Thaumaturgical Ritual Merits

Note: these are largely
reserved for characters that are not members of the Conspiracies, as a game
balance measure. In particular, they are most common among members of the
Keepers of the Source and the Loyalists of Thule.

Effect: In simplistic terms, external alchemy is the art of transforming one
physical substance into another. Fairy tales and legends speak loudest of the
ability to change base metals into gold, because dreams of wealth captured the
imaginations of influential sponsors of court magicians. Clever alchemists
invent endless other applications for the art, while wise ones avoid
demonstrating their capabilities to the greedy or powerful.

The two-dot version
allows a thaumaturge to transform a simple, common, non-precious substance into
a different simple, common, non-precious substance.

The four-dot version
allows an alchemist to create or transform a complex, rare or precious
substance. A simple compound may be refined into a complex one, a rare
substance might be turned into a common one or a precious material might become
a different precious material.

The player must
succeed in a roll of Intelligence + her choice of Occult or Science. The roll
is penalized by –1 for each point of Size above 1 that’s transmuted, and the
entire body of transformed material must be one mass (a single chunk of metal,
a pool of liquid or a sack of power, for example).

The alchemist’s
efforts suffer an additional penalty equal to the sum of the highest Durability
involved (original or new) or the highest Resources necessary to purchase the
materials involved, whichever is highest.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult or Science

Ritual Length: One hour

Duration: Indefinite (permanent unless dispelled somehow)

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: An accident occurs. It may be anything from
transmuting the wrong material to mild acid burns to an explosion.
Alternatively, the material may transform, but reverts to its original state at
an inopportune time.

Exceptional
Success: The final product is also imbued with magical
energy. As enchanted material, it can be used to cause bashing or lethal wounds
to ghosts or spirits in Twilight.

The two-dot version
allows the alchemist to hone her body or mind toward a more perfect state.
Choose any Attribute and roll Resolve + Occult, with a –1 penalty per dot
already possessed in the Trait. A successful roll grants a bonus of one dot to
the Attribute, though the trait cannot be raised above the human limit of 5.
The alchemist gains all of the benefits of the increased Attribute for the
duration of the scene.

The four-dot version
represents the alchemist’s great strides toward the achievement of
spirituality. A successful use causes the character to transform into an
ephemeral being, immaterial in the manner of a ghost for the duration of the
scene. If the alchemist chooses to return to physical form, it takes her one
action spent

concentrating to
bring the ritual’s effect to an end. Any clothing worn or personal objects
carried are transformed as well. Anything held in hand that’s larger than Size
3 cannot be changed.

A transformed
character cannot affect the material world at all as she passes harmlessly
through physical objects. She moves as fast as she normally would travel were
she still physical. Being ephemeral allows her to affect other ephemeral
beings, with “physical attacks,” social interaction or other powers.

Dice Pool: Resolve + Occult

Ritual Length: 30 minutes

Duration: One scene

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The jarring experience prevents the mystic from
using this Merit again for the remainder of the scene.

Exceptional
Success: The two-dot version grants an extra dot to the
chosen Attribute (for a total of two). The four-dot version allows the
alchemist to end her ephemeral existence reflexively at any time, returning to
material form.

The two-dot version
of this Merit allows a character to reach out to the entity he considers his
patron and open the way for the divine presence to communicate directly with
him. This contact is one-way; the thaumaturge is limited to receiving whatever
wisdom his patron desires to send without any ability to communicate in return.
Spiritual figures of great power may be omniscient (or nearly so), and thus
cognizant of a follower’s wishes. If the ritual succeeds, treat the effect as
the Common Sense Merit

The four-dot version
allows the performer to open the same pathway with the advantage of sending as
well as receiving. Although the patron figure might choose to focus on matters
different from what the character asks, revelations generally consist of
warnings against particular courses of action, or of suggestions that will aid
the goals of the thaumaturge. In terms of game mechanics, the wisdom
transmitted means the thaumaturge may choose to treat an action of your choice
as a rote action provided the character *begins* that action before the expiration of this ritual’s duration (one scene).
If the action is extended, the rote-action rule applies to each roll in the
process.

