Revision as of 07:54, 12 June 2006

Conflict: The Bistre Clash of Ideals

A Sidereal Martial Art by DeadManSeven.

Introduction

A dual-Form style. Wolf & Raven was one of the first fan-created styles I ever read, so hopefully I'm able to make something on an equal level of cool. This style deals, in part, with some of the minutiae of Mail & Steel, so you might want to bust out your copy of the Players Guide to get the full use out of some of the Soldier-side Charms.

Bistre, by the way, is a yellowy-brown pigment made from soot from burned wood.

Background

Conflict pervades every aspect of the Bistre Clash of Ideals. Students must first decide which is the correct approach to conflict, the peaceful method of the Poet, or the warrior’s path of the Soldier. During their instruction, they realise the aggressiveness of Peace and the tranquillity of War, but this understanding does not grant them a unification of the two paths. Instead, masters of this style remain in permanent juxtaposition, so that when they speak to say if they believe the Poet or the Soldier, they utter a word that is neither and both at once.

Tireless Poet’s Guard and the Charms that lead to it are classed as Poet Charms, and are only reduced in cost by the Student Sutra of Peace, while Relentless Soldier’s Assault and its prerequisites are Soldier Charms, and only receive a cost discount from the Student Sutra of War. The flexibility of the Poet is her greatest strength, but she prizes her freedom above all; Poet Charms can be used with any weapon, but cannot be used while wearing armour. Conversely, the rigid training of the Soldier allows her physical mastery others cannot match, but her discipline is hers and hers alone: all Soldier Charms function in armour, but must be used unarmed.

Charms

    Shadow-and-   One-and-The-Many     One-and-The-Road   River-and-Mountain
     Sun Dance       Meditation         Concentration           Memory
        \                  /                    \                /
     Unseeing      Piper's Melody      Drummer's Tattoo       Unspeaking
    Eyes  Kata   of Burning  Hearts   of Valliant Hearts      Lips Prana
           \            /                          \          /
          Forgotten  Debts                         Heroic Deeds
Fear  of       Repaid                                Rewarded     Love  of
What Was            \                                /            What  is
       \      Bistre Clash    [one complete]    Bistre Clash      /
        ---- of Ideals Form - [Martial Arts] - of Ideals Form ----
                 (Poet)       [   style    ]     (Soldier)
                      \                           /
                      Tireless              Relentless
                    Poet's Guard        Soldier's  Assault
                               \         /
                              Thousand-and-
                                One Unity
                                    |
                             Seeking Beauty
                              in  Conflict

(For a non-ASCII Charm tree, click here.)

Shadow-and-Sun Dance

Cost: 10 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: none

whose shadow danced on the water, painting flickering images

As the sun travels towards the Western Ocean, shadows grow long and break over the waves. They are born at midday, swell at sunset, and dominate the ocean during nightfall. It is the shadow’s dance that first inspires the Poet; she fancies herself the shadows and her rivals the waves, and she thrives around them, unstoppable and inevitable.

Whenever the martial artist successfully parries or dodges an attack, she adds a die to her parry or dodge pools for the remainder of the scene. Dice from Shadow-and-Sun Dance may be used to create a dice pool to reflexively parry or dodge an attack.

Cost: 7 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: Shadow-and-Sun Dance

while the sun blinded the soldiers returning on the shore.

Now that she has established the shadows as her ally, the Poet scripts the sun as her enemy. In her vision, the sun is the archetype of the careless creator, birthing the shadows for his amusement. He comes to folly at the point where he dips too close to the ground to observe his growing creation, and the shadows - while much weaker, outnumber him by tens of thousands - drag down the sun to consume him.

Applying this concept to martial pursuits, the Poet is able to capture the arrogance of the sun in others, and use it to blind them from dark things to come. If an opponent is struck by an attack using the Unseeing Eyes Kata, he must succeed at a reflexive Perception + Awareness roll, or be blinded by a flash of brilliant white light for the next [martial artist’s Essence] turns. The difficulty for this roll is equal to the opponent’s own Essence rating, as it turns their own strength of being against them. Even if enemies succeed this roll, a white haze clouds their eyes, adding +2 to the difficulty of all Awareness rolls until the next sunrise. Multiple applications of Unseeing Eyes Kata are cumulative. Charms may be used to aid the roll to avoid loss of sight.

