Click here for copyright information. | Go to main RPG page.

My thanks to Benson Fong, MA Lloyd, and Mike Monaco who all contributed greatly to this document.

Jeff Wilson's GURPS Voodoo Supplement

This is a GURPS supplement for GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War. Note that a GM may be required to restrict the paths and rituals available in a campaign to maintain campaign balance.

Voodoo Paths

Path of Dreams (the Mind)

The Path of Dreams is concerned with what people think and how they think. The rituals deal with sleeping dreams, imagination, beliefs, and thought. It is not concerned with emotions (that's Path of Passions) or bodily senses (Path of Perception). Rituals affecting psionic powers also commonly belong to the Path of Dreams. This path is ideal for the reflective, inward-looking initiate.

Path of Elements

This path is concerned with the basic functions of the physical world. Through this path fire can be created, earth can be moved, and water can be changed. It's effects tend to be obvious and immediate and are not be in keeping with worlds where magic is subtle and indirect. This path is the path for the flamboyant, spectacle-oriented mage. The GM should consider carefully before permitting this path in any particular world.

Path of Health (the Body)

The Path of Health is concerned with living bodies. In it's basic form it is concerned with healing and harming. In more subtle ways it can be used to change people or push them past their normal limits.

Path of Luck (Fate, Probability, Chance, Time)

In it's most simple form this path deal with affecting chance. In broader terms it's concerned with order and patterns as well as chaotic events. This path is also involved with smoothing or planting obstacles, and thus with travel in the physical world. The perception of problems or help fall in this path as do blessings, curses, tabus, geasa, quests and tests of a more ambiguous nature. The Path of Luck is used to gain knowledge and insight into both practical and magical affairs. It is also the path of unbreakable oaths and bizarre prophecy.

Path of Nature

The Path of Nature is concerned with broad-reaching natural effects. These include floods, storms, and hordes of animals, but also include rainbows, hunting, and harvests. See Rituals by Benson Fong for rituals not mentioned on this page.

Path of Passions (Emotion, Affections)

This path involves emotions and affections directly. It doesn't deal with what a person thinks so much as with what they feel.

Path of Perception (Deception, Illusion, Glamour)

The Path of Perception is concerned with the senses. Illusions and visions fall in this path, but so do sexuality and pain. The senses can be fooled, emphasized, or clouded.

Path of Protection (Warding)

The path of protection is difficult to define. Essentially it deals directly with the immaterial powers. Not in the sense of improving ability (that's Path of Luck), but in the sense of directly affecting ritual effects, magic, psi, and the like. Direct physical dangers are also not the concern of this path, lying more in the domain of Path of Luck or Path of Elements.

Path of Sacraments

This path is practiced by clergy in the performance of their duties. While many rituals performed by clergy are purely social in nature and default directly to Ritual Magic (i.e. confession, group worship), this path includes those rituals which actually have magical effects. In most cases these rituals are intended to support an individual or group in the practice and belief of the initiate's religion. For this reason, if the ritual is used on a believer, there is a +4 to the ritual roll. If performed on an unbeliever there is a -4 to the ritual roll. While most of these rituals are taken from Christianity, the majority have parallels in other religions.

Path of Spirit

While most magical rituals involve the invocation of spirits, this Path specifically works with spirits as the object of the rituals' effects. The path of spirit is concerned with the spirit world. Any entity with a connection to the spirit world (including those with souls) can be affected by this path including ghosts and other spirits of the dead. This path is also concerned with travel to, in, or through the spirit realms.

Voodoo Crossovers

Personally, I consider GURPS Voodoo magic an extension of Shamanism (as presented in GURPS Religion). The World-Sight advantage is contained in Second Rank Initiation, and a Shaman's Performance (Ritual) skill is the same as an initiate's Ritual Magic (Specialization) skill. Many of the rituals below are adapted from the Shaman rituals in GURPS Religion.

Another book with similarities to Voodoo is GURPS Werewolf the Apocalypse. The magical rites available to Werewolves are also available to initiates. I have changed certain rites to make them more useful in other campaigns, and haven't converted those which seem specific to the GURPS WTAbackground.

Conditional Duration

The rituals in GURPS Voodoo have durations based simply on measures of time (12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, etc.). However, sometimes an initiate wishes to be more subtle, or to teach their target a lesson. This is the case where an initiate uses Conditional Durations.

By using a Conditional Duration an initiate sets a condition which permits the ritual's effect to end rather than setting a simple length of time. This could be anything from: "Until the sun shines upon you." to "Until a Three-Legged Donkey bearing a sack of hay mixed with gold passes through the window of your daughter's house."

Once the initiate has defined the duration, the GM needs to determine the appropriate ritual modifier. First, the GM must determine the most likely time before the condition will be fulfilled without regard to the ritualist's actions. Using this duration, the GM finds the basic ritual modifier on the chart in GURPS Voodoo. This is then modified by the intent of the ritualist. Some basic examples of different modifiers are below.

Initiate may use ritual means to prevent the condition: *3
Initiate use non-ritual means to prevent the condition: *2
Initiate informs those friendly to the ritual of it's condition: *1
Initiate informs no one of the condition on the ritual: *1/2
Initiate informs those hostile to the ritual of the condition: *1/3
Initiates hostile of the ritual are informed of the condition: *1/4

Example: Wishing to teach a polluting industrialist a lesson, an group of initiates sets the condition, "Until ducks once again nest in the fen" on a Wasting cast on the industrialist's beloved daughter. The GM figures that the most likely duration until this condition will be fulfilled is two years. The normal modifier for a duration of two years is -56. This is halved so the modifier for the Wasting ritual is -28.

