Homebrew Obcasus Rites

[ajf115]

So, here's the thread for homebrew Obcasus Rites. I'll start us off.

The Ever-Open Door (Intermediate Rite)
Dice Pool: Power +Persuasion orOccult - 4
Time Per Roll: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent (unless profaned)
Bonus: +2 if all participating Beasts have linked Lairs
Cost: None
Temples are places of the Dark Mother, and She is ever-welcoming of her Begotten. Over the course of the Rite, the Lair Traits of the participants naturally fade into the Temple, and at the moment of its completion, Burrows to their Hearts yawn open behind them. If successful, this Rite makes it so that the Temple is always treated as a part of the Temenos no matter in which realm it actually exists for the purposes of opening Primordial Pathways from the Hearts of the participants, and is always a valid target for such a Pathway irrespective of whether or not there is an appropriate Tilt or Trait in effect.

Furthermore, the Temple and its proper contents never take any lasting damage or suffer permanent ill effects from imposed Lair Traits. A flood leaves no water damage when it subsides and a dragon's forest fire leaves not a single mark when it fades back into the Dark Dream. Effects are as normal while the Lair Traits are present, but any damage or ill effects vanish like a dream at waking. Intruders and their possessions and equipment suffer the effects as normal, no matter whether the Beasts wish them to or not - an intruding Hero's phone will be permanently ruined by a Makara's flood; not that he's likely to be in a position to care once the Lair Traits have subsided.

[Wormwood]

I am very bad at creating Rites as I am still wrestling with the mechanics of it, but very interested in what you guys will come up with.
I do wish we had some Voodoo-like spells, here. Or (possibly epic) Rites that allows the Initiate to a) use a nightmare on a certain group of people b) 'borror' an Atavism from a (possibly unwilling) Donor c) inflict a Major Lair Trait on a specific area (a 'tactical Nuke', so to speak) for end-game shenanigans.

Most of all, though, looking forward to utility stuff. Feel like Beasts could use some more of that.

[Mad_Maudlin]

An idea I've been playing with, but I need a lot of help fine-tuning.

Advanced Rite: Nightmare Skin

Dice Pool: Finesse + Occult or Stealth - 6 or Satiety differential (see description)
Time per roll: 10 minutes
Duration: Thirteen hours (but see description.)
Bonus: the Beasts who would benefit from this rite also offer 1L of blood (+1 for each offering).
Cost: 1 temporary Horrorspawn from each Beast who wishes to benefit from the rite.

This ritual allows Beasts to leave their Lair while still remaining merged with their Horror. This process is easier when the Horror is well-fed and compliant, but not asleep; for each participant, subtract their current Satiety from 10 and add up the results. (A Slumbering Horror cannot merge with the Beast at all, so the Satiety differential will always be at least 1 x the number of beneficiaries of the ritual. If this number is less than 6, use 6 instead.)

The beneficiaries of the rite must each open a Primoridal Pathway to their Lair(s) in order to merge with their Horrors at the start of the ritual. At the close of the ritual, these Beasts will consume/absorb their Horrorspawn and then close the Pathway. They may choose to remain in the Realm Material, or enter their Lair(s) and depart from there elsewhere.

Bringing the Horror into the Realm Material entails certain logistical concerns: can the Anakim fit through the door? Can the Makara move on dry land? Will the phoenix-inspired Ugallu set fire to the temple? Within the Primordial Dream, or other psychoactive environments (eg the Hedge, a mortal's Oneiros) many of these issues take care of themselves (the door stretches, the Makara glides through the air, the Ugallu only burns things if she wills it).

By default, the rite's effect lasts thirteen hours (as experienced by the Beasts). However, any time a merged Beast spends Satiety outside the Lair, they must roll Resistance + Lair - individual Satiety differential.

Dramatic Failure: the hungry Horror violently rips itself apart from the Beast and returns immediately to the Lair. The Beast takes 2A damage and gains the Soul Shocked condition.
Failure: The Beast must spend a Willpower point to maintain the merger.
Success: The merger is remains stable.
Exceptional success: the merger remains stable and the Beast gains a Willpower point.

