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Old 05-27-2020, 10:36 AM   #1
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Default Clerical Rites

Now that the Book of Unlife is out, here's another of the sections that was cut before publication. I agree with the editors that these expansions weren't really suited to becoming part of the core TFT canon. But if you want to house-rule these into your own campaigns, feel free. They were intended to give players new ways of combating the unliving, as well as using some of their powers. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Clerical Rites

Rites is a catch-all term for a set of Talents and Spells that are associated with priests, shamans, cultists, and other religious figures. They are broadly divided into two categories, Holy Rites and Dark Rites. The former is associated with benevolent faiths, whereas the others belong to malevolent creeds. The primary distinction between Talents, Spells, and Rites is that Rites are learned from a religious order, and usually will require the student to be an adherent of that faith. One who leaves their religious order (and thereby becomes an apostate) may continue to perform the Rites they learned, but the order may not be pleased to learn this is happening. Apart from the religious trappings, Rites function just like any other Talent or Spell. There are many Rites which clerics of every stripe may learn, but this book will concentrate on those with bearing on the unliving. One other way in which Rites differ from Spells is that they have a prerequisite of the Priest or Theologian talent in order to be learned. This is because religious orders will not teach Rites to someone unless they have the requisite ecclesiastic knowledge and spiritual preparation.
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Old 05-27-2020, 10:37 AM   #2
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Holy Rites
These are the Rites one expects to find in most established religions and faiths where life is sacred and virtue is exalted.

Funeral Rites
IQ 8 (1) Talent, requires Priest; no ST cost, time varies

There are as many ways of expressing grief and honoring the dead as there are cultures in the world, but the common factor is respect for the deceased and the hope that their souls will be at rest. To this end nearly every faith and community has Funeral Rites. A failure to perform these, or to perform them with sufficient reverence, may offend the souls of the dead and make them restless. If a ghost is one whom wished for funeral rites and did not receive them, then often finding their body and performing these rites can be enough to assuage them. Someone with the Priest talent is assumed to know the funeral rites of their own faith. Acquiring this talent extends the ability to all major cultures and allows the Priest to perform the correct funeral rite for each. They can also quickly pick up the funeral rites of an unfamiliar culture. It’s important to perform the appropriate funeral rites belonging to the culture of the deceased, as the wrong ritual can be worse than no ritual at all.

The Rite of Laying
IQ 11 (T) Spell, requires Priest; 1 ST per turn, does 1d “damage” per turn when successful

Some more aggressively restless souls will not be placated by basic funeral rites, and thus it can help to perform the Rite of Laying. This ritual is designed to quell the discontent of the soul and allow it to move on to the afterlife. The Rite of Laying is more complex and demanding to perform, particularly with a resisting soul, and thus is less commonly found among clerics than knowledge of Funeral Rites, which all but the most novitiate are likely to know. This Rite only works on Soul-type unlife, and also has no effect on Astral Bodies.

The Rite of Laying costs 1 ST per turn, and each successful attempt does 1d points of spiritual damage to the entity. Critical success does bonus damage in the same way as combat. If the unliving entity is brought to 0 ST by the Rite, they are successfully lain to rest and will trouble the world of the living no more. Critical failure causes the damage to fall back upon the ritualist, also with the appropriate increases depending on the degree of critical failure.

The Rite of Consecration
IQ 12 (S) Spell, requires Priest; 6 ST, due to time required can only be performed once a day

The Rite of Consecration is used to sanctify a place or object and thus make it holy. Consecrated places are abhorrent to most forms of unlife, except benevolent ones like Spirit Guides. A consecrated place must be blessed all at once, and the ST cost is per hex, so any structure of significant size is going to require a fair number of priests. Consecrated objects may be used to hold malevolent unlife at bay (acting as an Avert spell), and consecrated weapons can do additional damage to unlife which can be so harmed. The place or object must have some measure of virtue itself in order to be consecrated - a temple, a finely tempered sword, or a vessel of pure natural water may be easily consecrated, but not so much a bawdy house, a butcher’s cleaver, or a cesspool. After all, one is ostensibly asking for the blessing of the gods upon the thing consecrated, so there is a degree of propriety expected.

The Rite of Expulsion
IQ 14 (T) Spell, requires Theologian; 1 ST does 1d “damage” per turn when successful

The Rite of Expulsion is actually a form of combat with the entity, an attempt to drive it out of our world and back to its original plane of existence. Successfully expelling an entity can also greatly weaken it, preventing it from returning to our world for a very long time. There are separate Rites of Expulsion for each kind of unlife, as their differing natures have different requirements, but knowledge of the Rite includes knowledge of all variations. There is a danger with this Rite in that failure to perform the Rite correctly can actually strengthen the entity being expelled, giving it a greater foothold in our world. So great pains are taken to minimize the risk of this from happening by only teaching the Rite to those who have proven to be adept clerics.

