Level 4 Rituals

Level 4 Rituals

Binding the Beast (Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Ed. Pg 89)

Roll: Manipulation + Empathy, difficulty 10 - Humanity. This ritual involves drinking a point of the victim’s blood, and pushing an iron spike through one’s own hand. (This ritual inflicts two levels of damage that can not be soaked.) The target will be unable to frenzy, regain willpower, or spend more than one blood point per turn. In addition, she must roll Courage, difficulty 6, to feed, and roll Willpower, difficulty 7, to use any of her disciplines. Lasts one day per success.

Blood Certamen (Clan book: Tremere Revised Ed. Pg 61)

While most modern Tremere apprentices see Thaumaturgy as a distinct property of their blood, some aged Tremere who survived the Long Night remember nights as mortal wizards. The clan's very foundation rests upon the traditions of those wizards. The clan's very foundation rests upon the traditions on those wizards - tribunals, apprenticeships, the Tremere Oath; all stem from the organization that the Tremere abandoned in their plummet into damnation. Among those early practices was one magical rite used to settle disputes. Even though the Tremere traded their mortal sorcery for blood magic, they managed to find ways to turn their old practices into their undead state, and the ritual of certamen made that transition as well. Certamen exists as one of the oldest forms of dispute resolution between wizards, or so the elder Tremere say. In the modern nights, certamen takes a decidedly sinister form, and remains in the hands of very few Tremere. Indeed, perhaps ony a half-dozen Tremere below the rank of regent know the ritual itself, and a handful more remain aware of it's existence. Still, it's use remains protected by ancient tradition, and a Tremere without other recourse can, if he is even aware of it, call for certamen to settle a quarrel. One pontifex supposedly favors certamen as a traditional measure and a hallmark of a true and loyal Tremere - and correspondingly evidences terrifying skill with the practice. The rite of certamen opens with a formal declaration of challenge, though that does not constitute part of the actual ritual. The rite itself sees the contenders in a circle of blood or vitreous humor, where by technique and form - the power to harness Thaumaturgy - they shall settle the matter. A circle 10 paces across marks the boundaries of the competition, while each participant stands in an interior circle two paces wide and faces the opponent. The interior circles' outer edges just touch upon the inner ring of the large circle, so the competitors stand just a short distance apart. The participants state their terms immediately upon entering the circle, challenger declaring what he stands to gain and defender declaring three limits upon the forms of the combat. Each one intones the ritual for certamen; when both complete it, the test of blood begins, to end only in death, submission or the judgement of the presiding arbiter. By tradition, each participant brings a second, who makes announcement of this contender and handles offices such as holding the participant's trappings or ritual accoutrements. The seconds stand behind and to the right of their participants. A (supposedly) neutral party arbitrates, and may end the certamen at his discretion; he can, for instance, intervene or prevent a prodigious apprentice from destroying a regent. The arbiter determines or ratifies the victor, and also overrules the apparent victor in rare cases of cheating (though technically, the only way to "cheat" at certamen is to bring in magical artifacts or excess blood without announcing their presence to the arbiter and opponent). The arbiter also determines whether a given certamen contest has a definitive result. Should, say, one contender simply use Movement of Mind to force the other out of the ring a few seconds into the contest, or should both participants exhauset their stores of vitae without a clear victor, the arbiter may declare the matter inconclusive or a draw. Certamen allows a thaumaturge to extend his usual path effects into more symbolic and devastating forms. Fire magics become incendiary greatswords or demonic flamebolts; spirit minions become translucent, armed legionnaires; weather sorcery takes on a viciously turgid aspect. Onlookers watch as the two Tremere contend with the mightiest blood magic at their disposal. Ultimately one must give way or be slain. Each participant holds comparable ammounts of power, while the ritual causes Thaumaturgy cast by the two to evidence mystic traces and patterns that allow onlookers to tell what's happening and even give the participants some ability to defend against the opponent's attacks. Victory goes to the finesse and broad knowledge, not to raw power. Should a participant frenzy, his second ( and any attending guards) must put him down immediately; he loses the contest. Similarily, stepping from the inner circle immediately results in forfeiture. Completion of the ritual does not mystically bind either participant to it's terms, but failure to adhere to one's own agreed upon certamen carries grave weight with nearly every Tremere, and may well lead to condemnation as a rogue ( assuming that the oathbreaker survived the experience). Of course, in the Final Nights certamen exists more as a curiosity than as a common practice. Some few Tremere do use it, but certamen is never frequent nor lightly invoked. A Tremere can decline a challenge of certamen, though doing so usually entails a loss of face among the more traditional members of the clan. Successful certamen garners some small amount of prestige among the few who still consider it an art, but its use remains restricted to personal disputes. a Tremere cannot use certamen to force a superior to give him rank or to show off his thaumaturgical might, but he could use the rite to legitimately despose a superior with whom he had a personal grievance or to force a peer to stop interfering in his affairs. Similarily, a higher ranking Tremere may step in as an arbiter, and an dour pontifex may very well steop the whole process before it begins. And, of course if the battle results in death, why then someone more competant than the loser must step foreward to take over the late kindred's assets and duties. To this night, very few members of the other clans have even heard of certamen. Elder Tremere intend to keep it that way.

