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Pangs of Proserpina (Crúac Ritual 1) The sorcerer causes feelings of intense hunger in a subject, who must be within sight. The afflicted subject feels the desire to eat or feed. Activation involves a contested roll against the subject's Composure + Blood Potency, and resistance is reflexive. If the performer gets the most successes, the victim avails himself of any sustenance available. A mortal even eats raw meat, though he doesn't resort to such dire acts as cannibalism or drinking blood. Kindred might attack nearby vessels or even fellow vampires if their hunger is severe enough to make them frenzy. Even after he eats or feeds, a subject's rapacity does not subside until the effects of the ritual pass. (Vampires affected by this ritual are considered starving for the purposes of resisting frenzy; see p. 179.) With the power of this ritual, a vampire may temporarily interrupt the reanimating effect of vampiric Vitae, rendering a Kindred immobile as the stiffening of muscles common to dead bodies takes hold. The number of successes garnered on the Crúac roll determines the number of dice by which the victim's next Physical dice pool is penalized. This applies only to dice pools for actions, and does not affect Physical resistances. Rigor Mortis is useless against mortals, ghouls, Lupines and mages, since they don't depend on the power of vampiric Vitae to animate their bodies. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's Composure. Balancing the Four Humors (Crúac Ritual 1) The Kindred are largely immune to the dangers of temperature, pressure and other conditions that would kill or cripple mortals. A vampire can still be affected by the most extreme conditions, though, such as arctic cold. This minor ritual maintains a balance within a vampire's Vitae, never allowing it to become too hot, cold, compressed or otherwise hampered by the external world. Under the ritual's protection, the vampire suffers no draw pool penalties due to climactic conditions or extremes. This benefit does not extend to conditions that would actually cause injury or damage, such as sunlight. Nor does it eliminate wound penalties. The ritual's effects last until the next sunrise. Source: Nomads Blood Witness (Crúac Ritual 1) With the presence and power of her own Vitae, a ritualist can observe what happens in the vicinity of blood she leaves behind during the performance of this ritual. The performer must spend the standard one Vitae to complete the ritual, plus another Vitae (or possibly more) to bear witness at the site to be watched. The Vitae left behind must come from the performer, whether it's vomited up, spilled from the wrists or via some other means. The blood may be dribbled on a floor, soaked into a rug, painted onto a wall or otherwise applied as the performer sees fit. However the blood is left behind, it remains as detectable as any ordinary blood. If it's scrubbed away, the power of this ritual is broken. For one full night per Vitae spent, the character invoking the ritual gains the ability to witness events at the location as though she were present and standing in whatever spot she had marked with her Vitae. If the character creates a trail of blood around a room, for example, she may later observe the room from any point on that circuit. Because the seer isn't actually present at the location, she may even observe events that occur during the day the images come to her in an achingly vivid dream while she sleeps. Some Acolytes use this ritual just to gain a glimpse of their own gardens in the sunshine. Seers are still subject to the Rotschreck, however, as the Beast panics in the light of the sun. Observers who succumb to the fear frenzy do not actually lose control of themselves, but do lose their connection to the Vitae they're used in this ritual. While the seer is watching through her blood connection, she is unable to see or hear through her own body. The boundaries of this power are limited. Only one arcane connection can be employed by any single character at one time, even if multiple Vitae are spent on that connection. Multiple Vitae can be used to widen the area of observance, at one Vitae per room included. Vitae may be deposited in a vehicle, so the observer becomes a clairvoyant passenger. If the distance between the character and the Vitae exceeds 10 times the sorcerer's Blood Potency in miles, the mystic connection breaks. The observer's perception is limited through the mystical connection, but not by physical barriers the character can see around. If a rug is laid down over the blood she leaves behind, she sees as if she stood on that rug. If a door is closed between her Vitae and another room, she doesn't gain any power to see through it, but may hear sounds that come through it. Her powers of perception depend on her supernatural prowess. The number of successes on the Crúac draw becomes the number of successes she scores on all attempted actions to perceive the world through her arcane connection (such as Wits + Composure or Wits + a certain Skill). The testimony of the blood witness is affected by environmental impediments like darkness and smoke just as ordinary vision is affected. No other Disciplines may be used through the blood connection, so a character may not employ Heightened Senses, for example. Source: Coteries Confidence in Adversity (Crúac Ritual 1) Tribulation brings enlightenment. Acolytes may surrender an advantage to glean more from their troubles, and there are several Crúac rituals that help put this philosophy into action. This is one of the simplest, removing the possibility of a lucky break for a time in exchange for a dose of insight and, thus, self-confidence. Once this ritual is complete, the ritualist loses the benefits of the 10-again roll for the rest of the scene. At the end of the scene, she regains one Willpower point. This ritual affords the character no ability to possess more Willpower points than her normal maximum. Source:Circle of the Crone The ritualist allows a few drops of Vitae to fall into a vessel of water while concentrating on a future action for that night or current circumstance. The blood forms patterns in the water that convey important information about the situation. The number of successes on the activation roll determines the clarity and usefulness of the vision imparted. On an exceptional success, the blood may form recognizable figures and play out a short scene, whereas a single success might net only two abstract figures symbolizing important factions involved in the situation. This prophetic image grants a +2 bonus on any dice pools to investigate or research the imagery revealed by the ritual. Prophetic Crúac Second, you should account for these rituals when designing stories. Consider what clues a prophecy might reveal to help keep the scenario moving along without short-circuiting it. These rituals do not explain why something is important, only that it is important. So direct the diviner to look in the right place, rather than simply supplying answers. Many of these rituals are an excellent way for you to start stories, by dropping an important clue in the coterie’s lap. In such cases, the ritual might be a bit clearer than the number of successes would typically indicate. When in doubt, if nothing else seems to work, a prophesied action can be granted bonus dice as a reflection of the sorcerer’s heightened awareness of the circumstances and potential outcomes of her action. Using the same ritual repeatedly gives the same answer every time, until something happens to change the present situation substantially. Source:Circle of the Crone Fires of Inspiration (Crúac Ritual 1) The ritualist turns her blood toward the process of artistic creation. For the rest of the night, she gains a number of bonus dice equal to her dots in Crúac on all Craft or Expression dice pools to create a particular work of art. The artwork must be specified at the time the ritual is performed. If creation is an extended action, the bonus applies to every roll made that night. The ritualist suffers a penalty equal to the bonus on all Craft or Expression dice pools to create anything other than the specified artwork; ideas for her artistic creation are burning her up, and she cannot concentrate on anything else but her mystically charged idea. Another version of this ritual exists that can be cast upon others, rather than invoked on the sorceress herself. The roll to activate this counterpart ritual is penalized by the subject’s Composure. Source:Circle of the Crone Taste of Knowledge (Crúac Ritual 1) The ritualist must perform this ritual immediately before feeding from a vessel. While feeding, she learns one piece of personal information about the vessel — one thing the vessel feels is of immediate importance. On a dramatic failure, the vessel learns the piece of personal information about the vampire that she feels is of most immediate importance. This ritual works on supernatural creatures just as well as on mortals, as long as the creature has Vitae to drink. The piece of information gleaned through this ritual is gained in place of one Vitae. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Resolve. Source:Circle of the Crone Visage of the Crone (Crúac Ritual 1) When this ritual is correctly performed, the subject appears to age 10 years. No physical impairment, no joint pain, memory lapses or hearing loss accompany this alteration. But skin sags and wrinkles, hair grays and recedes and flesh loses the vibrant tones of youth. The transformation lasts a number of nights equal to the successes achieved on the activation roll, then gradually reverses at about the rate of one year per hour. Repeated uses of the rite add more decades, up to a maximum apparent difference of 50 years. Some Princes forbid the use of Visage of the Crone (if they’re aware of the ritual) declaring that it’s a Masquerade risk to instantly age a mortal in front of witnesses. The Acolyte counterargument is that the ritual’s proper use maintains the Masquerade, as Visage of the Crone enables ghouls and Kindred to appear to age as they ought (though admittedly this takes some effort). Certain Acolytes in California have a similar ritual that causes an apparent reversal of age, down to a minimum apparent age of about 20 years old. While the ritual is in high demand among vain mortals, it’s intensely painful: the subject suffers no physical damage, but he has to be cut free of his own skin, like a snake. This ritual is called Pythian Renewal. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Stamina. Source:Circle of the Crone Spring Sanctification (Crúac Ritual 1) This rite is only performed by Maiden Acolytes, and can only be properly invoked on the night of the Spring Equinox. This rite works only on a flawless white heifer. When the rite is successful, any Kindred who drinks the cow's blood may take nourishment from it, so long as the drinking does not kill the cow. Regardless of the drinker's Blood Potency, the Vitae is not only useful, but almost human in its flavor. The cow only retains this quality until dawn. No individual can cast Spring Sanctification more than once per night. This ritual allows the performer to ride the senses of his subject. The subject must be within direct sight when the ritual is performed, but the subject can stray from the caster to any distance thereafter. At any time he wishes for the duration of the effect, the performer may see or hear through the eyes or ears of his subject. No other senses can be substituted if the subject is blind or deaf or both, all riding yields is blackness and/or silence. A subject so hidden is unaware that his senses also report to another. While riding another's senses, the ritualist is only dimly aware of her own body, which falls into on a trance-like state. She is unaware of minor environmental stimuli affecting her own body (such as an insect crawling across her skin or drops of water falling on her head), but more aggressive actions perpetrated against her body draw her consciousness back to it. This ritual remains in effect for one night per success on the invocation roll, though the caster may end the ritual at any time. The performer can therefore indulge in a subject's senses and return to her own body as often as she likes throughout the rite's duration. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's Composure. The Hydra's Vitae (Crúac Ritual 2) By invoking this ritual, the performer protects himself from would-be diablerists and from those who would otherwise feast upon his blood. This ritual transforms the sorcerer's Vitae into a kind of poison. Kindred who drink it suffer one point of lethal damage for every Vitae consumed; mortals who imbibe suffer two points of lethal damage for each Vitae. When a Kindted consumes a quantity of venomous Vitae, she gains no nourishment from it. Barrier of Blood (Crúac Ritual 2) This defensive ritual is used to mark an Acolyte's territory and prevent entry by unwanted Kindred. To perform this ritual, the character draws lines of his Vitae across doorways, underneath windows or anywhere else she wishes to ward. One Vitae is necessary for each portal to be protected, in addition to the Vitae spent to complete the ritual itself. Multiple barriers may be created with a single activation draw, provided all barriers protect a single room or space and are linked by solid walls. The character can also define areas to be protected by painting circles or other shapes on a floor using Vitae. For this purpose, one Vitae is sufficient to create standing room for two average-sized people. The Vitae to be used can be donated by any willing or unwilling vampires. Vampires with Blood Potency less than that of the Vitae used in the creation of the sanguine perimeter cannot voluntarily cross without making a Resolve + Composure draw and scoring more successes than were scored on the initial draw to create the barrier. Regardless, any Kindred crossing the barrier suffers bashing damage equal to the successes scored on the Crúac draw, minus his Defense. The performer of this ritual must touch any Kindred permitted to pass the barrier before the barrier has been completely drawn. Kindred with permission ignore all effects of the Barrier of Blood, as does the sorcerer who cast it. The Barrier of Blood lasts for 24 hours. Source: Coteries The Heliolater's Warning (Crúac Ritual 2) Nothing is more dangerous to a vampire roaming the world than the burning kiss of sunlight. A temporary haven is never truly safe, not when a single hole in a wall can let in the sun, or an invading witch hunter can tear away a protective curtain. While this ritual cannot guarantee any kind of safety, it can give a vampire an extra moment of grace when disaster strikes, perhaps allowing her a chance to scramble to safety. Her Vitae becomes preternaturally sensitive to changes in surrounding light levels, and pounds quickly through her veins should she be forced to wake during the day. The successes achieved on the invocation draw are added to any Wits draw made to wake during the day, as long as the circumstances involve exposure to sunlight. A ghoul sneaking into the vampire's haven and stealing documents doesn't trigger the benefit, but if the ghoul then attempts to let in the light, the bonus is added to your Wits pool (+ Auspex dots, if any). This bonus is also added to the Humanity draw to determine how long the vampire can remain active upon waking. The effects of the ritual last until the next sunset, even if the caster is forced to wake several times during the day. Source: Nomads With this power, the ritualist enhances the blessed virtue of unbroken skin. Any attack or source of injury that would break the surface of the subject’s flesh has its edge turned away at the moment of impact, rendering slashes and piercings of the flesh into blunt, shallow injuries. The number of successes scored on the activation roll becomes the Rating of a kind of mystical armor that clings to the subject’s flesh like sweat. This armor has no Defense penalty or Strength requirement, but it persists only for a number of turns equal to the ritualist’s dots in Crúac. Maiden Skin only protects against attacks that break the skin; fire, blunt trauma and falling damage (among many other