Revision as of 08:06, 5 April 2010

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DragonBlooded Athletics Charms by FatR

Crucible of Inner Fire

 Cost: 4m,1wp,1 bashing hl
 Mins: Athletics 5,Essence 4
 Type: Reflexive
 Keywords: Combo-OK,Obvious
 Duration: Essence in actions
 Prerequisite Charms: Any Athletics Excellency,Incense Smoke Ladder

This dangerous technique allows the character to mobilize the hidden reserves of his body, pushing his heart and muscles beyond the safe limit. The living fire of Exaltation within Dragon-Blood's body burns brightly when this Charm is activated, heating his body almost to the point when it can blister mortals' flesh or set fire to easily flammable object. Muscles of the character bulge, nearly bursting the skin; veins become clearly noticeable and pulsate rapibly, and waves of the hot wind blow around.

For a number of actions equal to the Exalt's permanent Essence, his natural (discounting enhancements from other Charms or artifacts) Strength is doubled. However, using this Charm inflicts one level of unsoakable bashing damage on the Dragon-Blood. Using this Charm more than once during the same scene carries even greater danger than usual. If the Terrestrial tries to do so, he suffers lethal damage instead of bashing, as a part of Charm's cost.

This is a reflexive Charm that that Dragon-Blooded can use freely without the need for a Combo. It can be activated only on a tick when the Dragon-Blooded initiates an action, though. It cannot be use on the ticks between actions. If Crucible of Inner Fire is used on the character's turn to empower an attack, its use must be declared before making the attack roll.

Burning Heart Technique

 Cost: 2wp,special
 Mins: Athletics 5,Essence 5
 Type: Simple
 Keywords: Combo-OK,Obvious
 Duration: (Athletics + Essence) in actions
 Prerequisite Charms: Crucible of Inner Fire

Burning Heart Technique provides incomparable power to the Exalt - at the incomparably great price. Using this Charm is so dangerous, that, according to some legends, the only person who managed to activate Burning Heart Technique more than once and survive was Immaculate Hesiesh, who invented it in the first place. This Charm completely shuts off "safety barriers" within Essence-channeling body and Exalted soul of the Dragon-Blood, that normally prevent him from harming himself by exerting too much power. When Burning Heart Technique is activated and for its entire duration, the Terrestrial's anima banner blazes with full iconic glory, as if it was at 16+ motes level of Peripheral Essence expenditure - so much Essence the user draws from world around. However, even the anima fury cannot eclipse bright, pulsating light that shines through the Exalt's skin, clothing and sometimes even armor, marking locations of his heart and major arteries.

For a short period of time, the Dragon-Blood feels incredible rush of power and energy. This feeling is immensely exhilariating, washing away all pain and weariness and survirors describe it as one of the most wonderful experiences in their lives. Mechanically, there are three effects. First, all natural (discounting enhancements from other Charms or artifacts) Attributes of the Charm's user are doubled. This effect is compatible with the Strength increase provided by the Crucible of Inner Fire (tripling Strength while both Charms are active). Second, the Exalt adds his Athletics to his permanent Essence for all purposes, except calculating his Essence pools. Thirt, he suffers no wound penalties, and other internal penalties caused by pain and illness, such as those inflicted by active poisons, also are negated.

However, as the body the Terrestrial goes far beyond its normal limits, extreme exertion and too-intense flow of Essence begin to rip it apart. The Charm's user feels nothing while Burning Heart Technique is active - not even if all bones in his body are shattered by his own power. Time to pay comes when the Charm's duration ends. The Exalt must roll a number of dice equal to his base natural Stamina. For every success on this roll, he can keep one dot of Stamina from his previous rating. If less successes are rolled than he had dots, extra dots of Stamina are lost permanently. If he scored any successes at all, he can buy them back with experience later. However, if no successes were scored, the character not only becomes a paralyzed wretch of a man, he also cannot raise his Stamina ever again, unless subjected to incredibly painful and delicate surgery (ten successes on the Intelligence + Medicine roll are required to succesfully treat such condition). And if the roll is botched, the character dies horribly.