Rituals 1

Rituals


Rituals are Thaumaturgical formulas, meticulously researched and prepared, that create powerful magical effects. Rituals are less versatile than paths, as their effects are singular and straightforward, but they are better suited toward specific ends. All thaumaturges have the ability to use rituals, though each individual ritual must be learned separately. By acquainting herself with the arcane practice of blood magic, the thaumaturge gains the capacity to manipulate these focused effects.
Thaumaturgical rituals are rated from 1 to 5, each level corresponding to both the level of mastery of Thaumaturgy the would-be caster must possess and the relative power of the ritual itself. Unless stated otherwise, a ritual requires five minutes per level to cast.

For example, Andreas the Tremere wishes to cast Ward Versus Ghouls, a Level Two Ritual. Invoking this ritual requires 10 minutes, and Andreas must know Thaumaturgy at 2 or greater. Casting rituals requires a successful Intelligence + Occult roll, for which the difficulty equals 3 + the level of the ritual (maximum 9). Only one success is required for a ritual to work, though certain spells may require more successes or have variable effects based on how well the caster's roll goes. This uncertainty of effect is a recent development; Tremere rituals formerly worked infallibly, so long as the caster executed them successfully. Many thaumaturges fear that the movements of awakening Antediluvians have caused imbalance in the flow of magic, making the success of rituals more precarious than in previous nights.

Should a roll to activate a ritual fail, the Storyteller is encouraged to create strange occurrences or side effects, or even make it appear that the ritual was successful, only to reveal its failure at a later time. A botched ritual roll may even indicate a catastrophic failure or summon an ill-tempered demon... Rituals sometimes require special ingredients or reagents to work - these are noted in each ritual's description. Common components include herbs, animal bones, ceremonial items, feathers, eye of newt, tongue of toad, etc. Acquiring magical components for a powerful ritual may form the basis for an entire story.

At the first level of Thaumaturgy, the vampire automatically gains a single Level One ritual. To learn further rituals, the thaumaturge must find someone to teach him, or learn the ritual from a scroll, tome or other archive. Learning a new ritual can take anywhere from a few nights (Level One ritual) to months or years (Level Five ritual). Some dread Warlocks have studied individual rituals for decades, even centuries. Precisely what these rituals do is unknown, but their effects are surely
grave.

Brand of the Paramour

Thaumaturge cast this ritual to maintain and active awareness of their ghoul's physical condition. The thaumaturge must first perform this ritual over the blood of mortal twins, then share the vitae with his ghoul. After imbibing the blood, the vampire remains aware of any physical harm befalling his ghoul by feeling a phantom pain. Hence, should the "paramour" ghoul sustain a bullet wound to the chest, the caster is immediately alert to this danger. This alertness also triggers should the paramour trip and fall, bruising his knee. The extent of danger is unknown to the thaumaturge, simply the fact that his ghoul has been harmed somewhere on his body.

System:

Both the caster and his ghoul he desires to create as a paramour must each drink one of the two blood points of the mortal twin. Afterwards, should any physical peril befall the ghoul, the caster feels a sympathetic pain in the same part of the body. Hence, if the vampire's ghoul is hit in the shoulder by a stray bullet, the caster feels an acute pain in his shoulder. This pain, however, does not translate as damage to the vampire should his ghoul sustain extreme bodily harm. If the ghoul sustains any health levels of damage, the thaumaturge will still only feel pain centered on the location where his ghoul suffers his damage. Brand of the Paramour remains active so long as the ghoul is alive and remains a ghoul; the Embrace will negate this bond, as thaumaturges cannot create a paramour of another vampire.

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Encrypt Missive

To insure that messages remain secure against prying eyes, the Tremere sometimes use this ritual to encode documents magically. Created during nights long past to send msges across battle lines or hostile borders, this ritual is not as often in the age of electronics communication, but is occasionally used to communicate between chantries. Also, this is a fairly common ritual -- many Anarch Free State seem to have learned it, and use it to encrypt graffiti messages to others of their kind.

System:

The thaumaturge writes the msg in blood over the course of a night and speaks the name of the person he wishes to read it. Only the writer and the person whom the letter is addressed can read the document, but numerous "counter-rituals" exist that can be used to confound the magic of this ritual. To any others who observe the letter, the writing simply appears as gibberish.

