LEVEL 1
ASHES TO ASHES
Oblivion •
Destroying evidence of feeding is a necessity among vampires who leave dead bodies in their wake. This power enables a vampire to destroy a corpse — fresh or long dead — by introducing their vitae to its body. This power does not work on vampires, but can work on animated cadavers, at the Storyteller's discretion.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Stamina + Oblivion vs. Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude
System: The vampire makes a Rouse Check to expend vitae, and introduces the vitae to the corpse. Unless the corpse is animated, the body disintegrates over three turns with no test necessary. If it is, the user rolls a contest of Stamina + Oblivion against Stamina. (Corpses with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude.) If the user wins, the animated corpse dissolves in five turns, minus the margin (minimum one, and disintegrating corpses suffer physical Impairment). On a critical win, the corpse disintegrates immediately. On a total failure, the corpse is subsequently immune to this power from any user.
Duration: Variable (see Difficulty effects)
THE BINDING FETTER
Oblivion •
The vampire can identify objects or locations important to ghosts. These “fetters” act as icons that bind the dead to their existence. A fetter might be an object, a building, or even a person. Knowing if an object is a fetter allows a necromancer to better manipulate the ghost. Fetters emanate variable auras, some bursting with vitality and glowing gold light, others radiating decay, or odors important to the bound wraith, such as the smell of freshly baked bread, gasoline, or cigarette smoke.
Cost: Free
Dice Pools: Wits + Oblivion
System: On activation, the user’s senses become supernaturally attuned to the energies of fetters, and they may identify these auras by sight, smell, and their other senses. While this power is in use, the vampire is distracted from other activity around them, conveying a −2 penalty to Dexterity and Wits rolls.
Duration: One night
OBLIVION'S SIGHT
Oblivion •
The vampire’s eyes turn black, allowing them to see clearly within pitch darkness and to perceive ghosts who are not actively hiding their presence.
Cost: Free
System: On activation, the user’s eyes become supernaturally attuned to darkness, allowing them to ignore all low-light penalties, including those of supernatural origin. They still need their eyes to see and are affected by blindfolds and the like as usual.
If a ghost is present and not attempting stealth or using a power to conceal its presence, the spirit becomes visible to the vampire using Oblivion’s Sight. In such cases, ghosts appear as they wish to appear, whether as humans bearing the wounds that caused their death, as spectral monstrosities, or as perfectly immaculate corpses. Ghosts do not automatically realize when a vampire spots them, but if they do, many react with fear or anger rather than passivity.
This power does not grant the ability to make physical contact with ghosts, and the pitch-black eyes incur a two-dice penalty to social interactions with mortals while active.
Duration: One scene
SHADOW CLOAK
Oblivion •
Subtly applying the influence of Oblivion on ambient shadows, the user masks their appearance or seems more sinister and threatening.
Cost: Free
System: The vampire gains a two-dice bonus to Stealth rolls, as well as on Intimidation versus mortals.
Duration: Passive
LEVEL 2
ARMS OF AHRIMAN
Oblivion ••
Amalgam: Potence ••
The vampire summons abyssal appendages from unlit spots in the area, within line of sight. Local shadows distort as murky tentacles snake out from them and converge on one or more hapless victims. Whether by gliding up the body of the victim or engaging in a mystic grapple with the victim’s own shadow, the arms are able to hold them in place or smother them.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Wits + Oblivion
System: Upon summoning the shadow appendages, the vampire can perform bludgeoning and grappling attacks against distant targets every turn. Additional arms can be created by splitting the dice pool, enabling the user to engage multiple opponents. (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 125). The arms use the vampire’s Wits + Oblivion to attack and deal Superficial damage or grapple, adding half the user’s Potence rating (round up) as a damage bonus.
Whilst active, the user is able to speak and make slight movements to maintain line of sight of targets, and can can make slightly larger movements as long as they have no meaningful impact on combat. They cannot activate other Discipline powers whilst the Arms are active. They can also be used to perform simple actions (such as opening doors and pulling levers) but nothing as advanced as typing or controlling vehicles. The arms have a length (in yards/meters) equal to twice the Oblivion dots of the user. (Note that the arms, being shadows, move across surfaces, not air, and any distances must take this into account.)
As two-dimensional shadows, they can only be harmed by bright light, such as from a powerful torch or daylight. The arms have three health levels and use their owner’s Wits + Oblivion to avoid and endure attacks, defending themselves and their user. This is handled as if defending normally, dealing no damage with these rolls and applying a cumulative one-die penalty to each defense. The user can choose whether to prioritize themselves or the arms when making these defensive rolls.
As the shadow tendrils constrict and assault victims via magical means, it takes an act of will to escape them. A constricted victim may roll Resolve + Composure and achieve more successes than the attacker to simply pass through the tendrils incurring no harm. This action does not dissipate the Arms of Ahriman, which can attack again on a subsequent turn if the wielder wishes it and the target is still within reach.
Duration: One scene or until ended or destroyed
Players Guide, pg. 86
Homebrew Errata Included
THE HARROWING
Oblivion ••
Amalgam: Auspex •
The Maeghar are known to reach into their enemies' resting minds — while on the precipice of death and sleep — to torment their nightmares.
Cost: Free
Dice Pool: Wits + Oblivion vs Resolve + Composure
System: The vampire holds something that belongs to the target. The target dreams of their own death when they next sleep. The vampire can suggest one element ("fire" or "a car crash") for each success above the threshold, and the Storyteller designs the nightmare. The target cannot fully remember the dream upon waking, but the trauma prevents them from regaining Willpower until the sun passes the horizon.
Duration: One nightmare
SHADOW CAST
Oblivion ••
Oblivion is powerful but can often be foiled by the
simple lack of appropriate shadows from which to
summon its manifestations. This power draws upon
the dark within the user to project a supernatural
shadow from which to manifest other powers, no
matter the ambient lightning. This shadow usually
mimics the movement and shape of the user but
can sometimes grow distorted and even monstrous,
resonating with the current temperament of its
owner.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: Activating the power conjures a supernatural shadow from the vampire’s body. As long as the power is active, the user casts this shadow, which cannot be removed except by direct sunlight.
Anyone witnessing the practitioner notices the shadow cast from no visible light source on a Wits + Awareness roll (Difficulty 3). The vampire can direct their shadow, elongating or distorting (but not detaching) it at will, though it can sometimes act on its own accord, at the Storyteller’s discretion. For the purposes of other powers such as Shadow Perspective, the practitioner can lengthen the shadow to up to twice the practitioner’s Oblivion rating in yards/meters.
For anyone standing within the shadow’s reach, the Willpower damage from social conflict increases by 1 (after halving for Superficial damage). Standing in Oblivion’s shadow is a terrifying prospect.
Duration: One scene
WHERE THE VEIL THINS
Oblivion ••
Vampires with an affinity for Oblivion can sense
where the veil between the world of the living and
the world of the dead is the weakest. This power
doesn’t tell a vampire why the veil between worlds
is thin in a certain place, though. In locations where
the veil is thinnest, mortal health suffers and use of
the Oblivion Discipline becomes easier.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Intelligence + Oblivion
System: Following a Rouse Check, the player
rolls Intelligence + Oblivion (Difficulty 3) and
on a win may determine the density of the veil
in their nearby area, as large as an entire building
or landmark. On a critical win, this roll reveals
whether the veil density recently changed. On a
total failure, the power backfires and gives a false
reading.
