New Metamagic

At GM's discresion, it may be possible for an initiating character to learn 2 metamagic techniques at once instead of gaining a point of magic.

Improved Conjuring- The character can choose one type of spirit (spirit of man, fire elemental, etc) which he is currently unable to conjure and can now conjure that type of spirit. (A shaman might take fire elemental, or a hermetic mage spirit of man, or an ancestor spirit, etc.). This may be taken multiple times for multiple spirits. The spirit selected is summoned as normal for that spirit (a shaman summoning elementals summons them in the same manner a hermetic mage does and a hermetic mage summoning a spirit of the sky must be in the doman and it lasts for one day or one night). A mage must have the conjuring skill to take this.

Sorcery- An aspected mage or adept which takes this metamagic may now take the sorcery skill, which gives him every use for that skill EXCEPT spellcasting. So he may use a spell pool for spell defense, and may now qualify for other metamagic feats. This does not grant astral perception or projection.

Conjuration- An aspected mage or adept can take this to gain the conjuring skill (which does not grant the ability to conjure spirits). This skill can be used for banishing or other conjuration checks.

Additional Totem- A shaman may add another totem to his shamanist tradition, gaining the beneft and penalties of both. The two totems must (at DM discresion) not be contradictory to each other. (Certainly if one provides a benfit to the same roll one provides a penalty to, they probably do not compliment each other).

Hardened Magic- The character with this metamagic adds his initiate grade to opponents TN to affect him with hostile magic. (So they may target willpower+grade instead of willpower, or body+grade instead of body). This only affects spells, not critter or spirit powers or other techniques such as astral combat.

Ignore Index- This metamagic feat allows the character to ignore 1 point of bio-index OR 1 point of essence loss from cyberware. Basically the character gains a magic point and overrides one magic point lost from bio or cyberware. This can't be taken proactively- you must already have the cyberware or bioware to be ignored.

Spirit Sharing- This metamagic feat grants the character +1 Good Karma for every 10 good karma he gives to an ally or free spirit. (Effectively making a donation of 10 good karma only cost 9 good karma). This does not work retroactively.

Practiced Initiator- This metamagic feat helps the character in further initiations, reducing the karma costs of further initiations by 3, and providing +1 die on any tests made during a magical ordeal (such as an astral quest). The minimum karma for an ordeal will still be 1 (though I can't imagine it will ever get so low).

High Sorcery/High Conjuration- High sorcery can only be taken by characters who cast spells. Any spellcasting used by a high sorcery caster gets -1 to the drain code (so a deadly one becomes serious).

High conjuration is taken by people who summon spirits and gives -1 to the drain code of any summoning test, including channeling or inoking.

Metamagic Master- The character with this metamagic my now purchase metamagic techniques for a cost of 10 good karma without having to initiate again. They must still qualify for the metamagic techniques they gain.

Karma Sharing- Best suited for a character with quickening or other karma-intensive techniques. This allows the PC to power his techniques with karma donated from others. Every 1 point they donate contributes 1 point to the technique in question. They may take karma from as many willing donators as possible, but such karma must be used to accomplish a magic task (such as improving an ally spirit or learning or quickening a spell, even bonding to foci), the PC cannot keep extra karma for himself.

Scorched Magic Theft- (Prereq: Magic Theft)
A particularly nasty metamagic feat. This allows you to burn the magic out of another mage so that the magic can be transferred to an ally or free spirit. The mage becomes engaged in a magic duel with you.

You start by rolling your magic rating dice against a TN of his magic rating. He opposes this rolling his magic rating in dice against a TN of your magic. Whoever generates most successes "wins" the round. The winner may continue the combat or break off, and the duel continues until someone breaks off. The loser of a round loses 1 magic point temporarily.

If the agressor falls to 0 magic, he must check for permanent magic loss, otherwise the magic points return at 1 point per day. Magic returns at the same rate if the combat is broken off. If the defender falls to 0 magic, the agressor may try to channel the magic of the defender towards an ally spirit or free spirit (who must be in visual range). He makes one final test- his magic rating against the willpower of the defeated mage. Each success permanently drains the defender of 1 magic point (if it goes to 0 they are burned out of magic forever). That magic point translates to either 2 good karma for the spirit. (So a starting mage might be drained of as much as 6 magic to give the spirit 12 points of good karma). Any additional magic by the fallen defender returns at the rate of 1 point per day (though he must also check for magic loss to lose an extra point afterwards). Once this check is made, the person must regain his lost magic points before it can be attempted again on the same person. A spirit may not gain more karma in this manner until it undergoes a ritual of change and spends its current points improving itself.

If the defender has this metamagic, and he falls the aggressor, he may transfer the magic to a nearby spirit if he has one available in the same manner.

Such an option is obviously dangerous for all involved, and both mages are open to attack while such a contest is happening. It is also highly illegal and the magic community tends to look down on such things. Spirits with magic cannot use this technique to gain karma for themselves.