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Expedient Paperwork

This beneficial ritual expedites paperwork through the bureaucratic systems of the governments or other hierarchies. By preventing the ensorcelled documents from being misplaced, the paperwork goes through the swiftest channels, even bypassing normal daytime agencies that would hinder the Kindred's nocturnal lifestyle. Although extremely useful in modern society, this ritual was developed to handle the Church bureaucracies of earlier nights and allay any suspicion toward the caster. The ritual requires the hairs of a dog, know for protection and loyalty, to protect and guide the paperwork.

System:

This ritual enchants the expedited paperwork, which shows up as an aura to anyone who looks for such. Normally handling time of a given document is reduced to roughly 1/3rd and it will not get lost. the ritual ends when the material is finished being processed.

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Impressive Visage

A thaumaturge may enhance his sexual appeal and charm when interacting with other individuals after casting this ritual. When this ritual is cast, the thaumaturge gains a degree of animal attractiveness; he's simply more desirable than everyone else and commands attention as if he were a top model. For this ritual to take effect, the caster places a sprig of dried mint in a pocket or his shoe.

System:

The caster gains two dice on all Appearance-related rolls for the duration of this ritual. This power last for a number of hours equal to the successes scored on the activation roll. Storytellers may opt to narrow the use of this ritual by having a player dedicate one of the character's characteristics as being more appealing above and beyond his other attributes. Hence, person's eyes. speaking in a deep baritone voice, flashing a pearl-white smile, ect.

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The Imp's Affliction

A disgusting ritual, the Imp's Affliction curses the subject by aggravating his ears, throat and nose. Mucus membranes inflame, ears fill with liquid, the throat becomes raspy and dry, and the subject's eyes brim with tears. This ritual requires merely that the thaumaturge write her victim's name on a scrap of paper.

System:

The Imp's Affliction lasts for one scene, during which the victim becomes winded after five minus Stamina turns. Subjects so exhausted suffer a temporary level of unsoakable bashing damage, which vanishes at the end of the scene as the symptoms disperse. This ritual is most often used to torment people in social situations, as their unpleasant maladies make them odious, to say the least -- the difficulties of Social rolls for a character stricken with the Imp's Affliction increase by one. this ritual has no effect on Kindred.

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Learning the Mind Enslumbered

This ritual is used to determine the cause of torpor in a vampiric body or the cause of destruction in a Kindred's ashen remains. To conduct this ritual, the vampire places a penny or other small coin over the eyes of the torpid Kindred, and she hears in the vampire's voice the cause of her cold rest. If the Kindred is ash, the thaumaturge need only lay the penny in the ashes.

System:

This ritual requires one half-hour, at the end of which the thaumaturge hears the message. This power has no effect on creatures other then Kindred.

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Purge the Inner Demon

All Kindred have a raging monster within their souls. A thaumaturge invoking this ritual can silence the Beast in a vampire for a time, even removing the vampire from the Beast's control. The caster must push a sturdy pin through his own hand to begin the ritual. This causes the subject to become strangely submissive, even pulling her out of frenzy. In actuality, her bestial nature has been temporarily separated from her psyche. According to legend, some Kindred have willingly starved themselves into torpor after having been subjected to this ritual

System:

This ritual last for a number of nights equal to the number of successes the caster scores on a manipulation + empathy roll (dif 10 minus the subject's humanity, but never less then 1) During this time, the subject cannot frenzy. The thaumaturge may not use this ritual on himself.

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Rebirth of Mortal Vanity

This ritual allows a vampire to grow her hair again. For every inch of hair the thaumaturge wishes to grow, she must pluck one hair from the head of a human child. She places them on a mirror and looks down into the mirror while mutely gesturing over it, inscribing glyphs into the air. As her hair begins to grow, the mirror absorbs the hairs on its surface. Once the ritual is complete, the vampire’s hair follicles die again, but the hair remains at the new length until cut. This ritual may be cast on another Kindred, but the recipient must pluck the hairs himself, and both caster and recipient must stand over the mirror during the ceremony.

System:

The number of successes determines how rapidly the vampire's hair grows. With one success, it takes 10 minutes for each inch of hair, whereas at 5 successes, the hair seems to pour forth from the subject's scalp, growing up to a foot in under a minute. If the hair is ever cut shorter then it was at the time of the vampire's Embrace, it will return to its original length the next night. A vampire who was bald in life will remain so in undeath; his hair simply does not grow, though some speculate a more powerful version of this ritual exits for the truly vain among the undead touched by baldness
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Rite of Introduction

The Tremere use this ritual as the formal method of presentation for arrivals in a new city. However, it is an old ritual and not as widely used as it once was. Many young members of the clan are not even aware of its use and tolerate no excuse for a breach of courtesy. It is also possible to use this ritual to request aid. The caster boils a handful of ground tamarisk root in a pot of rainwater and recites a short incantation into the vapors that form over the water, then adds a drop of galangal oil. He then speaks a brief message, which is telepathically communicated first to the regent and then to the other clan members in the city according to their place in the hierarchy. The ritual allows the regent to reply telepathically, though she is bound to do so only by tradition.