Without use of this power, Oblivion users cannot
benefit from a thinning of the veil, though penalties
apply at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Duration: One turn
| Shroud Density |
Possible Cause |
Effect
|
| Impenetrable |
No deaths took place here, sacred ground |
Wraiths cannot cross the Shroud here
|
| Thick |
Long ago a death took place here, a place of joy |
No effect
|
| Thin |
A death recently took place here, melancholic mortals often pass through this place |
−1 Difficulty on Oblivion Ceremony rolls
|
| Frayed |
A series of deaths took place here, Oblivion Ceremonies are often enacted here |
−2 Difficulty on Oblivion Ceremony rolls
|
| Absent |
Split the Veil was used here, wraiths regularly pass through this part of the veil |
−2 Difficulty on Oblivion Ceremony rolls, wraiths can freely pass to and from the lands of the dead, mortals suffer two Superficial Health damage in this area that cannot be healed until they depart
|
LEVEL 3
AURA OF DECAY
Oblivion •••
Kindred with a strong connection to Oblivion can affect the world around them, making plants wilt, animals and humans grow sick, and food go bad. Some harness this aura as a power, polluting vitality with rot, and speeding up the erosion of life. This power does not speed up the decay of dead things, though.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Stamina + Oblivion vs. Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude
System: The vampire makes a Rouse Check. Following a win on a Stamina + Oblivion roll (Difficulty 3), unintelligent organic and inorganic material within five yards/ meters of them suffers — plants turn black and die, food rots in its packaging, and even bricks start crumbling. Material affected in this way can become toxic to ingest, if for instance this power is used in a kitchen or a water supply. Such toxic food and drink, if consumed, can be expected to inflict two Superficial Health damage in the following scene to the individual who eats it, and for each scene thereafter until treated with an Intelligence + Medicine roll (Difficulty 3).
If anything living is caught in the aura, it makes a Stamina + Medicine contest against the vampire’s activation roll. For every point of margin the vampire has, the victim suffers one point of unhalved Superficial Health damage. This damage is slowly applied throughout the scene. Repeated applications of the power in the same scene have no effect on the Health of mortals already affected.
The power is an aura that lasts for an entire scene before it fades away. Anyone with a sense of smell can detect a rotting odor emanating from the vampire during the time the power is active, inflicting a two-dice penalty to any Social rolls the vampire makes.
Duration: One scene
PASSION FEAST
Oblivion •••
Amalgam: Fortitude ••
When a vampire needs to spend an extended period in the lands of the dead, or wishes to torment a spirit, this Oblivion power allows them to subsist on the passions of wraiths rather than blood. An accomplished necromancer can feed on these passions, enabling them to go without blood for longer than their fellow Kindred.
Cost: Free
Dice Pools: Resolve + Oblivion vs Resolve + Composure
System: A vampire with this power can drain a wraith of their passion. While in close proximity (three yards/meters or closer) to the wraith, they may roll a contest of Resolve + Oblivion vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure. A win for the vampire inflicts one Aggravated Willpower damage to the wraith and reduces the vampire’s Hunger by one. Feeding from a wraith may merit a Stain at the Storyteller’s discretion, as the consumed passion dulls the wraith’s reason for being, likely sending them down a path to self-destructive acts. The Storyteller determines the number of passions a wraith possesses (though five or more is rare), and may deem that the wraith becomes an uncontrollable, murderous spectre once all passions have been consumed.
Duration: Passive
SHADOW PERSPECTIVE
Oblivion •••
The vampire can project their senses into any shadow within line of sight, seeing and hearing as if they were hiding within any part of it. This includes their own shadow, as manipulated by Shadow Cast (p. 87).
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: Following a Rouse Check, the presence of the vampire’s senses in the shadow is undetectable by anything but supernatural means. (Sense the Unseen, for example). While this power is active the vampire perceives both their surroundings as well as what can be gleaned from the Shadow Perspective, as if looking through a screen or hole.
Duration: Up to one scene
SHADOW SERVANT
Oblivion •••
Amalgam: Auspex •
The vampire gives independent life to a part of their shadow and can use it to spy on or unnerve their enemies.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: The servant has no mind of its own, but follows its creator’s mental commands The shadow travels at running speed and can effortlessly slip under doors, climb walls, or slip into or through the smallest cracks, although it cannot endure brightly lit areas. It can also cling to moving vehicles, and its range is limited only by how far it can travel in one night. It hears and sees everything in its vicinity and can convey the information as soon as it is reabsorbed into its creator’s shadow. The shadow servant can only be banished by bright light, such as from a powerful torch or daylight, but a successful Wits + Oblivion roll against Difficulty 3 allows the servant to avoid the light for a turn.
Duration: One scene
TOUCH OF OBLIVION
Oblivion •••
The vampire using Touch of Oblivion can harm and cripple with a single touch, aging the affected body part catastrophically. It can be used to wither a limb, crumple a throat, or to blind a pair of eyes.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: Following a Rouse Check, the vampire grips their victim, requiring a Strength + Brawl roll if the victim is trying to avoid the vampire. Once gripped, the victim suffers two levels of Aggravated damage as well as a crippling injury.
If this injury is inflicted to an arm or leg, the targeted limb is rendered crippled and in the case of mortals requires lengthy rehabilitation, while vampires can mend the damage as regular Aggravated damage. Likewise, Touch of Oblivion may render a target mute, deaf, or blind. See crippling injuries (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 303) for mechanical details. Storytellers may decide that inflicting such mutilation warrants Stains.
Duration: One turn
LEVEL 4
NECROTIC PLAGUE
Oblivion ••••
Through touch alone, the vampire can poison a
mortal victim’s blood, imbuing them with a disease
that wracks and ravages their body. This disease can
also be made contagious and transmit the same harm
to other mortals. Oblivion practitioners schooled
in medicine often have enough talent to make
this power appear in the form of specific illnesses,
sometimes including some believed extinct.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Intelligence + Oblivion vs. Stamina + Stamina or Fortitude
System: The user makes a Rouse Check and then rolls Intelligence + Oblivion while touching their mortal victim. If the victim is weak (a baby, elderly, unwell, recovering from an illness, dying, or with 3 unmarked Health boxes or less), they are automatically infected. If the victim is healthy, they make a Stamina test (those with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude), resisting the disease if they roll more successes than the vampire.
Victims of the disease take one Aggravated Health damage at the start of every scene following their infection. The victim suffers from the disease for a number of scenes equal to the user’s Oblivion rating. This damage cannot be medically treated, as it is supernatural in origin, but it can be healed through drinking vitae.
If the player rolls a critical win when activating this power, they can choose to make the disease communicable via touch, with subsequent recipients suffering the disease for one turn fewer than the victim by whom they were infected.
Use of this power warrants Stains, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Duration: One turn to activate, variable length of condition
STYGIAN SHROUD
Oblivion ••••
Nearby shadows spread outwards as the vampire blankets the area in a layer of darkness, while sounds become muffled and indistinct. Anyone viewing the effect from without sees it as a shadow expanding over every surface, including the bodies of any victims, in the area. Those apart from the invoker caught in the effects find themselves struggling to see and hear their surroundings, and mortals are drained of their very life by the suffocating power.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: The user makes a Rouse Check and spends a turn concentrating, spreading the shadow over the desired surfaces. The effect covers a circular area with a radius equal to twice the user’s Oblivion rating in yards/meters. The area is centered on the user or a spot in their line of sight.
Anyone caught in the Stygian Shroud receives a three dice penalty to all rolls, unless they possess the ability to see through supernatural darkness. Any mortals caught in the Stygian Shroud suffer one level of Superficial damage for every turn they remain within it, due to the power’s suffocating effects.
Duration: One scene
UMBROUS CLUTCH
Oblivion ••••
The user creates a temporary gate out of the victim’s own shadow, causing them to fall through Oblivion and into the waiting arms of the user. The victim will appear to fall into their own shadow, only to reappear falling out of the one cast by the user. The brief journey through the end of everything is usually enough to traumatize the victim into submission, though one must be prepared if the quarry responds violently in fear.
Dice Pools: Wits + Oblivion vs. Dexterity + Wits
Cost: One Rouse Check. Gain one Stain
System: In order to use this power, the vampire needs clear sight of both the victim and their shadow. The vampire’s player or Storyteller then rolls Wits + Oblivion vs. Dexterity + Wits to maneuver the victim’s shadow beneath them, creating a supernatural rift into which they appear to fall. At the Storyteller’s discretion, a stationary victim not paying attention can be automatically caught.
A victim caught by this power will then reappear, falling out of the shadow cast by the user. (As with similar powers, the power does not work if the caster is without a shadow.) An unprepared mortal victim will be terrified and likely catatonic, while a vampire must test for fury or fear frenzy, Storyteller’s choice, at Difficulty 4.
Duration: Instant
LEVEL 5
SHADOW STEP
Oblivion •••••
Stepping into a nearby shadow, the user disappears only to reappear from the same or another shadow further away. Whether they enter the Labyrinth or merely pass along its surface is a source of conjecture among many Lasombra and Hecata, but the spiritual damage with which they can emerge implies they are touching something foul as they use this power.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: The vampire must enter a shadow large enough to cover them, and emerge from another one turn later. The target shadow must be within sight, though it can be perceived by mystical means, such as Shadow Perspective, if desired.
It is possible to bring another through the passage, but unless that person is willing, they must be held by a successful grapple. If a Stain is incurred as a result of using this power, the passenger also receives one.
Duration: One turn
SKULD FULFILLED
Oblivion •••••
This power enables a vampire to reintroduce illnesses to victims who recovered from them, break bones long-since healed, and revoke a ghoul’s immunity to aging. While this power doesn’t work on vampires, it is an effective way of cutting through their servants and ensuring debts to fate are repaid, without having to come into contact with the recipient.
Cost: Two Rouse Checks
Dice Pools: Stamina + Oblivion vs. Stamina + Stamina or Fortitude
System: The vampire makes two Rouse Checks as they expend sufficient vitae to coat both their palms and their face with blood, recalling the faces of their targets. If the user succeeds in a contest of Stamina + Oblivion vs. the victim’s Stamina x 2 (those with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude), the targeted individual is affected by a serious condition they’ve historically suffered and recovered from, such as treated cancer, a broken bone, or a disease — including one gained through Necrotic Plague (p. 90) — with any debilitating effects from this condition occurring immediately. The condition’s effects are for the Storyteller to determine, but they should be severe (See the Crippling Injuries table for inspiration, Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 303). If the victim is a ghoul, this power removes their immunity to aging and eliminates any vitae in their system, potentially resulting in older ghouls dying or even disintegrating where they stand. On a critical win, this power may kill the victim by stopping their heart completely if the user wishes. On a total failure, the vampire cannot use this power against that individual again.
Duration: Variable, dependent on whether the condition is treatable
TENEBROUS AVATAR
Oblivion •••••
The vampire gains the ability to change their very substance into that of a shadow, becoming a two-dimensional patch of darkness able to slither over any surface and through minuscule gaps and cracks. While in this form the vampire is only harmed by fire and sunlight.
Cost: Two Rouse Checks
System: The transformation takes one turn, during which the vampire is unable to do anything else. Once the transformation is complete the vampire can move at walking pace across the ground or along walls, hampered only by hermetically sealed barriers.
Vampires using Tenebrous Avatar can envelop victims, causing the victim to reduce all their dice pools by three and suffocating mortals as with Stygian Shroud, above. If surrounding a mortal, the vampire can feed from them without penetrating the skin with fangs.
Practitioners of this power take no damage from physical sources but can be harmed by fire and sunlight as normal. Mental Disciplines can still be used at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Duration: One scene or until ended
WITHERING SPIRIT
Oblivion •••••
This power channels raw entropy via rapid spiritual decay, affecting vampires as well as kine by targeting the victim’s spirit. A vampire using this power risks Stains, as it can completely obliterate the victim’s spirit, preventing return as a wraith.
Cost: Two Rouse Checks, Stains (variable amount)
Dice Pools: Resolve + Oblivion (vs. Resolve + Occult, with Fortitude added if the victim possesses it)
System: The vampire makes two Rouse Checks to expend sufficient vitae to coat both hands, and touches the victim. After rolling Resolve + Oblivion vs. the victim’s Resolve + Occult (+ Fortitude, if they possess it), the victim suffers two Aggravated Willpower damage for every one of the attacker’s successes. The attack erodes the victim’s spirit until they’re a broken husk.
Use of this power may incur one to three Stains for the attacker, unless they have Convictions to mitigate the cost.
Duration: One turn
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 234
Ceremonies each have a prerequisite Oblivion power. At character creation a player can choose one Level 1 Ceremony if they have at least one Oblivion power noted as a prerequisite for that Ceremony. Characters can buy new Ceremonies at the cost of the Ceremony’s level x 3 experience points, providing they meet the power prerequisite as well. Learning new Ceremonies during play requires both experience and time, as well as a teacher who knows the Ceremony already. Expect a Ceremony to take at least the square of its rating in weeks to learn.
LEVEL 1
THE GIFT OF FALSE LIFE
Oblivion •
Prerequisite: Ashes to Ashes
Through use of this Ceremony, a vampire can raise a corpse or group of corpses to perform simple, single or repetitive tasks.
Ingredients: A human body (or multiple bodies), a small concoction of blood, phlegm, and bile.
Process: After applying the concoction to the corpse or corpses and performing the Ceremony, the affected bodies animate into a form of false life. They follow a single simple command from the vampire, providing the corpse is physically capable of performing it, such as “sweep the floor,” “hold this door shut,” or “walk around the house perimeter.” They have no ability to think or calculate, so conditional or complicated commands such as “attack the next person to walk through this archway,” “drive this car,” or “build a shack” do not work. They may be directed towards a specific target for attack or other action if the user points at the target.
System: The vampire makes their Ceremony roll and upon a win they raise a number of corpses equal to their Oblivion rating, or the number of bodies they have prepared (whichever is lower). A critical win doubles their Oblivion rating for the purpose of determining corpses raised. The mindless corpse’s animation ends when it is destroyed or it concludes its task. These corpses do not defend themselves from attacks, and decay as normal; the Ceremony does not grant them any form of immunity to the elements or time.
| Mindless Corpse
|
Standard Dice Pools: Physical 2, Social 0, Mental 0
Secondary Attributes: Health 4, Willpower 0
Exceptional Dice Pools: Intimidation 4
Special: Mindless corpses take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage, and rot at least one Superficial Health damage each day. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not react to motion, words, or interference from anyone but their creator. Mindless corpses may always contribute to Teamwork (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 122) for menial labor such as digging, lifting, or pushing even if they lack Skills.
General Difficulties: 2/1
|
THE KNOWING STONE
Oblivion •
Prerequisite: Oblivion's Sight
This Ceremony enables Necromancers to identify the locations and existences of specific ghosts.
Ingredients: Stone from a church wall (or other holy site) and a cup of the caster’s vitae.
Process: They pour it from their body into a vessel and then uses it to write out the true name of a deceased human on the consecrated stone. If the individual still exists as a ghost, their location becomes clear to the vampire.
System: Roll Resolve + Oblivion (Difficulty 2). If the target exists as a ghost, the vampire receives a vision of the ghost’s location. The vision can be accessed for the remainder of the scene.
SUMMON SPIRIT
Oblivion •
Prerequisite: The Binding Fetter
This Ceremony enables a vampire to summon a spirit from the Underworld.
Ingredients: One of the targeted wraith’s fetters (see The Binding Fetter, p. 85), a photo or other visual depiction of the wraith or their signed name, and the caster’s vitae.
