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Intermediate Thaumaturgical Rituals |
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Blood Allergy |
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A grim reminder of the frailties of mortal flesh, this ritual enables the caster to forcefully "purge" blood from a victim's body. By mixing a Blood Trait with dead rose petals and speaking the incantation, the ritualist makes it impossible for the target to keep blood in her system; for every Blood Trait above three the target possesses, she spends one turn vomiting it from her body. The Kindred cannot retain more than three Blood Traits in her body for the duration of the ritual; if she attempts to drink more, she immediately suffers severe nausea and vomiting until the extra blood is gone. While this loss of blood will not induce torpor, it may require the vampire to make a hunger frenzy check (at the Story teller's discretion). This power lasts for an entire evening. This power will not work on those Kindred who are older than the caster.
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Bone of Lies |
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By enchanting a mortal finger bone as a Bone of Lies, you bind the soul of the skeleton to the bone. Then, whenever someone holds the hone, the taint of any lies that they speak is drawn into the finger bone, which blackens it as the spirit within becomes corrupt. The bone must be at least 200 years old, and it must be steeped in at least 10 Traits of blood during the casting of the ritual - all of the blood is mystically absorbed. Thereafter, whenever someone knowingly speaks a lie while holding the bone, it darkens noticeably and forces the subject to speak the truth immediately. Each lie so negated uses one of the Blood Traits in the bone; when all 10 are used, the hone is blackened and useless, home only to a dark spirit twisted by lies. |
With the spread of blood plagues such as AIDS, Kindred often find themselves unwitting carriers of these unflattering "social" diseases. A Warlock wishing to rid himself of these kinds of maladies must spend a full night in a bathtub (or cauldron) filled with purified water, bleeding all but the tiniest drop of blood from his body. As the blood is diffused into the water, any addictions and diseases (non-supernatural) the Kindred's body might carry are bled out. This ritual may be performed upon another Kindred; in this case, the subject must lie in the water, having opened his own veins, while the thaumaturge chants for I lie course of the night. Kindred with no blood in their bodies are ravenously hungry; a source of blood should he immediately on hand or else the vampire might frenzy (Kindred with low Self-Control are particularly dangerous after this ritual has been completed for this reason).
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Clinging of the Insect |
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Through this ritual, you may imbue yourself with a mystical property of adhesion that mimics an insect's ability to climb vertical surfaces. Spend five minutes performing stretching exercises, then place a live spider under your tongue. You may then move on walls and ceilings at half your normal walking speed. This lasts for the rest of the scene or until the spider dies or leaves its place under your tongue. While keeping a live spider pinned under your tongue, you are down three Traits on any Social Challenge that requires you to speak well. Naturally, you should simulate the spider through Narrator notification or candy rather than using a real one.
Craft Dream Catcher (Oneiromancy)
By incorporating Native American beliefs with their own ageless arts, oneiromancers both create a portal into a target's dreams and guard them against hostile spirits. A Dream Catcher is an intensely personal talisman composed of the target's hair, spittle, blood and other sympathetic links. Owners of these "shields" are afforded more protection against any ghostly attack (spirits trying to adversely affect the owner are two Traits down to do so); also, the oneiromancer who crafted the artifact is granted a two-Trait bonus when affecting its owner with that path, while other oneiromancers attempting to do so take a two-Trait penalty. This power lasts until the artifact is lost, stolen or destroyed.
This ritual is used to safeguard particularly precious ghouls against untimely death, especially when they are being considered for Embrace. By increasing the power of the vampiric blood running through his thrall's veins, the ritualist all but insures the mortal's survival; the instant a ghoul under this spell dies (in any way) the infused vitae in her body will revive her as a Kindred within 10 minutes (ghouls who die in a particularly mangled state should probably be given the Flaw: Permanent Wound or something else appropriate when they return as Kindred). To cast this ritual, the thaumaturge willingly loses one permanent Blood Trait, which is returned to the caster's blood pool when the ghoul dies. The inaccessible Blood Trait remains in the ghoul's system and may not be used to power Disciplines or he lost in any way. If someone else attempts to Embrace the enspelled ghoul, the mortal will revive as a Kindred - as the childe of the thaumaturge who cast the spell. The thaumaturge must brand the target ghoul with his sigil, which disappears when the ghoul awakens as undead.
Though no vampire in his right mind ever plans to come in contact with open flame, this ritual allows you to prepare yourself for situations where such an event might occur. To enact Firewalker, cut off one of your big toes (which hurts like hell and inflicts one level of lethal damage) and burn it over a wood fire, then smear the resulting ashes on the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands. For the next hour, make a Simple Test for each level of aggravated damage you take from fire. If you win or tie, that level of damage becomes lethal damage. You may cast this ritual on another vampire, in which case you must sacrifice one of your beneficiary's toes. Multiple subjects' toes maybe sacrificed simultaneously in the same group ritual, up to a maximum number of subjects equal to your number of permanent Mental Traits. A character who is missing a big toe gains the Negative Physical Trait Clumsy due to the effect this loss has on his balance.