Dice Pool: Composure + Wits. Storytellers may choose to make these rolls to keep
players unsure about the success of contact.

Ritual Length: One hour

Duration: One scene

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The thaumaturge experiences some sort of grand
self-delusion that he mistakes for success. He suffers a mild derangement for
•• or a severe one for ••••.

Exceptional
Success: The
communion results in particularly significant information, or is unusually
clear. The Storyteller decides what that means in the game.

### Countermagic (•• or ••••)

Prerequisites: Wits ••

Effect: One of the first questions that a new practitioner of magic is likely to
ask is, “How do I defend myself against other people who can do magic?” Most
paths provide some training in the arts of protecting oneself against hostile
powers.

The two-dot version
is based on the idea that first defense is being able to detect an attack. This
ritual extends a mystic’s senses for a single scene, allowing her to detect the
first thaumaturge ritual used against her during that time, whether the magic
is intended for good or ill. Rites performed through a sympathetic connection
are noticed, though the source may not be. She senses the beginning of the
ritual, which may give her time to try to prevent its completion via other
means.

The four-dot version
weaves the will into a defensive barrier against hostile magic. If the
character succeeds, she benefits from the effects of the two-dot version. If
the first ritual to target her during the scene is one that

she would like to
avoid, her Counter-magic also applies a –2 penalty to the caster’s ritual
rolls. This defense works against mental assaults as well as physical ones— the
magical energy intrinsic to the attack is what is blocked. Only one
Counter-magic ward may apply to a character per scene, and the effect cannot be
transferred to others.

Counter-magic
applies against other thaumaturge rites only, not against the spells of mages
or the powers of other supernatural creatures.

Dice Pool: Resolve + Occult

Ritual Length: One minute

Duration: One scene

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The thaumaturge weaves an ineffective Counter-magic
field around her, providing no protection but potentially attracting the
attention of those who can sense such things.

### Curse of Ill-Fortune (•••)

Prerequisites: Luck Magic (•• or ••••) and Persuasion•

The character can
inflict bad luck upon others. This spell is a basic curse intended to bring
about ill-fortune when another person performs a specific type of action such
as driving a car or making a speech.

The performer chooses
both the target and the nature of the activity to be affected before dice are
rolled. If the rite is successful, the curse removes a number of dice from the
subject’s pool equal to the magician’s Manipulation for a number of rolls of
the designated type equal to the caster’s Persuasion. If the player rolls an exceptional
success, this curse applies to all rolls of the specified type that the target
makes for duration.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion versus Composure + Supernatural Advantage
(extended and contested roll)

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Duration: One day

### Divination (•••)

Effect: The thaumaturge
performs ritual readings to divine the future. The character declares a target
— a  person, place or thing. He can then
attempt to divine the future of that subject. The information revealed is
typically vague and difficult to comprehend until the predicted situation is
imminent. This Merit grants use of the advanced-actions rule allowing the
player to roll twice and choose the most beneficial result for a single action
involving the target. The same target can be divined with this rite only once
every 24 hours.

The thaumaturge cannot choose himself as the
target, because the divination allows him to determine the future only as it
relates to his own interaction with a subject.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult.
The Storyteller may wish to roll secretly to keep the accuracy of the
divination in question.

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The
thaumaturge unwittingly receives a faulty answer, suffering a –2 die penalty to
the action attempted.

Exceptional
Success: The
divination is more clear than normal. The thaumaturge gets use of the advanced
actions rule for two rolls involving the target that day.

### Evocation (•• or ••••)

Effect: Evocation is the art of compelling an ephemeral being to answer a
summons. A thaumaturge with this Merit must choose a type of entity to be the
Merit’s focus (Ghosts, Demons, Angels, Spirits, & Faeries are all
examples), though she may learn other versions separately.

