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.
Challenge: Social (Retest Occult)
Cost: none
Duration: Instant
Difficulty: Static: 7
Notes: This ritual may be performed on another target, however they must also meet the requirements of indulging their frenzy previously.
Pre-Requisit: Charon’s Ore
Effect: If properly performed, you may negate any one frenzy (Player's Choice) until sunrise.
Although Charon founded the Boatmans Circle or otherwise known as Oath Circle of the Oar... they developed an ancient skill to seperate a Wraith from their Shadow. All but Charon was blessed by the Ritual of Severance. He was said to have absolute control over his darker impulses. While other Boatman ended up creating Pasiphae, Charon did not. There is a lot of speculation on how Charon was able to achieve this, the popular theory is that through his relationship with the Lady of Fate, and his “divine right to rule”.
Kindred however are not able to completely seperate themselves from their beast (except by the mythic stories of Gholconda). However, they can sedate privately, so when they are out in public they appear to have an Iron Grip control over their darker impulses just like the legends of Charon. Although not the same - not everyone can be as powerful or blessed by the Lady of Fate.
By invoking all the memories and the ideals that once was Charon of old in the early days of Stygia. The Samedi privately indulge their darker urges and impulses. Essentially they frenzy in private, and get the beast "out of their system"; so that later they may suppress it with a mere thought.
Challenge Type: Social
Retest: Occult
Static Difficulty: 7
This ritual is cast in a sacred space, and calls upon bond between the Chosen and the Baron. With this ritual, the Samedi Hougan forces the Devote or those chosen by other Children to recognize that you are among the Chosen, and they are not. Allowing you to Negate a single power granted by the Baron, that they wield, should they decide to use it against you, for the entire night.
The Powers you may choose from are: Thanatosis, Necromancy Paths, Necromancy Rituals. You may only choose only one power at casting, and you may not cast this ritual against the same target more than once at the same time. You must declare your target when casting, but need no arcane link to them as the power they call from the Baron, is enough to establish your Fortitude against the folly choice to use his blessings against his Chosen Children. This Ritual may not be cast on any other character under any circumstances, unless that character is also a Samedi.
Example: Billy Brujah attempts to use Thanatosis against Joe Samedi. Joe Samedi anticipated this, and Billy's use of Thanatosis is useless against Joe. Billy however may still use the Thanatosis against anyone else however, as they are not blessed by the Chosen's Fortitude.
Challenge: Social (Retest Occult)
Cost: “X” Temp. willpower, equal to the level of virtue restored.
Duration: Scene
Difficulty: Static: Triple the Level of the Virtue Level Violation
Notes: This Ritual may only be used on another target;
Effect: If successful the Target restores a permanently lost Virtue Trait, so long as “Penance” is performed in the same session/night in which it is lost. This ritual has no effect on Morality Traits. After the Ritual is successful, the Samedi is considered temporarily 1 less in the restored virtue for as many days as the level restored. This ritual may not be used on the same Target within X game sessions for the same Virtue - where X equals the level of virtue restored.
Shepherding one’s community is no easy task. Loco & Ayizan are no strangers to this either. It is through them the first Hougan and Mambo whom you call upon for their ages of experience and power. For if anyone could heal the mind it is them.
Loco & Ayizan, even more so than Papa Legba are very formal and very traditional - thus easier to offend, Naturally gifts always go a long way.. Although the Loa will help the Samedi’s community They must hear aloud what individual has done. Why they have done it. How they could avoid it. Lastly; how they will endeavor to be better.
Once they are satisfied, Loco will grant his permission for the individual to be marked. The Samedi then creates a paste from Cornmeal, Wood Ash, and both their and the targets blood. As it is mixed, and chanted over it thins to a paint like consistency and has a rough texture. Loco’s Veve is then put over the Targets chest. The ritual is concluded as the Samedi then places their hand over the veve and thanks the loa for their aid.
The Target experiences a brief possession, as Loco Passes through their body, as if their entire essence takes a few moments to “no longer be in the driver seat” and a feeling that all that they are is channeled through the veve, into the Samedi’s hand. During this Loco may be seen by the Target, and the Samedi as a Ghostly irredecent soft light that passes from one body, into the next. When the Samedi removes their hand the veve is gone (as it is now on the Samedi’s chest) After the fact, Loco leaves the target with a parting memory that although he has healed them; their transgression was passed to their priest so that it may no longer be theirs to burden. Let it be a lesson that nothing is without cost, and your Priest has paid yours.
