Cenobite Rules
Unofficial Vampire Apologist
post has been substantially altered from its original form, without the
permission of the original author. This was done to suit my personal tastes,
as I didn't think I'd ever be passing it along. Mea Culpa.
Cenobites
The Cenobites are taken from the Clive Barker books and screenplays of the Hellraiser series.
See them for further information. What follows is a Discipline for Cenobites of all kinds. The
core of this article was created by Ian Sheridan, and it has been (greatly) edited and expanded
upon by Chris Doherty without the original authors permission.
Poenaplaceunque (Latin, "Pain and Pleasure")
* The Tearing
This power manifests itself by impaling the flesh and tearing pieces from the body of the victim.
This power only inflicts pain.
System: Roll as for normal Melee combat, but for every success rolled, The Tearing does one
non-aggravated wound level of damage to the victim. The victim may roll Stamina + Fortitude
to resist the damage as normal, but the damage taken is only in terms of wound penalties - no
actual damage is taken. Examples of this power are: Hooks on chains (cf. PinHead), circular
saws, knives, ice-picks, surgical tools, some organic material like a tongue, a hand, body liquids,
sexual organs, hair, fingernails, or a combination of organic and metallic surgical tools held by
or connected to the hands, etc.
** The Seizing
The Peonaplaceunque now has the ability to hold its victim in place and move them about. (the
ice-pick will now be a hook, the knife will gain barbs...)
System: As for the Tearing, but treat The Grabbing as a Grapple with a resistance of the
Cenobite's Willpower score.
*** The Ripping
Now, the wounds inflicted are real and cause more damage. The Cenobite is also able to add
pleasure to the experience of the strike - the more strikes, the greater the pleasure. The Cenobite
can also create a psychological addiction to the blend of pain and pleasure inflicted by The
Ripping.
System: As for The Tearing and The Seizing, but the Peonaplaceunque now inflicts two
aggravated wound levels for each success. To addict a victim, roll the Cenobite's Manipulation
+ Empathy against a Difficulty of the victim's Willpower. The target may spend Willpower to
counter the Cenobite's successes.
1 success The victim will begin to engage in mild, non-permanent self-injury
while alone or in private, in an attempt to relive the experience of The
Ripping.
2 successes The victim will develop a fetish for sharp objects and will routinely cut
himself, even at inappropriate times. The victim will not knowingly
cause himself permanent maiming or lethal injury. The victim will also
have a strong urge to submit to any pain inflicted by someone or
something else. The victim may spend a Willpower point to fight off the
urge for one scene.
3 successes The victim is fully addicted to the Peonaplaceunque, and will
frequently fall into fits of extreme self-mutilation, to the point of
maiming and permanent injury. The victim will still stop short of death.
The victim will also actively seek out others to inflict pain upon him,
and will not resist any pain inflicted without a Willpower roll (see
below). The victim can overcome either derangement entirely for one
scene by accumulating 3 successes on a Willpower roll against a
Difficulty of 8.
4 successes The victim is so addicted to the Peonaplaceunque that they will submit
to any source of pain, self-inflicted or otherwise, even if it causes their
death. No roll is allowed to resist.
**** The Pillar
This is the ability to give the most Pain and the most Pleasure there is. This can only be done
with a willing participant rather then a victim, and is usually performed on a victim on whom
the Cenobite has already accumulated four successes with the use of The Ripping.
System: None. While under the power of The Pillar, the victim will be completely helpless and
unable to resist anything the Cenobite does.
***** The Gate
The ability to open a doorway back to the home dimension of the Leviathan. This can only be
done if the person who solved the puzzle-box took it past the point of Calling (see Puzzle-Boxes,
below). If the box has passed that point, then other Cenobites will gather to open it further for
the passage of the Leviathan. This would mean the end of the world and our dimension as we
know it. This dimension would become the home of the Leviathan and the Cenobites will go on
to other dimensions to prepare them for the coming of the Leviathan.
System: None. When the necessary conditions are fulfilled, the Gate will open.
Level 6
The Call of the Elevator
This is the ability to make more Cenobites, and is possessed only by those of the Four. Those that
would become one of the Cenobites must first find and solve one of the Puzzle-Boxes. If they are
found to be depraved enough, either sub-consciously or consciously, to be a Cenobite, then
whichever of the Four is connected to the Box will pull them through to the dimension of the
Leviathan and transform them into a new Cenobite. If they are not found "worthy", then they
are simply consumed by whichever of the lesser Cenobites is also connected to the Box.