The two-dot version
forcefully contacts a specific entity or sends out a general summoning to the
nearest entity. In

either case, the
being must be within visual or audible range to sense the thaumaturge. The
character may summon an entity personally known to him (one that falls within
any of the sympathy connection categories), or he may specify a type of entity
of his choosing (males ghosts or fire spirits, for example).

At two dots, the
thaumaturge cannot compel an entity to do anything other than attend his
presence, though nothing prevents him from convincing or forcing the being to
serve him by other means.

The four-dot version
allows the performer to summon an entity and present it with a command that the
entity

must follow for the
duration of the scene. The Merit does not grant any special power of
communication to the

thaumaturge, so the
entity must be able to understand his command.

Dice Pool: Presence + Persuasion versus Resistance

(extended and
contested roll)

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Duration: One scene

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The thaumaturge’s command is delivered to the
entity without any force behind it. The ghost or spirit could feel anger toward
the audacious caster.

Success: The thaumaturge summons the nearest entity matching his chosen
description, provided that one is within range.

Exceptional
Success: The evoker issues his command with great eloquence.
The Storyteller should consider working with the player to eliminate potential
loopholes in the wording.

### Favorable Fortune (•••)

Prerequisites: Luck Magic (••••)

The magician creates
a shift of destiny, effectively generating a highly directed turn of personal
good luck. These small manipulations of fortune always take the form of totally
plausible events. This ritual cannot provide a thaumaturge with more than $50
at a time, or produce any item whose value is greater than that unless the item
has a significant drawback.

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult

Ritual Length: One minute

Duration: Lasting or one scene (minimum of one hour)

### Healing (••••)

Prerequisites: Composure •• and Medicine •

The thaumaturge can
use her magic to heal wounds and cure diseases for both humans and animals.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy (or Animal Ken for healing animals) — the
patient’s wound penalties

Ritual Length: 30 minutes

Duration: One week

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: Improperly channeled energies cause the thaumaturge
to suffer one Health point of lethal

damage.
Alternatively, the subject might suffer additional injury or have her disease
worsen.

Failure: The thaumaturge fails to heal the subject.

Success: This ritual speeds the healing of all forms of damage by a factor of
three. This ritual can cure

a mild or moderate
disease such as influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia or a mild skin cancer, and
sends more serious diseases into remission for the duration.

Exceptional
Success: The ritual speeds healing of all damage by a factor
of five. An exceptional success is required to permanently cure otherwise
“incurable” or exceptionally life-threatening diseases such as terminal cancer,
AIDS

or Ebola.

### Invocation (•• or ••••)

Effect: Invocation is the art of requesting an ephemeral being’s presence. This
is merely a plea for help at its basic level, while advanced magicians are able
to aid the supernatural entity that opts to answer by offering a gateway
through which to interact with the physical world.

The mystic must
choose a type of entity to be the Merit’s focus, as with Evocation, though the
thaumaturge may learn other versions separately. Entities answering an
invocation are generally much better disposed toward the caster than those
summoned via Evocation. The Invocation Merit does not grant a thaumaturge the
power to perceive Twilight.

The two-dot version
allows the performer to attract the attention of a specific entity, or to send
out a general call to the nearest entity. In either case, the respondent must
be within range to sense the thaumaturge or the respondent does not perceive
the request. The invoker may call an entity personally known to him, or may
specify a type of entity of his choosing. The entity called may choose to
ignore the request or answer it.

Invocation does not
grant any control over an entity; the character must strike a deal of some kind
in order to accomplish her goals.

The four-dot version
acts as the first with the added benefit that the targeted entity gains the
Possession Numen

if the entity does
not normally have that power.

Dice Pool: Presence + Persuasion

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Duration: One scene

Roll Results

Dramatic
Failure: The thaumaturge attracts the attention of the wrong
spirit or ghost, probably one with mischievous or malicious intent.