Process: The necromancer pours their vitae over a wraith’s fetter, and studying the picture or signature, calls out the wraith’s name. The wraith feels their fetter’s call, and begins a journey from their location in the Underworld to that of the caster. Though geography has differing scales in the Underworld, a journey may still take several nights if the spirit is on the other side of the world. If the veil is thin enough in the summoning location, the wraith is pulled through the veil between worlds by the fetter’s strength. The summoned wraith is under no obligation to serve the vampire upon being called and may act with hostility if they feel the vampire is threatening their fetter. Alternatively, the wraith may be grateful for the summoning and the possibility of companionship.
System: The caster daubs the fetter with their vitae and makes an Oblivion Ceremony roll. The wraith cannot pass through the veil if it’s impenetrable in the Ceremony location (see p. 88). Moving the fetter after the Ceremony doesn’t help, as the wraith’s ability to pass through the veil disappears if the fetter leaves the Ceremony site. The wraith disappears at the end of the scene unless a separate Ceremony is used to compel or bind them.
Wraiths summoned in this way do not manifest physically, but as shadows on the walls, quavering silhouettes of their living selves, from which voices might emerge. Wraiths speak the same languages they did in life, unless they’ve gone to the trouble of learning new ones in the Underworld.
TRAVELER'S CALL
Oblivion •
Prerequisite: Oblivion's Sight
This simple Ceremony is taught by the Cult of Shalim to all priests before their release into the wider world. Since all priests of Shalim are linked by their common bond with Apolleon the Traveler, they are able to use his presence in eternal Oblivion as a nexus between themselves and their followers.
Ingredients: The black book gifted to them following their indoctrination into the cult
Process: By using the Traveler’s Call with their black book in hand and the name of another Shalimite in mind, a priest can send a ripple out across Oblivion, calling the target to their location. Unlike a true summoning, this power does not place a compulsion upon the victim, but does alert the Shalimite being contacted to the vampire’s current location through a repetitive, flashing vision of the scenery surrounding the calling Kindred.
System: The cultist must possess their black book and know the name of another Shalimite. The vampire’s player makes a Ceremony roll (Difficulty 3). The contacted vampire can choose to ignore the call, but the flashing vision gives them −2 dice to all rolls involving concentration for the remainder of the scene, at which point the call disappears. A critical win by the vampire allows them to send a single-word message to their point of contact along with the vision.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 93
LEVEL 2
AWAKEN THE HOMUNCULAR SERVANT
Oblivion ••
Prerequisite: Where the Veil Thins
Vampires use this Ceremony to create servants and spies out of body parts such as hands or skulls, or small dead animals like rats or foxes. Some necromancers work almost exclusively with homunculi, their workshops filled with scrambling and unsettling creatures.
Ingredients: The required body part or animal carcass, the weapon used to sever/kill it, a small concoction of urine, fecal matter, and semen.
Process: The caster coats a blade (or other device suited to the task) in a gross cocktail of bodily fluids, and uses it to cut the targeted appendage off its root limb or body, or kills the small animal (which cannot be larger than a small dog and cannot fly, regardless of whether it has wings). After massaging vitae into the target, it comes to life as a homuncular servant, unfailingly loyal to its master.
System: The necromancer makes an Oblivion Ceremony roll and on a win gains a homuncular servant that spies, follows, or intimidates at the necromancer’s command. If it strays farther than 100 yards/meters from the vampire, it falls inert, only awakening again once the vampire enters that range. Otherwise, it remains active for a number of nights equal to the number of successes rolled. A critical win on the roll keeps the servant active forever, while a total failure destroys all components involved in the Ceremony.
Most homunculi can scale walls, hop (even if it lacks the limbs to do so), and hide effectively, though individual variation is great and depends on the tasks it was created to perform. While it cannot speak or perform actions requiring deep thought, it can telepathically communicate single images, scents, or sounds to its creator.
| Homuncular Servant
|
Standard Dice Pools: Physical 1, Social 0, Mental 1
Secondary Attributes: Health 3, Willpower 1
Exceptional Dice Pools: Athletics 4, Stealth 6, Intimidation 4
Special: Homuncular servants take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not need eyes or ears to perceive everything around them as someone with unimpeded vision and hearing might. They can telepathically broadcast a single image per night to their master.
General Difficulties: 3/1
|
BINDING THE ALLOY EYE
Oblivion ••
Prerequisite: Shadow Cast
Striking a pact with a death-spirit, the caster buys themselves a short time of immunity to surveillance, as the otherworldly entity scrambles cameras around the vampire.
Ingredients: A small piece of aluminum mesh
Process: The user spends a scene in isolation, contacting the spectre and bonding it to the aluminum mesh. The mesh is then placed in a light-proof container, to be taken out when the effect is to be activated. Once removed and attached to a visible piece of flesh or garment of the caster, the effect is initiated.
System: Do not make a Ritual roll until the effect is activated. If possible, the result of the test should be kept secret from the player. If successful, cameras around the caster will end up scrambling their image, though they will pick up everything else normally. The effect lasts for a full scene, or until the mesh is removed.
COMPEL SPIRIT
Oblivion ••
Prerequisite: Where the Veil Thins
This Ceremony allows a vampire to bend a wraith to their will.
Ingredients: A wraith’s fetter, the caster’s vitae, and an item (or threat) sufficient to damage the fetter.
Process: The vampire must be in close proximity to a wraith in order to use this Ceremony, typically through use of Summon Spirit (see p. 92). The necromancer casts a handful of their own vitae in the wraith’s direction as they hold a destructive item to the fetter (a knife, a hammer, a gun, or potentially holding the fetter over a fire) or speak threatening words that the wraith believes. The vampire and wraith engage in a contest of wills. If the vampire wins, the wraith must serve as the vampire decrees, at least temporarily. On a loss, the vampire is left mentally debilitated and the fetter disappears from their grasp.
System: Make an Oblivion Ceremony roll vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure. If the vampire has no way of physically threatening the fetter, also make a Manipulation + Intimidation roll (Difficulty equal to the wraith’s Resolve + Composure).
If the necromancer wins both rolls, they can command the wraith to perform a number of moderately difficult tasks (spying, research, answering questions truthfully, etc.) equal to the number of successes rolled on the Ceremony roll. For every two successes, the vampire can instead command the wraith to perform a difficult task (such as attacking someone, doing something repugnant to the wraith’s sensibilities, etc.). On a critical win, the vampire can demand any action from the wraith, and it tries its best to complete the task. The wraith remains in the vampire’s service until the end of the chronicle or until it has fulfilled its master’s commands, at which point it returns to the Underworld with an eternal enmity for the necromancer.
If the wraith wins either contest, the vampire suffers the margin in Superficial Health damage, and the wraith then re-enters the Underworld.
The compulsion placed on the wraith ends immediately if the vampire attacks it. If the vampire harms the threatened fetter, the wraith suffers between one and three Aggravated Willpower damage (depending on the importance of the fetter) and the wraith is sent back to the Underworld to be tormented by, and possibly converted into, a murderous spectre (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377).
ENTROPIC LENS
Oblivion ••
Prerequisite: Oblivion Sight or Fatal Prediction
The Shadowlands are a place of endings and entropy, decay and death and finality. Most necromancers try to fight against these forces, strengthening ghosts’ anchors or forcing a semblance of life back into empty corpses. But some have found ways to use this macabre potential to their advantage.
Ingredients: A mirror, freshly-burned ashes, and vitreous humour
Process: The necromancer takes an optical device (traditionally a mirror, but a pair of glasses or camera lens works just as well, as long as it’s designed to alter light) and draws sigils across it in a mixture of ashes and vitae. If the ceremony roll succeeds, the sigils can be wiped away, but they leave a fractal pattern of discoloration on the glass beneath.
System: Anyone looking through the enchanted device sees a haunting combination of the Shadowlands and the real world, all overlaid with the poisonous touch of the Abyss. Buildings look like ruins, living humans look like corpses, and vampires look like withered skeletons.
With a successful Wits + Medicine roll (difficulty equal to Composure), this can reveal whether or not a target is alive, or what type of undead they are; the current state of a target's health track; or the exact nature of a target's maladies—one piece of information per point of margin. Alternately, with a successful Wits + Crafts roll (difficulty 2), it can reveal the flaws and weak points of an inanimate object.
Duration: One week, or until the device is touched by sunlight or fire.
THE HUNGERING DARK
Oblivion ••
Prerequisite: Shadow Cast
Some students of the Abyss have learned the unsettling skill to feed through the shadows of Oblivion, drawing black blood into their veins from darkness and marking their victims with painful leech bruises.
Ingredients: Enough candles to encircle the caster, a lighter, a silver knife, an unlit room (this Ceremony does not work outside)
Process: The caster forms a circle around themselves with their candles, extinguishes all other light sources in the room, and then lights the candles one by one. The next ten minutes are spent chanting in a plea for the Abyss to share with them its endless hunger. At the Ceremony's climax, the caster opens their wrist with the silver blade and extinguishes each candle with drops of their vitae forced from the wound.
System: The caster enacts the process, then makes their Ceremony roll. On a win they may feed through Oblivion shadows they cast on a victim (with Arms of Ahriman, Shadow Cast, Stygian Shroud, or a similar power) without using their fangs, until the next sunrise. The feeding follows the normal rules, except it uses a pool of Resolve + Oblivion vs. the victim's Resolve + Composure without a called shot penalty, and a win slakes one Hunger immediately.
On a critical win of the Ceremony roll, the annihilating element of Oblivion negates the Bonding properties of Kindred vitae they drink using this method. On a total failure of the Ceremony roll, however, the hungry maw of the Abyss instead chooses to steal all lifeblood that the vampire consumes, leaving them unable to slake Hunger until the next sunrise.
Duration: One night
| About Abyss Mysticism...
|
| This Oblivion Ceremony is from a collection of profane rites that connect to the very heart of the Abyss, drawing upon its infinite darkness and hunger. To learn these Ceremonies, a vampire needs access to a suitable and willing Mawla. Those among the Cult of Shalim and other heretical Lasombra cults often practice these Ceremonies, but rarely may an outsider earn enough individual favor to break the jealous secrecy of these dark arts.
|
LEVEL 3
FORTEZZA SINDONICA
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Where the Shroud Thins
A modern variation on a powerful Giovanni family warding spell, this Ceremony is kept strictly within the Hecata clan. Intended to severely disable or halt attacks or espionage from other necromancers, this ward pulls tight the veil in such a way that forces any wraith who attempts to cross it to become momentarily stretched between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Ingredients: Powdered bones, salt, a steel chain long enough to encircle the desired area, the caster’s vitae, a severed human finger, a metal basin.
Process: The steel chain is laid along the circumference of the desired area, meeting and leaving no gaps. Mixing the ingredients into the basin, the caster dips their hands into the mixture, coating up to the wrist, and applies the mixture by hand along the chain at equidistant intervals. With a final sigil located in the center of the chain, the Ceremony is complete. Wraiths who attempt to cross the chain are dragged into a horrid momentary echo of physical form, often in states of torturous wailing terror. Wraiths so affected are temporarily visible to any casual onlooker, leading to terrifying tales of the appearance of screaming ghosts.
System: This Ceremony costs three Rouse Checks instead of the usual one, but the caster does not make their Ceremony roll until a wraith attempts to cross the chain, triggering its effect. This Ceremony is strongest when fresh, but lasts a year and a day after it’s performed. If the ward is triggered more than seven days after it was performed, subtract two dice from their pool. The wraith rolls their Willpower in a contest against the caster and if the necromancer succeeds, they inflict torturous pain upon their victim. The wraith suffers three points of Superficial Health damage. For as long as they remain within the boundary, they lose two dice to all Willpower rolls and rolls to use their supernatural abilities. On a critical win from the caster, they may choose to bar the wraith from leaving the boundary until they pass a Difficulty 4 Willpower test, which they may attempt once per scene. The other parameters of this warding Ceremony are identical to Blood Sorcery Warding circles (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 275).
If the wraith is possessing an individual or object when they cross the chain, the same effects apply, and the unlucky individual suffers 3 Superficial Willpower damage as the wraith is violently forced from them.
Trails of Ash and Bone, pg. 173
HARROWHAUNT
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Aura of Decay
Some places seem haunted, raising the hackles of mortal and vampire alike. A place Harrowhaunted is in a different league. Places subjected to this Ceremony convey a sense of such miasmic dread that most breathing creatures find it hard to, well, breathe, let alone stay. Sabbat vampires often use this to discourage unwanted visitors from lingering in the proximity of their communal havens. While it won’t scare away encroaching vampires, most mortals will unconsciously take the long road around it, or make up excuses for why they’ll check up on the rumors surrounding the place “tomorrow... probably.”
Ingredients: Mortals subjected to abject terror and suffering. The more the merrier.
Process: It starts with a “party.” A number of mortals are confined to the place and inflicted with terror and torture that ends with their death. But this is no mercy. The broken remains of their souls, scarcely more than fear-urges and sublime revulsion, are bound to the place, their bones buried in the ground, and made to share their torment with anyone who enters uninvited.
System: Mortals entering the vicinity (anything up to a two-story building) are beset by an irrational terror, requiring a Composure + Resolve test each turn to remain. If they fail they will indulge any excuse to leave, or run shrieking on a total failure. Vampires are less affected, but each scene spent in the location requires a test for fear frenzy.
HOST SPIRIT
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Aura of Decay
This Ceremony allows a vampire to open their body to possession by a wraith.
Ingredients: A gift to be made as tribute to a wraith (whether the wraith values it depends on the individual), a parasitic bug, and two teeth extracted from the vampire’s mouth.
Process: The vampire must be in close proximity to a wraith in order to use this power, typically through use of Summon Spirit (see p. 92). The necromancer presents a tribute to the wraith, sometimes in the form of alcohol poured on the wraith’s gravesite, or a bag of coins to be buried in the earth, or even the freshly decapitated head of one of the wraith’s until recently living enemies. The vampire then pulls two teeth from their mouth, usually with pliers, and bites into a parasite with their remaining teeth. The vampire then opens their mouth and the wraith can choose to enter it, inhabiting the vampire’s body.
The benefits of having a wraith ride one’s body include an enhanced physique, access to whichever memories the wraith chooses to share, and the wraith’s voice offering the vampire advice. The wraith can take complete possession of the vampire if they wish to, which some necromancers view as a blessing to be experienced, and others deem the main reason not to use this power.
Allowing a wraith to control one’s actions for a night effectively subdues the Beast, as well as demonstrating physical prowess and knowledge the vampire may not usually possess.
System: Make a successful Oblivion Ceremony roll. If the wraith agrees to the proposition, it then enters the vampire’s body and can remain for a number of scenes equal to the successes rolled on the Oblivion Ceremony roll. With the wraith inside them, the vampire gains two dice to all Physical Attribute rolls and +2 Health until the wraith departs. The vampire can hear the wraith in their head, offering advice, and they can substitute the wraith’s Skills for their own, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
A wraith can choose to assert its possession instead of acting as a passenger. If the vampire resists, they make a Resolve + Composure roll vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure. If successful, they reject the wraith’s influence. If failed, the wraith steers the vampire until the end of the scene, though it can’t make the vampire do anything self-destructive.
KNIT THE VEIL
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Where the Veil Thins
Using the knowledge gained from their mastery of the beyond, the necromancer is able to not only mend minor tears in the shroud, but sear shut any weakness, making the area impenetrable for the duration of the Ceremony.