sources of damage) are unaffected. Source: Circle of the Crone Path of Thorns (Crúac Ritual 2) By seeding the ground with her blood, the ritualist curses those who would tread on it. Any character or creature that moves within a space around the sorceress equal to twice her Crúac dots in yards becomes the subject of an immediate attack from a dice pool equal to the successes scored on the ritual’s activation roll. Defense provides no benefit against this attack, but armor does. The attack comes from phantom thorns and brambles that slice like razor blades and pierce like syringes. Creatures within the ritual’s area of effect can avoid being attacked by moving two or fewer yards per turn. Characters who Dodge within this area are automatically attacked by the phantom thorns, too, though any individual creature can only be attacked by the thorns once per turn. This ritual’s effects last for a number of turns equal to the sorceress’s dots in Crúac. The ritualist is not immune to her own Path of Thorns, but she can attempt a reflexive Dexterity + Occult roll to move her Speed through the area without being attacked by her own phantom thorns. Source: Circle of the Crone This ritual allows the ritualist to put a bit of her very soul into a work of art. Soul’s Work can only be used when creating a work of art through an extended action, and must be cast immediately after the final roll of that extended action. If the ritual is successful, the Acolyte successfully instills a single point of her Willpower into the artwork. With an exceptional success, two points of Willpower are invested into the artwork. These Willpower points no longer count towards the character’s total. To use a Willpower point invested in her art, the ritualist must engage the artwork according to its form — a painting must be viewed, jewelry worn, music heard. Only the ritualist may use Willpower points she has instilled in the Soul’s Work. Once the last Willpower point in the artwork has been used, the piece fades, cracks or is otherwise damaged. This does not utterly destroy the piece, but instead renders it a broken remainder of what it once was. A sorcerer may only have one Soul’s Work in existence at a time. Succulent Buboes (Crúac Ritual 2) This rite allows the ritualist to store more Vitae in her system, but at a disgusting cost: the extra blood is not carried efficiently in her veins, but in bulging, fleshy sacs the size of softballs in her major lymph nodes. For each success rolled, a Vitae is forced into the vampire’s limbic system, where one taut and glistening pustule forms and the Vitae is stored above and beyond the normal limits of Blood Potency. The Vitae contained in a Succulent Bubo may be used by the ritualist herself or drained by a biting vampire. The ritualist cannot divert more Vitae to these pustules than she currently has in her system, no matter how many successes she rolls. When she chooses to spend Vitae, she can spend it either from buboes or from her normal pool of Vitae. Vitae she consumes can only fill her regular Vitae capacity; this ritual only transfers blood from the ritualist’s own body to her own buboes. The buboes form, similar to those from bubonic plague, along the neck, in the armpits or in the groin. While the buboes are awkward and uncomfortable, they don’t meaningfully impair the vampire’s movements. If the pustules are visible (either to the naked eye or as bulges in clothing), they may penalize Social rolls. Wisdom of the Soul (Crúac Ritual 2) Upon successfully activating the ritual, the ritualist enters a creative trance for a number of hours equal to 6 – his Crúac dots, producing a work of art in his favored medium. While creating the artwork, the ritualist is not truly aware of what he is doing. When he comes out of his trance, he finds that he has created a puzzling work of divination. When first viewed, its meaning is indecipherable (though the artwork grants a +3 bonus to Empathy or Investigation dice pools to scrutinize or analyse the artist). The work’s meaning becomes evident to the artist later when, in the heat of some later moment, he experiences a flash of insight revealing what risk or opportunity the artwork was presaging. In game terms, the ritualist may re-roll any one failed dice pool on the same night that his soulful work is created. The results of this re-roll must be used, even if they are less desirable than the initial roll’s results. Only instance of this ritual can be in effect for the caster at one time. Prey's Blood (Crúac Ritual 2) If the Savage attempts to track a vampire, however, the roll to mark the blood of the Damned is penalized by that vampire's Blood Potency score unless the target Damned is aware of the ritual attempt and approves its use (meaning, the character could mark the blood of a pack or cult mate as long as they know and agree, and the penalty would therefore not apply). Imperious Call (Crúac Ritual 2) The ritual actually makes it possible for a spirit to manifest in the physical world, taking on a physical form. Any one spirit present may do so, and may choose the form it takes freely, even if it is normally restricted to appearing in a single form. If multiple spirits want to manifest, a contested Power + Finesse roll determines which one manages to take advantage of the ritual's power. A manifested spirit can use its traits to affect the physical world, but mundane weapons can cause Corpus damage to the spirit. The spirit can stay manifested for a number of hours equal to the successes on the ritual's activation roll. Except as noted above, this ritual allows a spirit to use the Materialize Numen, whether or not it has that Numen normally. Rite of the Bloody Crossroad (Crúac Ritual 2) Rite of the Circle Path (Crúac Ritual 2) This ritual works only within the city it was cast. It can be successfully performed only once per year for any particular object or goal. Painted Fears (Crúac Ritual 2) Anyone who sees the artwork must make a Composure + Blood Potency roll, with a difficulty number equal to the number of Vitae expended in creation. If the roll fails, the viewer is struck with a minor phobia (as the derangement) of whatever the painting shows. The power of the artwork lasts for one night for every success on the Cruac roll, but the ritualist herself can reactivate the power at any time by expending a single Vitae. Each Vitae used reactivates the power until the next sunset. Phobias inspired by the artwork last until the power lapses; an Acolyte who spent an additional Vitae every evening could keep them going for years, in principle. The creator is not immune to her own work, but does receive a +5 bonus on the resistance roll. The artwork cannot inspire a phobia of the viewer himself; thus, a specific individual depicted in a painting is immune to its effects. A white man is vulnerable to an artwork inspiring fear of white people; he gains a phobia about all other white people. Deflection of Wooden Doom (Crúac Ritual 3) The performer invokes a mystic protection against attempts to impale her heart with a stake. If the ritual succeeds, any attempt to stake the vampire fails for the duration of the spell. Stakes used in this manner rot or disintegrate as wielders attempt to use them against the performer. An attempt to stake the Kindred in question must be made for this ritual to take effect. (It does not simply rot all stakes and would-be stakes in her presence.) This power cannot be invoked to protect others; it works only on the sorcerer herself. This ritual fades at sundown of the subsequent night, though it may be invoked again immediately thereafter. Touch of the Morrigan (Crúac Ritual 3) The caster performs this ritual (Manipulation + Occult + Crúac is rolled) and channels his righteous ire into a tangible force. If the performance roll is successful, the user’s mere touch becomes deadly. The sorcerer must then touch a subject with his open palm. (See “Touching an Opponent,” p. 157 of the World of Darkness Rulebook .) Contact inflicts an amount of lethal damage equal to the number of successes gained on the activation roll. (The power cannot be delivered through a punch or other unarmed close-combat