Influence (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Backgrounds

Definition

Influence represents the mage's pull within mortal institutions: government, business, media, law enforcement, academia, or other organizations. While Allies are individuals who help you, Influence is systemic power. You can make things happen within institutions without needing to call on specific people. For mages in the Ascension War, Influence provides tools to counter the Technocracy on its own turf. The Technocratic Union controls reality partly through institutional power, and mages with Influence can push back through the same channels. Suppressing news stories, redirecting police investigations, securing permits and funding, and accessing restricted records all become possible through institutional Influence.

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How it works

**Key Uses**: - Sway decisions within mortal institutions - Access institutional resources and information - Block or redirect institutional actions against you **Special Rules**: Each dot of Influence represents pull within a specific institution or sphere of society. The player should define which institution their Influence affects. Higher dots represent more significant institutional power. Influence conflicts with Arcane, as institutional power requires visibility and documentation.

Tips

**Build Advice**: Valuable for mages who interact heavily with mortal society and need to manipulate institutions. Less useful for hermit-like characters or those operating entirely in the supernatural world. **Tradition Synergies**: Celestial Chorus wield influence through religious institutions. Order of Hermes maintain influence in academic and occult circles. Sons of Ether may have influence in scientific communities. **Character Concepts**: Celestial Chorus bishop with church influence, Hermetic professor with academic pull, Virtual Adept with media influence, Etherite with connections in the scientific establishment.

Frequently asked questions

Can Influence counter Technocracy operations?

To a degree. The Technocracy has vast institutional influence, but local Influence can delay, redirect, or complicate their operations. Redirecting a police investigation, burying a news story, or tying up permits can buy time even against well-resourced Technocratic agents.

Does Influence overlap with Allies or Contacts?

They complement each other. Contacts provide information from within institutions. Allies are individuals who act on your behalf. Influence is the ability to move the institution itself. A mage might have a Contact who provides intelligence, an Ally who helps directly, and Influence that shapes institutional decisions.

Influence (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Definition

How it works

Tips

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading