These Arcana allow a demon to perceive, affect and ultimately control the hearts, minds and souls of others. This category also encompasses power over spirits unbound by flesh.
• Abandon Vessel (10*): Prerequisite: Spirit
Sight, Resolve 4+. The demon can willingly leave the sanctuary of a vessel that no longer fulfills its needs. This requires a full turn of unbroken concen- tration and costs one Resolve point. Mortal hosts suffer dice of lethal damage equal to the demon’s permanent Torment as the fallen angel’s tainted essence flows out. Generous demons can reduce the wounds inflicted after soak by spending one Resolve point for every two levels cancelled, though few of the fallen bother. Injuries of revoked possession sometimes manifest naturally as a heart attack or stroke, or unnaturally through spontaneous lacera- tions or charring immolation. In contrast with exiting a mortal, the departure of an Earthbound demon destroys its vessel utterly beyond repair. Reliquaries shatter or burst into unholy flame, while demesnes collapse into sinkholes or churn in localized earth- quakes that leave the land torn and unrecognizable. Upon receiving its freedom, the demon has one free turn to possess a new vessel before it feels the pull of the Abyss on its soul. Abandoned hosts remain forever off-limits to demons who once inhabited them, while former Earthbound have nothing re- maining of their reliquaries and demesnes.
• Behold the Metatron (7*): Prerequisites:
Visage of Glory, Conquering Will, Resolve 6+. For a cost of one Resolve point, the demon becomes impossibly and terribly glorious for a scene, either recapturing its glory as one of God’s Host or display- ing to all who can see it the horror of Hell itself. In game terms, victims wishing to so much as raise their eyes to the demon must roll Willpower against a difficulty of the demon’s permanent Torment or Resolve (whichever is higher). At least four suc- cesses are needed to take any kind of hostile action against the demon, and even then the difficulty of all such actions increases by +2.
• Cerement of Walking Dust (5*): Prerequisite:
Spirit Sight. The demon may use the Arcana Posses- sion to enter a reasonably intact corpse. This possession does not make the demon into one of the Earthbound,
but allows it to animate the body like a living mortal host and resist the Abyss. The chief advantage of possessing a dead body is its superior resilience; ani- mated corpses suffer no wound penalties, have three additional health levels and halve any bashing dam- age applied after soak, rounded down. In addition, dead bodies do not need sustenance or air, nor do they require fulfillment of any other strictly biological need. This durability comes at a twofold price, how- ever. First, the absence of a living soul in the body provides no bulwark against Torment. The demon retains all extant Torment upon possession and auto- matically degenerates when he performs actions considered sinful for his permanent Torment. Sec- ond, the corpse does not mend its own flesh and instead continues to deteriorate. The demon suffers one level of aggravated damage each day at sunrise from decay, but may reverse this putrefaction and heal other wounds using the Regeneration Arcana. The body also loses one dot of Appearance for every unhealed level of aggravated damage suffered.
• Command the Dead (6*): Prerequisite: Spirit
Sight. The demon may command a ghost in its presence and expect obedience. This requires an opposed roll of the demon’s Resolve (difficulty 7) versus the ghost’s Willpower (difficulty 8). If the demon wins, the player must spend a point of Resolve to seal its dominion. The ghost must thereafter obey the demon’s every command for a number of days equal to
its net successes. Ghosts may twist their orders, obeying to the letter and not the spirit, but risk the ire of their masters for flagrant disobedience.
• Command the Eternal Soul (7*): Prerequisites:
Conquering Will, Resolve 8+. The demon speaks the True Name of a demon using the Arcana Invocation of Name. As soon as the two initiate mental contact, the speaker’s player spends a point of Resolve and the two characters match wills in an opposed roll of Resolve + Willpower (difficulty 6). If the speaker wins, the target demon becomes its slave. Thereafter, the master may send orders using Invocation of Name and the slave must obey unless the slave’s player makes a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). Success allows the slave to ignore that specific command, but it remains subject to future or repeated orders. If the victim wins the initial struggle, it escapes bondage and becomes immune to further uses of Command the Eternal Soul by the speaker for a number of years equal to its Resolve. Once enslaved, demons can only escape their bondage by changing their True Names or returning to Hell.
