Thaumaturgy Rituals Level 4

[Phsycodelic]

Thaumaturgy Rituals Level 4

Tremere

Rituals are Thaumaturgical formulas, meticulously researched and prepared, that create powerful magical effects. Rituals are less versatile than paths, as their effects are singular and straightforward, but they are better suited to specific ends.

All thaumaturges have the ability to use rituals, though each individual ritual must be learned separately. By acquainting herself with the arcane practice of blood magic, the caster gains the capacity to manipulate these focused effects.

Thaumaturgical rituals are rated from 1 to 5, each level corresponding to both the level of mastery of Thaumaturgy the would-be caster must possess and the relative power of the ritual itself. Unless stated otherwise, a ritual requires five minutes per level to cast.

Casting rituals requires a successful Intelligence + Occult roll, for which the difficulty equals 3 + the level of the ritual (maximum 9). Only one success is required for a ritual to work, though certain spells may require more successes or have variable effects based on how well the caster's roll goes. Should a roll to activate a ritual fail, the Storyteller is encouraged to create strange occurrences or side effects, or even make it appear that the ritual was successful, only to reveal its failure at a later time. A botched ritual roll may even indicate a catastrophic failure or summon an ill-tempered demon.

Rituals sometimes require special ingredients or reagents to work - these are noted in each ritual's description. Common components include herbs, animal bones, ceremonial items, feathers, eye of newt, tongue of toad, etc. Acquiring magical components for a powerful ritual may form the basis for an entire story.

At the first level of Thaumaturgy, the vampire automatically gains a single Level One ritual. To learn further rituals, the thaumaturge must find someone to teach him, or learn the ritual from a scroll, tome, or other archive. Learning a new ritual can take anywhere from a few nights (Level One ritual) to months or years (Level Five ritual). Some mystics have studied individual rituals for decades, or even centuries.

[ 4 ] Binding The Beast ( XXX - Page X )

This powerful ritual will pull a fellow kindred out of frenzy and even separate the vampire from his Beast for a time. The ritual takes only 10 minutes to perform, and the caster does not have to see the subject, but he must imbibe a full Blood Point of the frenzied character's blood (it can have been drawn earlier) and push an iron spike through his own hand (causing two Health Levels of damage that can't be soaked). Upon completion of these acts, the subject suddenly emerges from frenzy, and often becomes uncharacteristically passive. In truth, his bestial side has been separated from his psyche for a number of nights equal to the number of successes the caster scores on a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty of 10 minus the subject's Humanity). During this time, the subject cannot frenzy, cannot regain Willpower, can only use one Blood Point per turn regardless of generation, and cannot even feed without making a Courage roll. In addition, the vampire must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) to use any Discipline. Legend states that some Kindred have starved into torpor after having been subjected to this ritual. The subject doesn't need to be in a frenzy, nor does she need to be willing, but the caster may never use this ritual on himself.

[ 4 ] Blood Certamen ( XXX - Page X )

While most modern Tremere apprentices see Thaumaturgy as a distinct property of their blood, some aged Tremere who survived the Long Night remember nights as mortal wizards. The clan's very foundation rests upon the traditions of those wizards - tribunals, apprenticeships, the Tremere Oath; all stem from the organization that the Tremere abandoned in their plummet into damnation. Among those early practices was one magical rite used to settle disputes. Even though the Tremere traded their mortal sorcery for blood magic, they managed to find ways to turn their old practices to their undead state, and the ritual of certámen made that transition as well.

Certámen exists as one of the oldest forms of dispute resolution between wizards, or so the elder Tremere say. In the modern nights, certámen takes a decidedly sinister form, and remains in the hands of very few Tremere. Indeed, perhaps only a half-dozen Tremere below the rank of regent know the ritual itself, and a handful more remain aware of its existence. Still, its use remains protected by ancient tradition, and a Tremere without other recourse can, if he is even aware of it, call for certámen to settle a quarrel. One pontifex supposedly favors certámen as a traditional measure and a hallmark of a true and loyal Tremere - and correspondingly evidences terrifying skill with the practice.

The rite of certámen opens with a formal declaration of challenge, though that does not constitute part of the actual ritual. The rite itself sees the contenders in a circle of blood or vitreous humor, where by technique and form - the power to harness Thaumaturgy - they shall settle the matter. A circle 10 paces across marks the boundaries of the competition, while each participant sands in an interior circle two paces wide and faces the opponent. The interior circles' outer edges just touch upon the inner ring of the large circle, so the competitors stand just a short distance apart. The participants state their terms immediately upon entering the circle, challenger declaring what he stands to gain and defender declaring three limits upon the forms of the combat. Each one intones the ritual for certámen; when both complete it, the test of blood begins, to end only in death, submission or the judgment of a presiding arbiter.

By tradition, each participant brings a second, who makes announcement of his contender and handles offices such as holding the participant's trappings or ritual accouterments. The seconds stand behind and to the right of their participants. A (supposedly) neutral party arbitrates, and may end the certámen at his discretion; he can, for instance, intervene to prevent a prodigious apprentice from destroying a regent. The arbiter determines or ratifies the victor, and also overrules the apparent victor in rare cases of cheating (though technically, the only way to “cheat” at certámen is to bring in magical artifacts or excess blood without announcing their presence to the arbiter and opponent). The arbiter also determines whether a given certámen contest has a definitive result. Should, say, one contender simply use Movement of Mind to force the other out of the ring a few seconds into the contest, or should both participants exhaust their stores of vitae without a clear victor, the arbiter may declare the matter inconclusive or a draw.

Certámen allows a thaumaturge to extend his usual path effects into more symbolic and devastating forms. Fire magics become incendiary greatswords or demonic flamebolts; spirit minions become translucent, armed legionaries; weather sorcery takes on a viciously turgid aspect. Onlookers watch as the two Tremere contend with the mightiest blood magics at their disposal. Ultimately one must give way or be slain. Each participant holds comparable amounts of power, while the ritual causes Thaumaturgy cast by the two to evidence mystic traces and patterns that allow onlookers to tell what's happening and even give the participants some ability to defend against the opponent's attacks. Victory goes to finesse and broad knowledge, not raw power. Should a participant frenzy, his second (and any attending guards) must put him down immediately; he loses the contest. Similarly, stepping from the inner circle immediately results in forfeiture. Completion of the ritual does not mystically bind either participant to its terms, but failure to adhere to one's own agreed-upon certámen carries grave weight with nearly every Tremere, and may well lead to condemnation as a rogue (assuming that the oathbreaker survived the experience).