Of course, if the industrialist turns out to be totally intractable (because he doesn't believe his daughter's coma was actually caused by these weirdos), the Wasting could last far longer than two years. On the other hand the industrialist may choose to keep on polluting and build a duck farm on the fen and dispell the ritual in that manner.

The GM will have to decide how the ritualist is permitted to act to prevent the condition from occuring. Depending of the circumstances, the initiate may pile ritual on ritual to keep the condition from happening, and add arson and extortion, and nothing will happen. In other cases, simply mentioning the condition to others might break the effect. (If anyone can suggest some guidelines for this I would love to hear them.)

Voodoo Rituals

This ritual allows an initiate to communicate with a specific type of animal. Even though this ritual is called animal "speech" the initiate does not actually speak with the animal. The communication in more in the form of sharing knowledge. The animal will only be able to converse with the initiate regarding things that have happened to it, and will, basically, act in all ways like the animal it is.

If it is within the animal's capabilities, and it has a good reaction or better, it might be willing to do a favor for the initiate, but, unless trained, animals tend to be flighty and undependable.

This ritual will not summon an animal to the caster, but will permit the caster to speak with all animals of the desired effect in the ritual's area. This ritual will also not ensure a good reaction from the animal, but unless terrified, the animal is likely to stop and listen to the initiate at the least.

Summons a minor spirit to animate a dead body. For the duration the corpse obeys a simple instruction given during the ritual - typically something like 'walk that way' or 'kill anyone entering the tomb'. Fresh corpses retain the physical stats they had just at death, longer dead corpse are less capable. None have IQ or skills, any attacks are at default. Corpses are destroyed at -10 x HT, and many will already be part of the way there from the cause of death or later decomposition.

Through this ritual the target will do everything possible to avoid contacting a specified person, place, or object. As much as possible, the target will even avoid thinking about the object of his aversion. Whatever actions the target takes to avoid the designated object will be in accord with his normal personality. This is a resisted ritual.

This ritual will bring the caster to the awareness of a spirit. This ritual might be required to awaken a sleeping spirit, contact a spirit in a prison, or attract a ghost who doesn't realize what the initiate is. This grants no control over the spirit, the spirit will make a reaction roll to the initiate.

Controls the winds in a half mile radius. They may blow from any direction at up to gale force, form columns of rising or falling air of similar speeds, or go still (which will calm rough seas as well). The effect can even still convection currents, which will put out fires quickly and limit gas flows to diffusion (millimeters per hour! the 'diffusion' demonstration involving opening scented bottles at the front of the classroom is a fake, the transfer mechanism there is bulk flow). Altering the winds takes 5 seconds per mph vector shift, which rarely produces hazardous shear, but with a little planning this effect can seriously threaten ships or aircraft.

When performing this ritual, the initiate must specify the destination.

This ritual is used to recover stolen property. The initiate fasts and concentrates on the return of his property. The thief must resist (Contest of Wills) or suffer the effects of two day's starvation, no matter how much he eats. The thief will be able to tell that his illness is tied to the stolen item, whether through dreams of the initiate, an evil aura about the item, or whatever. The Black Fast will continue to starve the thief until he dies or returns the item. Roll for backlash.

The target individual or area attracts all animals of a particular type. It is up to the DM to determine what indicates a "type." In one world (or to one tradition) "all biting flies" might be a type, while another might require a separate spell for each species of fly. The ritual calls all animals within 1/2 mile per point of success margin. An exact success with the spell will call one animal the initiate can see. Animals failing a will roll travel there at a reasonable speed, and try to remain nearby for the duration of the ritual. Roll daily for ongoing effects. Once the ritual's duration is complete, the animals will react normally and may remain or try to escape according to the nature of the animal. The initiate may set a limit on the number of animals summoned. This could be any number down to one.

If the point the animal is being summoned to is dangerous (a cliff, fire, lake, or the like) each animal in the group get another will roll to resist the ritual (unless they're lemmings). The animals do not get a chance to resist until immediately on top of the hazard, and may be pushed in anyway if the horde behind them is large enough.

This ritual may be used to bring down a plague of locusts on a field, drive a herd of cattle over a cliff for food, or simply remove all the rats from a building or town. Clever characters will find other uses for this ritual. This ritual does not affect children or other "souled" entities. (Although, according to the tales, there's probably a similar mystery which does.)

This ritual makes the subject "uninteresting" and easy to overlook. In game terms, the degree of success with the ritual is subtracted from all perception attempts against the target for the duration of the effect. The degree of success will also add to skills such at stealth and shadowing. The ritual normally only affects immediate perceptions. For an additional -3 the effect will work through security cameras and the like, for another-3 the target will not be noticed in recordings such as photographs and video tape for the duration of the effect.

This ritual has no effect on spiritual entities. See Shroud for a ritual that will.

The subject of this ritual is more likely than normal to produce a child. Add the success margin to pregnancy rolls made by the target or their sex partner(s). The usual unmodified odds are a 5- for a single sexual contact, 7- for a month of regular sexual activity, -4 for typical birth control precautions. The minimum duration is 1 month, compute duration modifiers from that point rather than normally.

For an additional -2 to skill the caster can specify features desired in the child (usually sex, but sometimes elements of appearance). If that outcome is at all possible and the modifier makes the difference to the conception roll, the baby has the desired feature, otherwise ordinary chance determines the results.

This ritual prevents a known spirit from harming the caster for the duration of the effect. This ritual cannot be used if the caster intends to harm or deceive the target spirit. The ritual is intended to give an initiate a breathing space with which to converse a spirit. The GM should not let the ritual be used to support hostile acts.

