Revision as of 10:56, 1 May 2005

Abyssal Socialize Charms

by haren

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<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Heart Hardening Method

This terrible curse makes it almost impossible for anyone to convince others of even the most minor of requests or ideas. Should the Abyssal succeed in a Manipulation + Socialize roll (diff. of the victim's Permanent Essence), the victim's voice seems shrill and rings in the ears of their listeners. Their words are as bloody bile that chokes and gags others with it's poison. The pain induced hardens the heart of even the most empathatic listener by raising the difficulty of any attempt to persuade them by the Abyssal's Essence, but has no effect on any listener with Permanent Essence higher than that of the Abyssal's.

<b>Cost: 7 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One week
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 4
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Intimations of Mortality

While the ability to control the long term fate of mortals does not come easily to the Abyssals, they can change perceptions of such things. With a few spoken words, their power reaches out and dips into the heart of another, filling them with great and grand desires. So great are these dreams, that the reality of their lives seems to be hollow and painful. To enact this, the Abyssal makes a Manipulation + Socialize roll difficutly of the victim's Temperance.

Over time this horrible sense of dichotomy crushes the spirit. The victim rolls Conviction as normal after resting to recover willpower, but the difficulty is set to half the Abyssals Essence (rounded down). Should they just succeed, they do not regain willpower without successes beyond that needed to succeed. On a failure, they loose willpower equal to the number of successes they failed the roll by. Any day they are reduced to 0 willpower by this charm, the victim will stay unmoving. They will care not for themselves, including food and water, knowing it to be a waste to extend their own painful and wasted existance.

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Sin-Sensing Meditation, Imprecation of Ill Manners

The Abyssal draws out the desires of the target, so that they become preoccupied with them. This causes them to deal with others in the fastest manner possible, without great consideration for how others might take it. They are less careful about what they say, and how they treat others. Every person is somehow personally responsible for keeping them from their desires and is dealt with responsibly. They will not usually attack others unless those people try to restrain them. The victim of this will lose twice the Exalted's Permanent Essence in dice from all social rolls. Anyone with Perception + Awareness 6+ can make a roll at a difficulty of the Abyssal's Permanent Essence to notice that the victim is preoccupied for some reason.

<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Up to a scene
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 3
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Passion-Unveiling Glance

By touching upon the pain and suffering that suffuses the dead, an Abyssal can force others to have to battle their own heart to resist their requests and demands. In effect, others feel the pain of the Abyssal through their compassion. The base difficulty to resist anything the Abyssal asks for, or ideas they propose, is the listener's Compassion. Note that this does not make their arguements better or automatically successful, it just makes the passion and pain of the Abyssal difficult to resist.

<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One week
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Passion-Unveiling Glance

Sometimes a word or phrase strikes to the bone, far beyond what was meant or beyond what the victim wants. The Abyssal has distill the essence of this down to an art, a poison to be added to a simple turn of words, like a twist of a knife. The Abyssal says an appropriate phrase to their victim, and then chooses a target for the victim's bile and ire. They don't need to choose one (for example if they want the victim to be angry at someone they are imitating). The victim subtracts a number of successes from all social interactions that relates even slightly to the target of their hate, equal to the Abyssal's Permanent Essence divided by 3 (round up as appropriate so -2 at 5, -3 at 8). Should the Abyssal keep using the Charm on a victim, the penalties become cumulative, as the verbal poison works it's way deeper and deeper into the victim. Of course, there are other effects that the ST should play out, how a normally nice person slowly becomes hateful to a disgusting degree towards someone for a phrase that most agree "wasn't that bad."

<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: None

An Abyssal may need people to arrive to a gathering, party, or similar social event, and this Charm allows them to make an invitation that tempts the reader with images of their own desires. The Abyssal must make a Manipulation + Linguistics roll (diff. 3) to design wording both seductive enough, and yet horribly vague as to be read in many ways. They may affect a number of people equal to 10 times the Abyssal's Essence (though can be used to lure a single person). Every time a person named on an invitation reads it, they must make a Temperance roll (standard diff) to not be lured to the party. Should they succeed at resisting a number of times equal to the Abyssal's Essence they are immune from that invitation any more. The Charm lasts until the end of the gathering or the essence is decommited. It can not affect anyone with higher Essence than the Abyssal.

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Party
Type: Simple
Min. Socialize: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Beckoning Invitation Artistry, Heart Hardening Method

Parties follow seperate rules. People act like they never would anywhere else, do things they would never consider. For a party thrown by an Abyssal, this is far more true than most know. In effect, it weakens the Temperance of all present at the party (other than the Abyssal). They must make a Manipulation + Socialize roll (difficulty of the highest Temperance there). For every success, the Temperance of all present is reduced by 1, to a minimum of 1. If it was lowered enough that it would have been taken below 1, they find it difficult to resist their desires. They must spend a Willpower to resist anything the character would wish to do (before their Temperance was lowered). The Charm affects those at the party and only while they are at it, should they leave, their Temperance returns to it's normal level (and is lowered again should they go back inside it.)

Comments

A cool concept. There does seem to be a large disconnect between the flavor text and the Charm's power level, however; it's enough to make even a socially adept mortal fail ALL social rolls, which seems an extreme result for 'brusque' behavior. I'd reduce the Charm's prerequisites and cost and reduce the effect a bit, maybe adding some sort of defense or resistance based on the target's Virtues. - Quendalon

Language modified. This is nothing more than the Venomous Rumors Technique (I've noticed alot more dice subtracters for Solars than I imagined lately) modified in an Abyssal way. It doesn't put anything into the person, or think in new ways, just magnifies what's there. This time, instead of magnifying bad habits, it works off of the same type of knowledge as Sin-Sensing Meditation. Honestly, not a huge leap of a Charm, but a logical one. - haren

I'd make the language even more aggressive, then. Instead of merely dealing with others quickly and inconsiderately (which some people actually prefer, oddly enough), the target takes out all of her frustration, anger and bitterness on everyone she speaks to, unleashing a litany of vituperation and bile upon anyone so unfortunate as to deal with them. That should more adequately explain the Charm results. - Quendalon

Fair enough, though I added clarification. I can't see it forcing someone to get into fistfights even as is. But if someone does try to use even gentle force... :) - haren

Mm. Not certain I like the idea of having a Socialize Charm based on two seperate Charm Trees from Investigation and Linguistics, though the effect seems pretty okay., I'd maybe go with just requiring Peerless Fluency Style. But that me. Patkin

The reason is simple, to know how to mentally reword a question, you have to understand the basics of making a question to ask, and to a greater degree how to detect falsehood in an answer. Basically, by knowing how Michael the Super Solar is going to try and figure out you're lying, you can use your mastery of language to lie in a way he won't be looking for. - haren