Level 5:
Heart of stone
Performing this ritual turns the caster’s unliving heart to stone. This makes them immune to stakes but also, through some fluke of sympathetic magic, completely remorseless and cold-hearted automatons totally unreceptive to emotional and social cues. Even more so than normal.
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Ingredients: A stone slab and a wax candle drenched with the Blood of the caster.
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Process: The caster lies on the stone slab with the candle on their chest letting it burn down to nothing over the course of a night. As the fire reaches their chest, it causes one point of Aggravated damage and forces a terror frenzy roll (Difficulty 3). If the caster fails the frenzy roll, the ritual ends. If the caster does not enter frenzy, they make the Ritual roll. On a win the ritual completes; a critical win heals the candle-fire damage. The effect persists indefinitely, and should the caster wish to reverse the process they must repeat the ritual.
■ System: While under the effect of the ritual, the caster’s heart is literally made of stone. Stakes fail to penetrate it, breaking if forced. The caster also exhibits a complete emotional detachment, subtracting three dice from any Remorse rolls as well as active (not resisting) Social-related rolls, except for Intimidation and Dominate. The caster cannot employ Presence but gains three bonus dice to pools used to resist the effects of that Discipline.