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The Fourfold Path to Readiness Style [version 1.1]
Celestial Level Martial Arts Style

The four paths to readiness were first compiled by a young Solar martial artist undergoing training at the Kether Rock facility. Struggling with the styles normally taught at the school, he found himself constantly assailed by the trainers there, as they attempted to force him to learn technique after technique. Over time, these unexpected assaults did have an effect, if not the one intended. The lowly Eclipse had not mastered (or even learned) what they were intending to teach him, but something altogether new - the fundamentals of action and reaction, and the ability to defend onesself in any situation, no matter how unprepared the enemy might think him. These fundamentals were combined into a simple, circular, and flowing art that comes as part of one's being, the Four Paths to Readiness Style.

As this style contains no direct attack charms, the concept of a form weapon is nigh meaningless. Any weapon may be wielded as the user likes, as elbows, knees, and headbutts suffice for all counterattacks. Weapons wielded as such must either be proper Martial Arts weapons (to use the MA score for parry and attack), or must be wielded using some other ability. Light armor and small shields don't restrict contortion nor reflexes much, and so armor up to and including a Buff Jacket, and target shields are allowed.

"A master of the Four Paths to Readiness is never exhausted, never caught unprepared. His way is passive, but his actions swift, and his vengeance sure. Verily, to attack such a warrior is to invite 10 responses in kind. Truly, a master of this style is invincible!"

Major Themes: Quickness, Reaction, and Essence-Recycling Minor Themes: Assured Defenses, Lack of need for preparation

The eternally ready warrior is vigilant. Those who wish to surprise him find that his mind is prepared for all possible outcomes, and that his response occurs without thought, without delay.
The eternally ready warrior defends himself. By simplifying all possible incoming attacks to a few simple patterns of response, his reactions are certain and effective, preventing harm.
The eternally ready warrior is rested. No matter the situation, the time, or the place, his reserves are strong, his ability to fight unquestioned.
The eternally ready warrior retaliates. Those who would strike him find their attacks anticipated and accounted for, falling before his response.

The charm tree is composed of 10 charms. 4 entry-level charms, a form charm, 4 higher level charms, and the ultimate charm. All charms are reflexive, with the initial four charms all instant, and the advanced charms all scene-long. The entry level charms are Ess2, while the form and second-level charms are essence 3. Finally, the ultimate charm is Essence 4.

Beyond that, a Master's tree has been developed, with 5 more charms. Just as the theme before transistioned from Essence 2 instants to Essence 3 scene-longs, the Master's Techniques are Essence 4 permanent effects, culminating in a second form, this time at Essence 5.

Basic Vigilance

Reactionary Disposition

Cost: 2 mote / Initiative Rank
Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisites: None

Those who walk this path find that being quick is not the goal. Simple speed will not allow one to respond in time. No, the true master must realize that it is not swift action that wins the battle, but swifter action. When activating this charm, the martial artist may spend two motes to move his rank in the initiative order one higher. This charm can be activated any time before the martial artist would normally declare, but before effects such as Thunderclap Rush attack have been applied. This charm can only move the artist higher than those who have not already declared, and does not allow the martial artist to win initiative against those using "initiative winning" charms, such as Thunderclap Rush Attack. Cumulative uses of this charm may not increase the character's initiative value by more than 2*(Essence + MA).

Basic Defense

Fortified Motion of Clockwork Technique

Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 2 
Prerequisites: None

By studying the incoming flow of attacks, recognizing that there are a finite number of responses, the martial artist has the ability to parry attacks with a certain degree of certainty. When activating this charm, the Exalt gains a number of automatic successes on a parry equal to his Essence-1. As this is a reflexive charm, if no parry pool exists, this creates one. This allows the character to parry lethal attacks unarmed.

Basic Rest

Essence Inhalation Prana

Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2 
Prerequisites: None

As his enemies may set upon him at any time, the eternally ready warrior must maintain his energy at all times. With every use of Essence, he becomes a bigger target, more vulnerable to attack as his reserves leaves his body. By mastering this charm the Exalt has learned to stem this tide somewhat, allowing him to siphon off Essence from the wasteful exertion of others. As they attack, they restore him. As they dodge, his strength is replenished. This charm must be activated in response to a hand-to-hand dice action involving the character, such as an attack, parry, or dodge on the part of the opponent (explicitly not including damage rolls). For every die rolled in opponent's action that is not a success, the martial artist regains one mote of Essence. The character may regain no more motes than his Essence+MA through the use of this charm per turn. If the Martial Artist does not have a Fourfold Path to Readiness Form active, the Essence regained is reduced to 1m per two unsuccessful dice, and the number of motes gained per turn is reduced to half of the character's (Essence+MA).

