Custom Blood Magic: Ritual
Some chronicles allow for their players to develop customized powers for their characters. The following is a compilation of player created custom content in OWBN. At this time, custom content that is created and/or used by vampire PC's is required to be listed.
Advanced Ritual
By gathering the remains of a mortician, pall bearer, funeral home director or the like a thaumaturge is able to call upon the pall of death that surrounded such an individual. By sowing their ashes with nightshade and sleeping in a graveyard for the three night surrounding the new moon the ashes are able to be infused with pure death energy. When applied to flesh they infuse the aura of the target with the cool emptiness of oblivion. For the ritual's duration, the individual's aura is smoother and filled with the quiet of the grave. However, this quiet slowly erodes the willpower of the caster.
System: Once cast, the ritual effects the caster for three nights. The caster may only benefit from the ritual's effects so long as he does not speak, make any loud noises or interact with his environment (doing does not end the ritual, it just prevents the caster from gaining the benefits while doing so). If these criteria are currently being met, any time someone attempts to perceive his Aura, he may spend a willpower a negate the challenge. Doing so causes the caster to appear as if he has no aura for that sole challenge only.
Learning the Mind Enslumbered allows a thamaturge to determine how an individual fell into torpor. Based upon this initial premise a less detailed and more general informative ritual was developed. The caster takes a silver coin, no smaller then a half dollar and soaks it in a mixture of one trait of blood from the ritual's target, crushed bone and ash. Once completed, the coin absorbs the blood, dust and ash and the coin turns blood red in color. For the next three nights the coin remains red while they target is alive (or as near as a Kindred can be), it turns white while their body is healthy, but their soul is elsewhere (Posession, Soul Steal, etc.), and turns black if they are in torpor or have met final death. At sunrise on the third night, the coin disintegrates to dust.
Defiling the Garden (Intermediate - 4)
This Ritual enacts the desecration of Lilith’s Garden that was defiled by Cain and his childer. The ritual is led by a priest and priestess with participants playing the parts of the destroyers. This ritual is often performed as a blessing (or punishment) on someone who has made a noteworthy achievement. The ritual takes place in their garden, be it an actual garden, their place of business or their home, something they have worked hard to create and are proud of. The Ba’ham being honored is often bound or immobilized in some way then brought to the ritual, not knowing what is about to take place. Frequently they have been honored more traditionally first, with wine, fine food and offerings or gifts, that are also brought to be destroyed. The high priest and priestess embrace, dance and often copulate in the garden while others remain silent and most have their back turned, sometimes three look on with the guise of the serpent, owl and cat. When the two finally rest the male priest leaves and the rest of the participants turn inward, one of them says “You have created something beautiful and for that I thank you.” Then they descend upon the garden destroying it. They bind the priestess and beat her savagely and only two of them offer any comfort to the priestess or the honored. This ritual often results in a large building fire and is relocated for the conclusion. Once everything is destroyed, often many hours later, many handfuls of ashes are brought and the honoree is stripped and bathed in them, then taken far away, often deep into the woods or inner city and left alone.
Mechanics:While it is truly a horrific experience for the honored they benefit from losing any mental negative traits or flaws for the following day and night and may suppress a derangement at no cost twice during that time. The rest of the participants avoid contact with the honoree for at least one cycle of the moon after the ritual (to avoid their wrath, but also in order to refuse aid and force them to reflect and possibly rebuild on their own.)
Allows the user to bind a willing spirit into an item. Activates as a fetish. Costs three exp to create an item.
The caster draws sigils within a room no larger then 50' x 50'. The sigils, drawn with a combination of sulfur and crushed mirror, are related to theories on sacred geometry, and indicate misdirection through altering the flow of lay line energy in the area. The ritual remains in place for 24 hours or until ended by the caster. At the time of casting, the ritualist may choose to spend an additional mental trait.
This ritual only effects demonic entities or infernalists. While the ritual is in place, any attempt to utilize any sort of powers or abilities to perform any variation of remote viewing or divination on anything or anyone protected within the specified room will fail. No such being can use powers or abilities to observe anything in the effected area. No form of demonic or infernal-based divination will provide details of events or conversations that might occur there. If the demonic entity or infernalist happens to be inside the boundary of this ritual, it may no longer use any form of power or ability to observe anything outside the room without exiting first.
Should a demonic entity or infernalist become aware of this 'blind spot', it may attempt to breach the barrier. The entity may attempt a Static Mental Challenge against the number of traits the caster possessed at the time of the ritual's invocation. If the entity fails, it may not attempt to do so again for the rest of the evening. If the entity succeeds, the barrier is breached and the entity may observe the events in the room (though it cannot discover what occurred prior to its success). If the caster spent a mental trait at the time of casting, he or she will receive a mild pain behind his eyes, warning him or her that the ritual has been compromised.
