Level 4 Rituals



Blood Certámen

Certámen is an old custom dating back from when the Tremere were still mages, a Certámen was a duel fought to the death or disgrace of one of the two contestants, used to settle personal disputes. This ritual allows for such an equal duel to be fought among the Tremere. It never invoked frequently or lightly, and few know of it's existance. (The caster rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The caster spends 20 minutes drawing a circle of blood on the ground, exacly 10 paces across. Then inside the circle, the caster makes yet 2 more circles each 2 paces wide on opposing sides inside the large circle. Both contestants enter their respective circles and face their opponent. Immediately upon entering the circle, the challenger states what he/she wishes to gain from the duel, and the defender states 3 limits upon the form of combat. Both then invoke the ritual of Certámen, and the test of blood begins. Each contender irrigardless of generation can spend 2 bloodpoints per turn, though never more then 2 bloodpoints, leveling the playing field for higher generation vampires. Also, whenever a Thaumaturge in the circle uses Thaumaturgy, the opponent can roll Intelligence + Occult at diff 7 to recognize the effect of the Thaumaturgy invoked. Both vampires can also roll Willpower (against a diff of the opponents Thaumaturgy rating) whenever the opponent invokes a Thaumaturgy power, allowing the defender to remove the successes on his/her Willpower roll from the casting of the enemies Thaumaturgy power. Each duel of Certámen is to be overseen by a local unbiased authority, who has the right to declare a victor, loser or a draw at any time during the Certámen, as long as the discision is within reason. Also, both sides of the conflict bring a second, a friend or trustee who handles the announcements for his/her contender and keeps his/her trappings and ritualist equipment. The second always stand behind and to the right of his/her contender. This ritual is a high tradition of the Tremere, cheating during the Certámen (which is technically only possibly by bringing extra blood or magical artifacts without announcing their presence before the Certámen) or not holding to the terms stated during the Certámen may well lead to being declared Rogue.)


Bone of Lies

By imbuing a mortal bone with the spirit of the previous owner, the user can use the spirit's power to force a victim to speak the truth. Any who touch the bone in question will be unable to lie, as the bone absorbs the lies that would be told and thusly forces the subject to speak the truth. As the bone absorbs lie after lie, the bone turns blacker and blacker, untill eventually it's magic ceases to work. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual requires 20 minutes to cast, and requires a piece of mortal bone that is at least 200 years old. This piece of bone must absorb 10 bloodpoints on the night that the ritual is cast, and each time it's holder lies one of the bloodpoints is consumed. Once all bloodpoints have been consumed, the bone ceases to work and cannot be used for this ritual again.)


Heart of Stone

The Tremere, having diablarized more then one torpid vampire in their existance, are especially fearful of staking. This ritual however transmutes the heart of it's caster into pure stone, making the user immune to staking. Unfortunately, this ritual has the side effect of almost entirely shutting down the user's emotions, making it hard for the user to sympathize or relate to others. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 9 hours to cast, minus one hour for every succes, during which the user must lie naked on a flat stone surface and place a burning candle over his/her heart which burns down to nothing over the ritual, inflicting a single level of Aggravated damage on the caster which can be soaked with Fortitude at diff 5. At the end of the ritual, the user's heart completely turns to stone, granting the caster a number of soak dices equal to twice his/her Thaumaturgy rating for any attack that is directed at the user's heart. The user also becomes completely immune to the effects of the ritual Shaft of Belated Quiescence, and all attempts to use Presence powers on the caster have their difficulty increased by 3, because of the user's emotional  isolation. However, the user's Concience and Empathy ratings drop to 1, or drop to 0 if they were already 1. Additionally, all dice pools for Social rolls exept those involving Intimidation are halved, including Social rolls needed for disciplines. Lastly, all Merits the caster has that have a positive effect on social interraction are neutralized for the duration of this ritual. The ritual can be maintained for as long as the user wishes to maintain it.)