Ingredients: Ground bones, an iron needle, cat gut thread, the caster’s vitae, a goat tallow candle.
Process: The caster scatters the powdered bone around an area no larger than a football field to mark the boundary of this Ceremony. Then, they prepare the candle by piercing their flesh and passing the thread under their skin. Using the needle, they carve runes down the length of the candle and then wrap the thread around it until they pull it from under their skin. The candle may then be placed inside the boundary and lit, burning with a pale and unmoving flame that artificially thickens the Shroud around it with radiating, uncomfortable warmth.
System: When lighting the candle, the caster makes their Ceremony roll, subtracting one die from their pool for every wraith present within the boundary, on either side of the Shroud. Upon a win the Shroud density (see Cults of the Blood Gods p. 205) of the area becomes Impenetrable for as long as the candle burns. On a critical win, the Ceremony’s duration is doubled and no being may spy across the Shroud. Undisturbed, it persists for as many nights as the caster has Oblivion dots. Another necromancer who attempts to Split the Shroud (see Cults of the Blood Gods p. 213) here must win against the caster’s successes as a Difficulty, doing so ends this Ceremony and reduces the Shroud density as per that Ceremony.
Trails of Ash and Bone, pg. 174
NAME OF THE FATHER
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Shadow Perspective
Priests of Shalim have all been trained to use their voices as weapons, slicing through the sugar coating their victims wrap around their love for the world. By invoking the name of their dark master and calling for his aid, they channel a fraction of his power into an adversary and cloud their very mind with shadow, causing them to stand dumbstruck by the emptiness of Oblivion.
Ingredients: The ability to speak ancient Greek, eye contact with a victim, five charcoal sticks
Process: The priest invokes an incantation in a dialect of ancient Greek, invoking the name of Shalim as they crush four charcoal sticks in hand. These words are spoken while making eye contact with the victim, therefore the victim must be able to see and hear the user for this power to be successful. Upon crushing the final charcoal stick, a shadow crosses the eyes of the priest and those of the victim, leaving the eyes of each participant entirely black as the victim succumbs to a crushing sense of despair. Those who have experienced this power and lived to tell of it speak of an all-consuming darkness closing in around their thoughts and robbing them of all sensation. The last thing they recall is a distant, rumbling laughter echoing in their mind.
System: The vampire’s player makes their Ceremony roll vs. the victim’s Resolve + Composure. On a win, the vampire may activate this Ceremony’s effects any time they are in the victim’s presence. Upon activation, the victim is paralyzed with despair for a number of turns equal to the margin. While under this effect, victims cannot see, hear or experience any form of sensory input except touch and physical pain, which brings them out of the effect. The victim can expend Willpower equal to the number of turns they would remain paralyzed to break free of the power.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 94
SHAMBLING HORDES
Oblivion •••
Prerequisite: Aura of Decay
This Ceremony enables a vampire to raise a group of aggressive, walking dead minions.
Ingredients: A mortal corpse (or multiple corpses), and a fresh mortal sacrifice.
Process: The vampire must have a separate corpse in addition to a mortal prepared for sacrifice. The vampire slays the sacrificial victim, spilling their blood on the corpse or corpses intended for animation. If the Ceremony is successful, the corpses stand (the recent sacrifice does not) and serve the vampire’s commands.
System: Due to the amount of blood spilled in this Ceremony, the caster must first test to resist hunger frenzy (Difficulty 2). Make a Ceremony roll, possibly incurring Stains in the process depending on the chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. Upon a win a number of aggressive dead equal to the necromancer’s Oblivion rating or the number of prepared bodies (whichever is lower) receive the gift of animation. Corpses animated this way do not decay and only enter repose if commanded to by the vampire, if the vampire meets final death, or if destroyed.
The animated corpses can parse moderately complex orders such as “kill everyone who enters,” “groan if you see anyone pass this way,” or “terrorize that neighborhood.” Unlike the corpses raised using the Gift of False Life (see p. 92), these animated dead do not sit idle if left without commands, instead attacking anyone around them except for their master.
As per the rules for temporary Advantages like these (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 180), their continued usefulness beyond the current story must be ensured with Experience — such as through the Retainers Background (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 196; one dot per loyal corpse) — or the aggressive corpses may become unstable and unruly.
| Aggressive Corpse
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Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 0, Mental 0
Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 0
Exceptional Dice Pools: Brawl 6, Intimidation 5
Special: Aggressive corpses take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not need eyes or ears to perceive everything around them as someone with unimpeded vision and hearing might. Bites from the aggressive dead inflict +2 Health damage which is Aggravated to mortals.
General Difficulties: 3/2
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LEVEL 4
BIND THE SPIRIT
Oblivion ••••
Prerequisite: Necrotic Plague
Vampires with access to this Ceremony have the ability to bind wraiths to specified locations and people.
Ingredients: A wraith’s fetter, the caster’s vitae, the sacrifice of an innocent human, sufficient salt to surround a property or individual. If the target for haunting is an individual, the necromancer must possess something of their body, such as fingernails, hair, blood, or skin.
Process: The vampire must already have a wraith under their control using Compel Spirit (see p. XX). The vampire kills an innocent human (though innocence is subjective, this tends to apply to the young, caregivers, and genuinely pious individuals) in or close to a location or person they want their wraith to haunt. Subsequently, they mix their vitae with sufficient salt to surround the target for haunting, and paint a circle with the mixture. The wraith’s fetter is placed somewhere within the location or the target’s possession. From this point, the wraith is forever bound to the target, unless the vampire cancels the Ceremony, the fetter ever moves from the location or individual’s possession, or the wraith is destroyed. Binding also ends if the necromancer attacks the wraith. Most wraiths bound in this way are furious or melancholic about their plight, and their mood affects the area around them. Many necromancers use this method to defend their havens or haunt their enemies.
System: Following the steps of the Ceremony, the vampire may incur Stains from the murder depending on the Chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. They make an Oblivion Ceremony roll that cannot be resisted, as the wraith must already be compelled for this power to work.
The wraith is bound in perpetuity to the location or individual targeted, with no duration applied to this Ceremony’s effects. Any emotion the wraith feels intensely during its binding affects the inhabitants of the location or the individual to whom it’s bound, with each person affected suffering −2 dice to all rolls made to resist acting or feeling the way the wraith feels. Therefore, an angry wraith may make vampires more inclined to frenzy, while a depressed wraith might make a mortal more likely to stop self-care. Bound wraiths have the same powers as spectres (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377).
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 212
SPLIT THE SHROUD
Oblivion ••••
Prerequisite: Necrotic Plague
This Ceremony allows a vampire to create a tear in the Shroud through which wraiths can pass and vampires with the correct Ceremonies can physically enter the Shadowlands.
Ingredients: A scalpel that’s been used to cut into someone living, chalk or charcoal, a silk sheet, a human sacrifice.
Process: The vampire hangs a silk sheet over a wall in a place where the Shroud density (see p. XX) is standard, thin, or frayed. They then murder a human sacrifice against the sheet, usually via some manner of bloodletting, and as blood coats the sheet, cut it open with a scalpel. The Ceremony widens the portal between the world of the living — which wraiths call the Skinlands — and the Shadowlands. Wraiths who enter the Skinlands via this method take to haunting locations and people, indulging in their passions, and possess humans if their powers allow for it. Some treat the vampire with gratitude for splitting the Shroud, while others enjoy harassing the necromancer responsible.
System: The caster kills the human sacrifice, which may result in Stains depending on the Chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. When cutting the silk sheet with a scalpel, their player makes the Ceremony roll (with −1 Difficulty if the scalpel was used in the human sacrifice). Due to the amount of blood spilled in this Ceremony, the caster must roll to resist falling into hunger frenzy (Difficulty 2). For every success on the Ceremony roll, the Shroud’s density reduces by a level, down to being absent.