Of course, in the Final Nights certámen exists more as a curiosity than as a common practice. Some few Tremere do use it, but certámen is never frequently nor lightly invoked. A Tremere can decline a challenge of certámen, though doing so usually entails a loss of face among the more traditional members of the clan. Successful certámen garners some small amount of prestige among the few who still consider it an art, but its use remains restricted to personal disputes. A Tremere cannot use certámen to force a superior to give him rank or to show off his thaumaturgical might, but he could use the rite to legitimately depose a superior with whom he had a personal grievance or to force a peer to stop interfering in his affairs. Similarly, a higher-ranking Tremere may step in as arbiter, and an dour pontifex may very well stop the whole process before it begins. And, of course, if the battle results in death, why then someone more competent than the loser must step forward to take over the late Kindred's assets and duties.

To this night, very few members of the other clans have even heard of certámen. Elder Tremere intend to keep it that way.

System: Certámen ultimately serves a simple game mechanical purpose: the two (always and only two) Tremere involved in certámen may expend exactly two blood points per turn, regardless of generation. Furthermore, at a cost of one blood point, a player may make a Willpower roll against the opponent's Thaumaturgy roll, with the difficulty being the opposite character's Thaumaturgy. This acts as a normal resisted roll, canceling out the opponent's successes. Because certámen highlights all thaumaturgical actions, the player can roll Intelligence + Occult (difficulty varies by power) to recognize most incoming thaumaturgical effects and decide whether or not to defend against or respond to them, as if using the power of Thaumaturgical Sight. This allows the participants to invoke potent Thaumaturgy and to defend more ably against incoming attacks. The certámen ritual imposes these modifiers only so long as both participants remain in their respective circles.

[ 4 ] Bone Of Lies ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 237 )

This ritual enchants a mortal bone so that anyone who holds it must tell the truth. The bone in question is often a skull, though any part of the skeleton will do - some casters use strings of teeth, necklaces of finger joints, or wands fashioned from ribs or arms. The bone grows blacker as it compels its holder to tell the truth, until it has turned completely ebony and has no magic left. This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom the bone belonged in life; it is this spirit who wrests the truth from the potential liar. The spirit absorbs the lies intended to be told by the bone's holder, and as it compels more truth, it becomes more and more corrupt. If summoned forth, this spirit reflects the sins it has siphoned from the defeated liar (in addition to anger over its unwilling servitude). For this reason, anonymous bones are often used in the ritual, and the bone is commonly buried after it has been used to its full extent. A specific bone may never be used twice for this ritual, though different bones from the same corpse can.

System: The bone imbued with this magical power must be at least 200 years old and must absorb 10 blood points on the night that the ritual is cast. Each lie the holder wishes to tell consumes one of these blood points, and the holder must speak the truth immediately thereafter. When all 10 blood points have been consumed, the bone's magic ceases to work.

[ 4 ] Bottled Voice ( XXX - Page X )

The Thaumaturgist draws out an individual's ability to make any sound with the voice. The victim remains mute for as long as the vampire has the voice in his possession. The voice is removed with a verbal incantation and forced into a bottle with somatic signs. The bottle must then have a wax seal placed upon it. The victim is then unable to speak, but otherwise unaffected. The vampire employing this ritual can keep the victim's voice as long as the seal and the bottle itself remain unbroken.

[ 4 ] Death Wrath ( XXX - Page X )

The caster's seething hate attacks the target in the form of the raging Beast, and the target will be plagued by frenzies. The surser rolls his Willpower spent acts as a success. The number of successes achieved will add to the target's difficulty when resisting frenzies. This curse can only be canceled by a quest to control the Beast within (a story), the achievement of Golconda, or a Level Five ritual.

[ 4 ] Drawing Upon The Bound ( XXX - Page X )

This special ritual allows a vampire to utilize the Disciplines of any individual, Kindred or kine, who is Blood Bound directly to her. This ritual does not work for the Vinculum created by the Vaulderie, as the individual must be Blood Bound directly to the vampire. This ritual is used most often with ghouls, calling upon their Potence or other Disciplines. The victim cannot use the Traits while the vampire does. This ritual requires the vampire to carry a small vial containing a drop of the Bound individual's blood. This ritual was originally employed in Haiti, but has rapidly spread. Unfortunately, it is of much less use to Sabbat than it is to most other Kindred.

[ 4 ] Firewalker ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 238 )

This ritual imbues the vampire with an unnatural resistance to fire. Only a foolish vampire would actually attempt to walk on or through fire, but this ritual does grant an advanced tolerance to flame. Some Sabbat use this ritual to show off, while other thaumaturges use it only for martial concerns. To enact the ritual, the caster must cut off the end of one of his fingers and burn it in a Thaumaturgical circle.

System: Cutting off one's finger does not do any health levels of damage, but it hurts like hell and requires a Willpower roll to perform. This ritual may be cast on other vampires (at the expense of the caster's fingertips...). If the subject has no Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina for the duration of this ritual. If the vampire has Fortitude, he may soak fire with his Stamina + Fortitude for the duration of the ritual. This ritual lasts one hour.

[ 4 ] Furtive Integument ( XXX - Page X )

The thaumaturge creates one specimen of a quasi-Gargoyle called a valluma. The ritual takes place in two steps. First, the magician consecrates a series of glass flasks and beakers by seeking the blessing of a flesh elemental. Then she sends a swarm of the tiny, manufactured insects called skin eaters (see p. 127) out to dine on a victim. When they do, much of the victim's skin appears in the glass apparatus. The thaumaturge now has the raw materials to create a velluma. she flattens the skin with a hot iron, taking care not to scorch it. Then she stretches it out onto a wire frame whose shape mimics the outline of the human body. She summons spirits of illusion called phantasms and induces one to enter the flattened sheet of skin, which it then animates.

