Difference between revisions of "ThaumaturgyRelay/Masks"

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The first theme is Masks

Thespian's Moment • (TedPro)
At the cost of 1 mote or 1 Willpower, and one turn of gesticulation, the thamaturge reach behind her can conjure up a simple wooden mask, bearing a face of tragedy or comedy, which remains in existence for one minute. The mask has no other special properties, but can be used for amusing theatrical tricks or when the thaumaturge must quickly conceal her identity.

Masquerade of the Stolen Guise •• (Quendalon)
In many societies, individuals wear masks on a regular basis. Sometimes this is for ritual reasons; others wear them on stage or in festive masquerades. Other peoples forever hide their own faces behind masks, taking their identities from the masks themselves. This ritual capitalizes on that connection, allowing a thaumaturge to assume the wearer’s identity.

The ritual requires a mask associated with a specific individual. This must either be a mask that has been worn by that individual, or a reconstruction of such a mask that incorporates some of the mask-owner’s hair or blood. Starting at sunset, the thaumaturge burns incense worth Resources 2 as she performs an hour-long invocation of Shalrina, Daimyo of Masks. She then dons the mask and spends 3 motes of Essence, sealing the enchantment.

For the rest of the night, the thaumaturge assumes much of the mask-owner’s mien, making her difficult to distinguish from the one she imitates. She adds three dice to her Intelligence + Larceny roll to impersonate the mask-owner, and the difficulty of the roll is only 1. In addition, if the mask-owner’s Presence exceeds the thaumaturge’s, the thaumaturge adds one dot to her Presence for the duration of the ritual.

The ritual expires at sunrise or at the moment the thaumaturge removes the mask, whichever comes first.

Hunter's Deception••• (TedPro)
Requires a stylized mask of an animal found in the South and an hour-long ritual. Until the sun next rises or sets, whoever wears this mask will seem, to the eyes of animals of the South, to be the animal depicted. Human senses are not affected, nor are the senses of other sentient beings - any being with an Intelligence over 1, or any language, is immune to the illusion. This ritual only functions in the South, where it is used to catch animals by surprise, chase away dangerous predators, or lure animals into traps.

Consecration of the Empyrean Mask•••• (Darloth)
This ritual is extremely short, and can be performed in a few seconds, however, there are several circumstances that must apply. First, the performer must actually have a mask of some sort, and it must cover at least the area around the performer's eyes. Second, the ritual must be enacted in a place where there is not even the possibility of someone observing it. A completely empty room with doors and windows shut will suffice nicely, although in a pinch a closet or similar space is also perfect.

The thaumaturge dons the mask, and pays either 6 motes and 1 willpower to initiate the effect, which obscures his identity. From the end of the ritual until the thaumaturge removes the mask, several benefits are granted. Firstly, the thaumaturge receives 3 bonus dice on any attempt to masquerade as something else, although he will still need appropriate props and dress, and cannot imitate a specific person. Everyone observing the thaumaturge makes rolls to pierce these deceptions at -3 dice, and even if the thaumaturge has not taken the time to craft a different identity, they must still succeed at a Perception + Awareness check with a minimum difficulty of 3 to recognize the thaumaturge. It should be noted that most mortals, with -3 to dice pools, will almost never succeed at the recognition check.

However, there are some disadvantages to this. The recognition check is made only once for each person per ritual, and the thaumaturge cannot 'let on' to the secret of his identity without breaking the entire ritual, even to trusted friends. Thus, if they fail their check, they will believe him someone different, which could cause significant problems. In addition, every mask used for this ritual will from then on produce the same fake identity, and people have none of the above penalties for recognizing the fake identity. Finally, once someone has pierced the identity tied to a particular mask, they will always see through it, giving repeated use of this ritual a vast bundle of possible complications.

