While evocations represent the everyday tools in the arsenal of the Fallen, miracles allow the demons to achieve effects that lie outside of the narrowly defined effects of these tools. However, this freedom has a price. In this later and fallen age, working literal miracles requires a large amount of Faith (see section The Cost of Wonder below).
There are seven different types of miracles the Fallen can accomplish, depending on their level of understanding of each body of Lore.
The Lores are divine tools meant to improve and enrich creation, to increase knowledge and seek wisdom. But the War taught the Fallen that they can also be used to the opposite. Such a subverted miracle is called a Blasphemy. There are four types of Blasphemies:
Note that this only affects the direct effects of a miracle, and only relative to its primary purpose. A fire created next to a person will burn them, because that is the nature of fire. The Lore of Death will create death and end lives, because such is its purpose. Neither of these things will in itself incur Torment.
Since it is not always immediately obvious which facet of creation is governed by which Lore, here a list of all Lores and what falls under their purview. Naturally some Lores have a certain amount of overlap. For example both the Lore of Humanity and the Lore of Radiance can be used to make someone obey an order, and both the Lore of Awakening and the Lore of Flesh are able to heal. So sometimes there are multiple plausible ways to achieve a given result. The Storyteller has the final say under which Lore(s) a given effect falls.
Sometimes a character might want to bring forth an effect that lies in the purview of more than one Lore. For example, if you want to turn a rock into air then the starting material falls under the purview of the Lore of the Earth, while the result falls under the purview of the Lore of the Winds. To work such a miracle the demon would need to know all relevant bodies of Lore to a sufficient degree. So to turn a rock into air the demon would have to possess four ranks of both Lore of the Earth and Lore of the Winds, since this is a Miracle of Patterning.
Working a miracle that makes use of multiple bodies of Lore increases the cost of the miracle by one point of Faith for every Lore beyond the first.
The dice pool to work a miracle is equal to the caster’s permanent Faith rating, although a demon may ravage his thralls for bonus dice (see page 251 of the DTF core book). The base difficulty is equal to four plus the rank of Lore necessary to create this particular miracle. So the base difficulty for a Miracle of Knowledge is five, for a Miracle of Creation it is nine. This base difficulty is modified based on the specifics of the miracle.
Only a single success is usually necessary to successfully work a miracle. However, should the difficulty of the roll be increased beyond ten, then every additional increase in difficulty instead increases the target number of successes. Willpower cannot be used, but Faith may be expended to buy one automatic success per point spent this way.
Example: Working a miracle of Creation (base difficulty 9) that affects four subjects (+2 to difficulty, see below) would require two successes at difficulty 10 if no other modifiers apply.
Some miracles have instantaneous duration. A rock shaped into a statue will remain a statue, information gained from a Miracle of Knowledge will remain known to the user. But other effects will only persist for a certain amount of time before subsiding. Altered weather conditions will return to their natural state, a stone that had its weight increased hundredfold will return to being easy to lift.
As a rule of thumb, if the state created by the miracle can exist in nature then it is probably an instantaneous effect, but as always the ST has the final say. Effects that give permanent mechanical advantages to player characters have to be paid with XP as usual (see the house rules regarding the Lore of Flesh).
On certain occasions the player can choose whether he wants to work an instantaneous effect, or one with a duration. For example, a block of ice created as an instantaneous effect will thaw if exposed to heat. Ice created with a duration will stay frozen until the duration expires, regardless of the environment.
The duration of a non-instantaneous miracle is chosen at casting time, and it impacts the difficulty of the casting roll according to the following table:
| Duration | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 1 Turn | +0 (Base) |
| 2 Turns | +1 |
| 3 Turns | +2 |
| 5 Turns | +3 |
| 10 Turns | +4 |
Should the Fallen wish to create an effect with a longer duration, he can spend a point of Faith to create a miracle with prolonged duration. In this case the duration is determined with the following table:
| Prolonged Duration | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| One scene | +0 (Base) |
| One day | +1 |
| One week | +2 |
| One month (30 days) | +3 |
| One year | +4 |
| Indefinite | +5 (also costs an additional point of Faith) |
There are two basic ranges at which a miracle can affect a target. Working a miracle that only affects the caster, or people and objects the caster touches, does not impact the difficulty. Extending the range to objects and people within the line of sight of the caster increases the difficulty by one.
