Consultafiltro de s y operadores de petición de orden

The following rituals all require the Sacrifice metamagic to perform.

BLOOD BATH

(Adept, Blood)

The blood adept knows that blood within is life, and blood without is protection. Every scar was a wound that has grown tougher. But not all such armor need come from them. Adepts covered in blood can cause it to harden into a natural armor. The more blood, the tougher the armor. This ar- mor stacks with standard armor for the purposes of determining encumbrance penalties (see Ar-

mor and Encumbrance, p. 169, SR5), but only if it

coats the same regions covered by armor. For ex- ample, a blood adept might wear an armored vest and pants, but paint their face, arms, and exposed flesh with blood to harden into a sheath without adding to their armor encumbrance.

To perform this ritual, the adept makes a Arcana + Logic [Force] Test.  This ritual takes (Force) min- utes to complete. The adept paints themselves with fresh blood from a sapient being. Each hit on the test grants +1 Armor or Astral Armor (either one or a combination of both can be chosen). The benefit ritual decreases by 1 every 2 hours as the blood de- grades until it offers no further benefit. Washing off the blood ends the effect prematurely. Needless to

say, walking around covered in blood is quite con- spicuous and may draw unwanted attention.

BLOOD OATH

(Material Link)

In this ritual, the subject swears that they will perform a specific task and receives greater abili- ty to achieve that goal in return. Appropriate oaths would include swearing to defend a specific indi- vidual or to find a specific object. This oath must be taken freely, or the ritual fails. As part of the ritu- al, the leader inflicts a number of boxes of Physical damage to the subject equal to or less than the Force of the ritual. For every 2 boxes of Physical damage inflicted, the subject chooses one skill that they will use to achieve the goal of their oath. They receive a +1 dice pool and +1 limit modifier to the chosen skill. This modifier only applies when the subject is directly working to fulfill their oath. For example if a player chose Pistols as a skill for an oath to protect an individual, they would get the benefit of the oath if they were attacked while guarding the individu- al but not if they were attacked while alone. Once the ritual is complete, the leader may spend Karma equal to (2 + Willpower of the subject) to make the oath permanent; otherwise it lasts for (Force) days. If the subject achieves the goal of their oath, the effect of the ritual ends. If the subject of the oath intentionally betrays that oath, they suffer twice the damage they had inflicted on them during the cast- ing of the oath ritual. Even if the subject survives this damage, the injuries leave severe scars, forev- er marking them as an oath breaker to those who know the signs. This damage only occurs if the sub- ject breaks their oath, not if they fail to achieve its goal. The leader can hold active oaths with up to his Charisma in subjects. The ritual takes (Force) hours to complete. An individual can only have one ac- tive oath at a time. A blood oath does not require a blood magic Addiction Test, as it is purely voluntary and the required damage represents commitment rather than suffering.

DEATH CURSE

(Material Link)

This ritual allows the magician to exact final ven- geance on anyone who slays them. If the subject of this ritual dies, they burn all their Edge, and a blood spirit is automatically summoned from their corpse. The Force of the blood spirit summoned is equal to the hits on a Magic + (number of Edge burned) test.

The Force of the ritual sets the limit. Because the rit- ual does not actually use the Summoning skill, any Awakened individual can be the subject.

The spirit has no master, but it has a burning desire to destroy the one who killed the subject of the ritual. The violence of the death is enough to create a brief metaphysical link between the sub- ject and their killer, allowing the blood spirit to rec- ognize them on sight. Once the blood spirit exacts its revenge, it is free to return to whatever dark metaplane it came from, or more likely to continue on a killing spree. Because of the high potential to set a rampaging blood spirit loose, this ritual is ta- boo even in areas where blood magic is tolerated.

GUARDIAN BOND

(Material Link)

A benign variation of the Blood Bond ritual (p. 125, Street Grimoire), this ritual bonds the magician to a genetically related subject. Unlike a Blood Bond, a Guardian Bond protects the subject, not the caster. The minimum Force of the ritual is equal to the subject’s Willpower. Once the ritual is complete, the leader may spend Karma equal to 2 + Willpow- er of the subject to make the bond permanent, oth- erwise it lasts for (Force) days. This bond creates a low-level telepathic link between the leader and the subject (they know each other’s emotional state and general whereabouts). The magician may use a form of Empathic healing (p. 171, Street Grimoire) to transfer physical damage from the subject to himself, if the subject is within (100 x Magic Rat- ing) meters from the magician. The leader can bond up to their Charisma in subjects.   This ritual takes (Force) days to complete. This ritual requires the Sacrifice metamagic to cast, however any Blood Magic Points spent must originate from the leader of the ritual. This ritual does not necessitate an Ad- diction test for the use of blood magic.

METAMAGIC

PREDATOR FEAST (ADEPTS ONLY)

PREREQUISITE: CANNIBALIZE

The adept has tasted the flesh of its own kind and found it appealing. The life force, blood, bone, sinew—all are the same components which com- pose the adept’s body. By committing cannibalis- tic acts, they can gain temporary regeneration of their own wounds.

Note that corporations and other groups will gladly hunt down such an aberrant individual for the DIMR bounty, and DNA from their saliva and dental patterns from multiple victims can be used to hunt them down. Being a cannibal in the Sixth World isn’t easy.

Predator feast is an advanced metamagic tech- nique that builds upon the Cannibalize power (p. 90, Street Grimoire). Predator feast functions the same as Cannibalize, except that instead of gen- erating 3 Blood Magic Points, the adept gains the Regeneration critter power (p. 400, SR5). The effect lasts for (Magic x initiate grade) Combat Turns, but the adept may immediately spend 3 Karma to ex- tend the duration to (Magic x initiate grade) days.

SOUL TETHER

PREREQUISITE: SACRIFICE

Instead of absorbing the life energy of a slain opponent, the blood mage channels the energy into a kind of temporary battery to power a sus- tained spell. In addition to the usual uses of Blood Magic Points, they may now be used to sustain a spell, much like a sustaining focus. The Blood Magic Points used to power this ability must have been drawn from a victim that died in the pro- cess. A number of Blood Magic Points equal to the Force of the spell must be spent to sustain a spell in this way. However, the process slowly eats away at the bound soul, consuming it to fuel the spell. Each hour, the spell loses one point of Force, until the soul, screaming, is snuffed out complete- ly. This kind of magic is incredibly destructive on a spiritual level. Assensing tests against a blood mage sustaining a spell in this way receive a +2 dice pool modifier to recognize the nature of the mage’s magic. Spirits react in an especially neg- ative way. If a blood mage with a spell sustained through soul tether attempts to summon any type of spirit other than a blood spirit, the spirit gains a +4 dice pool bonus to resist the Summoning test. Other spirits encountering the blood mage will act with hostility, including attacking them preferen- tially if free to do so.

SPIRITUAL SACRIFICE

PREREQUISITE: SACRIFICE

This technique was thought lost around the time of Crash 2.0. The blood mage has learned to tap into the inherent link between the flesh and a possessing entity. Invested flesh forms, ally spirits

that have a living physical body, such as an animal familiar, and possessed hosts (loa, shedim, etc.) may now be used in sacrifice. This can be used as a kind of violent exorcism in the last instance.

BLOOD CRYSTAL