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Incorporeal Passage |
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By looking into a fragment of a mirror while intoning this chant, you become completely incorporeal. Physical attacks pass through you while you may step unhindered through any solid harrier. You can only move forward or stand still once you invoke Incorporeal Passage - you may not turn or back up. The ritual lasts for the next full hour or scene, but you can end it simply by turning away the piece of mirror that you hold. |
One of the most powerful properties of a Kindred's vitae is its ability to heal the vampire of nearly any trauma; this ritual deprives a Kindred of that advantage, rendering her impotent to close her wounds. The thaumaturge must first imbibe a small quantity of blood laced with laudanum (which will grant the caster the Negative Physical Trait Lethargic for the scene immediately following the casting); after that, he only need smear a tiny bit of his blood onto the victim's skin to bestow the curse upon her for the rest of the evening. The target may not be aware of he change until she first attempts to heal. She may spend a Willpower Trait to negate this effect for one turn. When the ritual expires, she may heal as normal, according to the level of damage.
Major Creation (Path of Conjuring)
While the Path of Conjuring is limited with regard to the size of the items created, this ritual gives the conjurer more range. It requires the caster to sever her thumb (requiring the expenditure of a temporary Willpower); the digit disappears when the enlarged item is successfully conjured, although it will regenerate at a normal rate. After this ritual is cast, the thaumaturge may now spend either two or three temporary Mental Traits to make a summoned item either double or triple the size he can normally conjure. Note that this ritual works in conjunction with whatever power of the path the caster is using (so combining this with Summon The Simple Form will still only enable basic items to be conjured, but now they can be bigger basic items). Once the thumb is consumed by the ritual, the thaumaturge can no longer create enlarged objects until the ritual is recast.
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Mirror of Second Sight |
Unlike most rituals, whose effects are short-lived, Mirror of Second Sight allows you to create a permanently enchanted item. You may imbue any circular mirror between four and 18 inches in diameter with the property of reflecting an individual's supernatural nature, if any, superimposed over her mundane image. To do this, you must etch the back of the mirror with a series of mystic sigils and bathe it in two of your own Blood Traits. Once you successfully enchant the mirror, its reflections reveal all supernatural creatures for what they are. Vampires appear as skeletal husks of their physical selves, werewolves are shown simultaneously as men and beasts, ghosts are visible as misty outlines, changelings are masked with their faerie faces and mages bear luminescent auras. Mortals still look like mortals, however; this mirror will not detect a ghoul or a human who practices lesser sorcerous arts. Additionally, this mirror only reveals the "true forms" of individuals who are visible to the unaided eye - it does nothing to pierce Obfuscate or any other supernatural means of concealment save for showing images of ghosts who are normally invisible in the physical world.
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Pavis of Foul Presence |
To combat the powers of the Presence Discipline, you tie a blue silken cord around your neck while intoning the Pavis of Foul Presence. Until the next sunrise, you are defended against Presence powers. If someone manages to exert a Presence power on you, it is reflected back instead of affecting you. This ritual is completely unknown outside the Tremere clan, who keep it as a powerful secret in their wars of vampiric influence.
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| Return of the Heart (Path of the Blood's Curse) |
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| This ritual overwhelms the target with human guilt. By mixing a Trait of the victim's blood with the tears of an infant, the thaumaturge forces the victim to reflect upon her past actions through the eyes of an innocent. While this does not affect a Path rating, the Cainite behaves for the rest of the evening as if she had a Morality rating of 5 and is governed by the Path of Humanity. This will probably result in several Conscience / Conviction Virtue tests, at the Storyteller's discretion. This power is particularly terrible against Sabbat elders, who may be destroyed by their packmates for such "weakness." |
Rutor's Hands
The terrifying servant created with Rutor's Hands is actually one of your own severed hands, with one of your eyeballs set atop it! After casting this ritual, you must cut off your own hand and pluck out your eye, suffering five levels of aggravated damage in the process, in order to complete the spell. (Don't actually inflict physical harm on yourself. Your character does the nasty deed, not you.) The ritual keeps your body parts from crumbling to dust, and it animates them as spies for your use. They follow your mental orders, moving as you direct and allowing you to see and hear whatever they experience. You can create as many as you like, though you must regenerate your hands and eyes fully after each casting before making another set of Rutor's Hands. The spying, scuttling... thing made with this ritual needs a single Trait of blood each week (from any source), or else it crumbles to dust. You can get cards for your Rutor's Hands, and then use them to spy on other locations. Simply give the card to a Narrator and direct him to a particular location. If the thing is spotted, of course, it is easily destroyed with a single level of damage (it is considered to have three Physical Traits that it can only use to defend itself).
