Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary XP & advancement guide

Modern occult fantasy RPG

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary is modern occult conspiracy fantasy. All nine Spheres, Arete rolls, a Paradox tracker and vulgar-vs-coincidental magick.

Mage (M20) is a dice pool game where your magical capability is expressed through Arete and Spheres. Coincidental vs Vulgar magic changes risk (Paradox). The roll flow has 3 steps: 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.

This page walks through how characters grow in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary. It lists 3 workflow steps that take you from earning progress to recording it on the sheet.

How to use this page

1. Read the workflow once before a session ends so you know what to track, then return to it between sessions when you spend what your Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary character has earned.
2. Open the Mage M20 dice roller when a rule asks for a roll, so the result follows the same mechanic described above.
3. Track what changes on your Mage M20 character sheet, which supports 3 creation modes, so the next session starts from the current state.
4. Move to a sibling page when the question changes: quickstart, rules reference, glossary, or GM resources. Each one is built from the same Mage M20 data, so terms and numbers match across pages.
5. Return to the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary guide for the full overview, including character creation and every tool for this game.

Nothing on this page replaces the published Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary rulebook. It is a working reference for the table: short summaries of the 3 advancement steps listed here, plus links to the tools that act on them.