System: Certamen ultimately serves a simple game mechanical purpose: the two (always and only two.) Tremere involved in certamen may expend exactly two blood points per turn, regardless of generation. Furthermore, at a cost of one blood point, a player may make a Willpower roll against the opponent's Thaumaturgy roll, with the difficulty being the opposite character's Thaumaturgy. This acts as a normal resisted roll, canceling out the opponent's successes. Because certamen highlights all the thaumaturgical actions, the player can roll Intelligence + Occult (difficulty varies by power) to recognize most incoming thaumaturgical effects and decide whether or not to defend against or respond to them, as if using the poer Thaumaturgical Sight. This allows participants to invoke potent Thaumaturgy and to defend more ably against incoming attacks. The certamen ritual imposes these modifiers only so long as both participants remain in their repsective circles.

Bone of Lies (Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Ed. Pg 90)

This ritual enchants a mortal bone so that anyone who holds it must tell the truth. The bone in question is often a skull, though any part of the skeleton will do - some Tremere use strings of teeth, necklaces of finger joints or wands fashioned from ribs or arms. The bone grows blacker as it compels its holder to tell the truth, until it has turned completely ebony and has no magic left.

This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom the bone belonged in life; it is this spirit who wrests the truth from the potential liar. The spirit absorbs the lies intended to be told by the bone's holder, and as it compels more truth, it becomes more and more corrupt. If summoned forth, this spirit reflects the sins it has siphoned from the defeated liar (in addition to anger over its unwilling servitude). For this reason, anonymous bones are often used in the ritual, and the bone is commonly buried after it has been used to its full extent. A specific bone may never be used twice for this ritual.

System: The bone imbued with this magical power must be at least 200 years old and must absorb 10 blood points on the night that the ritual is cast. Each lie the holder wishes to tell consumes one of these blood points, and the holder must speak the truth immediately thereafter. When all 10 blood points have been consumed, the bone magic ceases to work any longer.

Bottled Voice (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 119)

This ritual involves reciting an incantation, and sealing a specially prepared bottle with wax. The vampire may steal a target’s capacity to speak, and put it into a bottle, where it will remain until it is opened or broken.

Curse Belated, (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 95)

Warlocks normally reserve the casting of this ritual for a ghoul who is prized above all others, or one near and dear to a thaumaturge's unbeating heart. by performing this ritual on a ghoul, the thaumaturge can all but guarantee his thrall's chance of survival, for the moment the ghoul dies, the vampiric blood inside his body courses through his system and thereafter resurrects him as a full-fledged vampire. The thaumaturge brands the ghoul with his sigil, which vanishes once the ghoul becomes one of the undead.

System: The Thaumaturge, as part of the requirement of the ritual, will temporarily lose one permanent point from his blood pool. This is invested, instaed, in the ghoul he wishes to safeguard. A second point of the thaumaturge's blood must be fed to the ghould, which remains in the ghoul's body until he dies (the ghoul may not use it to power Disciplines, heal, etc.) Upon death, the inaccessible point of vitae will save the ghoul from Final Death and bring him back as a vampire of the same clan as the caster, usually after a short delay to allow the ghouls's killers to depart. The temporary blood pool point returns to the thaumaturge after the ghoul becomes Kindred.
Death Wrath (Anarch Cookbook, The Pg 78)

Death Wrath

The caster's seething hate attacks the target in the form of the raging Beast, and the target will be plagued by frenzies.