This ritual has a minimum duration of one season, penalties for longer durations are computed from that. Plants within the target area grow as if conditions were better than they actually are. To determine the effects on crops, find the expected yield under the actual conditions, and increase it by 5% per point of success margin. Notice this is a multiplier, not an added yield, if nothing will grow under the actual conditions, cornucopia will not help.

This ritual draws attention to the object or person that is the subject of the ritual, causing any onlookers to want to investigate or examine the subject.

A less dramatic form of Malediction which torments but does not kill its victim. After one week of bewitchment from a curse, the victim will perform at -1 IQ due to stress and fatigue. After a full month, take -1 IQ and -1 DX. Each additional month increases this penalty until a maximum of -4 is reached. The victim may vomit strange objects or find pins emerging from his or her body, have seizures, etc.

This ritual has the same effect as the magic spell of the same name (pM72). It is cast as a ritual.

This ritual causes the subject to age by the ritual's duration. The subject can not be alive. Undead resist with their HT, but there is no risk of backlash. Once the ritual is over, the decay takes place over the same amount of time that the ritual took to cast. In some cases the effect is accompanied by fire or black fire, but it typically just proceeds.

The ritual does not "speed up" machines. A mill will grind the same amount of grain, a computer will work at the same speed, and a watch will show the proper time. The ritual only subjects them to appropriate wear and tear.

The ritual need not destroy or damage the subject. Used on grape juice under the proper conditions it can produce aged wine quickly. Cast on a stone in a rock tumbler, the stone could receive a month's worth of polishing in a few minutes.

If successfully cast on an undead, it willsuffer the appropriate cravings and penalties as if it had existed through the time period. This can be particularly serious to undead with sensitivities. It will notbe hastened or be able to think or react any faster. Example 1: A VTM Vampire is affected by this ritual and decayed 7 days. The vampire will lose 7 points from his blood pool. If this brings its blood pool to 0 it will frenzy or go into torpor. Example 2: A lich when touched by holy symbol suffers 1 damage per second. If an initiate successfully fast casts a Decay with a duration of 12 hours while touching the lich with a holy symbol, the lich will take 12*60*60=43,200 points of damage!

The subject looks and sounds exactly like someone else for the duration. It's a handy substitute for makeup, and since it includes the illusion of clothing, for tailoring. The magic itself is flawless, but is limited to the caster's idea of what the disguise should look like - IQ rolls may be needed to disguise yourself as someone you are not very familiar with, or Artist if you are making up the image. Disguise does not grant any abilities of the original, and disguising yourself as something of a different shape or size won't stand up to physical contact.

As the Rainmaker ritual, but decreases the chance of rain.

This ritual causes an earthquake. It uses the standard modifiers, but requires a minimum area of a 1/4 mile radius (-28 ritual modifier). If the ritual succeeds, consult the following table to determine the quake's power within this area of effect. The most powerful effect will be felt within this radius. Beyond that, the next less powerful effect will be felt for double the ritual's radius, and so forth, with the additional radius doubling each time until no effect is reached.

If the ritual is cast in an area where earthquakes are particularly unlikely (say, Kansas or Moscow), the GM may impose an additional penalty of up to -10.

Removes the symptoms of an illness for the duration of the effect. It does not cure the illness, though if the ailment is one people naturally recover from and the duration outlasts the recovery time it appears to. The symptoms begin to fade immediately, most vanish within an hour, though severe symptoms may take a few days to be completely masked.

Transforms the target into a willing slave of the caster. Remove any advantages or disadvantages that cause the thrall to resist his new lot, and add Slave Mentality (limitation: only accept orders from the caster or those he commands you obey). This is the most useful variant, since Slave Mentality allows the thrall to use his skills and initiative in the caster's service. Variants that transform the victim into an obedient idiot or automaton may be easier; Raise Zombie (VO p80) can be considered one. In some traditions the effect ends when the caster dies, but it doesn't always - in some tales the thralls continue to obey standing orders, or become slaves of the caster's slayer, or the first person to give a forceful command, or particularly in the automaton variants stand still and starve to death.

This is a resisted hostile ritual. If it backlashes the caster acquires the unlimited form of Slave Mentality.

The GM may require a PC that uses this a lot to spend points to buy the resulting Ally Group.

For the duration semi-random events arrange themselves to minimize the subject's travel time. Winds are always favorable, traffic signals change as he approaches, traffic jams melt before him, public transit runs right on schedule, his luggage is always the first off the plane and his standby seats always become available.

The trip won't set a new speed record, but may only miss by enough to avoid delays caused by publicity.

This ritual enables an initiate to gain a vision of a specific person, location, or item, and its surroundings. Some sort of focus is needed for the ritual. Common foci are crystals, mirrors, and pools of water or ink. Foci like fire, smoke, or changing shadows or sunlight are possible, but don't permit the best use of the ritual.

The focus is sanctified during the ritual and must be present. For the duration of the effect, the initiate may concentrate on the focus and gain a vision of the target. If the focus is impermanent (fire, smoke, etc.) once the initiate has stopped concentrating, he may not restore the vision. The same focus object may be used for multiple visions, the initiate simply needs to concentrate on the particular target.

The initiate gains no special knowledge of where the target is, only perceiving the target's immediate surroundings. No other can perceive the vision, only the caster. If the ritual succeeds by five or more the caster will be able to perceive target even in total darkness, smoke, or any other physical cover.

This ritual may be used for any sense. However, each sense requires a separate casting of the ritual. If the caster wishes to perceive something in the past, the ritual takes a penalty equal to the duration modifier for the same period.

This ritual is used to create a magical object powered by a trapped spirit. The ritual requires that a spirit first be trapped in an object. The effect produced by the fetish cannot be beyond the capabilities of the trapped spirit. Even though powered by the spirit, the fetish's effect is under the control of the user.