• Compel Sin (4): Prerequisites: Read the Sin,
Torment 3+. The character may project his Vice onto others for a time, giving them a taste of his own urges. The player spends one Resolve point and the character chooses a single target in line of sight for the spiritual infection. If the target has an extremely powerful or dominant Vice, success brings that sin to promi- nence in the victim’s soul.
Otherwise, the target takes on the infernal character’s own Vice. Both effects last until the end of the scene. During the period of infection, the target succumbs to her Vice in every tempting situation unless her player makes a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 7).
• Conquering Will (7): Prerequisites: Read the
Mind, Resolve 5+. The character issues a spoken com- mand in the inflection once used to convey the word of God. The player spends one point of Resolve and rolls Resolve (difficulty 7). Sentient beings within earshot who have a lower Willpower rating than the number of successes must obey the speaker for the rest of the scene to the best of their ability to do so, though the compul- sion cannot drive them to directly harm themselves or loved ones unless they are already strongly predisposed to do so. The speaker cannot simultaneously command a number of people greater than his Willpower + Resolve with this Arcana; when addressing crowds larger than this, the characters with the lowest Will- power ratings obey.
The character may spend an additional Resolve point to magnify his voice so that it echoes with thunder and unmistakable power, easily cutting over the din of a noisy battlefield if so needed. Demons with any Resolve points left are immune to this power due to the Arcana Inviolate Soul.
• Excise Soul (8): Prerequisites: Spirit Strike,
Resolve 7+. The character strikes a corporeal being, while her player spends a point of Resolve and rolls Resolve against a difficulty of the victim’s Willpower. If the number of successes exceeds the target’s Stamina, his soul tears free and the body instantly dies. Most mortal victims of this power become ghosts, though not all do. This power does not kill targets who are pos- sessed; instead, the invading spirit is torn from its victim (meaning that characters with this power make effec- tive exorcists). Such forceful exorcism costs the possessing spirit a point of Willpower.
• Gift of Faith (4): Prerequisites: Read the
Heart. The character touches or makes eye contact with his target, while the player spends as many Resolve points as desired. If the target is a demon or thrall, she adds these Resolve points to her own pool, but cannot surpass the usual limit of her permanent rating. Every two points of donated Resolve in excess of this limit replenish one point of the recipient’s spent Willpower. Blessed recipients convert do- nated Resolve into Conviction points on a one-for-one basis, but cannot refill their Conviction pools any higher than their Piety. Any leftover Resolve refills Willpower like infernal characters.
Other types of beings without Resolve or Convic- tion pools ignore the initial conversion step and regain a point of Willpower for every two points of donated Resolve. Targets refreshed by this power feel an intense surge of belief and spiritual whole- ness. If a demon uses Gift of Faith on a mortal while wearing the angelic visage of his Apocalyptic Form, the mortal directs much of that belief at her “divine” benefactor. This gratitude rewards the demon with a return of one of the Resolve points spent powering the Arcana.
• Greater Invocation (4*): The demon may
now use Invocation of Name to contact any sentient being whose name it knows, just as it can invoke other demons.
• Implacable Vengeance (6*): Prerequisites:
Reaper’s Hunger. The demon names its prey and attunes its entire being to her destruction, costing it a point of Resolve. For as long as the demon vigi- lantly and unceasingly hunts its quarry and works directly toward her death, it does not need sleep, food, drink or air. It feels no fatigue or pain and suffers no wound penalties; in short, it exists beyond the constraints of living flesh. As a downside, its flesh gradually withers and desiccates to the grisly visage of the walking dead (costing one dot of Ap- pearance each day until he reaches zero). If the character takes any action that does not obviously bring it closer to killing its prey, the Implacable Vengeance passes and it loses all benefits. It regains one dot of any lost Appearance every day. If the character successfully kills its prey while under the effects of this Arcana, its Appearance returns to normal and it regains a point of Willpower and three points of Resolve.