In this context, “line of sight” means that light needs to be able to travel between the target and the caster without being impeded. So a person the caster can see through a telescope counts as within line of sight. A person the caster sees on TV does not, even if it’s a live transmission.
The only way to target a person the caster cannot see with a miracle is by using a sympathetic connection, which requires adding the Lore of the Firmament to the miracle, with the usual caveats (see section Using Multiple Lores above). If the caster knows the target’s true name or has access to a sample of their body tissue (hair or nail clippings are sufficient) then the difficulty is the same as for line of sight. If the caster has access to a close personal possession or knows the target’s celestial name, then the difficulty is raised by one. If the caster merely knows the target’s mortal name then the difficulty is increased by two.
The magnitude of a miracle determines how powerful it is. This factor mainly matters to miracles that create a numerical or otherwise graded effect. Miracles that add or remove merits or flaws need to have a magnitude equal to the point value of the merit or flaw. Miracles that heal or directly inflict damage can heal or inflict up to one level of lethal or aggravated damage (Note: directly inflicting aggravated damage usually requires a Blasphemy of Obliteration). Also compare the section Miracles that modify Dice Rolls further down. The final decision which magnitude is necessary for a given effect lies with the ST.
At base difficulty a miracle has a magnitude of one. Each level of magnitude beyond the first increases the difficulty of the miracle by one.
At its base difficulty, a miracle can affect one person, an object with a volume of one cubic yard, or an area of twenty square feet. Extending it beyond these limits increases the difficulty. Should more than one category of scale pertain to a miracle, then only apply the highest modifier.
| Number of Subjects | Volume | Area | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 cu yrd | 20 sq feet | +0 (Base) |
| 2 | 2 cu yrd | 40 sq feet | +1 |
| 4 | 4 cu yrd | 100 sq feet | +2 |
| 8 | 10 cu yrd | 200 sq feet | +3 |
| 16 | 20 cu yrd | 400 sq feet | +4 |
Similar to the case of duration, the Fallen can choose to spend an additional point of Faith in order to create a miracle with extended scale. In this case the scale is determined by this table instead:
| Number of Subjects | Volume | Area | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 20 cu yrd | 600 sq feet | +0 (Base) |
| 10 | 50 cu yrd | 1000 sq feet | +1 |
| 20 | 100 cu yrd | 20000 sq feet | +2 |
| 40 | 200 cu yrd | 1 acre | +3 |
| 80 | 400 cu yrd | 10 acres | +4 |
| 160 | 800 cu yrd | 1 sq mile | +5 |
This scale can be extended downward. Every doubling of number of subjects, volume, or area increases the difficulty by one.
The base time to perform a ritual to work a miracle is ten minutes. Unlike Evocations, which are well-established and well-understood procedures for changing the universe, creating a miracle requires the Fallen to build the effect from scratch, which takes a lot more time. Subsequently, the more time the caster takes to make the calculations and check that everything is correct, the easier the act of working the miracle becomes. On the other hand, rushing a miracle makes it much harder to do.
| Casting Time | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 1 Turn | +3 |
| 10 minutes | +0 (base) |
| 30 minutes | -1 |
| 1 hour | -2 |
| 3 hours | -3 |
Besides taking more time, there are also a number of other measures the Fallen can use to make working a miracle easier and more manageable. Please note the general rule that rolls can’t have a difficulty lower than their base difficulty minus three, and no roll can have a difficulty lower than three.
