Blood sorcerers can achieve workings of power beyond that of ordinary Level 5 Rituals by gathering and casting compatible rituals, letting their power spill into each other and coalesce into a greater force. These chained rituals comprise a set of at least three Rituals of any level, with one Level 5 Ritual serving as its linchpin. Each component of a chained ritual, including the linchpin Level 5 Ritual, have their own individual effects. When sorcerers cast all the rituals in a chained ritual within 10 meters of each other, the chained effect of the linchpin Level 5 Ritual activates instead of the individual effects of the rituals in the chain. All rituals must succeed for the chained ritual to take effect: a single failure breaks the chain.
The Tremere employ Wards extensively, basing them on their Hermetic traditional sigils. Banu Haqim Wards usually involve gematriac or abjadic writing, rather than occult symbols, but the methodology remains the same in both cases. Wards consist of a glyph or line of script keyed to repel a single type of supernatural, called "the trespasser" in these rules. When touched, they cause something like an electric shock to the trespasser's mind and body, imparting both physical burns and a sudden bout of sheer terror. The ward does not work on forced contact – a warded sword will not trigger the ward when striking a trespasser, but it will if a trespasser tries to pick it up.
A Warding circle resembles a regular Ward, painted on the ground or floor. It requires three times the ritual ingredients of a regular Ward of the same type. Knowledge of one Ward does not convey knowledge of its corresponding Warding circle, or vice versa. Trespassers who attempt to cross a Warding circle suffer its effect. Unless the caster inscribes the Warding circle pointing inward around the trespasser in the first place, it does not block attempts to leave the circle.
LEVEL 1
ASTROMANCY
Blood Sorcery •
The stars write the natures of those on earth below them, or perhaps they reflect them. Combining astrology and hematomancy, the sorcerer draws out true information about allies, enemies, and mortals that catch their interest.
Ingredients: The night sky; a silver mirror or platter; the blood, hair, spit, or flesh of the target
Process: In the middle of the night, the caster goes to an area with a clear view of the stars in the sky and places their target's biological material on the silver surface and spreads a Rouse Check's worth of blood over the surface. The caster spends up to a half hour watching their blood shape itself into patterns and images regarding the answers they seek about the subject.
System: A win on the Ritual roll reveals the target's greatest aptitudes (i.e., any Attribute or Skill 4 or higher) and their current Ambition. A critical win also reveals their current Desire and at least one of their Convictions. If the sorcerer knows the correct birth date or Embrace date of the target, they can add one die to the Ritual pool. Knowing both still only adds one die.
BEELZEBEATIT
Blood Sorcery •
This ritual causes lower-order living creatures to find the ritual area repellent. Animals avoid the area, vermin scuttle away from it, and even plants may take on a pitiful appearance. Used as a low-level precaution against Animalism spies, this ritual also prevents infestations of the sorts of creatures who would be drawn to gore, carrion, and the other sorts of remains the Sabbat often leaves in its wake.
Ingredients: Vinegar or alcohol
Process: The ritualist sprinkles the vinegar or alcohol on the floor and turns counterclockwise, visually circumscribing the area in which the lesser creatures are to be expelled.
System: If the ritual is successful, living creatures of animal intellect and below hastily vacate the area of about a hundred meters square. Thereafter, nothing prevents a directed or controlled creature from returning (but such things may be visible, and stand out due to their active expulsion), but such creatures won't do it of their own volition unless enraged or no other option to traverse it exists. The effects last for one scene or one night, whichever comes first.
BIND THE ACCUSING TONGUE
Blood Sorcery •
The Tremere developed this ritual early in their ascent to power, which may help explain that ascent. Bind the Accusing Tongue prevents the target from speaking ill of the caster, ensuring the sorcerer's unspeakable acts remain that way.
Ingredients: A picture, effigy, or image of the target, a lock of the target's hair, a black silken cord.
Process: The caster winds the cord around the hair and image while intoning the ritual charm.
System: A win on the Ritual roll prevents the target from saying, writing, or otherwise directly communicating anything negative or harmful — even, or rather especially, if it's true — about the caster without a Composure + Resolve test (Difficulty equals the caster's Blood Sorcery rating +2). On a critical win, the Difficulty of the test equals the caster's Blood Sorcery rating +3. The ritual lasts until the target succeeds on their test, or until the cord unwinds, at which point the hair and image crumble into dust.
BLOOD APOCRYPHA
Blood Sorcery •
Kindred sorcerers have learned to embed messages into their blood, or a vessel when feeding. Though there may be difficulties in sending the messenger to the recipient, the message is much less likely to be intercepted: this old art has come into vogue since the advent of the Second Inquisition.
Ingredients: A drop of mercury and one rouse check’s worth of blood.
Process: The Kindred whispers a message to the mercury, which carries it through the blood collected in a ceremonially prepared bowl.
System: The Kindred encodes about one minute of speech into one Rouse Check worth of blood in a ritual bowl. The ritualist then designates one or more intended recipients of the message whose blood they have tasted. As part of the ritual, a Kindred, mortal, or beast messenger must consume the blood to transfer the message to their own body, otherwise the blood—and message—will rapidly sour.
The first person to consume the ensorcelled blood from the messenger automatically receives the message mentally if they are the intended recipient or possess A Taste for Blood. Any other imbiber must succeed on a Wits + Occult roll (Difficulty 3) to understand the message.
Duration: One month plus another month for each point of the margin of success.
Book of Nod Apocrypha, pg. 34
BLOOD WALK
Blood Sorcery •
This Ritual expands upon the power A Taste for Blood allowing the user to learn more details about the subject studied, assuming the subject is a vampire.
Ingredients: A silver cup filled with Blood from the subject. (One Rouse Check's worth).
Process: The user mixes their Blood with the subject's and repeats an incantation over the cup, spending an roughly an hour.
System: A win on the Ritual roll (see General Systems) allows the user to learn the generation and name of the subject as well as the subject's sire. A Critical Win also informs the user of any Blood Bonds active on the subject, as regnant or thrall.
BLOODY MESSAGE
Blood Sorcery •
Ingredients: Mirror, sufficient human blood to write the message, UV light.
Process: The practitioner designates a type of individual in their mind — e.g., mortal, ghoul, vampire, male, a child, unemployed — and bathes a mirror in UV light. The sorcerer writes a message on the mirror with a fingertip, using human blood as the ink. The message appears on another reflective surface (a mirror, polished glass, water) the practitioner has seen before and can mentally recall, when the designated type of individual passes by.
System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when enchanting the designated surface. For every success the practitioner rolls, the message will repeat for each new individual of the chosen type who passes the surface. The message clears itself from the surface as soon as it's been read once. It appears in the handwriting and language in which the sorcerer wrote it.
Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77
COAX THE GARDEN
Blood Sorcery •
This Ritual allows the caster to bring plant life, such as roots, grass, and tree branches to act in their defense.
Ingredients: Human blood, poppy seeds.
Process: The vampire casts a concoction of human blood and poppy seeds onto the earth, and in doing so rouses all plant life within a 5 yard/meter diameter. While these plants are rarely lethal in their attacks, they can successfully disable and alarm their victims.
System: A win on the Ritual roll following the casting of the Ritual ingredients animates the plant life. The affected flora causes a two-dice penalty to physical dice pools for those caught in the range of the Ritual, as plants trip and grip them. Victims who stay in the area for longer than a turn must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll (Difficulty 3), or be grappled and suffer one point of Superficial Health damage for each turn ensnared. If the caster achieves a critical win, the damage from plant attacks doubles. On a total failure, the plants attack the caster. The plants will target anyone who isn't the caster. They remain active until the end of the scene.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 55
CLINGING OF THE INSECT
Blood Sorcery •
The vampire gains the ability to cling to walls like a grotesque insect or spider.
Ingredients: A living spider.
Process: The caster fills a vial with their own Blood and crushes the spider into it, mixing the ground bits with the Blood before ingesting it. (This does not refund any Hunger gained.) The caster can only perform this ritual on themselves; others gain no benefit from drinking the mixture.
System: A successful Ritual yields the ability to cling to walls and ceiling for a scene, while a critical win extends the duration to a whole night. The caster must cling to the surface with both hands and feet; they move at approximately half their usual rate.
