Editing Nightcats:Sorcery (section)

== The Sorcerer Career ==

Not every hedge-worker, diviner, or shrine attendant is a true sorcerer. To take the '''Sorcerer''' career is to have crossed a threshold that most people never approach.

A character may not take any ranks in '''Sorcerer''' unless they already possess '''Apprentice 1'''. This requirement is not optional. Any player who wishes to begin play as a sorcerer must therefore begin with at least '''Apprentice 1''' and then take '''Sorcerer''' normally.

Any character who takes the '''Sorcerer''' career must also choose a '''Path''' at character creation. A Path is not merely a visual style or a descriptive flavor. It is the road by which the sorcerer has learned to make the Secret Fire answer. It determines what sorts of workings come naturally, what sorts come badly, and what sorts may be all but impossible without dreadful effort.

Two sorcerers may seek the same result and reach for it by utterly different means. One opens his own palm and lets blood fall on hot stone. One burns narcotic incense and speaks through half-sleep. One whispers into the painted ear of an idol. One knots cords at a roadside shrine and asks the road to carry the burden. One buries a name and lets misfortune ripen.

=== Apprentices ===

Sorcery is rarely practiced entirely alone. A trained assistant can steady the rite, tend the vessel, maintain the chant, prepare offerings, watch for omens, or bear part of the ritual burden.

If a sorcerer has a willing and capable '''apprentice''' actively assisting with a working, the sorcerer gains '''1 Bonus Die''' on the Task Roll.

The apprentice must be present and meaningfully involved in the rite. An apprentice who is absent, distracted, silenced, unconscious, or otherwise unable to assist provides no benefit.

This bonus applies only once, no matter how many apprentices or helpers are present, unless the GM rules that a larger ritual specifically requires assistants as part of its Cost.