Rituels

The sorcerer causes feelings of intense hunger in a subject, who must be within sight. The afflicted subject feels the desire to eat or feed. Activation involves a contested roll against the subject’s Composure + Blood Potency, and resistance is reflexive. If the performer gets the most successes, the victim avails himself of any sustenance available. A mortal even eats raw meat, though he doesn’t resort to such dire acts as cannibalism or drinking blood. Kindred might attack nearby vessels or even fellow vampires if their hunger is severe enough to make them frenzy. Even after he eats or feeds, a subject’s rapacity does not subside until the effects of the ritual pass. (Vampires affected by this ritual are considered “starving” for the purposes of resisting frenzy; see p. 179.)

With the power of this ritual, a vampire may temporarily interrupt the reanimating effect of vampiric Vitae, rendering a Kindred immobile as the stiffening of muscles common to dead bodies takes hold. The number of successes garnered on the Crúac roll determines the number of dice by which the victim’s next Physical dice pool is penalized. This applies only to dice pools for actions, and does not affect Physical resistances. Rigor Mortis is useless against mortals, ghouls, Lupines and mages, since they don’t depend on the power of vampiric Vitae to animate their bodies.

The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Composure.

This ritual allows the performer to “ride the senses” of his subject. The subject must be within direct sight when the ritual is performed, but the subject can stray from the caster to any distance thereafter. At any time he wishes for the duration of the effect, the performer may see or hear through the eyes or ears of his subject. No other senses can be substituted — if the subject is blind or deaf or both, all “riding” yields is blackness and/or silence. A subject so “ridden” is unaware that his senses also report to another.

While riding another’s senses, the ritualist is only dimly aware of her own body, which falls into on a trance-like state. She is unaware of minor environmental stimuli affecting her own body (such as an insect crawling across her skin or drops of water falling on her head), but more aggressive actions perpetrated against her body draw her consciousness back to it.

This ritual remains in effect for one night per success on the invocation roll, though the caster may end the ritual at any time. The performer can therefore indulge in a subject’s senses and return to her own body as often as she likes throughout the rite’s duration.

The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Composure.

By invoking this ritual, the performer protects himself from would-be diablerists and from those who would otherwise feast upon his blood. This ritual transforms the sorcerer’s Vitae into a kind of poison. Kindred who drink it suffer one point of lethal damage for every Vitae consumed; mortals who imbibe suffer two points of lethal damage for each Vitae. When a Kindted consumes a quantity of venomous Vitae, she cains no nourishment from it.

Vitae altered by this ritual is poisonous only so long as it’s in the performer’s body (or until the next sunrise). If the Vitae leaves, it becomes as any other Vitae spilled from a Kindred’s body. Thus, it cannot be used to create poi- soned weapons, and if one consumes the Vitae from a con- tainer after it leaves the body, it is simply normal, non- poisonous Vitae.

The performer invokes a mystic protection against attempts to impale her heart with a stake. If the ritual succeeds, any attempt to stake the vampire fails for the duration of the spell. Stakes used in this manner rot or disintegrate as wielders attempt to use them against the performer. An attempt to stake the Kindred in question must be made for this ritual to take effect. (It does not simply rot all stakes and would-be stakes in her presence.) This power cannot be invoked to protect others; it works only on the sorcerer herself. This ritual fades at sundown of the subsequent night, though it may be invoked again immediately thereafter.

The caster performs this ritual (Manipulation + Occult + Crúac is rolled) and channels his righteous ire into a tangible force. If the performance roll is successful, the user’s mere touch becomes deadly. The sorcerer must then touch a subject with his open palm. (See “Touching an Opponent,” p. 157 of the World of Darkness Rulebook.) Contact inflicts an amount of lethal damage equal to the number of successes gained on the activation roll. (The power cannot be delivered through a punch or other unarmed close-combat attack.) This harm can be delivered only once per performance of the ritual, and the user’s touch has the potential to inflict harm for one hour for every success gained on the activation roll. If that period of time passes without a touch being made, the power fades.