CRAFT BLOODSTONE
Blood Sorcery •
This Ritual results in a Bloodstone, a magical tracker to which the caster always knows the direction as well as general distance. As the Camarilla retreats from modern technology, this previously neglected Ritual has seen a resurgence in use.
Ingredients: A pebble of iron ore or a small magnet and a liter of blood from any source in a silver bowl.
Process: The user spills their Blood into the blood in the bowl and then recites a chant over it for an hour, repeating the chant over the next two nights. The pebble (or magnet) absorbs the blood over the three nights; upon successful completion, the liquid appears translucent.
System: Make the Ritual roll at the end of the third night. On a win the caster attunes their mind to the Bloodstone. The caster can unerringly sense the direction and distance to the stone. This effect lasts until the Bloodstone is destroyed or a week has passed. A caster can have and keep track to a number of stones up to their Resolve.
DOUSE THE FEAR
Blood Sorcery •
This Ritual allows the caster to briefly douse their natural vampiric fear of fire.
Ingredients: A holy object such as a crucifix, Bible, or Qur'an.
Process: The vampire must expose the holy symbol to a flame. The object does not need to be completely destroyed, just touched by the fire.
System: A successful Ritual roll following the burning of the holy object grants the character two additional dice on all rolls relating to resisting Rötschreck. A critical win results in the character needing to make no terror Frenzy rolls at all. The effect lasts for one night.
Players Guide, pg. 99
Replaces Dampen the Fear
ENRICH THE BLOOD
Blood Sorcery •
This Ritual increases the potency of a human's blood, allowing the Kindred to take the same sustenance from a smaller quantity of blood. Performing this ritual is central to club activities, allowing more mouths to taste from the same vessel and facilitating comparative culinary critique. Only humans can be targeted by this ritual; it has no effect on the Blood of Kindred.
Ingredients: A half-full vial of the target's blood, five liters of unprocessed human blood no more than three hours old.
Process: The caster slowly pours the unprocessed blood into the vial, which never fills up so long as the vampire retains concentration. Once all the blood is added, the resulting half-vial of blood must be fed back to the target.
System: A successful Ritual roll makes the target's blood unusually rich and flavorsome. A sip from their veins slakes two levels of Hunger rather than one. On a Critical Win, two vampires can slake to Hunger 0 if they share the kill. If left alive, the effect on the target wanes after one week.
This Ritual makes the human's blood thick and hypercoagulable, prone to numerous medical complications. A second casting renders the blood too thick to drink and kills the target.
Forbidden Religions, pg. 76
HERD WARD
Blood Sorcery • or •••
Ingredients: Scorpion poison, sufficient vitae to provoke a Rouse Check.
Process: The sorcerer mixes scorpion poison with their own vitae to draw the ward. The vampire can ward a single kine at level 1, or at level 3 inscribe the ward on a door so all who stay within the ward for that night are protected.
System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when another vampire tries to feed on the warded kine. The transgressor suffers one point of Aggravated Health damage if the caster wins the Ritual roll, or three points of Aggravated damage on a critical win.
Once the Herd Ward is triggered, a Kindred still trying to drink from the kine must roll Stamina + Resolve against Difficulty 4 for a normal Ward, or 7 for a critical-success Ward.
Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77
LETTER WARD
Blood Sorcery •
Ingredients: Pigeon blood, wax, dog blood.
Process: The letter writer, who need not be the sorcerer, pens a missive in pigeon blood and clearly addresses the recipient. The sorcerer then melts wax and mixes it with dog's blood to seal the letter.
System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when anyone other than the recipient opens the letter. The victim suffers one point of Aggravated Health damage if the caster wins the Ritual roll, or three points of Aggravated damage on a critical win, and the letter destroys itself in a burst of flame.
Once the Letter Ward is triggered, anyone wanting to open the letter must roll Stamina + Resolve at Difficulty 4 for a normal Ward, or Difficulty 7 for a critical-success Ward.
Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77
SEAL THE BRAND
Blood Sorcery •
Normally tattoos, scars, and other changes to vampire flesh fade during the day's sleep. Yet some Kindred seek to make a mark on their own flesh, and give that mark permanence.
Ingredients: Molten silver poured over a tattoo, brand, or other body modification.
Process: The vampire casting the ritual pours the molten silver over the target's tattoo, brand, or body modification. The target suffers damage from the molten silver, but once mended, the affected modification remains permanent.
System: A successful Ritual yields a permanent body modification for the target. This modification cannot be removed by any other means and is now considered part of the target's undying body. Pouring the molten silver onto the body modification inflicts one point of Superficial damage, which may be mended as normal.
WAKE WITH EVENING'S FRESHNESS
Blood Sorcery •
Performed before dawn, this ritual allows the caster to awake at any sign of danger, fully alert as if awake during the night.
Ingredients: The burnt bones and feathers of a rooster.
Process: The caster mixes the ashes with their own Blood, drawing a circle with the mixture around their place of sleep.
System: Do not make a Ritual roll unless true danger appears. If the caster is threatened during the day, make the Ritual roll then, with the caster rousing on a win. For the duration of the scene the vampire ignores the daytime penalties for staying awake. On a critical win, the effects last until the following dawn.
WARD AGAINST GHOULS
Blood Sorcery •
Wary Tremere created this ritual to protect themselves from the minions of vengeful rivals. This ward uses the standard rules for Wards (p. 275).
Ingredients: Nothing apart from the usual requirement of the caster's Blood.
LEVEL 2
AS FOG ON WATER
Blood Sorcery ••
With this Ritual the vampire is able to traverse any body of water, silently walking upon it as if they were weightless, fog rising from their footsteps.
Ingredients: A piece of wood from a ship, and water
Process: The vampire submerges a piece of wood in the body of water they want to cross while spilling their Blood into it.
System: Upon a successful Ritual roll the vampire can walk across the surface of the water for the rest of the night. They can end this effect any time they wish but cannot walk on the surface again until they recast the Ritual.
CALIX SECRETUS
Blood Sorcery ••
The sorcerer is able to turn a mundane object into a receptacle for their Blood, allowing them to store surprising quantities of it there to be retrieved for later use.
Ingredients: An object that fits in the caster's hand, and Blood of the user.
Process: The user drenches the object with their Blood and speaks the words of the Ritual. When complete, the object absorbs the Blood.
System: The process takes an hour. Make a Ritual roll, and if successful, the vampire imbues the object with an amount of Blood from the caster. If the caster wishes to release their Blood from the object, they need to say the command word. The amount of Blood stored can sate one Hunger for every two Rouse Checks made when storing the Blood. (Storing a single Rouse Check's worth of Blood allows for a ghoul to get their fix or for use in another Ritual requirement.)
CALLING THE AURA'S REMNANTS
Blood Sorcery ••
This ritual allows the caster to speak with the residual psychic aura of someone who has died.
Ingredients: A human corpse or the corpse of a destroyed vampire.
Process: The ritual must be cast within ten feet of a human corpse or the corpse of a destroyed vampire.
System: A successful Ritual test allows the caster to speak with the animate reflection of the deceased for one scene as if they were still alive. This communication is not with the deceased spirit and only has access to the memories of the deceased up to the time of death. A Critical Win extends the duration of the speech to an entire evening.
COMMUNICATE WITH KINDRED SIRE
Blood Sorcery ••
The caster uses the bond between sire and childe to open a bridg e between minds, allowing the childe to create a telepathic link for the purpose of long-distance communication. As with some other Rituals, this one sees a resurgence in these nights of wiretaps and electronic surveillance.
Ingredients: An object previously possessed by the sire and a silver bowl filled with clear water.
Process: The caster submerges the object in water and lets their Blood drip into the bowl, concentrating upon the last memory of their sire for up to 30 minutes.
System: Make the ritual roll after 15 minutes have passed. A win allows for ten minutes of two-way silent mental communication once 15 more minutes have passed. A critical win allows immediate communication. Any major disturbance on either end breaks the connection.
CRAFTMASTER
Blood Sorcery ••
Some Blood sorcerers seek to gain skill through their sorcerous art, rather than pursuing mastery with the slow, difficult path of practice. The sorcerer drinks a skill specialty possessed by a gifted subject.