This ritual was devised by Virstania in a convoluted attempt to make further use of a previous creation, the skin eaters. She presented the first velluma as a gift to Paul Cordwood in a gesture of peace required when one of her favored Gargoyles broke the neck of one of his apprentices. Though at first skeptical of the things' utility, Cordwood now encourages her to create them for him. She doles them out generously, hoping to secure Cordwood's support when she one day petitions Etrius and Tremere to extend greater rights to her Gargoyles.

System: The player rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6) for the ritualist to make a form suitable for animation, then Charisma + Occult (difficulty 6) for her to lure a phantasm. The velluma lives for six months per success in the latter roll. Because much blood is spilled by the victim of the skin eaters, the ritualist need not supply any of her own.

Note: Virstania takes her notes on the manufacture of vellumae with her when she leaves Ceoris. Modern Tremere do not know the ritual.

[ 4 ] Heart Of Stone ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 238 )

A vampire under the effect of this ritual experiences the transformation suggested by the ritual's name: His heart is completely transmuted to solid rock, rendering him virtually impervious to staking. The subsidiary effects of the transformation, however, seem to follow the Hermetic laws of sympathetic magic: The vampire's emotional capacity becomes almost nonexistent, and his ability to relate to others suffers as well.

System: This ritual requires nine hours (reduced by one hour for every success). It can only be cast on oneself. The caster lies naked on a flat stone surface and places a bare candle over his heart. The candle burns down to nothing over the course of the ritual, causing one aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 5 to soak with Fortitude). At the end of the ritual, the caster's heart hardens to stone. The caster gains a number of additional dice equal to twice his Thaumaturgy rating to soak any attack that aims for his heart and is completely impervious to the effects of a Shaft of Belated Quiescence. Additionally, the difficulty to use all Presence or other emotionally manipulative powers on him is increased by three due to his emotional isolation. The drawbacks are as follows: the caster's Conscience/Conviction and Empathy scores drop to 1 (or to 0 if they already were at 1) and all dice pools for Social rolls except those involving Intimidation are halved (including those required to use Disciplines). All Merits that the character has pertaining to positive social interaction are neutralized. Heart of Stone lasts as long as the caster wishes it to.

[ 4 ] Infirm Inert ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 152 )

Amongst the vast arsenal of mystical powers of Kindred, perhaps the most important is the ability to leverage blood to heal wounds that would stagger or kill mortals. Kindred can quickly knit and heal their injuries from abrasions, lacerations, and even the loss of appendages. This ritual allows a thaumaturge to transmute a drop of her blood into a mystical poison that temporarily blocks her victim's ability to use her vitae for healing. Before casting Infirm Inert, the thaumaturge must imbibe a small quantity of blood laced with laudanum and then meditate for twenty minutes. Finally, she must expel a drop of blood into the palm of her hand. The next Kindred the caster touches before dawn suffers the effects of the ritual.

System: Infirm Inert creates a skin-contact poison that may only be used once before it turns inert. If the poison is not used by the end of the evening, the power of the ritual fizzles and the poison is rendered useless. The thaumaturge must apply the mystical poison to her own skin (she is immune) and then touch her intended target. The Storyteller may require a roll to touch the victim, depending upon the circumstances.

Upon skin contact, Infirm Inert temporarily cancels the victim's ability to heal, though she may not be aware of this until she actively attempts to use her blood to do so. Victims may spend a point of Willpower to ignore this effect for one turn. When this ritual expires, all wounds may be healed according to the type of damage suffered, as normal. Each success on the activation roll for the ritual adds an additional night of effectiveness for the poison. The effects of this mystical poison may be countered by the Thaumaturgy ritual Purity of the Flesh.

[ 4 ] Infusion Of Earth ( XXX - Page X )

Gargoyles are inherently connected to the earth, and the Tremere have taken advantage of this. This ritual requires the Gargoyle to ingest powdered mortar mixed with the Tremere's vitae. The ritual is somewhat unpredictable and can take several hours of continuous chanting and concentration by the Tremere.

System: A Gargoyle must be of at least ninth generation to absorb the effects of this ritual successfully. The Tremere must roll Stamina + Occult once per hour of the ritual. The Tremere must accumulate a total of 10 successes without botching (a roll with no successes but no botches does not end the ritual) and before sunrise for the ritual to succeed. If successful, the Gargoyle may meld with earth (per the Protean Discipline Earth Meld) by the simple expenditure of a Blood Point. The Gargoyle may also meld into stone or rock with equal ease. Anybody who searches the place where a Gargoyle has melded with the earth may, on a roll of Perception + Alertness versus difficulty 8, notice the vague outline of the Gargoyle, as the creature does not completely merge with the stone or dirt. This ritual lasts until the next solstice or equinox.

[ 4 ] Innocence Of The Child's Heart ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 152 )

It is difficult to be subtle when your fellow predators can sense your motivations. Innocence of the Child's Heart masks the aura of the caster from the Auspex power of Aura Perception. Any who use that power on the caster will perceive a white aura, untainted by any signs of vampirism. This ritual requires a high price: The sacrifice of a mortal child.

System: Innocence of the Child's Heart requires the ritualistic sacrifice of a mortal child and the harvesting of her heart. The thaumaturge must dip a beloved toy that once belonged to the child in the heart's blood. The toy will quickly absorb all of the blood until it appears to be clean again. As long as the caster carries the toy, her aura will be pure white untainted by any signs of vampirism. The duration of the effect is one week, plus an additional week per success on the activation roll. This horrific ritual imposes an extreme cost on the caster's Humanity.

[ 4 ] Invisible Chains Of Binding ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual allows the vampire to create a supernatural force that holds a victim immobile. The victim is actually chained with invisible and intangible chains that force her to remain where she is. The victim may try to move, but the chains are too strong to break unless the victim can make a simple roll using Strength (difficulty 8) and score two successes in one turn (Potence affects this roll normally). Up to four victims may be chained through the use of this ritual. The vampire Thaumaturgist must make bold hand gestures but no material component is required to cast this ritual.

[ 4 ] Keening Of The Banshee ( XXX - Page X )

The vampire makes a horrific sound so loud as to be deafening. The person closest to the vampire when this ritual is used suffers the full brunt of the assault. His hair turns white and he ages somewhere between 1 -10 years (if mortal). The ritual's effects a re instantaneous. The material component for this ritual is a necklace bearing a pendant carved from an old tombstone. For obvious reasons, this ritual has little effect on Kindred, but Lupines are affected normally.

