Thaumaturgical Rituals

Rituals are Thaumaturgical formulas, meticulously researched and prepared, that create powerful magical effects. Rituals are less versatile than paths, as their effects are singular and straightforward, but they are better suited toward specific ends.

All thaumaturges have the ability to use rituals, though each individual ritual must be learned separately. By acquainting herself with the arcane practice of blood magic, the thaumaturge gains the capacity to manipulate these focused effects.

Thaumaturgical rituals are rated from 1 to 5, each level corresponding to both the level of mastery of Thaumaturgy the would-be caster must possess and the relative power of the ritual itself. Unless stated otherwise, a ritual requires five minutes per level to cast. For example, Andreas the Tremere wishes to cast Ward Versus Ghouls, a Level Two Ritual. Invoking this ritual requires 10 minutes, and Andreas must know Thaumaturgy at 2 or greater.

Casting rituals requires a successful Intelligence + Occult roll, for which the difficulty equals 3 + the level of the ritual (maximum 9). Only one success is required for a ritual to work, though certain spells may require more successes or have variable effects based on how well the caster's roll goes. This uncertainty of effect is a recent development; Tremere rituals formerly worked infallibly, so long as the caster executed them successfully. Many thaumaturges fear that the movements of awakening Antediluvians have caused imbalance in the flow of magic, making the success of rituals more precarious than in previous nights. Should a roll to activate a ritual fail, the Storyteller is encouraged to create strange occurrences or side effects, or even make it appear that the ritual was successful, only to reveal its failure at a later time. A botched ritual roll may even indicate a catastrophic failure or summon an ill-tempered demon…

Rituals sometimes require special ingredients or reagents to work - these are noted in each ritual's description. Common components include herbs, animal bones, ceremonial items, feathers, eye of newt, tongue of toad, etc. Acquiring magical components for a powerful ritual may form the basis for an entire story.

At the first level of Thaumaturgy, the vampire automatically gains a single Level One ritual. To learn further rituals, the thaumaturge must find someone to teach him, or learn the ritual from a scroll, tome or other archive. Learning a new ritual can take anywhere from a few nights (Level One ritual) to months or years (Level Five ritual). Some dread Warlocks have studied individual rituals for decades, even centuries. Precisely what these rituals do is unknown, but their effects are surely grave.

Level One Rituals


Defense of the Sacred Haven
This ritual prevents sunlight from entering an area within 20 feet of this ritual's casting. A mystical darkness blankets the area, keeping the baneful light at bay. Sunlight reflects off windows or magically fails to pass through doors or other portals. The caster draws sigils in her own blood on all the affected windows and doors, and the ritual lasts as long as the Tremere stays within the 20-foot-radius. System: This ritual requires one hour to peform, during which the thaumaturge recites incantations and inscribes glyphs. One blood point is required for the ritual to work.

Wake With Evening's Freshness
This ritual allows a Tremere to awaken at any sign of danger, especially during the day. If any potentially harmful circumstances arise, the Tremere immediately rises, ready to face the problem. This ritual requires the ashes of burned feathers to be spread over the area in which the Kindred wishes to sleep. System: This ritual must be performed immediately before the Tremere settles down to slumber for the day. Any interruption to the ceremonial casting renders the casting ineffective. If danger arises, the Tremere awakens and may ignore the Humanity dice pool limit rule for the first two turns of consciousness. Thereafter, the penalty takes effect, but the Tremere will have already risen and will be able to address problematic situations.

Communicate With Kindred Sire
By enacting this ritual, a Tremere may join minds with her sire, speaking telepathically with him over any distance. The communication may continue until the ritual expires or until either party ends the conversation.The caster must possess an item once owned by her sire for the ritual to work. System: The caster must meditate for 30 minutes to create the connection. Conversation may be maintained for 10 minutes per success on the activation roll.

Deflection of Wooden Doom
This ritual protects the Tremere from being staked, whether or not she is resting or active. While this ritual is in effect, the first stake would pierce the active. While this ritual is in effect, the first stake that would pierce the Tremere's heart disintegrates in the attacker's hand. A stake merely held near the Tremere is unaffected; for this ritual to work, the stake must be actively used in an attempt to impale the vampire. System: The thaumaturge must surround herself with a circle of wood for a full hour. Any wood will work; furniture, sawdust, raw timber, whatever. The circle must remain unbroken, however. At the end of the hour, the vampire places a wooden splinter under her tongue. If this splinter is removed, the ritual is nullified. This ritual lasts until the following dusk or dawn.

Devil's Touch
The Tremere use this ritual to place curses upon mortals who earn their ire. Using this ritual marks an individual invisibly, causing all those who come into contact with him to receive him poorly. The mortal is treated as the most loathsome individual conceivable, and all who deal with him do anything in their power to make him miserable. Even bums spit at an afflicted individual, and children taunt him and barrage him with vulgarities. System: The effects of this ritual last one night, disappearing as the sun rises. The mortal (it doesn't work on vampires) must be present when the ritual is invoked, and a penny must be placed somewhere on the person (in a pocket, shoe, etc).

Incantation of the Shepherd
This ritual enables the thaumaturge to mystically locate all members of his herd. While intoning the ritual's vocal component, he spins in a slow circle with a glass object os some sort held to each of his eyes. At the end of the ritual, he has a subliminal sense of the direction and distance to each of his regular vessels. System: This ritual gives the character the location relative to him of every member of his herd. If he does not have the Herd Background, Incantation of the Sheperd locates the closest three mortals from whom the thaumaturge has fed at least three times each. This ritual has a maximum range of 10 miles times the character's Herd Background or five miles if he has no points in that background.