Ingredients: Blood of a gifted subject, representative craft object such as a needle, page of a book, playing card, chisel, etc., vulture bones.
Process: The caster chars the vulture bones in a fire and places the representative object in a bowl over the flames. They pour the blood of the subject into the bowl, completely covering the object. As the last of the bones crack and burn, the vampire drinks the blood from the bowl, letting the object touch their lips as they drink.
System: On a win, the caster gains the subject's dots and specialty in Academics, Craft, Performance, or Science until sunrise. The dots replace, not add to, any already possessed by the caster. If the caster already has that specialty, they gain one extra die on top of the specialty die. On a critical win, the Ritual lasts for a week. On a total failure, the caster accidentally swallows the craft object and takes 2 Aggravated Health damage from it traveling through their body, the object spiritually furious at its skill being stolen.
DEPTHS OF NIGHTMARE
Blood Sorcery ••
This ritual gives targets the worst nightmares they've ever experienced. Developed by the cult of Set to punish recalcitrant followers with nightmares of Duat, the ritual has caught on outside since it's very good at wearing down a target's will.
Ingredients: Target's hair; melted wax; natron (soda ash)
Process: The caster mixes a Rouse Check's worth of blood into the melted wax, then rolls their target's hair in the mixture. The vampire shapes the bloody wax into a humanoid shape, as close to their target's body shape as possible. After writing glyphs or curses in their native language, the sorcerer soaks the figurine in a bowl of water mixed with natron.
System: On a win, the target receives a number of nightmare-filled days (or nights, for mortal targets) equal to the number of successes rolled. When they first awaken after each sleep, the target receives 1 Superficial Willpower damage. On a critical win, the damage is Aggravated instead. This damage cannot be healed normally until the spell has run its course: only magic or the like can remove the shock and horror of these dreams. On a total failure, the target not only has pleasant dreams, but dreams of an ibis-headed man who points the target in the caster's direction. This occurs even if the caster used no Kemetic imagery on the figurine.
ENHANCE DYSCRASIA
Blood Sorcery ••
A unique flavor is a treat to be shared, and the busy members of the Penny Dining Club seldom have time to do so slowly and safely. This ritual allows multiple Kindred to partake in a Dyscrasia, without destroying it or having to wait for it to recharge. Generally, the Thaumaturge will perform Enrich the Blood on their target first, to stretch their choice dish further.
Ingredients: An object of significance to the target, appropriate to the Resonance of their Dyscrasia.
Process: The caster must taste the target's blood, then hold the object and concentrate upon its Resonance for several minutes. The object must then be returned to the target.
System: A successful Ritual roll increases the potency and utility of the target's Dyscrasia, providing its effects to anyone who slakes at least 1 point of Hunger from the target. This effect dissipates after three nights.
Forbidden Religions, pg. 7
ELEMENTAL GRASP
Blood Sorcery ••
Prerequisite: Koldunic Sorcery
This koldunic ritual commands the sorcerer's chosen element to slow or otherwise interfere with a target: sticky mud or sudden rockslide, flash flood or stinging hail, icy wind or choking fog, a wave of enervating heat or a brush fire across the path. So far, it remains exclusive to the kolduny, although rituals have a way of twisting themselves into another tradition's grasp eventually.
Ingredients: A handful of the koldun's element or a ritual representation of it, such as a wooden staff for earth, a knife or bunch of feathers for air, etc.
Process: The koldun scratches open their initiation scar and makes a Rouse Check while commanding the element to hinder a target the koldun perceives. Magical perception counts for this purpose.
System: On a win, the element rises against the target. If the element is already awake during the casting (commanding air during a thunderstorm, for instance), the koldun adds one die to their Ritual pool. The target takes one point of Superficial Health damage per success, and must make an appropriate skill roll (e.g., Toughness + Athletics, or Composure + Drive) to continue against the element against a Difficulty equal to 1 + the total successes on the Ritual roll. On a critical win, the element rises against every suitable target within sight of the main target. The effect continues until the koldun does anything else besides command the elements: fight, move, make any other skill roll, etc.
EYES OF BABEL
Blood Sorcery ••
By ingesting the tongue and an eye of a person the caster gains the ability to read and speak any language known by the victim.
Ingredients: A fresh eye and tongue of a person
Process: Plucking the ingredients fresh from the victim, the vampire chews and swallows them. (This most likely incurs a Stain.)
System: The Rouse Check required for this ritual allows for the supernatural dissolution of the ingredients once swallowed. Once this is done, make the Ritual roll. A win gives the caster the ability to read and speak any language known by the victim, at the same skill level for a week. A critical win extends the duration to a month.
ILLUMINATE THE TRAIL OF PREY
Blood Sorcery ••
The ritual allows the caster to perceive the previous whereabouts of a designated person as a subtly glowing trail, visible only to them.
Ingredients: A white satin ribbon.
Process: The performer of the ritual soaks the ribbon in their own Blood, setting it alight.
System: If the Ritual roll is a win the ribbon catches fire despite being wet, burning fiercely like a fuse. Once consumed, the ritual takes effect. While the ritual remains active, the caster can follow faint traces of the target even in areas where they left no tracks, such as crowded cities. To follow the tracks, the caster makes an Intelligence + Survival roll against a Difficulty equal to 6 minus the margin on the ritual test. The target must be known by face by the caster, who sees the path travelled by the victim over the previous 24 hours. The path remains visible for the entire night; a critical win extends this to two nights.
LE SANG DE L'AMOUR
Blood Sorcery ••
This ritual allows the caster to create a connection between themselves and a lover that's more than just their mutual attraction.
Ingredients: Blood of the caster and their lover, two glass vials on chains (or leather thongs).
Process: The caster collects their own blood and their lover's at the same time, careful to keep the two separate. They don't need much blood—only a teaspoonful. The only requirement: both must desire the other at the time of the casting. The caster seals the two blood samples inside the vials, hanging each from a chain. As the lovers exchange vials and hang them around their necks, the caster sings a song in praise of their lover to Aphrodite, Ishtar or another love or lust deity.
System: With a win on the Ritual test, le Sang de l'Amour allows both participants to concentrate (Resolve + Awareness) and know approximately where the other is on a success. They don't get an exact location, but have a rough sense of distance — in the same city, the same state, across the ocean from each other. With more successes, they get more information, small details of the sensation of being in the other's location: they feel a deck pitching up and down, the strain of climbing harsh terrain, or the vibration of loud noise. With a critical win, the ritual provides one automatic success on the lover's perception roll. Any other successes let them actually see brief glimpses of their lover and their surroundings, and even hear snatches of conversation. On a total failure, the blood accidentally mixes in the vials and both participants get disoriented and confused if they try to concentrate on the other. Their Composure suffers, reducing by 1 until the end of the next scene even if they break both vials and end the ritual. The ritual only remains effective as long as both wear their partner's vial and as long as the vials remain unbroken. If one of the participants does not actually desire the other during the ritual (if a player, they should state as much privately to the Storyteller), their vial dries and clots the first time they use it, becoming useless muck. This has no adverse effect on the two participants beyond the personal fallout.
SHROUD OF SILENCE
Blood Sorcery ••
This ritual creates an interior area from which no sound can escape, allowing for assassinations without screams, safecracking without the buzz of the drill, and detonations without the roar of an explosion.
Ingredients: A length of woven cloth, often silk. A golden ring through which the cloth can pass.
Process: The caster passes the cloth through the golden ring, daubs each end of the cloth in vitae, then affixes it to a door handle or threads it through a keyhole.
System: If the ritual succeeds, it creates a shroud of impenetrable silence centered entirely within the room to which the door serves as an entrance or exit. It lasts for a single scene. Anyone can disperse the effect instantly by removing the cloth from its place.
Forbidden Religions, pg. 23
SILENTIA MORTIS
Blood Sorcery ••
Replicating Discipline powers didn't begin with Thin-Blood Alchemy. The Banu Haqim initially developed this ritual for those of their assassins who didn't possess the Silence of Death (Obfuscate 1) power. It has since spread into general use.
