Also known as Voodoo, Curses, Black Magic, and Hexes, Malomancy is the magic of curses and bad luck. Its most basic spells (Misfortune Circle) work in subtle ways to increase the victim's likelihood of coming to harm, bestow mostly cosmetic afflictions, or strengthen the consequences of the target's harmful actions. More potent spells (Consequence Circle) bestow afflictions that impede the target's ability to function in significant ways, cause significant harm, or seriously penalize the target for taking only mildly harmful actions. The harshest curses (Affliction Circle) bestow crippling or fatal afflictions, cause permanent injury or death, or brutally penalize the target for taking the most innocuous actions.
Not every magician who studies Malomancy practices it, and not every magician who uses Malomancy does so lightly. Since the First Age, many Malomancers have used curses to teach their victims by means of negative reinforcement. A chronic liar was compelled to tell the truth, for example, or a rowdy drunk found the taste of strong liquor nauseating until the magician felt he had broken a destructive habit. Curses also served as punishments for criminals who did not, in the magician's opinion, deserve to die for their crime.
Throughout it's millennia-long history, however, Malomancy has been one of the most feared and hated paths of magic. In the hands of those who use it to force their will upon others or to bestow punishments that are far worse than the crime the victim committed, Malomancy is as terrible as its reputation. Such abuses taint Malomancy, and in most societies, including the Realm, merely knowing the secrets of this path of magic is a capital offense. Those magicians who still practice it almost always do so secretly, and very few are willing to share their knowledge of curses with others for several reasons. First, the almost universal ban on such knowledge makes merely admitting knowledge of it dangerous, providing the student with the power to blackmail his instructor. Second, no Malomancer wants to produce a student who will further sully the Path's reputation and draw the attention of local authorities to the teacher. Third, those who practice more benevolent Malomancy recognize the responsibility it entails and will only share their secrets with apprentices they know well who meet their exacting standards. Finally, those who practice more aggressive Malomancy have no desire to fall prey to the curses of their own students and only rarely reveal their secrets even to their closest associates. A hero who begins play with knowledge of Malomancy had better have a very good explanation.
Malediction
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell affects one target within the magician's Valor in yards and lasts for the next 24 hours. The target becomes dangerously inept with a single Ability chosen by the magician. All rolls involving that Ability suffer a +1 difficulty, and whenever the victim rolls no successes on checks with that Ability, the result is a botch, instead. This spell may penalize the same target more than once while another Malediction is in effect, but no Ability may suffer its effects more than once at a given time. This spell does not affect Charms or rolls to activate Heroics. It counters and is countered by the Benemancy spell Benediction if both spells target the same Ability.
Hothead's Bane
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell affects one target within the magician's Valor in yards and lasts for the next 24 hours. Whenever the target rolls damage, each 1 on a die eliminates one success, and whenever he inflicts less raw damage than the target's soak, the attack inflicts no damage.
Encouraged Response
Cost: 6 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Malediction
This spell affects a target within the magician's Conviction in yards and lasts for the next 24 hours. The magician chooses a simple condition at the time this spell is cast and whether the victim must or must not act in a certain way when that condition is met. So long as he remains conscious, whenever the victim wishes to violate this compulsion, she must succeed a Conviction check, spend a point of Willpower, or suffer a health level of unsoakable bashing damage to do so, though this does not break the compulsion if the condition is met again. The triggered action cannot be directly harmful to the victim, but might be indirectly harmful, such as a spy who is compelled not to lie when asked a question. Some examples of encouraged responses include not drinking any substance the target knows contains strong drink, saying "please" whenever asking someone to carry out a desired action, and never entering a house unless invited inside. They can also include touching a knee to the ground whenever commanded to do so by the magician, shouting "long live the king" whenever he leaves a building, or eating anything offered to him on a plate or platter (including unsavory substances).
Taste the Victim's Pain
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell affects one target within the magician's Conviction in yards and lasts for the next 24 hours. Whenever the victim's actions directly cause one or more health levels of damage to another person (mortal, god-blooded, or Exalted), she immediately suffers an equal number of health levels of unsoakable bashing damage.
Hard Labor
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell affects one target within the magician's Valor in yards and lasts for the next 24 hours. The target's efforts are thwarted. The target number of all the victim's rolls involving an Ability chosen by the magician at the time this spell is cast is increased by 1, and a 10 on a die rolled for this Ability yields 1 success, not two. This spell may penalize the same target more than once while another Futile Labor is in effect, but no Ability may suffer its effects more than once at a given time. This spell does not affect Charms or rolls to activate Heroics. It counters and is countered by the Benemancy spell Benediction if both spells target the same Ability.
Nightmare Curse
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Encouraged Response
This spell affects a target within the magician's Conviction in yards. The victim's dreams are plagued by nightmares and indications of a guilty conscience. The magician need not know the target's personal fears and dirty secrets, as this spell draws them out of the victim's own memory to weave an appropriately distressing series of vivid dreams. Whenever the victim has a full night's sleep, he must roll a Valor check. If this check scores one or more successes, the target experiences nightmares but may still roll Conviction to regain Willpower in the morning as normal. If the Valor check fails, the victim does not receive a Willpower check to regain Willpower that day. If this check botches, the nightmares are particularly distressing, and the victim loses a point of temporary Willpower in addition to being denied a Conviction check to regain Willpower. If the victim botches the Valor check and has no temporary Willpower remaining, he doesn't sleep a wink and suffers the usual consequences of sleep deprivation.