[ 4 ] Mark Of Amaranth ( XXX - Page X )

Among Kindred, diablerie is regarded as a great crime – many elders go to extraordinary lengths to extinguish an upstart neonate who evidences a hunger for the blood of his fellows. Deceptive Tremere can turn this paranoia against a hapless victim. All that's needed is some intimate possession of the target, and the destruction of another Kindred....

System: The thaumaturge must destroy another Kindred by his own hand, while holding or wearing some possession of the subject. He may then invoke this ritual by placing the object in the dead Kindred's corpse before it crumbles to ash. Once the ritual is completed, the subject exhibits the evidence of a diablerist to all forms of divination until the next sunrise. This includes Aura Perception, the Blood Walk ritual and any other sorts of scrying.

The Mark of Amaranth cannot be deferred by the Soul Mask Discipline, though higher levels of Obfuscate or certain advanced rituals might be able to counter it. Note that the ritual does not necessarily cause the victim to think that he's a diablerist – an innocent victim can truthfully answer that he is not a diablerist, even as his aura contradicts him.

Naturally, use of this ritual is an efficient way to rapidly erode one's Humanity.

[ 4 ] Mirror Walk ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 152 )

Practitioners of Astral Projection understand that there are multiple layers to the universe. A Malkavian thaumaturge obsessed with mirrors is rumored to have created this ritual, allowing her to travel from place to place in the material world. Mirror Walk creates a sympathetic link between two mirrors, allowing the caster to travel between them as long as they are within a mile of each other.

System: The thaumaturge must create two identical mirrors of the appropriate size made with silver. She must soak both mirrors in two points of her own blood and chant over her creation for three nights to create a special resonance link between the two objects. Once completed, the thaumaturge may stand before either mirror and recite the mystical password to open a magical gate between the two mirrors. Such powerful magic cannot be done swiftly, as it requires three turns for the portal to open. The glass ripples and shimmers when ready, and then the caster may step through. She may take one passenger with her on this trip, but she must act swiftly, as the gateway closes after 2 turns. If the thaumaturge or her passenger is delayed, they may become trapped between locations and lost in another realm.

[ 4 ] Peace Of The Dead ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual causes the victim to fall into a deep slumber, akin to torpor in disadvantages but not in benefits. The area of effect is based on the number of successes obtained with a Manipulation + Occult roll (difficulty 6):

Successes	Range
1	1 square yard.
2	10 square yards.
3	100 square yards.
4	1,000 square yards.
5	5,000 square yards.

Each turn that a character (aside from the caster) is within the area of effect, she must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) to remain unaffected. There are three levels of success possible. A complete success or better (three or more successes) means that the character remains completely unaffected that turn. A moderate success (two successes) means that the character feels drowsy and that all her Dice Pools for the turn are reduced by one die. A marginal success (one success) means that the character may perform no actions during the turn. A failure means the character falls asleep for two minutes (longer than combat typically lasts), while a bitch means the character falls asleep for two hours.

[ 4 ] Preservation Of The Sanguine Heart ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 27 )

Loyalty is an exceptionally rare commodity, and perhaps that is why so many are willing to rob others of their free will to secure it. Blood bonds are one of the oldest means of control and ensuring loyalty by the elders in vampire society. The Anarchs now utilize many of the same tactics that were once the tools of their oppression. The Sabbat have embraced what once terrified them in their own communal Vaulderie. Agents of the Camarilla often must disguise their allegiances while working undercover for the Ivory Tower in Anarch or Sabbat territory where proving loyalty is often as simple as sharing blood.

Clan Tremere developed this ritual to protect Archons and Sheriffs from blood bonds and the Vaulderie, even if only temporarily.

System: The thaumaturge must anoint the forehead of the target with a point of the caster's vitae and then pass to her a prepared chalice with a drop of mercury. She must drink the metal and suffer one aggravated wound to her internal organs as the mercury covers her insides with a mystical barrier. Afterward, the target is magically protected against being blood bound or the effects of the Vaulderie (including getting the Mark of the Betrayer for some Tremere antitribu) for one day per success achieved on the activation roll. This protection comes at a steep price. In addition to the aggravated wound, the target may not receive sustenance from blood without the target willingly canceling the ritual.

[ 4 ] Protean Curse ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual turns the target into a bat as per the fourth level of the Protean Discipline. The target must drink a vial of blood from a rabid vampire bat. This ritual may be cast on Kindred or kine, and the target will only turn back to human form when the spell is cast on her.

[ 4 ] Raven Watchers ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual transforms the caster's foe into a raven and enslaves him for the rest of his unnaturally short life. A victim so transformed gradually loses his Intelligence (one point per month until he reaches zero). Because the raven was once sentient, those with the Discipline of Animalism cannot sway him until he loses all semblance of human intelligence.

While under the enchantment, the affected watcher will obey the exact mental commands of the caster to the best of its ability. It can also broadcast any visual and aural information gathered to that caster, just as a videocassette recorder might. In order to focus upon this mental information, however, the caster must concentrate, rolling [caster's Perception + watcher's Intelligence (difficulty 6)]. The number of successes achieved determines the clarity of the Watcher's "broadcast" and the caster's reception of it.

Successes	Effect
1	The witch can hear loud noises through the raven's ears, but can see nothing.
2	The witch can hear noises of medium intensity, but can see nothing.
3	The witch can hear with perfect clarity and can see patches of light and dark.
4	The witch can hear perfectly and see fuzzy shapes (in black and white, of course).
5	The witch can see and hear perfectly through the raven's faculties.

In order to create a watcher, the witch must feed the victim 13 kernels of Indian corn boiled in raven soup and dried on a corn husk smeared with raven droppings, while chanting the highly-guarded words of the ritual. The Thaumaturgist then rolls Willpower (difficult of the target's Humanity). At least three successes are needed. Once enslaved, a watcher will remain under the enchantment until it dies. Witches continually replenish their supply of watchers, however, for the mortality rate of watchers in urban areas is high.

While the victims of this ritual are typically human, it is said that two other versions of this ritual exist; the more potent version (Level Five) allows the caster to transform Kindred into raven watchers, while the weaker version (Level Two) allows the caster to enslave ordinary ravens. The latter is less desirable but also practiced more frequently, for it is easier to enslave ordinary birds than it is to transform and enslave humans. However, casters do benefit from having human or Kindred subjects, for it is easier to communicate with intelligent minds than those of birds.

