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The Higher Mysteries:
New Metamagic

Cascading
Cascading is the metamagical ability to combine spells into a series at the time of casting.  Thus, several spells can be cast all at once.  Unlike spell stacking, in which spells are cast simultaneously, the magician actually combines the spells effectively casting one spell and resisting one drain test.  The spells themselves are relatively unaffected by the process of Cascading.  Though they do not fundamentally change, they may meet certain restrictions.  Note that Cascading does not trigger each spell at once, but as a chain reaction.

UNDER STANDARD RULES
Players roll a number of dice equal to the highest spell's Force rating.  HOWEVER, every spells' actual Force is limited to the average rating of all spells being Cascaded.  Note that spells below this average can only be cast at the highest Force rating permitted them as if they were being cast normally.  Drain is equal to the average Force plus the number of spells being Cascaded and the highest Damage Level [(avg. Force + #spells)(highest Damage Level].  The magician must declare the order of the spells at the time of Cascade casting.

EXAMPLE: Leroy is Cascading a Blind spell and two Fireballs.  He knows the Blind spell at a Force of 3 and the Fireball spell at a Force of 5.  He chooses to cast the Blind spell first, followed by the two Fireballs in rapid succession.  So, he determines the number of dice he has.  He can roll 5 dice because he knows the Fireball spell at a Force of 5.  However, he cannot cast the Fireballs at a higher Force than 4 [(3+5+5/3=4 rounded down] and he still cannot cast the Blind spell higher than 3.  He decides to cast the first Fireball at 4 and the second one at 2, while casting the Blind spell at its maximum 3.  With that he determines his Drain Code.  3 (average Force) + 3 (number of spells Cascaded) with a Damage Level of D (from the Fireballs).  So, Leroy rolls his 5 dice (plus Magic Pool) against a 6D target number...

UNDER HOUSE RULES
Since it the Sibar Dæmon's universe magic works a little bit differently, we Cascade spells a different way.  (Note, this is actually the way they were created, so I know these work smoothly...)

The magician declares the order and Force levels of all spells being Cascaded.  Then the player rolls a Sorcery test against the average Force plus half the number of spells to see if the spells were cast.  Only one success is needed.  The magician then resists drain equal to the average Force plus the number of spells set against a Damage Level equal to the highest Damage Level in the standard Drain Code of the spells being Cascaded.  Those formulae again:
CAST: Sorcery [avg. Force + (#spells/2)]
RESIST: (avg.Force + #spells)(highest Damage Level)

Oh yeah, and in every case of Cascading, it costs one Karma each time you do it.  (This is to keep magicians from Cascading spells every single time.  After all, this is supposed to be advanced stuff.)

Caching
Caching is a metamagical process to enhance ritual sorcery.  In all cases, Caching involves abstaining from the use of magic for a period of time in order to allow the magician to "charge" himself for the ritual.  Caching can be used in a variety of ways at the time of the ritual spell casting, but only in one of its forms per ritual per magician.  (So if three magicians are ritually casting a spell together and two of them have been Caching, then they may each apply their Cached bonuses to different aspects of the ritual.  But they cannot individually divide their bonuses among different aspects.)

Every day the magician participates in Caching, he builds one additional Force point that he may use during the ritual sorcery.  While Caching, the magician may not use magic in any way -- no sorcery, no conjuring, no enchanting, and no astral perception or projection.  Days spent Caching must be consecutive.  Force built up through Caching equates to additional dice which may be used during the ritual or other bonuses.  In addition to abstaining from magic, the magician may optionally also take up to three temporary geasa, each of which adds one Force to the Caching process per day, meaning the magician may Cache up to four Force points per day.  These geasa may not be broken while Caching or else all Force points earned through the Caching process are lost.  (Why all Force points?  Well, the abstinence and the geasa are all considered part of the same ritual.  If you're abstaining from magic use and fasting and maintaining a vow of silence and then on the third day of Caching you talk on the phone, you have broken the whole process.  After all, astral space is smarter an you.)

During the ritual spell casting process, the Cached Force may be used in several different ways, listed and explained below.

BONDING THE MATERIAL LINK
In the event that a material link is needed, a number of Cached Force points may be spent equal to twice the Force of the spell being cast to skip the Formation process.  If this number is not available, then the Cached dice may be used to augment the Formation test.

THE SENDING
During the sending, Cached dice may be used to augment the dice used to make the necessary test.  However, rather than augmenting the test, the Cached Force points may instead be applied to masking the ritual spell in Astral space, applying a +(Force/2) modifier against noticing the spell, thus making Astral Tracking more difficult.

RESISTING DRAIN
The Cached dice may also be applied toward resisting Drain.  If a magician has Cached twice the spell's Force, he may forgo a Drain Test.  Otherwise, Cached dice may be applied toward resisting Drain as any other dice may be used to augment the Drain Resistance test.

Delaying
Rather than Anchoring a spell and setting it with a delay link, the casting magician may opt to Quicken a spell and delay its effects.  As the last phase of the spell Quickening process, the magician makes yet a third test with Drain.  The target number of the third test is based upon the spell's Force.  The player rolls a Sorcery (Force) Test, but must roll at least half successes.  In the event that the magician augments this test with Magic Pool dice, at least one of the successes must be from the Sorcery dice rolled.  Receiving no successes will either cause the spell to take effect immediately or never take effect.  Receiving too few successes means that the timing of the spell will be off.  The Drain is then determined by the length of time the magician wishes to delay the spell.  The Drain Level is equal to the Force of the spell and the Damage Level is adjusted according to how accurate the magician wants the spell to delay.  See the table below.  All Drain for this test is Stun.