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.
System: Adding a drop of the caster's blood and a single hair from a bloodhound to a crucible containing a divinatory concoction of incense (1 part clove/1 part chicory/1 part cinquefoil), the caster is granted supernatural insight into any one influence action under his investigation. The thaumaturge generates one additional free Trace influence action when this ritual is cast.
Talons of Shadow (Intermediate Abyss Mysticism Ritual)
The Abyss is a cold place that drains those living of their life force to feed its endless emptiness. An Abyss Mystic learns to channel this power through their hands and affect others who may know nothing of the Abyss. The Mystic must recite the ancient words of power in Sumerian and dips their hands into a nearby shadow. The shadow becomes like liquid and once they pull their hands from it and complete the ritual; vicious talons of shadow grace their form for a time.
System: After the character casts this ritual they gain thick black shadow talons on their hands. These Talons grant the physical trait Sharp x2. In addition all attacks made with the talons also cause the victim to lose 1 temporary willpower in addition to the characters normal damage per strike. These Talons last a scene or an hour.
Side Effect: after use of this ritual the character is down two traits in all willpower challenges for the remainder of the night.
Mechanics: This ritual functions off a principle similar to that of Tamimah - the Ashipu must create an amulet as the focus for the ritual. The amulet itself takes one week of work, and must possess a crafts rating of at least 3. As with Tamimah, the Sorcerer must consume the soul of another through diablerie, gaining all of the drawbacks but none of the benefits for the act. Provided the ritual is successfully cast, the amulet will function for a lunar cycle (28 days). It costs a temporary willpower to be attuned to the Warrior, and once attuned cannot be passed to another. It extracts a cost of one blood per week that it is in use to keep it active. While worn, the Baali curse is wholly suppressed in the Warrior.
Taming Caine (Advanced - 5)
This rare ritual brings an outsider into the Ba’ham’s circle. The setup is important and the space prepared ahead of time. The “victim” rarely understands what is happening and either arrives as a surprise, or bound and gagged. Cain (the victim) then is divested of his clothes through force or trickery and walks down a path followed by an officiant dressed as a serpent. Lilith greets him and offers him food and drink then shows him a demonstration of her power (often just a flogging). Variations have Cain visited by three or up to six “angels” each offering a different torture. When the last angel leaves he is bathed in ice water then given blood to drink. Cain then is left alone for a short time before a path out of the garden is shown to him, then he is hounded and attacked by serpents cats and owls (sometimes actual, other times cultists in masks) until he flees the ritual.
Mechanics: The victim gains the derangement masochism for the next cycle of the moon and also the additional mental traits Insightful x2. He is also unable to hide from or lie to any of the cultists who participated in the ritual, though they are forbidden from harming him for that same amount of time. If he should successfully flee the ritual before it is completed, but after he is greeted by Lilith he only gains the derangement and no other effects take place.
Advanced
Those who engage in espionage against the various sects are hard pressed to defeat the myriad of supernatural techniques employed by their targets. Amethyst agents have developed this rote to give them an edge in evading some of those methods, however taxing it may be.
System: This ritual allows the thaumaturge to spend up to three mental traits at the time of casting to choose answers to a specific question that will show to be true under both mundane and supernatural investigation. Each trait spent allows the Amethyst agent to designate one question and answer as the truth. These questions and answers must be written out when the ritual is cast and must be specific.
These traits cannot be refreshed for the evening.
Example: If the Amethyst agent is infiltrating the Sabbat, the ritual could make it seem as though he’s telling the truth that he is a member of the sect. However, if someone asks him if he’s been through the creation ritae, an affirmative answer would be detected as a lie.
Tapestry of Mysteries is a ritual that requires an initial dedication for making the base item that is a carpet woven by the thaumaturgist, where the wool must be washed by 7 days and 7 nights in 5 points of his vitae. Absorbing all in the end creating a connection with the all mystical effects that will be added to the carpet.
