Divine Hand
This path deals with sympathetic magic. What the magician does to a model of an object happens in truth to the real object. More frighteningly, the Divine Hand can affect people, too. The Divine Hand ignores distance: using this path, a magician an affect targets around the world.
The composition of a model object does not matter - cardboard works as well as anything - but the model should resemble the object as clearly as possible. (Realistic scale model cars, trucks and other toys are a boon to magicians with Divine Hand.) The lector-priest must hand-craft models of people, animals or spirits out of beeswax. The magician inscribes words of power on the model while chanting invocations to the gods. What the magician then does to the model, happens to the real object within the next 24 hours. As a magician becomes more powerful, he can affect larger objects and a wider variety of victims.
Lector-priests typically use the Divine Hand to destroy or attack. For instance, burning a model of a house makes the actual house catch fire. Snapping off a doll's arm makes the real person break his arm. The magician can also cause instantaneous, "real time" damage to a target, but only if the magician can actually see the target.
The Divine Hand has more subtle uses, though. A magician could steer a truck off the road by pushing a model truck, or stop a damaged boat from sinking by supporting a similarly damaged model boat with his hand. A magician could even fix a damaged object by repairing a consecrated, identically damaged model.
System: Every application of the Divine Hand calls for a successful Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty of the effect's level + 3). The spell to activate the Divine Hand takes at least five minutes to cast.
Making an adequate model of a person or object calls for a Perception + Crafts roll (difficulty 6-8, based on the details of the target). The player needs a single success. If the model is especially good (many successes rolled) the Storyteller may grant a small reduction of difficulty to the roll for the actual spell. Inversely, if the magician did not try very hard to duplicate the target (for instance, not painting a cardboard model of a stone object) the Storyteller may raise the difficulty by 1.
1) Hand of Ptah:
At first, the magician can affect only small objects with the Divine Hand - 200 pounds at most. Typical targets might be a wooden support beam, an item of furniture or a small motorcycle. The lector-priest identifies himself with the artisan-god Ptah.
System: The magician an inflict (or repair) two health levels of damage on the object, or exert a force equal to a Strength of 3.
2) Hand of Khnum:
At this level of mastery, a magician gains the power to affect mortal beings - humans and animals - with the Divine Hand. The magician takes on the power of Khnum, divine shaper of life. Innately supernatural creatures such as vampires and werewolves, however, remain immune.
To cast the Hand of Khnum upon a mortal, the magician inscribes the person's name on the wax doll and incorporates bits of the person in the doll - a snippet of hair, say, or fingernail clippings. A supernatural "True Name" removes the need for body relics, but most modern people do not have a True Name, or at least they do not know it.
The magician an also affect more massive objects, up to 1,000 points, such as a telephone pole, steel support beam, large motorcycle or dumpster.
System: For each success the player rolls, the magician can inflict one health level of damage upon a mortal victim. Alternatively, she can exert Strength 2 against the person for each success rolled - for instance, the magician could wrap her hand tightly around a doll to immobilize the victim.
Against inanimate objects, the magician can inflict four health levels of damage or exert a Strength of 6.
3) Hand of Anubis:
At this level, the magician gains the power to influence corporeal supernatural entities; vampires, werewolves, changelings and other such creatures of mixed natures. The character calls upon Anubis, the mediator between worlds. He cannot affect wraiths or other sorts of spirits. As with the Hand of Khnum, the magician needs the victim's True name or a sample of her body and her mundane name. The magician must make an extraordinary effort, however, to overpower the innate magi of the victim's being.
The magician an also now affect inanimate objects weighing up to 5,000 pounds, such as a car or a large speedboat.
System: To affect a supernatural victim, the magician's player spends two blood points and two points of temporary willpower (that do not add successes to the dice roll). For every success rolled on the Intelligence + Occult check, the magician inflicts one health level of lethal damage to a supernatural target.
The magician an inflict up to six health levels of damage on inanimate objects or exert a Strength of 9. This application does not cost vitae or Willpower.
4) Hand of Thoth:
At this level of mastery, the magician an employ the Divine hand against all sorts of spirits, including wraiths. Since spirits do not have corporeal forms, the magician needs the spirit's True Name or (in the case of wraiths) a relic of the deceased's khat or some object (called a Fetter) that was supremely important to the person in life. The lector-priest can also affect a spirit that she sees directly. The magic only affects spirits who manifest on Earth, or at least in the spirit world very close to Earth. The Hand of Thoth cannot reach spirits in their own realms.
At this level, the magician an use the Divine Hand against inanimate objects weighing up to 20,000 pounds, such as an armored limousine, a semi, or a Learjet.
System: The magician's player spends two blood points and two points of temporary Willpower to affect a spirit, and makes the Intelligence + Occult roll. For every success, the magician inflicts one health level of lethal damage to the spirit. the magi only affects spirits who manifest on Earth or in the Penumbra or Shroud.
The magician an inflict up to eight health levels of damage to an inanimate object, or exert a Strength of 12, without expending vitae or Willpower.
5) Hand of Heka:
A master of the Divine Hand an transmit magical powers to affect a target anywhere in the world by calling upon Heka, personified Magic itself. The transmitted magic can be a Discipline effect or another path or ritual power. For instance, a lector-priest could make a person fall in love with her by pouring a love potion over a consecrated doll, or by using the Presence power Entrancement upon the doll. The Hand of Heka cannot transmit purely physical effects such as Feral Claws or Quietus attack, but the Hand can transmit non-physical effects to objects, mortals, supernatural beings and spirits.
At this level of mastery the magician can also damage or manipulate inanimate objects weight up to 100,000 pounds. Examples include a small house (or a section of a larger building). a large yacht, a passenger plane, a boxcar or a good-sized tree.
System: The magician's player spends two blood points and two Willpower points to affect supernatural or spiritual targets. The player also expends whatever vitae the transmitted magic demands, and makes separate dice rolls for the Hand of Heka and the transmitted magic. Either the Hand or the other magic might fail. To influence mortal or corporeal targets, the magician needs the victim's True Name or something form the victim's body. Affecting spirits requires possession of the spirit's True Name, a body relic or Fetter for wraiths, or line of sight.
The magician can inflict up to 10 health levels of damage to an object, or exert a Strength of 15.