Basic Retaliation

Offense-In-Defense Strike

Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental/Special

Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2 
Prerequisites: None

For every action, there is an equal, and opposite reaction. Through time and study, the Exalt has learned that not only are there a finite number of counters required to block any incoming attack, but also a finite number of counterattacks. As enemies move in to strike the Exalt, his defenses lash out in kind, without thinking. This charm may supplement a parry-type action, and may be activated immediately after the Exalt successfully parries a hand-to-hand attack. The character then automatically counterattacks with a dice pool equal to the number of successes 'left over' from the parry. (The number of successes by which the parry exceeded the amount required to stop the attack.) This automatic counterattack cannot be supplemented by any charm, and counterattack charms cannot be activated in response to it. This charm may only initiate a number of counterattacks equal to the Exalt's Martial Arts in a given turn. If the character has already successfully and completely avoided the attack through the use of a previous dodge, this charm cannot be activated.

Form Charm

Fourfold Readiness Form

Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3 
Prerequisites: All four Essence 2 charms in this style

As the student of this style walks the four paths to eternal readiness, his responses become quicker than thought, his reactions occurring even before the action that spawned them. When practicing this form, the martial artist spins, jumps, slides, and strikes in response to nearly any threatening stimulus, in a carefully practiced yet improvised dance. The character's initiative is increased by their martial arts rating, and they can choose to do bashing or lethal damage with their strikes. The difficulty to hit the character is increased by one-half of their martial arts rating (rounded up) as their body arches and contorts. The character may reflexively initiatate a bare-handed (bare-handed only, not form weapons regardless of PAoC, etc) counterattack in response to any attack directed at him from within his Essence in yards. These counterattacks have a attack pool equal to the character's martial arts rating, and occur before the attacker's attack is rolled, but after the attacker declares any charms that must be declared before the attack dice are rolled. Note that Dragon Blooded characters may not activate this charm using their ability to activate multiple reflexive charms per turn. This is a form-type charm, and only one such charm may be active at a time. The counterattacks generated by this charm are considered generated by a counterattack-type charm, and as such, may not be initiated in response to a counterattack, nor may counterattacks be generated in response to them.

Advanced Vigilance

Universal Danger Awareness Technique

Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3 
Prerequisites: Form Charm

Having walked the road of vigilance, the martial artist's perceptions are heightened - not to the surroundings, not to passers-by, but instead to the flows of Essence that define danger. By relying on this sense, the character has a distinct advantage on those who would act against him, not just observing the signs of an impending attack, but even the developing clouds indicating his own counterattack. This charm may be activated in response to any attack or effect that would be considered harmful to the character or his possessions, even those the character would normally be unaware of. The activation of this charm allows the character to act fully in this turn, even if he would normally have been surprised, and makes the character considered 'aware' of the incoming attack. In addition, the character automatically wins initiative for the turn. If a contest between other automatic-initiative charms should occur (such as Thunderclap Rush Attack), compare the character's initiative values - the characters act according to the order dictated by their initiative values, but before all characters not using an automatic-initiative charm. For the remainder of the scene, the character has a heightened awareness of not only his own strikes, but the strikes of others as well. As such, the martial artist even has the ability to parry the attacks of those not directed at him. This ability does not allow the use of 'reflexive' parries, such as Bulwark Stance, to parry said attacks, only parries created by a die roll or through the use of an instant charm.

Advanced Defense

Hearing the Rhythm of the Fearful Dance

Cost: 5 motes, 1 WP
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3 
Prerequisites: Form Charm

Always ready, regardless of the method or location of attack, the character can now reflexively defend against nearly anything. Whenever attacked, the character may react with both a reflexive dodge and a reflexive parry, with dice pools equal to his martial arts rating. These dice add to any existing pool, and create a pool if none would otherwise exist. This charm allows the character to parry lethal attacks bare-handed.