| Factor | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| The Location is resonant to at least one of the Lores employed (a workshop for Lore of the Forge, a mountain peak for the Lore of Winds, etc.) | -2 |
| The Miracle is worked inside a bastion. | -1 |
| The ritual includes materials and/or symbols that resonate with at least one of the Lores involved (see Demon Player’s Guide, page 68ff). | -1 |
| The Fallen works at least ten minutes to create a sigil appropriate to the miracle. | -1 |
| The Fallen sings an invocation in a human language | -1 (+0 if casting time is one round) |
| The Fallen sings an invocation in the First Tongue | -2 (-1 if casting time is one round) |
| The Fallen spends Faith in excess of the minimum amount necessary. | -1 per point of Faith spent this way. |
Changing the world comes with a price tag. In the beginning, when Faith seemed unlimited and God was footing the bill, the elohim were able to make sweeping changes to the new universe. But these days are long gone. In the modern age the Fallen find themselves much diminished, and have to fight for every iota of Faith from the apathetic masses of humanity. So the cost of creating miracles is now felt much more keenly.
Since miracles of Knowledge don’t change the state of the universe, they have a base cost of zero (However, in order to cast a miracle the Fallen always needs to hold at least one point of temporary Faith). All other types of miracles always require the expenditure of at least one point of Faith.
| Miracle | Base Cost |
|---|---|
| Miracle of Knowledge | 0 |
| Miracle involving the caster’s primary Lore | 1 |
| Other Miracles | 2 |
To this base cost add all other costs incurred through use of prolonged duration or advanced scale, use of multiple lores, extra points of Faith spent to lower the difficulty, etc. This price has to be paid before the casting roll is made. If the player fails to achieve the necessary number of successes, the Faith is lost.
A Nusku wishes to give his two thralls immunity to fire for the next day. This is a Miracle of Protection of the Lore of the Flame. The base difficulty for a Miracle of Protection is six, to which the player adds +1 to affect two targets, and +1 for a duration of one day. Since this is a prolonged duration, it raises the cost of the miracle by one. Since the Lore of Flames is the primary Lore of a Nusku, the cost of the miracle is two points of Faith, and casting it requires a Faith roll against difficulty eight. The Nusku has the option to reduce this difficulty further by adding more steps to the ritual, or paying additional points of Faith.
An Antu wants to create an enormous block of granite from nothing. Since this is an act of creation it requires a Miracle of Creation, and since it creates stone it requires the Lore of the Earth. The base difficulty of a Miracle of Creation is 9, and the base cost is 2, since the Lore of the Earth is not the caster’s primary Lore. Let’s assume that the volume of the block that is supposed to be created is 10.000 cubic yards. That means the miracle requires extended scale, increasing the cost by one point of Faith. Creating a volume of 10.000 cubic yards increases the difficulty by +9, for a total difficulty of 18.
Difficulties over ten mean that the caster instead needs additional successes, so a difficulty of 18 means that the caster has to achieve nine successes at difficulty ten to succeed at the check, which is unlikely. So the caster can attempt to mitigate the difficulty. Since the intended location of the stone is unlikely to be inside a bastion or a workshop the Antu can’t get bonuses from the location, but he can extend the casting time to three hours, use a sigil and an appropriate chant as well as symbolism. Through all of these measures he can reduce the difficulty by -7, for a new difficulty of 11. Better, but still unlikely. So he decides to invest two additional points of Faith to decrease the difficulty further. That means the difficulty of the evocation roll becomes nine again, but the total cost goes up to five points of Faith (base cost of two, plus one for extended scale, plus two to reduce the difficulty). Now the miracle has a chance of succeeding. If the Antu has even more Faith to invest he could reduce the difficulty further, to a minimum of six (base difficulty minus three). At that point the miracle would cost eight points of Faith.
A demon can support a number of ongoing miracles equal to his permanent Faith score. An ongoing miracle is an effect with a duration aspect that is not permanent. Instantaneous effects don't count against this limit, and neither do effects that have been made permanent by expending additional Faith. Ongoing rituals (see section Rituals in these house rules) do count against this limit, as do delayed miracles and rituals (see below).
Should a demon who has reached his limit of concurrent effects wish to cast another miracle or ritual with a finite duration, then he needs to end one of his ongoing effects prematurely. The demon can decide which effect he wishes to end.