attack.) This harm can be delivered only once per performance of the ritual, and the user’s touch has the potential to inflict harm for one hour for every success gained on the activation roll. If that period of time passes without a touch being made, the power fades. The mark made by contact is physically manifest in accordance with its severity. A Touch of the Morrigan that inflicts one point of damage looks like a minor scar or livid bruise, while one that delivers five points of damage leaves the subject almost entirely blackened and charred looking. The visible injury fades as the damage is healed. This power affects only vampires, ghouls and other supernatural creatures. It seems that Kindred cannot inflict their viciousness on mortals in this manner. Flower of Demeter (Crúac Ritual 3) Knowledge of this ritual has been passed down from the most ancient vampires, according to those Acolytes who use and teach this horticultural rite. With it, a character grows a unique species of red lily said to have been brought back from Hades by Persephone. The flower grows only in mortal blood which must be supplied in total at the start of ritual but is traditionally grown from a human corpse. To raise a Flower of Demeter, the sorcerer's player must make a successful invocation draw once per week until the three successes necessary to satisfy the activation have been accumulated. (In this case, the extended action happens over the course of a week or weeks, not turns as is normally specified by Crúac rituals.) Over this time, the stalk of the plant grows slowly taller and taller from the ground or corpse that supplies its blood, up to a height of about six feet. Once the three successes have been garnered, the Vitae of the Acolyte brings the flowers to bloom. One bud on the stalk blooms per dot of the character's Blood Potency, less one per week it took to cultivate the stalk, with a minimum of one. The plant itself is inspiring to Kindred in an intangible, mystical way for as long as at least a single blossom remains on its stalk. All Craft and Expression draws made in the presence of the flower gain +2 to their pool. This inspirational power is said to be an echo of Demeter's springtime joy. A vampire who swallows a Flower of Demeter experiences the blush of life until the next sunrise, with no expenditure of her own Vitae. She is capable of keeping down food and mimicking respiration and blood flow almost without thought. When the sunrise comes, however, the vampire undergoes an awful purge, vomiting up all food and drink consumed and experiencing tremendous but harmless anguish described by those who've experienced it as a mourning of the flesh. An Acolyte cannot raise a new Flower of Demeter until her current specimen has been fully deflowered or allowed to die. The plant suffers all the anathema of the Kindred, and is destroyed in seconds by fire or sunlight. Blossoms clipped from the plant lose all mystical properties at the next sunrise, when they flake away in sheets of ash like burnt paper. Source: Coteries Song of the Blood (Crúac Ritual 3) On the road, a vampire risks not just danger but anonymity if she dies at the hands of her enemies, far from her allies and blood family, no one may ever know her fate or be able to take revenge. This ritual mitigates some of that danger; it strengthens the ties of blood between childe and sire, grandchilde and grandsire, allowing the Acolyte's extended brood to sense her in moments of crisis, no matter how far removed she may be. Once the ritual is performed, the vampire's relatives can sense her using blood sympathy no matter where she might be, rather than just within 50 miles. The effects of this ritual last until the next sunrise. Source: Nomads Beloved Deodand (Crúac Ritual 3) “Deodand” is an archaic British legal term that applies to any object used in an unlawful killing. (Some nobles were entitled to claim deodands from crimes committed on their land as a fine.) To use this ritual, the sorcerer must obtain an item used to kill someone, e.g. a hangman’s noose, a killer’s knife or the gun that fired the fatal shot. When the ritual is performed over the item, it forms a mystic link with the ritualist. If the item is used again, the ritualist gains one Vitae from every subject wounded by the deodand. Distance doesn’t matter, but the weapon must be used within a number of nights equal to the successes achieved on the activation roll. Likewise, for each success scored on the activation roll, the weapon can feed its master one additional time. A Beloved Deodand can only draw one Vitae from each individual victim of the weapon per casting. Some Acolytes use these weapons themselves, as an efficient way to feed during a fight. Others find it meaningful to create them and release them, with serene faith that tools of ill omen tend to get used again and again. Beloved Deodands do not drain Vitae from Kindred, but living supernatural creatures are typically affected. The Vitae collected through a Beloved Deodand is “neutral” — it does not count toward Vinculum and it carries no supernatural augmentation in the case of, for example, werewolf blood. Source: Circle of the Crone Final Service of the Slave (Crúac Ritual 3) At the climax of this ritual, the ritualist kills one of her own Retainers, without drinking his blood. The Retainer Merit is immediately lost. (If it would take more than simple murder to destroy the Retainer, the ritualist must do whatever it takes — she must genuinely sacrifice the Retainer to complete this ritual.) The ritualist immediately gains a number of temporary dots equal to the rating of the Retainer. These may be applied to any Attribute or Skill possessed by the Retainer, even taking them above the normal limit determined by her Blood Potency. The dots may be spread among different traits. With Storyteller approval, the ritualist may also apply the dots to Mental or Physical Merits formerly possessed by the Retainer. These bonus dots may never be applied to Disciplines or any other supernatural abilities, even if the Retainer possessed them. These bonus dots last for one night per dot the sacrificed Retainer Merit was worth. Alternately, the ritualist may choose to re-spend experience points that were previously spent on the sacrificed Retainer Merit to permanently raise any Attribute or Skill the Retainer possessed at a level higher than the ritualist. Experience points not immediately re-spent are lost. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the higher of the subject’s Stamina or Resolve. Example: An Acolyte sorcerer sacrifices her lawyer, a ••• Retainer, in preparation for facing a highly persuasive opponent. The vampire uses the three dots from her sacrificed Retainer to boost her Composure from its normal • to ••••. Alternately, she could “cash out” the 12 experience points paid for her Retainer and use 10 of them buy a permanent second dot of Composure. The remaining two experience points are lost. Source:Circle of the Crone Upon completion of this ritual, the sorceress may alter the precipitation within one mile of her current location for the remainder of the scene. She may call for fog, rain, sleet, snow or clear skies. In game terms, she may summon or cast away environmental penalties equal to or less than her dots in Crúac. Thus, with Crúac •••, she can raise a fog capable of imposing a –3 penalty on dice pools to see, shoot or otherwise act within the fog, or she could clear away up to –3 dice worth of penalties from a similar naturally occurring fog. Once conjured, this weather is real in every way. The ritualist has no power to dismiss it again without another use of this ritual. Likewise, the ritualist is as vulnerable to the dice-pool penalties the creates as any other vampire is. Source:Circle of the Crone Taste of Destiny (Crúac Ritual 3) The ritualist writes a proposed course of action on some surface, and eats the surface while performing the ritual. If the course of action is a “bad” idea, he vomits the surface up in a mouthful of blood. If the action is a “good” idea, he retains it in his stomach without problems. On a failure, the writing is vomited up without