Rituals

One of the first rituals discovered by a Roman practitioner of the Lancea et Sanctum, The Angel’s Touch allows the vampire to render a part of a mortal subject’s body immune to the vampire’s ability to seal the wound he makes, making it very likely that the mortal will bleed copiously after the bite and die. Most often used to discourage Kindred who feed too often from the same mortal and developing an emotional attachment, this ritual is credited with opening the eyes of many vampires to the realities of their sin.

To activate the ritual, the practitioner makes the necessary sacrifice and prayer over a slumbering mortal, completing the ritual by gently touching the spot on her body he wishes to purify. A single success on the activation roll protects about a square inch of flesh; each success scored adds a square inch to the area covered. Any attempt to bite the mortal within the designated area will penetrate as normal, but the wound that results cannot be subsequently healed with a lick. This effect lasts until the next sunrise. Attempts to treat a wound with the Medicine Skill are not affected by this ritual.

A mortal may be affected by only one instance of The Angel’s Touch at a time. The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject’s Resolve.

Offering: The sorcerer must obtain a lock of the subject’s hair to be consumed when the ritual is enacted.

This ritual empowers a vampire who faces earthly judgment for his divine faith, allowing him to face his accusers with strength and dignity, no matter how cruelly he is treated. The subject of the ritual, when brought face to face with an accuser empowered to order corporeal punishment or Final Death, is suddenly released from any wound penalties he suffers, regains a point of Willpower, and gains a temporary one-dot bonus to his Presence. This bonus may exceed the limit imposed by Blood Potency. The effects last until the subject is removed from the accuser’s sight.

If this ritual is to be activated on a willing subject other than the sorcerer, the subject may spend the Willpower point to activate the ritual instead of the caster. If the subject is unwilling to accept the ritual, the roll to activate the power is penalized by the subject’s Resolve.

The ritual activates only if the accuser is observing or engaging the subject with the intent of issuing imminent judgment. Until that moment, the ritual’s effects do not manifest. This ritual affects only vampires, and a vampire may be subject to only one instance of Micah’s Hope at a time.

Offering: A single lethal wound must be inflicted on the subject, and two points of Vitae must bleed out, turning to long smears of ash on his body as the ritual is performed.

This awe-inspiring ritual is truly shocking to all unbelieving Kindred. It allows one member of the Sanctified to defend her allies in faith from the searing of sun and flame, martyring herself in the process. Some credit The Martyr’s Miracle with preserving the survival of the Lancea et Sanctum itself, telling tales of the ritual’s use during the early nights of the covenant.

The vampire must perform the ritual even as she herself is consumed by flame. If enough successes are accumulated on the activation roll to initiate the ritual before she suffers Final Death, all Sanctified Kindred within line of sight are shielded; they suffer only lethal damage from fire or sunlight for the next five minutes per success rolled. In the case of an exceptional success, the vampires affected suffer just two points of bashing damage per minute.

If the accumulated successes do not total at five or more before the performing vampire suffers Final Death, the ritual fails.

Offering: The vampire performing the ritual makes an offering of herself. She is consumed even as she gathers the divine energies of The Miracle. The first roll can only be made after she has suffered at least one point of aggravated damage from fire or sunlight. The sorcerer gains a +2 benefit to resist the Rötschreck during this time, and she ceases to feel any pain whatsoever as soon as the first success is made on the activation roll.

The vampire enacts this ritual by entreating Apollo for a blessing of insight, bleeding her own Vitae into a specially prepared bowl and then spilling the entrails of a sacrifice (usually a small animal) into that same bowl. The shape and character of the entrails, and the way the shed Vitae coats them, impart information about the current situation of the subject of the ritual — the vampire may perform in on behalf of another. The number of successes on the activation roll determines the clarity and usefulness of the vision imparted. On an exceptional success, the entrails seem to come alive in the bowl, speaking directly to the vampire or forming a complicated shape symbolizing important facts that affect the subject.

This prophetic image grants a +2 bonus on any dice pool to investigate or research information related to the subject of the ritual.

The performer calls on the mystic protection of Neptune and Gaia, the gods of water and the earth. If the ritual succeeds, the successes gained on the roll are added to the vampire’s Defense for the duration of the spell, exactly as if he were wearing armor. Attackers will notice that the vampire’s flesh has hardened, and has a stone-like feel, even though the vampire in question is not limited in his motion.

This ritual is effective only so long as the vampire who casts it is in flesh contact with the bare earth. If he is lifted bodily off the ground, the spell ends immediately. The power cannot be invoked to protect others; it works only on the Vaticinator himself. The ritual fades at sundown of the subsequent night, though it may be invoked again immediately thereafter.

This vicious ritual is used to punish vampires by bringing about the painful and ignominious deaths of their mortal friends and descendants. The performer ritually prepares a weapon (usually a dagger, arrow or javelin) with his Vitae, calling upon the might and aid of the Furies. Each roll made in the attempt to activate the ritual takes a full night of activity, not a turn. When the weapon is ready, it turns black and cold, the blood upon it transforming into a virulent, viscous fluid. The vampire must then embed the weapon in the body of a living mortal (with a successful Strength + Weaponry or Dexterity + Archery attack causing three or more lethal wounds). The moment the blow is struck, the mortal is inflicted with an infectious degenerative disease: leprosy, black flux (cholera) or scarlet fever. Any mortal who comes in contact with the victim stands a chance of catching and spreading the disease as normal, and any vampire who feeds upon him may become a carrier (see Vampire: The Requiem, pp. 174–175).