Exceptional
Success: The mystic’s performance pleases the target. For
beings of very negative bent, this may simply mean the thaumaturge’s Invocation
is ignored. Otherwise, apply a +1 bonus to Social rolls made with the entity
for the duration of the scene.

### Longevity (•••••)

Prerequisites: Medicine ••• and Alchemy (Internal) •••• and/or Alchemy (External) ••••

Effect: Your character possesses alchemical secrets of long life, achieved
through a combination of medicinal and magical elixirs. Each application of
alchemical Longevity keeps him from aging for the duration of the magic.

Dice
Pool: Intelligence + Medicine (or Science for
plants or animals)

Duration Dice Penalty

24 hours               0

One week             –1

One month          –3

Duration:
Varies

Minimum
Successes Required (target’s real age): 10 (25
years or less), 15 (26–50 years), 20 (51–75 years), 25 (76+ years)

Ritual
Length: One hour

Roll
Results

Exceptional
Success: The elixir is of twice the normal
potency, effectively preventing aging for twice the intended duration.

### Luck Magic (•• or ••••)

The thaumaturge
gains the ability to control chance and bend luck in his favor, improving his
success at specific tasks. No character can be affected by more than one luck
ritual (of any type) at a time, and the magician can successfully perform this
ritual only once per day.

At two dots, the
thaumaturge can grant himself the 9 again effect (reroll results of 9 and 10)
on a number of his future dice rolls equal to his Manipulation, as long as all
of these rolls are of a specified type and they all take place during the
duration of this ritual. The player must choose the exact nature of the
situation benefited before rolling dice for the ritual.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Duration: One day

At four dots, the
thaumaturge can grant himself the 8 again effect (reroll results of 8, 9 and
10) on a number of rolls equal to his Manipulation. Alternatively, the magician
can grant another subject a 9 again effect on a number of rolls equal to his
Manipulation.

### Scrying (•••)

Prerequisites: Wits •• and Occult •

Effect: The magician can view a location remotely. She can both see and hear the
location normally, allowing her to overhear conversations or read text on a
distant computer screen, all as if she were physically present.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Investigation

Ritual Length: One minute

Duration: Trance

Ritual rolls are
modified by the thaumaturge’s magical connection to the location. Because the
mystic is in a light trance, she can talk softly, write or type while
continuing to view a distant location. She must use a magical connection to
perform this ritual and can see the location only from the point of view of the
subject to which her magical connection is linked.

### Second Sight (•••)

Prerequisites: Wits ••

Effect: a thaumaturge temporarily gains the ability to see and hear Entities
hidden in a state of Twilight.

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult

Ritual Length: One minute

Duration: One scene

### Warding (•••)

Prerequisites: Resolve •• and Occult •

Effect: Your magician can create a magical barrier around an area to keep out
ghosts and spirits. This barrier can be created as a general ward that keeps
out all low-level entities, or as a powerful barrier designed to protect
against a single supernatural being.

When creating a ward
against a specific ghost or spirit, a mystic does not need to know the name of
the entity — an obvious designation, such as “the ghost of the young man who
was murdered here” or “the spider-like spirit that has been attempting to
possess the inhabitants of this house” is a sufficiently accurate description.

All wards have a
Strength rating. This score is subtracted from the Power of any affected ghost
or spirit that seeks to enter the area. If the entity’s Power would be reduced
to zero, the entity cannot enter the area.

Dice Pool: Resolve + Occult

Ritual Length: 10 minutes

Duration: One day (against all spirits and ghosts) or one week (against a specific
spirit or ghost)

Success: The thaumaturge creates a ward with a Strength equal to his Resolve.
Alternatively, a mystic can create a ward against a specific spirit or ghost
with a Strength equal to his Resolve +1

Exceptional
Success: The thaumaturge creates a ward against all spirits
with a Strength equal to his Resolve +1. General wards last for three full
days. Alternatively, the thaumaturge can create a ward against a specific
spirit or ghost with a Strength equal to his Resolve +2. Specific wards **last**
for two weeks.