Revision as of 09:04, 3 April 2010

Spider Style

By Telgar

Background

The Spider Style is excellent at silent kills and unexplained removal, but many of the Night Caste favor the Ebon Shadow Style because of the wider variety of Charms and the self-reliant nature of the Style. Spider Style is less useful on its own, coming into its true power when mixed with Charms of other styles and abilities. Because of this, the Spider Style is not common among the Solar Exalted, but has its own benefits, making those who do practice the Spider Style fearsome opponents. Combatants who face those skilled in the Style should treat them with as much caution as the most deadly arachnid. Spider Stylists most often use their bare fists and feet in combat, but the style can be used when wearing Brawling Aids such as Cesti and Khatars.

Charms

Eight Eyes Observation Method</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

Much as a spider can see attacks and prey in almost every direction around it, initiates of the Spider Style are able to harmonize their anima with their sense of sight, gaining normal vision of everything around them. They can literally see out of the back of their heads. This improved field of vision does receive benefits from Awareness charms and other Awareness-enhancing magic or items.

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Eight Eyes Observation Method

Spiders can feel the slightest vibrations in their web and using this charm, a Spider Stylist can feel similar vibrations in the air and ground around her, even in the essence that permeates them. While this Charm is active, the Spider Stylist is impossible to surprise. They are aware of anyone with aggressive intent inside (Essence x10) yards and are instantly alerted to any attack made against them.

This charm does not allow a character to know exactly where an aggressor is or even exactly what he is doing only that one exists.

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: None

Acrobats of incredible skill are able to vanish without notice, and Spiders are an excellent source of inspiration for those who would fight or move unseen. For 3 motes a character may add her unmodified Martial Arts score to one Athletics or Stealth roll. This Charm can be comboed with Charms of other abilities.

<b>Cost: 2 motes per penalty
Duration: Instant
Type: imple
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Dance of Eight Silent Feet

Much as spiders trap their prey in webs of silk, a competent martial artist can trap her opponent's mind in webs of Essence. In order to capture the opponent's mind with the Weave, the martial artist makes a complex series of movements, seeming to weave her anima into a web and cast it at the target. Roll Dexterity + Athletics, the difficulty equal to the targets Essence. On a successful roll, the target looses one die from all her actions until next turn for every 2 motes spent on this Charm (up to double the user’s Martial Arts).

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Web-Mapping Prana, Dance of Eight Silent Feet

Executing a series of seemingly jerky motions and adopting a somewhat hunched defensive stance, a martial artist can bring himself in closer harmony with the Spider, emulating many of its remarkable traits. For the rest of the scene, the Spider Stylist can walk on vertical or horizontal surfaces (even ceilings) without penalty. Her martial arts attacks do lethal damage instead of bashing and her Martial Arts rating is added to her Stealth and Athletics.

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: >Mind-Snaring Weave, Spider Form

Spiders are famous for their silk webs and their method of snaring their prey in cocoons of silk before feeding. Imitating this technique is the purpose of this Charm, which traps the target in tight bonds of Essence Thread. In order to capture a target, the character must make a normal Martial Arts attack, the damage to which is rolled normally but not applied. Instead, for every health level that would be inflicted the target looses his action for one turn and is unable to take any action. During each turn that the character is so incapacitated he takes the Martial Artists Essence score in Lethal damage due to the constricting of the Essence Web.

This attack cannot be channeled through a weapon. The character must actually hit the target with her bare hands.

<b>Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Special
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Spider Form, Mind-Snaring Weave

The featureless black eyes of the spider often scare prey into unresisting paralysis. The stare of one skilled in this Charm is similarly disheartening. For as long as the Spider Stylist maintains eye contact with the victim, the person under the Gaze is unable to spend willpower or channel virtues for any reason. It is likewise impossible for one under the effects of this Charm to activate any magic requiring the sacrifice of a Health Level or more; they are unable to muster the conviction to do so.

All actions taken by the Spider Stylist using Gaze of Eight-Fold Terror are at +1 difficulty due to the requirement of maintaining eye contact. This Charm ends when the character breaks eye contact for any reason, even blinking.