The ritual enchants a talisman (usually the paw of a cat, weasel, or other silent desert animal) to generate a sort of white noise or counter-resonance by roiling the holder's Blood. The effect: a magical silence emanating from the holder, muting all sounds within its radius of effect. Sounds originating outside that radius can be heard inside, dimly.
Ingredients: Paw of a cat or other silent desert predator, blood from caster (and from holder, if different), corpse-wax candle (p. 139), a white rose.
Process: The caster whispers the words of this ritual, cuts their palm, and clenches the paw in their fist, soaking it in a Rouse Check worth of their blood. If intended for a holder besides the caster, the holder also cuts their palm and holds the paw, making their own Rouse Check and mingling their blood. The holder remains completely silent during this ritual. After burning the rose in the candle, the caster quenches the candle flame with the bloody paw.
System: A win on the Ritual roll creates a 6-meter radius of magical silence around the holder once they activate the talisman by making a second Rouse Check. The talisman must touch the holder's flesh, but they need not keep it in their hand. The silence ends when the holder loses the talisman or after one hour, and the talisman shrivels into nothingness. A critical win increases the radius to 12 meters.
SOPORIFIC TOUCH
Blood Sorcery ••
The blood sorcerer can convert a dose of their own vitae into a touch activated narcotic that renders a victim uninhibited and vulnerable to Disciplines such as Presence and Dominate, as well as attempts at mundane manipulation, coercion, or interrogation.
Ingredients: A small amount of hashish or other narcotic substance.
Process: The chosen substance is mixed with the user's Blood and rubbed between their fingers as the incantation is read (or whispered). The Ritual takes only a few minutes to prepare.
System: Make a Ritual roll vs. the Stamina + Resolve of the target when they make contact with the affected vitae. For the remainder of the scene, the victim suffers a dice penalty equal to the margin of win on the Ritual roll on all resistance pools involving Composure or Resolve. (Apply the penalty only once if the pool involves both Attributes.) The narcotic vitae retains its potency until it is touched, up until the end of the scene.
Players Guide, pg. 100
Replaces Ishtar's Touch
TASTE OF STOLEN DREAMS
Blood Sorcery ••
You steal a mortal's dream and store it in a vial of blood to share with others.
Ingredients: A vial of blood taken from a dreaming mortal. A crow's feather
Process: You draw a mortal's blood without their consent while they're sleeping and then mix the blood with part of a crow's feather.
System: Anyone who drink's the mortal blood stolen by this Ritual experiences the same dream or nightmare as the mortal from whom the blood was taken. Usually this is the dream being experienced by the mortal at the time of the ritual's execution, but mortals with prophetic dreams or recurring nightmares might empower the blood with those visions instead.
TIAMAT GLISTENS
Blood Sorcery ••
Blood sorcerers know that places of power, like mortals, just need to be tapped. This ritual prepares the place of power, increases its true potential, and perhaps most importantly attunes it personally to the vampire. This Ritual is a common element in many Chained Rituals (p. 71). Sorcerers seek means of permanently attuning a site to themselves, possibly through a Blood Bond similar to the koldunic initiation ritual, or through the sacrifice of a rival sorcerer on the site, but so far nobody has found one. Nobody who's talking, anyway.
Ingredients: A place of power such as a furcus, dust of a precious metal (which one depends on the magical valence of the site).
Process: The caster mixes a Rouse Check's worth of blood with the precious metal dust. At the site of a place of power, they shout praises to Tiamat, scattering the bloody metal dust mixture into the air and on the ground for at least fifteen minutes.
System: On a win, the sorcerer primes the place of power for any ritual taking place there for a number of nights equal to the number of successes on the Ritual test. During this time, any ritual performed by the caster on this place of power gains the bonuses or other advantages associated with it — usually a dice bonus to Ritual pools (see Furcus, p. 35). On a critical win, the sorcerer also automatically succeeds on one die of their Ritual roll. Only one caster receives the benefits of Tiamat Glistens per place of power. If another caster successfully performs the Ritual during the time of another caster's successful casting, the first caster immediately loses the dice bonus.
TRUTH OF BLOOD
Blood Sorcery ••
Until recently known only to Banu Haqim viziers, this Ritual creates a mystic potion capable of sifting lies from truth. This Ritual has power enough even to sometimes uncover facts unknown to the speaker.
Ingredients: One pint of blood from the subject.
Process: The performer of the Ritual mixes their own Blood with that of the subject in a vessel large enough to allow for the dipping of the finger.
System: Instead of the regular Ritual roll, the caster immerses their finger in the mixture and makes a Resolve + Blood Sorcery vs Composure + Occult roll for every statement made by the subject. The first failed contest ends the Ritual. A Win tells them whether that statement is true, as far as the subject knows. On a critical win by the caster, the subject involuntarily expands upon their answer, providing more information, including details they glancingly saw or subconsciously forgot. (The Storyteller should inform the caster if there is no more information about that topic.) The mixture bubbles and seethes during the process, turning completely to ash at the end of the scene.
This Ritual cannot pierce Cloud Memory, the Forgetful Mind, or other memorywiping powers. The caster may well guess the cause of a blank or foggy recollection, but cannot recover the actual memory.
UNSEEN UNDERGROUND
Blood Sorcery ••
After performing this ritual, the user gains invisibility and causes no sounds, allowing them to scurry around and hide like a rat.
Ingredients: Rat's blood and eyes.
Process: The caster drains a rat completely dry and removes its eyes from its skull, before throwing them into the nearest shadowed or unlit place. The caster can only perform this ritual on themselves.
System: A successful ritual yields the ability to go completely invisible for an hour. The ritual immediately ends if the caster ventures above ground. The only thing that can end the ritual early is violent intent. Should the user attack another individual, the effect immediately ends. The victim may make a Wits + Awareness roll against a difficulty equal to the number of successes obtained on the ritual's activation roll to react in time and defend themselves. If they fail this roll, treat the first attack as a Surprise Attack (VtM, page 300). As per Obfuscate, a user of this Ritual can be detected with Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1), however Blood Sorcery is used instead of Obfuscate.
VISCERA GARDEN
Blood Sorcery ••
Blood sorcerers can grow Blood-addicted plants in special fields, using the crops as magical components or for enjoyment. It's also a great way to get rid of a body, if the Blood sorcerer has the space.
Ingredients: A plot of land, a day-old human or animal corpse, the caster's Blood (for upkeep).
Process: The caster clears out a plot of land and digs a hole. They tear open their wrist and pour a Rouse Check's worth of Blood into the human or animal corpse. The corpse being a day old is essential in the human corpse's case; accidental Embraces have occurred when a human corpse is too fresh. The corpse is eviscerated, and its mass thrown into the hole. The caster plants or transfers their preferred plants to the plot, then covers them in the corpse's viscera.
System: A win instantly disintegrates the buried body and viscera into blood-scented smoke. In addition, plants grown in the plot are unusually hardy and vampires can ingest them (consuming these plants as food slakes no Hunger, but it stays down). Vampiric influence Discipline tests against a mortal who ingested a viscerated plant take −1 to Difficulty (or the target loses two dice from their resistance pool, for contests). The plants must receive a Rouse Check's worth of Blood every month, or else they wither and die within a week. A critical win extends the length of time between waterings to two months. An animal corpse can fertilize a Viscera Garden of about 1 x 1 meters, or about 3 x 3 feet. A human corpse doubles these dimensions.
WARD AGAINST SPIRITS
Blood Sorcery ••
This Ritual wards an item against incorporeal beings suchs as wraiths, ghosts, and elemental spirits. Any attempt by them to manipulate or pass through the item triggers the effect. This ward uses the standard rules for Wards (p. 275).
Ingredients: A handful of salt (in some versions, a handful of brick dust) mixed with the Blood.
WARDING CIRCLE AGAINST GHOULS
Blood Sorcery ••
This Ritual creates a circular Ward on the floor or ground, intended to prevent the passage of ghouls. This ward uses the standard rules for Wards (p. 275).
Ingredients: The caster draws the Warding circle with a human bone dipped in the Blood.
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
COMPEL THE INANIMATE
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ritual allows a vampire to take control of an object for a single moment, with just enough time to step away and deny plausibility.