System:

The caster may make a 30-second "introduction speech" in which he presents himself to the other members of the city. the ritual also enables telepathic communication with the regent for 5 minutes.

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Sanguineous Phail

This ritual allows a vampire to enchant a vessel so that it may hold a quantity of blood and keep it from spoiling. It is useful for Kindred who do not have the medical knowledge or technology required to preserve blood in a more mundane fashion. The caster takes a covered earthenware jar and buries it in the earth for two nights, then digs it up the following evening. He crumbles a dried ash leaf into the empty canister and pours the blood in, closing the container and sealing the lid with tallow melted from a candle. The blood will remain fresh until the seal is broken. Though common during the Middle Ages, this ritual disappeared from grimoires after the formation of the Sabbat. It is believed to be the same ritual, reclaimed from antiribu, but reworked slightly, owning to some superstitions elders who fear that anything from the Sabbat traitors could be tainted by the infernal.

System:

After the container is opened, the blood begins to spoil at a normal rate. If the vessel is broken, the blood immediately deteriorates to the state it would have attained had it not been preserved at all. The canister may be used more than once, but the ritual must be recast or the blood will go bad.

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The Scribe

This ritual creates a written document from the spoken words of the caster. The thaumaturge simply speaks, and her words mystically appear on paper before her. Some thaumaturges have observed variants of this ritual that involve moving feather-pens writing the words as they speak them, but the most common form of this ritual makes no such overt display. Further, some young thaumaturges have developed a variant that records their words directly to computer files -- which their elders almost universally decry as vulgar. This ritual requires the beak of a bird or the tongue of a lizard to be crushed between the caster's thumb and forefinger.

System:

For the duration of the scene, any words spoken by the thaumaturge are transcribed to whatever surface she wishes. this is most commonly paper (whether loose or bound into a book), but may also be a wall, the head of a pin, anything. the Scribe automatically fits the thaumaturge's ideas on a given surface, but it makes no provisions for legibility; transcribing all 400 pages of The Seventh Sigil onto a note card isn’t going to make a readable without a microscope. Additionally, the Scribe does not improve a speaker's eloquence -- in matters where clarity or quality is crucial, the speaker's Expression Trait may come into play. The Scribe may be cast on someone other than the thaumaturge, should the latter so wish. Also, she may voluntarily end the effects of the power before the end of the scene.

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Serenading the Kami

Through invocations and smudging with incense. The ritualist gains the temporary support of spirits known as kami, "highly placed beings" that are found in all things. Developed by a traditional Japanese Kindred to aide in a duel, this ritual is used prior to a major feat of strength. The thaumaturge must burn a stick of incense to invoke this ritual

System:

This half-hour ritual allows the thaumaturge to reduce the difficulty of any single physical action by two immediately following the completion of the ritual. This may be an extended action such as digging a ditch, or it may be as brief as guiding a deadly blow.

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Sense The Mystical

This ritual provides the ability to sense the "mystical residue" left by a magical objects and effects. This ritual was originally developed to seek out non-Tremere who use Thaumaturgy and magical artifacts, and is common among the younger Tremere seeking a name for themselves. While this power is in effect, the thaumaturge carries a lit candle, whose light causes the stuff of magic to glitter.

System:

After chanting for five minutes, the thaumaturge is able to sense magical effects. Sense the Mystical can detect Thaumaturgy, Necromancy and similar blood-related vampiric magic is used within several yards of the object or person in question. this power does not distinguish between the different types of blood magic. nor does it pick up "normal" displines. this ability lasts for one scene.

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Level One Rituals


Flatline

A mortal under the effects of this ritual exhibits no discernible secondary characteristics of being alive. Attempts to take her pulse or feel her breath indicate that she is dead. This extends to
mechanical devices as well, no matter how simple or complex they are (Breathing on a mirror will not
fog it up; a heart monitor will give a namesake "flatline".) Even if she is wounded, blood only trickles out or wells up in a livid pool. The caster must place a small, dead insect or animal
somewhere in the subject's home.