This spell lasts until the magician chooses to end it, it is subjected to sufficient countermagic, the victim scores one or more successes on the Valor check for a number of consecutive days equal to the magician's Conviction, or a number of weeks equal to the magician's Conviction have passed.
Curse of Madness
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Nightmare Curse
This spell affects a target within (Conviction x 10) yards. For the next 24 hours, the victim suffers from a derangement of the magician's choice. The derangements described in Exalted (p. 281) are suitable, as are the following Quirks given in this guide - Amnesia, Delusions, Mood Swings, and Phobia. A target whose Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's may roll a Conviction check to resist this spell's effects.
Handicap
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Hard Labor
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards and lasts 24 hours. The victim rolls a Temperance check. One of the victim's Attributes chosen by the magician at the time this spell is cast is reduced by (the magician's Valor) - (the number of successes the victim scored). This spell often leaves physical evidence of its effects upon the body of the victim that reflect its effects. A penalty to Appearance might be the result of pustulating sores, Dexterity the result of uncontrollable twitching, and so forth. No Attribute may be affected by this spell more than once at a given time, and no Attribute may be lowered below 0 by means of this spell. This spell counters and is countered by the Benemancy spell Expand Mortal Potential.
Futility of Hope
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Hard Labor
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards and lasts 24 hours. Whenever the victim fails to score any successes on an Ability check before difficulty penalties are applied, the result is a botch. Furthermore, the difficulty of all the victim's Ability checks other than those used to activate Heroics or related to Charms is increased by one. No one may suffer from this spell more than once at a time.
Curse of Conscience
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Nightmare Curse
This spell affects a target within (Conviction x 10) yards. For a number of days equal to the magician's Conviction, the target suffers from an almost irresistible conscience related to a single Virtue chosen by the magician at the time this spell is cast. Whenever she would rather act in a fashion contrary to that Virtue (see Exalted p.130-1), she must make a Virtue check. If she scores any successes, she must act in accordance with that Virtue unless she spends a point of temporary Willpower to resist the compulsion for the rest of the scene. No Virtue may be enhanced by this spell more than once at any given time.
Humble the Mighty
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Hothead's Bane
This spell affects a target within (Conviction x 10) yards. For the next 24 hours, the target's Heroism is counted as 1 lower for the purposes of choosing and activating Heroics and resisting negative effects (including spells). The maximum penalty any creature may suffer from all uses of this spell upon her at a time cannot exceed the magician's Conviction, nor may anyone's Heroism be reduced to less than 1 by this spell.
Exalted and other creatures who do not have a Heroics pool may roll a reflexive Essence check at a difficulty equal to the magician's Conviction to resist this spell. If this check fails, the victim loses the capacity to use a single Charm of her choice for the duration of this spell. If this Charm is the prerequisite for other Charms, the target cannot use those Charms, either.
Curse of Silence
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Malediction
This spell affects one target within (Valor x 10) yards. For the next 24 hours, the target is incapable of speech or any other vocal noises.
Curse of Deafness
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Malediction
This spell affects one target within (Valor x 10) yards. For the next 24 hours, the target is rendered deaf.
One Seed Begets Many
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Taste the Victim's Pain
This spell affects one target within (Conviction x 10) yards. For the next 24 hours, whenever the target takes an action that directly and deliberately harms another, he reaps three times the consequences of that action. If the act deals 1 health level of lethal damage, for example, he suffers 3 health levels of lethal damage, usually as a result of some external twist of fate that takes place a short while later. If he humiliates someone, he will be humiliated three times before this spell's effects end. The storyteller is the final authority as to what constitutes harm and what effect a triple-portion of an action will have. A target whose Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's may roll a Conviction check to completely resist this spell's effects.
Close the Eyes
Cost: 14 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Curse of Silence, Curse of Deafness
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. This spell completely blinds the victim. The target rolls a reflexive Perception + Resistance check. If she scores no successes, the blindness is permanent. If she scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the blindness lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Valor. If she scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the blindness lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor.
If the target's Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's, the duration is lessened. The blindness is only permanent on a botch. It lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor if the victim scores no successes. It lasts 24 hours if the victim scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor. It lasts until the end of the scene if the victim scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor.
Condemnation to Pain
Cost: 14 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Humble the Mighty
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. The magician chooses one of the following - air, sunlight, earth, fire, water, or wood. The victim suffers a condition identical to the 4-point Quirk related to that element (Air's Hatred, Condemned to Darkness, Earth's Hatred, Fire's Hatred, Water's Hatred, Wood's Hatred), suffering aggravated damage from attacks using that element and environmental damage from mere contact with it. The target rolls a reflexive Stamina + Resistance check. If she scores no successes, this spell is permanent unless dismissed by the magician or destroyed by powerful countermagic. If she scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Valor. If she scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor.