Engaging the Vessel of Transference
This ritual enchants a container to fill itself with blood from any living or unliving being who holds it, replacing the volume of blood with from an equal amount of previously held inside the container. When the ritual is enacted, the vessel (which must be between the size of a small cup and a gallon jug) is sealed full of the caster's blood and inscribed with the Hermetic sigil which empowers the ritual. Whenever an individual touches the container with his bare skin, he feels a slight chill against his flesh but no further discomfort. The container continues to exchange the blood it contains until it is open. The two most common uses of this ritual are to covertly create a blood bond and to obtain a sample or a subject's blood for a ritual or other experimental purpose. System: This ritual takes three hours to enact (reduced by 15 minutes for each success on the casting roll) and requires one blood point (although not necessarily the caster's blood) which is sealed inside the container. The ritual only switches blood between itself and a subject if it is touched bare-handed - even thin cotton gloves keep it from activating. Individuals with at least four dots in Occult or three in Expert Knowlede - Magic Lore recognize the Hermetic sigil with two successes on an Intelligence + appropriate knowledge roll (diff 8).

Purity of Flesh
The caster cleanses her body of all foreign material with this ritual. To perform it, she meditates on bare earth or stone while surrounded by a circle of 13 sharp stones. Over the course of the ritual, the caster is slowly purged of all physical impurities, both internal and external: dirt, alcohol, drugs, poison, bullets lodged in the flesh, Vicissitude modifications and tattoo ink are all equally affected, slowly rising to the surface of the caster's skin and flaking away as a gritty gray film that settles within the circle. Any jewelry, makeup, or clothes that the caster is wearing are also dissolved. System: The player spends one blood point before rolling. Purity of flesh removes all physical items from the casters body, and returns it to it's original state, but it does not remove enchantments, mind control, or diseases of the blood.

Rebirth of Mortal Vanity
This ritual requires strands of hair from mortal children, and involves gesturing in front of a mirror for an hour. This ritual causes the vampire’s hair to grow one inch for each child from whom hair was taken and used. This hair will remain until cut. If the vampire wishes to perform this ritual for another, she must also be in front of the mirror.

Rite of Introduction
This ritual involves reciting a half-hour incantation, and then speaking into water vapor. The vampire may contact the Regent of the nearest Tremere Chantry first, and then others, descending the hierarchy. By tradition, only the Regent is bound to answer, and a brief dialogue with each person is possible. Used often to announce one’s presence, or to call for help.

Domino of Life
The vampire may simulate one human trait. Any trait, from the warmth of human flesh, eating, breathing, sweating clear fluid, crying clear salty tears, assume a human flesh tone or one other single human feature can be assumed. Lasts one night. System: Adds one die to the Vampire's Masquerade pool. Unless observers are especially wary, the Dominoe of Life should fool them into thinking the caster is mortal.

Will O'Wisp
The vampire may turn a small branch from a willow tree into a floating ball of light that is under her mental command, that will continue to glow if within sight of the vampire.

Scent of the Garou's Passing
By sniffing a strange herbal mixture containing milkweed, wolvesbane and some other more noisome materials, a Kindred can detect the presence of a Garou by smell on a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty of the werewolf's permanent Willpower). The thaumaturgist must actually be able to smell the werewolf in question, and three successeds are required to identify a particular Garou. This ritual lasts for one scene.

Bind the Accusing Tongue
This ritual lays a compulsion upon the subject that prevents him from speaking ill of the caster, allowing the caster to literally commit unspeakable acts without fear of reprisal. System: Caster must have a picture or other effigy of the target, lock of target's hair, and a black silken cord. Caster winds the cord around hair and image while chanting. Once complete the target must score more successes on a WP roll (diff of casters Thaum rating +3), than the Caster scored in order to say anything negative about the Caster. Ritual lasts until the target succeeds at this roll or the silk cord is unwound, at which point the lock of hair will crumble to dust.

Illuminate Trail of the Prey
The vampire may make the trail of a specific victim glow in such a way that only she can see it. All paths, from an airplane’s vapor trails to footprints, will be shown. A starting point is required, as is an initial sighting of the victim, and the spell is nullified if the vampire wades in or is immersed in water, or if he reaches the destination of his journey. The thaumaturge must burn a length of white satin ribbon that has been in his possession for at least 24 hours for the ritual to take effect. System: The thaumaturge must have a mental image or know the name of his prey. The individual's wake burns with a brightness dependant on how long it has been since the victim passed that way - old tracks glow less brightly, while fresh ones blaze.

Blood Rush
The vampire may make herself feel as though she has fed, even is she hasn’t. This may be used for pleasure, or to curb thirst-related frenzy. The vampire must carry the fang of a predatory animal in order for this ritual to work. System: Performance of the ritual results in the beast being kept in check automatically. Blood Rush allays the beast for one hour, at which point the Cainite feels hungry again (assuming he did before). This ritual takes one turn to enact.

Widow's Spite
This ritual causes a pain, itch, or other significant (but not deadly) sensation in the subject. Similar in effect to the old 'voodoo doll' effects, this ritual is used more out of scorn or malice than actual enmity. In fact, it requires a cloth or wax doll that resembles the target, which bleeds when the ritual is in effect. System: The ceremonial doll must resemble, however crudely, the victim of the ritual. It places no mechanical effect, other than a simple physical stimulus. The caster may determine where on the subject's body the itch or pain appears.