By using a trait of an animal's blood, one of your shape of the beast (either flight or fight) is changed to that animal for the night. A duplicate casting, replaces the previous one, and you can not invoke both Flight and Fight castings at the same time.
Challenge Type: Social
Retest: Occult
Static Difficulty: 7
In revenge for the murder of relatives by rival tribes the Jivaro developed the practice of Blood Revenge. When the Jivaro went to war they did battle both physically and spiritually. The Jivaro believed that unless the spirit of a slain warrior was captured, it would be free to curse and send bad luck to the victorious warrior and his tribe. In exacting Blood Revenge the Jivaro would take the heads of their fallen foes. After a week long ritual (which would eventually shrink the head to the size of a grapefruit) the spirit of the dead warrior would be bound to the Shrunken head or Tsantsa. This gruesome act served a dual function of preventing the enemy spirit from harming the warrior's ancestors in the afterlife as well as prevent it from aiding its tribe.
Mechanics - The necromancer must take the head of a fallen foe. After taking the head it must be specially prepared in a week long ritual that involves removing the skin from the head and salting the flesh. After boiling the head to shrink it's size, and stitching the head around a rock the ritual would be complete. During this week long process the victim slowly takes form in the shadowlands released from his caul at the end of the week. Invoking this ritual costs a willpower, and one week of preparation. At the end of the ritual the shrunken head acts as a 5 point fetter to the wraith. Anyone in possession of the head is +2 traits up in all challenges involving the wraith.
optional - To avoid PC trouble, this ritual will not work on PCs or Kindred/Cainites who, because of their age, would crumble to ash upon Final Death.
Advanced Ritual
The ritual is attuned to an infernalist or diabolist by combining their birth name with the name of their demonic patron. Once this information is known, a circle 10 feet in diameter is drawn. The circle works as a mixture of both summoning and binding. The caster must draw the circle in the real world and then subsequently draw another one, inverted, in the Shadowlands at the exact same point. The two circles must overlay each other in the two realms.
Once drawn, the circles must be powered by three individuals immune to the powers of the infernal. The circle then makes the infernalist weaker and gives those opposing him a chance to shrug off his infernal power.
System:
The caster draws the two, overlapping circles. How they get into the Shadowlands is up to them and not facilitated by this ritual. Once the circles are drawn, the caster has three individuals with the "Blessed" merit (Note: This is the Blessed Merit out of Sins of Blood that makes the bearer immune to Dark Thaumaturgy, not the Dark Ages Malkavian Blessed Merit) stand in the real world/skinland circle. Once they are there, they must each chant the target's birth name and patron demon's name (note: no True Names required) for the duration of the ritual (including after the ritual is cast and while it is in effect). Should any of the Blessed Three take ANY action beyond chanting, be it moving, attacking or coughing, the ritual will fail.
Once the circles are drawn and the Blessed are in place, the ritual takes 30 minutes to cast. At the completion of the ritual (and the standard ritual challenge), there is a mental vs. physical challenge against the infernal target. The infernalist may not use Potence in defense. Should the caster be successful, the infernal target is teleported within the summoning circle and is in his own body. He is bound within the circle for 30 seconds (10 rounds). He may do anything he wishes for those 10 rounds other then leave the circle. Should he attack the three Blessed, they are equally protected and immune to any form of outside manipulation by the infernal target.
During these 30 seconds, after successfully using any Infernal Investment, Dark Thaumaturgical power or Daimoinion power, the target is required to make a static mental challenge against 25 traits. Should he lose, the infernal-fueled power fails.
If the Blessed take any action during these 30 seconds, the infernal target will immediately vanish back to where he came from, though fully aware of everything that transpired.
Level: Basic
Materials Required: Bloodstone, Caster’s Vitae
Discipline Prerequisites: Hermetic Thaumaturgy
This ritual functions in all ways as “Craft Bloodstone” (Basic, R3, Storyteller’s Guide, p.65) except one. Once the bloodstone is enchanted, anyone holding the Inverted Bloodstone and concentrating gets a rough feeling as to the direction and distance of the thaumaturge who cast the ritual.
