Theban Sorcery
Theban Sorcery is the miraculous magic practiced by members of The Lancea Sanctum. According to the covenant, it is a tradition of magic taught (or stolen, depending on to whom one listens) by an “avatar of God.” The practice is said to have been received when early members visited Thebias in northern Egypt with a contingent of Christian soldiers during the reign of Diocletian, after Longinus had vanished from the world. The Discipline has decidedly judgmental overtones, combining a focus on Biblical elements (rains of blood, plagues of locusts, the vengeance of God) with a very overt and occult reliance on righteousness.
Theban Sorcery is as jealously guarded as anti-Sanctified factions widely believe, if not more so. While few Lancea Sanctum hit squads lurk in the shadows to whack non-Sanctified vampires who seem to be able to use the Discipline, few covenant members want to see their divinely inspired powers taken for granted. The Lancea Sanctum isn’t foolish. It makes its mystical knowledge available “on loan” if the covenant has something to gain.
Vampires who leave The Lancea Sanctum for other covenants invariably take their knowledge with them, but find it all but impossible to increase it. A character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) in order to learn Theban Sorcery. A players who takes at least one dot worth of that Merit at character creation may spend one of his character’s three Discipline dots on Theban Sorcery if he wishes. Any time a player wants to increase his character’s Theban Sorcery score, the vampire must still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) to do so.
The angel Amoniel delivered the early vampires of The Lancea Sanctum to the cavern where the miraculous powers of the Sanctified were first written, deep below the Necropolis of Thebes. The walls of the cavern were adorned with paintings, etchings and glyphs explaining the practice of divine rituals meant to grant power to the Longinians in future nights. Though the rituals — known collectively as Theban Sorcery — were put to limited use almost immediately, no Sanctified Kindred was considered to have mastered them prior to St. Daniel. On a fatal day in 286 AD, St. Daniel received a vision from Amoniel and, with it, a sudden mastery of these dark miracles. With the power of his faith made manifest through Theban Sorcery, Daniel is said to have awakened at will, driven off a host of mortal soldiers, blessed the weapons of a faithful ghoul and withstood the light of day.
Surely vampires had practiced Theban Sorcery before St. Daniel, but none had ever before commanded dark miracles of such awesome power. He is considered the first master of the covenant’s unique magic. Sanctified sorcerers ever since have been chasing St. Daniel’s powerful legacy.
A few of the eldest actually learned new rituals that would help them survive the descent to the underworld and the ravages of time that come with centuries of sleep. These rituals predate what The Lancea Sanctum discovered in Thebes and, as such, the Storyteller can use them as potential discoveries for the players or weapons in an elder’s arsenal.
Theban Sorcery is as jealously guarded as anti-Sanctified factions widely believe, if not more so. While few Lancea Sanctum hit squads lurk in the shadows to whack non-Sanctified vampires who seem to be able to use the Discipline, few covenant members want to see their divinely inspired powers taken for granted. The Lancea Sanctum isn’t foolish. It makes its mystical knowledge available “on loan” if the covenant has something to gain.
Vampires who leave The Lancea Sanctum for other covenants invariably take their knowledge with them, but find it all but impossible to increase it. A character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) in order to learn Theban Sorcery. A players who takes at least one dot worth of that Merit at character creation may spend one of his character’s three Discipline dots on Theban Sorcery if he wishes. Any time a player wants to increase his character’s Theban Sorcery score, the vampire must still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) to do so.
The angel Amoniel delivered the early vampires of The Lancea Sanctum to the cavern where the miraculous powers of the Sanctified were first written, deep below the Necropolis of Thebes. The walls of the cavern were adorned with paintings, etchings and glyphs explaining the practice of divine rituals meant to grant power to the Longinians in future nights. Though the rituals — known collectively as Theban Sorcery — were put to limited use almost immediately, no Sanctified Kindred was considered to have mastered them prior to St. Daniel. On a fatal day in 286 AD, St. Daniel received a vision from Amoniel and, with it, a sudden mastery of these dark miracles. With the power of his faith made manifest through Theban Sorcery, Daniel is said to have awakened at will, driven off a host of mortal soldiers, blessed the weapons of a faithful ghoul and withstood the light of day.
Surely vampires had practiced Theban Sorcery before St. Daniel, but none had ever before commanded dark miracles of such awesome power. He is considered the first master of the covenant’s unique magic. Sanctified sorcerers ever since have been chasing St. Daniel’s powerful legacy.
Theban Sorcery: The Ravages of Time
Ancient Kindred, particularly those who worshipped the gods of the dead and the underworld, considered Torpor a spiritual journey where the vampire battled with demons and the gods themselves for the right to return to the living world. Many of those ancients used the power of the Blood to give them an edge in the underworld, while others relied on the tried and true methods of burying themselves with armor, ritual handbooks, weapons, and, if all else failed, gold (some of the gods, apparently, could be bribed).A few of the eldest actually learned new rituals that would help them survive the descent to the underworld and the ravages of time that come with centuries of sleep. These rituals predate what The Lancea Sanctum discovered in Thebes and, as such, the Storyteller can use them as potential discoveries for the players or weapons in an elder’s arsenal.
Execution
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery. Unlike Crúac and its relationship to the Nosferatu, the Gangrel clan weakness does apply to the Discipline user’s roll on attempts to invoke Theban Sorcery rituals.
