Sorcerer's Lore vs. Demon's Power (modified by preparation)

Note: there is no 'roll' for creating the Contain. Initially, the Contain always works (if the ritual was completed) -- the strength of the Contain is then defined as a number of dice = to the Lore of the Sorcerer and the number of bonus dice he or she gathered. Those dice are not rolled against the demon's power until the demon actually tried to test the Contain.

Whether or not a Contain can be easily negated/erased by the Sorcerer or some other person outside the Contain, or if the Contain must be periodically renewed/strengthened is all part of customization of setting necessary when setting up your Sorcerer game. [1]

I must emphasize that ALL rituals gain a Stamina-based bonus if the character preps them beyond the one-hour standard. In other words, sorcery gets better if you put your back into it (see the quote from The Worm Ouroboros).

Now, for Contains, we have to consider three things.

1) The basic roll - sorcerer's Lore vs. the demon's Power. This is the raw conflict at hand, and "Power" may be interpreted in any way the GM or player likes, as physical clawings or pychic struggle or any combination of the two, or anything different. It's "all the demon has" against the arcane knowledge that went into the Contain.

• He draws a funky rune all over the floor and checks his notes eight times as he goes. *

2) Then we add in the possibility that the sorcer made use of the bonus mentioned above - he or she put HOURS of extra work into the Contain: back-breaking, sweaty, headachey work. This means everything the sorcerer had, physically, went into the arcane expression of his or her Lore.

• He preps every chemical fresh, he uses a compass for the angles of the rune, he saws off each candle to the same starting height, and he paints alternating, complementary runes on the walls as well. He ignores his mom on the answering machine. *

3) Now, finally, we get another option (which is for Contains only). This one means that the sorcerer applied the arcane knowledge "past the brink" of his or her physical abilities - started to sweat blood, shuddered in an epileptic fit, had six orgasms during the process, strained his or her skeleton with antagonistic muscular contractions, whatever.

• Um, choose your favorite from the list provided, I guess. One of those or something like it. *

There is no obligation to use both 2 and 3; either or both is fine. I think that they represent reasonable, interesting, dramatic, and fun elements of role-playing the Contain. That's why I added #3 to the options for that ritual. It's a lot like the hallucinogenic option for the Contact ritual.

For #3, the higher the physical prowess, the harder it is to overcome. Yes, a tough-guy sorcerer ought to stick with #2 only.

The bonus for #3 above is a one-time thing, mainly because it applies to the whole Contain preparation process. In fact, that applies to #2 as well, for all rituals.

[2]