While most Miracles of Knowledge provide information about the present, they can also see the present and future under certain conditions. In general every Lore is able to provide information about the past of things within the purview of said Lore. And the Lore of Patterns is able to follow the strands of fate into the past and future. Such miracles might require a heightened magnitude at the discretion of the ST, particularly if the miracle attempts to look particularly deep into the depths of time. A particular condition of Miracles of Knowledge providing post- or precognition is that the casting roll always has to be made in secret by the ST. If the roll botches then the beneficiary of the miracle will receive false and harmful information. Messing with time is a dangerous game.
The effects of miracles can be powerful, but they are usually not quick. To mitigate this weakness the Fallen have figured out how to include triggers into them. A delayed miracle is cast as normal, with all parameters including the target determined at casting time. The intended target also has to be in range at casting time. Modifying a miracle to include a trigger requires the caster to expend one point of Willpower in addition to the normal costs. The trigger can either be a specific time, or a specific set of conditions.
Please note that triggers can only be conditions that can be determined with normal human senses. So “the miracle should trigger when someone walks over this patch of ground” is acceptable, “the miracle should trigger when someone hostile to me walks over this patch of ground” isn’t, since the trigger can’t determine a person’s mental state.
If you want to define a trigger that is not within line of sight of the miracle’s target, the miracle needs to include the Lore of the Firmament. A delayed miracle counts as an ongoing effect for the purpose of determining the number of concurrent effects the demon is maintaining.
When a miracle has the effect of directly modifying a type of dice pool, then the following guidelines shall apply:
These rules also apply to miracles that aim to alter attributes, unless the target chooses to pay for the increased attributes with XP.
Please note that these rules only apply if the dice pool or the difficulty of a roll is directly affected. For example, if Beispieliel used a Miracle of Knowledge of the Lore of the Storms to give himself detailed knowledge of the ocean currents in an area then that will make future checks to handle a boat in that area easier, but because that advantage is not based on an ongoing effect it is not subject to the limitations above.
Working miracles that interact with the Gauntlet or the Shroud require the Lore of the Fundament or the Lore of the Realms, respectively. Commanding these barriers to open enough for one person to slip through is a Miracle of Domination, while creating a longer-lasting doorway is a Miracle of Creation that also requires the use of the Lore of Portals (in practice it will almost always be easier to simply employ the Evocations of the Lore of the Realms to pass through the Shroud, but it is included here for the sake of completeness).
However, since the barriers separating the Earth Realm from the Umbra and the Underworld aren’t of uniform thickness, the calculation for the difficulty of passing through them is slightly different than normal. Instead of adding a flat four to the rank of the miracle, instead add the local Gauntlet or Shroud rating. So passing through the Gauntlet in a place with a Gauntlet rating of five would require a Faith roll against difficulty seven (five plus two for a Miracle of Domination).
The ability to see the emotional aura of a being can be granted through a Miracle of Knowledge of the Lore of Longing. The miracle allows the beneficiary to perceive the auras of those around themselves until the duration of the effect elapses, but making sense of the often confusing swirl of colors is another matter entirely.
Reading the aura of a person requires studying the person’s aura for at least a few seconds. The player makes a Perception + Empathy roll, with the number of successes determining the amount of detail revealed. For the aura color chart please consult the relevant rule books (e.g. V20 Core book, page 136).
The act of creation requires a deep and intimate knowledge of the subject. To a large part this knowledge is implied in the bodies of lore themselves. A Rabisu might not necessarily know the names human scientists have given to the various proteins, or be able to explain the mechanisms of the human metabolism in terms that would make sense to a biologist, but he knows these things nonetheless. However, when it comes to human inventions and other things that didn’t exist yet in the days before the Shattering, this knowledge comes to its limits.
This means that in order to affect things like complex machinery or chemical compounds of human design, the Storyteller might require a roll of Intelligence plus the appropriate ability (Crafts, Technology, Medicine, Science, etc.) for the demon to remember the necessary information. The difficulty depends on the complexity of the subject in question.
As the Demon: The Fallen core book describes on page 253, the presence of disbelieving mortals can make it harder for a demon to use their power. This increase in difficulty also applies to the working of miracles, with the same rules as for the use of evocations.