System: As per “Craft Bloodstone”, only reversed. Holding the bloodstone gives direction and distance to the thaumaturge that cast it, rather than the thaumaturge knowing direction and distance to the stone.
Others scoff, and denigrate Hermetic Thaumaturgy as, “Industrial Magic”, but the Tremere of the Pyramid know better. The ability to collaborate, to take apart magic, study it, take the parts you need, and combine it in new ways is what makes the Tremere the premiere blood mages of the Camarilla.
This ritual was developed in response to a collaboration between House Trismegistus and the Josians to create something that would be useful for both. This ritual is intended to facilitate all types of group study and research, especially those involving searches for information about demons carried out by the Josians and Thaumaturgical studies in general carried out by the Tremere.
The thaumaturge creates a paste by mixing a point of his blood with equal portions of rosemary, thyme, and powdered bay leaf. After the mixture takes on the correct consistency, it is necessary to add seven drops of araçá essential oil, a plant native to Brazil. As the paste dries quickly, it must be promptly placed in a mold of the user's choice so that the incense can be shaped soon after being ready.
Mechanical:
When accessing a room with the incense, where a group will participate in a study session, the time required to achieve the study objective is reduced by ⅓ of the original time and the difficulty on rolls related to completing the study in question is reduced by 3 traits. If kept lit, the incense will burn slowly for a month. If it is extinguished earlier, the magical properties of the incense will be lost, and the ritual will need to be performed again, with newly created incense.
Master Ritual
Time Required: One Hour
Duration: One Night
Components: Sharp iron item
Prerequisites:
Thaumaturgy: Path of Blood – Cauldron; Spirit Thaumaturgy – Fetishes
Ability: Occult – 5
This ritual calls for the participation (willing or otherwise) of another vampire. The caster must perform the half of the ritual over the prepared body of the vampire while she is not staked, and the second half of the ritual must be performed while she is staked. Additionally, the caster must include two sharp iron items during the entire casting. These iron items many be as small as a knife or as large as a long sword, but larger and smaller sizes have had limited success. The two pieces of iron do not need to be the same items, though they must still be within the size ratio recommended. During the ritual, the iron items must be bound to each other by a pure fabric – unbleached and no synthetics. The participant does not have to be Tremere, nor does it have any other requirements other than being a vampire that can be staked. This ritual will not work when performed on a heart without a body, such as can be accomplished with Heart of Darkness.
After half of the ritual has been performed, the participant must be successfully staked. At the end of the second half, the caster must expend a temporary Willpower. Then, the iron items must be freed from their bindings by untying the material. Then one of the iron items must be inserted into the participant. It is commonly inserted into the stomach, but that location is not required. The same fabric must then be secured to the second item immediately (within a minute or two), and it must remain secured to the item through the duration of the ritual. The second iron item is often prepared so that removing the material is difficult at best, but the fabric must not come off of the piece.
A bond has now been placed between the two iron items, which will allow the caster to attach a bond between a later target of second iron item and the staked participant. For the rest of the evening, any creature that is successfully hit with the iron weapon will share the fate of the ritual participant. The iron piece must penetrate the body of the target, but the location is not important. The target may be struck through the hand, in the side, through the foot, in the leg, etc. As soon as the iron pierces the flesh, the target will be under the same effect as the staked participant. She will be immediately immobilized and under all conditions that staking brings. This ritual will work even if the target has the ritual Heart of Stone active, Deflection of the Wooden Doom, or even has no heart through Heart of Darkness. The action will not set of any preventative rituals designed to protect from staking, as the target of this ritual is not actually staked but is subject to all of the effects through the sympathetic bond.
If the caster pulls out the iron item, the target will no longer be under the influence of the ritual, and the stake may still be used on a later target until sunrise. The caster may be the target of her own weapon if she is not careful.
Iron Curtain was created by Ruth Tep when she got tired of her enemies escaping into other planes that the rest of her pack couldn’t affect. Of course her mighty Koldunism could reach across any realm, but her pack needed its targets to stay put for them to do their job. It has side effects, but this ritual makes that possible. Iron Curtain locks interdimensional travel, perception, and manipulation within a certain distance from the caster. Unfortunately as a side effect, the casters spirits are just as removed as its enemy’s, but when used correctly, it is hard to deny the strength of Iron Curtain.
