Rules reference
Equipment in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary
Gear basics and how equipment impacts play. Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition is a tabletop RPG where you play as Awakened mages who can bend reality through the Spheres. As a mage, you belong to a Tradition (like the Order of Hermes, Verbena, or Virtual Adepts) and use your understanding of reality to cast magic, all while managing Paradox and Consensus.
Key points
Equipment changes what’s possible in the fiction: access, leverage, and risk management. This page focuses on the gear that matters most.
- 9 Spheres: Correspondence, Entropy, Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Prime, Spirit, Time
- 9 Traditions: Order of Hermes, Verbena, Virtual Adepts, Akashic Brotherhood, Celestial Chorus, Cult of Ecstasy, Dreamspeakers, Euthanatos, Sons of Ether
- Arete system: Determines maximum Sphere dots usable in effects
- Paradox mechanics: Accumulates from Vulgar magic
- Coincidental vs Vulgar magic: Coincidental generates less Paradox
- Quintessence: Fuels magical effects
Mage (M20) is a dice pool game where your magical capability is expressed through Arete and Spheres. Coincidental vs Vulgar magic changes risk (Paradox).
- Decide the effect and which Spheres apply.
- Roll your pool (often Arete with modifiers) and interpret successes as effect/scale.
- Track risk: Vulgar effects can generate Paradox and consequences.
The best gear changes what’s possible: access, safety, speed, and options. Track what lets you do something you couldn’t do before.
If a roll is dangerous, gear can change position: better tools, better cover, better information.
- Mistake: Tracking too many tiny items. Fix: Track gear that changes options, safety, speed, or access.
- Mistake: Buying gear without a use case. Fix: Ask: what scene does this gear make easier or safer?