Dark Thaumaturgical Rituals
| To cast a Dark Thaumaturgy ritual, follow the same procedure as for casting a ritual from Thaumaturgy. Make a Static Mental Challenge with a difficulty dependent on the level of the ritual: Five Traits for a Basic ritual, seven for Intermediate and nine for Advanced. The only exceptions to this are the two variable-level rituals below, whose difficulty is equal to two plus the number of Willpower Traits that the target demon has. |
| basic Dark Thaumaturgical rituals |
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Call Forth the Host (Variable Level) |
T his ritual's existence is no secret, for folklore has spoken of infernalists' ability to summon demons for untold centuries. It is taught in many forms, and the particulars vary widely. However, the one constant is that the ritual requires some form of sacrifice. Blood, souls, lives and unique material possessions are popular as are desecrated holy relics and items that have been used to perform acts of violence. The precise sacrifice depends on the nature of the demon in question (and is left to the Storyteller's discretion). You must also know the demon's True Name in order to summon it. A successful casting of this ritual does not guarantee that you have a willing or loyal servant. It only indicates that you have brought the demon to this plane of existence. To bind the demon to your will, you must defeat it in both a Social Challenge (to convince it of your dominance) and a Mental Challenge (to impose your terms of service upon it). If you lose the Social Challenge, you do not impress the demon with your transparent attempts at power and it either leaves or attacks you as it sees fit. If you lose the Mental Challenge, the demon returns to Hell rather than accept such unfavorable terms. If you are unfortunate enough to lose both challenges, the demon drags you back to Hell as it goes-make a new character. If you win both of these challenges, you must then expend a number of Mental Traits equal to the demon's Willpower Traits (see below) in order to finish binding it to your will. You may spend additional Mental Traits at this time to increase the length of the demon's service to you; see below. If you are unable to expend the full number of Mental Traits, the result is the same as if you had failed the Mental Challenge to impose your terms of service upon the demon. If the entire procedure is successful, your demon is your loyal (though not blindly loyal) servant for a period equal to 24 hours, minus one hour per Mental Trait you had to expend to complete the binding, plus one hour for every additional Mental Trait you spent. At the end of this time, the demon vanishes in a flash of hellfire, returning to its infernal home. You must be careful to phrase your commands very precisely as most demons summoned with this ritual are resentful and will only obey the letter of the order unless you placate them with very favorable terms of service. "Very favorable" depends on the demon in question, and the Storyteller is free to make you research it.
Bind the Interloper (Variable Level)
Infernalists are a fractious lot, and the purposes of one may lie against those of another. Bind the Interloper allows you to take control of a demon that another infernalist has summoned, turning it against its former master. The inducements you may use to achieve this end are varied, ranging from blood to material items to souls, and the precise forms of the ritual depend on what you believe will attract the demon's attention. You must also know the True Name of the demon in question and the name or face of the infernalist whom it serves. Finally, your Dark Thaumaturgy must be at an equal or greater level than that required to summon the demon in the first place (see below). Bind the Interloper requires 15 minutes to cast for every Willpower Trait the target demon has. If the casting is successful, you have attracted the demon's attention. You must then defeat its current master in a Mental Challenge. If you win, the demon transfers its loyalty to you for the remainder of its term of service. If you lose, you lose three Willpower Traits and the demon's master receives a perfect mental picture of your face (though no other information concerning your identity unless the demon is on good enough terms with him to tell him) and the knowledge that you just tried to take his servant away from him.
| Curse of Oedipus |
By invoking the legacy of Oedipus, who tore out his eyes when he became aware of his crimes against his own family, you may inflict temporary blindness on a victim. You must know the face of your intended target, and you must concentrate on this image while inhaling the fumes from a burning stick of incense. When the incense is done burning, your victim receives the Flaw: Blind (Laws of the Night, p. 116) for five hours, minus one hour for every Trait of Conscience or Conviction he has (thus, individuals with five Conscience or Conviction Traits are immune to the Curse of Oedipus). During this time, the victim is overcome by grief for every wrong, real or imagined, that he has committed, and he weeps tears of blood (which can be deeply disturbing for mortals and a threat to the Masquerade for Cainites).
| Video Nefos |
The forces of Hell are everywhere, or so most infernalists believe. Accordingly, the sum of all knowledge is open to you if you can find the demon who knows what you want to learn. Video Nefos allows you to commune with an invisible messenger imp who whispers the secrets of the universe in your ear. Beware, though: This ritual causes the demons it commands to tell you the truth, but they will only tell you as much of that truth as you can force them to reveal. To enact Video Nefos, write your question in black ink, using a sharpened bone as a stylus. Snap the bone in two, burn the surface that you wrote the question on and make five Simple Tests. The number of these Tests that you win or tie determines how much information your demon informants reveal to you. You may not declare retests for these tests though a generous Storyteller may allow you to perform Mental Tests to analyze the accuracy of the answers if you possess Abilities that relate to the subject of the question. With one win or tie, you can learn the answer to a "yes or no" question. Two gives you a short sentence's worth of information. If you win or tie three times, you receive a short synopsis (three to five sentences). A complete answer, perhaps two or three paragraphs' worth, comes with four wins or ties. If you win or tie all five Simple Tests, you learn the complete truth behind the subject of your inquiry, perhaps even facts previously unknown to any mortal or Cainite.