blood. The course of action need not be one that the ritualist wants to take, and the writing must specify who is doing it. The actor must be someone the ritualist knows, however. The assessment only applies if the action is undertaken in the immediate future, which normally means that it applies to the night on which the ritual is used. (For the purposes of this ritual, a “good” or “bad” idea is one that leads to measurable benefits or suffering for the individual taking the action, respectively.) Ritualists in Toronto typically write on living mice, but paper works perfectly well. Those relying on allied Kindred as oracles should bear in mind that any Kindred can vomit blood by expending one Vitae, and keep anything down for a scene by expending Willpower. In game terms, this ritual grants the sorceress a glimpse at the future, which bestows on her a beneficial confidence. In the scene when the prophesied action comes to pass, the ritualist immediately and automatically regains the first three Willpower points she spends on dice pools that do not result in a success or an exceptional success. Source: Circle of the Crone Tiamat's Offspring (Crúac Ritual 3) This ritual creates a homunculus (as described on p. 225 of Vampire: The Requiem) and is particularly prized by Mother and Father Acolytes. This is a lengthy and elaborate rite, not to mention painful. Females begin by obtaining human semen and then introducing about five pounds of sliced up animal parts into their body cavity. They must have enough organs and The masculine version references Zeus, who gave birth to Athena directly from his head and to Dionysus after that god was sewn into Zeus’s thigh. Males don’t need to harvest seed as the succubi of legend, but they do need to cut themselves open to arrange the body pieces among their organs. The Vitae they spend to heal themselves with the nascent servitors inside also powers the ritual. As to how the homunculus emerges, it varies but is universally painful and terrible to behold. Regardless of the gender of the creator, the pieces must remain inside his or her body for at least 13 hours before being born at the next midnight. While the pieces are in place, the Acolyte appears pregnant and suffers a –1 penalty to all Physical dice pools. Better Homunculi It is possible to create smarter, stronger or otherwise better homunculi. Doing so is a twostep process. The first step is to design a ritual that imbues the creature with the desired properties. The character must succeed at an Intelligence + Occult roll to figure out how to do this, but the player must actually describe what the ritual is. The Storyteller may give bonuses for really evocative descriptions, or even just allow the roll to automatically succeed. Scant or inappropriate descriptions, on the other hand, may impose penalties. Secondly, the player must spend the experience points required to buy the desired Skill or Attribute, just as if the homunculus were a character. Once a player has improved a homunculus, any subsequent homunculi created by that same character are born with the same advanced traits. A homunculus may only be given Physical Merits with the Storyteller’s permission. A homunculus created with Crúac cannot be larger than Size 2 Source: Circle of the Crone Hag Mask (Crúac Ritual 3) The performer of this ritual expends the necessary Vitae to activate this ritual's effects. The blood literally leaks out from all the open pores on the caster's face - the mouth, the nostrils, the corners of the eyes and the ears. The blood coats the face after a single turn, and those staring upon the caster see a wretched, powerful monster staring back at them. The face becomes a crimson mask etched with dark channels. The eyes turn a jaundiced yellow. The mouth appears to become a nest of barbed teeth. Witnesses may describe different effects: one might see the caster gain several feet in height, whereas another will remember a nauseating wave of decay. This ritual has two effects. The first is that anyone looking to take action against the caster do so at a -3 penalty (though this penalty is negated if the caster attacks them first). The second is that, for the remainder of the scene, the caster can spend Vitae to increase stats that could not normally be elevated with blood expenditure. The caster can increase her Defense score or her Intimidation score on a one-to-one basis (one Vitae equals one point). Tickblood (Crúac Ritual 3) Whereas drawing blood from humans invokes one lethal point of damage per point of Vitae taken, this is now changed to one point of lethal damage per two points of Vitae taken from the body. In this way, some Savage cultists create whole farms of humans who bloat unnaturally with twice the blood a normal human body can hold. Servant from the Hidden Realms (Crúac Ritual 3) The ritual actually offers a valuable reward to the first spirit to complete the task described. Twisting the spirit of the request denies access to the reward. If multiple spirits are present, they might race to earn the reward. The more successes the ritualist gains, the greater the reward on an exceptional success, affected spirits may even risk destruction, if the risk is small enough. However, if the task is too difficult or risky given the reward, no spirits will act. The ritual generates one point of Essence for every success on the activation roll, available to the first spirit to complete the task specified. This Essence can only be used by genuine spirits it is not usable by werewolves and mages can't translate it into Mana even through the use of the Prime Arcanum. Veiled Curse (Crúac Ritual 3) This ritual does not actually curse a mortal, it simply makes him visible and significant to spirits. In practice, this is a curse, as plenty of spirits have no love for humans. This means that machines may refuse to work (as the spirits in them decide not to cooperate), animals become hostile (possibly even attacking) and plants and weather really do conspire against the subject. As a rule of thumb, the subject suffers a one-die penalty to any actions taken while cursed, and must deal with a great many unhelpful circumstances, as the Storyteller sees fit (rain, broken equipment, etc.). The ritual has no effect on Kindred their corpses cannot be brought to the attention of the spirits in this way. The ritual also has no effect on werewolves and mages, as they are already the subjects of much spiritual notice. The ritual does affect ghouls, the wolf-blooded and Sleepwalkers, although spirits may react slightly differently to such mortals. Ghouls, in particular, tend to be the target of more focused hostility. The Metamorphosis of Spilt Blood (Crúac Ritual 3) Provided the activation roll is a success, the creature sacrificed determines the number of bonus dice, which may not exceed the casting sorcerer's dots in Cruac. If an Acolyte with three dots in Cruac sacrifices an adult human in the performance of this ritual, only three bonus are achieved despite the nature of the sacrifice. Creature Bonus
