Curse

The sorcerous skill Curse is knowledge of how to manipulate the Symphony itself to bring about your will.

## Curse Rituals

Some Curse rituals can actually be used to bless, but the selfish nature of sorcery makes it more difficult to do good than harm. These rituals are very powerful, as they affect the Symphony directly. As a result, they tend to have a high cost ~ no doubt responsible for originating the "Threefold Law."

### Jinx (Curse/1)

The subject will suffer bad luck at the worst time. If performed successfully, the subject may resist with a Will roll (ethereals and celestials add their Celestial Forces). If he fails to resist, the next time he tries to spend Essence to improve a d666 roll (consciously or unconsciously), that Essence will not be spent! Instead, the victim's roll will suffer a penalty equal to the check digit.

* **Time:** 10 minutes
* **Essence:** 2 x the check digit

### Blessing (Curse/2)

This ritual works exactly like Jinx, above, except that the target does not need to resist, and instead of replacing the bonus for an Essence expenditure, the check digit will add to the subject's roll. A successful performance of this ritual on the victim of a Jinx will also dispel the jinx.

* **Time:** 10 minutes
* **Essence:** 2 x the check digit

### Luckless (Curse/3)

This ritual deprives the victim of his "luck" by preventing him from regaining Essence. If the victim fails to resist with a Will roll (plus Celestial Forces for ethereal and celestials), he will not receive his daily Essence regeneration for the check digit in days. This ritual does not prevent rites from working, nor does it prevent the victim from receiving Essence from others or using reliquaries and spirit jars, etc. If this ritual fails, it affects the sorcerer instead!

* **Time:** 30 minutes
* **Essence:** 3 x the check digit

### Calamity (Curse/4)

One of the most malevolent rituals, but completely unpredictable in its effects, a Calamity can be resisted with a Will roll (plus Celestial Forces for ethereals and celestials). If it is not resisted, then sometime in the near future, Something Bad will happen to the victim. The sorcerer has no way to influence exactly what will happen or when, but the check digit determines how bad it will be. A CD of 1 will result in a mere inconvenience, such as catching the victim in a traffic jam when he's late for work. A CD of 3 will cause something with serious repercussions, such as an important document being lost in the mail, while a CD of 6 can cause any misfortune that does not directly kill the subject. If this ritual fails, it affects the sorcerer instead!

* **Time:** 1 hour
* **Essence:** 3 x the check digit

### Remove Curse (Curse/5)

This ritual can remove the effects of the Jinx, Luckless, or Calamity rituals, above. The ritual is treated as a Contest against the malign ritual.

* **Time:** 1 hour
* **Essence:** 3 x the check digit

### Change Weather (Curse/5)

This ritual can affect local weather patterns. Some sorcerers have studied the Curse skill only to use this ritual ~ it used to be taught by many ethereal spirits. If the ritual is performed successfully, the local weather is "pushed" in the direction the sorcerer desires. (The area affected is up to the GM ~ use the smallest region capable of sustaining its own local weather pattern, with a county being about the largest possible area.) The check digit determines both the duration, in hours, and the intensity of the effect. As a general rule, the temperature can be raised or lowered by 5 degrees Fahrenheit times the check digit, or the ritual can generate other weather phenomena of equivalent severity. Thus, a check digit of 1 can cause only minor, barely noticeable changes, while a check digit of 6 can cause dramatic changes, but nothing supernatural; the ritual can bring rain during a drought, or diminish a tropical storm to a stiff breeze, but it can't bring snow to a hot desert or summon or banish a hurricane.

* **Time:** 4 hours
* **Essence:** 3 x the check digit

### Curse (Curse/6)

This ritual afflicts the victim with long-term misfortune. The subject may resist with a Will roll (plus Celestial Forces for ethereals and celestials). It has two effects on those who fail to resist. First, every day, the victim must make a Will roll or he will not gain his daily Essence. (This does not affect Essence received from rites, transfers from others or from reliquaries, etc.) Secondly, the victim will be plagued by a constant string of inconveniences and minor disasters. This is nothing that affects dice rolls, but the GM should engineer something inconvenient and annoying to happen to the character at least once a day, and anytime the GM has arbitrary discretion over the outcome of the character's actions, he should make the result bad. Nothing supernatural or wildly improbable should happen to the victim, but he will definitely feel like he is "cursed." The curse lasts for a number of weeks equal to the check digit of the ritual. There is no known ritual that can undo it ~ however, killing the sorcerer who placed the Curse will end it . . . . If this ritual is performed unsuccessfully, it affects the sorcerer!

* **Time:** 3 hours
* **Essence:** 3 x the check digit