While this ritual does not automatically light anything, it encourages things to catch on fire at the slightest pretext, and makes extinguishing fires on the subject very difficult.

An area protected by this ritual is less susceptible to accidental fires. For each point of success margin subtract 1 from any rolls to set something not intended to burn on fire - this includes fuel fire numbers, spell skill rolls and chances of secondary fires from explosions. For every two points of success margin the damage done by flames is reduced by 1, which reduces the chance a fire spreads and increases the chance it goes out (see VE p194).

With this ritual, the initiate can search through the dream-mind of another, seeking out some fact or piece of knowledge to banish from the subject's awareness. The Dream Visitor ritual must be conducted first, followed by this hour-long ritual.

The initiate must know the fact that he is attempting to hide; this ritual does not let one 'browse' through the subject's knowledge. This ritual is at no penalty for one concise fact; multiple related facts may be removed at a penalty equal to that for affecting multiple people. If the fact is mainly in the subject's subconscious, rarely if ever thought of, the ritual is at +2. If the fact comes to mind occasionally, there is no penalty or bonus. If the fact comes up daily, the ritual is at -4, and if the fact is something that currently occupies the subject's mind more than any other topic, the ritual is at -10. Any fact considered a basic part of the subject's mind (like his name) will be at -15 or more.

The subject resists with his Will. If successful, the ritual causes the fact to be pushed deep into the subject's subconscious, where it will not resurface by itself without some major stimulus. If a situation occurs that would likely jog the memory of the subject, make an IQ roll at a penalty equal to twice the amount the ritual originally succeeded by. On a success, the forgotten fact comes back to light again. Another initiate, if aware of the tampering, can attempt to bring the thought to light again with the Dream Visitor ritual, at a penalty equal to twice the amount the Forget ritual succeeded by. The subject can attempt to do this himself if he suspects tampering, but would use the Dreamwalk ritual instead.

If the ritual fails by more than two points, roll a Quick Contest of Forget versus the subject's IQ-5 (or Path of Dreams), plus Initiate level, if any. If the subject wins, he realizes what was happening.

Animals must win a contest of Will-5 against this ritual to feel hostility toward or fear of the subject. He will be ignored at a distance; at close range animals may decide he is a curiosity or potential playmate, and while they wont intentionally harm him accidents can happen.

Though often associated with pacifist saints, the effect is not negated by violence - it can be used to walk up to and kill animals.

This ritual is based on the Rite of Caern Building on WTA148. It is not appropriate for all campaigns, but may be found in some besides the standard Werewolf campaign. For more information, see WTA. A great consecration creates an area of consecrated ground. The area must be consecrated in one sitting. 100 fatigue or health and 1 degree of initiation will be taken from the participants to create the caern.

Causes a plant to thrive unless someone actively tries to harm it. The plant can be considered to have proper light, water and soil nutrients, and is immune to frost, heat, pests, parasites, random grazers, accidental forest fires or similar hazards. This will not allow an oak to grow in the middle of glacier, but will allow a plant to flourish in any place it might possibly grow.

The subject always knows the direction to go to reach a specific destination. The special effect can manifest as anything from a warm feeling when traveling the right direction to an actual guide - often a small distant light - which may or may not be visible to others.

The Guidestar may point anywhere the caster knows well, to any more or less public place he can uniquely name, or to any person or object present at the casting (including the caster, casting a pointer to yourself on a distant subject is an excellent way to get anyone vaguely curious to seek you out).

This ritual may be used on any inanimate object or 1-hex section of a larger object. The initiate will gain knowledge of the object's past, user's personality, events of significance -- but no names! The initiate gains one selected piece of information for every point the ritual roll is made by.

This causes the target to become infatuated. The target will do everything s/he can to get as close as possible to the object of his affections. The target's personality will not change, and all advantages and disadvantages remain in force. (i.e. a very shy woman might seek opportunities to be close to a man she's infatuated with, but might not even speak to him.) The ritual takes effect immediately upon completion, but the target won't be aware until s/he comes in contact with the object of the infatuation. The infatuation only lasts until the effect's duration expires.

The ritual may be modified from +4 to -4 depending on how much the target will resist being infatuated with the object. Should the ritual backlash, those performing the ritual will suddenly become infatuated with something completely foreign to them.

While this ritual is commonly used as a "love charm" to infatuate one person with another, it could be used to infatuate a person with an object. (i.e. An initiate uses this ritual to infatuate a professional thief with a mystic artifact in a museum. The thief steals the artifact, and will hopefully be willing to sell it to the initiate when the infatuation wears off.)

This ritual enables an initiate to identify the exact magic affecting an area, person, or object. The initiate will gain one piece of information about the magic, plus one for every point the ritual succeeds by.

This ritual attempts to guide a soul to the afterlife of the initiate's religion. (If the initiate knows different forms of Ritual Magic he may determine which religion's afterlife he is guiding the soul towards.) If performed properly, the person will not become a ghost, and will be at a -5 to be summoned or consulted through Necromancy. Many sects only permit this ceremony to be used on believers. Some, however, permit it to be used on anyone. Certain evil religions even try to send the souls of their victims to their own afterlife for torment.

This ritual brings a designated object into the presence of a designated person. The object must be present, but the person (the "owner") need only be represented symbolically. The ritual begins working immediately, but the caster sets the amount of separation required to trigger the effect.

When triggered, the next person who passes by the object and happens to be heading in the general direction of the owner will pick it up and carry it along with him. When he stops traveling towards the owner, he will put the object down. The next person heading towards the caster will then pick it up until he changes direction or reaches his destination, leaving it for the next person, and so on. Eventually, the object will return to its owner.