If the target's Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's, the duration is lessened. The spell is only permanent on a botch. It lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor if the victim scores no successes. It lasts 24 hours if the victim scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor. It lasts until the end of the scene if the victim scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor.
A target may be the victim of multiple castings of this spell, but each spell must increase the number of elements that harm the victim.
Cripple
Cost: 14 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Handicap
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. The victim loses the use of his legs. She cannot walk without crutches, move more than 1 yard a turn, or take more than one action in a turn. Most Athletics and Dodge actions are impossible without a stunt. The target rolls a reflexive Stamina + Resistance check when this spell takes effect. If she scores no successes, this spell is permanent unless dismissed by the magician or destroyed by powerful countermagic. If she scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Valor. If she scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor.
If the target's Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's, the duration is lessened. The spell is only permanent on a botch. It lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor if the victim scores no successes. It lasts 24 hours if the victim scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor. It lasts until the end of the scene if the victim scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor.
Pronounce the Death Curse
Cost: 20 motes + 1 feat
Prerequisite Spells: One Seed Begets Many
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. The magician must speak aloud the curse in the victim's native tongue so the target can hear it clearly. The victim is aware when this spell is cast that his fate is sealed by the magician's curse. The target no longer rolls Conviction to regain Willpower after a night's rest. The victim makes a reflexive Stamina + Endurance check and adds a number of automatic successes to the total equal to (Heroism - 1 or Essence - 1). If he scores no successes, the inevitable death arrives in a number of hours no less than the victim's Heroism. If he scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the doom is pushed off at least a number of days equal to the victim's Heroism. If she scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the doom waits at least a number of weeks equal to the victim's Heroism. If she scores a number of successes equal to or greater than twice the magician's Valor, the doom waits a number months equal to the victim's Valor. Applying sufficient contermagic or the Benemancy spell Assign the Penance before this doom falls are the only ways to prevent this curse from bringing death to the victim.
If the target's Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's, the doom waits longer. On a botch, the death takes place no sooner than a number of scenes equal to the victim's Essence or Heroism. If the victim scores no successes, it will not strike until the end of the story. If the victim scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the doom is put off for a number of stories equal to the victim's Heroism or Essence. If the victim scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the spell has no effect.
Pronounce the Geasa
Cost: 20+ motes + 1 feat
Prerequisite Spells: Curse of Conscience
This spell affects a target within (Conviction x 10) yards. The magician must speak aloud one or more prohibitions or required courses of action - to a maximum number of combined prohibitions and required courses of action equal to the magician's Conviction - and a curse in the victim's native tongue so the target can hear it clearly. The course of action may be anything short of an immediately suicidal course of action, and the prohibition can be anything the victim could reasonably avoid without certainty of death. So long as the victim adheres to the courses of action and does not violate any of the conditions, this spell has no effect, but should she disobey the Geas, the magician's curse falls upon her immediately.
The curse may be one or more Malomancy spells other than Pronounce the Gaesa the magician knows with a total casting cost no greater than 10 motes. If the cost of the spell or spells exceeds 10 motes, the magician must pay the difference in cost. For as long as Pronounce the Gaesa's effects lasts, the curse falls upon the target whenever she violates the Geas, lasting the normal duration for that Malomancy spell.
The duration of Pronounce the Gaesa varies. If the target's Heroism is half the magician's Conviction or less, it is permanent. If the target's Heroism is equal to or less than the magician's Conviction, the victim receives a reflexive Conviction + Heroism check. If this yields no successes, it lasts a number of years equal to the magician's Conviction. If this yields at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Heroism, it lasts a number of months equal to the magician's Conviction. If this yields as many or more successes than the magician's Heroism, it lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Conviction.
If the target's Heroism or Essence is higher than the magician's, the victim receives a reflexive Conviction + Essence or Heroism, whichever is higher. On a botch, it lasts a number of years equal to the magician's Conviction. If this check yields no successes, it lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Conviction. If this yields at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Heroism, it lasts a number of scenes equal to the magician's Conviction. If this yields as many or more successes than the magician's Heroism, the spell fails against the target.
Eternal Torment
Cost: 17 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Handicap
This spell affects a target within (Valor x 10) yards. While this spell lasts, the victim has no natural ability to heal injuries. His bleeding can be stanched, diseases resisted, and infections overcome, but without magical assistance, his flesh and bones will not mend. The target rolls a reflexive Stamina + Resistance check when this spell takes effect. If she botches, this spell is permanent unless dismissed by the magician or destroyed by powerful countermagic. If she scores no successes, it lasts a number of months equal to the magician's Valor. If she scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of weeks equal to the magician's Valor. If she scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor, the spell lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor.
If the target's Essence or Heroism is higher than the magician's, the duration is lessened. On a botch, the spell lasts a number of months equal to the magician's Valor. It lasts a number of days equal to the magician's Valor if the victim scores no successes. It lasts 24 hours if the victim scores at least one success but fewer successes than the magician's Valor. It has no effect if the victim scores at least as many successes as the magician's Valor.