Name: Deny the Dragon
Basic Hermetic Ritual
The simplest form of protection against Koldunism, this ritual allows the Warlock to create a charm for a specific individual to ward off the effects of the Fiend's magics. The caster creates an amulet of obsidian bound by a simple leather strap. For three days this is left in a natural environment, exposed to the elements, surrounded by representations of the four classical elements. On each night of the three night ritual, the caster pours a trait of the intended beneficiaries blood over the amulet while invoking an incantation calling for protection from hostile spirits. After it has been exposed to three full days worth of daylight the amulet will be effective, though only for the individual whose blood was used during the incantation.
While wearing this amulet, the subject gains two additional traits when defending against any power of Koldunic Sorcery directed at him. While wearing the amulet, the subject is also unable to call upon any powers of Koldunic Sorcery he may possess.
Deny the Sun's Weight
The caster gains the ability to exist on less rest than other kindred, tending to rise at least one hour before sunrise. For the duration of the ritual, he will always seem to be the first to rise and the last to go to bed, even if he's been out until dawn. While other kindred may still be groggy, he is awake and aware.
System: The caster may awaken early and remain awake late during the first and last hour of light, with no need to expend Willpower to stay awake. This Ritual takes 20 minutes to cast and its duration is 24 hours. This ritual does not grant the ability to bid more Traits than your Morality would normally allow during the day. Another means such as Light Sleeper or the ritual Wake with Evening's Freshness would be needed to bid more Traits than your Morality would normally allow during the day. The primary Components to cast is A moonstone gem, which must be with the caster for the duration of the ritual, and is often worn as a ring or pendant.
Descent Into Shadows (Advanced Abyss Mysticism Ritual)
The Priestesses of Ereshkigal know that their patron was birthed and came from the Abyss. She was no mortal woman who was turned into a vampire. She is a goddess. As such the Abyss is her home she welcomes them to. It is for this reason Abyss Mystics of her cult are taught how to travel to her realm whenever they may need.
System: The Abyss Mystic must sacrifice a mortal and drain all of their blood into the anointed shadow. After which the character may enter the Abyss. Whenever the character wishes to leave the Abyss they may spend 1 willpower point to exist back into the material plane from the spot they first entered the Abyss.
Side Effect: After the character leaves the Abyss they will suffer a Derangement for one month.
Diamond's Doom
This ritual is the trademark of John Diamond, Jonestown's sire. It enchants a wooden object into a powerful anti‐Kindred weapon. The object can be as large as a wooden stake or a cane, or as small as a letter opener; in any case, it must be roughly shaped like a stabbing weapon.
System: A Diamond’s Doom stake gains an additional trait for use in combat challenges. Like any common stake, it can be used to impale the heart of and immobilize a vampire. The attacker makes three simple tests, not two, and if any two of them succeed, the defender is staked. Once the enchanted weapon is in a vampire's heart, it takes root, and cannot be removed without ripping out the heart and putting the vampire into torpor‐‐a disaster for low‐generation Kindred. Furthermore, if weapon and heart are
removed‐‐a task involving considerable strength or crude butchery‐‐the vampire remains staked, similar to the results of staking a removed heart as in Heart of Darkness. If the heart is burned or exposed to the sun, the vampire is destroyed. Furthermore, if the heart is outside of the body of the kindred for more than one hour, it begins to decay, and will lead to the death of the kindred who’s heart it is (this ritual is not a cheap alternative to Heart of Darkness, and does not provide the protections of the heart that the Advanced Serpentis does).
Aegis may be blown to avoid death by heart deterioration. The heart will re‐form in the body when Aegis is blown. The weapon will release its grip and slide out easily if the true name of the one who wielded it is spoken as it is pulled. Anyone may remove it by this method. Other methods of removal would be by the use of Vicissitude (up to Bonecraft is required), the ritual Rotten Wood will destroy the stake, Decay (First Basic Hands of Destruction) will destroy the stake (the Second Basic Gnarl Wood will not work). Other methods such as burning the stake out with a blowtorch will only result in the death of the person so staked. The ritual Purity of Flesh will also expel the stake.
Those who can see auras will notice a shimmering cloud of menace and hate around the weapon if they think to check. Anyone who tries to use Spirit's Touch or its equivalent will be overwhelmed by visions of pain and violence from the malevolent intelligence that inhabits the weapon if they attempt to "read" it. Whether they win or lose, they will gain no useful information from the Spirit's Touch. This ritual can by no means be combined with Shaft of Belated Quiescence or Splinter Servant.