This roll is penalized based on where the Beast is at the time: zero for the Primordial Dream or the Mother's Land, -1 for the Bright Dream, -2 for any other psychoactive environment, -3 for the Realm Material.

If the effect ends naturally, the Beast and Horror separate peacefully and the Horror returns to the Lair. The Beast may also voluntarily end the effect prematurely by going to the Heart of her Lair and spending a Willpower Point.

I imagine this being used when the brood needs to "muscle up" for a fight (that is, access the Horror's best-of-each stats), especially a fight taking place somewhere it's inconvenient or unwise to keep a Pathway standing open. It might also be appropriate for a pilgrimage to the Mother's Land.

[Master Aquatosic]

That should definitely be advanced. Plus, any place where you dont want a standing Pathway is probably not a place where you want to reveal your Horror form either

Though. The pilgrimage idea is good

[MrParaduo]

Any suggestions on how to make a "resurrection" rite? Perhaps it'd require a sacrifice of equal worth to the recipients involved? Or maybe it only works on mortals?

[ajf115]

Any suggestions on how to make a "resurrection" rite? Perhaps it'd require a sacrifice of equal worth to the recipients involved? Or maybe it only works on mortals?

I'm tempted to say that Obcasus Rites simply can't do resurrection, seeing as they draw power from the Dark Mother. She's Primordial Fear, she's all about consequences. Undoing the ultimate consequence, no matter the price, seems like it would be against her very nature. On the other hand, the idea of villains/monsters resurrecting a fallen fellow or servant is a compelling one. What if it only works on an individual with Kinship, and instead of truly resurrecting them it strips them of any template they had already and makes them into some kind of Dreamborn, warped by the Nightmarish powers which retrieved them from the grave?

And then maybe there could be a second Rite which creates a physical body which can be inhabited by a Spirit, Ghost or Dreamborn. General utility for Kin as well as interaction.

[MrParaduo]

I'm tempted to say that Obcasus Rites simply can't do resurrection, seeing as they draw power from the Dark Mother. She's Primordial Fear, she's all about consequences. Undoing the ultimate consequence, no matter the price, seems like it would be against her very nature. On the other hand, the idea of villains/monsters resurrecting a fallen fellow or servant is a compelling one. What if it only works on an individual with Kinship, and instead of truly resurrecting them it strips them of any template they had already and makes them into some kind of Dreamborn, warped by the Nightmarish powers which retrieved them from the grave?

And then maybe there could be a second Rite which creates a physical body which can be inhabited by a Spirit, Ghost or Dreamborn. General utility for Kin as well as interaction.

Fair enough, though I'm tempted to say the latter could be done via the Doppelganger atavism. The pod person simply becomes a receptacle for the possessing entity.

[ajf115]

Perhaps the idea that the Dark Mother doesn't resurrect could be worked into the rite - it's not a resurrection, it's an adoption during which the participants do a kind of service for the deceased, trying to 'convince' the Mother that they're better off as a teacher than as a lesson to others.

[ajf115]

Fair enough, though I'm tempted to say the latter could be done via the Doppelganger atavism. The pod person simply becomes a receptacle for the possessing entity.

That's true, but not everyone will have access to Doppelganger, and the simulacrum dies if the copied individual wakes up or dies. It definitely works, but I think we might as well have the option. I'll write it up later.

[MrParaduo]

That's true, but not everyone will have access to Doppelganger, and the simulacrum dies if the copied individual wakes up or dies. It definitely works, but I think we might as well have the option. I'll write it up later.

Point taken.

[Wormwood]

On the other hand, the idea of villains/monsters resurrecting a fallen fellow or servant is a compelling one. What if it only works on an individual with Kinship, and instead of truly resurrecting them it strips them of any template they had already and makes them into some kind of Dreamborn, warped by the Nightmarish powers which retrieved them from the grave?

And then maybe there could be a second Rite which creates a physical body which can be inhabited by a Spirit, Ghost or Dreamborn. General utility for Kin as well as interaction.