The Puzzle-Boxes
The goal of the Cenobites is to search for ways to get the Leviathan to our dimension and for
that they use the Puzzle-Boxes, small metal cube-shaped puzzles rather like Oriental puzzle
boxes. The Puzzle-Box is a calling for the Cenobites and is the only way that a Cenobite can get
to this dimension. Every Cenobite is connected to a Box, and up to four different Cenobites can
be connected to one box. Also, at least one of the Four is connected to every Puzzle-Box.
There are four levels to every Puzzle-Box: One Way, Two Way, Door Way, and Gate Way.
One Way
At this level, the Cenobite connected with the Box can make subconscious suggestions and
persuasions to her victim. Every time the victim touches or picks up the Puzzle-Box, the
Cenobite can whisper suggestions to him. These can be of any nature; usually the Cenobite is
trying to persuade his victim to begin solving the Puzzle-Box, but will sometimes also try to
entice the victim into sadomasochistic behaviour. The victim will think that the suggestions
and enticements are his own thoughts.
System: Roll Manipulation + Empathy against a Difficulty of the target's Willpower. Enticing
the victim to the next level of the Puzzle-Box requires three accumulated successes. If the
Cenobite is trying to make another suggestion, the Storyteller should be the judge of what effect
the suggestion will have.
Two Way
The would-be Puzzle-Box solver begins to gain awareness of the Cenobite connected with the
Box. If the solver actually wants the Cenobite to come, the process proceeds to the Door Way. If
the solver tries to resist the Cenobite's influence, he must try to break the hold the Cenobite
already has on him. Although the Cenobites could theoretically use this level to make the
victim do anything the Cenobites want, they almost always use it solely to seduce the victim
into the Door Way.
System: As for the One Way, but the victim may now resist by rolling Willpower against a
Difficulty of the Cenobite's Manipulation + Empathy. The victim's successes subtract from the
Cenobite's successes. When the number of net successes is reduced to zero, the Puzzle stops
and the solver is released. If the Cenobite accumulates four more successes, however, (a total of
seven successes), then the Door Way is open.
Door Way
The Gate to Hell opens wide, bringing the Cenobite to the Puzzle-solver. Depending on the
nature of the Puzzle-solver and the whim of the Cenobite, the Cenobite will either grant the
Puzzle-solver their greatest wish, or their greatest nightmare - whichever is worse. Either way,
the solver is taken back to Hell to suffer for eternity... unless they happen to be one of the
"lucky" ones. Some particularly depraved examples of humanity possess the evil, the demonic
creativity, and the sheer mindbending sadomasochism to become Cenobites themselves. In this
case, whichever one of the Four is connected to the Puzzle-Box will step through the Gate and
use Call of the Elevator to ascend the Puzzle-solver to Cenobite-hood. Because there are very
few Cenobites, those mortals capable of making this transition are highly sought after by the
Cenobites.
Paradoxically, the only the truly innocent or completely mad are capable of taking the
Puzzle-Box to the next level - the Gate Way. (It is theorized that only those totally incapable of
understanding the power and nature of the Leviathan could bring themselves to complete the
Puzzle-Box, as by this point the solver is perfectly aware of what is happening.) As these people
are obviously so rare as to be practically non-existent, the Cenobites will spare nothing to find
them and seduce them into solving a Puzzle-Box.
System: None. In the first case, the victim must be willing, and therefore cannot resist the
Elevator. In the second... well, Armageddon is best handled as a plot device anyway.
Gate Way
The final stage of the Puzzle-Box. All other Cenobites come to the solver, including the Four,
who will proceed to widen the Gate to permit the Leviathan entry to our dimension. This would
spell the end of our dimension and reality as we know it.
System: None.
The Four
The Cenobite are ruled by the Four, who were the first and most powerful Cenobites. They are
immortal and cannot die or be destroyed by any means, as they are granted their powers by the
Leviathan. They do have a weakness; all of the Four have zero Humanity, and if by some
miracle (literally) they ever regain any of their lost Humanity, they will become human again
and therefore mortal. The Leviathan will do everything it can to prevent the destruction of one
of the Four, and since the Four always appear together it should be nearly impossible to destroy
any of them without supreme effort, resources, and possibly divine assistance, if such a thing
exists in the campaign. PinHead was the first and most powerful Cenobite; ChatterMouth,
VoiceBox, and HeadShrink are all lesser Cenobites than he, but are still far more powerful than
any other natural or supernatural being.
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