Following this Ceremony, vampires can access the Shadowlands with Ex Nihilo (see p. XX) more easily, but importantly, if the Shroud rating is reduced to absent, wraiths can spill into the Skinlands as they see fit for the remainder of the chapter. Once the chapter concludes, a Shroud density of absent increases to frayed and the gateway for wraiths closes.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 213
DEATH RATTLE
Oblivion ••••
Prerequisite: Fatal Precognition
This Ceremony allows the caster to inflict the full sensory experience of a chosen wraith’s death upon a target.
Ingredients: A wraith’s fetter, a personal item owned by the intended target (living or undead, but not another wraith), the caster’s vitae, over proof rum, a black candle, a clay bowl large enough to hold the fetter and target’s personal belonging.
Process: The caster must be in close proximity to the desired wraith in order to successfully complete the Ceremony, typically through the use of Summon Spirit. The fetter and target’s possession are combined in the bowl along with the c aster’s vitae. The candle is held over the bowl and lit allowing the w ax to drip into the contents of the bowl. The name of the wraith and the target are chanted repeatedly. As the wax melts, it forms a seal between the items inside of the bowl, creating a bridge between the wraith and the desired target. When this seal is broken, the rum ignites the possession of the target and they experience the death of the wraith.
System: The caster makes their Ceremony roll and the target contests with Composure + Resolve whether or not they know they’re being targeted. On a win by the caster the victim experiences a vision of the wraith’s death, with a higher margin leading to a more vivid experience. For example, one point of margin is enough for the target to have brief flashes of the moment, while five may cause the target’s experience to be so vivid that they will be shocked to realize they’re not dead afterwards. If the wraith died a violent death, this causes Superficial Willpower damage equal to the margin of the roll, but even a peaceful death inflicts one point as they experience the wraith’s dying gasp. A critical win from the target rebounds this trauma back onto the necromancer, inflicting the margin as Superficial Willpower damage to them instead.
Be it a personal curiosity in death, to investigate the situation of a death first hand, or an attempt to gain a deep understanding of a particular wraith, the caster may wish to be the target of the Ceremony. They roll only against the normal Ceremony Difficulty, and the caster must open their mind to accept any resulting Willpower damage.
Trails of Ash and Bone, pg. 174
BEFOUL VESSEL
Oblivion ••••
Prerequisite: Necrotic Touch
While many of the entropic effects of Oblivion are restricted to mortals, this Ceremony allows the wielder to infect the blood of a vessel, making an otherwise healthy-appearing mortal into pure poison to the children of Caine.
Ingredients: The vampire’s saliva
Process: The vampire needs only introduce a drop of their spittle to the skin of their victim, either by feeding on them or by smearing it upon them through physical contact.
System: A victim befouled in this way shows no symptoms, and is unaware of the harm done to them or the danger they pose to the undead. Anyone feeding on them will likewise be unaware of the effects apart from a rancid strangeness to their Blood. (Generous Storytellers can allow a Wits + Survival test at Difficulty 3 to notice that something is amiss, allowing the player to abort their feeding.) Once the feeding is done, the effect occurs: The feeding vampire gains Hunger instead of sating it, on a 1-for-1 basis. (A vampire who would’ve sated three Hunger would gain three Hunger.) This will likely risk hunger frenzy (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 220).
No matter if they are fed on or not, the infected mortal dies in their sleep the following night, the only clue to their fate a patch of – mildew? – and acrid night-sweat.
LEVEL 5
PIT OF CONTEMPLATION
Oblivion •••••
Prerequisite: Tenebrous Avatar
Only the most powerful of Shalim’s priests have been able to manifest this ability, but the effect is one of the most terrifying and demonstrative uses of Oblivion yet seen in modern nights. The ability to cast an enemy into Oblivion terrifies even the toughest of Kindred.
Ingredients: Pot of ink, three pints/six liters or more of blood from an innocent the user murdered, an unlit room (this power does not work outside)
Process: The vampire personally murders an innocent mortal, likely incurring Stains depending on the Chronicle Tenets and their Convictions. While innocence is subjective, traditional sacrifices are children, virgins, and holy individuals. The vampire then takes at least three pints/six liters of the deceased’s blood into an unlit room and uses it to paint a doorway on a wall in the chamber. Finally, the vampire splashes a pot of ink onto the blood-painted portal. Focusing their will upon the gateway, the priest opens a tear through to Oblivion.
Anyone foolish or unfortunate enough to fall into the gap is immediately transported into a pocket of eternal black nothingness for as long as the priest sees fit. If the priest is destroyed without releasing their prisoners, any undead prisoners remain trapped in the void (unless and until another vampire reverses the Ceremony).
Priests may choose to pass through the door, but doing so condemns them forever. Some Shalimites do this when they feel they have completed their work as a part of the cult.
System: Following the Ceremony steps, the priest’s player makes their Ceremony roll, and on a success the effect is quick and implosive. A hole opens at the point where ink and blood mix. The hole draws objects, air, and people toward it and, if they fail a Dexterity + Athletics roll (Difficulty 4), sucks them into a pock et within Oblivion.
While trapped, victims are suspended in an endless blackness. They cannot see or hear anyone or anything around themselves. Only the priest who conjures this blasphemous gateway can free those held within, by pouring a vampire’s vitae over the painted door (sufficient to provoke a Rouse Check). Mortals sucked into Oblivion are instantly killed.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 94
EX NIHILO
Oblivion •••••
Prerequisite: Withering Spirit
This Ceremony enables a vampire and their coterie to migrate into the Shadowlands, though doing so comes at great risk.
Ingredients: Masks for each participant, a bowl containing sufficient quantity of the caster’s vitae so each participant might coat the soles of their feet in it, two coins of any value per participant.
Process: Few Ceremonies of Oblivion come with as much doubt and fear as Ex Nihilo, the ability to migrate into the Shadowlands. This Ceremony enables a physical crossing into the lands of entropy. Vampires who physically enter the Shadowlands may interact with wraiths as if they were solid, but cannot carry objects with them, other than the clothes they wear. Vampires destroyed in the Shadowlands disappear in a vortex of blood and ash, sucked into the false earth beneath their feet.
Ex Nihilo appeals to a great many necromancers and mystics who want to study the Shadowlands without the impediment of a time limit. It’s an unmatched method for interviewing ghosts and exploring the necropoli — the cities spirits inhabit. It’s also incredibly dangerous, as many wraiths — especially spectres — seek to destroy vampires, draining them of their Willpower, and there’s always the risk of meeting the ghost of someone the vampire slew years earlier. Such wraiths tend to hold a grudge.
The vampire must have used the Split the Shroud Ceremony within this chapter, in the location they’re currently occupying, in order for Ex Nihilo to function. If the Shroud density is reduced to absent, the caster and any companions may enter the Shadowlands from that point, if they don masks to cover their faces, dip or paint their feet in the vampire’s vitae, and carry a coin in each hand.
System: The user makes three Rouse Checks (sufficient to expend the required vitae) and spends a turn concentrating, expending a Willpower point to prepare for the crossing. They then make their Ceremony roll. If successful, the vampire, a number of companions equal to the number of successes rolled, and any objects on their person may then enter the Shadowlands.
The Shadowlands follows several rules that do not exist in the world of the living:
- Wraiths are capable of physical attacks on vampires (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377 for an average spectre’s stat block) but some are also capable of attacking a vampire’s Willpower specifically, as they drain a vampire’s passion. Defense pools against Willpower drain, which a wraith can attempt up to 3 yards/meters from the vampire, are made up from the vampire’s Resolve + Composure, vs. the attacking wraith’s Strength + Brawl. This attack inflicts Aggravated Willpower damage.
