Addition] The character may choose to spend downtime and experience learning to cast a spell with less personal effort. This reduction is only useful for paths that cost Willpower. Choose a spell as with Fast-Casting for the same cost and same assignment of variables. For each time this is learned, which may be as many times as the character can afford, casting that spell requires no Willpower once per scene. Example: By spending 3 experience the already mentioned Hellfire effect may be cast once per scene for no Willpower, but successive castings cost full. If another 3 experience is spent into the spell it may be cast twice per scene for free, and so on. Reduced Cost may be combined with Difficulty Reduction and Fast-Casting for the same path level and spell.

Mummy

• Ba and Resurrection: [Change] The Ba background presents only additional dice to roll to resurrect, not a minimum time for doing so. In order to make a resurrection roll, a mummy needs to accumulate a number of points of, for lack of a better word, Ma'at to restore the Khat, in accordance with the system for regaining Ba in 1st and 2nd edition Mummy. This does not cost permanent Willpower or Sekhem.
• Ka Background: [Clarification] This only applies when the mummy is in a death cycle or the Hajj.
• The Veil: [Change] Mummies do not inspire Delirium.
• Balance and Sekhem: [Clarification] There is no permanent Sekhem rating; the default amount of Sekhem a Mummy holds is equal to Balance.
• Semektet: [Change] This state only applies if the mummy fails a Balance roll against the current Shroud when all Sekhem is spent.
• The Winds: [Change] The storm in the Underworld does a maximum of 8 dice of lethal per turn, and will typically do a number of bashing levels per hour.
• Permanent Items: [Addition] Though the Permanency ritual of Amulets is a way to create long lasting talismans, it is not the only way.  A crafter of Effigies or Amulets may invest personal experience (equal to the level of the item) into a created item to make it self-sustaining.  Essentially, the crafter binds a portion of his own ability to regain sekhem into the item, so that it can slowly regain the magical energy that it consumes in its function.  Thus, items only maintain this semi-permanency when within the Web of Faith, near a node of energy, or otherwise in an area of thin reality.  If they are without this energy they must be maintained as normal for their type by the mummy, or they sink into uselessness.  Whether their capacity for self-sustainment returns when they are returned to a magical field depends on their power and that of their creator (the level of the item plus the creator's hekau level at the time of the creation are rolled against the shroud, needing to get successes equal to the item's level).  This trick may be used to create Vessels with the Amulets hekau.  Items created in this way serve as powerful links to their creator, and lower correspondence difficulties/distance by their level.