[ 4 ] Rend The Mind ( XXX - Page X )

House Tremere, masters of Thaumaturgy and Auspex, developed this attack as a form of assassination. Being able to infiltrate the minds and directly attack the psyche of an opponent is vastly superior to a physical attack upon enemies and near impossible to detect. The thaumaturge consumes the brain of a rabid animal when preparing this ritual.

System: Casting this one-hour ritual allows the caster to use one telepathic assault before the next sunrise. The attack can affect anyone the thaumaturge can see, and the telepathic attack uses an Intelligence + Empathy roll (difficulty of the target's Willpower) to determine its effectiveness. Each success is translated into a health level of unsoakable bashing damage to the target (though Kindred halve the damage suffered).

[ 4 ] Rending Sweet Earth ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual opens a 10-foot by 10-foot chasm leading to the subterranean resting place of a vampire in an Earth Melded state. This ritual automatically awakens the target Cainite if she is asleep, but will not do so if she is in torpor. The ritual must be cast at the exact spot where the vampire entered the earth, and the caster must repeatedly strike the ground with a leather whip.

[ 4 ] Respect Of The Animals ( XXX - Page X )

The vampire who casts this ritual may travel through the wilderness without danger from animals. Animals will not be afraid of the vampire, nor will they dislike her. Animals will accept the vampire as an equal and allow her to pass, though they will not aid the vampire in any way. No components are required, and the effects last for four hours.

[ 4 ] Return Of The Heart ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual is a severe curse to the less humane Kindred. Cainites that are the target of this power have the portion of their soul that has been slowly dying returned to them. Murderers become racked with remorse over their actions and lament their deeds. For more debased members of the Sabbat this power is particularly crippling and may well result in their destruction at the hands of their packmates. Invoking this power requires either knowledge of the subject's True Name or a quantity of her blood.

System: The subject becomes temporarily governed by the Hierarchy of Sin for Humanity as if she had a Humanity rating of 9. Note that this does not actually impart a Humanity of 9 to the character — she is simply overwhelmed by a sense of her own damnation. The subject still has the Path rating that they normally would have, but they are no longer inured to the cruelties of the world. This will have the Cainite performing Degeneration tests for the most minor of deeds. This power lasts for one hour per success on the ritual roll.

[ 4 ] Scry ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 153 )

Scrying is the practice of remote viewing via a reflective, translucent substance such as water. The thaumaturge must craft a wide silver bowl and then fill it with purified spring water mixed with a drop of owl's blood. Next, she must concentrate upon her intended target and gaze into the bowl. If successful, the caster can see and hear what is happening around the target as though she were personally there.

System: Once the bowl and water is prepared according to the specifications, the thaumaturge must concentrate for a minute before attempting to scry her target. This ritual lasts for a number of hours equal to the successes for the activation roll. The thaumaturge only has to concentrate during this duration to view scenes through the water. If a location is the center of the Scry, this location cannot be changed throughout the duration of the ritual. The caster cannot use Auspex powers, Thaumaturgy, or similar mental Disciplines through the Scry.

If the caster is attempting to scry an item or place, she must be familiar enough with it to have formed a psychic attachment with it. If the caster intends to scry upon a person, she might have in her possession an object with a psychic resonance with the target.

[ 4 ] Shadowgate ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual allows the Thaumaturgist to enter or leave the Shadowlands by painting an X over each eye and then stepping into an extremely dark shadow. The shadow will open up into the corresponding Shadowland, and the character can bring anything that he can carry. The X must be marked on with a powder made of coal and human ashes.

[ 4 ] Soul Of The Homunculus ( XXX - Page X )

Tremere in need of assistants for their research cannot always rely upon the loyalty of apprentices. But who can doubt the loyalty of one's own flesh? A homunculus is a tiny creature crafted out of the caster's blood and tissue, which acts as an extension of the caster's will.

Crafting a homunculus takes several hours of uninterrupted work, and the thaumaturge can have only one homunculus at a time. The horrid little entity takes shape in a bubbling morass of oil, blood, denuded bone and chunks of the caster's body. At the conclusion of the ritual, the homunculus crawls from its fatty birthing caul to serve its master. The homunculus can move about under its own power, and may be used as a spy or a means to fetch materials.

Many types of homunculi exist; different thaumaturges create different sorts of beast. The most common are flyers (which resemble tiny winged demons), grubs (which look like worms with their masters' faces), and hoppers (small, bald, implike entities with their casters' features reduced to miniature). The homumculus acts according to its master's orders, which may be issued nonverbally as long as the beast is in its creator's presence. Over time, some homunculi develop their own personalities and goals, and more than one unnerved Tremere has discovered his homunculus playing malicious pranks behind his back.

System: A homunculus has two health levels and two dots in each Physical Attribute. It works much like a limb of the creator – the homunculus only moves or acts if the caster so wills it. A homunculus cannot fight effectively, but can push or carry objects, and can often hide or spy on locations unnoticed due to its small size. Though the homunculus is initially wholly loyal, its experiences may eventually (over years) cause it to form a personality of its own, often spawned from the worst qualities of its creator. Homunculi are damaged by sunlight and fire like Kindred.

A homunculus, though created from the caster's flesh, is a separate physical entity and thus does not count as an arcane connection, nor do its bodily fluids count as its creator's blood. However, establishing a psychic connection to a homunculus instead projects into the consciousness of its controller.

A homunculus must be fed one point of blood each week or it will wither and die. Feeding may be an unsettling act to witnesses – some Tremere suckle them at their own breasts, acting on some undead parental urge, while others treat their imps derisively, holding their opened wrists far above the creature's head while forcing it to caper about for its sustenance.

[ 4 ] Soul Yoke ( XXX - Page X )

A victim of this ritual finds herself spiritually harnessed to a fetish (usually a doll). Like all sympathetic magic, the victim directly experiences any pain or pleasure inflicted upon the doll. If that which is done to the done to the doll would normally kill a human being or vampire (such as decapitation or incineration), the victim dies. However, the stimulus must be actively caused. Thus, the victim would not feel pain if the doll were in a burning house and caught fire by accident; however, if someone lit the house on fire in order to burn the doll or if the doll were thrown into a fireplace maliciously, the victim would feel all the effects of the fire.