intermediate dark Thaumaturgical. Rituals
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Felis Negrum | |
Rumors of Gangrel infernalists abound because of this ritual, which allows you to change yourself or another individual into a black cat. To cast Felis Negrum on yourself, you must have three whiskers from a black cat; to transform someone else, you will need the skin of a white cat. You must burn this material over a one-foot square of glass, then inscribe on the glass, in your own blood, the name of the individual you wish to transform (using one Blood Trait). If you use this ritual on yourself, its effects last indefinitely, and you can return to your natural form whenever you wish. A ghoul or a mortal is transformed for 24 hours while another vampire is changed for 13 nights, less one night for every Morality Trait he has. If you cast this ritual on an unwilling recipient, you must defeat him in a Mental Challenge after a successful casting. This metamorphosis only changes the subject's physical form; it does not affect clothing or carried items. A character in cat form loses his normal Physical Traits; they are replaced with one Trait each of Agile, Energetic, Nimble and Quick. His normal Social Traits remain, though he may have some difficulty applying them under most circumstances as he loses the power of speech. His Mental Traits also remain as normal. He is an exceptionally durable cat, however, as he retains his usual Health Levels, Disciplines and Blood Pool. A transformed vampire is a vampiric cat, complete with fangs, a lack of pulse or respiration and bite and claw attacks that do one Health Level of aggravated damage. The magic of this change renders the subject immune to Dominate and Presence, but Animalism affects him as if he were an actual cat.
| Plague's Secret Domain |
Although many Kindred consider themselves safe from mortal diseases, they overlook illnesses of the mind and heart. Plague's Secret Domain unlocks the secrets of these maladies, allowing you to inflict a morbid weariness on mortal and vampire alike. Casting this ritual requires you to intone a one-hour chant in front of a ritual fire in which you burn the corpse of a freshly killed mourning dove. At the end of the hour, you must extinguish the fire with two Blood Traits from someone pure of heart (five Humanity Traits), then spend any number of temporary or permanent Willpower Traits and defeat your intended victim in a Mental Challenge. Once you have successfully cast Plague's Secret Domain, your target falls into a crushing depression, which she should roleplay. She is down two Traits on any Social or Mental Challenge due to listlessness and apathy, and is down three Traits (these penalties are cumulative) on any challenge that may result in her death. These effects last for one night for every temporary Willpower Trait you spent and one lunar month for every permanent Willpower Trait you spent. A vampire whose depression lasts for one lunar month or more must win a Self Control or Instincts Virtue Test against a difficulty of the number of permanent Willpower Traits you spent. If she fails, she enters torpor at the end of the ritual's duration. A mortal whose depression lasts a similar length of time must win the same Virtue Test or commit suicide when the ritual's duration expires.
advanced Dark Thaumaturgical rituals
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Close the Ways | |
If your hatred of a given target - or at least your ill will - is great enough, you can wreak untold havoc upon his fortune. Close the Ways is the path to such doom. It is deceptively simple in its execution. To cast it, you must meditate naked while kneeling on a stone surface for six hours while 14 black candles burn down around you. At the end of this time, you extinguish all 14 candles with the palm of your left hand. As each candle flame goes out, speak the birth name of your target. You must also expend seven temporary and three permanent Traits each in the Social and Mental categories as well as a permanent Willpower Trait. If the ritual fails, you still lose the Willpower Trait, though not the permanent Attribute Traits. Your victim suffers catastrophic bad luck if this ritual succeeds. First, all Influence expenditures require one more Trait than normal as strings don't pull as easily and pawns are difficult to contact and exert pressure over. Second, he treats all ties on Simple Tests as losses. Third and most damaging, he gains the Cursed Negative Trait, and anyone who knows of the curse may bid against him in any challenge. These effects persist for a number of months equal to the number of permanent Willpower Traits you possess after casting the ritual. You may remove this ritual's effects should you so choose, as may anyone else who knows Close the Ways. This requires a one-hour ceremony conducted in a graveyard in which the individual lifting the curse cuts off his own left hand (incurring three levels of lethal damage) and expends a permanent Willpower Trait.
| Into the Abyss |
Although the wisdom of such a course of action is debatable at best, sometimes insanity is the only option. Into the Abyss is insane by most standards, even those of infernalists, for this ritual opens a portal to Hell itself. Some dark thaumaturges claim that this is the best way to commune with demons of great power while others tell stories of ancient treasures (or slumbering Methuselahs) contained in the depths of the infernal regions. Still others study this ritual as a last hope against the threat of capture. To enact Into the Abyss, you must spend 24 hours, midnight to midnight, painting the sigils of power on a stone wall with the blood of children and a brush made from the hair of a white horse. Staying awake during the day requires one Static Mental Challenge for every hour of local daylight, with a difficulty of nine Traits minus the vampire's number of Morality Traits (retest with Survival). Once you have successfully cast the ritual, the portal opens and remains open for a number of hours equal to your permanent Willpower Traits. During this time, anyone can enter the portal. No one, including a demon, can leave Hell through it without your express permission. This ritual is a particularly problematic one in a live-action setting, due to the difficulty inherent in simulating Hell and the potential issues that such a game raises. Storytellers are advised to use Into the Abyss for dramatic effect, not as a garbage disposal for groups of player characters.