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.
Rite of the Carrion Crow (Intermediate - 3)
Members of the Cult of Lilith seek to commune with the Children of Lilith, many of whom are believed to have been destroyed ages ago. Through this ritae, the Cult of Lilith is able to uncover secrets lost to the world from the time before history was recorded. The Cult practices sacred Burial rites to those members who have passed, in hopes that future members of the Cult may come upon them to teach the history and lessons of the Cult.
System: This ritual has two effects. Firstly it may be used on a Cult of Lilith member who is still “alive”. When the member dies they will pass on, but their ability to aid the cult does not end. They may now be used for the rest of this ritual (this is largely a role-play mechanic). The Second part of the ritae allows you to summon back a member of the Cult who has undergone this ritual to help pass along wisdom, history, and insight into the cult itself. The user receives visions from a dead member of the cult. The result of which allows the caster to ask the deceased member of the cult one question in relation to the Cult of Lilith. For the remainder of the scene after using this ritae, the Cult of Lilith member may spend a number of Mental Traits (maximum of 5) to raise either his Occult Ability rating or Lore: Ba’hari by one for each mental trait spent. This bonus may go over the characters allowed generational maximum.
Path: Thaumaturgy (House Virtue — Spiritual / Angelic / Mental Defense)
Type: Ward / Support
Casting Time: 1 minute per participant
Cost: 3 Vitae
Components: A parchment scroll with a name of power written in celestial script, a candle infused with sacred herbs, and a chime rung at harmonic intervals.
Effect:
Upon completion, the caster draws a protective sigil in the air above each participant (up to three per casting) while intoning sacred Names of Protection, anchoring a subtle spiritual resonance.
* For the remainder of the scene, each participant affected by the ritual gains 2 bonus traits to resist:
Social Manipulation
Fear / Terror
Effects that compel or cloud judgment (e.g., Presence, Dominate, or supernatural deception).
* These bonus traits apply only once per test involving mental or emotional coercion. This is not cumulative with other Thaumaturgical protections or ritual-based bonuses.
* Participants also experience a sense of clarity and righteous purpose, allowing them to automatically detect if someone deliberately speaks a lie to them during the ritual’s duration. This does not compel truth, but allows the listener to know if the intent is falsehood (subject to ST discretion).
Time: 30 minutes
Components: A serrated ritual knife, powdered bone-ash, a silver spike or coin
Overview
This rite is a Sabbat corruption of a Garou ceremonial ordeal. Stolen through captives, battlefield observation, or bloody experimentation, the Moonflayed Flesh binds hatred of the Wyrm-beasts directly into the Cainite’s dead skin. The scars it creates are raw declarations of war—silver hammered into undead flesh as both mockery and weapon.
Description
The caster heats silver in a blackened pan until it glows dull red. As it smolders, the caster rasps a chanted appeal—not to Gaia, but to the strength of the Pack and the fires of their Beast:
“The dead do not kneel.
The moon does not judge us.
We take its poison and carve it as our mark.
Let this flesh be defiance.
Let this silver be war.”
The caster carves jagged, angular sigils—half war-brand, half mockery of Garou glyphs—into the target’s flesh. Fresh vitae spills freely. The glowing silver is pressed into the wounds, sizzling into place as the vampire’s dead skin warps and fuses around it.
System:
Scarring the hands requires 1 Blood Trait and inflicts 1 level of unsoakable Aggravated damage when carved (This damage heals normally afterward). If the recipient frenzies, the ritual fails and must be recast. Scarring the rest of the body follows the same rules but causes 3 level of unsoakable Aggravated damage.
Hand Brands — Fists of the Burning Moon
Silver engraved into palms, knuckles, claws, or finger bones.
Effect:
Your unarmed attacks deal aggravated silver damage to Changing Breeds weak to silver. This includes punches, grapples, claw strikes (via Protean), and bone protrusions.
Torso Brands — The Carapace of Blasphemy
Brands spanning the sternum, ribs, shoulders, or spine.
Effect:
Changing Breeds weak to silver who touch or strike the branded Cainite take 1 level of aggravated silver damage per turn of contact. Armor does not prevent this; the resonance bleeds through metal, leather, or fur.
Drawbacks
The scars itch and throb during the full moon and the Cainite is two traits down in resisting Frenzy during this time.