The mark made by contact is physically manifest in accordance with its severity. A Touch of the Morrigan that inflicts one point of damage looks like a minor scar or livid bruise, while one that delivers five points of damage leaves the subject almost entirely blackened and charred looking. The visible injury fades as the damage is healed. This power affects only vampires, ghouls and other supernatural creatures. It seems that Kindred cannot inflict their viciousness on mortals in this manner.

The sorcerer mystically claims one third of the Vitae that a subject imbibes. The subject must be within sight when this ritual is performed. Every time the subject feeds, a third of the Vitae he consumes is denied him and transfers invisibly to the sorcerer, regardless of either vampire’s location. This Vitae is “neutral,” which is to say that the feeding Kindred does not subject the sorcerer to a Vinculum in this manner, and neither does feeding from a third-party vampire apply any blood bonds to the sorcerer (though it certainly does to the feeding vampire). The effects of this ritual expire after one feeding or the next sunrise, whichever comes first.

A contested roll is made to activate this power, pitting the sorcerer’s Manipulation + Occult + Crúac versus the subject’s Composure + Blood Potency, and this resistance is reflexive. If the most successes are rolled for the caster, the subject has no idea where some of the Vitae he consumes disappears to, yet he knows that he goes undernourished.

The performer makes herself immune to the Vinculum and blood addiction when another Kindred’s Vitae is consumed. After this ritual is performed, if another vampire’s blood is taken in the same night, no step is taken toward a Vinculum with the provider of the blood, and no addiction to blood forms for the character. Of course, the blood donor has no idea that the recipient is immune. The ritual cannot be performed on another vampire, only on the caster’s self. The ritual does not countermand or alleviate any existing Vinculum to which the caster is already subject.

This potent ritual taints the blood of its target, whether mortal or vampire. Roll Manipulation + Occult + Crúac in a contested action against the target’s Stamina + Blood Potency (resistance is reflexive). If the roll for the caster gets the most successes, that number of successes is inflicted as lethal damage to a mortal target. A vampire target immediately loses the equivalent of Vitae in his system and could be subject to frenzy as a result. Indeed, a vampiric victim might be forced into torpor. The caster must be able to see the intended victim when the ritual is performed.

When the performer calls upon the power of the Crone herself (by whatever name is used), and a Vitae is spent, the vampire’s mouth transforms into a maw of wicked, gnashing teeth. The vampire need not perform a grapple attack in order to bite a victim; the attack is made directly. The number of successes achieved on the ritual’s activation roll is added as bonus dice to attack rolls, and aggravated damage is inflicted. Note that these teeth are so vicious that feeding cannot occur when they are borne; too much blood is wasted in the gory slaughter to get nourishment. Feeding the Crone remains in effect until another Vitae is spent to revoke the change, or until sunrise.

The vampire transforms a portion of his own blood into a wicked instrument of punishment. For each dot that the character possesses in Theban Sorcery, he may create a stinging whip of Vitae with which to scourge his foes. An attack with the weapon has a dice pool equal to the character’s Strength + Weaponry + the number of lashes created, and inflicts lethal damage. The Blood Scourge lasts a number of turns equal to the player’s success on the invocation roll. At the end of that time, the Vitae whips turn to dust.

A character can invoke Blood Scourge only once until its duration expires. He may thereafter invoke another whip, however. A character may voluntarily terminate a Blood Scourge if he does not want to keep it for the full duration of the power.

Offering: The Kindred’s own blood is the offering. In enacting the ritual, the vampire must slice open his wrist with a sacrificial knife. The scourge created — regardless of its number of lashes — costs one Vitae.