Small (rat, snake, cat) = +1 It does not matter how the creature is sacrificed, provided it dies on the temple grounds while the activation roll is made. The creature's throat may be slit, the creature might be burned as an offering or the Acolytes may find a more creative way of ending the thing's life. The effects of this ritual last for one month. At the anniversary of the ritual's inception, the ritual may be performed anew to renew its effects, or it may be allowed to lapse. The sorcerer mystically claims one third of the Vitae that a subject imbibes. The subject must be within sight when this ritual is performed. Every time the subject feeds, a third of the Vitae he consumes is denied him and transfers invisibly to the sorcerer, regardless of either vampire’s location. (In other words, every third point of Vitae consumed is passed to the caster.) This Vitae is always “neutral,” which is to say that the feeding Kindred does not subject the sorcerer to a Vinculum in this manner, and neither does feeding from a third-party vampire apply any blood bonds to the sorcerer (though it certainly does to the feeding vampire). The effects of this ritual expire after one feeding or the next sunrise, whichever comes first. A contested draw is made to activate this power, pitting the sorcerer’s Manipulation + Occult + Crúac minus the subject’s Composure, and this resistance is reflexive. If the most successes are drawn for the caster, the subject has no idea where some of the Vitae he consumes disappears to, yet he knows that he goes slightly undernourished. Willful Vitae (Crúac Ritual 4) The performer makes herself immune to the Vinculum and blood addiction when another Kindred's Vitae is consumed. After this ritual is performed, if another vampire's blood is taken in the same night, no step is taken toward a Vinculum with the provider of the blood, and no addiction to blood forms for the character. Of course, the blood donor has no idea that the recipient is immune. The ritual cannot be performed on another vampire, only on the caster's self. The ritual does not countermand or alleviate any existing Vinculum to which the caster is already subject. Bleeding the Tarantula (Crúac Ritual 4) This bizarre ritual creates a guardian that watches over a vampire as he sleeps an undead, spidery homunculus with fangs dripping bloody venom. To perform the ritual, the Acolyte must surrender a portion of her Vitae to create her guardian's physical form. The ritual creates a large, crimson spider resembling a tarantula that guards her haven as she rests for the day. The creature has the following traits. Attributes: Intelligence 0, Wits 1, Resolve 1, Strength 1, Dexterity 4, Stamina 1, Presence 0, Manipulation 0, Composure 1 The blood-spider's unnaturally powerful fangs also contain a preternatural venom, a corrupted Vitae that affects mortals and Kindred alike. Against mortals, it makes attacks with a number of dice equal to the invocation draw's successes (usually four, given that this is a level 4 ritual, but extra successes on the activation draw do count), inflicting lethal damage. In other words, don't use the spider's Strength + Brawl use a draw pool of the successes achieved upon activation. Attacks staged against Kindred are resolved in the same way, except each success drawn taints one Vitae in the victim, making that Vitae useless (remove it from the Vitae pool; it nauseates the Kindred but not to the degree of impeding any draw pools). The blood-spider is absolutely loyal to its master, and enjoys a form of blood sympathy with her. If the blood-spider is injured or destroyed, the Acolyte senses it automatically. No Wits draw is required to check if the character can detect trouble while she sleeps, but a Humanity draw is still required to awaken. The spider cannot be frightened off or repelled by mundane forces or threats, and the ritual's invocation successes are added to its Resistance traits against Disciplines or magical powers that might drive it off or take control of it. It stays animated and on guard until sunset, at which point it breaks down into a puddle of clotted and rotting blood. Source: Nomads Eye of the Norn (Crúac Ritual 4) The ritualist spills a point of Vitae over the surface of a mirror. As the ritual is completed, the Vitae steams and boils away, leaving the mirror clean. The reflection in it is perfectly clear, and it is the face of the person the ritualist most needs to confront at that time. The ritual does not say why the ritualist must confront that person, although sometimes it is obvious. There is no guarantee that the ritualist even knows the person. The image is, however, clear and free of deception, and if the antagonist has commonly used disguises, the image shifts to show them as well. The ritualist, and anyone else who looks in the mirror, can easily identify the person shown if he sees her in the future. The ritual works on any creature, including spirits. However, an image of the ephemeral state of a spirit may be of little use. If the main antagonist has supernatural means of concealment, and they are active at the time, the score in the relevant Ability is subtracted from the ritualist’s dice pool. For example, if the antagonist were a Kindred with Obfuscate, his dots in Obfuscate would be subtracted from the ritualist’s dice pool if he was using the Discipline at the time. If he was relaxing in his haven, with no Disciplines active, there would be no subtraction. This ritual is largely a Storyteller’s tool, but the following mechanical benefit gives it teeth: In the scene when the ritualist finally confronts the figure revealed in the mirror, she enjoys the benefits of the 8-again rule on all dice pools made against the revealed antagonist. Source:Circle of the Crone Fount of Wisdom (Crúac Ritual 4) When this ritual is activated, the sorceress must specify a target from which she intends to feed that same night. For every Vitae she would normally gain when feeding from the target, she instead gains one dot in a Skill possessed by the subject. The subject loses Vitae as normal. The ritualist cannot drain more dots than the vessel possesses, but also cannot drain more than the amount of remaining blood. Drained dots are not added to the ritualist’s own score; instead, she can use the drained ability if it exceeds her own rating in the Skill. The ritualist may choose to specify a particular Skill to drain, in which case she gains nothing if the vessel has fewer dots in that Skill than she does. Alternatively, she may choose to drain the vessel’s highest Skill. One of the stolen dots fades every time the sun rises. As long as the ritualist has at least one stolen dot, she has access to the vessel’s Specialties in that Skill, as well, and may apply them to her own score in the Skill or to a stolen score. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the target’s Resolve. Source:Circle of the Crone Mask of Blood (Crúac Ritual 4) When this ritual is completed, the sorceress must specify a target from which she intends to feed. If the ritualist successfully feeds from the target within that same night, the ritualist gains no Vitae, but instead gains the identity of the vessel. Her appearance changes to match his, and she gains a degree of his knowledge and memories. Scientific tests may be unable to distinguish the ritualist and the vessel. Supernatural senses reveal that some mystic power is at work, but most do not reveal exactly which. The ritual has some limits. It does not change clothing or anything else aside from the ritualist’s own body. The ritual also does not stop the vessel from interfering with the feeding. The greatest limit is that, when used on supernatural creatures of any sort, Mask of Blood does not convey any supernatural abilities. If the subject is mundane, the successes achieved on the ritual’s activation roll automatically become the equivalent successes on the ritualist’s disguise roll to pass herself off as the victim. Even more useful than this is access to some of the vessel’s knowledge. The ritualist gains a bonus to Subterfuge dice pools to pose as the subject equal to the amount of the subject’s Vitae she has in her system, to a maximum of her dots in Crúac. The ritual can be used on anything with blood. The vampire’s own Attributes are unchanged, so if she uses this ritual on a raven, she becomes a very tough raven. Only her Size changes. The effects of this ritual end at sunrise. The dice pool to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Composure. Source:Circle of the Crone Sacrifice of Odin (Crúac Ritual 4) The ritualist sacrifices part of her body in return for increased power. She cuts off an extremity or sense organ, inflicting a single aggravated wound, and the benefits of the ritual last until she heals the wound. The extremity severed comes with a penalty. Despite the mythic resonances, male Acolytes get no benefit from severing their genitals, and female Acolytes get none from severing their breasts. The main choices are a hand, a foot, an eye or the tongue. In addition to the wound, this mutilation imposes a penalty of –3 to –5 dice on actions that would normally use the organ in question, and may impose a similar penalty on Social rolls. While suffering from the sacrifice, the ritualist gets