Passersby will only move the object if it is convenient for them to do so. They may cross a room, but won't cross a river, go through doors, or get it from a concealed or locked location (unless they happen to be uncovering or unlocking the object's location anyway). Likewise, a pen or book will move quickly, since they are light and very portable, while a stone statue will likely stay where it is unless a group of professional bodybuilders with a pickup truck happen to drop by. The time it will take an object to find its owner is up to the GM.

This ritual is obvious to any initiate. Rank 1 initiates will wonder at the impulse to pick up and carry the object, and higher rank initiates will realize that the object is seeking a person, though they won't automatically be able to tell who. Non-initiates subtract the caster's degree of initiation from any perception rolls to notice the object. (The GM can apply bonuses if the object is dangerous or unusual, a guard is likely to notice a stick of dynamite, but probably wouldn't notice a briefcase.)

This ritual gives the target the ability to see without a light source. This is a supernatural effect, so living things and spirits will be seen more clearly than usual, while non-living objects will be visible but indistinct. This ritual will work on blind targets.

This ritual creates a token that the subject may use to successfully strike a target with a ranged weapon. The subject activates the charm (with a concentrate maneuver), and the next ranged attack is improved to a success. The charm has a rating equal to the initiates success with the ritual. Each time the charm is used, one is subtracted from the rating, plus the amount the shot failed by, if there is insufficient rating left, the charm is destroyed. On a critical failure, the charm is destroyed, but may still be cause a success if the rating is sufficient.

An area under this ritual can't be found on purpose unless the seeker was specifically exempted during the casting or wins a contest of Will with the ritual skill each time he wishes to locate the place. It is most effective when applied to a travel chokepoint - a doorway, the only path to a cliff top tower or something similar - denying access to the entire area without the difficulty of enspelling the whole thing.

Produces an illusion of anything the caster can clearly imagine. It looks exactly as specified, produces appropriate sounds, light, heat or cold, and at higher TLs radar, sonar, magnetic or any other energy returns.

Energy emissions (beams, flame heat etc.) will never inflict more than 1 point of damage, odors or flavors are not produced, and the mirage won't stand up to physical contact if the underlying reality is of a different shape. It can be laid over existing items as a mass disguise, and persists even if the items move out of the original area.

In worlds where magic is strong, this ritual may be cast on an area and is seen by everyone. The GM is free to require that the ritual must be used to affect individuals rather than an area. Traditionally the most common uses are to convert a ruin to a fine manor or to conceal an army.

This ritual gives the subject an aura which causes people to react positively to him. For every 2 points of success the subject gains a +1 to reaction rolls. If the Nimbus is only intended to be effective against a limited number of people, the ritual is modified by the material components present for the group affected (i.e. using a photo of the people you want to influence would give a +2 to the ritual).

The caster is free to determine the "flavor" of the aura. The subject could be perceived as sexy, competent, powerful, or anything else the caster desires.

This ritual does not affect the reactions of Spirits or In-Betweeners.

This ritual prevents the target from suffering discomfort from inclement weather. The effects are limited, and the GM will need to restrict the ritual to prevent abuse. For example, in a desert, the target wouldn't suffer sunburn, but would suffer dehydration, and might be flayed by a sandstorm. This ritual will prevent the target from suffering from cold, heat, sunburn, glare, and wind.

This enables the subject to perceive auras. For the duration of the effect the subject can perceive a living creature's aura by concentrating on that creature. The insights that can be achieved are dependent on the subject's degree of initiation. Non-initiates get a sense of whether there's something supernatural about the target. First degree initiates will see the actual aura and get very basic perceptions (is the target affected by a ritual, possessed, nonhuman, influenced by strong emotion, etc.) Third or higher degree initiates will be able to tell the specific type of influence. Fifth or higher degree initiates will be able to see potential influences (mild emotions, hidden diseases and curses, etc.) In-Betweeners can benefit from this ritual, but spirits can not.

The target becomes non-toxic, usually accompanied by a visible effect that verifies a poison was present: unicorn horn or a gem changes color, harmless blue flames erupt from the item burning the poison off in wisps of vile smoke etc. If used on a poisoning victim it halts further damage, but won't reverse harm already suffered.

The subject can easily escape restraints or circumvent barriers to his passage. He can free himself from bonds, handcuffs, straight jackets and similar restraints in 1d seconds, squeeze through narrow passages without risk of becoming stuck, locked barriers prove to be unlocked when he tries them, and traps or security systems will be inactive or go off slightly too late to hinder him.

The charm doesn't conceal him from sensors, has no effect on living guards, and only opens barriers to passage - locked containers he isn't planning to crawl into, or in which he won't fit, will not open at his touch.

The area is isolated from the outside. Sounds, odors and light sources within the area will not leave it. Outside light sources can illuminate things in the circle, but even in broad daylight the contents appear hazy, dull and background colored - treat anything within as if it were camouflaged.

By paying attention to the environment, an initiate and use this ritual to receives a bonus to other skills. This is most often used to give a bonus to Tracking or Naturalist, but skills like Herbalist and Animal Handling can also be affected. This ritual will only affect initiates. They receive a bonus equal to the ritual's degree of success+1 or their degree of Initiation, whichever is less.

One of the most common divinations, the ritualist sees a brief vision of his true love (or, in some variants, future spouse). In some worlds the ritual may allow the subject to see the vision. It provides no additional information, but the vision often shows someone the subject recognizes.

If the true love is behind a barrier, the ritual will have to overcome the barrier before it can reveal the vision.

Like any precognitive vision this requires quite a bit of GM judgment and willingness to finesse the future to pull off.