The known Rites of Expulsions covering the unliving are:
• Rite of Expelling Poltergeists
• Rite of Expelling Succubi & Incubi
• Rite of Expelling Ghasts
• Rite of Expelling Phantasms

The Rite of Expulsion costs 1 ST per turn, and each successful use of the Rite does 1d points of spiritual damage to the entity. Critical success does bonus damage in the same way as combat. If the unliving entity is brought to 0 ST by the Rite, they are expelled from this world and back to the one from which they came, not to return during the lifetime of the expulsor, if ever. Critical failure causes the damage to fall back upon the ritualist, also with the appropriate increases depending on the degree of critical failure. Critical failure on the worst possible roll (for example, 18 on 3d) when performing the Rite also “heals” the entity completely, and gives it a permanent increase of additional ST equal to the damage taken by the ritualist from the failure. It is this aspect of the Rite that keeps it from being taught more widely. A ritualist who fails this way can never personally expel that particular entity, so further attempts by them are fruitless.

The Rite of Exorcism
IQ 15 (T) Spell, requires Theologian; 1 ST does 1d “damage” per turn when successful

Derived from the Rite of Expulsion and given further enhancement in order to guard the mortal soul, the Rite of Exorcism is vital in battling those types of unlife which have the ability to Possess. Once a person is Possessed they can be controlled by the entity. The expression of this control will vary by entity, with some possessions being crudely violent and loudly profane, and others being craftily concealed and wickedly diabolical. Rare is the case where the possessed can free themself, with death more often being the only thing that brings relief. So it is that the services of a skilled exorcist are invaluable.
The Rite of Exorcism is an exhausting ritual that costs 1 ST per turn, and is compounded by each attempt also requiring an IQ Contest between the ritualist and the unliving entity. If the ritualist wins the Contest that turn, they do 1d points of spiritual damage to the entity. Critical success does bonus damage in the same way as combat. If the unliving entity is brought to 0 ST by the Rite, they are successfully exorcised and can never again possess the person they were exorcised from. Critical failure causes the damage to fall back upon the ritualist, also with the appropriate increases depending on the degree of critical failure. Critical failure also does 1d damage to the possessed person.
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Old 05-27-2020, 10:37 AM   #3
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Dark Rites
Holy Rites have dark opposites in those creeds where shadowy forces and terrible gods are worshiped. These Dark Rites invert the purpose and intent of their holy counterparts, in the service of the unliving and the unhallowed. Liches, nosferatu, and evil funeraries may have some of these Rites among their talents as well.

The Rite of Abnegation
IQ 8 (1) Talent; 1 ST, 3 hours preparation time

Performed by the most debased of dark acolytes, the Rite of Abnegation is a spiritual surrender, allowing an unlife entity to possess the caster. This may be a personal sacrifice driven by slavish devotion, or an offering by a dark cult who wishes to bargain with the unliving being in exchange for a mortal body. In the latter case this is often a bargain with a Possessor for knowledge or concealed goods they once held, or to bring back a person revered by the cult who is now a restless soul. This ritual works for any unlife form which has the Possession characteristic, and also for Haunts, whom otherwise cannot normally occupy a living body. Once possessed, the living host cannot expel the possessing entity. The possession will only end when the entity chooses to end it, or is exorcised.

The same basic Rite with some changes in liturgy and symbols is used by diabolists to allow their bodies to be possessed by demons and devils. The Rite is not the same as those rituals which allow Ancestrals and other such beings to briefly possess a willing person during a ceremony, as seen in religions like Vodou - that is actually a form of spirit mediumship.

Only the living can perform the Rite of Abnegation. It is without effect or value for the unliving.

The Rite of Defilement
IQ 12 (S) Spell, requires Priest; 6 ST, due to required time can only be performed once a day

This Rite, an inversion of Consecration, taints a place or object and makes it unholy. Such a place acts as a sanctuary and restorative for malevolent unlife, and is anathema to the holy. An object made unholy is repellent to the holy (acts as an Avert spell), and weapons made unholy can do extra damage to the holy. Just as some things are too foul to consecrate, some things are too pure to defile. The devils that one beseeches the defilement from will take harm from trying to corrupt truly pure things and thus the rite will fail.

