Revision as of 08:08, 5 April 2010

Ways of Night

Essence of Deep Midnight</b>

<b>Cost: -
Duration: NSolarStealth/IanPrice/A
Type: Permanent
Min. Stealth: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: None. (Any Stealth Excellency in 2e)

The Essence of the Night Caste does not flare, but rather, it cloaks. A Solar who knows this charm is attuned to the night just as one of that Caste, and may spend double the normal amount of peripheral motes on any effect to avoid showing her anima flare. A Night Caste with this charm no longer needs to pay extra motes to take advantage of his anima's muting effect on Peripheral Essence; he may display or not display his anima banner as he chooses. At Essence 6, this charm may be purchased a second time. Solars of other Castes gain the same effect the Night gained with the first purchase, while Night Caste gain a new anima power: by spending double Essence, they may perform any charm without any of the normal obvious Essence displays which might be associated with the charm. (In Second Edition, this second power applies to Obvious charms, and the first power remains unchanged; the special effect Night caste gain at the 11+ mote level of their anima display does not apply if they have muted the display)

Assassination Disciplines

Deadly Ambush Attitude</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Stealth: 2
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: None.

The greatest assassins kill their targets even if spotted. Solars of the Night Caste are the greatest assassins in Creation, so surely this applies to them. This charm enhances an attack made from stealth, acting as insurance against a poor roll or charms such as Surprise Anticipation Method and Reflex Sidestep technique, which would allow a defense against the attack even though the attacker was previously undetected. The attack enhanced by Deadly Ambush Attitude hits its target even if not enough successes are rolled; the net result is considered to be one success. This charm is explicitly permitted to be part of a Combo with charms of other abilities.

Innocent Caress Ambush</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote/success, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Stealth: 4
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Deadly Ambush Attitude.

Assassins are feared because even the mightiest warrior is hard-pressed to defend himself against an attack he cannot anticipate. Tales of concubines turned assassins are enough to turn even the most trusted ruler paranoid. With this charm, a Solar may make such fears come true. This charm enhances an unarmed attack, or one with a hidden weapon. Martial Arts weapons that count as unarmed for a style do not count as such for this charm. The target must be unaware of any hostile intent from the character. An attack made with this charm appears to be only a harmless, normal form of social touch. It may not be detected as an attack without specialized charms, such as Surprise Anticipation Method or Reflex Sidestep Technique. Even if such charms activate, their user will not be aware of why unless he makes a successful roll of Wits + Awareness against a difficulty of this Exalt's Essence.

The attack made with this charm is not rolled. Instead, up to one success per die in the full dice pool of the attack may be purchased, at 1m per success. This charm is explicitly permitted to be part of a Combo with charms of other abilities.

Flippant Gesture Assault</b>

<b>Cost: 2 motes/success, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Stealth: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Innocent Caress Ambush.

For the social assassin, it is sometimes too suspicious to be the last person seen speaking with a target. Therefore, this charm was developed to solve that problem. At the higher mote cost of 2m per success, this charm allows an attack to be made at a distance of up to Essence x10 yards, simply by making a casual gesture that looks in no way like an attack. This may be either an unarmed attack, or it may be an attack with a Thrown weapon; with a Thrown weapon, the range of the attack changes to that of the weapon. This charm conceals the Thrown weapon by itself, making it undetectable without the use of charms. Charm-users must roll Perception + Awareness at a difficulty of this Solar's Essence to notice the Thrown weapon in flight; they do not get such a roll if the attack is unarmed, unless they can perceive the use of Essence. Investigation attempts may be able to piece the scene together later to determine the direction the attack came from, unless some effect such as Observer-Deceiving Attack is added to prevent it. This charm is explicitly permitted to be part of a Combo with charms of other abilities.

Comments

Somebody commented when I made some Melee charms recently that I should make Stealth charms along these lines instead of what I was trying to do with Melee. I decided to finish my Melee charms anyway, tweaking them until they worked. Now, though, I got bored again, and decided that those Stealth charms sounded like a good next project. - IanPrice

If it's work you need, I'd love to see some work on some telekinesis-style charms. I can't determine whether they'd be Lore or Athletics, (Lore for bending reality in a "Weight matters not" way, or Athletics for a "You don't need muscles to lift" thing) Personally, I'd prefer Lore, because it also houses things like the elemental bolts (directed energy), and because Lore doesn't get enough love as it is. If you're interested, I'd be willing to work out some basics with you. -- GregLink, blantantly loading you with unpaid work.

Don't tell the folks at WW, but the fact that they pay me is totally bonus to the fact that I get to do the work. You have intrigued me, and I think I shall do it. The Lore version interests me more also. Here comes SolarLoreSolarStealth/IanPrice/IanPrice - IanPrice