Action: Extended. The number of successes required to activate a ritual is equal to the level of the ritual (so a level-three ritual requires three successes to enact). Each roll represents one turn of ritual casting. Note also that each point of damage incurred in a turn is a penalty to the next casting roll made for the character, in addition to any wound penalties suffered.
If a character fails to complete the ritual in time (such as by being sent into torpor before accumulating enough successes) or decides to cancel the ritual before garnering enough successes to activate it, the effect simply fails. Any Willpower expenditures made are not recovered, however, and offerings are still burned to ash.
Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. A ritual intended to damage a subject inflicts its damage upon the caster, for example, while a ritual designed to store Vitae in an object depletes the caster of some amount of his own.
Failure: The ritual fails entirely, but not dangerously. Willpower and offerings are consumed as normal, but the ritual has no effect.
Success: The ritual takes place as described.
Exceptional Success: The ritual takes place as described. In many cases, extra successes are their own reward, causing additional damage or conferring extra duration or capacity.
Modifier | Situation
+2 | Power is turned on or applies to a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162).
— | The character is unaffected by threats or distractions.
-1 to -3 | The character is rushed or distracted, such as by invoking a ritual in combat or while trapped in a burning building. This penalty is cumulative with multiple distractions (such as by casting a ritual in combat during a hurricane). Successes gained on a meditation roll for the night (see p. 51 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) offset interruption penalties on a one-for-one basis.
Action: Extended. The number of successes required to activate a ritual is equal to the level of the ritual (so a level-three ritual requires three successes to enact). Each roll represents one turn of ritual casting. Note also that each point of damage incurred in a turn is a penalty to the next casting roll made for the character, in addition to any wound penalties suffered.
If a character fails to complete the ritual in time (such as by being sent into torpor before accumulating enough successes) or decides to cancel the ritual before garnering enough successes to activate it, the effect simply fails. Any Willpower expenditures made are not recovered, however, and offerings are still burned to ash.
Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. A ritual intended to damage a subject inflicts its damage upon the caster, for example, while a ritual designed to store Vitae in an object depletes the caster of some amount of his own.
Failure: The ritual fails entirely, but not dangerously. Willpower and offerings are consumed as normal, but the ritual has no effect.
Success: The ritual takes place as described.
Exceptional Success: The ritual takes place as described. In many cases, extra successes are their own reward, causing additional damage or conferring extra duration or capacity.
Modifier | Situation
+2 | Power is turned on or applies to a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162).
— | The character is unaffected by threats or distractions.
-1 to -3 | The character is rushed or distracted, such as by invoking a ritual in combat or while trapped in a burning building. This penalty is cumulative with multiple distractions (such as by casting a ritual in combat during a hurricane). Successes gained on a meditation roll for the night (see p. 51 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) offset interruption penalties on a one-for-one basis.
Components and tools
Cost: Uses of Theban Sorcery always cost one Willpower point. Willpower is critical to use of the Discipline. It invokes the soul of the Kindred who performs a ritual. Willpower spent in this manner does not add three dice to activation rolls. Indeed, because one may spend only one Willpower point per turn, a Willpower point may never be spent to augment Theban Sorcery rolls unless specified otherwise. Willpower merely makes the magic possible.
Additionally, Theban Sorcery rituals require certain items to be used or consumed to activate the powers. These components are known as offerings. Practitioners believe these items are offered in sacrifice to God, Longinus or to whomever provides the actual manifestation of the power. Attempts to invoke Theban Sorcery without suitable offerings fail outright. Offerings are consumed upon the invocation of a ritual, leaving behind nothing but a handful of ash.
Like Crúac, Theban Sorcery does not have the same linear progression that other Disciplines do. A character’s mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points. For example, a character with two dots of Theban Sorcery can know an unlimited number of level-one and level-two rituals (provided the experience points are paid to learn each), but he may not learn any level-three Theban Sorcery rituals until his base Theban Sorcery dots are increased to 3. Each time a character acquires a dot of Theban Sorcery (including at character creation), he gains a ritual of that level at no additional cost. More rituals may be acquired with experience points. Other Vampire books offer Theban Sorcery rituals, and players and Storytellers are encouraged to create their own using those presented here as models.
Additionally, Theban Sorcery rituals require certain items to be used or consumed to activate the powers. These components are known as offerings. Practitioners believe these items are offered in sacrifice to God, Longinus or to whomever provides the actual manifestation of the power. Attempts to invoke Theban Sorcery without suitable offerings fail outright. Offerings are consumed upon the invocation of a ritual, leaving behind nothing but a handful of ash.
Like Crúac, Theban Sorcery does not have the same linear progression that other Disciplines do. A character’s mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points. For example, a character with two dots of Theban Sorcery can know an unlimited number of level-one and level-two rituals (provided the experience points are paid to learn each), but he may not learn any level-three Theban Sorcery rituals until his base Theban Sorcery dots are increased to 3. Each time a character acquires a dot of Theban Sorcery (including at character creation), he gains a ritual of that level at no additional cost. More rituals may be acquired with experience points. Other Vampire books offer Theban Sorcery rituals, and players and Storytellers are encouraged to create their own using those presented here as models.
Related Organizations
The Nature of Theban Sorcery
Finding and Learning Theban Sorcery Rituals