The character takes an ordinary object and stores an amount of Vitae in it that may be called upon later (whether as sustenance or for any other purpose that requires Vitae). Any Kindred or ghoul can call upon the stored Vitae, not just the caster, though the person using the Vitae must know that it’s there. The amount of Vitae that can be stored in the object is equal to the amount of successes the player achieves on the invocation roll, although the caster may infuse the object with less if he wishes. The Vitae to be stored comes directly from the caster’s own body. This ritual can be cast only once on the item in question. Any object can contain the Vitae, regardless of its size, though the item must be at least the size of a person’s fist. The Vitae remains indefinitely until consumed. The act of consuming the blood might involve taking it to one’s lips, or holding the item tight and willing the blood to pass from object to body. This Vitae is “neutral,” which is to say that the feeding Kindred does not subject the sorcerer to a Vinculum in this manner, though blood addiction is still a risk.

Offering: The vessel of infusion itself is the offering, and must be something the caster can lift with one hand. The offering crumbles to dust after the last Vitae is removed. Prior to that point, the item functions as it normally would (a knife may still be used to attack, a book may still be read).

This ritual leaves a victim speaking in tongues, unable to communicate. Even his written word is rendered nonsensical; both handwritten and typed messages come out as gibberish. Not only is the Curse of Babel an effective means of controlling the spread of blasphemy (and gossip), it proves an effective limit to a subject’s use of the Dominate Discipline. The number of successes achieved on the invocation roll determines the duration of the ritual’s function: one hour per success or until the next sunrise, whichever comes first. The subject must be within earshot when this ritual is performed.

The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Resolve.

Offering: An animal’s or person’s tongue

The character curses her subject so that if he speaks any lies over the course of the scene, beetles swarm from his mouth.

The ritual involves a contested action, pitting the sorcerer’s Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency. Resisting this power is a reflexive action.

Offering: An insect’s carapace, whole and uncrushed.

The subject of this power suffers increased damage the next time any harm is inflicted on him. That wound is upgraded one degree of damage. Thus, three bashing damage becomes three lethal, and three lethal damage becomes three aggravated. (Aggravated wounds do not increase to any other sort, and the effects of the ritual are wasted.) If, at the end of the night, the subject has not suffered any damage, the ritual ends, though it may be invoked against him on the following night.

If the subject activates Resilience, that Discipline offsets the benefits of this ritual for the next wound he suffers only if the damage upgrade would make the next wound aggravated. The injury in question inflicts its upgraded, aggravated damage, which Resilience downgrades again.

The action to activate this power is contested, pitting the sorcerer’s Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency (resistance is reflexive). The subject is unaware of the power applied to him and doesn’t know why his next injury is so severe.

Offering: A scrap of paper, upon which the subject’s name must be written. The paper is then burned in sight of the subject as the ritual is cast.

The sorcerer curses his subject with regard to a specific action. The next time the subject engages in that action, her normal dice pool is not rolled. A chance roll is made, instead. The curse can be as general (“Your next attack in combat is doomed to failure!”) or as specific (“When next you feed upon a blind Christian at midnight…”) as the caster chooses. The curse remains until its conditions are met. If the subject suspects that she is cursed by this ritual, the player may spend a Willpower point and make a Composure + Resolve roll. If this roll yields more successes than were achieved to invoke the malediction, the curse ends without ever coming to pass.

The action to activate this power is contested, pitting the sorcerer’s Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency. Resisting in this manner is reflexive.

Offering: A lock of hair from the subject.

A successful invocation of this ritual brings the dead back to a semblance of life, though it is a pale echo at best. While the rite certainly reanimates the dead, it does not return a being’s soul, nor does it halt the body’s slow decline into rot and putrescence. The power effectively creates a painfully self-aware zombie, who most likely just wishes to be allowed to rest in peace. Initially, all of the former person’s faculties may be intact (it still has access to its former Skills, but has no Willpower). The pathetic wretch can neither heal damage nor feel physical sensations in any true sense, however, so it suffers no wound penalties. The length of time in nights that the creature remains animate equals the number of successes on the Theban Sorcery roll made to create it. For every day that the creature was dead prior to the invocation, subtract one dot of the Storyteller’s choosing from an Attribute in each of its Physical, Mental and Social categories, and also do the same for every day it is animated by this ritual. When any Attribute is reduced to zero, assume that any rolls involving that trait fail automatically. Multiple animations of the same corpse are possible but sequentially more disturbing and less useful. A walking corpse of this sort that loses all of its Health dots to lethal damage is too wounded to move, but still aware and possibly even capable of communication (depending on the type of damage sustained and to what portions of its body).

