-DISCIPLINES-       

                                                                

Necromancy Ceremonies

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LEVEL 1

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◉ Call Of The Hungry Dead

Requires a hair from the target's head. The ritual climaxes with the burning of that hair in the flame of a black candle, after which the victim becomes able to hear snatches of conversation from across the Shroud. If the target is not prepared, the voices come as a confusing welter of howls and unearthly demands; he is unable to make out anything intelligible, and may go briefly mad. Duration depends on the number of successes scored. 

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

ROLL Resolve + Occult or Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 day per success

Victim will hear voices once or twice a scene. This will range unsettling to maddening. 

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◉ Eldritch Beacon

The material component is a green candle, the melted wax from which must be collected and molded into a half-inch (1.5 cm) sphere. Whoever carries this sphere, whether in his hand or in a pocket, is highlighted in the Shadowlands with a sickly-glowing green-white aura, attracting wraith. 

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

ROLL Resolve + Occult or Necromancy, Difficulty 16

All ghostly powers affect this individual with greater ease and severity by +3.

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◉ Knowing Stone

By use of her own blood and the proper rituals, a necromancer can mark a person's spirit, allowing the vampire to see where her subject is at any time, even after he has died. In this fashion many of the spirit-haunted vampires keep tabs on their close kin and their enemies. The necromancer cuts her skin or otherwise bleeds herself, and then uses the vitae to paint the name of the target on a consecrated stone.

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 Blood Point

ROLL Perception + Occult, Difficulty 16

If the ritual is successful, she can afterward learn the target's current whereabouts by dancing around the stone in a trance state until one of the spirits whispers the desired information into her ear. The stone loses its powers after one use. Making another stone breaks the other one. 

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◉ Word Of Insight

Necromancers in the Classical Era called forth the spirits of the dead to gain insight upon the future. It is believed that one of the Premascines, Antonius Giovanni, preserved this ritual to the modern nights, and modern Necromancers still perform this form of divination. The Necromancer travels to a known haunted location, or a place where the barrier between this world and the next is known to be weaker. There she sets up a triangle comprised of three items that represent her own past, present, and desired future. An incense burner is positioned and lit in the center of the triangle. The Necromancer calls upon the spirits present to grant insight into events yet to come that will enable her to reach her desired goal.

System: Upon successfully casting the ritual, smoke billows from the incense burner and a myriad of ghostly faces can be seen within. Each face mutters or whispers a word or phrase, each one overlapping, making a cacophonous din. The vision and the voices fade after a few seconds.

The future is a wide, changing sea of possibilities, so at the outset, the Necromancer must specify a particular subject that she is inquiring about (closing a successful deal, obtaining a particular item, overcoming a certain problem, etc.). The Necromancer doesn't necessarily find the voices coherent or understandable, but when the ritual comes to fruition, she experiences a moment of clarity and knows what the message meant.

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 Blood Point

ROLL Perception + Occult, Difficulty 16

Mechanically, this insight allows the Necromancer to reroll one failed action later on in the same night the ritual was cast, as long as it is in direct pursuit of the future she divined. She foresaw this failure, and potentially knew how to avoid it. If she fails the second roll, she still fails, realizing the insight just a moment too late.

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LEVEL 2

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◉◉ Eyes Of The Grave

This ritual causes the target to experience intermittent visions of her death. The visions come without warning and can last up to a minute. The caster of the ritual has no idea what the visions contain, as only the victim sees them. The visions, which come randomly, can also interfere with activities such as driving, studying, shooting, and so on. Eyes of the Grave requires a pinch of soil from a fresh grave.

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 Blood Point

ROLL Resolve + Occult or Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 day per success

Once a day, during a scene roll Resolve + Composure, Difficulty 20, if you fail the roll then you are thrown into panic by the vision of your own death. If you pass the roll then you see unsettling flashes that wont really throw you into a fit. 

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◉◉ The Hand Of Glory

The Hand of Glory is a mummified hand used by the necromancer to anesthetize a home's residents and, thereby, allow him free rein to do what he will in the residence. To create one, the necromancer wraps the severed hand of a condemned murderer in a shroud, draws it tight to squeeze out any remaining blood, and preserves the hand in an earthenware jar with salt, saltpeter, and long peppers. After a fortnight, the vampire removes the hand and dries it in an oven with vervain and fern. At the end of this process, if the roll to activate the ritual garners any successes, the creation is viable. To use the Hand of Glory, the vampire first coats the fingertips of the mummified hand with a flammable substance derived from the fat of a hanged man and sets the fingers alight. The necromancer then recites the phrase, "Let all those who are asleep be asleep, and let those who are awake be awake." All mortals within a household who are affected fall into a deep sleep and cannot be roused (the hand has no effect on supernatural creatures). For each unaffected occupant of a home, one finger of the hand will refuse to light. Botches may result in all of the fingers being lit but no one in the home being asleep. The hand may be extinguished at any time by the necromancer who created it. Anyone else wishing to douse the hand must use milk to do so — nothing else works. Once made, the Hand of Glory may be reused indefinitely.

