Common Abilities of Mages
Most mages can learn all of the abilities below, ranging from the arcane and specific to the fairly simple. When I talk about eliminating material components, or words, or somatic gestures, I may draw some fire. But remember that all of these methods are merely ways of channeling magic. Granted, saying words aloud is among the most common, followed by gestures and components. These are ways mages have found of reducing the MP they need by focusing symbolism. Symbolism allows the subconscious to jump on the bandwagon and work in greater synergy with the conscious mind, for one thing. Certain symbols can also function as wells of magic energy, focusing ambient energy. But remember that this is just the status quo. Some people could cast spells through using musical notes (like, for instance, Bards in FF5), fiddling with rosaries, or repeatedly chanting "Chaolumpa" (like Tao magicians in Outlaw Star). Even the forms of invocation vary; some use plain English, some use Latin, some have power words mixed in a bunch of gibberish, and some merely say their intent backwards (so Fireball would be said "Llaberif"). And, of course, some mages could use merely their thoughts or whispers. They get the advantage of being much less obvious, but they lose in the efficiency department. Of course, a mystic assassin will sacrifice the extra MP in order to get the job done and stay alive. Meanwhile, an egomaniacal high priest of a Satanic cult will enjoy the intimidation and imporance and not mind the resulting loss in secrecy; he doesn't want to be a secret!
Aspects: See the Rifts Aspects section.
Automatic Life Source: All mages can learn the ability to convert their HP to MP. However, the ratio will not be 1:1 or even close. Only spells, specific abilities, and Aspects allow better ratios.
Barriers Resistant to "Ripping": Certain magic, technology and psionics have evolved as barrier killers. These weapons or magics will attempt to reduce or invalidate the protective capacity of the barrier. One example is the Barrier Ripping Sword. With this ability, ALL of the mage's barriers will become more resistant to these type of effects.
Charging: Quite simply, this ability allows spells that normally don't accept charging to "charge". A very standard and minor ability.
Combining Power Words: This is a very simple ability. Basically, through trial and error, mages can splice different power words from known spells to make new spells. So, someone with Tidal Wave and Barrier could replace the water component and replace it with the Barrier component, creating Barrier Wave.
Eliminate Invocation: Quite simply, mages with this ability can whisper or merely think spells. P.P.E. costs will at least go up 50% and potentially triple (if using invocation-heavy magic such as Tao magic).
Eliminate Material Components: For spells with material components (Rifts rituals, some voodoo spells, D&D spells), mages can learn the ability to cast them without the component at hand. However, the mage must accept a few limitations. First, they must be level 60 or above. They can get by at level 45, but only if they are specialized in the type of magic they are attempting to forgo the material component for (so a necromancer who gets this ability at level 53 can ONLY avoid the material components on Create Mummy, not Barrier). Second, spells get a penalty to MP cost, which is always at least +20% and potentialy double! Some spells cannot be cast without a component. For instance, spells that animate Golems only by building the aforesaid Golem model will still not work. The spell will substitute symbolism.
Eliminate Somatic Gestures: Very few spells use somatic hand gestures anyways, but the few that do can instead be pure words with this ability. For those spells that use it, however, the gestures usually matter, meaning MP costs rise.
Herbalism: All mages can learn the usage of herbs and their relation to magic. This has both a mundane and magical usage. First, this means that mages can brew conventional healing potions and use healing herbs. Second, mages can make mystical potions and understand herbs and plants relating to magic and the supernatural.
MP-to-HP: Most spells can get this ability. Basically, a mage's MP will function as Quake style armor, absorbing some of the damage.
Mystical Philosopy: Mages who learn this rather arcane, philosophical art get little direct benefits. People who have this knowledge have spent hours trying to understand magic. They understand the significane of symbolism, quite a bit of mystical history, magic as compared to physics, and so on. However, through this philosophy, one can do a number of things. First of all, a Mystical Philosopher can juryrig remedies to deal with supernatural beings with a minimum of information. So, given the lycanthrope's dependence on the power of the moon, a Mystical Philosopher could surmise that the way to defeat a werewolf is to use the "moon metal", or silver. Second of all, Mystical Philosophers can create spells in a far more efficient fashion. They will often be able to avoid tedious mucking around with combining power words, instead using their knowledge of magic to craft an efficient spell. They will also be able to discover material components for spells with relative ease. Finally, Mystic Philosophers do get small bonuses to their magic powers. Since they can cast spells and understand what they're actually doing instead of just repeating words and channeling energy in some vague way, they get bonuses to magic strength and a lowering of MP cost.
Runic Language: Many old texts, particularly of ancient humans, are written in runic languages. They were written in this way to allow for a few things. First, this put control on magic so that mavericks could not so easily learn the secrets of the mystical arts. This still opened the door for dangerous creativity and intuitive magic, but soon enough, all the "revolutions" would become assimilated and just became more cant. Second, runes allow for an equal or superior amount of symbolism in a far more compact form.
Specializations: By choosing to specialize in particular areas of magic, mages can get more powerful, more efficient, and more varied in a particular section, but less varied in others. In game terms, their spells are stronger, cost less MP, and they have more of them, but more and more come from a particular section. These specialization spheres do not attempt to cite specific types of magic, unless they are something entirely of their own. In addition, some of these overlap. In that case, allow the overlap.