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: One Scene

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: none

She would make no allowance for them, nor they her;

An early lesson of the Poet’s is that those who share her grand view of the world and what it should be are rare, and that she will encounter more foes in the pursuit of her vision than friends. With this knowledge, she finds ways to best legions of enemies, their brute force no match for her peerless grace. The martial artist adds two dice to her dodges and parries, three points to her Speed, and one point to the Rate of her attacks for each opponent she faces in personal combat. The maximum number of enemies that can attack a character at once - five - is the same limit used by this Charm.

Cost: 15 motes

Duration: Until sunset

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: One-and-The-Many Meditation

that night, she stoked the fire of war in their minds,

The Piper is one of the many faces of the Poet; with a wicked grin, she works her panpipes to dig at the hearts of those that hear her. Whatever excuse they make does not matter - the urge to leave wherever they heard the Piper’s song is always the cause.

The martial artist cannot speak between when she begins the Piper’s Melody and when the sun has set; she must dedicate herself to her song. Using an instrument works equally well as whistling, chanting, or even simply singing wordless notes, but the song is always simple and memorable. Others who hear the Poet’s song often find themselves humming the melody to themselves later in the day, such is its hypnotic power. However, the day they hear the Piper’s Melody will be the only day they find it pleasant; come nightfall, the tune takes a much more sinister edge.

During the night, everyone who hear the Poet’s song will be unable to have a restful night. If they sleep, their dreams will be vivid nightmares that they will remember for many years; if they attempt to remain awake, shadows will dart just outside their vision, convincing them of a malevolent presence nearby. In the morning they cannot roll to regain Willpower, and if any targets of the Piper’s Melody naturally respire essence, they will be unable to until daybreak. Additionally, when the morning comes, anyone who experienced the effects of the song will feel strongly compelled to leave: itinerant travellers will mark their resting place as a site of bad dreams, grown men living in the towns of their birth are struck with wanderlust, and guards will abandon their posts from fear of the shadows. Typically, deserters and wayfarers will leave alone and unnoticed, although sometimes people who hear the Poet’s song at the same time will depart together.

Charms that protect against hostile mental influences can counter the effects of the Piper’s Melody of Burning Hearts, but rarely are correlations drawn between the Poet’s song and the night of paranoia.

Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: Unseeing Eyes Kata, Piper’s Melody of Burning Hearts

revenge for the years of empty homes.

The Poet despises war, and the way she keeps peace is to be sure the warriors cannot fight; depriving the enemy of the will to fight back is the fastest way to achieve peace. For each level of damage her opponent takes from her attack, she steals a point of temporary Willpower. If her opponent has less temporary Willpower than the number of health levels rolled, she adds a number of automatic levels of damage equal to the difference.

(Example: Silent Bells Wisdom stares down an Abyssal monk after a drawn-out fight, wanting to end the battle quickly. She splits her action two ways, and attacks twice, both strikes augmented by Forgotten Debts Repaid. Her first attack roll scores four successes for damage. However, the Abyssal relies on his unearthly resiliance to avoid harm, removing all post-soak damage in exchange for another scar in his pallid flesh; doing so leaves him without motes to use this technique again, and only two Willpower. Silent Bells Wisdom’s second attack manages to damage her opponent for three health levels; she steals his remaining two points of Willpower for herself, and adds one extra automatic level of damage to the attack.)

Cost: 8 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: none

The soldiers dreamed, fearful, and woke and cursed the night.

Imagery and lies are the Poet’s forte, her insight so powerful and simple that she can inspire fear in her enemies with the most basic gestures and phrases. Steering her enemies away from the methods of war, she makes their way easier along the path she knows is correct. She adds her Essence to the difficulty of an opponent’s Valor roll.

Cost: 10 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 5

Prerequisites: One complete martial art (all Charms), Forgotten Debts Repaid, Fear of What Was

The Poet lifted her pen, and the Soldier sheathed her sword.

The martial artist’s anima glows with vibrant colour that wraps around her, protecting her within a peaceful cocoon. Raising a hand against her is difficult; damaging her, impossible. She is a focal point of peace in a world of war, and her enemies must concede that her path is right. All attacks made against the character begin at 0 dice before the use of Charms, and she gains hardness values equal to her [Linguistics + Craft].

This is a martial arts Form Charm, and cannot be used while other Form Charms are active.

River-and-Mountain Memory

Cost: 6 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: none

who marched past a village in kingdom she was raised

The path of the Soldier is begun early in life, dominating childhood games through natural tactical instincts. The young Soldier has lists of the best places to remain undiscovered, knows the quickest shortcuts through the fields, and always catches her friends the fastest. Later in her life, she applies these lessons for victory on the battlefield.