Allows the adept to move instantly to any familiar location within a mile. His passage must be unobserved. A puff of smoke or recessed doorway is sufficient cover to depart, but the destination must be unobserved for several minutes before he arrives. He appears at the next moment in the future that meets that requirement. Jumping to somewhere under constant security surveillance can take the adept out of circulation for a longtime.

This ritual is not usable on others and will not permit the initiate to arrive any faster at the destination than he might normally. The initiate will not age while in transit.

This ritual brings two or more people together to share the same dream. All participants must be willing. Any attempt to resist automatically succeeds. This ritual is often practiced by entire covens of witches at certain times of the year in order to celebrate the Sabbat, but Shared Dreams could be used in many beneficial ways too, such as allowing several initiates to gather in the Dreamworld to exchange information, fight a hostile Dream Visitor or Night Terrors, etc. The duration of this ritual begins as soon as the first participant falls asleep or begins to Dreamwalk.

This ritual enchants a talisman (usually a ring). When the subject of the spell activates the talisman, a person or object of his choice is pushed with a strength of 10 plus the degree of success. The target of the push must be within arm's length of the subject. The Multiple Targets adjustment to the ritual roll refers to the number of times the talisman can be used. The Duration Modifiers are used to determine how long the talisman will remain charged.

The effect does no direct damage to the target. Depending on the strength of the effect and the GM's judgement the target may pause, stumble, or be thrown across the room, possibly taking incidental damage from the impact.

This ritual shields the subject (person, place, or object) from spiritual perception, including rituals and spells. Spiritual entities (including physical entities in a spiritual form) attempting to approach the subject will get lost or walk around the area without finding it or him. Perceptive spells and rituals must succeed by the margin the Shroud succeeded or the initiate will gain no information.

This ritual may target individuals (use number of target modifiers) or an area (targets anyone who spends the 3d minute induction time in it). Targets who fail to resist drop into deep natural sleep within 3d minutes. Small disturbances do not wake them, though major ones will. Otherwise they sleep for the duration (maximum 24 hours), plus any further time they need to awaken fully rested.

As a targeted ritual it can backlash and put the caster to sleep. It's safe as an area effect.

This creates a mark on the aura of the subject that can be perceived by initiates and spirits. It's typically used to identify the members of a tribe or coven to each other. It can also be used to identify a target for a hostile spirit. If the subject of the ritual is willing, and the caster has no hostile intent, the ritual can be made permanent at a modifier of -8 to the casting.

The subject of this ritual gains one additional degree of initiation for the purposes of perceiving spirits only. This ritual will not work on an unwilling target. For an additional -5 this ritual may be used to grant two degrees of initiation instead of one.

Prevents the target from producing offspring for one month (minimum duration, compute modifiers from that point rather than normally). In many traditions this is regarded as an evil ritual requiring backlash checks, but if the subject consents there is no risk. GMs option whether it prevents cloning, gamete donations and other ultratech methods of reproduction.

This ritual can affect both males and females. It temporarily grants the target the Eunuch disadvantage. This is a resisted ritual that can backlash.

An initiate can use this ritual to weave a subliminal meaning into the substance of a subject's dream. The Dream Visitor ritual must be performed first, then this hour-long ritual can be conducted. The subject resists with Will normally; if successful, the suggestion is implanted in the subject's subconscious mind. The overall results will depend on the suggestion, of course.

A simple, general thought or feeling ("I am in danger", "I should be more trusting") is at no penalty. Something a bit more specific, with a qualifier or subject ("I am in danger from the police", "I should trust my assistant manager Juan more") would be a -2 penalty. Something very specific or somewhat complex ("I should trust Juan with a key to the store", "I can catch more criminals if I stay near the south end of town in an unmarked car") would be a -6 penalty. Anything both specific and complex would be at a -10 penalty, at least. These are cumulative with the modifiers below.

If the suggestion is something the subject would be likely to feel anyway, the ritual is at +2. If he would not likely feel that way, but meshes perfectly with his current feelings, there is no bonus or penalty. A suggestion that does not mesh perfectly but does not cause a noticeable clash causes a -2 penalty. A suggestion that causes a minor clash or forces a slight readjustment of attitude would be at -4. A suggestion that clashes but does not directly oppose any existing feelings is -6. A suggestion that does directly oppose existing ideas or feelings puts the ritual at a penalty of at *least* -8 (suggesting that a homophobic Klansman is suddenly attracted to a certain black man would be about -20 or so).

On a success, the suggestion is woven into the dream; the subject will remember the dream, but it will not seem out of the ordinary. On a failure, he may realize what happened, as for the Forget ritual. The amount the roll succeeded by will determine the strength of the suggestion (if you win the Quick Contest by 5, the suggestion has a strength of 5), which affects its duration. The initiate can maintain the strength of the suggestion by repeating this ritual every night, at only half the penalties to the original ritual roll; if the subject resists, the suggestion remains, but can no longer be strengthened. Otherwise, the strength of the suggestion drops by one each day until it drops below zero and is gone. Note that an initiate can attempt to uncover and dispel the suggestion, as for the Forget ritual.

A suggestion of strength 0 will only affect the subject in mild, unconscious ways, and will never cause major changes. One of strength 1 to 3 will cause trivial, minor, or major changes in thoughts, and smaller changes to actions. Strength 4 to 6 is strong enough to affect the way the subject sees the world, and can cause noticeable shifts in actions and deeds. At strength 7 to 9, the suggestion becomes an important part of the person's mind, and he will go out of his way to follow it. Strengths of 10 or more can completely remake a person (temporary as it may be); even after it wears off, the person may still retain a part of it in his subconscious mind.