Advanced Rest

Cyclic Essence Breathing Technique

Cost: 1m, 1W
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3 
Prerequisites: Form Charm

Always mindful of his reserves, the readied warrior never exerts himself without ensuring that he will remain a viable combatant. Every move he makes is a calculated expenditure of Essence, every breath a rhythmic intake of energy. With a perfected recycling of motion, every action is met with an equal reaction, every block leads into the next attack, the characters thoughts focused only on the next move. While other characters must commit their reserves to simply maintaining existing charms, the martial artist can use this pent-up energy as fuel in a bellows, exerting, then pulling back, in a continual cycle. While this charm is active, the commitment required for all charms is reduced by one-half (rounded down). The total number of motes and willpower committed to charms must still not exceed half of the character's normal pools, however.

Advanced Retaliation

Fury of the Righteous Defender

Cost: 4 motes, 1 WP
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3 
Prerequisites: Form Charm

As the character approaches mastery of this style, he ensures that those who would strike him are unfailingly aware of their error, and understand their fault immediately. Whenever an opponent attempts to strike the character in hand-to-hand combat, the character may immediately (and before the initiating attack is rolled, but after charms declarations are made) make an unarmed counterattack against the offender. This attack may utilize any in-form weapon. This attack is made using only the character's full Dex+martial arts pool, and it is resolved before the originating attack is rolled. Note that the counterattacks generated by this charm are considered counterattacks, and as such, may not be generated in response to another counterattack. Note also that the counterattacks generated are cumulative with those generated by the form charm in this style, making attacking a master of this style a dangerous proposition at best.

Ultimate Charm

The Way of Instananeous Preparation

Cost: N/A
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4 
Prerequisites: All other 9 charms in this style

Finally, the student of this style has reached the end of the paths, and has found the key to eternal readyness. Upon mastering this style he realizes that all of its teachings were not about four paths, but instead one path, and one reaction - the correct one. At all times is the master of this style ready, and at all times can he act. Activating the prerequisite charms in this style no longer counts against the character's charm usage for the turn, allowing them to spring to full readiness in a single instant. When this charm is learned, the character is considered to have completed a single Martial Art.

Master's Vigilance

All-Encompassing Readiness Style

Cost: N/A
Duration: Indefinite (Permanent)
Type: Permanent
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisites: The Way of Instantaneous Preparation

With reaction times unheard of in other Martial Arts styles, the Master of Vigilance embodies awareness, and cannot be surprised by all but the most cunning adversaries. He is automatically considered aware of any attack or threat made to his person or belongings that is not somehow hidden by a charm, and even when unaware of an incoming attack or threat, his quick reaction time still allows him to take useful action when others couldn't. When the character would normally be considered totally surprised (see page 238 of the core rules), and thus only able to defend with reflexive charms, the character is instead considered startled, and may defend and take action normally, but may not attack. If the character would normally be considered startled, he is instead considered fully aware, and he may act normally. This charm has no effect if the character is violating the tenets of this martial art, such as by wearing heavy armor, or by wielding a weapon not considered a style weapon for a martial art he knows.

Master's Defense

Ignorant Stone's Defense

Cost: N/A
Duration: Indefinite (Permanent)
Type: Permanent
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisites: The Way of Instantaneous Preparation

Even in the best of situations, there are still opponents that might strike the Master. Even with the strongest defenses, a truly perfect attack might pierce them. The Master of the Path of Defense knows this, and rather than attempting to stop all attacks, he recognizes that an attack that does no harm is an attack that he was prepared for. When this charm is learned, the character's natural soak increases by 2 points, including bashing, lethal, and aggravated damage. In addition, when damage against him is calculated, reduce the number of damage successes by one. This charm has no effect if the character is violating the tenets of this martial art, such as by wearing heavy armor, or by wielding a weapon not considered a style weapon for a martial art he knows.

Master's Rest

Action At Rest Principle

Cost: N/A
Duration: Indefinite (Permanent)
Type: Permanent
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisites: The Way of Instantaneous Preparation

Having first learned the ways of siphoning wasted Essence from others, and then the ways of recycling his own effort, the practitioner of the Fourfold Path to Readiness has already demonstrated extremely fine control over the Essence flows involved in combat. As true mastery is achieved, the Master of the restful path no longer need exert himself for the most basic of actions. His motions generate no waste, and his actions move in perfect harmony with his intent, recycling all that he exerts. When this charm is learned, the character gains a separate "Readiness Pool", containing (Essence + Martial Arts) motes in personal essence, and 2 Willpower. This pool may only be used to activate charms in the Fourfold Readiness Style, and is automatically refilled at the end of each scene. It may not be refilled in any other manner, including stunts, charms, artifacts, or hearthstones. This charm has no effect if the character is violating the tenets of this martial art, such as by wearing heavy armor, or by wielding a weapon not considered a style weapon for a martial art he knows.