Level Two Rituals


Ward Versus Ghouls
Wary Tremere created this ritual to protect themselves from the minions of vengeful rivals. By invoking this ritual, the Tremere creates a glyph that causes great pain to any ghouls who come into contact with it. The Kindred pours a point's worth of blood over the object he wishes to ward (a piece of parchment, a coin, a doorknob, etc), and recites the incantation, which takes 10 minutes. In 10 hours, the magical ward is complete, and will inflict an excruciating pain on any ghoul unfortunate enough to touch the warded object. System: Ghouls who touch the warded objects suffer three dice of lethal damage. This damage occurs again if the ghoul touches the object further; indeed, a ghoul who consciously wishes to touch a warded object must spend a willpower to do so. This ritual wards only ONE object — if inscribed on the side of a car, the ward only affects that door or fender, not the whole car. Wards may be placed on weapons, even bullets, though this usually works best on small caliber weapons. Bullets often warp upon firing, however, and for a ward to remain intact on a fired round, the player needs five successes on the firearms roll.

Principle Focus of Vitae Infusion
This ritual imbues a quantity of blood within the object upon which the ritual is cast. The object must be small enough for the vampire to carry in both hands, and it may be as small as a dime. After the ritual is conducted, the object takes on a reddish hue and becomes slick to the touch. As a mental command, the thaumaturge may release the object from its enchantment, causing it to break down into a pool of blood. This blood may serve whatever purpose the vampire desires; many Tremere wear enchanted baubles to ensure they have emergency supplies of vitae. System: An object may store only one blood point of vitae. If a Kindred wishes to make an infused focus for an ally, she may do so, but the blood contained within must be her own (and if they ally then drinks the blood, he is one step closer to the blood bond). The ally must be present at the creation of the focus.

Blood Walk
The thaumaturge casts this ritual on a blood sample from another vampire. Blood Walk is used to trace the subject's Kindred lineage and the bloo bonds in which the subject is involved. System: This ritual requires three hours to cast, reduced by 15 minutes per success on the roll. It requires one blood point from the subject. Each success allows the caster to "see back" one generation, giving the caster both the True Name of the ancestor and an image of his face. The caster also learns the generation and clan or bloodline from which the subject is descended. With three successes the caster learns of the identites of all parties with whom the subject shares a blood bond, either as regnant or thrall.

Craft Bloodstone
This ritual involves allowing a stone to soak for three nights in three points of one’s own vitae. By the third night, the result will be a bloodstone sitting in clear fluid. The vampire will always know the exact location of a bloodstone created with her own vitae.

Mourning Life Curse
This one-hour ritual involves the ingestion of crocodile blood. The vampire may whisper a magic word in a victim’s ear, which will cause the victim to cry blood until the vampire removes her gaze from her, at a rate of one blood point per five minutes. The effects of this are slightly swollen capillaries around the eyes, and the usual effects of blood loss.

Burning Blade
Developed during Clan Tremere's troubled inception, Burning Blade allows a thaumaturge to temporarily enchant a melee weapon to inflict unhealable wounds on supernatural creatures. While this ritual is in effect, the weapon flickers with an unholy greenish flame. System: This ritual can only be cast on melee weapons. The caster must cut the palm of her weapon hand during the ritual - with the weapon if it is edged, otherwise with a sharp stone. This inflicts a single health level of lethal damge which may not be soaked but may be healed normally. Once the ritual is cast, the weapon inflicts aggravated damage on all supernatural creatures for the next few successful attacks, one per success rolled. Multiple castings of Burning Blade cannot be "stacked" for longer durations. Furthermore, the wielder of the weapon cannot choose to do normal damage and "save up" aggravated strikes - each successful attack uses one aggravated strike until there are none left, at which point the weapon reverts to inflicting normal damage.

Donning the Mask of Shadows
This ritual renders is subject transluscent, her form appearing dark and smoky and the sounds of her footsteps muffled. While it does not create true invisibility, the Mask of Shadows makes the subject much less likely to be detected by sight or hearing. System: This ritual may be simultaneously cast on a number of subjects equal to the thaumaturge's Occult rating; each individual past the first adds five minutes to the base casting time. Individuals under the Mask of Shadows can only be detected if the observer succeeds in a Perception + Awareness roll )difficulty of the caster's Wits + Occult) or if the observer possesses a power (such as Auspex) sufficient to penetrate Level Three Obfuscate. The Mask of Shadows lasts a number of hours equal to the number of successes rolled when it is cast or until the caster voluntarily lowers it.

Warding Circle Versus Ghouls
This ritual is enacted in a manner similar to that of Ward versus Ghouls, but creates a circle centered on the caster into which a ghoul cannot pass without being burned. The circle may be made as large and as permanent as the caster desires, so long as she is willing to pay the necessary price. Many Tremere chantries and havens are protected by this and other Warding Circle rituals. System: The ritual requires three blood points of mortal blood. The caster determines the size of the warding circle when it is cast; the default radius is 10 feet and every 10-foot increase raises the difficulty by one, to a maximum of 9 (one additional success is required for every 10-foot increase past the number necessaryto raise the difficulty to 9). The player spends one blood point for every 10 feet of radius and rolls. The ritual takes the normal casting time if it is to be temporary (lasting for the rest of the night) or one night if it is to be permanent (lasting a year and a day). Once the warding circle is established, any ghoul who attempts to cross its boundary feels a tingle on his skin and a slight breeze on his face - a successful Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 8) identifies this as a warding circle. If the ghoul attempts to press on, he must roll more successes on a willpower roll (difficulty of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating + 3) than the caster rolled when establishing the ward. Failure indicates that the ward blocks his passage and inflicts three dice of bashing damage on him, and his next roll to attempt to enter the circle is at +1 difficulty. If the ghoul leaves the circle and attempts to enter it again, he must repeat the roll. Attempts to leave the circle are not blocked.