System: Should the ritual succeed, each success garnered will add to the target's difficulty when resisting frenzy. this curse can only be canceled by a quest to control the Beast within (a story), the achievement of Golconda, or a Level Five ritual.

Drawing Upon the Bound (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 119)

Fire Walker (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 119)

This ritual imbues the vampire with an unnatural resistance to the bane of all vampires, fire. Only a foolish vampire would actually attempt to walk on or through fire, but this ritual does grant an advanced tolerance to flame. Some Sabbat use this ritual to show off or perform dramatically at Fire Dances, while others use it only for martial concerns. To enact this ritual, the thaumaturge must cut off the end of one of his fingers and burn it in a Thaumaturgical circle.

System: Cutting off one’s finger does not do any health levels of damage, but it hurts like hell and requires a Willpower roll to perform. This ritual may be cast on other vampires(at the expense of the caster’s fingertips). If the subject has no Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina for the duration of the ritual. If the vampire has Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina + Fortitude for the duration of the ritual. This ritual lasts one hour.

Furtive Integument (House of Tremere Pg 116)

Haunting, The (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 120)

Roll: Charisma + Spirit Lore, difficulty 7. The vampire may summon a spirit, who will try to scare a mortal. How long the spirit stays, and continues to try to scare the mortal, is determined as follows:

1 suc. one hour.
2 suc. one night.
3 suc. one week.
4 suc. one month.
5 suc. one year.
The spirit will try to scare her victim with effects of Pandemonium, Phantasm, or Outrage, of levels between 3 and 5. Standard rules for Fog are applied as the Storyteller sees fit. If only Vampire rules are available, the spirit rolls Charisma + Intimidation + a few extra dice (Storyteller’s discretion), difficulty Stamina + Courage, with effects determined as follows:

1 suc. The victim is scared.
2 suc. The victim is scared beyond any capacity for action for minutes to hours.
3 suc. The victim faints.
4 suc. The victim goes into shock, and really needs to see a shrink.
5 suc. The victim rolls Stamina + Self-Control, difficulty 8. If the roll is failed, she dies of heart failure. If she survives, having her hair turn white is a distinct possibility.

Heart of Stone (Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Ed. Pg 90)

A vampire under the effect of this ritual experience the transformation suggested by the rituals name: his heart is transmuted to sold rock, rendering him virtually impervious to staking. The subsidiary effects of the change, however, seem to follow the Hermetic laws of sympathetic laws of magic: the vampire’s emotional capacity becomes almost non-existent, and his ability to relate to others suffers as well.
System: This ritual requires 9 hrs (reduced by 1 hr per success). It can only be cast on oneself. The caster lies flat on a cold stone surface and places a bare candle over his heart. The candle burns down to nothing over the course of the ritual, causing 1 aggravated level of health damage (Diff 5 to soak with fortitude.) At the end of the ritual the casters heart hardens to stone. The benefits of this are that the caster gains a number of additional dice equal to twice his thaumaturgy rating to soak any attack that is aimed for his heart and is completely impervious to a shaft of belated quiescence, and the difficulty to use all presence powers on him are increased by 3 due to his emotional isolation. The drawbacks are as follows: the casters conscience and empathy scores drop to 1 (or 0 if they were at 1) and all dice pools for social rolls except those involving intimidation are halved (including those required to use disciplines) All merits the character has pertaining to social interaction are neutralised. Heart of stone lasts as long as the caster wants it to.

Infirm Inert (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 96)

One of the mystical powers of vitae possessed by Kindred is the supernatural ability of healing. With blood fueling the mending of their injuries, everything from stab wounds to the loss of appendages may knit and heal. When a thaumaturge drips some of his blood onto a target and casts this ritual, the victim loses the ability to use his vitae for healing. Before casting this ritual, the thaumaturge must imbibe a small quantity of blood laced with laudanum.

System: For every success the magus scores in casting this ritual, a target lacks his healing ability for one night. This ritual requires 20 minutes of concentration, during which time the caster spends one blood point. With its successful completion, Thin Blood cuases an afflicted to immediately lose the ability to heal, though he may not be aware of this until he actively attempts to use his blood to do so. Victims may spend a point of willpower to ignore this effect for one turn. When this ritual expires, all wounds may be healed according to the type of damage suffered, as normal.