• Lash of Anguish (4): Prerequisites: Shield of
Spite, permanent Torment 4+. The character con- centrates on a living or undead target in his line of sight and telepathically unleashes a surge of raw pain and despair. This attack costs one Resolve point and bypasses the protection of the Arcana Inviolate Soul. The target suddenly realizes his own insignifi- cance to the universe and experiences a momentary taste of the punishment God inflicted on the infer- nal host. The player rolls a number of dice equal to (the character’s Torment – the target’s Willpower rating), to a minimum of two dice (difficulty 6). Each success costs the victim a point of temporary Will- power. Victims of this power who lose any Willpower must also check for degeneration if applicable (i.e. those with Torment, Road or Piety).
• Perfect Lie (3): Prerequisites: Read the Sin,
permanent Torment 3+. The character speaks lies with flawless sincerity. The difficulty of Subterfuge rolls can never exceed (12 – the character’s Torment rating).
• Raise the Dead (7): Prerequisite: Spirit Sight.
The character commands the dead to rise, speaking blasphemous mockeries of the Word that breathed life into dust. The player spends a Resolve point and rolls Resolve (difficulty 7). The demon may either raise one cadaver per success as a corpse servant, or raise a single body as a greater corpse knight (in either case, any corpse to be raised must be within the demon’s line of sight). Corpse servants created with a Resolve roll have the statistics listed on p. 313 of Dark Ages: Vampire. Corpse knights have the statistics on p. 312 of Dark Ages: Vampire, but require equipping since they do not automatically rise with weapons and armor. Corpse knights only exist to kill and devour the flesh of the living. These monsters still obey their maker to the best of their limited intelligence, but can only fulfill violent tasks. Left to their own devices, they will shamble off in search of living prey. All undead raised with this Arcana lack the ability to heal in any way and suffer one level of unsoakable aggravated damage each day from decomposition.
• Ravage Sinner (6*): Prerequisites: Sin Eat-
ing, Torment 5+. If the demon observes a mortal perform an action that strongly resonates with his own Vice, it may touch the mortal any time later in the scene and use the Ravage Arcana on the hapless victim as if she were its thrall. Since normal mortals lack a Resolve pool, successes on the ravaging at- tempt immediately start by draining Willpower and move on to health levels. The demon can lure a mortal victim into debauchery to enable feeding, but the mortal must truly sin of her own accord.
• Read the Heart (4): Prerequisites: Read the Sin.
The character may glimpse the colors of a target’s emotional halo glowing around and through the dark- ened stains of sin. This Arcana duplicates the Auspex power Soulsight (Dark Ages: Vampire, p. 177).
• Read the Mind (5): Prerequisites: Read the
Heart. The character may gaze at a sentient being and probe his thoughts and memories. This Arcana duplicates the Auspex power Steal Secrets (Dark
Ages: Vampire, p. 178), but the player uses Resolve
for the activation roll and need not spend Willpower to pierce the minds of supernatural beings.
• Reaper’s Hunger (6*): Prerequisites: Spirit
Sight. Whenever the fallen personally kills a mortal, the player reflexively rolls Torment (difficulty of the
demon’s Torment rating). Success awards a single point of Resolve. Monstrous demons have greater bloodlust (as represented by the larger number of dice for the roll), but require increasingly cruel atrocities to make the act of killing spiritually excit- ing (as represented by the increased difficulty).
• Read the Sin (3): The character may look into
the heart of a subject, perceiving the stain of her dominant Vice as an aura of the appropriate color. The player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty of the target’s Wits + 3). One success reveals the aura, while three enable the character to gauge the overall strength of the sin. Gauging strength will measure the rating of the subject’s Road, Piety or Torment as appropriate, although the character understands the information much more abstractly. For characters without a defined Vice, the Storyteller should de- cide what color manifests. No matter what their other moral failings, vampires also blaze with the intertwined black and orange flames of gluttony and wrath and werewolves pulse with the living wrath of their Rage. Most magi glitter with pride on top of any other aspect of their personality, though not all do.