Master's Retaliation

Incapacitating Retaliatory Touch

Cost: N/A
Duration: Indefinite (Permanent)
Type: Permanent
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisites: The Way of Instantaneous Preparation

Note: This charm isn't quite right, in my opinion, and I'm working on changing it fundamentally, so feel free to refrain from commenting on it until I get a better charm in its place.

In a truly pitched battle, the threat of counterattack is often not enough. The opponent may be resilient, or he may simply not care about his own well being. In such a battle, the best way to respond is not only to deter, but to disable. Targeting his strikes more carefully, he strikes at joints, chakra points, and nerve clusters. When this charm is learned, increase the base damage of both unarmed attacks and those using Martial Arts weapons by 2, against any target that has declared an attack (or other negative effect) against the character in the previous 24 hours. In addition, whenever such an enemy is successfully struck by such an attack (even if no damage is dealt), he receives a cumulative 1-die penalty to his rolls. This penalty fades after the Martial Artist's (Martial Arts) in turns.

Master-Level Form

Master of Fourfold Readiness Form

Cost: 8 motes
Duration: Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 5 
Prerequisites: All five Essence 4 charms in this styl

Having walked the path of readiness for many years, the martial artist has reached new levels of perfection. Where once there was a concerted effort of action and reaction, there is now simply motion. Where once his actions would bruise, they now destroy. Having learned the Master of Fourfold Readiness Form, the martial artist is truly a terror to behold, and only a truly masochistic opponent dares fight him. He receives all of the benefits of the Fourfold Readiness Form, but his motions are quicker, and his responses faster. As his motions become a blur, he no longer is limited to the simple actions of mortal fighters. He receives one additional independent action per turn, which he can use for any purpose, including movement, charm activation, et cetera. The character may not use an extra action charm as part of the independent action granted by this charm. The independent action has its initiative rolled separately, and occurs on its own initiative tick. On this turn this charm is activated, the extra action is granted immediately, on whatever initiative tick the charm is activated. In addition, with his increased mastery of defense, deterrence and readiness, the character's basic skills become much more effective. His reactions quicker, the difficulty to hit him is increased not by his (Martial Arts over 2, rounded up), but instead his full Martial Arts rating. His counterattacks become much more damaging, threatening his opponents yet further. The counterattacks granted by this charm (due to its inclusion of the standard form) are now made at the character's full attack pool, rather than his Martial Arts rating, and may be performed using any weapon considered a style weapon for any martial art the character knows. When damage is calculated for any counterattack the character makes, convert one damage die to an automatic success. This is a form-type charm, and only one such charm may be active at a time.

Peanut Gallery

I've updated the style a bit by adding 5 more charms, at Essence 4 and above. While they're certainly powerful, such is to be expected of Ess 4 and above charms. In addition, I continued the style's theme of ever-increasing charm duration, first with instants, then scene-longs, and now permanents. As always, comments are welcome.
-- GregLink

Uh. Wow. This is kinda ... broken? The first initiative charm is miles better than any other init adder. The first parry charm utterly detroys mantis style's reflexive block. And the forms are ... Reflexive? I don't mean to be an ass, but have you compared this to pre-existing celestial martial arts at all? - Scrollreader Who likes the idea, but thinks the charms are way overpowered.

Ironically, Scrollreader, the first 11 charms in the style have all been through Wiki scrutiny before. Admittedly, perhaps not the best scrutiny in the world (Geoff, for example, did not vett the charms), but they haven't been hailed as that bad. You note that the first parry charm "utterly destroys mantis style's reflexive block". A good comparison, in my opinion, so I'll see what I can do... Ia Ia Dicepools F'Taghn

