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(Added "Atrocity's Release" and "Reawakened Vigor" from Gehenna War.)
 
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''<sub>Book of Nod Apocrypha, pg. 34</sub>''
''<sub>Book of Nod Apocrypha, pg. 34</sub>''
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== BLOOD TO WATER ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' •
''The Kindred pours purified water through their bloody fingers, transmuting all spilled blood in the area into water.''
'''Ingredients:''' Pure water, whether from a natural spring or purified mechanically.
'''Process:''' The ritualist smears their own Blood on their hands, pours water through their fingers, and splatters it about the room.
'''System:''' If the ritual is successful, blood (including the performer's spilled Blood) exposed to the air is transmuted into water, leaving no traces behind. The ritual affects a space roughly the size of a living room. Larger spaces require repeated performances to cleanse.
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''<sub>Gehenna War, pg. 48</sub>''
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== SEAL THE BRAND ==
== REVEALING THE CRIMSON TRAIL ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' •
'''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.''
''The ritual allows a vampire to easily spot traces of spilled blood, no matter how insignificant or old.''
 
 
'''Ingredients:''' A needle with an eye.




'''Ingredients:''' Molten silver poured over a tattoo, brand, or other body modification.
'''Process:''' The Kindred ritually prepares the needle by stabbing themselves in one eye with it, and must then peer through its eye.


'''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:''' If the ritual is successful, the vampire can clearly see any spilled blood, dried or not, as long as they keep looking through the eye of the needle. Exceptionally old or minute traces can require a Resolve + Awareness or Investigation test to spot, as determined by the Storyteller. The ritual lasts for the rest of the scene.


'''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.


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''<sub>Players Guide, pg. 99</sub>''
''<sub>Gehenna War, pg. 48</sub>''
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== WAKE WITH EVENING'S FRESHNESS ==
== SEAL THE BRAND ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' •
'''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.''
''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:''' The burnt bones and feathers of a rooster.
'''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.
 
<div style='text-align: right;'>
''<sub>Players Guide, pg. 99</sub>''
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== WAKE WITH EVENING'S FRESHNESS ==
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'''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.




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== INVISIBLE CHAINS OF BINDING ==
== INNOCENCE'S VEIL ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' ••••
'''Blood Sorcery''' ••••




''The blood sorcerer binds a subject in invisible chains, confining them to a single spot for the duration of the Ritual.''
''The ritual allows the vampire to temporarily make any trace of diablerie on their part undetectable.''
 


'''Ingredients:''' A silver knife, a white candle, a mortal victim


'''Ingredients:''' A link of chain.


'''Process:''' The ritualist stokes their Hunger (usually through fasting or bloodletting) until they are at the verge of frenzy (Hunger 5), then slakes their Hunger on a mortal, draining them completely. Depending on Chronicle Tenets, performing the Ritual can merit stains.


'''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:''' If the ritual is successful, signs of diablerie on the user cease to manifest. Powers such as A Taste for Blood or Scry the Soul do not detect any evidence the ritualist has committed diablerie in the past.


'''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.


'''Duration:''' Until the ritualist slakes their Hunger
again.


The chain link corrodes to dust at the end of the Ritual's effect.


<div style='text-align: right;'>
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''<sub>Players Guide, pg. 102</sub>''
''<sub>Gehenna War, pg. 48</sub>''
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== LAND'S SUSTENANCE ==
== INVISIBLE CHAINS OF BINDING ==
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'''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.
 
<div style='text-align: right;'>
''<sub>Players Guide, pg. 102</sub>''
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<br>
 
== LAND'S SUSTENANCE ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' ••••
'''Blood Sorcery''' ••••
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== DOMINION ==
== ATROCITY'S RELEASE ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' •••••
'''Blood Sorcery''' •••••




''The Blood Sorcerer makes themselves the sovereign of supernatural powers in their own domain, thwarting others' use of most vampiric abilities.''
''This rare Ritual allows the Blood Sorcerer to extract the stolen Blood and power from a diablerist, effectively reversing the effect of their latest diablerie.''
 


'''Ingredients:''' Human reproductive organs thinly sliced, moss or a sea sponge, and scrapings of bezoar.


'''Ingredients:''' Seal made of iron embedded over every doorway in the building.


'''Process:''' The performer must first create a number of poultices from the ingredients, something that takes at least one night to prepare, disregarding the time it takes to procure the components. Then, the sorcerer presses the ritually prepared poultices to a series of deep cuts on their target’s body, drawing out the stolen Blood. The Blood-soaked poultices are then burnt, their ashes left exposed to the sunrise.