The Tremere have access to several other warding circle rituals: Warding Circle versus Lupines (Level Three), Warding Circle versus Kindred (Level Four) and Warding Circles versus Spirits, Ghosts, and Demons (Level 5). Each warding circle ritual must be learned seperately. The material components for each warding circle are the same as those needed for the corresponding ward, but in larger amounts. The effects against the targeted beings are the same as those for Warding Circle versus Ghouls.

The Open Passage
By spending a point of blood and taking ten minutes to trace an intricate pattern, the vampire can cause a barrier to become insubstantial. This will allow anyone to pass through it during the next turn without affecting the individual or the barrier. For instance, if a character cast Open Passage on a cell wall, she (and anyone else) would be able to walk through the wall for the next turn; but the wall would still retain it's ability to hold up the ceiling, as well as any posters taped to it, and would continue to look like a normal wall.

Eyes of the Night Hawk
This ritual involves soaking birdseed in a solution of bizarre ingredients, and feeding it to a bird. What the bird hears, the vampire will hear. What the bird sees, the vampire will see if she closes her eyes. The bird may be commanded where to travel, but no other commands may be made. Lasts one night.

Impassable Trail
This ritual involves rubbing one’s feet on deerskin. The vampire may pass through even a dense forest, leaving only olfactory evidence of her passing. Lasts one night.

Machine Blitz
By concentrating on a machine, the vampire can make machines go haywire in the manner of her choosing, but within reasonable behavior for the machine.

Power of the Invisible Flame
This ritual must be cast around a fire at least the size of a torch, and the vampire must know the Thaumaturgy Path Lure of Flames. The vampire can make flames made by the Thaumaturgy Path Lure of Flames invisible. Lasts one night.

Recure of the Homeland
This ritual puts an enchantment on any amount of dirt from the place of the vampire’s birth. A handful of dirt so prepared may be used to heal one aggravated wound per night. This ritual may only be cast once per night. This dirt can only be so used once.

Steps of the Terrified
This ritual requires a perfect cube of dried mud. The vampire may slow down a specific foe. The faster that foe tries to run, the slower she moves.

Summon Guardian Spirit
The vampire may summon a spirit to alert her to danger should it arise, but this spirit is only visible in time of danger, and is mute. It must warn the vampire by creating physical disturbances, IE Embody or Outrage. The spirit remains for twenty-four hours.

Level Three Rituals


Incorporeal Passage
Use of this ritual allows the thaumaturge to make herself insubstantial. The caster becomes completely immaterial and thus is able to walk through walls, pass through closed doors, escape manacles, etc. The caster also becomes invulnerable to physical attacks for the duration of the ritual. The caster must follow a straight path through any physical objects, and may not draw back. Thus, a Kindred may walk through a solid wall, but may not walk down through the earth (as it would be impossible to reach the other side before the ritual lapsed). This ritual requires that the caster carry a shard from a shattered mirror to hold her image as she moves insubstantially. System: This ritual lasts a number of hours equal to the number of successes scored on a Wits + Survival roll (diff 6). The thaumaturge may prematurely end the ritual (and, thus, her incorporeality) by turning the mirror shard away so that it no longer reflects her image.

Pavis of Foul Presence
The Tremere joke privately that this is their "ritual for the Ventrue." Kindred who invoke the Presence Discipline on the subject of this ritual find the effects of their Discipline reversed, as if they had used the power on themselves. For example, a vampire using Presence to instill fear in a Kindred under the influence of this ritual feels the fear herself. This ritual is an unbroken secret among the Tremere, and the Warlocks maintain that its use is unknown outside their clan. The magical componant for this ritual is a length of blue silk, which must be worn around the neck of the person protected by the magic. System: This ritual lasts until sunrise after it is enacted. Note that the Presence Discipline power must actually succeed before being reversed by this ritual.

Gentle Mind
This ritual involves sharing a blood point with the target, and therefore can not be cast on one’s self. The target is considered to have four extra dots in Willpower, but only as applicable to stopping a frenzy.

Illusion of Peaceful Death
This ritual involves dusting a corpse with a white feather, and has the effect of hiding all signs of unnatural death on a corpse, making the deceased appear to have died of natural causes. This will not hide sanguination; only obvious signs.

Noncorporeal Passage
Roll: Wits + Survival, difficulty 6. This one-hour ritual requires a fragment of a mirror, and makes the vampire incorporeal for one hour per success, as long as she can see herself in the mirror. In this state, she may move through solid objects (in a straight line only), and is impervious to physical attack. (see Incorporeal Passage).

Flesh of Fiery Touch
This defensive ritual inflicts painful burns on anyone who deliberately touches the subject's skin. It requires the subject to swallow a small glowing ember, which does put off some thaumaturges with low pain thresholds. Some vain Tremere use this ritual purely for its subsidiary effect of darkening the subject's skin to a healthy sun-bronzed hue. System: Flesh of Fiery Touch takes two hours to cast (reduced by 10 minutes per success). It requires a small piece of wood, coal, or other common fuel source, which ignites and is swallowed at the end of the ritual. The subject who swallows the red-hot ember receives a single aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 6 to soak with Fortitude). Until the next sunset, anyone who touches the subject's flesh recieves a burn that inflicts a single aggravated health level of damage (again, difficulty 6 to soak with Fortitude). The victim must voluntarily touch the subject; this damage is not inflicted if the victim is touched or accidentally comes in contact with the subject. This ritual darkens the subject's sin to that which would be obtained by long-term exposure to the sun in a mortal. The tone is slightly unnatural and metallic, and is evidently artificial to any observer who succeeds in a Perception + Medicine roll, difficulty 8.