System:
This power lasts until the next morning, and it can be used on a subject only once per month. Additionally, if the caster doesn't know the subject's real home (as opposed to, say a hotel room or temporary residence at a friend's apartment) or the subject doesn't have one, this power simply fails to take effect. Likewise, this power has no effect on supernatural beings.

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Defense of the Sacred Haven

This ritual prevents sunlight from entering an area within 20 feet of this ritual's casting. A mystical darkness blankets the area, keeping the baneful light at bay. Sunlight reflects off windows or magically fails to pass through doors or other portals. The caster draws sigils in her own blood on all the affected windows and doors, and the ritual lasts as long as the Tremere stays within the 20-foot radius.

System:
This ritual requires one hour to perform, during which the thaumaturge recites incantations and inscribes glyphs.One blood point is required for this ritual to work.

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Wake with Evening's Freshness

This ritual allows a Tremere to awaken at any sign of danger, especially during the day. If any potentially harmful circumstances arise, the Tremere immediately rises, ready to face the problem. This ritual requires the ashes of burned feathers to be spread over the area in which the Kindred wishes to sleep.

System:
This ritual must be performed immediately before the Tremere settles down to slumber for the day. Any interruption to the ceremonial casting renders the ritual ineffective. If danger arises, the Tremere awakens and may ignore the Humanity dice pool limit rule for the first two turns of consciousness. Thereafter, the penalty takes effect, but the Tremere will have already risen and will be able to address problematic situations.

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Communicate with Kindred Sire

By enacting this ritual, a Tremere may join minds with her sire, speaking telepathically with him over any distance. The communication may continue until the ritual expires or until either party ends the conversation. The caster must possess an item once owned by her sire for the ritual to work.

System:
The caster must meditate for 30 minutes to create the connection. Conversation may be maintained for 10 minutes per success on the activation roll.

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Deflection of Wooden Doom

This ritual protects the Tremere from being staked, whether or not she is resting or active. While this ritual is in effect, the first stake that would pierce the Tremere's heart disintegrates in the attacker's hand. A stake merely held near the Tremere is unaffected; for this ritual to work, the stake must actively be used in an attempt to impale the vampire.

System:
The thaumaturge must surround herself with a circle of wood for a full hour. Any wood will work: furniture, sawdust, raw timber, 2' x 4's, whatever. The circle must remain unbroken, however. At the end of the hour, the vampire places a wooden splinter under her tongue. If this splinter is removed, the ritual is nullified. This ritual lasts until the following dawn or dusk.

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Devil's Touch

The Tremere use this ritual to place curses upon mortals who earn their ire. Using this ritual marks an individual invisibly, causing all those who come in contact with him to receive him poorly. The mortal is treated as the most loathsome individual conceivable, and all who deal with him do anything in their power to make him miserable. Even bums spit at an afflicted individual, and children taunt him and barrage him with vulgarities.

System:
The effects of this ritual last one night, disappearing as the sun rises. The mortal (it doesn't work on vampires) must be present when the ritual is invoked, and a penny must be placed somewhere on his person (in a pocket, shoe, etc.).
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Bind the Accusing Tongue

This ancient ritual is said to have been one of the first developed by the Tremere and a primary reason for the lack of cohesive opposition to their expansion. Bind the Accusing Tongue lays a compulsion upon the subject that prevents him from speaking ill of the caster, allowing the thaumaturge to commit literally unspeakable acts without fear of reprisal.

System:
The caster must have a picture or other image or effigy of the ritual's target, a lock of the target's hair and a black silken cord. The caster winds the cord around the hair and image while intoning the ritual's vocal component. Once the ritual is complete, the target must score more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating + 3) than the caster scored in order to say anything negative about the thaumaturge. The ritual lasts until the target succeeds at this roll or the silkcord is unwound, at which point the image and the lock of hair crumble to dust.

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Engaging the Vessel of Transference

This ritual enchants a container to fill itself with blood from any living or unliving being who holds it, replacing the volume of blood taken with an equal amount previously held inside the container. When the ritual is enacted, the vessel (which must be between the size of a small cup and a gallon jug) is sealed full of the caster's blood and inscribed with the Hermetic sigil which empowers the ritual. Whenever an individual touches the container with his bare skin, he feels a slight chill against his flesh but no further discomfort. The container continues to exchange the blood it contains until it is opened.The two most common uses of this ritual are to covertly create a blood bond and to obtain a sample of a subject's blood for ritual or experimental purposes.

