Ritual Activation
To use a hypergeometrical effect, the operator must know the ritual, or possess the object that has the ritual’s effects, and pay the costs to trigger the effect. A ritual also has an activation time—how long an operator must enact the ritual before it activates. Some rituals have their own rules, but as a rule of thumb, activating a ritual works like this: After spending the necessary time, the operator attempts a Ritual Activation roll.
RITUAL ACTIVATION RATING: Every character has a Ritual Activation rating that equals Empathy - Willpower + 4 for each level of Stress. The Higher the character's stress, the more likely the operator is to activate an unnatural ritual effect.
Sometimes, having a copy of the ritual’s instructions or formula on hand, or working from detailed notes and observations, can assist with the Ritual Activation roll. With the Referee's permission, a + 4 bonus may be applied to an operator who is thus prepared.
Note that Ritual Activation does not depend on the Unnatural skill. The Unnatural skill is useful in finding and identifying effective rituals and studying unnatural entities; but once you’ve learned a ritual, activating it depends on your readiness to break with reality.
SUCCESS: If the Ritual Activation roll succeeds, the the ritual takes effect and operator pays the costs as defined by the ritual or the object.
FAILURE: If the Ritual Activation roll fails, the operator has a choice. Either no effect occurs, but the operator still must pay half the cost and suffers a reduced amount of Stress (see Ritual Costs or the character may force a connection to the unnatural, succeeding after all by paying 1 Empathy, permanently.
USING AN : If the ritual is instead activated through an object imbued with permanent power, that may be all that’s required. Some objects take effect only if manipulated in a certain way, triggered by a spoken phrase, or held by a particular person or type of creature. If you meet the criteria and pay the cost, the object releases its effect.
RITUAL ACTIVATION RATING: Every character has a Ritual Activation rating that equals Empathy - Willpower + 4 for each level of Stress. The Higher the character's stress, the more likely the operator is to activate an unnatural ritual effect.
Sometimes, having a copy of the ritual’s instructions or formula on hand, or working from detailed notes and observations, can assist with the Ritual Activation roll. With the Referee's permission, a + 4 bonus may be applied to an operator who is thus prepared.
Note that Ritual Activation does not depend on the Unnatural skill. The Unnatural skill is useful in finding and identifying effective rituals and studying unnatural entities; but once you’ve learned a ritual, activating it depends on your readiness to break with reality.
SUCCESS: If the Ritual Activation roll succeeds, the the ritual takes effect and operator pays the costs as defined by the ritual or the object.
FAILURE: If the Ritual Activation roll fails, the operator has a choice. Either no effect occurs, but the operator still must pay half the cost and suffers a reduced amount of Stress (see Ritual Costs or the character may force a connection to the unnatural, succeeding after all by paying 1 Empathy, permanently.
USING AN : If the ritual is instead activated through an object imbued with permanent power, that may be all that’s required. Some objects take effect only if manipulated in a certain way, triggered by a spoken phrase, or held by a particular person or type of creature. If you meet the criteria and pay the cost, the object releases its effect.
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