Example: Carlos Sanchez, 4th level Initiate of the Protectors, decides to forcibly reform Mr. Fazani, a local slum lord. He performs the Dream Visitor ritual and begins crafting a subtle but powerful dream with his Suggestion skill of 16, depicting Fazani oppressing the black and Hispanic tenants, then paying for it as they turn against him. "I should treat my tenants with kindness and respect" is somewhat specific (-2) and does not mesh well with Fazani, who is not a staunch bigot but has little respect for non-whites (-6). Carlos' effective skill is 8, and Fazani's Will is 10; Carlos wins the Quick Contest by 4, so the suggestion takes effect with a strength of 4. The next day, the locals are surprised when Fazani bumps into one of his elderly black tenants, then apologizes and helps her pick up her groceries. The next day the suggestion drops to a strength of 3; Fazani smiles and nods to the tenants, and is generally fairly nice to all. The next day, he is still pleasant, but when he bumps into the same woman, he merely apologizes and moves on. He begins to resemble his old self the next day (strength 1), only offering the occasional nod to the locals. One day later, he is back to ignoring everyone, though when one of the tenants calls to complain, he listens and tells him why he cannot (or will not) help, instead of just hanging up on them. After that day, the suggestion is entirely gone.

For every two points of success margin, anyone using the blessed object can re-roll one result involving it. For a sword this includes to hit, damage, or parry rolls, but the ritual will work on any object and allows re-rolls of anything plausibly connected to its use.

A result can only be re-rolled once, and you are stuck with the second result, so it isn't usually a good idea to re-roll marginal successes, but it is allowed.

Allows the caster to ask 1 question per 2 points of success margin, which the target must answer truthfully and in reasonable detail. The traditional form is a jewel or other talisman placed against some personal part of the anatomy of a sleeping woman to be asked about adultery, but this reflects the interests of compilers of such sources rather than a limitation on the ritual.

This ritual can backlash, forcing the caster to answer the next however many questions directed toward him by anybody other than himself.

For the duration of effect of this ritual, the animal or group of animals of the same type affect will obey the caster to the best of their ability. Birds may deliver messages, hunting cats will willingly release their prey, and the most man-hating creatures will serve as steeds. The animal will understand what the initiate wants, and will do their best to carry it out.

Although the animal will do its best to do what the initiate wants, the ritual ritual does not give it any added intelligence or problem solving ability. This can result in problems Example: An initiate instructs a bear to deliver a basket of food to a family. Unless the initiate specifically tells the bear how to open the door, he is just as likely to go through a window or wall. Or, a horse travels who runs into a blind canyon may be unable to figure out how to leave the canyon and still complete his mission and either wait until the effect ends or return to the initiate for further instructions.

This ritual can be cast on a person or on an object. If cast on an object, it acts on each person encountering the object for the duration, but the ritual is cast as if there was no symbolic representation (-6). If the subject fails a resistance roll, he must make a Fright Check at -1 for each point by which he lost the resistance roll and will flee the area or avoid the object.

This ritual allows an individual or group to gain a totem spirit (or find out their totem under some paradigms). The individual or group will gain a totem spirit per Designing a Pack Totemon page WTA166-167.

This ritual is identical to Nimbus, except it grants a negative response.

This ritual forms a bond between an object and a person so that the object becomes, effectively, a part of the person. This is most commonly done to permit shapeshifters to change form and still retain access to certain items, but other uses are possible. The object to be unified must be easily worn or carried by the person. The object counts as the person's physical presence if used in rituals. This ritual may be used on an involuntary target, but the target is then allowed a will roll to resist the unify.

The effects of this ritual are permanent, but may be broken by taking six seconds and using the Ritual Magic skill.

Unified objects are not obvious, but are also not difficult to detect.

This ritual creates a charm that the caster may use within the ritual's duration. Upon triggering the charm, the initiate speaks a short command that the target will obey if he or she fails to resist. The command must be understood, so language matters, and commands too complex to be easily remembered or digested will not work very well.

This is a resisted hostile ritual, though the GM may modify resistance to commands the subject would want to obey or find exceptionally objectionable. If the ritual backlashes, the initiate will obey the next command given him. (The initiate will not be able to set things up so that he is in control of the command.)

The subject can travel through any vaguely passable vegetation at his normal walking pace. Vines will not trip him, thorns never scratch and contact with poison oak is harmless. He will not need a machete to penetrate dense jungle or thick gloves to reach into a thorn bush

It does not erase a trail, but often makes it harder to follow, and Tracking rolls will be needed where others would leave an obvious slashed trail.

The next time the target falls asleep, s/he must win a contest of Will against the ritual or enter a dream created by the ritualist. The GM sums the point costs of any advantages and disadvantages the he thinks incline the target toward or away from the dream. The target must make a Will roll modified by that sum (and you thought that -15 point Lecherousness would never be a serious problem...). If the roll fails, the target surrenders to the temptation of the dream, and will refuse to awaken. Effectively, the target is now in a coma for the duration of the ritual. If the roll succeeds the ritual rebounds on the initiate who cast it. If the ritual is redone, the target will not receive any additional rolls to resist. If the effect continues for long enough, the target will eventually waste away and die.

Magic or ultratech may force the target awake. However, even when awake, the target will be distracted, longing for the dream for as long as the ritual's effect continues.

Mysteries

Mysteriesrepresent a new realm of power for initiates. These rites are not suitable for all campaigns, and the GM should consider each mystery thoroughly before allowing it in his campaign.

Mysteries are ritual magic, and based on the paths. However, unlike normal rituals, they do not have a default, and must be specifically learned. The GM should make sure that mysteries are not freely available. Even in societies where rituals are commonly shared, Mysteries should only be available with a significant effort on the part of a character. Learning mysteries involves deep spiritual enlightenment on the part of the initiate, and should never just be bought for simple experience or training.