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 Blood Point

ROLL Resolve + Occult or Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: A scene

Works only on humans and the victims may resist this by rolling Resolve + Composure, Difficulty 18 to stay awake.

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◉◉ Puppet

Used primarily to facilitate conversations with the recently departed, though also applied as a method of psychological torture, Puppet prepares a subject (willing or unwilling) as a suitable receptacle for ghostly possession. Over the course of one hour, the necromancer smears grave soil across the subject's eyes, lips, and forehead.

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

ROLL Resolve + Occult or Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 Day

Any wraith attempting to take control of the subject gains two automatic successes. The ritual's effects remain even if the soil is washed off.

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◉◉ Raise the Dead 

Allows for a necromancer to rise a zombie. 

System:

Prerequisite: Ashes to Ashes

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 blood point

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 10

It can only be 1 zombie at any time, if another one raised the first one falls. This zombie can do any simple tasks like attack, break doors, or pick up and move stuff. 

 

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LEVEL 3

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◉◉◉ Din Of The Damned

This ritual is similar to the Level One Ritual Call of the Hungry Dead in that it makes the sounds of the Underworld audible in the physical realm. However, Din of the Damned is an area-effecting ritual used to ward a room against eavesdropping. The necromancer draws an unbroken line of ash from a crematorium along the room's walls (this line may pass over door frames to allow entrance and egress).

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

ROLL Resolve + Occult, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 Day per success

Any attempt to listen in on events inside the room, whether simple (such as a glass to the wall), electronic (like a laser microphone), or mystic (including powers such as Heightened Senses). Listener hears a ghostly wailing and moaning and the sound of howling winds.

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◉◉◉ Ritual Of The Unearthed Fetter

This ritual requires that a necromancer have a finger bone from the skeleton of the particular ghost he's interested in. When the ritual is cast, the finger bone becomes attuned to something vitally important to the wraith, the possession of which by the necromancer makes the casting of Necromantic powers against that ghost much easier.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

 +3 bonus to rolls against said ghost. Most necromancers take the attuned finger bone and suspend it from a thread, allowing it to act as a sort of supernatural compass and following it to the special item in question. 

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◉◉◉ Tempesta Scudo

Unlike most rituals, Tempesta Scudo can be cast speedily. The necromancer performs a short and awkward dance that ends with her biting through her own lip and spitting the blood in a circle around her.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Extended Action (takes 2 turns to cast)

ROLL Performance + Necromancy, Difficulty 12

Duration: A Scene

All ghosts' actions within the circle of blood are made at +3 difficulty. 

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◉◉◉ Shambling Hordes 

Allows to raise a horde of the dead at once. 

System:

Prerequisite: Raise the Dead

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Spend 1 Blood Point

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 12

This allows to raise a horde of zombies that will carry out any command as long as they are capable (remember that any tasks beyond simple stuff is not something that they can do). 

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◉◉◉ Compel Spirit

With this power, a vampire can command a ghost to do his bidding for a while. Compel is a perilous undertaking and, when used improperly, can endanger vampire and wraith alike.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Spend 1 Blood Point

Allows to do two things, first vampire may summon a soul of someone whose name they know by simply calling them (ROLL Intelligence + Necromancy, Difficulty 12). Secondly vampire may try to compel the ghost to listen to them (ROLL Manipulation + Necromancy, Difficulty 12).

• 1 success allows to have ghosts answer your questions

• 2 successes allows to have ghost perform a single none combat task for you

• 3 successes allows to have ghost fight for you

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LEVEL 4

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◉◉◉◉ Baleful Doll

A baleful doll is a powerful figure that is linked directly to the spirit of the target. This doll must be handcrafted, and is only finished when it has been painted with the blood of the necromancer and dressed in some article of clothing from the victim (which should be unwashed for a better connection). Once the doll has been cursed, the vampire can use it to cause physical damage to the target. If the doll is injured (often with pins or other items). 

System:

Resisted Action 

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy vs Stamina + Athletics

the victim takes 1 normal damage per success scored over them. 

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◉◉◉◉ Bastone Diabolico

Casting this ritual is tricky because it requires the removal of a leg bone from a living person. The donor must survive the removal, at least for a little while. The bone is then submerged in molten lead. Once it cools, the thin lead coating is inscribed with various runes. The necromancer then uses this metal-shod bone to beat its donor to death while repeating a droning Greek chant. With a successful roll, this ritual produces a bastone diabolico or "devil stick."

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Extended Action (takes 5 turns to cast)

ROLL Intelligence + Necromancy, Difficulty 14

Duration: A Scene

Gives +2 bonus to all rolls versus ghosts as well as does aggravated damage to ghosts. 

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◉◉◉◉ Ex Nihilo 

Ex Nihilo allows a necromancer to enter the Underworld physically and even allows to bring others with them. While in the lands of the dead, the vampire is essentially a particularly solid ghost.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Normal Action

Costs 2 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty = Barrier Strength.