'''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:''' An unwilling target may resist with Resolve + Blood Potency, the Ritual's Difficulty counting as the greater of the target’s successes or the standard difficulty. If successful, The Ritual reverses the most recent instance of diablerie that the target has committed, including changes to Blood Potency, Disciplines, or personality, though not Humanity.


'''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.
 
Even if the ritual is successful, the spirit of the previous victim of the diablerie remains destroyed. On a total failure, the target’s essence is destroyed instead, the victim becoming effectively possessed by their latest diablerie victim.
 
 
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''<sub>Gehenna War, pg. 49</sub>''
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== DOMINION ==
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'''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.


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''<sub>Core Book, pg. 281</sub>''
''<sub>Core Book, pg. 281</sub>''
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== REAWAKENED VIGOR ==
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'''Blood Sorcery''' •••••
''Vampires awakening from torpor often lose the potency of their Blood, particularly in cases of extended dormancy. This Ritual allows the awakened vampire to regain their power quicker, though it is a closely guarded secret supposedly passed around by the Tremere and a few Inconnu.''
'''Ingredients:''' 5 or more Rouse Checks worth of the sorcerer’s vitae, a finely crafted ceramic receptacle, molten lead.
'''Process:''' The sorcerer pours their vitae into the receptacle, stoppers it with lead and bloody sigils, and buries it in a place of power.
'''System:''' The Sorcerer places at least 5 Rouse Checks worth of Blood into the receptacle. They may stop to feed while enacting this Ritual, but the ritual fails if interrupted for more than an hour, meaning any vessels needed to slake Hunger must be kept close at hand. On completing the task, the vampire crafts a rust-colored orb containing a small amount of their concentrated vitae. If this vitae is consumed (and on a successful ritual test), it restores one point of Blood Potency lost due to Torpor. For each success in the margin, another lost point of Blood Potency can be restored. If no Blood Potence has been lost to torpor, the ritual has no effect on the user.
Any vampire other than the ritualist drinking the essence must test Stamina + Blood Sorcery or Fortitude against a difficulty of 6. For each point of margin of failure, they suffer one Aggravated Health damage.
A sorcerer can only have one active use of this ritual cast at a time, and it loses potency at dawn once unearthed.
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''<sub>Gehenna War, pg. 49</sub>''
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Latest revision as of 19:15, 16 September 2024

BLOOD SORCERY

Thaumaturgy | Quietus | Koldunism | Akhu | Nahuallotl | Sadhana


The Tremere maintain that Blood Sorcery, or Thaumaturgy as they call it, was their invention. To hear the Banu Haqim give their version, Quietus was their blood right long before the Tremere became vampires. Other clans make the same statements. While its origins are murky, the dreaded nature of Blood Sorcery is not. Few Kindred trust the wielders of a power that can manipulate the vitae in their veins and turn Blood into poison.


Unlike other Disciplines, which could be described as advancing organically through the victims chosen by the vampire, practitioners of Blood Sorcery require teachers. The Tremere once relied on their pyramidic clan hierarchy to arrange tutelage for neonate apprentices, while the Banu Haqim stress the sire-childe relationship as being the best form of mentorship. These nights, many a Child of Haqim washes up in Europe or America far from their sire, and with the Pyramid broken Tremere neonates frantically search through moldy tomes and palimpsests for scraps of true lore. Genuine masters of this Discipline develop their own Rituals, though many guard them from others, revelling in the mystery surrounding their unknown cache of abilities. To practice Blood Sorcery is to twist one's own Blood into submission. Any form of this power reminds a vampire that they're far from human, as no mortal could wield magic in this way.



CHARACTERISTICS


Discipline blood-sorcery.png
  • Type: Sorcery
  • Masquerade Threat: Low - High.
    The individual appearance of the powers and Rituals in Blood Sorcery varies as widely as their effects.
  • Blood Resonance: Sanguine.
    Although not inherent in the Blood itself, Blood Sorcery responds eagerly to blood from human occultists, sorcerers, and cult leaders, as well as hemophiles and bibliophiles.


Blood Sorcery is a special Discipline in that it both confers powers, like other Disciplines, and also unlocks the ability to perform Rituals up to and including the level the user holds in the Discipline. Ghouls of Blood Sorcerers or thin-bloods drinking from Sanguine temperaments gain temporary access to the Discipline powers, but not to Rituals. Its regular powers seem comparatively weak, but the versatility of the Rituals more than compensates, assuming the user can learn them. At character creation, a player can choose one Level 1 ritual if they have at least one dot in Blood Sorcery. Characters can buy new rituals at the cost of the ritual's level x 3 experience points. Learning new Rituals during play requires both experience and time — requiring the square of its level in weeks, though a good teacher or excellent grimoire may shorten this period.