a greater-than-normal benefit from spending Willpower. If spent to enhance a roll, one point grants five bonus dice, rather than the normal three. If a Willpower point is spent to enhance a defensive Attribute, the spent point raises the trait by three, rather than the normal two. A ritualist can only benefit from one use of this ritual at a time. Source:Circle of the Crone Eternal Guardian of the Dark Moon (Crúac Ritual 4) Despite the name of the ritual, it has a limited duration, ending at the next full moon. Wise ritualists thus cast this ritual on the day after the full moon, for maximum benefit. If the subject spirit is destroyed, the effects of the ritual immediately end, of course. This ritual actually lets a spirit draw a great deal of power from the vampire. First, the vampire's presence allows the spirit to linger in the physical world. Second, every time the vampire spends Vitae, the spirit potentially gains power. Third, the spirit can materialize in the ritualist's presence, spending one of the Kindred's Vitae to do so. (The vampire cannot resist this, as she gave the spirit permission by performing the ritual.) Thus the spirit is given good reason to remain present and protective of the vampire if the vampire is destroyed, the effects of the ritual end for the spirit. On the other hand, the spirit does not want the vampire to conserve Vitae, and may use its powers to encourage expenditures of the Blood. The ritualist becomes a fetter for the subject spirit, even if the spirit does not normally have that Numen. Every time the Kindred spends a Vitae, for any reason, including waking for the night, the spirit gains one Essence if it is within five yards of the Kindred, present in the physical world and succeeds on a reflexive Power + Finesse roll. If the vampire spends multiple Vitae in a single turn, the spirit gains one Essence per success, up to the number of Vitae spent by the vampire. The spirit may materialize, as the Numen, by spending one of the Kindred's Vitae, as long as the spirit is within five yards of the Kindred. The spirit does not need to spend Essence to manifest in this way (the Vitae is spent in its place) and can always materialize for one hour, even if the spirit gains no successes on the Power + Finesse roll. This potent ritual taints the blood of its target, whether mortal or vampire. Roll Manipulation + Occult + Crúac minus the target's Stamina. If the roll for the caster gets the most successes, that number of successes is inflicted as lethal damage to a mortal target. A vampire target immediately loses the equivalent of Vitae in his system and could be subject to frenzy as a result. Indeed, a vampiric victim might be forced into torpor. The caster must be able to see the intended victim when the ritual is performed. Feeding the Crone (Crúac Ritual 5) When the performer calls upon the power of the Crone herself (by whatever name is used), and a Vitae is spent, the vampire's mouth transforms into a maw of wicked, gnashing teeth. The vampire need not perform a grapple attack in order to bite a victim; the attack is made directly. The number of successes achieved on the ritual's activation roll is added as bonus dice to attack rolls, and aggravated damage is inflicted. Note that these teeth are so vicious that feeding cannot occur when they are borne; too much blood is wasted in the gory slaughter to get nourishment. Feeding the Crone remains in effect until another Vitae is spent to revoke the change, or until sunrise. Curse of Ahasverus (Crúac Ritual 5) In the hands of blood sorcerers, this curse is a personal and dangerous blight, for it can turn a respected member of a domain into an outcast, forced to flee for his unlife. While under the effects of this ritual (which lasts a single night), a vampire's Beast is ascendant and uncontrollable. The Predator's Taint flares every time a vampire encounters him, even one he has known for centuries. In cases where the subject uses powers such as Mask of Tranquility or Aspect of the Predator, compare the Blood Potency of the vampire using the power to the Blood Potency of the vampire enacting this ritual. If the ritual performer has the higher trait, the subject's Mask of Tranquility or Aspect of the Predator has no effect. If the subject's Blood Potency is equal to or higher than the ritual performer's, Mask of Tranquility or Aspect of the Predator works normally. The vampire targeted by this ritual must be visible to the invoker. A contested draw is made to activate this power, pitting the sorcerer's Manipulation + Occult + Crúac versus the subject's Composure + Blood Potency, and this resistance is reflexive. Source: Nomads A Child From the Stones (Crúac Ritual 5) This ritual for creating gargoyles only takes a moment to enact. The Acolyte writes a name in Vitae under the creature’s tongue or on its forehead (sometimes the name of a deity, sometimes the Acolyte’s own real name from life) and what was inanimate becomes mobile. Awakening the gargoyle isn’t easy, but it’s quick. Building the body in the first place isn’t even quick. It’s an extended Dexterity + Crafts roll. Each roll represents two hours of labor. When 40 successes have been amassed, the body is ready. While many are carved stone or kilnfired clay, other Acolytes have made them out of carved hardwood or even by training thick vines into human form. Rumors say there are mannequin gargoyles seeing use in Scotland, but most Acolytes are more interested in a reliable creation than in experimenting. If this power is used to activate a gargoyle that was not crafted specifically to accommodate this ritual, the gargoyle functions only for a number of turns equal to the successes scored on the activation roll. Creation gives insight into destruction. If a character knows A Child From the Stones, she can use it to deactivate someone else’s gargoyle (often by defacing the name that animates it). She has to touch the gargoyle within three turns of completing the ritual, however, to counteract its creation. Source:Circle of the Crone All Crúac blurs the line between the ritualist and the physical world, allowing her to work her will on people and objects and energies as of they were limbs of her own body. As One extends that principle farther and deeper, investing an area with her spirit and, at the same time, making her a reflection of that territory. Many Crones consider this ritual a pragmatic apotheosis: the ritualist literally becomes a local god, at least for a while. This ceremony requires significant time. The Acolyte must sacrifice at least three living things, at three different locations, thereby marking out the boundaries of the region she wills as her own. (Some perform more sacrifices, thereby creating a square or irregular domain instead of the usual triangle.) All three sacrifices must be made during the same night, with the Acolyte making the roll and spending her own blood after the final bloodletting. No vampire, spirit or other supernatural creature may feed from the dead — doing so ruins the ritual. Once the region is marked out and the attempt succeeds, the Acolyte operates as a local patron spirit to that area for a number of nights equal to the total successes she rolled. The Storyteller may adjudicate just what it means to be patron in terms of minor effects, but the player also chooses a concrete manifestation of authority for the character. This effect can be different each time the character performs the ritual. Doing the ritual again while it’s already in effect does not allow a second manifestation but does extend the duration of the effect already in place. Players and Storytellers should work together to develop the effects of As One. Some examples include the following: • Eyes of the Wise. Whenever she meets a living person who resides within her territory, she learns one thing about him that she has no other way of knowing. This could be innocuous — “Her husband’s private nickname for her is ‘Lollipop,’” or that he sexually assaulted his eight-year-old cousin when he was 13 and they’ve never spoken about it to anyone, even though they see each other every Christmas. • Make Straight the Royal Highway. The