Using Ex Nihilo takes a tremendous toll on the necromancer. To activate this power, the vampire must first draw a doorway with chalk or blood on any available surface. (The vampire may draw doors ahead of time for exactly this purpose.) If the roll succeeds, the door opens and the vampire steps through into the Underworld withanyone else who wishes to follow. When the vampire wishes to return to the real world, he merely needs to concentrate for a turn. At Storyteller discretion, a vampire who is too deeply immersed in the Underworld may need to journey to a place close to the lands of the living in order to cross over. Vampires who wander too far into the lands of the dead may be trapped there forever. Vampires in the Underworld cannot feed upon ghosts without the use of another power; their only sustenance is the blood they bring with them.

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LEVEL 5

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◉◉◉◉◉ Chill Of Oblivion

This ritual infuses the necromancer or a willing subject with the chill of the grave. The ritual's material component is a one-foot (half-meter) cube of ice, which is slowly melted on the subject's chest. The subject must lie naked on bare earth for the entire duration of the ritual. 

System:

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 day per success

An individual affected by Chill of Oblivion treats aggravated damage from fire and high temperatures as if it were normal damage. Furthermore, he may attempt to extinguish any fire by rolling Resolve + Composure (difficulty 16). However, this ritual has several drawbacks. First and foremost, the subject's aura is laced with writhing black veins that resemble those left by diablerie, and may well be mistaken for such by any observer who is not familiar with this ritual. The subject also radiates a palpable aura of cold that extends to about arm's length from him; this can be extremely disconcerting to mortals, though it causes no damage, and its game effects mirror those of the Flaws Touch of Frost and Eerie Presence. Finally, the mystical nimbus of the ritual draws hostile ghosts to the subject, who may plague him with unwholesome acts.

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◉◉◉◉◉ Esilio

Like Tempesta Scudo, Esilio is a quick and dirty ritual. The necromancer simply speaks five syllables. No one can identify the casting language, but according to the ritual's oblique history, the language is what God gave humankind before the confusion of Babel. The legend further states that while the particular meaning of the words is lost, they are what Caine's father said to him while exiling him to Nod. Regardless of the truth of the matter, the Words of Exile are not spoken lightly. When the ritual is cast successfully, it opens a hole within reality itself — a rip between the lands of the living and the darkest depths of the Underworld. This tear is invisible to normal vision, but to Witness of Death or Shroudsight it looks like a black vortex opening within the vampire's own body (the very few unfortunate enough to look into the gap with high levels of Auspex are generally unwilling or unable to discuss it). Any ghost clutched to the Kindred's chest is instantly torn to shreds. Grabbing a ghost in this fashion requires a Clinch or Tackle maneuver. Destroyed spirits don't come back for at least a month, if ever. A wraith destroyed in this fashion tends to return as a Spectre, if it returns at all.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Normal Action

Costs 1 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 16

The necromancer may clutch and destroy a number of ghosts equal to the number of successes she rolled. After that, the vortex closes. It closes at the end of the scene if it hasn't already. 

Note: if you going to use this on a player, make sure that they agreed to it or it simply just does damage based on successes rolled. 

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◉◉◉◉◉ Ephemeral Binding

The most puissant Necromancers learn not only to sense the ties between living and dead, but to forge such ties themselves. The master of Ephemeral Binding turns an otherwise mundane object or person into a depository for his own mephitic energy, the undying Curse transforming the subject into a sort of linkage between living and dead. 

System:

Prerequisite: Compel Spirit

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 1 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Creates a fetter for a wraith, binding it to it. This means that as long as the vampire has this item with them, they may summon the ghost to them and have the ghost do their bidding, fight for them, defend them, etc. For balance purposes, the vampire may only carry one of the fetters on them at the time. 

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This meant to work with NPC wraith only, however if the player wraith agrees or is ok with this then they may be binded to the fetter as well. 

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◉◉◉◉◉ Shroud Mastery 

Shroud Mastery offers the Kindred the ability to manipulate the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead. By doing so, a necromancer can make it easier for bound wraiths in his service to function, or make it nearly impossible for ghosts to contact the material world.

System:

Prerequisite: Eyes of the Dead

Extended Action (takes 3 turns to cast)

Costs 2 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy, Difficulty 16

Duration: 1 day per success

Vampire states whether he is attempting to raise or lower the Shroud.

Each success on the roll raises or lowers the  rating of the Shroud  by one, to a maximum of 10 or a minimum of 1. The Shroud reverts to its normal strength at a rate of one point per hour thereafter. SEE: BARRIER

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◉◉◉◉◉ Soul Stealing 

This allows vampire to pull someones soul out of their body and place it in another body if they wish. 

System:

Prerequisite: Compel Spirit

Resisted Action

Costs 1 blood points

ROLL Resolve + Necromancy vs Resolve + Composure

Ask for Consent

Vampire may take someones soul out of their body and leave them as a ghost for amount of days equal to successes scored. Vampire may also put that soul into another freshly dead body. 

 

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