The martial artist gains awareness of a wide area around her, scanning it quickly and noting possible methods of escape, observation points, and useful feature of the terrain and nearby structures. During this brief moment of extra-sensory perception, she cannot be surprised, and may react to ambush attacks. However, the true purpose of this technique is more wide-reaching. With the information she gains, she is able to quickly change the lay of a battlefield to suit her favour; she is able to set traps, erect temporary barricades, conceal troops, or perform other last-minute tactical changes to gain an edge in an oncoming battle. The player may dictate a number of significant changes to the environment per point of Essence of the character, within reasonable limits; a ruined fortress’ walls may be quickly repaired to function and extra troops may be summoned from an outdated warning relay system, but the character won’t miraculously uncover a First Age artifact that will elicit her an instant win. Each change takes roughly a minute to enact.

Cost: 7 motes

Duration: Indefinite

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: River-and-Mountain Memory

and watched the sun upon the river as it flowed to the Inland Sea.

In war, the passing of commands without their interception is vital. The Soldier transcends the need for cryptic phrases and complex ciphers and instead opens her thoughts to one of her officers, her commands passing to him as water along a stream.

The martial artist selects a willing target to join with her in the Unspeaking Lips Prana. She is able to perceive events with his senses as easily as her own, and is able to send him short messages by concentrating briefly. If two characters use this Charm on each other, they may hold entire silent conversations without effort. She may also make any Valor rolls, or rolls using abilities from the House of Battles for him, if her ratings are higher. This Charm may only be used on a single target at a time.

The Unspeaking Lips Prana allows an unsurpassed degree of control of armies, allowing tactical operations mortal commanders could never perfect. If the martial artist and her target are both in command of a unit during mass combat, their units may attack an enemy unit simultaneously.

Cost: 12 motes, 1 health level

Duration: One Day

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: none

Her pay heavy in her pocket and her load light on her back,

The march is the Soldier’s meditation. She focuses on the way ahead of her, and steps to the same beat of her company. There is no destination and no origin, only her and the road; she may travel for days in the same rhythm. Her equipment becomes an extension of her form, not a burden to be toted from place to place, and her hunger and fatigue melt away as she outpaces them.

While the character travels, she automatically succeeds on any Endurance rolls related to her travel, provided she has stopped and rested well the night before. She also grows accustomed to any heavy gear she carries, as well as any armour she wears. The day after One-and-The-Road Concentration has been used, the character’s Strength and Stamina are considered to be one higher for the purposes of bearing her equipment. She also subtracts one from the mobility penalty and fatigue values of her armour, both down to a minimum of zero. Both of these effects are permanent. However, all this equipment must be hers personally; each time this Charm is used, the character slightly alters her equipment, customising it through insignia, sigils, crests, graffiti, and other marks to show her ownership. Anyone else trying to carry her equipment will not gain any of the benefits she receives from this Charm, as they have not forged the Soldier’s bond between herself and her gear.

Cost: 5, 10, or 15 motes per +1 Magnitude, 1 Willpower or 15 motes, 1 Virtue point

Duration: One battle

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: One-and-The-Road Concentration

she saluted the villagers, and they waved in kind.

The Drummer is the aspect of the Soldier that signals the call to arms. She inspires bravery and heroism in those around her, inspiring them to defend their lands; when they hear her marching tattoo, they know their duty to the Soldier, and they are willing to fight by her side.

The Soldier begins by sounding the Tattoo of Valliant Hearts. This may not always be upon a drum, but it is always urgent and stirs a primal response in those who hear it. Until the sun sets, she can only speak to recruit others to her cause; all topics eventually drift to the subject of a rapidly-approaching battle. The lingering effects of the Drummer’s rally-call hang in the air, and many are eager to join the Soldier. For every five motes she commits to this Charm, she will gain a level of Magnitude of unskilled conscripts (treat as weak extras); for ten motes, she may call professional soldiers (competent extras), and for fifteen motes, hardened veterans (elite extras). These troops will loyally follow her for a single battle that she speaks of while she recruits, and will then return back to their normal lives; at this point, any motes spent are uncommitted.