Ingredients: Any inanimate object.
Process: The caster smears a glyph on an inanimate object with one Rouse Check's worth of their Blood and gives the object a quick order. After the caster's Blood dries on its surface (about five minutes), the object carries out the order to its best ability.
System: A win on the Ritual roll allows the object to understand their order as the caster intended it. A critical win allows for one additional order, which does not have to be carried out at the exact same time as the first order but must be carried out before the night's end.
Orders must be simple commands, not complex sentences: fall over, crash, or erase your databanks. Objects do not have concepts of time and cannot easily recognize individual people, so orders concerning a specific time or person cannot be carried out perfectly. The caster must be in the same relative environment as the object when the order is carried out, such as a caster ordering a lamppost in a park to shut off must still be in the park, a caster who commands a museum suit of armor to tumble must be in that museum, etc.
Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect the caster with a contest of Wits + Auspex vs. the caster's Composure + Blood Sorcery.
EGREGORE CONSULTATION
Blood Sorcery ••••
This proprietary plague oracle (page 108) ritual focuses on the influenza virus, so its caster must be hosting influenza to use it.
Mystics use the term egregore for a sort of unified oversoul of a region, people, or spiritual category. In this case, it means the combined knowledge and instincts of everyone within twenty kilometers who has the flu. In addition to drawing on their own training, the plague oracle can access—at least in part—the wide and relevant experiences of every sick person in range.
Ingredients: Live influenza viruses in caster's Blood, worms, flukes, or other parasites, a knife, a magnet.
Process: The caster chops up the worms with the knife and smears them on the magnet. Holding the magnet in their left hand and facing north, they intone the ritual chant.
System: The sorcerer picks a Skill they wish to enhance before making the Ritual roll. On a win, the next three times the plague oracle uses that Skill in a pool, they get a dice bonus equal to one plus their margin on the Ritual test. If the Storyteller decides the Skill is only somewhat uncommon, add a die to that bonus; if the skill is very common, add two dice. On a critical win, add a free Specialty or another bonus die if the caster already has the desired Specialty. For example, a Tremere in Cairo hunted by an Islamic anti-vampire society could use this to speed her research in this ancient center of learning. She rolls six successes: a margin of 1 plus 1 die, plus 1 more die for the numerous fluey scholars in the area. She gets three dice to add to her next three Academics rolls. She could similarly play the stock market with Finance in New York or Shanghai, or get off a crack shot or three in Dallas.
DEFENSE OF THE SACRED HAVEN
Blood Sorcery ••••
The performer of this powerful ritual can ward their haven against the sun itself, protecting their resting place from penetration by its destructive rays as a mystical darkness blankets the area.
Ingredients: Nothing but the Blood of the caster.
Process: The caster inscribes a number of sigils and glyphs on and around the area to be protected. They must take special care on windows and doorways, but may even ward an open doorway if the area is indoors. The ritual wards gray or liminal areas, such as ruins, at the Storyteller's discretion.
System: The process takes an hour or more, depending on the state or the area to be warded. The area can be no larger than a circle with a six-meter radius. The ritual automatically fails if the caster steps out of the area at any time after the warding is complete. The caster makes the Ritual roll once the sun rises. On a Win, shadow blankets the area, closing off any view of the outside but also preventing any sun damage to the vampires within. On a critical win, those inside can spy the outside world dimly. The Ritual lasts through an entire day unless ended by the caster stepping outside the area.
EYES OF THE NIGHTHAWK
Blood Sorcery ••••
Related to the primitive powers of Animalism, this Ritual allows the caster to possess a carnivorous fowl, usually a raven or a bird of prey, directing its flight and seeing through its eyes. Parrots and mynahs, not being carnivores, cannot be used in this Ritual. Some Tremere spent years training crows or ravens to speak before using them as nighthawks; with the Pyramid disrupted, fewer Warlocks have the spare time now.
Ingredients: The eyes of the bird used, taken at the conclusion of the Ritual.
Process: The caster feeds their Blood to the bird and enters a trance.
System: On a winning Ritual roll the caster can control the bird and see through its eyes. On a critical win, the bird can perform simple actions under control, such as picking up objects or manipulating keys or dials. The caster can use most nonphysical Disciplines through the bird, even Dominate assuming the caster has Telepathy or some other way to communicate with targets non-verbally. There is no limit to the range the bird can fly, though unless the caster plucks the eyes out of the bird at the end of the night they themselves suffer blindness for three nights to come.
FEAST OF ASHES
Blood Sorcery ••••
What better way to torment a rival than by turning the blood in their mouth to ashes? Kindred affected by this Ritual cannot drink blood for one night.
Ingredients: A piece of parchment with the name of the target written on it and burned, and ashes from the burned scroll.
Process: The caster writes the name of their target on a piece of parchment and burns it. They collect the ashes and use their own Blood mixed with the ashes to write the sigils required to perform the Ritual.
System: Make a Ritual roll versus the target's Resolve + Willpower. On a successful roll, the target cannot consume blood for one night, vomiting it up as if it were mortal food and drink. Only ashes sate their Hunger and cannot bring it lower than 3, though few victims think of eating ashes unless told of the spell.
GUIDED MEMORY
Blood Sorcery ••••
By imbibing the Blood of a willing Kindred, a vampire can relive the memories of the donor, who guides them through the donor's past experiences. This can allow the vampire to recall memories from before they were born! In addition, these guided journeys can unlock Discipline powers, Merits, and potentially other gifts of the donor's Blood.
Ingredients: The vitae of another vampire, dried rosemary, and fresh poppies or forget-me-nots.
Process: The sorcerer burns the flowers and rosemary, blending the ashes with the donated vitae, then drinks the Blood.
System: The sorcerer selects a Memoriam goal (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 312), or one of the goals below:
• A Level 1 Discipline power; a one-dot Merit
•• A Level 2 Discipline power; a two-dot Merit
••• A Level 3 Discipline power; a three-dot Merit
The power may be encountered during the Memoriam, or the memory itself deals with the donor learning the power. The Merit may emerge from a similar circumstance, or result from the character unlocking some secret or potential in the past.
While the player may pursue a specific power or Merit, the Storyteller is the final judge of which gift they gain.
All gifts of guided Memoriam fade as new native memories overlay these resurfaced and imported ones. They last until the end of the session, or (if the guided Memoriam happened at the end of the session) until the end of the next one.
| Guided Memoriam...
|
| Powers: This power is independent of the sorcerer's other powers and does not count against the limit of powers they can possess in a single Discipline, although they still need to fulfill the Discipline rating requirement. This power cannot be used as a requirement to learn another power, but a character could gain an Amalgam power temporarily if they already knew the other prerequisite power.
Merits: Merit dots cannot be spread among different Merits or added to existing Merits the player character may already have.
Entering the Guided Memoriam: A guided Memoriam follows all of the same rules as a standard Memoriam except the Kindred donating the Blood and memories rolls the required Rouse check. The donor remains present throughout the scene as a spiritual or disembodied presence or guide that only the Kindred experiencing the Memoriam can interact with. Everyone experiencing the guided Memoriam must partake of the offered Blood.
Walking through another Kindred's memories is a particularly unnatural experience and inflicts penalties based on how far back in time the journey delves. The Blood offered by the Kindred donor is always considered a deep drink (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 312) and the bonuses supplied from that usually offset some of these penalties.
Additional Guided Memoriam Modifiers:
- The scene takes place during or after your mortal life: lose one die
- The scene takes place less than a century before your mortal life: lose two dice
- The scene takes place one or two centuries before your mortal life: lose four dice
- The scene takes place three or more centuries before your mortal life: lose six dice
|
INCORPOREAL PASSAGE
Blood Sorcery ••••
The caster assumes an incorporeal state, not unlike a ghost, able to freely pass through objects and rendered totally immune to physical damage. They cannot interact physically with the material world except by sight and speech.
Ingredients: A mirror.
Process: The caster spills their Blood on the mirror, chanting, and then breaks it.