GregLink, shuddering for a moment, erupts outward in a display of gore and dice. In his place stands GregLink, Second-Circle Demon of Crunch. Alrighty, let's see what we have here. We're comparing to "Iron-Arm Block", from page 74 of CB:Eclipse. A 3m Reflexive, it allows parrying against lethal unarmed, and adds his MA score to his parry attempt, generating one if one doesn't exist. That other GregLink, the fleshy one, is proposing a 2m reflexive, allowing parrying against lethal unarmed, adding Ess-1 in automatic sux to a parry attempt, generating one if one doesn't exist. A simple comparison shows that the fleshy one is better. How much? Let's find out. We save 1m, and instead of getting MA dice, we get Ess-1 autosux. To make the comparison 'fair', we'll take two cases. The first case is when someone just learns the charm, and the second is when they're a mighty martial artist. In the first case, we've got an MA 3 Ess 1 character, gaining 3 dice for IAB. He'd gain no autosuccesses using FMoCT (the fleshy one's charm). We take the compliment of the first case, with an MA 2 Ess 2 person. He'd gain 2 parry dice, or one parry autosux. Since, statistically, with two dice, you've got an 'average' case of 1 sux. You've got a 36% chance of 0 sux, a 36% chance of 1 sux, 21% of 2 sux, 6% of 3 sux, and 1% of 4 sux. Therefore, about 28% of the time, you're beating out FMoCT. Admittedly, the cost is still a factor, but in the 'base' case, there's no issue. Now taking case 2, with 'high end' martial artists, we'll take the highest Mantis Style Practitioner around - an MA 5 Ess 3 character. After that, there's no more Mantis to learn. He's getting only a 5-die parry, while the FMoCT guy is getting 2 autosux. Extending the previous discussion, the IAB guy got 2.5X as many dice, and the FMoCT guy got 2X as many successes. It's obvious that again, the IAB guy is still doing better, on average. Now we get into the really high end, just for where Scrollreader is worried. That's at MA 6, Ess 6. Here, it's 6 parry dice versus 5 parry autosux. In this case, yeah, FMoCT kicks IAB's butt into the ground. But why? Well, it's because FMoCT is an Essence 2 charm, compared to an Essence 1 charm of IAB. Simply put, when you're comparing Golden Essence Block to Dipping Swallow Defense, there's a world of difference, all rolled up into a single prerequisite, and a minimum ability point.. One is 2 motes for 4 dice, the other is 2 motes for Dex+Melee. There's an even bigger world of difference between Ess 1 and Ess 2. At this point, rather than defending FMoCT against IAB, let's change the discussion a bit. How about comparing it to DSD? Or perhaps Shadow over Water? In those cases, we're taking an Essence 1 charm, and getting Dex+Melee, or Dex+Dodge. Since an average character will be packing at least Dex 3, and by definition, will have at least ability 3, that's maybe 6 dice, for 2m. Comparing to IAB shows that they're getting way more dice, for 2m. In all cases, Shadow over Water provides at least (Ability) dice to defend, for 2m. IAB provides exactly (IAB) dice for 3m. IAB, in practice, is actually a very weak charm, but other than being 1m more expensive than FMoCT, is actually stronger until the Exalt hits Essence 5 or so. And that's saying a lot. Until Ess 5, FMoCT is worse than IAB, which is worse than Shadow over Water, in all cases. True, there may be some discrepancy at Essence 7+, where FMoCT is giving 6 autosux, and SoW is giving only 7+Dex dice. Then again, with the Dexterity of Exalts tending to go up as they age, odds are the SoW user will have Dex 5 is pretty good. In that case, they've got 12 dice to 6 autosux, and that's still a fair fight. Hence, overall, I'm thinking FMoCT isn't that far off at all. -- GregLink, Second-Circle Demon of Statistics.

As for the "Reflexive Form!" I note that the top-tier "Master Level" stuff hasn't been vetted yet, even by me. I'm thinking the form might be under-costed, but I won't stand up and say that the Master level stuff is good. Hence, I discuss only the 'true' form, the Ability 4 Ess 3 form, with 4 prereqs. It gives you the following: +MA to init, Diff to hit += MA/2, Counterattacks at MA. We compare to Ebon Shadow Form and the Tiger-Style Counterattack charm (whose book I don't have with me). ESF gives +MA to init. Check. It also gives Diff to hit += Essence and Stealth, also allowing the character to choose Bashing or lethal damage. We can see right off the bat where 70% of the form came from - a direct rip of much of ESF. ESF is a 3 prereq Essence 2 charm, while FFPtR Form is a 4 prereq Ess 3 charm, so we can imagine there being some leeway yet. Since Essence is 2 when you pick up ESF, and 3 when we compare ESF to FFPtR form, they give roughly identical bonuses to difficulty to hit. At higher levels, when Essence = 5 and MA = 5, ESF gives +5 diff to hit, while FFPtR Form gives the same +3 to hit it has for a long time. Plus FFPtR isn't giving you a steath bonus, which while not huge, is something. So over and all, FFPtR Form isn't as good as ESF, both by virtue of being slightly less defensive, and not giving stealth. It ain't much, but it's a difference. Next up is Angry Predator Frenzy Style. Without my book, I tend to forget, but if I recall correctly, it's also an Ess 2 charm, and provides full-pool counterattacks. FFPtR provides only MA-pool counterattacks, and explicitly prohibits the use of weapons with them, keeping accuracy and damage even lower. Essentially, FFPtR is created by doing something like this: 0.75 * ESF + 0.5 APFS = 1.25 times an Essence 2 charm. FFPtR is an Essence 3 charm, with more prereqs than either, so it stands to reason that it's slightly more powerful than either one. While this isn't the strongest argument I've ever made, I can elaborate more precisely if I could find a verbatim copy of APFS's charm text. -- GregLink, Second-Circle Demon of Crunch.