Innocence of the Child’s Heart (Chicago by Night Pg 116)

This ritual requires that the vampire who casts it be carrying a child’s toy, and for as long as she is carrying it on her person, her aura will be bright white.

Invisible Chains of Binding (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 120)

The vampire may, with a few gestures, immobilize up to four victims in invisible restraints, and these victims may not move unless they roll Strength, and get two successes in a turn. If this occurs, the restraints cease to work.

Keening of the Banshee (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 120)

This ritual requires a pendant carved from a tombstone. The vampire makes a loud, frightening noise. Whomever is closest at the time ages one to ten years (roll a die), and her hair may turn white. This ritual has no effect on vampires.

Mark of Amaranth (Clan book: Tremere Revised Ed. Pg 63)

Among Kindred, diablerie is regarded as a great crime - many elders go to extraordinary lengths to extinguish an upstart neonate who evidences a hunger for the blood of his fellows. Deceptive Tremere can turn this paranoia against a hapless victim. All thats needed is some intimate possession of the target, and the destruction of another Kindred...

System: The thaumaturge must destroy another Kindred by his own hand, while holding or wearing some possession of the subject. He may then invoke this ritual by placing the object in the dead Kindred's corpse before it crumbles to ash. Once the ritual is completed, the subject exhibits the evidence of a diablerist to all forms of divination until the next sunrise. This includes Aura Perception, the Blood Walk ritual and any other sort of scrying. The mark of amaranth cannot be deferred by the Soul Mask Discipline, though higher levels of Obfuscate or certain advanced rituals might be able to counter it. Note that the ritual does not necessarily cause the vitim to think that he's a diablerist - an innocent victim can thruthfully answer that he is not a diablerist, even as his aura contradicts him. Normally, use of this ritual is an efficient way to rapidly erode one's Humanity.

Mirror Walk (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 120)

Peace of the Dead (Dark Colony Pg 118)
This ritual causes the victim to fall into a deep slumber, akin to torpor in disadvantages but not in benefits.

System: The area of effect is based on the number of successes on the casting roll.
1 success one square yard
2 successes 10 square yards
3 successes 100 square yards
4 successes 1000 square yards
5 successes 5000 square yards

Each turn that a character (aside from the caster) is within the area of effect, she must make a willpower roll (difficulty 7) to remain unaffected. There are three levels of success possible. A complete success or better (three or more successes) means that the character remaains completely unaffected that turn. A moderate success (two successes) means that the character feels drowsy and that all her dice pools for the turn are reduced by one die. A marginal success (one success) means that the character may perform no actions during the turn. A failure means the character falls asleep for two minutes (longer than combat typically lasts), while a botch means the character falls asleep for two hours.


'''Protean Curse''' (Chicago by Night Pg 116)

This ritual involves having the target drink the blood of a rabid vampire bat, and it turns her into a bat. If the target has already been turned into a bat, repeating this ritual will transform her back into her original shape.

Raven watchers (Dark Colony Pg 118)

This ritual transforms the caster's foe into a raven and enslaves him for the rest of his unnaturally short life. A victim so transformed gradually loses his Intelligence (one point per month until he reaches zero). Because the raven was once sentient, those with the Discipline of Animalism cannot sway him until heloses all semblance of human intelligence.

System: While under the enchantment, the affected watcher will obey the exact mental commands of the caster to the best of its ability. It can also broadcast any visual and aural information gathered to that caster, just as a videocassette recorder might. In order to focus upon this mental information, however, the caster must concentrate, rolling [caster's Preception + watcher's Intelligence (difficulty 6)]. The number of successes achieved determines the clarity of the Watcher's 'broadcast' and the caster's reception of it.
1 success The witch can hear loud noises through the raven's ears, but can see nothing.
2 successes The witch can hear noises of medium intensity, but can see nothing.
3 successes The witch can hear with perfect clarity and see patches of light and dark.
4 successes The witch can hear perfectly and see fuzzy shapes (in black and white, of course)
5 successes The witch can see and hear perfectly through the raven's faculties