Changing Breeds with abilities to sense silver can detect these brands if the Cainite isn’t using powers like Obfuscate to hide them.
Intermediate - Ritual of Introduction Forwarding
Cast this ritual at the begning of the night with a predetermined Tremere target. Any time “Rite of Introduction” would be directed to you, it is instead directed to the predetermined target.
Require a tree that is grown around and over a kindred. Magic may be used to grow the tree around the kindred.
A blasphemous ritual is performed from midnight to just before dawn. At dawn the sun destroys the vampire as it normally would. The next morning, and every morning after this will cause a ghostly reenactment of the kindred burning to death.
From this point forward the dead tree is a haunt of a level equal to the dots in generation of the sacrificed Kindred. Each casting of this ritual causes the kindred to sacrifice a number of social traits equal to the level of the haunt created. These social traits may be rebought. You may not have more Haunts active than half your path rating rounded down
Require a tree that is grown around and over a kindred. Magic may be used to grow the tree around the kindred.
A blasphemous ritual is performed from midnight to just before dawn. At dawn the sun destroys the vampire as it normally would. The next morning, and every morning after this will cause a ghostly reenactment of the kindred burning to death.
From this point forward the dead tree is a haunt of a level equal to the dots in generation of the sacrificed Kindred. Each casting of this ritual causes the kindred to sacrifice a number of social traits equal to the level of the haunt created. These social traits may be rebought. You may not have more Haunts active than half your path rating rounded down
The Curses of the Rom are both devastating and virulent. The removal of such curses is often impossible to downright maddening for the afflicted. This has lead the Jati of the Ravnos to seek extreme measures for how to clear these curses from themselves and their allies. Partnering with the Sadhu of the Sabbat, one connived a way to trick the Romany of the world, to take on the curse of their own. By combining the arts of misdirection, Sadhanna, trickery, and some good old fashion drugs, the Sadhu will spend night after night convincing the sacrifice that they are here to save their one true love. Once broken, the sacrafice will offer up their own life willingly to the one afflicted by the curse, and in doing so, take the curse into themselves and onto their next life.
Mechanics:
The ritual will require the following items and space. An area equal to 10ftx10ft must be secured. The location needs to be clear of sunlight and facilitated at least one story underground for the duration of the ritual. A poultice will need to be created from the blood of the caster, the afflicted, and mixed with hallucinogenic drugs, chief among them is Soma. A single poultice will need to be created each night until the cast is complete. Finally the sacrificial target must be a True Blooded Rom.
Each night the caster will engage with the sacrifice by making them drink the poultice and weaving the magic.
After 3 nights the caster engages in a contested mental challenge with the afflicted, retest with occult. If the ritual succeeds, the curse is then taken from the afflicted and transferred to the sacrifice. The curse lingers and follows the sacrifice into their next life, particularly powerful curses may linger along the family line of the sacrifice at ST discretion.
If the ritual fails, the sacrifice dies without taking on the curse and the caster must throw two simple tests. If they fail both simple tests, the curse spreads to the caster. The caster suffers full effects and duration of the original curse.
Components: A container to hold the offered blood (a small clay bowl or a silver cup) and a single strand of your hair.
Casting Time: One turn
Basic Description: This ritual is a clever bit of Tremere sorcery designed to ensnare a spirit through a seemingly harmless exchange. The wizard intentionally offers their own blood to the spirit as a "payment" or a "gift." By performing the ritual beforehand, the wizard ensures that this blood carries a specific magical resonance—a subtle curse. Once the spirit accepts and consumes the blood, it unknowingly binds itself to the wizard's will, giving the wizard an automatic success in any social or mental challenge against it.
Mechanics:
The Tremere must first perform the ritual over the blood to be offered. Once enchanted, Tremere can pay the spirit any number of blood up to three. Each blood consumed by the spirit grants the caster an automatic success on a challenge against the spirit. These automatic successes are consumed when used.
Example:
Bob the Tremere casts this ritual and pays a spirit 3 blood for a job the spirit did for Bob. Then Bob tries to bind the spirit into a fetish. Good for you Bob! Turn on your friends.
Anyway, Bob gets an automatic success on the binding challenge, and the spirit uses three retests. The first two Bob cancels with his automatic wins. The third retest Bob is out of automatic wins and has to throw. Sadly, Bob loses and has to spend an Occult for a second retest, which he also loses. So now the spirit is mad at Bob, and he has no more advantages. Silly Bob.