• Shield of Spite (3): Prerequisites: Inviolate
Soul. Whenever anyone attempts magic that opens telepathic contact with the character, either to read or attack his mind or control him, the intruder suffers dice of bashing damage equal to the character’s permanent Torment. This damage can be soaked with Wits. If the intruder endures any actual damage from this jolt of pain and rage, she also loses a point of Willpower. The Arcana Invocation of Name bypasses this defense.
• Shrouded Soul (6): Prerequisites: Read the
Heart. The character blurs in the mind’s eye, becom- ing innocuous to the point of anonymity. All who interact with her forget the encounter, or at least forget her role in matters, unless their players make successful Willpower rolls (difficulty of the character’s Resolve + 4, maximum difficulty 10). It costs one point of Resolve to activate or deactivate the effects of this Arcana.
• Sin Eating (5): Prerequisites: Read the Sin,
Torment 3+. The character can regain Resolve by indulging his Vice or witnessing a mortal indulging the favored sin. The player rolls Torment, and then immediately checks for degeneration. The difficulty is 8 if the character performs the action, 7 if witness- ing a mortal’s debauchery or 6 if the character directly tempted, threatened or coerced the mortal into sin. If a mortal’s sin is magically compelled, the character rolls as if performing the sin himself. The
demon gains one point of Resolve per success. If Sin Eating is used more than once in a scene, subsequent activations cannot yield more than one point of Resolve per roll. This Arcana may only be attempted once per turn.
• Soul Burn (1 or 2): The character may
cannibalize her own soul for power in emergencies. For one point, the player may reflexively spend a dot of permanent Willpower to fully refresh her pool to its new rating. For two points, she can do the same with Resolve. Lost dots of Resolve or Willpower can only be regained by spending experience points, making this an Arcana of last resort.
• Spirit Sight (3): The character can perceive
all incorporeal spirits normally roaming invisibly through the world or the close spiritual planes re- flecting the world. This includes nature spirits, ghosts and demons without bodies. The character may also scrutinize a mortal (Perception + Awareness, diffi- culty 5) and discern whether a spirit of any kind possesses her. Storytellers may allow Intelligence + Occult rolls for the character to identify the type of spirit he sees, with a difficulty determined by the obscurity of the subject.
• Spirit Strike (4): Prerequisites: Spirit Sight. For
a cost of one Resolve point, the character can strike immaterial spirits for the remainder of the scene.
• Theft of Faith (7*): Prerequisites: Gift of
Faith. The demon touches its intended victim, while the player spends one point of Resolve. The undead and thralls belonging to other demons are immune to this power, although demons themselves are not. Use of this Arcana permits the demon to Ravage the target as if she were its thrall (p. 107), but the character can only take Resolve (if applicable) and Willpower. Once the target reaches zero Willpower, the demon cannot draw any more sustenance from her soul. Use of this power on the Blessed is ex- tremely dangerous. The target loses Conviction points in place of Resolve, and then Willpower if the demon continues feeding. Each point of Conviction a demon consumes awards two points of Resolve, but inflicts one die of unsoakable aggravated damage from the searing and holy power of the divine.
• Transfer Vessel (5*): Prerequisite: Abandon
Vessel, Resolve 7+. By touching a prospective new vessel, a demon may attempt to transfer its being with Possession without any risk to itself. If the attempt succeeds, the demon flows into its new home and the original vessel suffers a single level of unsoakable aggravated damage. Failure does noth- ing except cost the demon a point of Resolve for the
wasted effort. Because this Arcana does not destroy reliquaries the way Abandon Vessel does, Earth- bound tired of immobility can use this power to steal a body until they grow weary of flesh and desire a return to their proper home.
• Usurpation of Flesh (6*): A demon may use
this Arcana to seize control of a thrall’s body, con- trolling the servant like a puppet. The fallen uses Invocation of Name to open mental contact, while the player rolls Resolve (difficulty 6). Each Resolve point spent adds one automatic success to this roll. Even a single success strengthens the telepathic link of invocation to last as long as the demon continues to pay attention to the thrall. During that time, the demon gains passive access to the thrall’s senses (one per success) and may choose to take actions using the thrall’s body with a degree of control determined by the number of successes rolled. The benefits for each level of success are cumulative, encompassing or superseding the effects of lesser control as appropri-