Occultism

Related Themes: Faith, Undeath, Heritage, Dragon

Signature Resource Suggestion: Favour

 

 

Combat

Blood Link

[ Occultism, Combat, Support, Tank, Heal, Transfer Health ]

As a neutral tale, you can spend a point of your signature resource to initiate a blood link to another creature. Designate one as the giver and one as the receiver. Then, you may link yourself to a willing creature as a neutral tale, or you can spend a good tale to link yourself to an unwilling creature.

Once linked, anytime the receiver takes physical harm, the damage may be redirected to the giver as a neutral tale.

One of you must spend a good tale to end the link. A creature may have only one blood link at a time. NPCs may break the link when you get a bad tale.

The blood link is obvious to onlookers.

Describe: Stitching their souls together, creating a thaumaturgic link, altering the strands of destiny.

Related Traits: Psionics.Psychic Harmonization

Backfire: The giver and receiver are switched

Blood Sacrifice

[ Occultism, Combat, Tradeoff, Bolster ]

As a neutral tale, you can give yourself a new debilitating or harmful condition, then you receive one bolster to do anything.

For the duration of the current challenge, the condition cannot be ignored by any means, including related traits.

Describe: Sacrificing your blood to your patron, flagellating yourself, letting your parasite feed.

Related Traits: Undeath.Dead Nerves, Command.Shake It Off, Alchemy Panacea

Pound of Flesh

[ Occultism, Combat, Debuff ]

You can spend a good tale to give someone an exact copy of one of your conditions.

Collaborate: Does this work with “good” conditions as well? Does this work on other PCs?

Describe: Making them pay blood for blood, evening the cosmic scale, getting bloody revenge, causing recoil.

Related Traits: Command.Shake if Off, Faith.Lay on Hands, Occultism.Blood Sacrifice

Terrify

[ Occultism, Combat ]

You can spend a good tale to give someone the condition “Terrified.”

Describe: Showing them their worst nightmare, giving them a glimpse of your patron, using dark magic.

Vessel

[ Occultism, Combat, Control, Fear ]

As a neutral tale, you may spend a point of your signature resource to mark a creature you’re touching as your vessel.

Once marked, you can use your traits through your vessel as if you were standing at their location.

You may only have one vessel at a time. You do not automatically share the vessel’s normal vision or abilities. For example, you cannot see through their eyes.

Describe: Using blood magic to control its muscles, treating its soul like a puppet, sharing your power.

Marks: A tattoo that glows with hellfire, a scar-rune, a glowing symbol floating above their forehead.

Related Traits: Arcane.Familiar, Psionics.Sensory Link

Cast into the Void

[ Occultism, Exploration, Utility ]

You can open a 1-space hole to the void for several minutes. The void is in an endless, empty nothing. Anything cast into the void is gone for all eternity.

Describe: Cutting open a bloody wound in the universe, opening a portal, creating a swirling black hole.

Exploration

Circle of Binding

[ Occultism, Exploration, Control, Barrier ]

You can walk in a circle. When you’re finished, create a barrier along the circle. Absolutely nothing can cross the barrier except light and sound. Collaborate on what breaks the circle.

Breaks the Circle: Time passes, an item touches it, you touch the circle, a secret word is spoken, night falls.

Describe: Drawing runes in chalk, lighting candles in a ring, creating a magic circle, using pact magic.

Related Traits: Nature.Faerie Ring, Arcane.Barrier

Conjuration

You can link a creature you’re touching with an item you’re touching, or to a new item you create. Whoever holds the item can expend the link to instantly summon the linked creature to the item’s location.

Describe: Pulling on a soul-tether, opening a portal to the destination, conjuring it in a puff of smoke and fire.

Darkness

You can create a zone (about 25 yards diameter) of pure darkness for about 1 day. No light can enter the zone.

Describe: A swirling black hole, drowning the light, a pulsating black star, shadows spreading like a swarm.

Defile

You can spend a good tale to give the terrain a descriptor outside of what is natural for that terrain. Collaborate on how the terrain gradually shifts to match your descriptor.

Describe: Spreading magic, spilling your patron’s blood on the earth, weakening the barrier between realms.

Descriptors: Hellish, web-strewn, rotten, sacred, verdant, crawling, swampy, barren, nightmarish.

Interaction

Binding Contract

If you like, contracts and agreements you sign or mediate are magically enforced. They can’t be violated by any means (Agreeing to the contract “You can’t speak of an event” means you literally lose the ability to speak of it forever). The contract or agreement must mention that the terms are binding.

Describe: Signing a pact in blood, binding their soul to service, write your contract into universal laws.

Blissful Agony

You can make a creature you’re touching experience any physical sensation you want. This doesn’t cause physical harm.

Describe: Bringing them to the brink of ecstasy, inflicting terrible agony, toying with their skin, torture.

Charon’s Toll

[ Occultism, Interaction, Combat, Reaction, Defense ]

You can sacrifice 1 treasure to negate 1 Bad Tale.

Describe: Burying coins to pay Death’s toll, turning treasure into ash, giving coins to a shadowy hand.

Related Traits: Thievery.Everything Has a Price

Dark Bargain

You have a patron, which is a powerful entity that can grant you power, favors, or knowledge, but always at a cost. Your patron can perform favors for you, but always at a proportional cost.

Cost: Sacrifice an innocent in their name, start a cult in their honor, further their goals, offer part of your soul.

Describe: Conjuring them in a summoning circle, drawing them forth from the ether, hearing their voices.

Patrons: Demons, angels, otherworldly horrors from beyond the stars, spirits of the land, Death itself.

Deal with the Devil

[ Occultism, Interaction, Persuasion ]

While talking with someone, spend a good tale to learn the one thing that they want more than anything else (discover something beneficial). If you provide them with that thing, you gain significant leverage over them.

Describe: Purchasing their soul, making an offer they can’t refuse, eternally enslaving them to your will.

Related Traits: Nature.Fey Curse