Sanguine Assistant
Tremere often need laboratory assistants whom they can trust implicitly. As Tremere often trust no one whom they know and no one whom they do not, this ritual allows the intrepid thaumaturge to conjure up a temporary servant. To cast the ritual, the vampire slices open his arm and bleeds into a specially prepared earthen bowl. The ritual sucks in and animates whatever random unimportant items the wizard happens to have lying around his workshop - glass beakers, dissection tools, pencils, crumpled papers, semiprecious stones - and binds the materials together into a small humanoid form animated by the power of the ritual and the blood. Oddly enough, this ritual almost never takes in any tool that the thaumaturge finds himself needing during the assistant's lifespan, nor does it take the physical components of any other rituals nor any living thing. The servant has no personality to speak of at first, but graduall adopts the mannerisms and thought processes that the thaumaturge desires in an ideal servant. Sanguine Assistants are temporary creations, but some Tremere become fond of their tiny accomplices and create the same one whenever the need arises. System: The player spends five blood points and rolls. The servant created by the ritual stands a foot high and appears as a roughly humanoid shape composed of whatever the ritual sucked in for its own use. It lasts for one night per success rolled. At the end of the last night, the assistant crawls into the bowl used for its creation and falls apart. The assistant can be re-animated through another application of this ritual; if the thaumaturge so desires, it reforms from the same materials with the same memories and personality. A Sanguine Assistant has Strength and Stamina of 1 and Dexterity and Mental Attributes equal to those of its caster. It begins with no Social Attributes to speak of but gains one dot per night in Charisma and Manipulation until its ratings are equal to those of the caster. It has all the caster's abilities at one dot lower than his own. A Sanguine Assistant is a naturally timid creature and flees if attacked, having only four health levels, though it will try to defend its master's life at the cost of its own. It has no Disciplines of its own, but it has a full understanding of all its master's Thaumaturgical knowledge and can instruct others if so commanded. A Sanguine Assistant is impervious to any mind-controlling disciplines or magic, so completely is it bound to its creator's will.

Shaft of Belated Quiescence
This ritual turns an ordinary stake of rowan wood into a particularly vicious weapon. When the stake penetrates a vampire's body, the tip breaks off and begins working its way through the victim's flesh to his heart. The trip may take several minutes or several nights, depending on where the stake struck. The stake eludes attempts to dig it out, burrowing farther into the victim's body to escape surgery. The only Kindred who are immune to this internal attack are those who have had their hearts removed by Setites. System: The ritual takes five hours to enact, minutes thirty minutes per success. The stake must be carved of rowan wood, coated with three points of the caster's blood, and blackened in an oak-wood fire. When the ritual is complete, the stake is enchanted to act as described above. An attack with a Shaft of Belated Quiescence is performed with a normal stake: a Dexterity + Melee roll (difficulty 6, modified as per the normal combat rules, as the attack does not need to specifically target the heart - the stake takes care of that) with a damage rating of Strength + 1 lethal. If at least one health level of damage is inflicted after the target rolls to soak, the tip of the stake breaks off and begins burrowing. If not, the stake may be used to make subsequent attacks until it strikes deep enough to activate. Once the tip of the strake is in the victim's body, the Storyteller begins an extended roll of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating (difficulty 9), rolling once per hour of game time. Successes on this roll are added to the successes scored on the initial attack. This represents the tip's progress toward the victim's heart. A botch indicates that the tip as struck a bone and all accumulated successes are lost (including those from the initial attack roll). When the shaft accumulates a total of 15 successes, it reaches the victim's heart. This paralyzes Kindred and is instantly fatal to mortals and ghouls. Attempts to surgically remove the tip of the shaft can be made with an extended Dexterity + Medicine roll (difficulty 7) rolled once per hour. The surgeon must accumulate a number of successes equal to those currently held by the shaft. Once surgery begins, however, the shaft begins actively evading the surgeon's probes, and its rolls are made once every 30 minutes for the duration of the surgery attempt. Each individual surgery roll that scores less than 3 successes inflicts an additional unsoakable level of lethal of lethal damage on the patient. Shaft of Belated Quiescence may be performed on other wooden impaling weapons, such as spears, arrows, practice swords and pool cues, provided that they are made of rowan wood. It may not, however, create Bullet of Belated Quiesence - wooden bullets are not large enough to absorb the full amount of blood required for the ritual.

Ward Versus Lupines
This wards an object in a manner identical to that of the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls except that it affects werewolves. Other versions of this ritual are rumored to have been created to affect different species of werecreatures. System: Ward versus Lupines behaves exactly as does Ward Against Ghouls, but it affects werewolves rather than ghouls. It does not affect any other Changing Breed aside from Garou.This ritual requires a handful of silver dust rather than a blood point.

Ruror's Hands
An ancient Tremere ritual, Ruror's Hands, requires that the vampire cut off one of his own hands and pluck out one of his eyes. This causes five levels of aggravated damage, though these can be healed normally. He then works the ritual, which will animate the hand, allowing it to move about and serve it's owner. The eye rests on the back of the hand, and provides both sight and hearing. The hand makes a useful spy or messenger, and a magus can create as many of these as he likes (as long as he regenerates his hands and eyes). Each one must absorb a point of blood each week, although it does not matter where this blood comes from.

Clinging of the Insect
This ritual involves eating a small spider alive. The vampire may climb on any wall or ceiling that will support her weight, teflon and similar surfaces excepted.

Eldritch Glimmer
This ritual requires a piece of vinegar-soaked sandstone. The vampire may, for the cost of one blood point each, shoot one energy bolt per turn. To hit someone, roll Perception + Firearms, difficulty 6, and these bolts do three dice of damage. The vampire glows in green light for the duration of this ritual.

Fire in the Blood
The vampire may heat a target’s blood. The result is not only painful, but unless vampire makes a Wits + Medicine roll of difficulty 7 first, every action she takes requiring a physical attribute roll causes an aggravated wound.

