Via Necromantiae Levels
Chart · Vampire
• Ritual of Wakening: The Theurgist may command a recently deceased cadaver to awaken. On a successful Charisma + Occult roll (difficulty 7), the corpse will sit up and answer the Theurgist’s questions, to the best of its ability, for one minute per success. Every twenty-four hours the cadaver has been dead adds one to the difficulty. A cadaver more than three days dead cannot be wakened.
•• Ritual of Warding: Theurgists may protect an area from ghostly intrusion. With a successful Wits + Occult roll (difficulty 7), the Theurgist may block ghosts from entering a room-sized area. Each success indicates one week of successful warding.
••• Ritual of Communication: Theurgists may contact the dead by making a Charisma + Occult roll (difficulty 10). That difficulty drops, cumulatively, if any of the following criteria are met: Theurgist possesses an object important to the ghost in life (-1), a person important to the ghost is present (-1), the ritual is conducted in the ghost’s former home (-1), the ritual is conducted in a place where the veil between the Underworld and the world of the living is thin (-2). Maintaining contact with the dead is difficult. Each success rolled allows the Theurgist one minute of communication. The time period can be doubled for another point of Willpower.
•••• Ritual of Expulsion: Theurgists may expel a haunting ghost. This requires a Charisma + Occult roll (difficulty of the ghost’s Willpower + 3, maximum of 9); this is a sustained roll, requiring a number of successes equal to twice the ghost’s Willpower. Simply initiating the banishing costs 1 Willpower, but no more Willpower is required for the remainder of the struggle.
••••• Ritual of Vivification: The Theurgist can now urge a cadaver to rise. This via requires a Manipulation + Occult roll (difficulty 8). Every success animates the corpse for one week, and that time can be doubled for another point of Willpower. Animated cadavers will not have much in the way of personality or intelligence, but can follow simple directions.