Sunday, February 11, 2024

Variants of the Withering Ritual

In Delta Green, Withering is the go-to spell to give enemy sorcerers some damage-dealing capabilities. However, all wizards having the same spell is boring. So here are some ideas for different flavors of Withering.


Choose from the following table or roll 1D6 to select a body part that your variant of the spell targets. Some of these are less deadly than the original Withering, some are even more punishing. You might want to adjust the ritual costs accordingly.

Targets:

  1. Tongue: Does 1D6 damage and the victim is rendered mute.
  2. Fingers: The victim loses 1D10 fingers. This does 1D4 damage and reduces DEX by 1.
  3. Heart: This is a 20% lethality attack. Additionally, the victim loses 1D4 CON, if they survive.
  4. Eyes: The victim loses 1D2 eyes and takes 1D4+1 damage.
  5. Bone: A major bone in one of the victim’s limbs is targeted. This causes 1D10 damage and renders the limb unusable. Their DEX is reduced by 1D4.
  6. Brain: Attacking the victim’s brain is a 20% lethality attack. A surviving victim loses 1D4 INT.

If you have selected a target, choose or roll 1D8 on the following table to see the rituals effect on the target. You can also use this table with the original ritual.

Effects:

  1. The target violently explodes in a shower of gore. Bystanders take 1 damage from bone shrapnel.
  2. A white hot flash reduces the target to ash, leaving behind a cauterized wound.
  3. Roll 1D4. The target dissolves into a puddle of: 1. water; 2. stinking pus; 3. sickly sweet honey; 4. hot tar.
  4. The target mutates into a living mass of tentacles. The entity detaches itself from the victim and tries to escape.
  5. The target flickers in and out of existence, before disappearing completely.
  6. Target is crushed and flattened, as if under a huge amount of pressure.
  7. Roll 1D6. The target is transmuted into: 1. wood; 2. marble; 3. gold; 4. uranium; 5. paper; 6. teeth.
  8. All covalent bonds between atoms of the target dissolve. The target disintegrates into a cloud consisting mostly of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen.

Have fun destroying Agents!

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