Acolyte takes no penalties from mundane physical obstacles while on foot. Anything she could push through without physical harm, she can now pass through without impediment. Thus she can run full speed on ice without falling or pass through a crowd of slam-dancers without slowing down. She can walk through a downpour without getting wet and across dry leaves without making a sound. Furthermore, once per night she can defy one obstacle that would normally halt her: she can command a door to unlock or walk across the surface of a pond. • Immortal Viands. Instead of spending a point of Vitae to wake for the night, she can instead drain the vitality of her domain. This can’t be used for anything but waking, can only be used once per night and while the damage is subtle, definitely harms the location she rules. If she’s in a forest, the damage might strike dead one tall tree or invite a blight that threatens all of them. If she’s in a city, a building might catch fire, a business might fail or a malevolent ghost or spirit might suddenly wake up feeling right at home there. • The Very Stones Defend Me. Once per night, the Acolyte can have her land attack somebody. Both the Acolyte and the target of the attack have to be in her realm. The nature of the attack always seems to be an accident — anything from a car crash in the city to a falling branch in the woods to a lightning strike on the plains. The Storyteller decides if the damage would be bashing, lethal or aggravated. The pool for bashing damage is the ritualist’s Presence + Occult + Crúac. For lethal, the pool is Occult + Crúac. For aggravated, it’s equal to her Crúac rating only. • Cowan’s Mark. Once per night, the Acolyte can curse one person who does not routinely spend time in her region with the Nosferatu clan weakness. The cursed person seems untrustworthy, shifty — like a stranger. • The Trees Give Voice. Once per night, the Acolyte can gain information from her territory. This may take the form of a vision (quite similar to those garnered from The Spirit’s Touch, as described on p. 121 of Vampire: The Requiem), only the vision is specific to the information the character seeks. Alternately, she may call up minor spirits that reside in the area and interrogate them for what they know in a question-and-answer format. It should be noted that this power only works on physical events that happened in her terrain. This power cannot explain what someone there was feeling, only show what that person did. • Taste the Blood of the Spirit. Any time Disciplines or magic of any genuine sort are used in her territory, the ritualist knows it. If it’s a Discipline she herself possesses, she recognizes it and gets a vague sense of the direction where it was used. If it’s something different (a sorcerer’s spell taking effect or a werewolf changing shape) she knows something happened and has a vague idea of how powerful the effect, but she doesn’t know what or where. • Sanctuary. Once per night, she may declare an area of about a 20-foot radius as her sanctuary. No one outside that area can enter unless he wins a contested roll. The interloper rolls Resolve + Composure + Blood Potency. The ritualist rolls Presence + Occult + Crúac. Sanctuary lasts for one scene. On top of those effects, the Storyteller either rolls a die or secretly chooses one of the side effects listed below. • Sketchy images of her face appear in stains, or arise momentarily from TV static or seem to form briefly in the patterns of rain rolling down a windshield. • Every time a radio is playing in her presence, it plays music appropriate to her mood or situation. • She seems very familiar to everyone in her territory, even if they know they’ve never met her before. • Small plants die and instantly wither when she steps on them. • All animals stare at her and fall silent in her presence. Unless compelled to do something else (a dog is told to heel or a car bears down on a cat in the street), the animals keep a wary distance and gaze at her intently. • People cannot catch their breath if her shadow is touching them. Prolonged exposure won’t kill someone, but he pants and feels an icy chill clutch his chest. • No one in her territory can speak her name. • Her mood affects the weather. If she’s sad, the sky is cloudy. If she’s enraged, there are sandstorms or hail. If she’s content, expect unseasonably pleasant skies. This cannot create rapid or unnatural changes, but it’s definitely perceptible. • Sensitive artists have to roll Resolve + Composure every night, or else suffer a nightmare about the Acolyte. • In her presence, shadows thicken, flames gutter and waver while light bulbs flicker and dim. All attempts to hide from sight get a +1 bonus, and all damage pools from fire get a –1 penalty. This effect happens anywhere she can be seen. Source:Circle of the Crone Crone's Renewal (Crúac Ritual 5) While blood of terrible potency is a powerful tool, it can also be a burden, especially when it restricts feeding. Most elder Kindred wind up using torpor to ease this burden, sooner or later. Powerful Acolyte sorcerers have a different option. The Crone’s Renewal allows a character to voluntarily reduce his Blood Potency by 1, but at the cost of siring a childe at Blood Potency 2. This is a standard Embrace in all other ways, including the Willpower dot sacrifice, but the childe begins play at Blood Potency 2. This means that it is possible for her to be an active member of a bloodline from her very first night — often led by an Avus who is weakened, but reveling in a feeding pool that’s 50,000 times larger than it was the week previous. Source:Circle of the Crone This strange ritual allows the sorceress to divide her Crúac dots over any of her Haven Merits. The ritualist must be within her haven to use this ritual, but by using it she can warp the haven beyond the normal limits of the Merit. Regardless of the changes wrought to the haven, they endure for only one scene. However, the inside of a haven altered by this ritual no longer needs to correspond to its outside, or even to the strictest rules of reality. Here are some examples of what this ritual can do with each of the three Haven Merits: Haven Location: Relocate the haven’s doors or physical boundaries. If the ritual increases this Merit to five dots or less, nothing obviously supernatural occurs. If this ritual increases this Merit’s rating to 6–9 dots, the haven’s exterior boundaries warp subtly, bending around alleys, opening up on neighboring streets or into the back rooms of nearby buildings where previously the haven did not. These changes always occur in the blink of an eye, without any obvious mutation to the structure. If this ritual increases the Merit to 10 dots, it becomes possible to enter the haven in one part of the city and leave it in a wholly other part of the city. That is, if the haven is normally located in The Docks, the coterie might enter it instead through a door in Midtown. Either the entrance or exit of the haven must still be located in the haven’s typical location, before this ritual was activated. Haven Security: Augment the haven’s defenses with vanishing doors or magical warning creatures. If the ritual increases this Merit’s rating to 6–9 dots, doors may be replaced with brick walls or iron sheets. Windows may vanish. Gargoyles turn their heads to follow passersby with their eyes. If the ritual increases the Merit’s dots to 10, the haven actively works to thwart intruders, including squeezing shut brick doorways around trespassers or trapping feet in floor drains. Haven Size: Alter the haven’s interior, possibly making it larger inside than it is outside. If the ritual increases the Merit’s rating to 6–9 dots, the haven gains one or two rooms and a maze of passages branch out from the existing rooms, many of them leading nowhere. It becomes quite easy to hide or stalk prey within the haven. If this ritual increases the Merit’s rating to 10 dots, the haven takes on an utterly surreal appearance to intruders, including upside-down rooms, smoky corridors and passages that lead directly, impossibly back to the very doorways from which they began Source:Circle of the Crone |