Distance from the fetish makes no difference; the victim can be one foot or a million miles away from the doll. Only those who harbor no ill will toward the victim may destroy the doll and break the enchantment; the victim cannot destroy it unless she is prepared to destroy herself in the process.

The ritual requires an elaborate liturgy lasting two hours and requiring a number of physical components. Witches performing the ritual must place wax candles, chalk, iron chains and help ropes around the victim (who must be on a stone altar) in a perfect circle. Then, standing outside the circle on a scrubbed floor, onto which are scattered strands of ox hairs and droplets of diseased horse blood, they must take turns chanting the words of the ritual.

Once that has been accomplished, they must step inside the circle, slit open the victim's forehead and touch the fetish doll to the victim's heart and to her forehead as it bleeds. At this point, part of the victim's soul enters the doll; one of the witches must then insert a hairpin through the doll's heart to "pin" the soul to the fetish, and the pin dissolves. When this has been done, the victim and the doll are permanently linked.

Victims of Soul Yoke are not mentally controlled in the magical sense; however, witches frequently use this ritual to enslave victims by threatening them with unbearable pain or death if they disobey. The victim takes damage equivalent to that inflicted upon the doll (thus, a lighter held up to a doll would be the equivalent to holding a torch to the victim).

The victim may make a special roll using Willpower instead of Stamina + Fortitude (even when the doll is being burnt or exposed to sunlight). The pain that the victim experiences in such circumstances is so great that she is incapacitated during each round that she takes damage. In order to avoid such incapacitation, the victim must spend a Willpower point.

[ 4 ] Splinter Servant ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 238 )

Another ritual designed to enchant a stake, Splinter Servant is a progressive development of Shaft of Belated Quiescence. (The two rituals, however, are mutually exclusive.) A Splinter Servant consists of a stake carved from a tree which has nourished itself on the dead. The stake must be bound in wax-sealed nightshade twine. When the binding is torn off, the Splinter Servant leaps to life, animating itself and attacking whomever the wielder commands - or the wielder, if she is too slow in assigning a target. The servant splits itself into a roughly humanoid form and begins single-mindedly trying to impale the target's heart. Its exertions tear it apart within a few minutes, but if it pierces its victim's heart before it destroys itself, it is remarkably difficult to remove, as pieces tend to remain behind if the main portion is yanked out.

System: The ritual requires 12 hours to cast, minus one per success, and the servant must be created as described above. When the binding is torn off, the character who holds it must point the servant at its target and verbally command it to attack during the same turn. If this command is not given, the servant attacks the closest living or unliving being, usually the unfortunate individual who currently carries it. A Splinter Servant always aims for the heart. It has an attack dice pool of the caster's Wits + Occult, a damage dice pool of the caster's Thaumaturgy rating, and a maximum movement rate of 30 yards or meters per turn. Note that these values are those of the caster who created the servant, not the individual who activates it. A Splinter Servant cannot fly, but can leap its full movement rating every turn. Every action it takes is to attack or move toward its target; it cannot dodge or split its dice pool to perform multiple attacks. The servant makes normal stake attacks that aim for the heart (difficulty 9), and its success is judged as per the rules for a normal staking (see p. 280). A Splinter Servant has three health levels, and attacks directed against it are made at +3 difficulty due to its small size and erratic movement patterns. A Splinter Servant has an effective life of five combat turns per success rolled in its creation. If it has not impaled its victim by the last turn of its life, the servant collapses into a pile of ordinary, inanimate splinters. Three successes on a Dexterity roll (difficulty 8) are required to remove a Splinter Servant from a victim's heart without leaving behind shards of the stake.

[ 4 ] Stolen Kisses ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 153 )

Thaumaturges cast this ritual when they do not wish to feed by mouth. Instead, Stolen Kisses allows them to drain small portions of vitae through other parts of a vessel's body. Some vampires prefer the strong handshake in a crowded room. Sadists enjoy choking vessels, providing a double pleasure of asphyxiation and the flush of new vitae coursing through cold veins. Others seek to relive mortal experiences by draining blood from a vessel during sex. Victims from this ritual are not immediately aware that blood is drained from their bodies, but will experience a slight sensation of dizziness and light-headedness. This ritual requires the caster to carry a "witch's kiss" - a thistle steeped in the blood of a vampire - somewhere on his person

System: The thaumaturge must first make a small incision on his body where she intends to make physical contact with a vessel. Once the ritual is cast, the wound knits itself closed and then opens to create a lip-and-mouth mystical orifice that when pressed against a vessel's flesh will drink one blood point every other turn from the victim as long as contact persists. After the second point of vitae is consumed, a vessel is likely to feel woozy, while taking five blood points can cause the victim to black out from the substantial lack of blood in her body. Stolen Kisses remains active for one night. Note that the thaumaturge does not cause ecstasy or rapture when taking blood in this manner, as he would if he fed on a vessel normally.

[ 4 ] Summon The Blood Imp ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 27 )

Mastery of blood magic requires dedication and time away from the politics and socialization of vampire society. Trust is a rare commodity, especially to a fellow vampire and predator, and certain tasks require a certain delicate touch. This creature was created by a Tremere elder to serve as a clever thief and saboteur. He discovered in his experiments on some Tzimisce subjects that there was a very minute trace of the mutability inherent in vitae, and in that moment received the inspiration for the creation of the blood imp.

The thaumaturge must stitch together the form of the blood imp from the dead parts of animals, inanimate objects, and even human cadavers. This is a personal, individualized process, and rarely will two blood imps look exactly the same even if made by the same caster. (The flesh of a former supernatural creature doesn't work, and attempts to use it with this ritual will automatically fail.)

Once the blood imp has been given the spark of life, it forms its own personality based on that of its creator. The blood imp was created to love the thaumaturge, and will go out of its way to do things that it believes will make her happy. A cruel caster will find that her blood imp delights in tormenting lesser creatures to make its master laugh, while a solemn thaumaturge will find a quiet, thoughtful servant that works subtly and efficiently.

Homunculi are created to be useful and devoted laboratory assistants and so gain their creators' knowledge of Thaumaturgy. Blood imps, however, are made for mayhem.

