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| - Main_Page > Vampire: The Requiem > Bloodlines > the Anubi > ShadowJAC's Version > Path of Duat Anpw’s time in the Duat was not spent in vain, sulking. He learned much before he traveled east, back into Khemet, about himself and his gifts as well as the Duat itself. Upon his return, so much time had passed, he was amazed that old Tehuti was still alive, and still in service to the Pharaoh—though a different Pharaoh, to be sure. To him he told of the things in the twelve houses of the Duat, which Tehuti faithfully copied onto a papyrus, the Book of What Is in the Duat. Anpw also had him transcribe a second book, the Book of the Dead, an instruction manual for the newly departed on how to get from Khemet to Amenti without dying a second time.
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| - Main_Page > Vampire: The Requiem > Bloodlines > the Anubi > ShadowJAC's Version > Path of Duat Anpw’s time in the Duat was not spent in vain, sulking. He learned much before he traveled east, back into Khemet, about himself and his gifts as well as the Duat itself. Upon his return, so much time had passed, he was amazed that old Tehuti was still alive, and still in service to the Pharaoh—though a different Pharaoh, to be sure. To him he told of the things in the twelve houses of the Duat, which Tehuti faithfully copied onto a papyrus, the Book of What Is in the Duat. Anpw also had him transcribe a second book, the Book of the Dead, an instruction manual for the newly departed on how to get from Khemet to Amenti without dying a second time. After the two books were distributed to the priest caste in Mennufer (the second for interment with the dead), Anpw invited Tehuti to return to Amenti with him where he would no longer have to worry about the everyday pains of the living. Tehuti refused, saying he wasn’t yet ready to give up the living parts, but that Anpw should stay, to guide an old man when the time came. Anpw agreed. It was another five generations before Tehuti was ready to leave. Anpw had given himself to the duties of the priest caste, who started wearing jackal masks in his honor while they went about preparing a body for interment. But Anpw had grown lonely, and knew that no one left in Mennufer — likely no one left in Khemet — would fill the hole in his ba like those in Amenti. So he chose a mate, Apuat, and Embraced her. To help her through the change and to reach her full potential as his childe, Anpw — by now taught to read and write by Tehuti — wrote out the Book of Coming Forth by Day, a modified version of the Book of the Dead, for the undead. The Book of Coming Forth by Day is full of Hekau ritual magic that exploits a Jackal’s unique ability to step between the living and unliving worlds. It is the first task of a Jackal awakening to his heritage to make his own copy on a scroll of papyrus with his own blood, binding the book to him personally. To read the book at all, a Jackal must have the Linguistics merit for Egyptian hieroglyphs, though merely copying it requires only a dot in Crafts. The transcription generally takes a Jackal about a month to do, assuming said Jackal gets on with his nightly activities and obligations as well. No matter how long it takes, the entire book cannot be copied without the use of the equivalent of three points of Vitae. The spells and rituals in the book can be shared with those outside the bloodline, but they won’t work without a Jackal’s assistance, as it is only the Jackal’s duality that can bridge the two worlds. Still, there is a certain benefit in sharing knowledge. Cost: Rituals of the Path of Duat require the expenditure of Willpower and/or Vitae, as the magics involve the focusing of the caster’s ba and ka respectively. Additional willpower cannot be spent to add to the dice pool, unless otherwise specified. Also, each ritual requires a specific prayer of intent to Ausar in the language of ancient Khemet, as written in the Book of Coming Forth by Day. Furthermore, some rituals also call for specific items or materials to be used for sympathetic focus of magic. (Some materials can be reused, but most are expended in the course of the ritual.) Any attempt to invoke a Path of Duat ritual without the proper materials fails automatically. Like other ritual-based Disciplines, Path of Duat does not follow a linear progression. A character’s mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points as the character studies more of his personal Book of Coming Forth by Day. For example, a character with two dots of Path of Duat 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 Path of Duat rituals until his base Path of Duat dots are increased to 3. Each time a character acquires a dot of Path of Duat (including at character creation), he gains a ritual of that level at no additional cost. More rituals may be acquired with experience points and time spent studying the Book of Coming Forth by Day. Dice Pool: Presence + Occult + Path of Duat 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. When a player rolls the exact amount of successes needed, however, he may choose to spend an additional Willpower point for one more roll. Successes on that roll add to the total, but a failure does not have bearing on the ritual’s effectiveness. Note that each point of damage suffered in a turn is a –1 penalty to the next casting roll made for the character. If the dice pool falls to 0, the ritual is interrupted, and the character must make a Resolve + Composure roll or risk going into a rage frenzy. There is no chance die to complete an interrupted ritual. If any casting roll fails, the ritual fails, regardless of how many successes have already been made. Likewise, if the character is interrupted before finishing the ritual—either by losing his dice pool or dying—or decides to cancel the casting on his own, the effect simply fails. Spent Willpower, Vitae, and/or expendable material is not recovered.Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. Because of the nature of the magic, all botched rituals will inflict at least 1 aggravated damage in addition to any other effects. Failure: No successes are accumulated toward the required roll. The character finishes the ritual, but nothing happens. However, especially superstitious targets may reflexively roll Resolve + Composure to avoid hesitating on their next action, just from not knowing what was supposed to happen. (0 successes reduces their Initiative by 3; at 3 successes, they don’t hesitate.) Subsequent attempts to perform the ritual are at a –1 penalty. Success: The number of successes rolled is accumulated toward the total required. Once that total is met, the effect takes place as described. Exceptional Success: The effect takes place as described. In most cases, extra successes are their own reward, conferring additional duration or capacity. Suggested Modifiers: +3 - Ritual is performed in a temple dedicated to Anpw +2 - Ritual is performed in a place of the dead +2 - Target of ritual has some kind of blood tie to the character +2 - Hallowe’en +1 - The character performs the ritual straight out of the Book of Coming Forth by Day –1 - Per Health point lost during the previous turn –1 to –3 - The character is rushed or distracted (cumulative) –2 - Caster is in the presence of pumpkins or gourds –2 to –4 - Ritual is performed in a metal room –3 - Ritual is performed in a place modified by the geomantic principles of the Architects of the Monolith –4 - Ritual is performed in a place warded against Duat spirits
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