Infirm Inert

One of the mystical qualities of vampiric vitae is the ability to heal all wounds. Even dismemberment cannot stop a vampire for long. However, this ritual takes away that advantage, preventing the victim from healing at all. Worst of all, the victim may not realise this untill he/she actively attempts to heal injuries, at which point it may be too late. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The user must imbibe a small quantity of blood laced with laudanum, then spend 20 minutes in concentration, during which the user must spend a bloodpoint. Once completed, the target of this ritual will be completely unable to heal for a number of nights equal to the number of successes rolled. The victim may however spend a Willpower point to ignore it's effects for a single turn. When the ritual expires, all damage the victim has taken may be healed as normal.)


Mark of Amaranth

Diablarie is considered a grave crime among kindred, and many elders are willing to go to great lengths in order to destroy those childes who exihibit a taste for this unholy thirst. Diablarie is also known to stain the soul of the one that commits it, and this ritual allows for that same effect to be placed on a victim, though the ritual calls for a terrible price. (The user must posses an intimate possesion of whomever he/she wants to curse. The user must then destroy a kindred, and right before that kindred's corpse falls to ashes the user must place the personal item of his intended victim into the body of the slain. The user then rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7, and the user spends 20 minutes invoking the ritual. Upon completion, his/her intended victim will exihibit the evidence of diablarie in all divination on that person, such as Aura Perception or Blood Walk. The ritual cannot even be concealed using the Soul Mask power, though higher levels of Obfuscate or more potent rituals may be able to counter this ritual. However, other then staining the aura of the victim of this ritual, there is no other evidence that the vampire in question will have committed diablerie, this vampire can still say he/she did not commit diablarie truthfully. The ritual lasts untill the next sunrise.)


Rend the Mind

A form of assassination vastly superior to conventional means, the user that casts this ritual is capable of directly attacking a victim's psyche. By it's nature, this attack is almost impossible to detect, and it's effects can be no less devastating then an assassin's knife. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes an hour to cast, during which the user must consume the brain of a dead rabid animal. After the ritual is completed, the user may make a single telepathic assault on any victim the user sees before the next sunrise. The attack requires an Intelligence + Empathy roll at a diff of the target's Willpower. Each succes deals a single healthlevel of unsoakable Bashing damage on the victim, though this damage is still halved for vampires.)


Return of the Heart

An especially feared ritual against the Sabbat, this ritual restores part of the human soul that vampires lose as they grow less humane. They are afflicted with a sense of their own damnation, which might go so far as to drive them into the Beast's claws. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 20 minutes to cast, and the user must either know his/her target's True Name or sacrifise a quantity of the subject's blood. The ritual's effect lasts for one hour per succes on the activation roll. For it's duration, the victim will have the same Heirarchy of Sin as though the victim had a humanity of 9, forcing the victim to make degeneration rolls for even the most minor of cruelties. The victim will however keep the Path or Humanity rating they had when the ritual was cast, making this an especially dangerous ritual when cast on more debased vampires.)


Scry

This ritual turns a pool of water into a scrying pool, allowing the user to spy on distant places or people as though the user was actually there. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 20 minutes, and the user needs a body of water, then drip a bit of owl blood into the water. Usually a bowl or something of similiar size is used, a smaller and especially still body of water is most recommended. The user need only concentrate to change what the scrying pool shows. The user may focus on specific people, but this requires that the user has a personal item of that subject or knows the target's True Name. The user may also focus on a location, though the user can not change what the scrying pool is showing if he/she selects a location. The ritual lasts for a number of hours equal to the number of successes rolled on activation.)