Hell yeah, that sounds very Undead Overmind / Lich-Lord / Tomb Lord like. I like! As an Epic Rite, you could make something like a 'Create an Army of Monsters' thing out if it - basically the same Rite on a much larger Scale =D

[ajf115]

Preparing the Vessel (Intermediate Rite)
Dice Pool: Finesse + Empathy or Occult - 4
Time Per Roll: 10 minutes
Duration: Permanent (until destroyed or health level is reclaimed)
Bonus: +1 if an animal of Size 4 or more is sacrificed or +2 if a human is sacrificed
Cost: 1 Lethal Corpus damage
Many are the Kin who lack an easy way to interact with the physical world, from ghosts and animistic spirits to Dreamborn or even Unfettered Horrors. The Dark Mother cares little for such beings as they are - they have the tools they need to spread her gospel of fear without her intercession - but when Her beloved Children adopt such a being and ask for Her aid She indulges them. This Rite is used to create a physical vessel for a specific ephemeral being to inhabit. Before the rite can be performed, the vessel must be constructed. This must be done using materials relevant to the ephemeral's Influences - the vessel of a computer-spirit could be built out of wires, circuit boards and similar paraphernalia, while a ghost might require human bones to be sourced. This is an extended action that costs Resources equal to the ephemeral's Rank, has a time per roll of 8 hours, and requires accumulated successes equal to (3 x the target Ephemeral's Rank). The dice pool is Intelligence + Crafts. A successful result of this is generally an effigy of roughly humanoid or animalistic shape, although it can have other forms at the agreement of the players and the Storyteller.

Once the vessel is complete the Rite may commence. The target Ephemeral, which must be Kin to one of the participants in the Rite and must be present within the Temple where the Rite is performed, tears out a part of its substance and places it within the vessel, usually roughly where the heart would be. If the Rite succeeds, the target ephemeral immediately gains access to a new Manifestation 'Inhabit Vessel', which can exceed the normal limit of Manifestations for its Rank, the Mortal Mask Numen and the vessel becomes permanently Open to that specific entity. Astral entities can gain this Manifestation even though they are usually restricted to Twilight Form.

While the Rite remains in effect, the Ephemeral cannot heal the health level sacrificed to empower it. The Ephemeral may choose to end the Rite at any time, at which point the vessel collapses and is destroyed, losing all effects of the Rite, while the Ephemeral loses the 'Inhabit Vessel' Manifestation, being forcefully ejected from the vessel if it is currently inhabiting it and suffering Bashing damage equal to its Rank.

Inhabit Vessel
While under the effect of this Manifestation, the entity physically inhabits the vessel as if it were Claiming a nonliving host. However, the vessel does not degrade and while inhabiting it the entity may use its Influences and Numina. However, use of the latter incurs a surcharge of half again the price of the Numen, rounded up (e.g. a Numen which normally costs 5 Essence would now cost 8). The entity may vacate its vessel at will, returning to Twilight Form. The entity is automatically ejected if its vessel is destroyed. The entity uses its simplified Attributes as normal, although Physical Attributes are capped at 5.

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I'm not sure about the Manifestation. Any help there would be greatly appreciated.

[lnodiv]

The Horrorspawn chapter mentions creating a body for Horrorspawn via a Rite, but I didn't see any Rites that actually do this. Has anyone written one up yet?

Something exactly like Preparing the Vessel but which would work for Horrorspawn as well would be cool. Maybe something that allows the option for monstrous forms.

[MrParaduo]

How about a sealing rite? As in, placing a target within stasis, or severing them from supernatural power? The latter could be explained as a powerful mental suggestion that convinces the victim they can't use magic, almost like a permanent nightmare. Main premise being: suppose you want to spare an Insatiable, or a beast whose gone too far; or maybe the foe is too powerful to be destroyed and needs to be sealed within a location. The primordial dream might even ensure that time moves strangely within the prison, if a location, provided the seal remains in tact.

[ajf115]

How about a sealing rite? As in, placing a target within stasis, or severing them from supernatural power? The latter could be explained as a powerful mental suggestion that convinces the victim they can't use magic, almost like a permanent nightmare. Main premise being: suppose you want to spare an Insatiable, or a beast whose gone too far; or maybe the foe is too powerful to be destroyed and needs to be sealed within a location. The primordial dream might even ensure that time moves strangely within the prison, if a location, provided the seal remains in tact.

Sounds good to me as an Advanced or Epic rite. Not sure how it would work, though.