Jahn's Guide to Cruac

Under Construction

Contents

Disclaimer

The following guide is strictly opinion, covering what I consider to be the optimal practices around using Cruac. This is the second iteration of this guide, the first got eaten by the wiki changeover and needed an update to tabletop mechanics in any case. The original iteration of this page was pilfered by a foul fiend who has yet to provide his promised gift for doing so, though as he preserved the concept/template it is somewhat forgiven.

Note about Content

Please do not add to or delete content from this page. This is Jahn's guide to Cruac. Feel free to hit me up with ideas and feedback though, that's what the talk page is for :-)

Overview

What is Cruac?

Cruac is the Covenant advantage of the Circle of the Crone. It costs a vitae/blood to use, and requires an action or actions.

Bah, Theban is better than Cruac!

False. Theban is more direct and has more clear combat powers, but Cruac offers a superior toolbox and can be applied with greater creative thinking (More on this later).

In Particular:

• Theban costs Willpower. Willpower is far more limited harder to replace than Vitae.
• Theban has specific item requirements for their ritual casting. Few things are more hilarious than a Theban sorcerer casting Prisoner of Denial (Offering is to burn an image of the target) and frenzying away.
• Cruac can help you a myriad ways outside of game, both before it and during downtime. Theban rarely does such.

Those interested in Theban more should visit Corey's Guide to Theban, and then be devoured for being Heretics.

What's this sodding casting thing?

Casting Cruac is an extended draw. That means you spend a point of blood to start casting. You keep casting until you:

A - Succeed (Yay!)

B - Stop casting (Um... ok...)

C - You get interrupted (Noooo!)

You need to get as many successes as the level of a ritual.

For instance, to cast Drops of Destiny, a level 1 ritual, you need a total of 1 success. For Maw of the Crone, a level 5 ritual, you need a total of 5 successes.

If you don't have enough successes on your first action, then next turn you can choose to continue casting and have another draw, until the above A, B or C occurs.

So... how many successes did I get?

Some rituals, not all, give a better bonus the more successes you get. The amount of successes is counted from your final draw, not the total of your extended action!!!

Examples are:

Boris attempts to cast Sacrifice of Odin, a level 4 ritual.

On his first turn, he rolls average, and gets 2 successes. As a level 4 ritual, that's not enough.

The next turn, he rolls again, and gets 2 success. Never the less, that adds up to 4, enough total successes for the ritual required.

Note that it is best to have a high enough pull to succeed on your first roll.

Cruac Optimisation

Each dot of Cruac gives you access to all the rituals at that level, ergo you want the levels with the most effective rituals. Like Theban, there are two main "exit points" for Cruac that optimise xp expenditure, and they both affect sheet creation or where you sink your ingame xp.

The first exit point is at level two (2). I am of the view that every Crone should buy up to Cruac 2, as the cost is not exhorbiatant and this level has some of the best rituals.

The second point is sadly all the way up at five (5). Three (3) and four (4) aren't a waste, but the gains are limited, particularly if you don't aspire to get to the highest level.

Cruac rituals fall into two camps, the first only requires enough successes to pass the ritual or are cast when you are not in a hurry, the second is reliant on high successes for best effect. You cna build to the former and have a modest Cruac pull, or you can go for the second which requires some stacking.

Boosting Your Cruac Draw

A number of factors affect your ability to use Cruac, as covered below.

Cruac: Expensive and required. Either maximise it, or stop at the first break point, as covered above.

Manipulation: The second most expensive stat, but dependent on your clan can have great synergies (as expanded on below in “Clan / Bloodline Synergies with Cruac”)

Occult: The cheapest of the three required stats. It is the cheapest to buy if you need to hit the damage cap, but that is extremely rare for Cruac rituals.

Willpower: A strength of Cruac is that willpower can be spent freely. If you have a success required Cruac build, use the hell out of it.