Two things 1) You seem to be comparing your charm as if it was Ess-1 autosux. As written, it's MA -1. Which means the Ess 3/MA 5 Martial artist is getting /4/ autmatic sucesses to Iron Arm's block's 5 dice. Not two. if you intend it to be Ess-1, then I feel significantly less outraged. 2) No form charm should ever be reflexive, I feel. Form are /always/ simple. Even in Sidereal MA. A way to get the 'always ready' feel of this MA might be to allow the form to last for multiple scenes, meaning you can renew it and leave it up all the time. - Scrollreader

Hm. You're right. My notes here, and my local copy, have it at Ess-1. My bad. Changed. As for the second point, I'm more than willing to have a discussion based on 'feel' and generalities. While you've obviously hit the nail on the head with your noting that I'm trying to get the 'always ready' feel, I worry that keeping it up all the time isn't the right solution either. To me, a form is a specific way of thought, and of moving, and acting. While you might be able to keep FLB or FFBS up and still cook dinner, and go the bathroom, to me, it doesn't feel right to allow a form to be up while doing those mundane things. A form, to me, is that suave pose you see martial artists in movies assume just before the fight begins. My hope and intent was that a practitioner of this art can just *bam* assume that suave pose, out of nowhere, at a moment's notice. So this begs the problem - which is worse? A "simple" type charm, which, after you hit the "Ultimate" charm won't take a charm activation anyway, or the reflexive path I took? I'm seriously asking the question, because it is a significant philosophical and thematic question. So yeah - can you eat dinner, go to the bathroom, and still maintain a form? Or alternately, do you always need time to assume the form, but once assumed, you can maintain it for an extended period? -- GregLink

Sorry, was at work. Should be fixed now. If you want my opinion, truly? I don't think /anybody/ should be able to effortlessly assume a form. Or be always ready. it's a balance on martial arts that's both mechanical and conceptual. Mechanically, it means assuming a form is a major sacrifice for the martial artist unless he has ample warning. *cough* Expected Pain *cough*. Conceptually, it's reprenting a fundamental alteration of your essence and your body, twisting it into a concept. Obviously we disagree on this point. Ignoring that, for a moment, I do think your form is a little too busy for CMA. CMA are supposed to embody a concept, even if an abstract one. If the concept is "Eternally Vigilant Warrior" then the counterattacks are a solid way to do so. But that, on top of the diff adder is a little arcane, and busy, something we generall don't see until the SMA level. - Scrollreader Who on reflection thinks the init adder is not too broken, but should probably be less essence efficient

How about you drop the form to Simple, but note that it may be assumed Reflexively for the cost of a single willpower point, or some other fairly hefty increased cost?
-- Darloth makes ungrounded suggestions