System: Summon the Blood Imp requires that the thaumaturge stitch together fresh (within three days) corpses of animals and humans into a frightening humanoid creation. The blood imp has an animal cunning and empathic link to its master that allows it to innately understand the needs and desires of its master. Next, the caster must add six points of Tremere blood into the mix and allow it to simmer over the course of three nights.

Such devoted service is not without a cost. The blood imp requires a certain amount of attention lest it turn spiteful. Nothing is more frustrating than an angry blood imp disrupting important rituals or breaking priceless artifacts in a temper tantrum. Blood imps must be fed regularly with vitae and flesh.

A blood imp can fight, but not with tremendous effectiveness; it will nevertheless destroy itself if necessary to protect its creator. It can also push or carry small objects, and makes an effective spy (though it detests being away from its master for long periods of time). Blood imps are damaged by sunlight and fire like Kindred, and can also be destroyed utterly by immersion in sanctified water. More information on the capabilities of a blood imp can be found on page 108 of the book Rites of the Blood.

[ 4 ] The Bronze Head Speaks ( XXX - Page X )

Mendacamina devised this ritual to counteract a vexing limitation of the Auspex Discipline. while the Steal Secrets power makes it possible to experience the surface thoughts of a victim, the results are often a series of annoying visual images. When seeking the plans and secrets of the enemy, the Tremere require precision. When they ask a prisoner where the nearest Tzimisce haven is, they want an exact description, not a cloudy vision of a babbling brook and a moonlit bridge. This ritual permits the desired exactitude, at least when the subject is a bound and helpless prisoner headed for vivisection on Virstania's lab tables.

As assistants chant an elegy to lost souls, warning them that another doomed one is about to join them, the ritualist rubs the victim's head in an alchemical salve that saps the will, melts off interfering hair and softens the skull. She then takes a flexible bronze tube (a cannula) with a sharpened end (a trocar) and jabs it through the prisoner's right temple and on into his brain. The tube is attached to a manually-operated pump. Assistants turn the pump's crank wheel throughout the rest of the process, drawing the victim's pulped brain matter through the tubing to a large bronze head. The head is expensive to produce and must be made by master craftsmen. It stands about two feet high and has an articulated jaw for speech. Its eyes are balls of ivory suspended in small, liquid-filled crystals; these bobble around whenever the victim suffers a jolt of pain or pang of regret from the secrets it hears revealed.

Once the head sputters to its semblance of life, the ritualist may ask it questions. The head's knowledge is restricted to the memories of the victim, but the unwillingness or failing memory of the prisoner poses no impediment to the head. The head can dredge down into his mind to free up long-buried memories of his pre-Cainite lifetime or even memories suppressed by magical means. the further a memory from the victim's conscious understanding, the longer the head must take to scoop it out.

The head does not speak with the voice of the victim; instead it has a rudimentary persona of its own. The head at Ceoris, dubbed Paracelsus, behaves obsequiously, asking after Mendacamina's health and taking every opportunity to praise the perspicacity that led her to construct him. He may also make grim jokes at the victim's expense or volunteer humiliating information about him ("This one was very sinful with his sister when he was ordinary flesh, I'm sad to say.") When having a hard time finding an answer to a question, it might exhort the assistants to pump harder or warn Mendacamina that the victim's now-spongy brain is unlikely to hold out much longer. Mendacamina is not always amused by his banter and may order him to silence himself, which he does.

No two heads have exactly the same personality, though all are in some way chillingly disregardful of the victim's suffering.

System: The thaumaturge's player rolls Intelligence + Occult (as normal), opposed by the victim's Stamina + Fortitude (difficulty 9). Each net success provides the thaumaturge with one immediately useful piece of information. The exact content is up to the Storyteller.

A mortal, or a ghoul without Fortitude cannot survive the process of having her brain pulped. Vampires, especially those with Fortitude (and ghouls with that Discipline), have a chance of surviving because of their inhuman regenerative abilities. The player rolls Stamina + Fortitude (difficulty 9) and requires three successes for the character to survive and end the torture session in torpor. Five successes leave the character Incapacitated instead. Ghouls cannot enter torpor and so need five successes even to survive.

A vampire killed by the ritual can be vivisected for the purpose of using him as raw material for a Gargoyle, provided that his pieces can be used right away or magically preserved.

Note: Although Paracelsus is destroyed with Ceoris in 1476, the ritual survived, and several major Tremere chantries built new bronze heads when they found themselves at war with enemies. The ritual is still in use today, its intrusive capabilities hardly eclipsed by lie detectors or truth serums.

[ 4 ] The Curse Belated ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 151 )

The training of a ghoul to serve the needs of a thaumaturge can take years. Some use this process to weed out undesirables and test potential Embrace candidates. The amount of effort involved inspired the creation of the ritual known as the Curse Belated. By performing this ritual on a ghoul, the caster invests a portion of her power so that, should the unthinkable happen, her thrall shall be resurrected as a vampire.

This ritual was originally used by the sorcerers of the Assamites and the Followers of Set. Clan Tremere has an organized system of schooling their apprentices, and while most are forever regulated to the position of research assistant, some were important enough that elders sought out and converted this ritual to preserve those that they put so much time into.

System: The thaumaturge must first prepare a brand with her sigil. She must feed her ghoul a point of blood while chanting the incantation, and then seal the covenant by branding her sigil onto the body of her thrall. The thaumaturge loses access to one permanent point from her blood pool until this ritual is triggered. The moment that the ghoul's heart stops beating, the stored vitae inside her body activates and resurrects her as a full-fledged vampire. Once "Embraced," the sigil disappears and the empty spot in the caster's blood pool unlocks, allowing her to once again spend that blood point. The caster is immediately aware that the ritual has been triggered and that her former ghoul is now dead and might be her new childer. (Though she can sense the ritual's activation, the thaumaturge may have no way to know whether the former ghoul managed to survive the process.)

[ 4 ] The Haunting ( XXX - Page X )

This ritual summons a spirit to frighten a target tremendously. It will play tricks on the person like a poltergeist, but the Haunting Spirit will try to cause a person to faint or have a heart attack (mortals only). The spirit will not directly harm the victim, but it may have almost the same effect without doing so. To determine if a mortal has a heart attack or faints, the spirit must make a resisted roll using its Fright rating + Intimidation (difficulty equal to the victim's Stamina + [Courage or Morale]). This spirit usu ally has little effect against Kindred.

