Skepticism (Magic Vegas)

:Excerpted from Ritual Modifiers (Magic Vegas) v60c
====Skepticism====
When people see magic done, they are naturally Skeptical, unless they have some form of Magery or the corresponding Belief, or unless they don’t recognize it as magic at all. Skeptics impede magic, imposing a base -5 penalty and a further penalty equal to the square root of the number of Skeptical observers. Thus, a single Skeptic imposes a -6 penalty. This counts as a parameter, meaning that assistant magicians can alleviate the penalty. Circumstances can cause spectators to suspend or intensify their Skepticism; for instance, they may think that the real magic is actually stage magic, reducing the penalty, perhaps to naught. Religious Ritual or Public Speaking skills can make a crowd receptive (or resistant) to witnessing a miracle, and remote spectators can rationalize the unbelievable as a camera trick. Sometimes effects are obvious, but not obviously magical; for instance, some people are beautiful, so seeing a woman whose beauty is the product of magic doesn’t trigger Skepticism. Whenever a magician performs a ritual with a long-term effect, note the margin of success; should he ever face a skepticism penalty higher than the bonus, the effect subsides. That said, if the effect itself doesn’t provoke Skepticism, but its sudden cessation would, then Skeptics can actually sustain the effect beyond its natural conclusion, preventing a Phantom from disappearing or trapping a magician in Skinchanged form.
Skepticism is an active but subconscious and instinctive defense against magic. It is active in that the Skeptic must be aware of the magic on some level. He is always subconsciously aware of any magic of which he is the subject, and his Skepticism may protect him without his conscious knowledge, just as he’s not consciously aware of his immune system fighting germs. He’s also aware of any magic that produces a bizarre effect visible to the senses. For instance, a magician showing up in the form of an eagle won’t provoke Skepticism, but a magician in the process of transforming would. At the very moment the supernatural thing starts, Skepticism kicks in, meaning that if it’s effective, the Skeptic will never see the magician transform and never know that his own Skepticism prevented it. He may have caught a glimpse of a beak-like nose or feathery hair, and when he blinked it was gone, remaining beneath his conscious notice. People often witness incredible events, like at a world-class athletic competition, and when they do, their Skepticism kicks in, but it doesn’t have the same effect on natural weirdness as on the supernatural kind.
In the absence of Skeptics, a camera can record the magic, but of course the film doesn’t prove that “real” magic happened instead of stage magic. A neutral third party could set up an experiment with too many cameras to fool and promise not to watch, but it wouldn’t matter. He’d be aware that this specific instance of magic was happening, even if outside his line of sight, and his Skepticism would oppose it.
Willpower determines the strength of Skepticism; Will 12 counts as an extra Skeptic, imposing -7 all by itself. Will 15 counts as 2 extra and Will 18 as 3 extra, but Will 8 or less as one fewer. In the case of only weak-willed Skeptics, the penalty is but -5. Remember that intoxication penalizes IQ and hence Will, so even a large crowd of drunks may impose but a modest penalty.
Most magicians have learned to suppress their Skepticism fully and habitually, though they can defend themselves with Countermagic (and resist with high Will). However, some are Believers in their own tradition only; they can take Skepticism toward magic of other traditions as a Perk.
=====Reasonable Denial=====
Consider the extraordinary individual who initiates himself into magic. He’s seen something he can’t explain, looked for answers, found something too incredible to accept and yet it’s the only thing that fits. So he’s spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours researching ancient lore, wrestled with mind-blowing concepts to tame his own Skepticism, and attempted numerous rituals that only left him feeling foolish, yet he persisted and finally made the magic happen, some effect that clearly violates the laws of nature as understood to science, for about 10 minutes at the tail of a 3-hour ritual. Elated, he calls his best friend, the one person who won’t think he’s crazy, for a demonstration. He barely succeeded the first time, and with the penalty from Skepticism, blows it.
Or maybe he doesn’t blow it. What then? A bigger demonstration, of course. He’s going to revolutionize science with his discovery. He impresses a journalist; the article gets reprinted by a national outlet; and now the world’s watching. Disaster. At some level, the audience always gets big enough to make magic impossible, and even before that point, Monotheist or Rationalist saboteurs will get wind of it. That’s why perfectly reasonable people can deny magic exists at all.
=====Variant Belief Quirks=====
Some people who aren’t devotees of any particular ritual tradition still accept aspects of the supernatural, with variant Quirks such as Believes in Ghosts, Believes in Psychics, or Believes in UFOs. These variants still negate Skepticism when the Believer is aware of aught supernatural that seems consistent with his Quirk, even if the “UFO” is a manifest spirit or the “psychic” is a Gypsy magician.