Crits and Fumbles for Rituals from The Conspiracy

 

The Conspiracy is a new book from Arc Dream which updates the original Delta Green sourcebook to the new standalone RPG rules. But you probably knew that already. In the appendix, there are some 'new rituals,' though technically they're conversions of old DG-relevant spells from CoC that didn't make it into the Handler's Guide. This continues my project of writing crits and fumbles for rituals from official published DG materials.

Blade of the Storm
Creates a weapon capable of harming ‘extradimensional entities’ that are normally unaffected by physical attacks.
Critical Success: The blade can be made from an alloy of elemental metals. Alternatively (or if the Handler kindly relaxes this requirement as weapons made of elemental metal are basically useless), attacks always count as crits for damage or reduce entities’ WP in addition to their HP.
Fumble: The sacrifice’s spirit haunts the operator until they are mortally wounded (reduced to 2 HP or less). All their hand-to-hand attacks inflict half damage. If the operator tries to Disarm or Pin, the attack roll is at a -20% penalty. An Exorcism ritual or The Closing of the Breach can lift the curse. The spirit has 3D6 POW.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘Bless Blade.’

Contact “L-Ms”
A flawed ritual to contact or ‘summon’ the Greys of UFO folklore.
Critical Success: The Mi-Go grace the operator with their presence.
Fumble: The operator is ‘blacklisted’ by the Greys and the Mi-Go. Future attempts to contact them are at a -20% penalty, can’t be forced with POW, or automatically fail (Handler’s choice).

Contact “S-Ms”
A flawed ritual to attract the attention of the Deep Ones.
Critical Success: The Deep Ones arrive with a more open mind, less prone to outright attack.
Fumble: The Deep Ones register the operator as a threat, allied with a powerful enemy. They arrive with reinforcements (ie: Greater Deep Ones) or armed with hypergeometry. If the Handler feels nasty, they might stalk the operator, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Create Gravitic Warp
Creates a sigil that exerts gravity in one direction with no counterforce.
Critical Success: The sigil can exert up to 5 Gs, more if the operator spends more POW.
Fumble: Like Dr. Courtis, the operator ‘miscasts’ the sigil and is subject to a 10% Lethality attack as a burst of gravitational force slams them into something.

Cynosure
Lowers the WP or permanent POW of a target by invoking Nyarlathotep (and Azathoth).
Critical Success: The ritual costs zero WP* as the operator directly channels Azathoth’s power. Any WP or POW drained from the victim raises the operator’s scores by the same amount.
Fumble: The operator stumbles over their words and Azathoth turns his attention onto them. The operator loses 1D4 WP. If they fail a WPx5 test using the reduced score they lose the same amount of POW, permanently. This replaces the reduced cost (3 WP) of a failed activation roll.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘The Dread Curse of Azathoth.’
If an Agent only wants to start the incantation as a threat, they still have to succeed on an activation roll, otherwise the sorcerer or unnatural entity can tell they’re bluffing. They can also Study the Unnatural to gain a special training and roll Occult or INTx5 instead.
*This doesn’t apply if forcing a fumble with the optional Ritual Cost Rebalancing rules

Eyes of the Sun
Makes the operator more persuasive for one day.
Critical Success: The operator must decide if they want to perfectly paint the hieroglyphics or inhale all the fumes. Choosing hieroglyphic accuracy awards a +40% bonus to all CHA tests and skill rolls to persuade others. If they breathe deeply instead, the ritual’s effects last for 48 hours.
Fumble: Smudged remnants of hieroglyphics and the intoxicating effects of the smoke impose a -20% penalty to all of the operator’s CHA tests and skill rolls to convince others for 24 hours.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘The Voice of Ra.’

Gift of Youth
Slowly drains the life-force of the target, killing them and extending the operator’s lifespan.
Critical Success: It only takes the operator 2D4 turns (and WP) to wither away their victim.
Fumble: The ritual begins transferring the operator’s life force, 1 WP at a time, to their target. If the target is still alive after 3D6 turns elapse, the operator dies. If the operator used the ritual less than 4 weeks ago, they only have 2D4 turns to act, each turn siphoning 2 WP instead. If the operator kills the target, they get all their WP back.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘Steal Life.’

Honor the Führer
A variant of Immortal Messenger that appears to summon the ghost of Adolph Hitler.
Critical Success: The operator either sees past the deception or Nyarlathotep reveals his true nature. The operator learns the Immortal Messenger ritual with no additional SAN cost.
Fumble: The next time the operator tries to sleep, they must succeed on a SAN roll to regain any WP. If they fail, they also lose 1D8 SAN from horrific visions of an unnatural fourth reich.