Summon Mischievous Spirit
Roll: Charisma + Spirit Lore, difficulty 7. The vampire may summon a poltergeist. This spirit will not usually intentionally injure a victim; it just wants to drive her bat-shit. However… accidents happen. How the spirit annoys the victim is up to the Storyteller. This spirit remains for the following periods of time:

  • 1 suc. one hour.
  • 2 suc. one night.
  • 3 suc. one week.
  • 4 suc. one month.
  • 5 suc. one year.

Touch of Nightshade
Resist: Stamina + Fortitude, difficulty 6. This ritual involves rubbing a little nightshade juice on one’s hand, and touching a victim. The victim rolls as above. On failure, if mortal, she dies. Otherwise, the victim suffers a +1 difficulty modifier for each success less than three, for the remainder of the night.

Level Four Rituals


Bone of Lies
This ritual is 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 it's holder to tell the truth, and until it has turned completely ebony and has no magic left. System: This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom the bone belonged to 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 it's 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 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.

Binding the Beast
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.

Innocence of the Child’s Heart
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.

Protean Curse
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.

Rending Sweet Earth
This ritual involves repeatedly thrashing a section of ground with a leather whip. When it is performed, a 10' by 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.

Heart of Stone
A vampire under the effect of this ritual experiences the transformation suggested by the ritual's name: his heart is completely transmuted to solid rock, rendering him virtually impervious to staking. The subsidiary effects of the transformation, however, seem to follow the Hermetic laws of sympathetic magic: the vampire's emotional capacity becomes almost non-existent, and his ability to relate to others suffers as well. System: This ritual requires nine hours (reduced by one hour for every success). It can only be cast on oneself. The caster lies naked on a flat stone surface and places a bare candle over his heart. The candle burns down to nothing over the course of the ritual, causing one aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 5 to soak with Fortitude). At the end of the ritual the caster's 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 aims for his heart and is completely impervious to the effects of a Shaft of Bleated Quiescence and the difficulty to use all Presence powers on him is increased by three due to his emotional isolation. The drawbacks are as follows: the caster's Conscience and Empathy scores drop to 1 (or to 0 if they were already at 1) and all dice pools for social rolls except those involving Intimidation are alved (including those required to use Disciplines). All merits that the character has pertaining to positive social interaction are neutralized. Heart of Stone lasts as long as the caster wishes it to.

Splinter Servant
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, bounding in wax-sealed nightshade twine. When the binding is torn off, the Splinter Servant leaps to life, animating itself and attacking whomever the wielder commands - or the wielder, if she is too slow in assigning a target.The servant splits itself into a roughly humanoid form and begins single-mindedly trying to impale the target's heart. Its exertions tear it apart within a few minutes, but if it pierces its 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 twelve hours to cast, minus one hour per success, and the servant must be created as described above. When the binding is torn off, the character who holds the servant must point it at its target and verbally command it to attack during the same turn. If this command is not given, the servant attacks the closest living or unliving being, usually the unfortunate individual who currently carries it. A Splinter Servant always aims for the heart. It has an attack dice pool of the caster's Wits + Occult, a damage dice pool of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating, and a maximum movement rate of 30 yards per turn. Note that these values are those of the thaumaturge who created the servant, not the individual who activates it. A servant cannot fly, but it can leap its full movement rating every turn. Every action it takes is to attack or move towards its target: it cannot dodge or split its dice pool to perform multiple attacks. The servant makes normal stake attacks that aim for the heart (difficulty 9) and its success is judged as per the normal rules for staking. A Splinter Servant has three health levels, and attacks made against it are at +3 difficulty due to its spastic movement patterns and small size. A Splinter Servant has an effective life of five 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 a pile of ordinary, inanimate splinters. The successes on a Dexterity roll (difficulty 8) are required to remove a Splinter Servant from a victim's heart without leaving behind shards of the stake.

Ward Versus Kindred
This warding ritual functions exactly as do Ward Versus Ghouls and Ward Versus Lupines, but it inflicts injury upon Cainites. System: Ward versus Kindred behaves exactly as does Ward Versus Ghouls. The ritual requires a blood point of the caster's own blood and does not affect the caster.

Soul of the Homunculi
Magi find that there are few they can trust, and their homunculi often make up the heart of this group. A homunculus is more than just an animation doing the vampire's bidding, much like his arms and legs. It bears her physical features and does her bidding as though she herself were inhabiting the tiny form. A homunculus takes weeks, if not months, to create, and requires an Intelligence + Occult roll (diff of at least 8). There are many different kinds of homunculi, and Storytellers can require characters to learn a seperate version of this ritual for each version. Homunculi are further described in Clanbook Tremere.

Bottled Voice
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.

Drawing upon the Bound
When carrying a vial of the blood of one’s thrall, the vampire may use any disciplines possessed by her thrall, who may not use them if the vampire is using them. The thrall must be bound directly to the vampire; the Vinculum does not count.

Fire Walker
This ritual involves rubbing a prepared salve on one’s bare feet, and gives the vampire twice her normal soak against fire.

Haunting
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.

Invisible Chains of Binding
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
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.

Mirror Walk
This ritual requires a ring with an emerald in it. The vampire may use any sufficiently large mirror as a portal to the nearest other sufficiently large mirror, and may take one person with her. The mirror ripples, and the emerald glows, as this ritual is performed. Once the mirror stops rippling, the vampire can not be followed. If the mirror stops rippling with a pursuer halfway in, she is cut in two, though she may be allowed to escape with a roll of Dexterity + Dodge, difficulty 7.