- Though there is no sun (and therefore no daytime) in the Shadowlands, the vampire must still Rouse the Blood every 24 hours. With no sunlight, they are able to operate without rest.
- Vampires in the Shadowlands cannot interact with the world of the living in a meaningful way. They can only touch or speak with living creatures by ending this Ceremony, which takes the expenditure of a Willpower point and another Rouse Check in a place where the Shroud isn’t impenetrable. They can see snatches of motion through the Shroud, and a Discipline such as Auspex may enable them to spy from beyond the veil, but for the most part, anything viewed has a Difficulty 4 or more to perceive.
- Vampires can use their Disciplines in the Shadowlands just as they can in the land of the living.
- If a vampire is compelled to feed in the Shadowlands, they cannot obtain sustenance from wraiths without the Passion Feast power (see p. XX), but can feed from mortals or other vampires with them.
- Oblivion absorbs individuals who lose all Health or Willpower in the Shadowlands. They leave no wraiths if destroyed.
- Vampires cannot bring wraiths out of the Shadowlands without a Ceremony such as Summon Spirit (see p. XX), which must be used in the land of the living to have this effect.
Duration: Until the power is deactivated or the vampire is destroyed
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 213
LAZARENE BLESSING
Oblivion •••••
Prerequisite: Skuld Fulfilled
This Ceremony enables a necromancer to bring a freshly-dead body back to life, though not how its relatives and friends might remember it.
Ingredients: One human sacrifice, incense, the heart of any mammal, powdered silver.
Process: The necromancer burns incense to perfume the air before performing an act of human sacrifice, cutting the heart of the victim out and replacing it with the heart of another mammal, though it doesn’t need to be stitched in and working for the Ceremony to function. After pouring a bag of powdered silver over the open eyes of the dying or dead mortal, the vampire invites a wraith to take the deceased mortal as a host. Wraiths cannot be forced to possess a body, but few refuse the opportunity to walk around in semi-living shoes again.
System: Killing a mortal for this Ceremony likely incurs Stains, according to the Chronicle Tenets. If the replacement heart was likewise taken from someone the vampire murdered, that murder might also incur Stains. Following a successful Ceremony roll, a wraith can enter the freshly-dead body and live in it as if it were their own. The wraith must be present during the act of sacrifice.
The possessed corpse will wake bearing the wounds that killed it, though the replacement heart is functional (no matter its origin or placement) and the body recovers one point of Health upon possession. The remaining Health recovers with time. The body possesses the same Physical Attributes, Disciplines (if a ghoul), and Backgrounds it had in life. Social and Mental Attributes, Skills, and any form of morality rating match those of the wraith.
This possession lasts indefinitely, or until the possessed body dies again or the wraith is exorcised from the host. The body gains no special resistances to harm beyond Disciplines it might have possessed in life.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 214
TRANSFERENCE OF THE SOUL
Oblivion •••••
Amalgam: Blood Sorcery •••••
This ritual allows a person’s soul to cement their control over their oppressor’s body in the case of Diablerie.
Ingredients: Five or more objects that are important to the victim to be imbued with their essence. Other ritual components.
Process: Performing the ritual requires a Rouse check, and successes in both an Intelligence + Blood Sorcery test (Difficulty 6) and an Intelligence + Oblivion test (Difficulty 6). Once the ritual has been performed successfully to imbue the selected objects with the subject’s essence, combining the objects again to restore the subject’s power requires the subject to come into contact with them again.
Multiple objects must be used – at least five – as no single object is capable of storing all of a vampire’s essence. Theoretically however any number of objects could be used in this process, with the power conveyed by each object relative to the total number of objects used. The power restored to the subject is similarly proportional to the number of objects combined in the ritual’s final phase. Importantly, this combination can only be performed once, so any missing objects become inert, and the remaining essence contained within them is forever lost.
It is also possible to break the link between the objects and the subject by performing another instance of the ritual while in possession of the objects, but before the subject can complete the final incantation. A successful casting releases the essence within each object present, rendering them useless.
System: Following the diablerie of the subject, calculate the experience cost needed to go from the subject’s current Blood Potency level to their former, more powerful level, as well as the cost of any additional disciplines the subject had prior to their diablerie. Divide this number by the amount of objects used in the ritual (round down). For each object successfully used in the ritual, the user regains those experience points that can only be used to purchase Blood Potency and Disciplines that they used to have.
NIGHT OF A THOUSAND EYES
Oblivion •••••
Amalgam: Auspex •••
According to the old legends, this ceremony was the final creation of the mad necromancer Lodovico Sangiovanni, who attempted to bring about the Day of Judgement with an army of the hungry dead. Even now, vampires who have no qualms about binding wraiths into service or forcing life back into dead tissue often have reservations about using this technique…though others see it as the Family’s ultimate weapon against the Second Inquisition.
Ingredients: A human sacrifice, a pen carved from a sentient creature’s bone, and a coffin lined with iron.
Process: The necromancer murders the sacrifice, possibly accruing one or more Stains, and lets the blood flow into the coffin. Using a bone pen and the fresh blood, they mark any number of zombies with a sigil encoding their own true name, then they immerse themselves completely and seal the coffin shut to block out all light.
System: For the remainder of the night, the necromancer can control any of the marked zombies freely, seeing through its eyes and controlling its limbs as though it were their own body and switching from one zombie to another at any time. While possessing their horde, they suffer no impairment, cannot frenzy, and do not apply Hunger dice to their rolls.
At the same time, however, they have no awareness or control of their own body—which is driven solely by the Beast, as if wassailing (see Vampire: the Masquerade Fifth Edition page 241). Sensible necromancers have trusted ghouls inter the coffin under stone and dirt before making the ceremony roll, though this can lead to a very unpleasant night if the roll fails!
WHISPERS IN THE DARK
Oblivion •••••
Prerequisite: Shadow Step
By willingly entering torpor, the spirit of the vampire visits dangerously close to the obliterating well of Oblivion. Close enough to whisper questions and receive answers as troubling dreams hissed back through the Abyss' tendrils in their soul.
Ingredients: A coffin, a silver knife, a human sacrifice
Process: The vampire enters the coffin with their sacrifice, closes the lid above them, and then slits the mortal's throat. They allow the blood to flow freely, and must maintain their composure while slaking no Hunger. They remain in the pool of blood until sunrise, at which point they enter torpor.
System: The caster enacts the process at Hunger 5, making a test against hunger frenzy (Difficulty 3) and possibly incurring Stains depending on the Chronicle Tenets. Then they voluntarily succumb to torpor (Vampire: the Masquerade, p.223), and finally make their Ceremony roll. On a win they enter a Memoriam (Vampire: the Masquerade, p.311) from the perspective of a chosen vampire who has met Final Death, a wraith who has become a spectre, or a mortal who died without leaving a wraith (including their sacrifice). Beware however, as should the vampire's Willpower track be filled with Aggravated damage at the conclusion of the Memoriam, their spirit strays too close to the all-consuming void and is destroyed. If their body is forced to awaken from torpor after this damage, it will be in the form of a wight or something much, much worse which dwells near the maw of the Abyss.
Whether or not the Ceremony succeeds, the vampire must sleep through their total torpor duration (Vampire: the Masquerade, p.241) unless woken prematurely, but if the Ceremony roll was a total failure their Humanity is considered one lower for the torpor duration and they will only stir prematurely through potent alchemy.
Duration: Until the vampire wakes from torpor
| About Abyss Mysticism...
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| This Oblivion Ceremony is from a collection of profane rites that connect to the very heart of the Abyss, drawing upon its infinite darkness and hunger. To learn these Ceremonies, a vampire needs access to a suitable and willing Mawla. Those among the Cult of Shalim and other heretical Lasombra cults often practice these Ceremonies, but rarely may an outsider earn enough individual favor to break the jealous secrecy of these dark arts.
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