One of the types of power that is seldom mentioned
in storyteller is the power of magic involved in many people getting together
and using all their power to do things that they could not do alone.
Yes I'm speaking of Ceremonial magic.
Ceremonial magic takes the power of both those that
know magic and those that do not. However, even the most minor player
in magic must know their proper place or the spell fails. The ceremony
is a long complicated set of movements and speech created to allow those
of different ability to work together. A ceremony is created for
each ritual and must be closely related in some way to the effect that
is occurring. Many rituals when found includes a ceremonial version
with the ritual. However, remember the ceremony is simply a focus
for the power. The entire ritual must still be cast during the ceremony.
General Rules
A ceremony takes at least 10 minutes / level of the ritual and often much longer. Once this portion of the ceremony is done the ritual itself is cast by the primary focus of the spell.
This ability is available to all magus. It
is a separate knowledge. Anytime a ritualist uses a ceremony he uses
the lowest of two abilities to make the difficulty roll (ceremony or rituals).
All other persons use the intelligence + ceremony (variable difficulty)
The ceremony has up to five different levels of
involvement (it must have at least two). It is suggested that you
make one roll per group not one roll per person. Any person may take
any place in the ceremony that they have the minimum requirements.
The equal magus do not have to have the same thaumaturgy level as the magus
but must have sufficient magic to cast the ritual once the modifiers are
added.
| Difficulty
In subtractions from normal difficulty * |
Level of Involvement | Effect | Extra Vitae given |
| - 8 | The masses given a very basic purpose and follow it. (Chant a phrase, dance in a circle) No thaumaturgical ability required. | +1 level maximum ritual / 25 participants but +2 difficulty to cast spell if this option is used. | 1 vitae / 10 vitae present may be spent. |
| - 6 | Apprentices. Must have some Thaumaturgical ability
and it must have begun to be trained.
Given a slightly broader purpose and the thought and focus is important. (Often a leader of chants or dances and using themselves as a focus of the masses) |
+1 level maximum ritual / 5 apprentices also allows more efficient use of masses. | up to 1/5 the total vitae of the participants at this level of involvement may be spent in the ritual. |
| - 4 | Fellow magus. Must have at least one dot in Thaumaturgy. They help supply the magus with more easily focused vitae. The thought behind is the most important. | +1 level / 4 levels of Thaumaturgy present as the maximum level ritual castable. | up to 1/4 the total vitae of the participants at this level of involvement may be spent in the ritual. |
| - 0 | Equal magus. This magus goes through all the steps with the mage. They must each make a roll seperately. There are seldom more than five magus in this place. | +1 level castable ritual/participant. | up to 1/2 the total vitae of the participants at this level of involvement may be spent in the ritual. |
| - 0 | Primary focus. The magus who casts the ritual. He makes the ritual roll as defined above. | Focus | may spend any amount of his vitae he wishes. |
Different paths of Thaumaturgy
Working with those has a cost
and some paths cannot work with others at all. Godly Thaumaturgy
can only work with paths whose nature does not contradict the god's nature.
All the other paths add three to the difficulty
for each additional primary path being used in the casting.
| Thaumaturgy | Thaumaturgy Paths | Settites (Camarilla) | Settites (Sabbat) | Aracanum | Index True Magic |
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