Soul of the Homunculus

Among the Tremere the best person you can trust is yourself, and this ritual allows you to craft a loyal servant from your own flesh, bone and vitae. The most common forms that the Homunculus takes are flyers (which resemble small winged demons), grubs (which resemble maggots with the face of the caster) and Hoppers (small bald imp-like entities with their master's features). (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The user spends 20 minutes casting the ritual, during which he/she sacrifises part of his/her own flesh, bone (if so needed) and vitae. When the ritual is completed, the Homunculus forms, and is completely loyal to the caster. The Homunculus' loyalty is best discribed as it being another limb of the user, and as such the Homunculus will only act if so commanded by it's master. The Homunculus has 2 healthlevels and 2 dots in every Physical attribute. However, it cannot fight effectively, though it is capable of carrying or pushing objects and can act as a spy. Interrestingly, the Homunculus has no arcane connection to it's creator and the blood in it is not considered to be it's master's blood, so cannot be used as a component in a ritual that demands the flesh or blood of the creator of the Homunculus. However, any attempt in establishing a psychic connection to the Homunculus will instead effect it's master. The Homunculus is initially wholly loyal to it's master, but over a period of years it may develop a personality with all the worst qualities of it's master. The Homunculus will probably not turn on it's master, but an unwary Thaumaturge may find a Homunculus to become an annoying pest several years after it's creation, playing pranks behind it's master's back. The Homunculus is damaged by sunlight and fire as a vampire, and must be fed a bloodpoint each week or it will die.)


Splinter Servant

An improvement of Shaft of Belated Quiescence, this ritual actually animates a stake. The stake will spastically leap about, attacking whoever it's creator demands, and if it hits it's target the stake is notoriously difficult to remove. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 12 hours to cast, and the user must create the stake to be enchanted from the wood of a tree which has nourished itself on the dead. The stake is then bound in wax-sealed nightshade twine. Once the ritual is complete and the twine binding is torn off, whoever holds the stake must point it at the intended target and verbally command it to attack that target. The stake then splits into a vaguely humanoid form and will begin attempting to stake that victim through the heart. If the user is too slow in declaring a target for the stake, the stake will instead target the nearest living or unliving creature, which is usually the unfortunate sod who wields it. The Splinter Servant always aims for the heart of the victim, has an attack dice pool of it's creator's Wits + Occult, a damage dice pool of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating, and a maximum movement rate of 30 yards per turn. The stake may also leap it's movement rating every turn. The attempts to stake the target by the Splinter Servant are judged in the same way as a normal attempt to stake. (attack is diff 9, must score at least 3 levels of damage after soaking to stake a victim) The Splinter Servant has 3 healthlevels, but due to it's small size all attacks made against it are at +3 difficulty. Every succes on the activation roll grant the stake 5 combat turns of "life", after which it falls apart in a pile of inanimate splinters. If anyone attempts to remove the stake after it has impaled a victim, the person attempting to remove it must make a Dexterity roll at diff 8. Unless the person trying to remove the stake scores 3 successes on this roll, the stake will leave behind splinters in the unfortunate victim.)


Stolen Kisses

Thaumaturges can cast this ritual for when feeding by mouth is not the best idea. It allows the user to feed from nearly any part of his/her own body, often even without the subject knowing what happend. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 20 minutes to cast, during which the user must make a small incision from where/he she wantes to draw blood, such as on the hand to draw blood through a firm handshake. At the end of the ritual, the wound knits itself closed, but whenever the user attempts to draw blood from that location the wound will re-open as a mouth-and-lips type orifice which will mystically suck blood out of a victim at a rate of one bloodpoint every 2 turns. This ritual also requires that the user carries a Witch's Kiss, a thisle steeped in vampire vitae. The victim of this power will notice nothing more from the feeding then a little light-headedness and dizzyness, though drawing blood will have the usual effects as known during conventional feeding. The user cannot paralyze victims by feeding in this way.)


The Curse Belated

This ritual is most commonly preformed on prized ghouls, to prevent their loss should they die. Instead of dieing, this ritual allows the ghoul to ressurect as kindred, granting the ghoul a second unlife. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual requires 20 minutes, during which the caster must brand the ghoul with his personal sigil, which dissapears once the ghoul becomes kindred. The user then temporarily sacrifices a single permanent bloodpoint from his/her bloodpool. The user then spends another normal bloodpoint, which is then fed to the ghoul. The ghoul cannot use this bloodpoint for anything and will remain in his/her body untill the ghoul dies. After a short delay when the ghoul dies, the ghoul is ressurected as a full fledged vampire and the permanent blood point that was lost during the ritual returns to the user. )