In order to create a watcher, the witch must feed the victim 13 kernels of Indian corn boiled in raven soup and dried on a corn husk smeared with raven droppings, while chanting the highly-guarded words of the ritual. The Thaumaturgist then rolls the ritual as normal. At least three successes are needed. Once enslaved, a watcher will remain under the enchantment until it dies. Witches continually replenish their supply of watchers, however, for the mortality rate of watchers in urban areas is high. While the vitims of this ritual are typically human, it is said that two other versions of this ritual exist; the more potent version (level five) allows the caster to transform Kindred into raven watchers, while the weaker version (level two) allows the caster to enslave ordinary ravens. The latter is less desirable but also practiced more frequently, for it is easier to enslave ordinary birds than it is to transform and enslave humans. However, casters do benefit from having human or Kindred subjects, for it is easier to communicate with intelligent minds than those of birds.
Rend the Mind (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 96)

Rending Sweet Earth (Chicago by Night Pg 116)

This ritual involves repeatedly thrashing a section of ground with a leather whip. When it is performed, a 10' × 10' section of earth will disappear. If a vampire happens to be earth-melded in that section of earth, she will be awakened as the earth around her disappears, unless she is in torpor.

Respect of the Animals (Players Guide to the Sabbat Pg 120)

The vampire will not be considered as a meal, sprayed, mutilated, or otherwise outraged by any animal she meets. Lasts four hours.

Return of the Heart (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 96)

This ritual is a severe curse to the less humane Kindred. Cainites that are the target of this power have the portion of their soul that has been slowly dying returned to them. Murderers become racked with remorse over their actions and lament their deeds. For more debased members of the Sabbat this power is particularily crippling and may well result in their destruction at the hands of their packmates. Invoking this power requires either knowlege of the subject's True Name or a quantity of her blood.

System: The subject becomes temporarily governed by the Hierarchy of Sin for Humanity as if she had a Humanity rating of 9. Note that this does not actually impart a Humanity of 9 to the character - she is simply overwhelmed by a sense of her own damnation. The subject still has the Path rating that they normally would have, but they are no longer inured to the cruelties of the world. This will have the Cainite performing Degeneration tests for the most minor of deeds. This power lasts for one hour per success on the ritual roll.

Scry (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 96)

The thaumaturge causes a body of water to become a scrying pool, able to center on a person or location. The Caster is able to see and hear as if he was personally there. Natural pools and bowls of water are often the means of viewing through this magic. Smaller (no larger than a child's pool), still (better for viewing) bodies of water are considered best for this. This ritual requires a bit of owl's blood to be mixed in with the water.

System: Although this magic is similar to the Auspex power of Clairvoyance, it does have it's differences. First, the caster cannot use additional Auspex powers through the Scry magic. Second, if used to center on a person, the magus must have a personal item of the individual's in his possession, or he must know the subject's True Name. Third, if a location is the center of the Scry, this location cannot be changed throughout the duration of the ritual. This ritual lasts for a number of hours equal to the number of successes for the casting. The thaumaturge only has to concentrate during this duration to view scenes through the water.

Shadow gate (Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand Pg 79)

This ritual involves a powder made from coal and human ashes (which can be made ahead of time), with which the vampire draws an X over each of her eyes, and stepping into a shadow. By performing it, the vampire can enter and exit the Shadowlands, and any objects she can carry are taken across the Shroud with her.

Soul of the Homunculi (Clan book: Tremere Pg 37)

Tremere in need of assistants for their research work cannot always rely upon the loyalty of apprentices. But hwo can doubt the loyalty of one's own flesh? a homonculus is a tiny creature crafted out of the caster's blood and tissue, which acts as an extension of the caster's will. Crafting a homunculus takes several hours of uninterupted work, and a thaumaturge can have only one homunculus at a time. the horrid little entity takes shape in a bubbling morass of oil, blood, denuded bone and chunks of the caster's body. At the conclusion of the ritual, the honunculus crawls from it's fatty birthing caul to serve its master. The homunculus can move about under its own power, and may be used as a spy or a means to fetch materials. Many types of homunculi exist; different thaumaturges create different sorts of beasts. The most common are flyers (which resemble tiny winged demons), grubs (which look like worms with their master's faces), and hoppers (small bald, implike entities with their casters' features reduced to miniature). The honunculus acts according to its master's orders, which may be issued nonverbally as long as the beast is in its creator's presence. Over time, some homunculi develope their own personalities and goals, and more than one unnerved Tremere has discovered his homunculus playing malicious pranks behind his back.