System:
This ritual takes three hours to enact (reduced by 15 minutes for each success on the casting roll) and requires one blood point (although not necessarily the caster's blood), which is sealed inside the container. The ritual only switches blood between itself and a subject if it is touched bare-handed - even thin cotton gloves keep it from activating. Individuals with at least four dots in Occult recognize the Hermetic sigil with two successes on an Intelligence + the appropriate Knowledge roll (difficulty 8).
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Incantation of the Shepherd

This ritual enables the thaumaturge to mystically locate all members of his herd. While intoning the ritual's vocal component, he spins in a slow circle with a glass object of some sort held to each of his eyes. At the end of the ritual, he has a subliminal sense of the direction and distance to each of his regular vessels.

System:
This ritual gives the character the location relative to him of every member of his herd. If he does not have the Herd Background, Incantation of the Shepherd locates the closest three mortals from whom the thaumaturge has fed at least three times each. This ritual has a maximum range of 10 miles times the character's Herd Background, or five miles if he has no points in that Background.

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Purity of Flesh

The caster cleanses her body of all foreign material with this ritual. To perform it, she meditates on bare earth or stone while surrounded by a circle of 13 sharp stones. Over the course of the ritual, the caster is slowly purged of all physical impurities: dirt, alcohol, drugs, poison, bullets lodged in the flesh and tattoo ink are all equally affected, slowly rising to the surface of the caster's skin and flaking away as a gritty gray film that settles within the circle. Any jewelry, makeup or clothes that the caster is wearing are also dissolved.

System:
The player spends one blood point before rolling. Purity of Flesh removes all physical items from the caster's body, but does not remove enchantments, mind control or diseases of the blood.

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Blood Mastery (Level 1 ritual)

Whispered rumors tell that one should never allow the Tremere to gain access to the blood of another vampire. Paranoid tales in hushed tones tell of the Tremere's mastery over other Kindred through the sole use of a small quantity of vitae. While modern, cosmopolitan Kindred scoff at such tales, even they are careful not to let their blood fall into the wrong hands,
just in case.

Such caution, though, is well-deserved. A Tremere with even rudimentary understanding of blood can focus its power into sympathetic forms. By destroying another Kindred's blood, the Tremere gains symbolic power over that Kindred. This in turn allows the Tremere to manifest his supremacy over the victim.

SYSTEM:
The thaumaturge must mix a tiny quantity of his own vitae (a negligible amount, less than a point) with that of his victim, then slowly burn it in a fire or boil the blood slowly over an open flame. The caster speaks the phrases of symmetry as he finishes.Once complete, the Tremere has magical mastery over his victim, however briefly.

Successful completion of the Blood Mastery ritual guarantees a victory of some degree over the victim. In the next contention that the caster brings against the victim, the ritualist automatically succeeds. If the task would require some roll, the caster garners one success automatically, but no more (and cannot roll or spend Willpower to improve the roll). This means that the caster is guaranteed a marginal success against his opponent. Of course, it may not be in a fashion that the thaumaturge desires -- one success alone is not enough to decpitate an enemy, but it migth influence him briefly with the Dominate Discipline.

Similarly, if the victim takes some action first, the ritual is of no help if the caster's player could not normally make a countering roll. For example, the caster would still be subject to an opponent's use of Presence, because he may not normally make a roll to resist. If the victim uses some Disciplline that would require the caster to resist, though, then the thaumaturge atumatically counters it and thus ends the power of the ritual.

Blood Mastery can only guarentee success in one limited endeavor -- a thaumaturge cannot burn multiple points of blood to gain additional successes or success on multiple consecutive actions. Once the ritual is in place, it must be discharged before it can be invoked again against the same subject. Blood Mastery expires if its effects remain unused by sunrise.


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Dedicate the Chantry (Level 1 ritual)

Tremere chantries typically house arcane books, special resources, servants and other major assets. It's no wonder they're so closely guarded. One common practice includes the casting of various wards over a chantry site, to prevent unauthorized entry and to m ake the place difficult to locate. Dedicate the Chantry expedites this process, making it easier to place subsequent enchantments over the area.

To Dedicate the Chantry, the caster must walk a counterclockwise circle around the entire grounds and sprinkle stagnant water as he travels. Once the ring is complete, the thaumatruge must return to the (rough) center and anoint his hands with the stale water, then the lowest level of the floor.