System: Make a Ritual roll. If the roll is a win, the caster assumes an incorporeal form as long as they hold a shard of the broken mirror. While incorporeal, the caster remains immune to everything except fire, sunlight, and arcane weapons and rituals capable of damaging spirits. The caster can still be seen and heard but cannot interact physically with anything or anyone. They cannot Rouse the Blood while incorporeal. Incorporeal casters have no access to any spirit realm; the ritual does not make them wraiths or spirits. The caster can walk through walls and other objects but must do so in a straight line; they cannot change direction while inside solid matter. This Ritual lasts for one scene or until the caster drops the shard. Returning to the material while inside solid matter can result in anything from destruction to entombment to minor inconvenience; the Storyteller decides the precise outcome.
INNOCENCE OF THE CHILD'S HEART
Blood Sorcery ••••
Developed by Nicolai himself, this ritual allows the caster to conceal their Kindred aura from users of Auspex.
Ingredients: A toy belonging to a mortal child.
Process: The caster must acquire the toy of an innocent mortal child and use the ritual to mystically infuse it with the power of their Kindred vitae, drawing the child's innocence into their aura. The caster must then carry the toy on their person to mask themselves from the powers of Auspex.
System: The caster makes a Rouse Check and makes their Ritual test. Upon success, the caster's aura is altered to make them appear mortal, with any stains of diablerie rendered invisible. Auspex users employing Scry the Soul on the caster will perceive their aura as mortal until the effects of the ritual dissipate, unless they make a contested roll between their Intelligence + Auspex versus the caster's Intelligence + Blood Sorcery + four dice. The ritual lasts one night unless the ritual test is made at +2 to difficulty which extends it until the end of the story. A Critical Win doubles the ritual's duration. Note that there is no recorded instance of Nicolai sharing this ritual with his fellow Tremere and can only be learned by capturing Nicolai's notes or via other method of the Storyteller's determination.
Chicago by Night, pg. 172
INVISIBLE CHAINS OF BINDING
Blood Sorcery ••••
The blood sorcerer binds a subject in invisible chains, confining them to a single spot for the duration of the Ritual.
Ingredients: A link of chain.
Process: The sorcerer inscribes the sigils on the chain using their own Blood. The process takes an hour, at which point the chain link can be concealed on their person to be used on a target at a later time, at which point the chain is thrown at their feet.
System: When throwing the prepared link at a target the user makes a Ritual roll against the target's Strength + Resolve. The target is unable to move from the spot for one hour per success in the margin as long as the chain link remains intact and within three yards / meters of them. A bound target suffers a four-dice penalty to any physical defense tests as well as to brawl and melee actions.
The chain link corrodes to dust at the end of the Ritual's effect.
LAND'S SUSTENANCE
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ritual allows a Blood sorcerer to feed from a place of power. They transform it into a place of suffering, from which they stave off their own Hunger for a small while. The kolduny call their version of this ritual Mouth of the Land.
Ingredients: A place of power such as a furcus, anything that demarcates a territory such as police tape, a sign post, an enclosed space, etc., a dagger.
Process: Over four nights, the caster uses a dagger to carve occult symbols into the corner of a plot of land or the corners of a wall within a place of power, one corner for each night. On the fifth night, the caster must stain all these symbols with half of a Rouse Check's worth of blood, circumventing the entire location and staining them before the night ends. With the other half, the vampire stains something that demarcates the territory they've carved out and places it either around the area (if it's something like police tape) or in a corner of the area (if it's something like a sign).
System: On a win, the land the vampire marked off hungers. A simple cut turns into a laceration. An otherwise harmless fall breaks necks. In general, injuries and accidents become bloodier. As the land sups on the blood of innocents, the benefits mystically pass on to the caster. Once per session, the caster may choose to automatically pass a number of Rouse Checks equal to their margin on the Ritual test. This ritual lasts until the end of the story. After that, the caster must recoat the symbols with a Rouse Check and a Ritual roll.
LEVINBOLT
Blood Sorcery ••••
Prerequisite: Galvanic Ruination
This ritual allows for the caster to make a victim the target of bolts of electricity and lightning. When activated, electricity arcs from power outlets, electrical objects, wires, cables and may even call down lightning directly from the sky.
Ingredients: Charged magnet, electricity, sanguine resonant blood
Process: The magnet is placed in a pool of blood while the electrical current is run through it. When the magnet has absorbed the blood, the ritual is complete. The magnet becomes a charred and melted lump of iron when the ritual has fully run its course.
System: The ritual is enacted, after which the magnet maintains its charge for the oddly specific next 1.21 hours.
The magnet must then be placed on the target, which may require a Dexterity + Athletics or Stealth roll at the Storyteller's discretion. Once placed the activation roll is made. Upon activation the location of the magnet is irrelevant and the target can still be struck if they dispose of it.
For the rest of the scene, the vampire can call upon bolts of electricity from surrounding sources to strike the target with a Wits + Science roll. This can be dodged as normal and is treated as a Firearms attack. If the attack hits, the target must succeed in a Stamina + Composure roll, Difficulty 3, or be Stunned (pg. 303) for a turn. Mortals take the margin in Aggravated Health damage, while Kindred receive unhalved Superficial damage.
While the ritual can only affect one target per turn, once the first target is paralyzed the vampire can cause electricity to arc from their primary target to other targets with the same roll, but with a cumulative -1 to their dice pool. When this happens, the primary target absorbs all the superficial damage.
Technology that can be short circuited is typically destroyed when it comes into contact with this amount of electricity. Vampires are unaffected, although it can of course destroy any technology they have on them.
| THE PATH OF LEVINBOLT...
|
| Due to a historical lack of understanding of the principles of electricity, the Path of Levinbolt remained incredibly obscure until the birth of modern science. Though thaumaturges no longer have to wait until a convenient thunderstorm to charge their powers, the Path of Levinbolt is still rarely studied or taught. As such, it requires a specific teacher to learn.
Furthermore, practitioners of the Path of the Levinbolt tend to cause a good deal of static electricity around them, even when not engaging in combat. Sometimes this plays havoc with cellular service, causes lights to flicker without reason, and computers to experience power surges in their presence.
|
MIRROR WALK
Blood Sorcery ••••
You create a portal in a nearby mirror and escape to another previously prepared mirror.
Ingredients: Two large mirrors and the ashes of a recently destroyed vampire.
Process: You eat some of the ashes while tracing your fingers along the surface of a large mirror. Once all but the last mouthful of ashes have been consumed, the mirror is ready to be called upon.
System: Eat the last mouthful of ashes while touching a different large mirror. This creates a portal between this mirror and the mirror you originally prepared with this ritual. You can see whatever is reflected in the original mirror when you open the portal. This link only lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1 + the margin of success you gained when casting this ritual. One vampire can step through the portal every round, instantly appearing in front of the specially prepared mirror. Mortals, ghouls, and vampires without a reflection cannot step through a mirror walk portal. The magic of this ritual is spent once the portal closes or if the ritually prepared mirror is significantly damaged before it is activated.
PROTEAN CURSE
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ritual transforms the target into a bat similar to the level four Protean ability, Metamorphosis.
Ingredients: A vial of rabid vampire bat blood, Kindred vitae acquired from a vampire with the Protean Discipline, and a string-suspended puppet crafted from bat bones.
Process: The target must drink a vial of blood from a rabid vampire bat, mixed with Kindred vitae while the caster puppeteers the bone marionette.
System: The caster produces two Rouse Checks' worth of their blood, with the blood of a rabid vampire bat and gives it to the target to drink. The ritual is cast, and upon a successful ritual roll, the target is transformed into a bat per the Metamorphosis ability of the Protean Discipline. The target may elect to resist this transformation with a Stamina + Occult roll. If the target rolls more successes than the ritual's practitioner, they prevent the transformation, while their Total Failure can leave them in a horrifically deformed, half-human, half-bat state. The half-bat creature gains +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Stamina, and +1 Presence up to a maximum of 5, but cannot communicate verbally, reduces its Manipulation to 0, and takes 1 aggravated Health damage for every turn exposed to bright light, artificial or otherwise. The ritual can be cast on both Kindred and humans and lasts for a full evening or until the caster dispels the ritual via a successful ritual test. The duration of Protean Curse can be extended by making a Rouse Check and a successful ritual roll at the beginning of each night the caster wants to maintain the ritual. A Critical Win for the practitioner doubles the duration of Protean Curse. The caster cannot use this Ritual on themselves.