System: A homonculus has two health levels and two dots in each Physical Attribute. It works much like a limb of the creator - the homunculus only moves or acts if the caster so wills it. A homunculus cannot fight effectively, but it can push or carry objects, and can often hide or spy on locations unnoticed due to its small size. Though the homunculus is initially hwolly loyal, its experiences may eventually (over years) cause it to form a personality of its own, often spawned from the worst qualities of its creator. Homunculi ar damaged by sunlight and fire like Kindred. A homunculus, though created from the caster's flesh, is a seperate physical entity and thus does not count as an arcane connection, nor do its bodily fluids count as its creator's blood. However, establishing a psychic conncection to a homunculus instead projects into the consciousness of its controller. A homunculus must be fed one blood point each wek or it will wither and die. Feedin may be an unsettling act to witness - some Tremere suckle them at their own breasts, acting on some undead parental urge, while others treat their imps derisively, holding their opened wrists far above the creature's head while forcing it to caper about for its sustenance.

Soul Yoke (Dark Colony Pg 118)

A victim of this ritual finds herself spiritually harnessed to a fetish (usually a doll). Like all sympathetic magic, the vitim directly experiences any pain or pleasure inflicted upon the doll. If that which is done to the doll would normally kill a human being or vampire (such as decapitation or incineration), the vitim dies. However, the stimulus must be actively caused. Thus, the victim would not feel pain fi the doll were in a burning house and caught fire by accident; however, if someone lit the house on fire in order to burn the doll or if the doll were thrown into a fireplace maliciously, the vitim would feel all the effects of the fire. Distance from the fetish makes no difference; the victim can be one foot or a million miles away from the doll. Only those who harbor no ill will toward the victim may destroy the doll and break the enchantment; the victim cannot destroy it unless she is prepared to destroy herself in the process.

System: The ritual requires an elaborate liturgy lasting two hours and requiring a number of physical components. Witches performing the ritual must place wax candles, chalk, iron chains and hemp ropes around the victim (who must be on a stone altar) in a perfect circle. Then, standing outside the circle on a scrubbed floor, onto which are scattered strands of ox hairs and droplets of diseased horse blood, the must take turns chanting the words of the ritual. Once that has been accomplished, they must step inside the circle, slit open the vitim's forehead, and touch the fetish doll to the vitim's heart and to her forehead as it bleeds. At this point, part of the vitim's soul enters the doll; one of the witches must then insert a hairpin through the doll's heart to "pin" the soul to the fetish, and the pin dissolves. When this has been done, the victim and the doll are premanently linked. Victims of Soul Yoke are not mentally controlled in the magical sense; however, witches frequently use this ritual to enslave victims by threatening them with unbearable pain or death if they disobey. The victim takes damage equivalent to that inflicted upon the doll (thus, a lighter held up to a doll would be the equivalent of holding a torch to the victim) The victim may make a special soak roll using Willpower instead of stamina + Fortitude (even when the doll is being burnt or exposed to sunlight). the pain that the victim experiences in such circumstances is so great that she is incapacitated during each round that she takes dmaage. In order to avoid such incapacitation, the victim just spend a willpower point.

Splinter Servant (Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Ed. Pg 90)

Another ritual designed to enchant a stake; splinter servant is a progressive development of shaft of belated quiescence. The two rituals are mutually exclusive, which is fortunate for many, because a splinter servant of belated quiescence would be a truly terrifying weapon. A splinter servant consists of a stake carved from a tree, which has nourished itself on the dead, bound in wax sealed nightshade twine. When the binding is torn off, the splinter servant springs to life, animating itself and attacking whomever the wielder commands – or the wielder, if he is to slow in assigning a target. The servant splits itself into a roughly humanoid form and begins single mindedly trying to impale the targets heart. Its exertions tear it apart within a few minutes, but if it pierces the victim’s heart before it destroys itself, it is remarkably difficult to remove, as pieces tend to remain behind if the main portion is indelicately yanked out.
System: The ritual requires 12 hours to cast; -1 per success and the servant must be created as described above. When the binding is torn off, the character that is holding it must point it at the target and verbally command it to attack during the same turn. If this command is not given, the servant attacks the closest being, living or unliving, usually the unfortunate being who currently carries it. A splinter servant always aims for the heart. It has an attack dice pool of the casters wits + occult, a damage pool of the casters thaumaturgy rating, and a max move of 30 yds per turn. Note these are the values of the caster not the wielder. A servant cannot fly but can leap its full move per turn. Every action it takes is to attack or move toward its target; it cannot dodge or split its dice pool to perform multiple tasks. The servant makes normal stake attacks that aim for the heart (Diff 9) and its success is judged by the normal rules for staking. A splinter servant has 3 health levels, and attacks directed at it are made at +3 Diff due to its small size and spastic movement patterns. A splinter servant has an effective life of 5 combat turns per success rolled in its creation. If it has not impaled its victim by the last round of its life, the servant collapses into ordinary splinters. 3 successes on a dex roll (Diff Cool are required to remove a splinter servant from a victim’s heart without leaving behind shards of the stake.