The caster must place the book to be copied on a flat surface. A tray must be placed on top of the book and filled with a mixture of one trait of vitae and 200ml of black ink per hundred pages to be copied. A blank book of the same size or larger (length, width, and page count) must then be placed into the ink.
The caster then chants the incantation for ten minutes, drawing a copy of the knowledge from the first book up into the second and awakening the blood in the ink, causing it to bind the ink on the pages into a perfect replica of the first book.
The entire contents of the first book are copied over exactly. Nothing can be omitted, added, or changed. Any text with a magical effect active upon it will fail to be copied.
A hero and reputedly a god himself, Hermoor was commanded by the Odin to carry a message to Hel that Baldur was to be released. Enduring all else, Hermoor delivered his message, no matter how many he had to slay. He is a patron of both heroes and messengers.
System: The Koldun takes a rock -approximately the size of a softball-and carves runes asking Hermoor to carry his message and message of one other, in a perfect line around the rock. The Koldun then, at a difficulty of 6 traits, twists each half of the rock and it comes apart completely smooth. Each end that is held may be listened to and spoken into and each carrier may speak to another no matter the language or distance. Each language is understood by the bearer of each half, though those listening will hear nothing. The ritual lasts one night and the two halves may be rejoined for use in casting again, or they crumble to broken frost at dawn, as Hel bars Hermoor his message.
Advanced Ritual
Time Required: Thirty minutes.
Duration: One Night
Components: Possession of item from ‘mirror’.
Prerequisites:
Thaumaturgy: Path of Blood – Potency of Blood
Disciplines: Obfuscate: Mask of 1000 Faces; Presence: Entrancement
Ability: Occult – 3; Subterfuge – 2
Drawing on the hermetic teachings of sympathetic magic and constructive reality, this ritual creates a mirrored image to envelop the caster and cause her to appear as someone else entirely. Unlike the powers of Mask of 1000 Faces, this ritual allows the caster to ‘mask’ completely as the mirrored person – regardless of size, shape, sex, or distance from the caster.
The caster must collect an item from a person who will then act as a ‘mirror’ for their ritual. The caster must discover and take into possession an intimate object of the ‘mirror’ or a piece of their body, such as a large lock of hair or a removed finger. After the ritual is cast with the item, the caster uses this ‘mirror’ as their default mask when using the Mask of 1000 discipline. They must continue to spend a mental trait to assume a different mask, and they will no longer have the option of choosing the usual unidentifiable visage that comes free with the power.
When the mask is activated, the caster will appear exactly as the ‘mirror’ appears at that same point in time. They will have the same clothing, same five o’clock shadow, same ketchup stain on their chin, etc. Once the image is captured, the caster may then carry on as she would and the image matches her own actions and words. At this point, the image is no longer dependent on the ‘mirror,’ so that if the ‘mirror’ suddenly takes his clothes off, the caster will not be unexpectedly standing in Elysium in the buff. If the mask is dropped for any reason, the image is recaptured when the power is reactivated and a new image is gained based on that new time.
For example, Ivan the Thaumaturgical takes a lock of Susie’s hair while she is sleeping. Susie is a twelve-year-old girl from Sheboygan. Ivan casts the ritual three nights later in his chambers while holding the lock of hair. Later that evening, he goes to the area pinball arcade where foul dealings are suspected in the back alley. When he activates his Mask of 1000 Faces, his default mask is Susie. He now looks like a 5’3” 12 year old girl wearing jeans and a Brittany Spears t-shirt. He camouflages well in the crowd of teenagers and spies on the group that is congregating in the alley. Half an hour later, Ivan has to drop his Mask to report to his allies. After reporting, he masks again as Susie to return to his observations. Unfortunately, it is a little late by now, and Susie is in pink pajamas and has toothpaste on her chin. Ivan captures the image and finds himself suddenly very conspicuous and has to retreat.
A Tremere may have a stock of items useful in creating numerous ‘mirrors’ though she may only activate one ‘mirror’ at a time and must recast the thirty-minute ritual again to change to another ‘mirror.’
This ritual has never been known to work with non-sentient creatures or items, though it has been tested successfully on other vampires and garou.