Merit - Altar: Altar is a cheap merit from the Crone book. It boosts Cruac draws, but you essentially have to be at your haven. It is ideal for the dabbler Cruac user or someone willing to be inconvenienced to maximised their Cruac draw.

Merit - Necropolis:

Taurobolium: The bloodline Discipline of the Galloi boosts Cruac draws, but a Galloi cannot use the discipline on themselves if there's two of you or you have a buddy, be their best buddy!

Clan / Bloodline Synergies with Cruac

Several Clans, and their Bloodlines, have great synergy with Cruac. Any such affiliation utilising a power that employs either Manipulation or Occult in its draws happily doubles up.

• Clan Nosferatu - Can benefit from the Necroplis merit mentioned above, can become Galloi (See below). Nightmare also has multiple powers that run off Manipulation.

• Clan Daeva - Free dot of Manipulation, Majesty synergy.

• Bloodline Galloi - An odd case, in that their unique dicscipline is great on a Cruac user but cannot be employed on themselves.

Feeding

While in general blood is more available than willpower, it is always better to have more. Unfortunately there isn't a clear cut answer here, as it all depends on the system utilised by the relevant ST for the game.

The book default system is a single D10 Blood draw + relevant merits. It can be painful, you want blood for Cruac but the supporting merits don't come cheap. Things to do/check:

• Do they allow downtime actions to produce extra blood? If they do then burn those action, two at least each month. If this option is available you can skip buying any feeding related merits.

• Haven Location. Combined with allies, Haven merits can be very cheap. If you can find five Crone all willing to throw 2xp into the shared haven merit then you all get +5 to your blood pool, you can conceivably get away with that.

• Herd. No sharing, so more expensive, but has the joy of not disappearing with PC/players that die/stop coming to game.

• Do they do feeding scenes at game? Storyteller reliant, and the success/worth of doing so is dependent on their views. If relatively risk free, may well replace the need for the above merits.

Rituals

Always check the Addenda in case update has changed a ritual or placed a limitation on it.

To find the source for a ritual for the full write up check the source at the Genre Directory

Level One

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
1	Abduction to the Underworld/The Appeasement of Demeter
1	Balancing the Four Humors	Caster doesn't suffer environmental penalties.	Situational, hilarious for countering the penalty inflicted by Rain (Below) or Rain of Blood (Theban)
1	Blood Witness	Smear an area with Vitae. May remotely observe the area from the spilled blood	Situational, Auspex and Cheval are superior.
1	Boyar's Caul	Grants an image of a subject of interest, which helps with locating or identifying them in the future.	Bloodline Restricted
1	Confidence in Adversity	Caster loses 10-Again on all rolls, but regains one Willpower at the end of the scene.	Awesome. Take it. Burn willpower as much as you want, cast this before social/travel scenes.
1	Drop's of Destiny	Generates a cryptic prophecy	ST dependent, practical limitations of not actually knowing the future.
1	Fires of Inspiration	For one night, add Crúac to all Craft or Expression rolls to create art, but penalizes rolls to create anything else.	Fluff (Exception: See A Child From The Stone expanded write up)
1	Genius Loci	Curse an area, penalizing all social rolls except Intimidate.	Sethite Only
1	Mother's Touch, The
1	Pangs of Prosperina	The target is overcome with hunger and must feed, be they kindred, mortal, or other.	Situational bordering on useless.
1	Pythian Renewal	The subject appears to grow twenty years younger for a number of hours.	Fluff
1	Rigor Mortis	Target Vampire suffers a penalty equal to the successes on their next physical action.	Limited use. Specifically if you'd otherwise be standing in the background of a combat doing nothing, then this is preferable.
1	Spring Sanctification
1	Tapas, Rituals of Penance		Bloodline Requirement
1	Taste of Knowledge	Used during feeding, this ritual allows the caster to learn one secret of immediate importance to the victim.	Fluff
1	Visage of the Crone	the subject appears to age ten years for a number of hours.	Fluff