Any magic gained through an ally spirit acting as a power focus does not benefit the aggressor if this is the same spirit he hopes to improve using the defender's magic. He also may not lose magic from spirits or power foci, however, power foci does increase his magic rating for the purposes of the opponant's TN and his dice rolled.

Magic Theft-
As scorched magic theft (above), except as follows.
The magic is never permanently burned (except if someone is dropped to 0 and given permanent magic loss). The willpower test at the end allows the aggressor to transfer points of magic from the defender to himself. These bonus points decrease at the rate of 1/day, the same rate as they are gained back by the other mage. A mage can use this to temporarily gain a bonus to his magic rating for other magic tests of determining drain. This does not affect his initiate grade. Like scorched magic theft, this is looked down on by mage groups, though not nearly to the same level.

Magic Healer- (Prereq: Healing- below)
You may spend 1 point of your own magic rating, permanently, to restore magic to someone whose essence or magic has become 0. Their essence must have been brought back to at least 1.0 for this to work. You lose your 1 point of magic and they gain a magic of 1. Their magic then increases by 1 point per day up to a maximum of their original magic level (or it is capped by a new, lower essence level if appropriate). Certainly, mages expect some kind of severe compensation for this.

You may attempt to use this skill to awaken the unawakened. To do so, make a magic test at a TN of (10 - their essence). If successful, you can grant them 1 magic point and lose one yourself. Multiple success allow you to transfer them more magic, if you wish to. Afterwards they are considered the same kind of magician you are (same totem, hermetic, full magician, adept, etc). They may initiate normally to increase their magic. The target must have 1 essence or the attempt is wasted, and must have a bio index at least (their essence -1).

Healer
You can attempt to heal lost essence in other characters. Any essence lost to cyberware must have the cyberware removed or it cannot be healed. Bio index cannot be "restored" as it is technically never lost.

You spend 1 hour with the character to be healed (who cannot be yourself). You make a magic test using your magic rating in dice against (10 - his current essence). For each success you restore 1 point of essence, up to his racial original (6 usually), or lower if he still has cyberware. This will not heal fractions of a point, so if he has .5 of cyberware and 2.75 essence lost, he can heal the 2 points, but not the .25.

For each point of essence restored, you must make an magic test against TN (10 - his new essence). You take 1 point of essence burn (damage to your own essence) for each point restored. Successes on your magic test reduce the amound burned from you (minimum of 0). Burned essence damages your magic rating accordingly (unless gaesa are adopted to compensate).

Magic Helper
You may use your magic rating as a suppliment to any non-combat magic test made by another person. (So you may help somone else assense, or using cleansing, sensing, etc) even if you don't have the relevant skill in question.

Poltergeist (Requires Astral Projection)
While astrally projecting you may attempt to manipulate objects in the real world. This is a very difficult feat to accomplish. You must manifest, which leaves you vulnerable to attack, and you make a test using your astral combat pool against a TN 6. Every 2 successes allows you to affect something of 1 pound as if you were manipulating it with one hand (4 successes = 2 lbs). Fine manipulation is not allowed, but you can push buttons on a keyboard or unlock a bolt on a door. You must sustain this, as if it were a spell, meaning you take TN penalties on everything except this, and this is affected by any spells you are sustaining. While sustaining this you are more vulnerable to attacks, losing any astral combat pool against attacks, even pool dice not used for moving things. Each action you must attempt the astral pool check to see if you can still affect the object, failure may drop things or delay your actions. Still, the ability to affect things from far away is a highly sought after metamagic technique.

Magic Surgury
Someone capable of surgury can use this metamagic technique to aid in sorcery, by temporarily granting regeneration and transformative effects to a target during surgury. For regular surgury this can provide +2 bonus to any healing checks. For cybersurgery this is very valuable- it makes sure that the target suffers only 75% essence loss or bio index from successful implantation. (This cannot be combined with exceptional surgeons). This is very expensive and such surgeons are highly sought after, with surgury costing $10,000 or more per piece of equipment.

Sustainer
You may take over the sustaining of other mage's spells. You must touch the mage, and now you take the penalties for sustaining the spell or ability rather than the original mage. You may sustain any spell with a force up to your magic rating. You need not have sorcery dice or be able to cast the spell (or any spell) to take over sustaining for it.

Protective Shield
You may sustain a force field around your body, with a size of 5' / initiate grade. (You are always at the center. The shield helps deflect incoming ranged attacks and spells. The shield cannot move. While the shield is up, it is visible as a transluscent field which can be any color (though it does not obscure vision no matter what). You allocate your spell pool device to the shield, which uses these dice to attempt to deflect any ranged attacks towards those inside the shield. For each attack that comes in, have the shield roll a TN4 test using the dice you've allocated to it. Each success removes 1 of the attacker's successes (as if dodging). If the attacker has less than 1 success, the bullet completely deflects harmlessly. People inside then resist and dodge the bullets normally. You must spend a complex action each round maintaining the shield, and it counts as a sustained action, though you may spend your other phases normally taking actions as long as you do not leave the shield.