Chicago by Night, pg. 173
RENDING THE SWEET EARTH
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ritual rends the earth to reveal a vampire concealed
by Protean.
Ingredients: A leather whip, Kindred vitae.
Process: The caster locates the exact spot a user of Protean sank into the earth using Earth Meld. They then slit their palm, smearing vitae on the point of entry and repeatedly strike the ground with a leather whip.
System: The caster makes a Rouse Check and a ritual test. Upon success, a 10-foot by 10-foot chasm opens, leading to the subterranean resting place of a vampire in an Earth Melded state. The ritual automatically awakens the target vampire if they are asleep, but will not do so if they are in torpor. A Critical Win opens the chasm without waking the target.
Chicago by Night, pg. 173
RIDING THE EARTH'S VEINS
Blood Sorcery ••••
If a Blood sorcerer has access to a furcus, this ancient Banu Haqim ritual serves as a last resort when escaping enemies. There's a catch: the caster has no control where they end up. Riding the planet's secret rails means casting your fate to the wind, literally.
Ingredients: A furcus, a physical sign of entrance such as a ticket, key, or doorknob.
Process: At the furcus, the caster bathes the sign of entrance in a Rouse Check's worth of Blood while singing praises to a deity or famous figure representing escape, travel, or the wind. Traditionally, this ritual calls upon the Mesopotamian god Enlil. After ten minutes, pour the Blood on the ground.
System: Make no Ritual roll until the vampire touches the soil (or floor) of their chosen furcus with their physical sign of entrance. On a win, the caster dissolves into a bloody mist, drawn into the Earth's veins and reincorporated twenty minutes later at a furcus of the Storyteller's choosing. On a critical win, they arrive at the nearest furcus to their Haven or to a place of power attuned to the caster by Tiamat Glistens (p. 64). This ritual is one-way, and only activates at the specific furcus where the sorcerer first cast it.
WARD AGAINST CAINITES
Blood Sorcery ••••
This Ritual wards an item against all vampires except the caster. Any attempt by them to touch the item triggers the effect. However, a vampire examining the Ward with Auspex can read the name of the caster in it with a successful contest of Intelligence + Auspex vs. the caster's Intelligence + Blood Sorcery. This ward uses the standard rules for Wards.
Ingredients: Ash warm from a still-burning fire; casters risk terror frenzy, and cannot inscribe this Ward that night if they succumb to it.
WARDING CIRCLE AGAINST FAERIES
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ward uses the standard rules for Warding circles. (p. 275)
Ingredients: The caster draws the Warding circle with a cold iron knife dipped in salt and Blood.
WARDING CIRCLE AGAINST LUPINES
Blood Sorcery ••••
This ward uses the standard rules for Warding circles. (p. 275)
Ingredients: The caster draws the Warding circle with a silver knife dipped in wolfsbane and Blood.
LEVEL 5
ANTEBRACHIA IGNIUM
Blood Sorcery •••••
The caster of this Ritual manifests hungry flame from their flesh, using an enchanted coating of vitae like a buffer and can set items and people alight using the fire.
Ingredients: Sufficient vitae (from any vampire) to coat the caster's arms up to the elbows, and a source of flame (such as a lighter).
Process: The vampire immerses their arms in the blood and withstands the urge to feed or frenzy. After extracting their arms, exposure to flame ignites the vitae rather than the vampire it coats. The vampire can then go on to set targets alight using the fire on their skin.
System: If the user is at Hunger 4 or more, make a hunger frenzy test at Difficulty 3 to avoid draining the ingredients. At any point during the night they may expose the vitae to fire and make a Ritual roll. Any success ignites flames on the vampire's hands and arms, a spectacular display provoking a terror frenzy test (Difficulty 2) in all nearby vampires except the caster. They may touch others with Dexterity + Brawl in physical combat to inflict two Aggravated Health damage. Entering a grapple ignites the both combatants' clothes, continuing the damage each turn until they make a Composure + Survival roll (Difficulty 3) to smother the burn. The caster is only resistant to flame on their arms, and burns as usual elsewhere. The fiery arms extinguish when the caster wills it or when the scene ends.
Players Guide, pg. 102
Replaces "Creatio Ignis"
DOMINION
Blood Sorcery •••••
The Blood Sorcerer makes themselves the sovereign of supernatural powers in their own domain, thwarting others' use of most vampiric abilities.
Ingredients: Seal made of iron embedded over every doorway in the building.
Process: The ritual takes three hours to cast. During this time, the caster must be embedding iron seals over every doorway, consecrating them with their own vitae, and carving sigils on the doors.
System: Upon a successful Ritual roll, the Blood sorcerer stops any uses of Animalism, Auspex, Dominate, or Presence except by themselves. Any uses of the Disciplines within the building still cause any Rouse checks to occur, though the amount of Blood spent to perform the ritual varies – from Rouse Check for an apartment up to five for a large manor. The Ritual lasts indefinitely but can be broken by the destruction of at least one seal.
EDEN'S BOUNTY
Blood Sorcery •••••
This rare Ritual allows a vampire to drain blood and energy from any living creatures in the nearby area, allowing the caster to stave off Hunger without even having to bare their fangs.
Ingredients: A dead body, a living tree, one fresh apple, one rotten apple.
Process: The vampire lays a dead body at the foot of a tree and places the healthy apple in the corpse's mouth, followed by the rotten apple into the vampire's. If the apple does not fit in the corpse's mouth, the caster may hammer it in, dislocate the jaw, or otherwise rend the throat open, so long as it fits. As the body rapidly merges with the tree's roots and trunk, blood from mortals up to 1 mile/kilometer away drains into the earth and out through the rotten apple in the vampire's mouth, sating Hunger.
System: The player makes a Ritual roll following the placement of the corpse and the apples. On a win, the vampire's Hunger is slaked to one, despite any Blood Potency feeding penalties. On a critical win, the vampire's Hunger is slaked to zero without killing. On a total failure, the vampire falls into a hunger frenzy. Depending on the number of kine in the Ritual area and the type of kine nearby, Stains may accrue; for example vampires with a Prey Exclusion may suffer Stains if this Ritual is used in an area heavily populated by their excluded class of mortal, whereas varied groups with more kine to draw from are less likely to bear an ethical cost.
A lot of blood is wasted with this Ritual, as all the mortals in the area lose a little blood to the earth, though the loss is not visible. For the remainder of the chapter, those kine suffer a one-die penalty to all Physical rolls and 1 Aggravated Health damage.
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 56
ELEMENTAL ATTACK
Blood Sorcery •••••
Prerequisite: Koldunic Sorcery
This koldunic ritual commands their element to attack a target: avalanche or sudden subsidence or falling tree, flash flood or waterspout, lightning bolt or stifling suffocation, gas main explosion or sudden electrical fire.
Ingredients: A weapon representing or made from the element, such as a wooden club, an icicle, a meteoric iron knife, a torch, etc.
Process: Wielding the weapon, the koldun opens their initiation scar and makes a Rouse Check while commanding the element to attack a target the koldun perceives. Magical perception counts for this purpose.
System: On a win, the element attacks the target. If the element is already awake during the casting (commanding air during a thunderstorm, for instance), the koldun adds one die to their Ritual pool. The target takes one point of Aggravated Health damage per success, and the same damage again every round afterward until they win an appropriate escape contest (e.g., Dexterity + Athletics) vs. the koldun's Resolve + Blood Sorcery. Excepting fire, the elements only do Superficial damage to vampires, but they may still bury them, carry them away in a flood or tornado, etc. On a critical win, the element attacks every suitable target at the caster's discretion within sight of the main target. The effect continues until the koldun does anything else besides command the elements: fight, move, make any other skill roll, etc.
| Chained Rituals...
|
| When chained with Elemental Grasp (p. 62) and Tiamat Glistens (p. 64), this ritual unleashes a nigh-apocalyptic elemental effect: earthquake, tsunami, tornado, magma flow, etc. Damage doubles to the targets, but collateral damage gets wildly out of hand, and continues until the kolduny stop casting.
