Thaumaturgy/RitualsDorchadas
Mortals do have a few tricks up their sleeves...
Contents
Thaumaturgical Rituals
Level One
Maiden's Prayer
Maiden Tea and other alternatives can sometimes be expensive, especially for a poor peasant family. By burning a prayer strip to the Goddess of Barrenness (and spending a point of Willpower or one mote), this ritual makes a woman unable to conceive for twenty-four hours, or men unable to sire children for a similar length of time. The ritual takes 2 minutes to perform.
Wanderer's Blessing
Even items intended for consumption have gods which can be placated. By uttering a quick prayer and performing a sacrifice (of salt, usually) to the least gods of certain foodstuffs (no more than the thaumaturge's Essence in pounds), the thaumaturge can ensure that the food will not spoil or decay for the next 24 hours. This ritual costs one Willpower (or one mote of Essence). It cannot reverse decay--only delay it.
Sealing the Ink
The thaumaturge chants a prayer to the god of writing and holds a quill pen in the smoke of burning incense. After spending 1 Willpower (or 1 mote of Essence), the magic appears in the incense, which slowly sinks into the quill, turning it dead black. For the next hour, that quill will not run out of ink no matter how much writing is done with it. The black slowly fades over the course of the hour until the quill is once again its normal color.
Level Two
To See Without Eyes
Dealing with gods is an important part of most thaumaturge's portfolio, but that can be hard to do without some means of perceiving them. This ritual allows a thaumaturge to see dematerialized spirits at the cost of their normal eyesight. This ritual requires the preparation of a linen blindfold inscribed with sigils and other occult markings, which can be done beforehand and takes three hours and a successful Intelligence + Occult roll at Difficulty 2. To activate the ritual, the thaumaturge wraps the blindfold around their eyes and spends a point of Willpower. Their normal vision is immediately cut off, but they can see all dematerialized spirits within range of their normal eyesight. They cannot, however, hear or touch them.
The ritual lasts until the thaumaturge removes the blindfold, at which point it crumbles into dust.
Light As a Feather
This ritual is a conscious (and inferior) attempt to replicate what the People of the Air do unconsciously. By spending ten minutes chanting and burning feathers (and spending 1 Willpower or 3 Essence), the thaumaturge reduces his effective weight (though not his mass or his strength) by half for a scene. This has several effects: all successes on jumping rolls count double (though tens only provide three successes), the difficulty of any attempt at swimming or climbing is reduced by two, and the Thaumaturge will travel twice as far if he suffers knockback.
Puissant Force of Will
This ritual is a relatively simple use of raw thaumaturgical power. By speaking a quick series of words, the Thaumaturge unleashes a burst of power against a single target within his [Essence * 5] yards. The thaumaturge spends 1 Willpower (or 3 Essence) rolls Wits + Occult vs. a difficulty of the target's Stamina. If the roll is successful, then the target is hurled back a number of yards equal to the thaumaturge's Willpower. This does no damage, unless the target hits an obstruction on the way, in which case they take a number of bashing levels equal to the remaining distance that they would have traveled.
Level Three
Shaping the Green
Using this ritual, the thaumaturge can influence the god of a plant to grow the plant into particularly aesthetically pleasing--or useful--patterns. The thaumaturge spends a point of Willpower, which is sufficient to change the growth for a day. The ritual takes thirty minutes, and usually an appropriate oath must be offered as well--swearing to protect the finished tree and not to allow axe or fire to touch it is particularly common. The ritual must be re-performed, at dawn of the following day, in order for the process to continue. The tree grows at normal speed, however, so any bizarre growth can take a very long time without the influence of additional magic.
This ritual is often used by the Haltans to shape the plants of their forest homes.
Level Four
Walking with the Gods
Some of the most powerful thaumaturges have the ability to interact with spirits on their own domain, though they cannot dematerialize. Instead, they send their spirits out of their bodies. The preparation for this ritual requires a day and a night of fasting and prayer, and at dawn the following day, the thaumaturge spend two Willpower points (or 5 Essence) and rolls Willpower against a difficulty of 4. If the roll succeeds, then his spirit leaves his body and he is treated as dematerialized. He can see and hear spirits, converse with them, and be seen in turn.
The ritual is, however, very dangerous to the thaumaturge. It normally lasts an hour--for every additional hour he wishes to remain outside his body, he must spend another point of Willpower (Essence cannot substitute for this). If he has no Willpower to spend, his body dies, and the soul soon becomes a ghost. If he is attacked by another spirit, he has no means of defending himself--he gains soak equal to his Wits, and a dodge pool equal to his Perception, but cannot attack back. Any "damage" done results in Willpower points being lost, with the attendant effects and danger of death. These rules apply to Exalts too, though they can still access their Essence pool and use mental charms while discorporated.
Level Five
Drinking in Stolen Power
Thaumaturgy is not nearly as powerful as the sorcery or Charms of the Exalted. However, those thaumaturges who are willing to go to great lengths for power can gain the capability to oppose the Exalted...for a time.
This ritual allows the thaumaturge to steal another being's Essence reserves and use them to supplement his own. He can even surpass his normal maximum. However, the power comes from the pain and death of another sentient being. The thaumaturge must personally torture and kill a victim (failing a Compassion roll in order to do so) over three days and nights. At the end of this period, the thaumaturge rolls Wits + Occult (Difficulty 3) and spends three Willpower points. If he is successful, he immediately adds a number of motes to his pool equal to the total number of health levels the victim had + 3, though extras never provide more than three motes. These motes are added to the thaumaturge's own, even if it takes him over his normal maximum. He cannot more than double his reserves using this ritual.
All of the stolen points fade at the next new moon. The Willpower is considered committed until that time, though no more than three points must be committed no matter how many motes are stored over the normal maximum.
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Comments, Suggestions, or Flames
Not sure if Walking with the Gods should be four or five... -Dorchadas
Even for the iffy, awfulness of mortal sorcery, I'd say 4. However, I would also suggest that you make a level 5 ritual, which requires WwtG as a prerequisite (It doesn't need to -state- that actually, but look at the effect) which means if the thaumaturge is dematerialized, if they have done the level 5 previously, then they can fully interact properly, and attack back, although damage still causes willpower. Perhaps they should get better soak as well. Then, combining the two would give proper astral-projection like effects, which could actually be useful, if horrifyingly dangerous
-- Darloth
