Gesture Lore

From Edge of Darkness Wiki

Mages are usually forced to use the gestures that are “coded” into a particular rote. Once willworkers learn one version, it’s impossible to learn another by any method short of relearning the rote entirely. On the other hand, some mages might be adept at translating one set of gestures into another. These mages can see how an asana might replace the mudras or nata they originally learned. This is a useful skill because each type of gesture has its own inherent limitations. Mages using mudras must devote at least one hand to them instead of carrying an object, for example. Use the following Merit to simulate this ability.

For each dot in this Merit, a mage can substitute one other gesture type for that mandated by a rote that she learns. For example, a mage who knows a version of “Numinous Shield” that requires mudras could cast a version that uses asanas (or pranayama as well, if she had two dots in this Merit). Choose one type of gesture (from asana, darshana, mudra, nata and pranayama) for each dot purchased. The mage can substitute the gesture inherent to a given rote for any of those selected. In addition, the mage can pass on the rotes she knows using one of the alternate gesture forms she has studied instead of the form she learned it in.

Drawback: This is only effective for rotes the mage knows, and only for personal castings of these rotes. Furthermore, no matter how many gesture sets she knows, a mage can only pass on one of them while teaching a given rote.

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