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ESCAPE TO TRUE SANCTUARY
Blood Sorcery •••••
By preparing two mystic circles in an arduous ritual the caster can instantly travel from one to the other. The journey is one-way, and the caster must designate one circle for departure while the arrival circle serves as an exit.
Ingredients: Two charred circles of approximately a meter in diameter.
Process: The caster burns the circles into the ground or floor with an open flame, then consecrates each circle. Consecration requires two hours of chanting per night and two Rouse Checks, for three consecutive nights. In total, this ritual takes twelve Rouse Checks worth of Blood from the caster.
System: Once the circles are complete the caster need but step into the one designated for departure and concentrate for a turn, making a Ritual roll. The caster makes the Ritual roll each time they attempt to travel, but can only make one attempt per scene. On a win the caster vanishes, reappearing in an instant in the middle of the exit circle. There is no limit to the distance between the two circles, but they must be inscribed on the ground or on the floor of a building, not on the floor of a vehicle. The caster can transport one person or an object or objects totaling roughly human mass with them. Damaging either circle ruins the ritual completely and renders both circles inert. A vampire can only have one pair of these circles functional at any given time.
FISHER KING
Blood Sorcery •••••
This Ritual makes a Blood sorcerer one with their chosen land, reading its secrets like a book. The chosen land size varies with the sorcerer's power, but generally roughly equals the size of their coterie's domain. The koldun version is called Lozov Kral.
Ingredients: A landmark representing a region, dirt from the region, a horse-hair paintbrush
Process: The vampire blends a Rouse Check's worth of blood with dirt from the region they wish to observe. With the blend, the sorcerer paints magical symbols on a landmark important to the land's inhabitants.
System: On a win, the caster develops a mental connection to the land. Once per session, the sorcerer may make a Wits + Streetwise (if urban or suburban) or Wits + Survival (if rural) test. For each success, the Storyteller truthfully answers one question the player has about the land: its greatest threat, does an enemy reside there, the Resonance of its inhabitants' blood, etc. This ritual lasts until the end of the story, during which the caster may ask one more question per session. After that, the caster must replenish their symbols, making another Rouse Check and Ritual roll to renew it.
| Chained Rituals...
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| When chained with Land's Sustenance (p. 64) and Compel the Inanimate (p. 69), the coterie has almost total control over the place of power and its surrounding area. They have near-omniscience over the land, with three free questions about it per session, per caster. The land's structures or trees watch and warn the casters of hostile approach, unless magically disguised or shielded. While on the land, the casters can mend up to 5 points of Aggravated damage per night, total (split between the casters on a first-come, first-serve basis).
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HEART OF STONE
Blood Sorcery •••••
Performing this ritual turns the caster's unliving heart to stone. This makes them immune to stakes but also, through some fluke of sympathetic magic, completely remorseless and cold-hearted automatons totally unreceptive to emotional and social cues. Even more so than normal.
Ingredients: A stone slab and a wax candle drenched with the Blood of the caster.
Process: The caster lies on the stone slab with the candle on their chest letting it burn down to nothing over the course of a night. As the fir e reaches their chest, it causes one point of Aggravated damage and forces a terror frenzy roll: Difficulty 3. If the caster fails the frenzy roll, the ritual ends. If the caster does not enter frenzy, they make the Ritual roll. On a win the ritual completes; a critical win heals the candle-fire damage. The effect persists indefinitely, and should the caster wish to reverse the process they must repeat the ritual.
System: While under the effect of the ritual, the caster's heart is literally made of stone. Stakes fail to penetrate it, breaking if forced. The caster also exhibits a complete emotional detachment, subtracting three dice from any Remorse rolls as well as active Social-related rolls, except for Intimidation and Dominate. The caster cannot employ Presence but gains three bonus dice to pools used to resist the effects of that Discipline.
SHAFT OF BELATED DISSOLUTION
Blood Sorcery •••••
The Kindred fear few weapons as they fear the dreaded stake created by this ritual. Thought to be the origin of the myth regarding stakes as the ultimate tool for slaying vampires, the Shaft of Belated Dissolution not only seeks out the heart of the vampire it's aimed at but actually causes Final Death when reaching its target. If need be, the Shaft works toward this goal as a splinter, inching its way through the target vampire's body to reach its goal.
Ingredients: A stake carved of rowan wood, inscribed with baneful runes.
Process: The caster drenches the stake with two Rouse Checks worth of their Blood, while blackening it in an oak-wood fire while reading incantations over it. The ritual takes five hours to complete.
System: This stake confers a three-dice bonus to any pool on any attempt to stake a vampire, whether hammered in while the victim sleeps, wielded in melee, or fired from a crossbow. The caster need not wield the stake themselves. If the attack roll wins with a margin of five or better, the vampire withers to dust in a single turn as if consumed by an invisible fire. If the stake hits, but the roll has insufficient margin to pierce the heart, the stake breaks off in the wound, the tip burying itself as it slowly begins to inch its way toward the heart of the victim. Depending on where it struck this can take hours or nights, but unless extracted by medical or mystical means, Final Death is assured. To remove it surgically someone other than the victim needs to win a roll of Dexterity + Medicine, Difficulty 6, in a process that takes up to four hours. If no medical expertise can be found, someone can remove the splinter by severing the afflicted limb – unless the splinter has already reached the torso.
SIMULACRUM GATE
Blood Sorcery •••••
A time-consuming and elaborate Ritual, this colossal undertaking allows the construction of a distance-defying portal allowing multiple vampires to cross vast distances in mere moments. While only one instance is known so far, Blood-sorcerers of the Sabbat suspect that it is only a matter of time before they may construct more as means to perform devastating hit-and-run attacks in the heart of rival sects' domains.
Ingredients: Anything required to build a copy of the target destination, including but not limited to sand, mortar, concrete, metal, and dirt. One vampire sacrifice and a number of mortal ones equal to the number of travelers.
Process: In order to function, the gate needs to be an exact copy of the target location, whether a building, cellar, attic, or some other location equipped with a physical structure that can be designated as a portal. This requires spies to spend weeks documenting the target location, smuggling examples of materials and taking countless pictures or making sketches of the place. Meanwhile, the replica is built and the area consecrated with blood – vast amounts of it. Preparing the portal requires at least one mortal sacrifice per intended traveler, their remains to be scattered about the simulacrum edifice. The final activation calls for a vampire sacrifice. If a suitable victim isn't on hand, the lot probably falls to the vampire present who's the least able to resist being forced into the role, though ritualists have proposed Embracing a mortal sacrifice for this purpose.
System: If the Ritual Test is successful, the gate allows the desired number of vampires passage outward, and an equal number – not necessarily the same individuals – to return. Until that number has been matched, the gate remains open indefinitely, though nothing reveals the target location as such. Mortals cannot use the gate; to them it appears as nothing more than a repulsive monument.
WARDING CIRCLE AGAINST CAINITES
Blood Sorcery •••••
This ward uses the standard rules for Warding Circles.
Ingredients: The caster draws the Warding Circle with a rowan wand dipped in the mixture of ash from a still-burning fire and Blood.
WEB OF HUNGER
Blood Sorcery •••••
Using a dagger as an implement, the sorcerer can steal the blood from their followers or victims.
Ingredients: A silver dagger, other ritual components.
Process: The sorcerer must succeed their Ritual Activation roll and do one Rouse check to successfully anoint the dagger in their blood, linking it to them. The ritualist must then use their dagger to draw blood from willing donors or victims, causing a minimum of one point of Superficial Damage. As long as the follower or victim and dagger remain below ground, they are linked.
System: Once per night, the holder of the dagger may choose to feed from all individuals linked to the dagger. The user slakes one point of Hunger per individual linked. Each Kindred victim has their own hunger raise by one, whereas mortal victims instead take one point of Aggravated Damage. This ritual cannot bring the user's hunger below the minimum imposed by their Blood Potency unless a mortal dies from this effect. If an individual goes to the surface, they lose their link to the dagger and are no longer subject to this theft of blood. Likewise, if the dagger ever breaches the surface, the ritual's effect ceases.