Shadow Prince’s Visage ••••• (Quendalon)

With this ritual, the thaumaturge crafts a death mask for one who has already been dead for at least a year and a day. Making the mask requires a month’s work, materials worth Resources 4 (including powdered white jade, hair and ground bone from the corpse, and the sap of the Life Flower from the uttermost east), and an Intelligence + Craft roll with a difficulty of 3. On the last day of Calibration, at the twilight hour, the thaumaturge begins an incantation that concludes by placing the mask on the corpse’s face at dawn. A successful Stamina + Occult roll (difficulty 4) completes the spell.

If the spell succeeds, the mask fades from Creation and appears upon the face of the corpse’s ghost. (The spell has no effect if the recipient’s ghost no longer exists.) Whenever the ghost is wearing the mask in the Underworld, it may spend a mote of Essence at any time to see and hear into the living world for a scene. In addition, the ghost may spend a temporary Willpower point to manifest in the living world for the rest of the scene. Once manifested, the ghost may remove the mask to reveal its true face, but the manifestation ends if the mask leaves its possession.

Comments

I saw Quendalon's suggestion for this a long time ago, and have been meaning to start this relay for a while. Rad! Please add! I'll put up a ritual tonight (I'm at work right now and my Player's Guide is at home) --TedPro

Wow, Thaumaturgy Rituals are a lot less awesome than Charms. --TedPro

Remember to post your name along with your submission. - Quendalon

Done! Thanks. -TedPro

I have an idea, but I suspect it's way too powerful for in here at the moment. I'll wait until it gets higher. Basically, it would make someone very difficult to recognize while wearing a mask... even if they really ought to be. It's the Anime-Secret-Identity effect, in that someone can put on a mask that only covers their eyes, and not even change their clothing much, and -suddenly- noone knows who they are. What do you think? I'm guessing 4 or 5, since it would last until the mask was removed, and be quite strong for mortal magic.
-- Darloth

Anime, nothing. That's the good old Clark Kent Effect. -Ben-San

Darloth, that sounds like a great ritual! Go for it! -TedPro

Presumably, there are versions of that ritual for the other directions, TedPro? (Or at least, the possibility of developing one)
-- Darloth

Sure, I don't see why not. Wearing the mask of an animal to gain its power just seemed like a Southern kind of thing to do, so I added those rules for flavor, and, of course, to cripple the ability, since it's just Thaumaturgy. ;) -- TedPro

Ritual up... It's rather more powerful than it once was, and is more costly and has extra drawbacks, because of some interaction with the college of the Mask and arcane fate. However, it's definately not the same effect, and is significantly different in some cases. As to how it interacts with arcane fate, the simple way would be to say Sidereals can't use it... More likely, however, sidereals would need an appropriate resplendant destiny activated to use this ritual, and it would simply allow that destiny to masquerade as something else, which would still need to be in-destiny. The bonuses from arcane fate etc and this do not stack.
-- Darloth isn't sure whether it should be rating 4 or 5... feel free to suggest higher

Looks like a great ritual! Woo hoo! Whoever puts up the next one chooses the new theme! -TedPro

I have to say that I don't much like the idea of powerful rituals having such short casting times. Powerful, instantaneous effects are expressly the domain of Charms. - Quendalon

Any suggestions for a change? -TedPro

It's not as powerful a ritual at it first seems ( if we're talking about Consecration of the Empyrean Mask). First you can't tell anyone who you really are probably leading to many odd, and embarrasing ( or worse) situations. Secondly if the "secret Identity" gets into trouble it becomes less useful because you use the same SI every time which eventaly leads to you having to relearn the ritual for another disquise. So IMO it's aneat trick, but eventaly it becomes a very costly mask. So i think it's just right the way it is. - Issaru

Let me rephrase, then: I don't think any ritual should have such a short casting time. - Quendalon, who wonders why the ritual is level 4 if it's as weak as Issaru says

Not weak, just not as powerful as a charm. I don't think that it was overly powerful for a level 4 Ritual. - Issaru

How about this as a modification?