<b>Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Gaze of Eight-fold Terror

The web of a spider is used to capture prey, but a competent Spider Stylist can use similar methods to deflect harmful attacks. A web of shimmering Essence-threads appears around the Martial Artist using this Charm, acting as a defensive shield against a single attack. The Stylist rolls her Dexterity + Martial Arts to block the attack, as well as removing a number of successes equal to her Essence from the attack roll automatically.

<b>Cost: 4 motes per action
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Actions
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Unseen Gossamer Defense Stance

Only the Lunar Exalted can duplicate the eight legs of the Spider, but the Exalt with this Charm gains a measure of their use as well as tapping into the quickness and speed of the Spider. For every four motes spent activating this charm, the Spider Stylist gains one extra action on the same initiative as her normal action. The absolute limit to the actions gained by this Charm is seven, all of which must be bought individually. This charm is totally incompatible with any other effect that would give the user more than eight actions.

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Spider Form

Spiders are blood-drinking creatures; waiting patiently in their webs to pull away the life force of others, and with this Charm so is the Spider Stylist. The character makes a normal Martial Arts attack, which inflicts normal damage in addition to drawing away from the victims Anima a number of motes of Essence equal to (Damage Inflicted x Victims Essence).

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Power-Draining Fang Strike

Many people fear the bite of the Spider, due to fear of poison, even though there is generally little reason to do so. They would, in fact, be better off fearing the touch of a Spider Stylist with this Charm. Deadly to mortals and highly dangerous to the average Exalt, the character using this charm must make a normal Martial Arts attack – his hand or Khatar crackling with vibrant green Essence. If the blow hits and any damage is rolled, the target must also roll Stamina + Resistance (with a difficulty of 3) to resist the Essence Poison. The poison deals 2 aggravated damage on a success and 6 aggravated damage on a failure. The poison's effects, a -4 penalty, last for 6 hours.

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Essence of Venom Prana, Web-Dancing Kata

The ultimate technique of the Spider Style, Life-Snuffing Embrace is a Charm with the power to utterly destroy a living creature. In order to invoke the Embrace, the Spider Stylist must first strike her opponent, and inflict at least one level of damage. When launching the Life-Snuffing Embrace, the characters anima automatically flares and his entire body crackles with vibrant green Essence. If the attack succeeds, the victim suffers a number of dice of Aggravated Damage each turn equal to the character’s Essence, which ignore the victims armor. The damage from this charm persists for a number of turns equal to the characters Martial Arts score.

Inanimate Creatures such as automata are not affected by this charm, but most Undead are vulnerable. Any Spirit or Fair Folk slain with this charm is forever destroyed.

Comments

Web Dancing Kata: Using an Extra Action Charm consumes your normal action; this should provide an upper limit of 8 actions, if you want the Exalt to actually be able to do eight things in a turn. - FourWillowsWeeping

Thanks for pointing that out. I've fixed the Charm to give 8 actions as originally intended. - Telgar

That's actually not true. Page 154 says nothing about it consuming the character's action. It says that the charm may only be used once per turn, that the character can't split his dice pool on any of the actions it grants, and that he takes all the actions on his inits. It even says that unless the charm states otherwise you have to use all the actions with the same ability! Nothing about it consuming your original action. -CrownedSun

That's because it is implicit in the Charm mechanics. We all know that Reflexive charms are privileged in being the only charms that can create an action out of thin air, correct? Extra Action Charms (I don't like this name; it's misleading) are like Simple Charms; you exchange the action to activate them for the action(s) that the Charm permits you to perform. It doesn't let you add to your base action. Essentially, it's letting you split your dicepool without penalties, in a restricted manner. - FourWillowsWeeping

Hmmm...CrownedSun has a point, now that I think about it. After all, Charms like Trance of Unhesitating Speed for Archery and Peony Blossom for Melee buy additonal turns, you retain your original action. And that's what this Charm is doing. So yeah, I was right in the first place. - Telgar

I like this style quite a bit. I might change Essence of Venom to make the difficulty=essence of the martial artist, though, since that seems to be the way similar effects are handled with other charms. Is this style supposed to be, in any way, linked to CMoS? Or just a solar animal style? - Scrollreader