The Rite of Torment
IQ 14 (S) Spell, requires Theologian; 10 ST per day

Designed to make a soul uneasy in the moments before its death, so that it returns as a form of unlife. Can result in a Ghost, Haunt, Dybbuk, or Duppy.
The Rite of Torment starts at mid-night and costs 10 ST per day at that time. Each day is an IQ Contest between the tormentor and the victim. If the tormentor wins the Contest that turn, they maintain the psychic torment on their victim. Critical success adds actual damage to victim (1d on double critical, 2d on triple critical), hastening their demise. If the victim dies while tormented, they will resurrect as a form of unlife decided by the GM. Critical failure causes 1d damage to the tormentor, with double and triple failures increasing the damage accordingly. Critical failure on the worst roll (18 on 3d, etc) not only inflicts 3d damage on the tormentor, but so utterly breaks the enchantment that they can never again torment that person. Critical failure of any level also reveals the true face of the tormentor to the tormented, though not their name or location.

The Rite of Scourging
IQ 15 (S) Spell, requires Theologian; 5 ST per day

Allows a cleric to perform the same effects as either of the unlife abilities Oppression or Stigmatisation (the cleric chooses which initial effect they are going for, which then remains the same for the duration of the scourging). The ritual must be performed at the same time every day once begun, and if skipped or failed at any point the victim is released from the effects. Due to the two-way connection needed in this Rite, if the victim breaks the oppression on their own, they will recognize their oppressor if they ever run across them.

The Rite of Scourging costs 5 ST each day it is maintained. The Contest rules that apply to the unlife ability Oppression also apply to this Rite.
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Old 05-27-2020, 06:09 PM   #4
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Default Re: Clerical Rites

Love it. I created a sub-system for miraculous powers in a house ruled version of original edition TFT, but I now prefer to simply slot all clerical type powers in using the mechanics of talents or spells (so no new rules). The game assumes new spells will enter the campaign in a variety of ways, so ti really isn't even much of a stretch from RAW.
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Old 05-28-2020, 07:34 AM   #5
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Thanks! I too find that this is the least disruptive way, since the rules allow for new spell research. New talents aren't really scoped except for new Mundane ones, but that can be a kind of backdoor as well. Certainly Funeral Rites from my list would qualify, since it really is just a set of specialist knowledge like many career mundane talents. Abnegation is a bit trickier to drop into that bucket, though it could be reclassed as a kind of spell anyway.
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Old 05-31-2020, 09:45 AM   #6
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Default Re: Clerical Rites

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadekeep View Post
Now that the Book of Unlife is out, here's another of the sections that was cut before publication. I agree with the editors that these expansions weren't really suited to becoming part of the core TFT canon. But if you want to house-rule these into your own campaigns, feel free. They were intended to give players new ways of combating the unliving, as well as using some of their powers. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

----------

Clerical Rites

Rites is a catch-all term for a set of Talents and Spells that are associated with priests, shamans, cultists, and other religious figures. They are broadly divided into two categories, Holy Rites and Dark Rites. The former is associated with benevolent faiths, whereas the others belong to malevolent creeds. The primary distinction between Talents, Spells, and Rites is that Rites are learned from a religious order, and usually will require the student to be an adherent of that faith. One who leaves their religious order (and thereby becomes an apostate) may continue to perform the Rites they learned, but the order may not be pleased to learn this is happening. Apart from the religious trappings, Rites function just like any other Talent or Spell. There are many Rites which clerics of every stripe may learn, but this book will concentrate on those with bearing on the unliving. One other way in which Rites differ from Spells is that they have a prerequisite of the Priest or Theologian talent in order to be learned. This is because religious orders will not teach Rites to someone unless they have the requisite ecclesiastic knowledge and spiritual preparation.
I really like the idea of spells that have Priest or Theologian prerequisites -- great idea!
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Old 06-01-2020, 11:19 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zot View Post
I really like the idea of spells that have Priest or Theologian prerequisites -- great idea!
Thank you. I really try to make my material work within the established TFT framework, since it's so finely balanced.
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Old 06-01-2020, 12:37 PM   #8
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Default Re: Clerical Rites

Which of these work on ghosts and/or demons?
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Old 06-01-2020, 01:23 PM   #9
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Holy Rites
These are the Rites one expects to find in most established religions and faiths where life is sacred and virtue is exalted.

Funeral Rites
[snip] Someone with the Priest talent is assumed to know the funeral rites of their own faith. Acquiring this talent extends the ability to all major cultures and allows the Priest to perform the correct funeral rite for each.
If a figure knew Priest and Scholar, would they automatically know this talent?
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Old 06-02-2020, 10:38 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Shostak View Post
If a figure knew Priest and Scholar, would they automatically know this talent?
That's a fair question. Given that the Scholar talent overlaps both linguistics and cultural anthropology, I'd be comfortable gifting this Rite to one who had both. Or alternately one could give such a character a unskilled chance roll to perform the rite, at the very least (3/IQ or thereabouts).
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