Stolen Kisses (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy Pg 96)

Thaumaturges cast this ritual when they do not wish to feed by mouth. Instead, Stolen Kisses allows them to drain small portions of vitae through other parts of a vessel's body. Some vampires prefere the strong handshake. Others enjoy choking vessels, a double pleasure of asphyxia and the flush of new vitae coursing through cold veins. Others "get off" by draining blood from a vessel during sex. In any case, a vessel is usually not immediately aware that blood is sucked out os his body, though he will experience a slight sensation of dizziness and light-headedness. This ritual requires the caster to carry a "witche's kiss" - a thistle steeped in the blood of a vampire - somewhere on her person.

System: The magus must first make a small incision on his body where he intends to make physical contanct with a vessel. The ritual is then cast; once complete, the wound knits itself closed. However, it opens to create a lip-and-mouth-type orifice when continually pressed against a vessel's flesh, which mystically sucks out one blood point every other turn as long as the contact persists. After the second point of vitae is consumed, a vessel is likely to feel woozy, while taking five blood points probably causes the victim to blakc out from the substantial lack of blood in his body. Stolen Kisses remains active for one night. A Warlock does not cause ecstasy or rapture when taking blood in this manner, as he would were he to feed upon a vessel by mouth.

The Bronze Head Speaks (House of Tremere Pg 116)

Unweave Ritual (Clan book: Tremere Revised Ed. Pg 64)

With the preponderance of cursing rituals among jealous Warlocks, it's only a matter of time until a Tremere labors under the effects of an enemy's magic. Whether it's another Tremere eager to discomfit a political adversary, or some non-Tremere thaumaturge looking for retribution, having Thaumaturgy turned around against it's supposed masters makes for a bitter aftertaste indeed. Once a Tremere manages to identify the enemy ritual under which he labors, it's possible to build a counter-sorcery to unweave it. Thaumaturges skilled in this magic learn general principals to confound other rituals, shrug off their effects or collapse them prematurely.

System: First, the caster must figure out what ritual currently afflicts him. This is probably automatic if he knows the ritual ( unless the caster has been very subtle or the subject is daft), but may require some research (and Intelligence + Occult rolls, at the ST discretion) otherwise. Next, the unweaving takes place. The caster must secure a component that would be used in the casting of the offending ritual, then destroy it in some fashion. His successes subtract from the successes scored by the original caster; if he manages to wipe away all of the successes, the offending ritual immediately ends, with all concomitant effects. Thus, a quick end to the Bind the Accusing Tongue would allow the Tremere to speak ill of his enemies again, but a premature end to a Blood Contract would painfully shove him into torpor, and a premature end to Night of the Red Heart would result in Final Death. Only rituals that have a duration can be unwoven. For instance, a Tremere who has thrown off a blood bond through Abandon the Fetters (below) is not constantly under the effects of that ritual - once the ritual is complete, the bond is gone and the ritual is done. However, a Tremere suffering from Steps of the Terrified would be considered under the duration of the ritual as long as it slowed his movement, so it could be unwoven. Note that a thaumaturge can only unweave a ritual on himself, not one on someone else. Also, a thaumaturge suffering from multiple rituals must unweave each one separately. Multiple unweavings can be accumulated against a ritual so long as the appropriate time and components can be acquired.


Ward Versus Kindred (Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Ed. Pg 89)

This warding ritual functions exactly as do Ward versus ghouls and lupines, but it inflicts injury upon
cainites.
System: Ward versus Kindred behaves exactly as does Ward versus Ghouls, but it affects vampires rather than Ghouls. The ritual requires a point of the casters own blood and does not affect the caster