The Drummer’s Tattoo of Valiant Hearts may even be employed in the heat of battle to aid the Soldier’s defences, forming extra ranks from her sheer force of will. The drumbeat awakens her desire to protect and defend, and her anima flares brilliantly; from its fires march faceless soldiers that swell the ranks of her unit, glowing brightly with the colour of her anima. The character increases her unit’s Magnitude by her Essence. The phantom troops created this way have statistics identical to those she currently leads, save that they are obviously supernatural beings. The character must have a Magnitude rating of at least 1 at the time she uses the Drummer’s Tattoo in this manner. The cost of using the Charm in this manner is a flat 15 motes, but also requires spending a temporary Virtue point. These troops do not need additional relays to keep order, as they are guided directly by the Soldier.

Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: Unspeaking Lips Prana, Drummer’s Tattoo of Valliant Hearts

She marched alongside brothers and sisters, siblings bound by war;

War forms unbreakable bonds. The Soldier easily spots the potential within her army, creating heroes whose strength and skill are admired and respected by the unit they rose from. She selects one of the warriors that serves beneath her and gifts him with some of the knowledge she has taken from the Soldier’s life, allowing him to command as well as fight. Even after the time of war has ended, the second the Soldier trains will remain in close contact, ready to lend his aid again when the need arises.

Mechanically, this Charm promotes a member of the character’s unit from a rank-and-file extra to a heroic mortal capable of assuming the lead of a unit in her stead. Her second’s hand-to-hand and ranged combat dice pools, their dodge pool, and their Charisma, Presence and Valor ratings all begin at 2, and she gains a number of points equal to [Essence*2] + [Martial Arts] + [Valor] to increase these ratings. Heroic Deeds Rewarded can be used during a mass battle to split units; if this is the case, the character divides troops and special characters as she chooses between her unit and any new units created, and then recalculates their Magnitude and Might based on the makeup of the units. Dividing units this way can still only be performed between long turns, but does not take the place of the unit’s movement action.

Heroic Deeds Rewarded can last indefinitely once used without the expenditure of essence, until ended by the martial artist or dispelled by other means. However, such drastic changes to the destinies of ordinary mortals can wreck havoc with the Loom of Fate, and so Sidereals are heavily encouraged to end its effects after the battle. Failure to do so results in the Crimson Panoply of Victory demanding the character to file numerous petitions to retroactively request a change to the mortal's destiny, if not outright subjecting them to audit. Legally-minded Sidereals may, prior to the battle, beseech the Maiden of Battles give them authority to use this Charm freely, but whether such a request is granted largely depends on the martial artist being in Mars' good graces at the time.

Cost: 8 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: none

to them she sang, but all those who heard her chant were inspired.

The Soldier leads her life through sheer love of what she does; if that love were not there, she would surely fail and seek a different path. Embracing her choices is self-affirming, and she may bolster her spirit by knowing that, within her heart, she has always decided what is best. She adds her Essence in automatic successes to a Valor roll.

Cost: 10 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 5

Prerequisites: One complete martial art (all Charms), Heroic Deeds Rewarded, Love of What Is

The Soldier lifted her sword, and the Poet sheathed her pen.

The martial artist’s anima shines with a pure colourless glow that settles around her hands, turning them into unstoppable instruments of warfare. Preventing her blows takes a mighty effort, and withstanding their damage becomes a heroic task. She is the tool of war turned against those who falsely champion peace, and those opposing her will soon learn her path is right. All dice pools to defend the character’s attacks begin at 0 before the use of Charms, and her minimum damage cannot be less than her [Presence + Performance].

This is a martial arts Form Charm, and cannot be used while other Form Charms are active.

Cost: 10 motes, 1 lethal health level

Duration: [Martial Arts] Turns

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 6

Prerequisites: Bistre Clash of Ideals Form (Poet)

The Elder Sutra of Conflict: The Poet raced to block the Soldier;

The Poet must constantly defend herself, guarding her ideals and her vision from those who would disrupt peace. She is alone in her vigil, but it would take an army to surpass her, such is her dedication. While enacting the Tireless Poet’s Guard, she is surrounded by a radiant aura of light that shifts in colour as she moves. When the Poet is struck, the light guides her hand to counter the blows, erupting in a magnificent rainbow display and fading away moments later. By spending 5 motes (which does not benefit from sutra discounts), the martial artist may automatically succeed on a dodge or parry roll against an attacking opponent, provided she could have rolled the required number of successes to avoid the attack.

Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 6

Prerequisites: Bistre Clash of Ideals Form (Soldier)

the Soldier faced the Poet’s blockade.

