The rituals connected with Necromancy are a hodgepodge lot. Some have direct relations to the paths; others seem to have been taught by wraiths themselves, for whatever twisted reason. All beginning necromancers gain one Level One ritual, but any others learned must be gained through in-game play.
Casting times for necromantic rituals vary widely; see the description for particulars. The player rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 3 + the level of the ritual, maximum 9); success indicates the ritual proceeds smoothly, failure produces no effect, and a botch often indicates that certain "powers" notice the caster, usually to her detriment.
Level 4 Rituals
Cadaver's Touch (Level Four Ritual)
By chanting for three hours and melting a wax doll in the shape of the target, the necromancer turns a mortal target into a corpse-like mockery of himself. As the doll loses the last of its form, the target becomes cold and clammy. His pulse becomes weak and thready, his flesh pale and chalky. For all intents and purposes, he becomes a reasonable facsimile of the walking dead. Needless to say, this can have some adverse effects in social situations (+2 difficulty on all Social rolls). The effects of the ritual wear off only when the wax of the doll is permitted to re-solidify. If the wax is allowed to boil off, the spell is broken.
Peek Past the Shroud (Level Four Ritual)
This hour-long ritual enchants a handful of ergot (a mold that grows on grains prior to harvest in cold, damp weather) to act as a catalyst for second sight. By eating a pinch of the magical mold, a subject gains the benefits of Shroudsight (Ash Path Necromancy Level One) for a number of hours equal to the necromancer's Stamina score. Three doses of the enchanted ergot are created for every success on the roll. Ergot is normally poisonous to some degree; this ritual removes its toxic properties. However, a botch renders the ergot highly and instantaneously toxic, inflicting eight dice of lethal damage on any subject who ingests it - including vampires.
Xipe Totec (Level 4 Ritual)
This ritual may not be the faint of heart, but its powers are indeed fearsome enough in their effects. In the past, the Aztec priests would flay the skin from a victim and wear it as a sacrifice to Xipe Totec, god of suffering and renewal. In a similar fashion, the Pisanob used this ritual to steal that person's identity.
To perform this ritual, the Pisanob removes the victim's top layer skin with an obsidian dagger, making sure not to damage the skin too greatly. As impossible as it may seem, the victim must survive the process (though he/she may well die of blood loss shortly after the ritual if not seen to properly). The Pisanob then drains the victim's blood into a large ceremonial golden bowl, of which the blood is mixed with octli, amaranth and other ingredients. When this mixture is consumed, the Necromancer will sweat a glistening sheen of blood (equal to one blood point). The Necromancer then dons the skin like clothing and if successful, the kindred vitae will be absorbed into the second skin which begins to heal, forming another skin over the Pisanob's own. Naturally, the victim needs to be of similar stature as it would yield hazardous results should a big person tries to don a small person's skin and vice versa. The skin will be distorted and be useless. This power also has not effect on Kindred and Lupines.
Under normal vision, the ruse is flawless. However, the skin is only a skin and doesn't provide the Pisanob and knowledge of the victim's memories as well as mannerisms. It also does nothing to mask the Kindred's own undead nature. Therefore, it would be useful if there is the least contact with the victim's family or friends.
To preserve the skin's condition, the Pisanob must bathe it in a blood point's worth of vitae nightly. When the Pisanob removes the skin, (which incidentally causes damage to the kindred since it forms like a skin and HAS to be removed with same knife that removed the skin in the first place), the skin is deemed useless and cannot be used again.
This ritual requires lots of Humanity checks.
Bastone Diabolico (Diabolical Stick ) (Level Four Ritual)
Casting this ritual is VERY tricky as it requires the removal of a leg bone from a living person. The Donor must survive the removal (at least for a short period time which will be explained later). The bone is then submerged in a molten lead. Once it cools, the thin lead coating is inscribed with various runes. The Necromancer completes the ritual by beating the donor to death while droning a Greek chant.
IF Successful, the Necromancer has created a Bastone Diabolico or the Devil Stick. The stick can be held by anyone and be activated with a spendage of a willpower trait. The stick is activated for a whole night and proves to be a very useful weapon against wraiths. Wraiths that are damaged by this stick will lose a point from its Passion Pool as well as aggravated damage. This is also useful against the walking dead (not including vampires) causing them aggravated damage.
Unfortunately, as formidable a weapon it is, it also serves a warning to other spirits. Spirits or wraiths can sense that the bastone diabolico is bad news and stays VERY far away from any person holding one, even if they do not know what it does. As a result, a necromancer that has the stick in his presence will have much more difficulty in summoning wraiths.
The Giovanni clan stores many of these crude cudgels in their Venice vaults, and are actually more likely to lend one out to a neonate than teaching him the ritual. This is due to the fact that it was easier to kidnap, mangle and then kill him back in a hundred years ago than now. Most of the devil sticks are made of tibias (for individuals wanting a thinner and faster club) or femurs (for the type that like to bludgeon with a knot on the end)
Modern Necromancers however as just as likely to use a patella to create a ghost punishing weapon that is far easier to conceal.
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Subject: Necromantic Rituals Level 4 
Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:33 am