Excellent. We seem to have quite the conversation going. So we're thinking there's a fundamental disagreement on whether or not one can 'effortlessly' assume a form. On my walk home, I thought of what might be a 'happy medium' for us. The way I figure it, what I'm trying to do is get you in-form, ASAP. I also figure that what you don't like is that you can get in-form ASAP, and still take a regular dice action. Thing is, I currently represent my end of the spectrum by saying "reflexive", and you represent yours by saying "simple". What if it were to be either a) reflexive, but consume your dice action, or b) Simple, but can be activated at the beginning of the round, and wins init. Would one of those be a happier medium? Next up, you bring up the issue of CMA, and if what I'm describing is one. Your reasoning, as presented, is a bit vague, but mentions the oddness of a diff adder, because it doesn't seem to fit theme. I can see where you're coming from, if it was "Eternally Vigilant Warrior" - but it's not, so much. It's much more "Guy, who when he walks down the street, is perfectly ready to respond to any incoming attack". The kung-fu master that acts before he thinks, that kind of thing. The counterattacks are actually all there to avoid the need for actual attacks - you'll note the style has no directly offensive charms. You can't start a fight with it, nor can you ambush someone. The diff adder is a simple way of providing a tough-to-crack defense, that doesn't require excessive rolling, or the like. As for where diff adders show up, Ebon Shadow Form is a canonical and reasonable CMA, and it relies heavily on diff adders, so I'm not really sure that they're an SMA thing more than a CMA thing. In fact, thinking on it, I can't even think (off of the top of my head, mind) of any SMA-based diff adders. Just ESF, which is CMA. Then again, without my books, or my demonic counterpart, I'm just some schmuck. As for the init adder, I tried to write it to make it excellent for dueling, and rather pointless for large battles. Against one opponent, yes, it's quite the bomb. Thing is, when you've got four circlemates, and you're fighting 2 Terrestrials and their 5 soldiers, you're wading through 11 different people, some of whom are your allies, thus essentially making it a whole lot less useful. I eagerly await your responses, to see if my interpretation of your thoughts is correct. -- GregLink, happy to get real, honest discussion about how things work in-theme

I apparently didn't make my point well enough, but you're more or less brought it out anyway. All MA need a concept. "Guy, who when he walks down the street, is perfectly ready to respond to any incoming attack" is entirely too complex for the theme for a CMA. Citing all canonical examples, they have a simple theme. Ebon Shadow. Snake. Even the slightly more esoteric Violet Bier of Sorows has a simply and easily espressed theme, even if that theme requires you to be conversant with The Astrology and it's constellations to understand. What is the them for this one, ie, what are you emulating (all CMA are emulative exercises, even if of hypothetical or metaphorical things). Back to the form, I was just thinking that making it automatically win initiative on the round it's activated would work just fine for me. It still means as a martial artist, it's nigh suicidal against a serious foe to assume the form in response to a surprise attack (lack of reflexive defenses or actions to abort with) but it lets you always have at least your form up, when the fit hits the shan. - Scrollreader

So. I've got an issue of 'theme'. That, I can understand. Since you obviously have a pretty solid internal system of what an MA-rank should represent, I'll ask the next question: Could I, just by changing it from CMA to SMA, and perhaps altering a few words here and there, be close? Or am I so far off base that I'd need serious re-thinking? -- GregLink, who absolutely loves it when theme triumphs over crunch. That's the whole point of Exalted, no?

The power level is far too low-level to be SMA. All of which require you to have mastered a whole other style to make any real progress, and start with much more powerful effects, with the other style backing you up on basic issues. I like some of the charm effects, but what Kind of style is it? It's not, as you noted, Eternally Vigilant Warrior style. Without that focus, on what you're working all the charms toward, it looks like an awareness, a brawl, and an endurance mini tree. - Scrollreader

Umm... I have other comments/suggestions, hopefully they'll do. I would suggest for Ignorant Stone's Defense, that it reduces the damage successes by 1 to a minimum of 1. I realise this makes the charm much less useful against ping-damagers, but even at essence 4... Do you really think someone should be permanantly and for no committed cost immune to such under non-PC? Even with the armour limitation of this style, there's enough soak in here to make a fair few people be pinging. If you wanted a slightly less effective reduction in power, you could make a special case that if only one die of damage is being rolled, you must roll it twice, and only damage on two successes?

Other thing I might question (not getting into the init-reorderer, which perhaps should explicitly state it doesn't work over auto-init charms) is Essence Inhalation Prana. At 3/2, it's easy enough to pick up for a great many characters, and to be honest is in my opinion better than EGT, certainly easier to use safely. The cap is fairly low, I admit, but... Even extras will typically regain you some essence if they attack you, or dodge, or anything. I can see no reason not to have this charm in every combo I ever make. It just seems -too- useful for where it is... I'm not sure how I'd make it less effective... perhaps only regain 1m per two dice not successes, unless the form charm is active? That keeps the utility with the MA without making it super-useful everywhere else, yet keeps it as a nice little addition... Actually, it would make sense to give it the boost when Cyclic Essence Breathing Technique is active. Which do you think, if at all?
-- Darloth