The Soldier is always at war, and must be ready at any moment to defend herself from those who would attack her. Even if she stands alone, she fights with the strength of an army, such is her skill. Attacks bolstered by the Relentless Soldier’s Assault leave pale ghostly impressions of the Soldier that linger for a few moments as she lands her blows. The phantom replicas will continue attacking the Soldier’s foes, shining with an internal white light that obscures their features. If the martial artist makes a successful attack (that need not cause damage), that same attack is repeated each following turn, for a number of turns equal to her [Martial Arts]. The accuracy and base damage of the attack remain the same, as well as any other extra effects from Charms, but the Soldier cannot further use any techniques she knows to alter the phantom attack. The replicas created through this technique will be able to follow the target should he move, but may attack only him.

Cost: none

Duration: Permanent

Type: Special

Minimum Martial Arts: 6

Minimum Essence: 6

Prerequisites: Tireless Poet’s Guard, Relentless Soldier’s Assault

"You will not wash me aside!" exclaimed the Poet.

The penultimate technique of Conflict reveals War and Peace and Soldier and Poet to be nearly identical in their strengths and weaknesses. The two paths are the same road walked different ways, and with this realisation, the martial artist views her prior lessons in a new light.

Upon learning the Thousand-and-One Unity, the martial artist may wear armour while using Poet Charms and can wield any weapon with Soldier Charms, and either student sutra will reduce the cost for all Bistre Clash of Ideals Charms. Also, both Form Charms of this style may be employed together, though this counts as having two Form Charms active for effects that allow the activation of multiple Form Charms. The energies of the dual Forms creates a powerful resonance with the martial artist that allows her to unlock even greater strength when enacting lessons of both the Poet and the Soldier than she could with either alone; if both Forms are active, she includes her Virtues in the Ability-based bonuses - Conviction is added to Craft, Compassion to Linguistics, Temperance to Performance, and Valor to Presence. This applies only to the effects of the Form Charms, and not to rolls using any of the four Abilities.

Cost: 20 motes, 2 Willpower

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 7

Minimum Essence: 7

Prerequisites: Thousand-and-One Unity

"You have challenged me," said the Soldier, "And I accept."

With the final lesson of Conflict, the student learns there will never be an end; conflict is eternal, and the Poet and the Soldier, though equals, cannot coexist. Embracing the schism, the student becomes a master by being both at War and in Peace at once. To all those that observe her, she appears twice, but in her heart there is only one with her conflicts revealed.

After activating this Charm, there is a blinding flare of light that obscures the martial artist, and her form blurs and flickers so heavily that she appears to be in two locations at any given time. The character separates into two characters - her Poet and Soldier self - with identical statistics at the time Seeking Beauty in Conflict is activated. Each character acts independently, although each turn the two will be at the same location (if the Poet and Soldier take different movements during the previous turn, the player decides which location both will be at). In mass combat, the Poet is always considered a solo unit, but can ignore up to [Martial Arts] points of difference in Magnitude; the Soldier is always a complimentary unit, and cannot have a Magnitude lower than her [Martial Arts], regardless of how many troops follow her.

When this Charm ends, the Poet and Soldier may have different values of motes, Willpower, Virtues, and health levels remaining. If this is the case, the player picks which set the character will have remaining when the conflict is over. Effects that cause permanent loss of traits, such as being struck by a Rune of Singular Hate, will affect both characters.

(Example: As a theoretical exercise, Silent Bells Wisdom demonstrates the applications of Seeking Beauty in Conflict to her students. She has a total of 80 motes of essence, 8 Willpower, 12 temporary points of Virtues, and is undamaged. She begins by activating both Forms and Tireless Poet’s Guard, leaving her with 50 motes and taking a lethal level of damage. She activates Seeking Beauty in Conflict the turn after; Silent Bells Wisdom (Poet) and Silent Bells Wisdom (Soldier) both now have 30 motes of essence, 6 Willpower, 12 temporary points of Virtues, have both taken a lethal level of damage, and are both under the effect of the two Forms and Tireless Poet’s Guard. Her Poet self reactivates Tireless Poet’s Guard, and her Soldier self uses Drummer’s Tattoo of Valiant Hearts (15 motes, 1 temporary Virtue point) and Relentless Soldier’s Assault (15 motes, 1 Willpower) as a show of mass combat techniques. She then ends Seeking Beauty in Conflict; her Poet self has 20 motes of essence remaining and has taken an additional level of damage, while her Soldier self has no motes remaining, one less point of Willpower, and has spend a temporary Virtue point. She choses to keep the values of the Poet, and orders one of her students to fetch her a glass of celestial wine.)