Mysteries are often restricted as to where and how they can be cast and require certain specific ritual components. The GM is free to set any conditions that seem appropriate to his game and the character's tradition. Mysteries might require the initiate to be on consecrated ground (+1 or better ritual rating); a place where someone was executed or murdered; or at an abandoned or non-initiate's home. A mystery might only be able to take place in moonlight or sunlight; at sunset, dawn, midnight or noon; in total darkness; under stars without moon or sun; at high or low tide; at a specific phase of the moon or day of the year or week; or only after the subject has completed a quest. A Mystery might require a willing sacrifice, the sacrifice of a specific animal, a specific plant, person, animal or compound; or a certain spiritual object. Mysteries might require a large number of people to be present, or be performed solo, or be performed without unbelievers present. The GM should place whatever restrictions on the mystery he feels is necessary to fit it into his campaign. However, if the GM requires certain ritual elements, the initiate should still gain the regular bonus for those elements.

Mysteries are much more difficult to use than regular rituals and high ranking initiates gain a different set of ritual bonuses. At the seventh rank, an initiate may dispense with one of the ritual trappings of a mystery, at eighth two elements, and at ninth with all elements.

Allows initiate to impart a kind of artificial life to a manufactured image. A golem will have the stats listed in the Bestiary.

Calls down a bolt of lightning (or beam of light, or pillar of fire, exact appearance varies with tradition) which blasts everything in the target area for 30d damage. If the area includes an intelligent being this counts as a hostile ritual allowing a resistance roll and requiring a second roll to avoid backlash (VO p74). A backlash is usually less visually dramatic - a bright flash and the initiate is incinerated. Evil initiates suffer such a failure at the climatic confrontation in many tales, accompanying odor of brimstone optional.

The caster fixes the cause and circumstances of the victim's death! Anything the GM agrees to is allowed and will come to pass - eventually. Until it does nothing else will slay the target, though awful things can happen to him in the meantime. Dooms don't necessarily hasten death, but they lean that way - the more obscure the doom the more often outright bizarre coincidences offer a chance to meet it. A doom must be announced in the presence of the target to take effect, though he need not understand the pronouncement.

This is a resisted ritual. It can backlash, in which case the GM assigns a doom to the caster - but doesn't tell him what it is!

Doom is a death spell with the actual death delayed to a dramatic moment. Players who don't want to play a character the GM will eventually take control of and railroad into the forecast doom should be allowed to hand over the character as an NPC and reenter the game as if they had died. It can be fun to keep the character for a while if the GM allows the first couple approaches of the doom to have a way out, but he should NEVER allow the doom to be avoided forever.

While this ritual is known to many different traditions, the appearance of the effect is always different. The effect can appear as a path twisting through a misty forest, a cavern, or a shimmering path through the spiritlands.

The caster must be familiar with the destination. If the campaign allows travel to other worlds or times, this effect can reach them as well -- but unless you have been there, or have incredible directions from someone who has traveled there, the spell is likely to fail.

A trip along a mystic path is indeterminate. Some people and devices will consider the time and distance short, others will consider it long. No person or device will ever agree on the result. As a general rule, it requires 1/100th the time normally required to make the trip, but the GM can vary this as seems appropriate to him. Anyone can follow the path once the initiate has succeeded with the ritual, but people tracking the travelers must follow within five minutes of the end of the ritual or they won't find any signs of people's passage.

The GM is free to put any trials or tribulations in the way of those following the path that seem appropriate. However, these trials will rarely be physical or beyond the capabilities of the travelers. PC's who leave the path or pause for a significant length of time will eventually arrive at a random destination in the real world (possibly after being subjected to harsh trials). The GM is free to say that NPC's who leave the path are gone forever.

Just as much as the casting, the arrival at the destination can only take place under certain circumstances. (See above for examples of specific times.)

Restores a relatively intact corpse to life. The spell will perform minor repairs, but it wont work on those killed by more than -2 x HT wound damage, nor will it cure any diseases present when the subject died or cure starvation or any other wasting illness. This ritual is permanent, but the length of time the person has been dead modifies the ritual by double the standard "duration" modifier. If the body's soul is nearby (as a ghost or bound spirit) the ritual receives a +4 bonus. No other symbolic representations can be used (the body being present acts to cancel any penalties). This ritual may be resisted if the soul is happy where it is -- on a backlash the caster joins the soul in the afterlife.

This mystery enables an initiate to permanently bind a spirit. The spirit can be bound to a place, object, or task. Using this mystery requires that the initiate know the spirit's name or have had significant contact with the spirit's aura. Detailed spiritual symbols are required to use this mystery, but no ritual bonus is gained from using them.

This mystery casts an individual, group, or area into an enchanted slumber from which they can not awaken. Those affected will remain healthy and not age for the duration of the slumber.

The subject of this mystery will appear, to all tests, to be at the maximum of his or her physical capability. She will be, in appearance, in her early twenties, and will not suffer from any "aging diseases." However, should the mystery's effect end, or the subject be killed, the subject is subject to all the years that have passed for him. This may result in simple aging, but subjects hundreds of years old have been known to collapse into dust. Depending on the specific mystery, the subject may be subject to other disadvantages (like Bloodthirst). Using this mystery typically requires massive sacrifices.

Cross-Reference Table

(Note that where this table disagrees with the text, the text is considered primary.)

Return to Top of Page | Go to main RPG page.

The author is a member of	This page was created by Jefferson Wilson using the Programmer's File Editor (PFE) by Alan Phillips, and with the assistance of the Web Design Group's HTML 4.0 Reference.	Validated to
	© 1999, 2000 by Jefferson Wilson. All rights reserved. This page last updated April 1, 2005. Contact Jeff_Wilson63@bigfoot.com with suggestions or problems.