The thaumaturge causes a body of water, whether natural or artificial, to become a scrying pool after mixing it with owl's blood. The water must be relatively still, and confined pools no larger than a bathtub work better than open lakes. The caster can either concentrate on a known location he has visited or a person; if spying upon a person, the ritualist must possess an object of personal significance to the target. Auspex or other powers may not he used while Serving to "remotely" affect the victim. The thaumaturge may not change the target of the Scry once cast; for example, if the focus is a location, it will remain locked on that area for the duration of the ritual. This power lasts for 10 minutes, although viewing time may be lengthened by the expenditure of one temporary Mental Trait for each additional 10 minutes.
Soul of the Homunculi
Few vampires trust anyone, yet the arcane researches of the Tremere often require capable assistants. A homunculus is a tiny physical replica of the caster, completely loyal and made to serve its master as a spy and aide. Casting the Soul of the Homunculi takes a full month of time outside of play. When completed, the homunculus acts as a tiny extension of yourself. Such creations can resemble tiny winged creatures capable of flight, a legless slug with a human face like its master's, or a small marmoset like creature with a face resembling its creator. Any given homunculus is completely loyal to its creator, in effect acting as an extra limb. Homunculi have three Physical Traits and two health levels, and they cannot fight. They can spy and report back or perform small tasks. You can only have one homunculus at any given time.
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Stolen Kisses |
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Thaumaturges use this macabre power when they do not wish to, or are unable to, feed by fang. By making a small incision on her body and performing the ritual (which requires that the thaumaturge always carry a "witch's kiss" - a thistle steeped in vampiric vitae), the ritualist seals the self-inflicted wound into an undetectable mouth like sucker which only opens when pressed against a mortal's warm flesh, and which can mystically drain blood from the vessel. Warlocks feeding in this manner quietly steal one Blood Trait every other turn from the time the contact persists. Particularly lascivious thaumaturges will create this orifice to be used during sexual contact, thus combining both the passions of life and undeath; more conservative Warlocks prefer a lengthy firm handshake. Whatever the medium for exchange, vessels will not be immediately aware of their blood loss (although they will suffer the usual health effects); this particularly tidy method of feeding causes neither the rapture
of the Kiss nor any immediate discomfort to the vessel. The "mouth" will last until sunrise.
In these nights, precocious Tremere are relying more on electronic devices than the animal spies and familiars of yesteryear. With this ritual, any television the thaumaturge has touched in the last week may now be used as both an "eye" into the room as well as a device for beguiling those watching the set. The thaumaturge, by performing this ritual and dropping into a meditative state, may observe everything from a "television's-eye-view" and can also regulate any images or sounds the television generates, from changing the channel to Grafting a fake broadcast. This power lasts for 10 minutes from the completion of the ritual, although it may be prolonged for an extra 10 minutes per temporary Mental Trait spent. While in this meditative state (which may be broken at any time, also breaking the ritual), the caster may not initiate challenges.
This ritual allows the thaumaturge to poison a single victim with but a slight touch. The caster must anoint his hands with the bitter extract of deadly nightshade before conducting this ritual. Anytime after the ritual, anyone the caster touches with his bare hands will become poisoned; this weakness lasts until sunrise and inflicts one health level of bashing damage (not halved) per hour to Kindred and one health level of lethal damage to mortals. The caster may not reverse these effects; once the victim is poisoned, it must run its course. This poison may not be treated by medical means or by "burning" the blood in a Kindred's body. The effects of the poison will not transfer if the victim's blood is drunk.
Developed as a means for Tremere to track down those non-clan Kindred who have managed to learn the secrets of Thaumaturgy, this ritual makes the target's most recent footsteps visible to the caster. By uttering mystical syllables and spilling a Trait of her vitae upon the ground where the infidel is known to have worked Thaumaturgy within the past 24 hours, the caster may then be able to track the magus for the rest of the evening. This tracking follows the exact path the other magus took after leaving the area where the magic was worked. This ritual may only track down Thaumaturgy, not Necromancy or other kinds of blood magic, and does not distinguish between Tremere and non-Tremere.
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Ward Versus Fae |
The fae are not nicknamed "The Wild Ones" erroneously; the Tremere developed this ritual to keep the Fair Folk from interfering with their affairs. While most modern Tremere scoff at the notion of faeries, this ritual lurks in faded tomes and forgotten libraries still. It is cast in much the same way as Ward Versus Ghouls (with identical size restrictions), except that a handful of cold iron filings is used in lieu of a Trait of blood.
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