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

Level 5 Rituals


Blood Contract
This ritual creates an unbreakable agreement between the two parties who sign it. The contract must be written in the caster's blood and signed in the blood of whoever applis their name to the document. This ritual takes three nights to enact fully, after which both parties are compelled to fullfill the terms of the contract. System: This ritual is best handled by the Storyteller, who may bring those who sign the blood contract into compliance by whatever means necessary (it is not unknown for demons to materialize and enforce adherance to certain blood contracts). The only way to terminate a blood contract is to burn the document itself. One blood point is consumed in the creation of the document, and an additional blood point is consumed by those who sign it.

Umbral Walk
There are innumerable planes of existence. The astral plane, where creates with astral projection walk, is known to many Kindred. Tremere have also learned to enter a land of eternal night, known as the Umbra, although this is hardly a safe place for them. Entering the Umbra requires the sacrifice of an intelligent being. The success of the vampire's ritual also depends on the magnitude of the beings supernatural power. The vampire can also bring others into the Umbra, though each person brought along requires a seperate sacrifice. The Tremere appears in the Umbra naked, though any magical items she may have come along. For more information on the Umbra, see Werewolf; The Apocalypse.

Enchant Talisman
This ritual is the first taught to most Tremere once they have attained mastery of their first path. Create Talisman allows the thaumaturge to enchant a personal magical item (the fabled wizard's staff) to act as an amplifier for her will and thaumaturgical might. A Tremere's talisman is a great source of personal pride, and any insult directed against a talisman is an insult at the thaumaturge herself. Many talismans are laden with additional rituals (such as every ward known to the thaumaturge). The physical appearance of a talisman varies, but it must be a rigid object close to a yard long. Swords and walking sticks are the most common talismans, but some innovative or eccentric Tremere have enchanted violins, shot guns, pool cues, and classroom pointers. System: This rituals requires six hours per night for one complete cycle of the moon, beginning and ending on the new moon. Over this time, the thaumaturge carefully prepares her talisman, carving it with Hermetic runes that signify her True Name and the sum total of her thaumaturgical knowledge. The player spends one blood point per night and makes an extended roll of Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8) one roll per week. If a night's work is missed or if the four rolls do not accumulate at least 20 net successes, the talisman is ruined and the process must be begun again. A completed talisman gives the thaumaturge several advantages. When the character is holding the talisman, the difficulty of all magic or magick that targets her is increased by one. The player receives two extra dice when rolling for uses of the character's primary path and one extra die when rolling for the character's ritual castings. If the talisman is used as a weapon, it gives the player an additional die to hit. If the thaumaturge is separated from her talisman, a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 7) gives her its location. If the talisman is in the possession of another individual, it gives that individual three additional dice to roll when using any forms of magic or magick against the talisman's owner. At the Storyteller's discretion, rituals that that target the thaumaturge and use her talisman as a physical component may have greatly increased effects. A thaumaturge may have only one talisman at a time. Ownership of a talisman may not be transfered - each individual must create her own.

Escape to a True Friend
One of the few rituals available to the Tremere that allows a form of teleportation, Escape to a True Friend allows the caster to travel to the person whose friendship and trust the most values. The ritual has a physical component of a yard-wide circle charred into the bare ground or floor. The caster may step into the circle and speak the True Name of her friend. She is instantly transported to that individual, wherever he may be at the moment. The circle may be reused indefinitely as long as it is unmarred. System: The ritual takes six hours a night for six nights to cast, reduced by one night for every two successes. Each night requires the sacrifice of three of the caster's own blood points, which are poured into the circle. Once the circle is complete, the transport may be attempted at any time. The caster may take one other individual with her when she travels, or a maximum amount of "cargo" equal to her own weight.

Ward Versus Spirits
This warding ritual functions exactly as do Ward Versus Ghouls, Ward Versus Lupines, and Ward Versus Kindred, but it inflicts injury upon spirits. Several other versions of this ward exist, each geared toward a particular type of non-physical being. System: Ward Versus Spirits behaves exactly as does Ward versus Ghouls, but it affects spirits (including those summoned or given physical form by Thaumaturgy Paths such as Elemental Mastery). The material component for Ward versus Spirits is a handful of pure sea salt. The other versions of this ward, also Level Five rituals, are Ward Versus Ghosts and Ward Versus Demons. Each of these three Level Five wards affects its respective target on both the physical and spiritual planes. Ward Versus Ghosts requires a handful of powered marble from a tombstone, while Ward Versus Demons requires a vial of holy water.

Stone Slumber
This two-hour ritual is started two hours before dawn. The vampire can turn herself into solid stone, which is invulnerable to sunlight. She will stay completely dormant in this state until the next sunset. To sleep for a day in this form costs three blood points per night.

One Mind of the Covens
This one-hour ritual involves chanting for an hour, into a silver mirror. This ritual is only used by the Regent of a Tremere Chantry, to communicate with all other Regents of the other Tremere Chantries.

Dominion
This ritual requires three hours of advance preparation, and prevents all uses of Animalism, Auspex, Dominate, and Presence within an area up to 500 cubic feet, except by the caster of this ritual. Iron seals must be placed over all doors in this area; if one is removed or damaged, the ritual is dispelled. Lasts one week.

Eyes of the Beast
The vampire may, by touching a beast on the head, see what the beast sees, if she closes her eyes. No commands may be given.

Lion Heart
The vampire gains 2 Strength, 3 Dexterity, 1 Stamina, 3 Courage, 2 Brawl, and 2 Leadership. This lasts for twenty minutes. If the vampire does not rest within two hours afterward, she will lose one Health level every ten minutes until she rests.

Mindcrawler
This ritual involves dyeing a tick red, painting a symbol on it, and crushing it on a victim’s head. A victim will lose one mental attribute per day, in the order of 1 Perception, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wits, 1 Perception, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wits, 1 Perception, etc, until all mental attributes are at one. The victim may rebuild them at a rate of one per week.