Successes	Effect
1	The victim is severely scared but no real harm is done.
2	The victim is so shocked she cannot do a thing for several minutes, possibly hours.
3	The victim faints.
4	The victim goes into a state of shock and may suffer long-term psychological trauma.
5	The spirit causes the victim to have a heart attack, killing the victim (if mortal) unless the victim can make a resisted roll using her own Stamina + Self- Control (difficulty 8). Survivors may very well have their hair turn white.

The spirit will remain for a period of time based on the number of successes the vampire rolls using his Charisma + Spirit Lore (difficulty 7).

Successes	Duration
1	One hour.
2	One night.
3	One week.
4	One month.
5	One year.

Haunting Spirits have Fright ratings between 3 and 5 (each point adds one die to attempts to frighten), and Intimidation ratings between 2 and 5, at the Storyteller's discretion.

[ 4 ] Track Transgressor ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 152 )

Transgressor is the term for outsider thaumaturges or rogue Tremere that use blood magic to attack the Ivory Tower. Track Transgressor was designed to track these enemies of the Camarilla. Clan Tremere vigilantly hunts these enemies to protect the Camarilla from mystical assaults (or so it claims). Skeptics whisper that the Warlocks simply don't like the competition.

System: To cast the ritual, the thaumaturge must locate a site where Thaumaturgy has been cast within the past twenty-four hours. She must then spill her blood (spending a blood point) upon the ground while reciting the proper incantation. Bloody footprints that are only visible to the caster appear on the ground and lead away to the transgressor. After casting this ritual, the Tremere is able to flawlessly track down the transgressor until dawn. This tracking follows the exact path that the magus took after leaving the area where the magic was used. This ritual may track down only Thaumaturgy and related rituals, not Necromancy or other types of magic.

[ 4 ] Unweave Ritual ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 154 )

Thaumaturges have long used their powers to inflict harm upon those that have offended them or compete against their interests. Often, it is a rival thaumaturge that is the most dangerous and willing to strike out against a blood magician. Unweave Ritual allows a thaumaturge to identify the enemy ritual under which she labors and then create a countering blood magic ritual to unweave it. Thaumaturges skilled in this magic learn general principles to confound other rituals, shrug off their effects, or collapse them prematurely.

System: First, the caster must figure out what ritual currently afflicts her. If she possesses the ritual, this is automatic. Otherwise, this may require some research via an Intelligence + Occult roll with a difficulty base of 4, plus 1 for every level rating of the ritual. Next, the caster must secure a component that would be used in the casting of the offending ritual, then destroy it in some fashion. Her successes subtract from the successes scored by the original caster; if she manages to wipe away all of the successes, the offending ritual immediately ends, with all concomitant effects. Thus, a quick end to Bind the Accusing Tongue would allow the victim to speak ill of her enemies again, but a premature end to a Blood Contract would painfully shove her into tor.

Only rituals that have a duration can be unwoven. For instance, a thaumaturge who has thrown off a blood bond through Abandon the Fetters (below) is not constantly under the effects of that ritual. Once the ritual is complete, the bond is gone and the ritual is done. However, a thaumaturge suffering from the Thaumaturgy ritual The Bottled Voice would be considered to be under the duration of the ritual as long as the crystal bottle remained sealed, so it could be unwoven. Note that a thaumaturge can only unweave a ritual on herself, not one on someone else. A thaumaturge suffering from multiple rituals must unweave each one separately. Multiple unweavings can be accumulated against a ritual so long as the appropriate time and components can be acquired.

[ 4 ] Vigil Of The Stone Guardian ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 29 )

Clan Tremere has long utilized mystical servants to protect their havens and laboratories. Vigil of the Stone Guardian allows the thaumaturge to create a mystical sentry to protect a door or gate, in the form of a stone gargoyle door-knocker.

The stone guardian watches over the entry and mystically alerts its master when there is a visitor or trespasser. The thaumaturge may remotely possess the guardian by expending a point of blood. She can observe what is happening through the guardian's eye and speak through its horrific stone face. This ritual does not technically violate the Tremere oath against the creation of new Gargoyles, but some quietly feel that it skirts the spirit of said promise, or at least insults the Clans the Tremere once hunted.

System: To create a Stone Guardian, the thaumaturge must find or create an appropriate door-knocker (with both eyes and a mouth) and then soak it in her blood over the course of three nights. She must then hang it upon the door or gate that will become the new home for the guardian and enact the ritual. If successful, the stone guardian bonds with the door or gate and cannot be removed without being destroyed.

The thaumaturge may remotely possess the guardian by expending a point of blood. Once it is possessed, the caster can observe what is happening through the guardian's eye and speak through its mouth. By expending a point of Willpower, the thaumaturge may attempt (if she possesses the ability) to utilize the first two levels of Dominate, Presence, or Dementation to chase away intruders. The stone guardian may not physically attack or block entry to trespassers otherwise, but it can open the door or gate upon command from the thaumaturge.

Such protection comes at a cost to the thaumaturge. The Stone Guardian requires a point of blood per night to continue its vigilance. If the stone guardian is not fed, it will sleep until reactivated by the thaumaturge with a point of blood.

[ 4 ] Ward Versus Kindred ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 239 )

Wary Tremere created this ritual to protect themselves from Cainites. By invoking this ritual, the caster creates a glyph that causes great pain to any Cainites who come in contact with it. The Kindred pours a blood point of his own blood over the object he wishes to ward (a piece of parchment, a coin, a doorknob, etc.), and recites the incantation, which takes 10 minutes. In 10 hours, the magical ward is complete, and will inflict excruciating pain on any Cainite unfortunate enough to touch the warded object. This ward does not affect the Kindred performing it.

System: Cainites who touch warded objects suffer three dice of lethal damage. This damage occurs again if the Cainite touches the object further; indeed, a Cainite who consciously wishes to touch a warded object must spend a point of Willpower to do so. This ritual wards only one object - if inscribed on the side of a car, the ward affects only that door or fender, not the whole car. Wards may be placed on weapons, even bullets, though this usually works best on small-caliber weapons. Bullets often warp upon firing, however, and for a ward to remain intact on a fired round, the player needs five successes on the Firearms roll.