The vampire who enacts this ritual is the only one who can command the zombie. That vampire may, however, instruct the corpse to accept direction from other individuals. A corpse-creature left to its own devices takes no actions of its own volition; it must be given direction, and undoubtedly laments being forced to carry them out.

A corpse suffers damage — lethal, bashing and aggravated — as it did in life. It remains active until its rightmost Health box is occupied with aggravated damage. A zombie does not bleed to death upon suffering lethal damage in its rightmost Health box, and must be attacked repeatedly until utterly destroyed.

Offering: A Communion wafer placed under the dead person’s tongue.

Although the majority of Theban Sorcery’s rites have a decidedly Old Testament flavor, Stigmata takes the very suffering of the New Testament’s Prince of Peace and turns it into a weapon of divine punishment. The victim of this ritual must be within sight when it is cast. He bleeds from the wrists, feet and side, the traditional five wounds of Christ. Mortals suffer one point of lethal damage per turn from blood loss, while Kindred lose one Vitae each turn. If a vampire runs out of Vitae during the course of the ritual, she proceeds to suffer lethal damage and is likely to frenzy (see p. 178). A vampire whose rightmost Health box is filled with lethal damage by this means falls into torpor (see p. 175).

The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Stamina.

The number of turns the subject suffers from Stigmata equals the number of successes achieved on the Theban Sorcery roll.

Offering: A crucifix, which crumbles to ash as the ritual is enacted.

The character transforms one substance or object into another. It can be water into blood, for example, or a tree branch into a snake, or a person into a pillar of salt. The object or substance transformed becomes a perfectly normal, mundane version of whatever it is. Transubstantiation does not turn a frog into a Lupine, for example, though it could change a frog into a wolf. The only limits on the transformation are that it works only on objects smaller than the caster, and that the product cannot simulate human (or vampiric…) intelligence. That is, the same frog could be transformed into a child, but the child wouldn’t be able to have any intelligent discourse or even perform many complicated activities since it’s just a frog turned into the simulacrum of a child. The substance or object reverts to its original form when the sun next rises (though a person transformed into, say, ice and whose arm is broken off has both portions of herself turn back to normal in different locations, and swiftly bleeds to death).

If this power is used to affect another creature, the invocation is contested, pitting the sorcerer’s Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject’s Stamina + Blood Potency (resistance is reflexive). The sorcerer must be within arm’s length of the subject changed.

Offering: A drop of liquid gold

This ritual metes out divine punishment by turning a Kindred’s own Vitae to fire in his veins. The ritual is unlike other Theban Sorcery practices in that the sorcerer “charges” the ritual before the player makes the final roll, and that charge can consist of multiple points of Willpower. (Remember, though, that a player may spend only a single point of Willpower in a single turn, so invoking this power can take multiple turns.) Each point of Willpower invested in this ritual deals one point of aggravated damage to the subject and consumes one Vitae from her as the victim’s blood burns away in a conflagration of divine fire. For more on fire damage, see p. 172. If the sorcerer has some personal object of the subject’s, he may invoke this ritual from anywhere in the world. Otherwise, the vampire must be able to see his subject. The object must be of some importance to the intended victim — a picture of his dead wife works, while his car keys or cell phone might not. Objects taken from the subject’s body itself (hair, a fingernail) are more than satisfactory.

This ritual has no effect on mortals or other supernatural beings. It does affect ghouls, however.

The roll to activate this ritual is penalized by the subject’s Stamina. If no successes are rolled for the ritualist, all Willpower invested into the rite is lost.

Offering: One of the casting vampire’s eyes or hands, either plucked out or cut off. The Kindred suffers two points of lethal damage in the process.