Hunger of Ammit
Paralyzes and slowly kills the target.
Critical Success: The ritual deals double damage but still only costs 1D4 WP per round.
Fumble: The operator rolls POWx5 every turn until they succeed. Each failure costs 1D4 HP.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘Clutch of Nyogtha’

Induce Scrutiny
This isn’t really a ritual (and is used by the Mi-Go who don’t make Ritual Activation rolls anyway) so it doesn’t have any special results for a critical success or a fumble.

Mephitic Memories
Temporarily (or permanently) gain the knowledge and skills from a fresh brain.
Critical Success: The memories gained are permanent, skills too if 10 POW was spent.
Fumble: A rush of memories disorients the operator. For the next 24 hours, they take a -20% penalty to any test of a stat or skill that the victim had at a lower rating than the operator.
This was originally called ‘Consume Memories,’ just like Changeling Feast used to be called ‘Consume Likeness.’ It was later adopted into the ‘canonical’ collection of CoC spells, as well as ‘Food of Life,’ which became Ageless Banquet in the Handler’s Guide

Revelation
Drives the target temporarily insane
Critical Success: The operator receives a +20% bonus to the opposed POW test, the victim loses 10 SAN from the unnatural, and the ritual affects those at 0 SAN if it didn’t already.
Fumble: The operator loses 5 SAN and suffers from temporary insanity, even at 0 SAN.
In Call of Cthulhu, this used to be called ‘Mindblast.’

Sacred Fire
Burns the target alive with hypergeometric fire.
Critical Success: The ritual only takes 2 turns to cast, burns the target for 1D12 damage instead of 1D10, and imposes a -20% penalty to all tests to put out the fire.
Fumble: The operator bursts into flame (for 1D10 damage per turn) instead of their target.
In Call of Cthulhu, this used to be called ‘Death Spell.’

Tower of Flame
A flawed ritual that supposedly contacts the ‘Elder Gods.’
Critical Success: The operator etches a protective seal on their ‘soul.’ If they spent 8 WP, they command some level of respect from the offspring and servitors of the Great Old Ones who will usually target them last. If the operator spent 1 POW, even the Great Old Ones will mostly ignore them. If the operator fails a SAN roll, they learn Whispers of the Dead and gain +1 Unnatural.
Fumble: The emptiness of the ritual sinks in causing the operator to lose SAN as if they had successfully activated the ritual. There are no Elder Gods, at least not as the tome described.
As far as I can tell, while ‘The Gods of Ponapeh’ is derived from ‘the Ponape Scripture’ in Call of Cthulhu, the Tower of Flame ritual itself doesn’t have any equivalent in CoC.

Veil of Skin
The operator changes their physical form to be anything they can imagine.
Critical Success: The operator can raise their STR or CON up to match the scores of their new form, spending 1 WP for each point added. Transforming back also only costs 5 WP and 1D4 SAN, rather than an additional point of POW and 2D6 SAN. Any extra STR or CON is lost.
Fumble: The operator’s body is wracked with spasms. They must make STATx5 rolls for STR, CON, and DEX. If a STAT succeeds on its test, it’s permanently reduced by 1 point (1D4 for a critical) as the operator’s body tears itself apart or attacks itself like an auto-immune disorder.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘The Body Warping of Gorgoroth.’

Warrior’s Ring
Enchants a ring to protect the wearer with the power of human sacrifice.
Critical Success: Successful Lethality rolls under or equal to the wearer’s POW auto-fail.
Fumble: The ring is cursed, stuck to the operator’s finger. Until they can remove it, all kinetic-energy attacks ignore any worn Armor. If the operator frees themselves, anyone else who puts on the ring suffers the same fate*.
This was originally called ‘Enchant Ring of the Anziques.’
*Merciful Handlers might have any future victims hear a thousand whispered voices scream dire warnings before they put on the ring (0/1D4 SAN from unnatural).

Wrath of Sekhmet
Temporarily incapacitates a target extremely painfully.
Critical Success: The operator gets a +20% bonus to the opposed POW test and the victim is stunned and blinded for 6 turns instead of 1D6. The sores leave mild but permanent marks.
Fumble: The operator is stunned and blinded for 1D6 turns.
In Call of Cthulhu, this was called ‘Wrack.’