Level Two

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
2	Amemet's Pursuit	The next time the victim attempts to flee from the caster they instead approach.	Sethite Only, GOLD
2	Barrier of Blood	Blood must be applied to doors and other portals, vampires with less blood potency than the caster cannot cross the barrier without suffering damage.	Good, but dependent on BP 4+, not liable to work on developed combat characters.
2	Cernunno's Horn		Not Sanctioned
2	Cheval	The victim's senses may be shared by the caster at will for one night per success.	GOLD
2	Dreaming the Other
2	Gora Mukhi		Not Sanctioned, Bloodline Requirement
2	Harai	Blesses a mortal subject whom the caster has recently drunk from, healing them or potentially reversing a morality loss	Faction dependent, FLUFF
2	Hawthorn Barrier	Creates an invisible barrier through which no vampire with lower blood potency may pass, lasting for several minutes.
2	Heliolater's Warning, The	Helps the Caster wake up and react in the day.	FLUFF, unless your VST is down for Downtime attacks, even then still situational.
2	Hydra's Vitae	Transform's the caster's vitae into a poison, which inflicts lethal damage on mortals and vampires who attempt to consume it.	Situational. Hilarious against Husk Carthians.
2	Imperious Call	Summon and manifest a particular spirit.	Potential gold.
2	Maiden Skin	Grants temporary armor against attacks that would break the skin	Situational. Difficulty is short duration and requiring a maximised casting pool.
2	Maya
2	Mononoke
2	Mother's Eye, The
2	Painted Fears
2	Path of Thorns	Creates a field surrounding the caster, any entering it suffer damage from spiritual thorns, which lasts for several turns.
2	Prey's Blood	Gain significant bonuses to track a mortal, or penalized ones to track Kindred.	Gangrel Only, GOLD
2	Rex Sanguis Sacrorum
2	Rite of the Bloody Crossroads		Mid Approval, City Specific
2	Rite of the Circle Path		City Specific
2	Soul's Work	Invest Willpower points into a work of art, which may later be used to perform an action that corresponds to the art form.
2	Succulent Buboes	Transfer Vitae from within the body into lymph nodes, potentially storing Vitae well above what Blood Potency would allow.
2	Wisdom of the Soul	Enter a trance and create a prophetic work of art; may later re-roll any one roll that night.	UTTER GOLD. ALL CRONE MUST HAVE.

Level Three

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
3	Beloved Deodand	Cast on a murder weapon, when it is used again steal blood from the victim.	Meh.
3	Blood Portrait
3	Deflection of Wooden Doom	Caster becomes immune to staking for one night	Utter rubbish at present rules, when it is relatively simple to knock someone into combat compared to trying to stake them.
3	Doorways of Eyes and Mind
3	Final Service of the Slave	Sacrifice a Retainer, gain temporary increase in skill or re-spend the lost xp on a skill the Retainer had.	Fluff. Funny if you want to sacrifice Retainers in front of people.
3	Fire the Cauldron		Not Sanctioned
3	Flower of Demeter	Grow a flower fed by mortal blood; grants a bonus to Craft and Expression. Swallowing the flower grants 24 hours of the blush of life.	Fluff. Can be great roleplaying wise.
3	Hag Mask		Can only improve Intimidation or Defence (Addenda)
3	Hand of Seth, The	Drives a possessing spirit out of a body.	Sethites Only
3	Metamorphosis
3	Mother's Blessing, The	A special ritual of the Yagnatia bloodline, this ritual is the only method through which they may Embrace another.	Bloodline Requirement
3	Mother's Mark, The
3	Rain	Cause it to rain, inflicting penalties to relevant rolls.	Fluff unless paired with Balancing the Four Humours.
3	Servant From the Hidden Realms	Creates Essence, for the purpose of compelling a spirit to comply with commands.
3	Song of the Blood	Strengthens blood ties for one night, such that relatives can sense through them at any distance.
3	Taste of Destiny	Gain insight into a future event; when the prophesied event comes to pass, regain the first three Willpower spent on rolls that do not succeed
3	Tiamat Offspring	Creates a homunculus servant.
3	Tickblood	Cause a mortal to generate an increased quantity of Vitae over the next few days.	Gangrel Only
3	Touch of the Morrigan	Charges the casters hands with a lethal damage attack, discharges on a touch attack.	Waste, you should have better methods of attack. Reason being you have to cast one turn, then use it a turn later.
3	Veiled Curse	Curses a mortal, they get screwed around by Spirits.