Paper Flesh
This ritual involves ripping apart a piece of paper which has a picture of one’s victim on it. The vampire may cause a victim’s Stamina and Fortitude to go down to 1. If the victim is earlier than eighth generation, then she may keep one Stamina and one Fortitude for each generation she has below eighth. Lasts one scene.

Spirit of Torment
Roll: Manipulation + Spirit Lore, difficulty 7. The vampire may summon a spirit, which stays for the following time periods:

  • 1 suc. one turn.
  • 2 suc. one hour.
  • 3 suc. one night.
  • 4 suc. three nights.
  • 5 suc. one week.

The spirit has the following traits: Physical Attributes 13, Social Attributes 3, Mental Attributes 7, Brawl 4, Empathy 3, Intimidation 3, Stealth 3, Occult 1, Spirit Lore 2, and the following Arcanos: Argos 3, Embody 5, Pandemonium 4, and Outrage 4. If only Vampire rules are available, the Arcanos may be replaced with Spirit Thaumaturgy 2, Obfuscate 5, Auspex 2, and Potence 1. The spirit may also spend a willpower point to achieve a physical form, and gains three dice on all attempts at frightening someone.

Thirst Unquenchable
This ritual uses a handful of salt. The victim suffers a +2 difficulty to thirst-related frenzy rolls, and any gains are halved.

Level Six Rituals


Raise the Dead
This eight-hour ritual involves pouring black candle wax over the heart and throat of a corpse. A spirit may be bound into the body for as long as flesh remains on it (this ritual does not slow or stop the putrefaction of a corpse), or until the vampire frees it. The attributes of both spirit and body (when it was alive) are halved for the duration of the spirit’s stay in the body. This ritual will not raise a destroyed vampire.

Ritual of Holding
By extending a ritual by six hours, the vampire may increase its effect, or lengthen the effective time. The exact effects of this are up to the Storyteller.

Sands of Time
Roll: Dexterity + Occult, difficulty 7. This ritual involves enchanting a marble bowl, and mixing white sand and powdered glass in it, and takes five hours. At the end of this ritual, she . When this powder is sprinkled on a target, time will be slowed down with respect to her; actions normally taking one turn will instead take one turn per success on the powder.

Utter Destruction of Bonds
This ritual involves cutting out one’s own tongue, crushing it, and spreading its remains over the closed object. (This ritual does three levels of aggravated damage that can not be soaked, and the vampire must spend a willpower point to go through with it.) The vampire may open any object, permanently. This applies to windows, doors, locks, volcanos, etc; it does not apply to emotional bonds or blood bonds.

Sands of Time
Roll: Dexterity + Occult, difficulty 7. This ritual involves enchanting a marble bowl, and mixing white sand and powdered glass in it, and takes five hours. At the end of this ritual, she . When this powder is sprinkled on a target, time will be slowed down with respect to her; actions normally taking one turn will instead take one turn per success on the powder.

The Gift
Roll: Intelligence + Occult, difficulty 6. The vampire may give any number of her disciplines to another. If failed, she gives too many, or not as many as she had intended. If botched, she loses the disciplines, and they are not transferred to the target. each point takes five minutes.

Spider’s Web
This ritual involves crushing and eating a black widow. The vampire can make a web that will not affect her, but will trap anything else. To break free, a target may roll Strength. To try to pass it, a target may roll Dexterity + Dodge.

Iron Mind
This ritual requires an iron object worn on the head, prepared for this use ahead of time. All Auspex users who try to read the vampire will get static, and no useful information. They will know that their discipline is not working, but they won’t know why.

Level Seven Rituals


Divorcing the Soul
This ritual involves dropping dead pomegranate seeds in a circle around one’s victims, and reciting a thirty-second chant with each seed. The victims may not use or regain willpower, all of their abilities and virtues drop to one, Empathy drops to zero, and they lose half of their dice pools to resisting Dominate, Presence, etc. They also become apathetic, unmotivated, and incapable of creative thought. This effect lasts until one of the seeds is disturbed. There is no upper limit on the size of the circle.

Chill of the Windsaber
This ritual involves breaking a thin one-inch by two-inch rectangle of glass. The vampire may create an invisible cutting surface, and try to behead people with it, by rolling Perception + Firearms, difficulty 8. Such an attack does not require that the vampire sees her victim, but she must know where her target is. The victim may, if attacked, resist with a roll of Dexterity + Empathy, difficulty 9, to not lose her head.

Shadow of the Wolf
The ritual uses a wolfskin cloak, and turns the vampire into a Garou. This includes taking no damage from sunlight, taking aggravated damage from silver, etc. Lasts until the next night.

Level Eight Rituals


Weapon of the Kindred Soul
This two-day ritual involves draining all of the blood of a vampire (destroying her), and allowing a weapon, in the use of which they were an expert, to absorb the blood. The weapon will keep all of the disciplines, abilities, etc, of the vampire who was slain to create it, though it will lose the memories. This weapon can be made to serve the vampire, as part of the ritual, but it has its own goals.

Invulnerable Weakness
Roll: Stamina + Occult, difficulty 4. This one-year ritual involves allowing a large diamond to absorb a day of sunlight, engraving symbols on it, and swallowing it. The vampire who performs this ritual is invulnerable to sunlight, fire, etc, for one year per success, at the end of which time, the diamond has fully dissolved. The vampire can also remain awake during the day, for a number of hours determined by rolling Humanity + Fortitude, difficulty dependent on time of day. Those who drink the vampire’s blood will share these traits for one hour per blood point imbibed.

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