Always good to hear from you, Darloth. You've made three points, so I'll start with the first - Ignorant Stone's Defense. You note that under non-PC, that's a monster - and quite right. I don't think in non-PC anymore, so I'd totally forgotten about that. A quick note would be this addendum: "If not using power combat, if only one die of damage would normally be rolled, and that die is a success, roll it again. If this second roll is a success, one damage is inflicted. If the second roll fails, no damage is inflicted." Next up: The init reorderer. In a perfectly interpreted world, it wouldn't be necessary. But this isn't, and I'm a crunch demon, so I've amended it. Finally, the Essence Inhalation Prana. Yeah, it is awesome. Then again, I'm making it a direct counterpart to things like JiAS, which rock. Rather than rely on a funny and ambigous mechanic, such as "successful dodge" or "being swung at", I tried to spice things up a bit. Do you really think it's that overpowered? Could making it have 3 prereqs help? -- GregLink

I think it's really overpowered for where it is in the tree, yes. So easy to pick up if you know any other MA, and even if you don't it's hardly far away, and although it's not dirt cheap to combo, the current effect is so effective that it's usually worth it anywhere. I also think JiAS is broken, as is EVERY Purple Beer charm before the form, to one extent or another. I try to never use any of those four charms as comparisons to anything, because they're just wrong. In my opinion, of course ^_^... Pre-reqs would indeed help it, they'd mean that yeah, it would kick major ass, but you have to actually practice the MA style to get it, and so would have lost out in other areas. I'd still favour nerfing it with a form-linked mechanic, but it's your charm, and if you prefer pre-reqs, go for it.
-- Darloth uses kinda-most of PC, but never Essence-Ping *shudder*

Yeah, that's the tough thing abuot Purple Beer - when this style was originally designed, it was in-play, where some of the other players are on par with me in terms of crunch-ability, and so the game got pretty wicked at the start. When we had Twilights exploiting EGT, and VBoS masters exploiting FLB and JiAS, the level of power in a custom tree does tend to go up a bit. Essentially, it was being compared (dynamically) to the cream of the crop in terms of charm usage, so yeah, Essence Inhalation Prana works pretty well. I'm thinking of going with your form-relation, both because I like the mechanic, and because for general usage (where you're not in a game where everyone is a twinked monster) it's probably safer. Hence, I point upwards, and note that it is now tied to the form. As for PC, yeah, Essence ping is rough. I've actually rationalized the 'theme' of it though, as that much as Exalts get stunts, because they're so cool it hurts, and that physics doesn't really exist in the game universe so much as the will of every little god ensures that things happen the way they should, damage itself is a disruption of the target's pattern. While not so blatant as Raksha shaping combat, the damage you can do is really not just a function of your weapon, but upon the amount of change your being can exert on the world around you. In the case of environmental damage, there's no real will attempting to hurt you, so it can be soaked to zero. A mortal, however, has will, and wants to hurt you, implying that there's always ping. Exalts, with their world-shaping uberness, actively warp the fundament of the story of the world (pissing off the loom in the process). It's also why soak works the way it does - hitting an inanimate object rolls no dice, as there's no will, and hence no story associated with that object. Hitting a person, on the other hand, implies a resisted action, where the person's view of themselves isn't as a bloody pile. Hence, you roll damage. Not that any of this is relevant, just that I've at least rationalized a mechanic for why Essence-ping exists. It makes a good system for evaluating charms that ignore soak, and reduce post-soak damage, and the like as well. It helps give real reasoning to why the Twilight anima banner rules, and why having a charm that does more ping-damage than it should is such a rarity - you've got to essentially overcome someone else's will. -- GregLink, waxing philosophical

Ah. If this is compared to purely solar charms, like FLB and EGT then it's siugnificantly better, power level. But MA can't do that. IF you want it to be crazy powerful in the right hands, install synergies between this and solar charms, such as VBoS has in PC, at least, IMO. - Scrollreader

Supposing you're right, do you have any more detail or suggestions on what you speak of? I'm unfamiliar with the VBoS tie-ins that you speak of, so both examples of existing tie-ins, as well as means or methods of doing such tie-ins would be appreciated. -- GregLink

You mentioned a few. Persistant parry/dodge with JiAS. Combining Solar EGT with DPS. (And ISC if you just want to be mean). Solars (ab)use VBoS so much better than siddies, except for the prayer strip. And eclipses can even get around that. - Scrollreader

And a quick Sample- Combo: Wary Defence of the Fivefold Heavens - SAM+DPS+EGT+ISC. That's the power of VBoS + Solar native charms. - Scrollreader Who notes VBoS and Solar synergies are probably not intentional, though yours could certainly stand to be.