Comments

Random comments:

• For what rule set was this style designed?

Old Exalted, with Power Combat.

• The link to the non-ASCII tree is broken.

Is now fixed. Damn case-sensitivity. At least I know one person (besides me) looked at it, though. :)

• Presumably the dice added by Shadow-and-Sun Dance are cumulative? Is there an upper limit? Also, since there is no indication to the contrary, these are standard "dice added from charms", so help solars a bit more than sidereals.

Sidereals have a cap of Ability + Attribute (in this case, Dexterity + Martial Arts or Dodge) when using Martial Arts Charms, so they in fact have an edge over even Solars, from being able to benefit from sutra cost discounts. I tend to write all my Charms as taking the dice-adder caps for granted, because adding 'up to a limit of Dexterity + Martial Arts' after everything is boring; as such, I only mention caps when they're either not of the Exalt's regular cap, or the dice can surpass the regular cap.

• Piper's Melody is a neat idea, but seems to be more about horror and fear than conflict. That is, seems to break the theme of the style a bit, but probably could be tweaked to fit.

It could be about the conflict between the rational and irrational mind. Mechanically, I want a Charm that can dissemble an army to play opposite to the Charm that forms one; do you think there needs to be any rules changes, or just thematic ones?

• Forgotten Debts is essentially free, particularly when using sutras. Actually, it may even have negative cost in that case.

What if the essence-leeching was removed, and all it took was Willpower? Then you're basically converting essence to Willpower. Also, to get close to a negative cost assumes you're only using the Charm once per turn, and not in a combo, which is pretty sub-optimal in high-Essence combat.

• Fear of What Was seems a bit weak for the cost. In the right circumstances, it is brutal, but those aren't common. Maybe if it affected more targets? Oh, wait. You're thinking the usual use for this will be to mess with valor rolls in Mail & Steel, I'm guessing. Hmmm.

Mail & Steel is the intended purpose, yes. I think it's pretty destructive in mass combat, where almost everything provokes a Valor check, and failing it is always BAD, but if it needs beefing up, perhaps it could force Valor rolls even when there are effects in play that make Valor rolls automatically succeed, but that's possibly a bit too strong for a Charm with no prerequisites.

• One-and-the-Road seems a bit weak, particularly for sidereals. Solars have better ways of handling mobility/fatigue penalties in general and the health level cost of this charm. For most sidereals, taking that one health level will just replace the mobility penalty with a mechanically worse wound penalty.

I'll tighten up the wording to make it clear that the mobility and fatigue reductions are permanent for as long as the armour is yours, thus making you able to get both values for a warstrider down to nothing by giving it a snazzy paintjob and custom highlights.

• Drummer's Tattoo is both cool and in theme. Treads a bit into solar territory, but screw it.

I think the committment cost for getting real troops and spending a Virtue point (harder to regain by orders of magnitude than either health levels or Willpower points) for phantom troops still keep the Solars in front, though.

• Heroic Deeds, also cool, seems like it permanently alters the mortal (or, since it is an instant reflexive, several at once), kind of a mini-exaltation, which seems like it messes with Fate enough to warrant some kind of Paradox cost.

This is a good point and I shall be making some changes to the Charm based upon it.

• The two forms have a very interesting parity. Very cool.

I was a bit apprehensive about what happens when they're both active (pools to both attack and defend attacks by the character start at 0 dice, and they can have a possible hardness and minimum damage of 20), but for what's an Essence 6 Charm and takes two turns worth of Simple actions, I figure there's some tricky effects that will get around it; the one that came to mind was constructing a third circle illness on the fly through Citrene Poxes of Contagion stuff, and those are canon Charms.

• How does Tireless Poet's Guard interact with perfect attacks? Since it is not listed as perfect effect, I assume they get through (which is as it should be, IMO).

No matter how many successes you get to defend, a perfect attack and attacks you can't defend agaist will get through. So, yes, those will trump Tireless Poet's Guard. Think of it a bit like the pinnacle Sidereal Craft Charm, where you can get all your Whatever + Craft pool to come up all successes, but can only have one roll.

• Wow. Relentless Solider is brutal, particularly as part of an uber-combo. Can these phantoms move? Does the target have to be the same?

The phantom has too attack the same target but can follow them around. I'll go put that in the Charm.

- Wordman

I like replying to feedback (thanks!), and it's especially cool when comments on particular Charms aren't mechanical things, but just little notes to say they were cool. :) - DeadManSeven