Consecration of the Empyrean Mask•••• (Darloth, TedPro remix)
This ritual takes about an hour to perform, and consecrates a mask for a single future use. To trigger this mask, the performer must be carrying the mask, and it must cover at least the area around the performer's eyes. Second, the mask can only be used in a place where there is not even the possibility of someone observing it. A completely empty room with doors and windows shut will suffice nicely, although in a pinch a closet or similar space is also perfect.

The thaumaturge dons the consecrated mask, and pays either 6 motes and 1 willpower to initiate the effect, which obscures his identity. From this moment until the thaumaturge removes the mask, several benefits are granted. Firstly, the thaumaturge receives 3 bonus dice on any attempt to masquerade as something else, although he will still need appropriate props and dress, and cannot imitate a specific person. Everyone observing the thaumaturge makes rolls to pierce these deceptions at -3 dice, and even if the thaumaturge has not taken the time to craft a different identity, they must still succeed at a Perception + Awareness check with a minimum difficulty of 3 to recognize the thaumaturge. It should be noted that most mortals, with -3 to dice pools, will almost never succeed at the recognition check.

However, there are some disadvantages to this. The recognition check is made only once for each person per ritual, and the thaumaturge cannot 'let on' to the secret of his identity without breaking the entire ritual, even to trusted friends. Thus, if they fail their check, they will believe him someone different, which could cause significant problems. In addition, every mask used for this ritual will from then on produce the same fake identity, and people have none of the above penalties for recognizing the fake identity. Finally, once someone has pierced the identity tied to a particular mask, they will always see through it, giving repeated use of this ritual a vast bundle of possible complications.

The change just makes it so the actual ritual takes some time, and sets up a trigger later. Kind of a cheat. Part of the problem, I think, is that we really don't have any examples of rituals above level 3 from the text. There is a Thaumaturgy ritual in the book that's instant, but it's a really minor effct, and seems to be an exception to the rule. -TedPro

"Part of the problem, I think, is that we really don't have any examples of rituals above level 3 from the text." Hmm...maybe the ThaumaturgyRelay should be a 3-part Relay rather than 5-part? - willows

That's a good idea. -TedPro

Well, maybe. Or once enough people homebrew level 4 and 5 rituals, we can point to the ones we judge the best and use those as benchmarks. - Quendalon

Also, a note on rituals: I think a key element that must be stressed is the very word 'ritual.' These should be less like Charms and more like religious ceremonies; they should invoke tangible elements that resonate with the game world (and with the reader). Prayers, incantations, sacrifices, writing, craftsmanship; tying knots and burning aromatic woods; sprinkling patterns of salt and inscribing prayer strips with the names of forgotten gods. Thaumaturgy is all about flavor. Without it, they're just ridiculously weak Charms, and where's the point of that? - Quendalon

I hear you, Quendalon. Don't suppose you'd care to finish up the Relay and start a new one? -TedPro

Sure, but as I'm running my game tomorrow, I may not get to it for a couple of days. - Quendalon

Cool. Thanks! -TedPro

Most of the rituals in the player's guide actually have pretty short casting times... Certainly no longer than a scene. I admit, many have lengthy preparation... but to actually -use- them, it's often just an action or two. Look to Dishonest Spirit's Rebuke... the materials need to be prepared, but the execution takes little time... the rit just under that can be fast-cast if necessary... It states that there are some reasonably powerful rituals with low casting times. It's no cheat to do preparations ahead of time... I'd say that if a thaumaturge wants to use my ritual for just an "I'm not me!" effect, it should require just about any mask, and a few rounds of privacy. However, if he's looking for a specific alternate identity, then the more time he spends, the better he can specify what the alternate identity will be. I'd also encourage storytellers to be cruel when assigning the 'random' identities for a quick casting... But, those are just my opinions. For anyone with the player's guide, the info I'm basing this on is on pages 149-150.
-- Darloth

So... are we ready for a new theme? -szilard