Unweave Ritual

Rivalry runs high among the Tremere, so often are they forced to contend with opponents that have at least an equal understanding of Thaumaturgy as themselves. As such, the Tremere created this counter-ritual, which allows them to undo any curses that other Tremere cast upon them. (First of all, the caster must find out exacly what ritual has befallen him. If the ritual was either very subtle or the caster does not have knowledge of the ritual in question, this may require research and at the Storyteller's discretion, Intelligence + Occult rolls. Once the caster finds out what ritual has befallen him/her, the caster must find a component used in the ritual that was placed on him/her. The user then weaves the counter-ritual which takes 20 minutes and an Intelligence + Occult roll at diff 7, and at the end of it destroys the component. The user may then substract successes from the ritual that plagues him/her, and if all successes are removed the ritual ends, with all associated effects. (so ending Night of the Red Heart prematurely will result in the death of the caster, and ending a Blood Contract prematurely will send the caster painfully into torpor.) The caster can also attempt to unweave a ritual several times in succession, removing additional succes in each attempt. However, this ritual has no effect on rituals that have no duration, such as Abandon the Fetters, and the caster can only unweave rituals cast upon him/herself.)


Ward versus Kindred

A ward specifically designated against Kindred, this ritual inflicts pain on any kindred that touches a warded object. Unfortunately, it does not seem to work against Cathayans. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 20 minutes to cast, during which the user must drip a bloodpoint of his/her own vitae on the object to be warded, 10 hours after completing the incantation the ward will be complete. After being warded, the object will continue to do 3 dices of Lethal damage on any kindred that touches it. The pain from this touch will be thusly strong that a kindred that would knowingly try to touch the object again must spend a Willpower point. The user can also place the ward on weapons or even bullets, but bullets tend to warp a lot after being fired. Thusly, anyone firing warded bullets must roll at least 5 successes on the firearms roll to prevent the ward from being lost before impact. Other weapons require 3 successes on the apropriate roll (crafts, melee, archery, etc) to maintain the ward after combat.  The user may also exempt certain kindred from being effected by a ward that the user cast. This requires the kindred to be present at the casting of the ward or that the caster has a point of blood of that kindred while casting the ritual. Each extra kindred the user wishes to exempt from the effects of that ward increases the difficulty of the ward's activation roll by one, up to a maximum of 9. The user may exempt a number of kindred from each ward equal to his/her Thaumaturgy rating. However, the caster of this ritual is always immune to his/her own wards.)


Warding Circle versus Kindred

This ritual allows the user to create a warding circle around him/herself, which prevents kindred from passing. (The user rolls Intelligence + Occult at diff 7. The ritual takes 20 minutes to cast, and requires 3 bloodpoints of kindred vitae. The circle is centered on the caster, and the default radius is 10 feet. The user can increase the size by an additional 10 feet, but every increase of 10 feet increases the diff of the activation roll by 1, up to a maximum diff of 9. The user may also increase the radius by 10 feet when the user has already reached the diff 9 limit, but this means the user needs additional successes beyond the one needed to succesfully activate the ritual for every 10 feet the user wishes to increase the radius. Every extra 10 feet also requires an extra bloodpoint to be spend on the part of the user. The ritual normally takes 10 minutes, in which case the ritual lasts for the remainder of the night, though the user may also spend the entire night weaving the ritual, in which case the warding circle will last for a year and a day. Whenever a kindred would attempt to enter the warding circle, the kindred feels a tingle on his/her skin and a slight breeze on his/her face. The kindred can roll Intelligence + Occult at diff 8 to identify the sensation as a Warding circle. If the kindred attempts to press onward into the circle, the kindred must roll Willpower against a diff of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating +3 and score more successes then the caster did on the activation roll of this ritual. If the kindred fails this roll, the kindred is stopped dead in his/her tracks by the warding circle, takes 3 dices of Bashing damage and any future attempts to enter that circle are at +1 difficulty. Any kindred inside the circle however, can leave freely. The user can also exempt certain kindred from the effects of the circle. This takes 5 minutes, a point of blood from the target and an Intelligence + Occult roll at diff 8, which succes meaning the subject can enter that specific warding circle for one night per succes.)