Level Four

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
4	Blade of Tu'at	Imbues a blade to really mess up Ghosts and Spirits	Sethite Only, Reserved by the MST office
4	Bleeding the Tarantula	Creates a mystical spider which watches over and protects the caster while they sleep.	FLUFF, unless your VST is down for Downtime attacks, even then still situational.
4	Blood Price	For the rest of the night a third of all vitae consumed by the Victim goes to the Caster.
4	Eternal Guardian of the Dark Moon	Links the caster and a spirit, with the latter protecting the former.
4	Eye of the Norn	Reveal who the caster most needs to confront at this time, gain bonus against revealed person.
4	Fount of Wisdom	Acquire temporary skills from a feed target.	Skills limited by User's Blood Potency
4	Mask of Blood	The caster may steal the form of a feeding victim, which last until sunrise.	Situational
4	Sacrifice of Odin	Cut off a part of the body, inflicting aggravated damage; until the caster regenerates this damage, they gain significantly increased benefits from using Willpower.	Gold. Spend that Willpower.
4	Thinning the Skin		So fluffy it only lasts 30 seconds per year.
4	Thrashing of Apep's Coils, The	Conjures sudden extreme weather.	Sethite Only
4	Willful Vitae	Caster becomes immune to increased Viniculum or blood addiction for one night.	Situational

Level Five

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
5	A Child from the Stones	Create a gargoyle, or deactivates another caster's creation.	Gold, but requires a little to a massive amount of investment. See below.
5	As One	Sacrifice creatures to outline an area, gain bonuses in said area.	Good, but is actually about ten rituals disguised as one, not all are equal. See below.
5	Blood Blight	Mortal takes lethal damage, vampire targets lose blood.	Good, but not always ideal. If you've maximised your pool can rock the house.
5	Crone's Revival	Embrace a childe, they start with Blood Potency two, Caster loses a Blood Potency.	SO FLUFFY YOUR GONNA DIE
5	Curse of Ahasverus	Target has Predator's taint to everyone for the rest of the night.	GOLD or USELESS. See below.
5	Feeding the Crone	The caster's teeth begin to inflict aggravated damage, grappling is no longer necessary to bite, and activation successes are added to bite rolls. Feeding is impossible.	GOLD, but must be right build (Have Strength and Brawl Backup).
5	Heart's Curse	Inflict a lethal damage roll on a target, no matter where they are.	Faction Specific (Sipan). Only once per night (addenda), lots of attached fluff.
5	Ianus' Blessing		Not Sanctioned.
5	Regression
5	Rite of Going Forth by Day	After eating the heart of a mortal, caster may project themselves in broad daylight, walking as a spirit.	Sethite Only
5	Roving Hut	May add Crúac dots to the Haven merit for one scene, warping the location in supernatural ways.

Miscellaneous

Ritual Level	Ritual Name	Rough Synopsis	Notes
Miscellaneous	Love-Lies-Bleeding		Not Sanctioned

Rituals Requiring More Detail

Some rituals aren't so simple as cause/effect and bear further examination.

Sample Builds

The Rituals in italics are the best of that level for what you want to do.

The Default Package

This is what I consider each Crone should have:

• Level One: Confidence in Adversity
• Level Two: Wisdom of the Soul, Cheval

The Spy

For any information gatherer:

• Level One: Blood Witness
• Level Two: Cheval