The caster takes a handful of the dirt in the Carpathian mountains and mixes a trait of blood with it into a thick red paste. The paste is then pressed into a disk roughly 3” in diameter, and left to dry completely in a place that the sun will back it to a brittle cake. This will take three full days. The ritual requires the ancestral soil as a link to the user, so quite accidentally so non-Tzimisce will not be able to use this ritual. Currently this isn’t known, because it has never come up, and we seriously doubt it even will. The actual ritual begins at this point where the Koldune chants and curses around the disk for the duration of a normal advanced ritual. Once complete the creator can take this disk with him and with a few words of power the caster breaks the disk to create its effect. The activation is a one action casting time, and much in the same vein of Koldunism; it will break Obfuscate and is generally very loud and unsubtle.
In a one hundred foot radius around the caster all barriers between realms are completely locked. This is not a rating of ten, but completely blocked. If a numeric value is needed consider it to be in the hundreds. No power, entity, object, or other noun can cross or affect beyond any of the realms. This means that the caster’s spirits can no longer support her, but it also means that the Necromancer in front of her cannot get aid from his wraithly allies either. The effect moves with the caster and last for an hour or scene, once broken and thus activated. The disks will last indefinitely until used, but can be destroyed by very mundane means accidentally or otherwise. The effect only triggers if the disk is broken only by the caster while calling out words of power, but if it is dissolved in a puddle, snapped by anyone else, or just kept somewhere the brittle disk gets sat on by accident, it will be useless. Powers that this ritual will stop are as included, but not limited to the following… Grasp the Beyond, Ex Nilio, Jump into the Shadowlands, Duality, any form of ‘Stepping Sideways’ whether it came from Mage spheres, Garou gifts, or Vampiric Disciplines, and many more…
Iron Maiden (Intermediate - 3)
As the Iron main closes you feel your skin crawl as the needles press the first point into you. Then they slowly begin to pierce and tear through the flesh, and that’s when you realize what true pain feels like. Every inch of your body is pierced with needles. It’s all your mind can think about. Your mind begins to focus on nothing but the pain. No sound, no sight. Just the pain that the mother has chosen to give you.
Mechanics: Spend a willpower and enter into the chamber. The chamber closes around you and you take 2 lethal which can not be soaked. After the damage has been taken your mind begins to meditate on what you must do. Your senses are dulled all except for the pain. The longer you stay in the worse this ritual becomes. After 1 night your hearing deafens, acquiring the flaw Deaf. After 2 nights your voice becomes hoarse from the screaming and you become mute. After 3 nights you start hallucinating and seeing things that aren’t really there. However this does have a purpose. Once you leave the chamber you may inflict these effects on someone for the evening. You must have line of sight, or a sympathetic link. The Bahari must stab their hand, bleeding two blood traits and throwing them onto the iron maiden and scream out the name of their victim. When you next see this victim a contested Mental Challenge (Retest Torture) risking 1-3 mental traits equal to the effects you wish to invoke, against the victim. If the user wins, all 3 effects happen to the victim. If the user ties, the victim becomes deaf and blind, if the user loses, the victim begins to hallucinate as if under the effects of Haunting, additionally the Lilin begins to suffer the effects instead and the victim is immune to further attempts for one month.
Another ritual that was developed as a means of levying punishment upon the Children of Seth who have committed crimes against others. This allows the Sadhu to afflict their target with terrible nightmares shaped by the carter's imagination.
System: The Sadhu must possess a sympathetic link, which is incorporated into a facsimile of their target, over which a ritual is performed. If successful, the next time their target goes to sleep, they will be afflicted with nightmares in which they suffer the same crimes that they have visited upon others. This should be treated mechanically as per the Nightmares Flaw. Characters attending a game after having been haunted by this ritual should begin down one Willpower point. The Sadhu may continue to cast this ritual on successive nights, with their difficulty increasing by 2 per night to a maximum of 16 Traits. Sleeping on Holy Ground or in a location that has been supernaturally warded against such things will provide protection from this ritual.