The carpet may have any appearance, but must have at least 2m x 1.5m.
Once done the Regent should sew pyramids where he desire, and for each pyramid should dump 1 point of blood from a different Tremere(at maximum 7) and mystically in the exactly place will reform with the face of the blood owner. The tapestry will have 8 faces in maximum, the Sorcerer and seven more.
The sorcerer must start by adding your face to the carpet before following with others. He will be able to change the place of faces and reshape the look of the carpet as and when desired.
After entering all the desired members the Regent will know if his apprentices are safe, because when one of them is destroyed, his face will be undone mystically at the exact moment, leaving a hole at the site that can not be repaired, only moved.
The wizard can use the undone lines spending one Willpower in a brief moment of concentration and see and hear the last 5 minutes the scene where his apprentice was killed, and know exactly where it happened.The use of other powers during the vision will not be possible.
Taste of Knowledge (Basic - 2)
By drinking the blood of a target a Lillin can learn some of the important memories the victim cherishes. First the Baharist must establish the kiss upon their target. Thereafter, for each blood trait they drain from the target, the Baharist gains one memory of importance to the target. This ritual takes 10 minutes to cast, lasts for one target only, and costs 1 willpower.
This ritual developed by the brotherhood of purity allows them to take the blood of a victim and consume it. While doing so in a ritually prepared circle with incense the Black Hand member may attempt to learn secrets from a targets blood that they themselves may not even know.
System: In order to cast this ritual you must first drink a blood trait from your target. After you perform this ritual you may engage your target in a contested mental challenge retested with occult. If you succeed you may ask one question about the character whose blood you have drank and gain an honest answer from a storyteller. This ritual will reveal any knowledge the person whose blood it is they may have, even if they are unaware that they know it.
Teleport Hub (Advanced Thaumaturgy Ritual)
Throughout history, many and varied are the methods of magic used by magicians to prove their eldritch might. One of the more common, and yet impressive magics is commonly referred to as apportation magic, or the magic of movement. The hubs would allow quick movement between areas, while keeping them from being used by the enemies of the Pyramid to do the same.
System:
Requirement: Must have sworn the Oath and be a member of the Pyramid in good standing.
Creating a teleport hub consists mainly of properly constructing the hub room. The room itself must have an even number of sides/walls, and each wall in the hub must be the same dimensions (see paired ritual (Waystation Teleport, for details on portal size requirements). The walls and floor must be made of the same kind of material, which must be a never-living material (i.e. stone, concrete, brick are suitable, wood is not).
Lastly, a keystone must be selected, and constructed from and of the same materials used to construct the walls. While the keystone is present in the hub, the hub is considered active. If not, then the hub is unusable until the keystone is replaced. Destroying the keystone counts as the keystone not being present. A thaumaturge that knows this ritual can create extra keystones by spending one night and ten traits of blood enchanting it, per keystone. If a hub’s keystone is destroyed, the first keystone to enter the hub becomes the new primary keystone for the location.
A hub without an active keystone in play for a year and a day automatically disenchants the hub room, rendering all portals to it disenchanted as well. A disenchanted hub room that remains disenchanted for a year and a day renders the hub room (and all associated waystation portals) unusable for re-enchantment. To place a hub room in the same location, all waystation portals must be removed, new portals constructed, and the whole thing re-enchanted.
Once the room has been constructed, the walls must be treated with an alchemical mixture that consists of the thaumaturge’s blood, lead, and walnut oil. One trait of blood per wall is normally all that’s needed, though an ST may require more for larger surfaces.
Once the surfaces have been painted and the alchemical mixture has dried, the thaumaturge must spent the next night enchanting the hub. This is usually done with meditative chant, with an equal amount of time spent before each wall.
Once the hub is enchanted, the ritual, “Waystation Teleport” may be used to connect location (see the ritual, “Waystation Teleport”, for details.