Difference between revisions of "DragonBloodedInvestigation/IsawaBrian"

Latest revision as of 01:15, 6 April 2010

 <b>Cost: None
 Duration: Permanent
 Type: Special
 Minimum Investigation: 5
 Minimum Essence: 5
 Prerequisite Charms: Ten Investigation Charms, including 1 each from Essence 1-5.

Although mastery of the Immaculate Dragon Martial Arts are the best-known and most efficacious way to attune a Dragon-blooded to an Element other than their own, it is not the only way. During the height of the First Age, even though the Anathema's powerful grip was upon the realm, no such martial arts existed. However, there was significantly more time and leisure available to Exalts to experiment with their Essence. Some powerful and accomplished Exalts managed to develop the Faceted Dragons Theory.

According to this theory, because every Terrestrial Charm tree was an expression of an Elemental Dragon's nature through the Dragon-Blooded, every Terrestrial Charm of a specific type expressed a different part of the soul of one of the Five Elemental Dragons. Therefore, by mastering one of those facets, a Dragon-Blooded should be able to attune himself to that part of the Dragon's soul, thus bypassing the usual essence requirement.

Each Facet of a Dragon's Soul was represented by some ideal or virtue that that particular Charm tree exemplifies. The Insightful Water Dragon is said to represent the questing, searching Facet of the Water Dragon. In order to bind to it, the character must master the ways of Investigation. Once this binding is achieved, the character will no longer have a mote surcharge for using Investigation Charms. This has no effect on Water-Blooded Exalts and this Charm may not be purchased by them. They are already attuned to the entire Water Dragon, after all. Similarly, Immaculate masters of the Water Dragon Style may not take this Charm and would gain no benefit from them even if they could. Neither Eclipse nor Moonshadow Caste Exalts may take this Charm; they do not have the requisite elemental attunement.

Dragon Facet Attunements are not as refined as mastery of Immaculate Dragon Paths. Not only are they more limited in scope, but they subtly alter the external expressions of a Dragon-Blooded's heritage. Binding two facets of an individual Elemental Dragon is relatively safe, although the character may find certain elementally-influenced aspects of her personality somewhat shifted by the new perspective (No game effect, but may be used as a justification to change Nature).

Binding a third facet of an individual Elemental Dragon will cause some of the Aspect Markings of a young Exalt of that Elemental type to manifest on the character's body-- as shades or tints of other colors, and in extreme cases (rare) as mottling or striping of the skin. Binding a fourth facet of an individual Elemental Dragon will cause the Aspect Markings of high-Essence Elders of that Elemental type to manifest, such as the smell of sea that surrounds Water-Blooded, or the gusts of wind that surround Air Elders. Binding a fifth facet will actually cause the manifestation of an elemental dragon of the appropriate type in the character's anima banner!

Although these techniques were developed during the reign of the Anathema, their use was never considered to be a perversion of Dragon-blooded talents during the Shogunate. Today, they are mostly forgotten; individuals who desire connection to another Immaculate Dragon are encouraged to study the Immaculate paths, which are, ultimately, more spiritually fulfilling (and leave less obvious marks). No orthodox monk or worshipper would see a problem with someone mastering Facets, although the unusual appearance caused by mastering too many may cause remark among the superstitious or ill-educated.

 <b>Cost: 3 motes per success
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: 3 Investigation Charms

The path of the Magistrate is one that requires a plethora of skills. Interrogation, research, observation, the minute variance in crime scenes, and so on. No magistrate could possibly survive, especially in the current crisis situation that the Realm faces (and the resultant lack of funds) without at least skill in all aspects of investigation. However, no matter how much generalism is required, it is inevitable that individual magistrates will develop different talents, different forms of investigation that suit their personal styles better than others. This practice and familiarity leaves its traces on the soul of the magistrate in question, making it easier for her to accomplish associated tasks by the expenditure of Essence.

An Exalt using this Charm may buy her dots in an Investigation specialty as automatic successes on a relevant roll, rolling the remainder of her die pool as normal.

 <b>Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Scent-of-Crime Method

It is said that the eyes are the gateway into the soul. Within the eyes, reflection of a person's inner self can be found, if you know the way. An Exalt using this Charm can use those reflections to gain insight into the basic Nature of another person. By simply looking into his target's eyes and activating this Charm, the Exalt can learn his target's Nature. This Charm will not function on a being whose Essence is greater than the Exalt's.

 <b>Cost: 1 mote
 Duration: Instant 
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Investigation: 1
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

This simple Charm is often taught to young Water-Blooded Exalts who show potential in investigative abilities-- or who have a tendency to lose important items. This charm will swiftly and without error reveal the resting place of a named item that has been misplaced, not deliberately hidden or stolen, within the last six hours. As long as the character is familiar with the item, no roll is necessary. The GM may require a Perception + Investigation roll for an item that the character is only passingly familiar with, and increased difficulties if the item has only been described to her.

Inspiration credited to Undauntra

 <b>Cost: 2 motes 
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Indisputable Physical Analysis Technique

Sometimes, even a mistake in an investigation can lead to the proper results. Like a pebble disturbing the surface of an apparently placid pool, the ripples sent out from an error may scare up an opportunity for a cunning magistrate to make progress. By expending the necessary Essence, the Dragon-Blood's player can immediately reroll any Investigation roll. She must accept the second roll even if it is worse than the first, and she cannot spend additional Essence to make subsequent rerolls after the first. If Disturbing the Surface is a part of a Combo with any other relevant Charms, then Essence must be spent to reactivate all the other Charms in that Combo when the reroll takes place. This is typically not done; as a reflexive Charm, there is no need to combo Disturbing the Surface.

 <b>Cost: 1 mote
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Investigation: 4
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Tampering Detection Technique

A magistrate who knows Ripples in the Water has become supernaturally attuned to critical clues. If he walks by an important clue that he might otherwise spot were he fully aware of his surroundings-- typically to a crime, but also if he passes by an important book in a library or a guilty face in a crowd but specifically not ambushes, surprise attacks, or similar situations-- he will feel a slight tingle. If the Exalt chooses to expend a mote of essence to activate this Charm, his perceptions will instantly be drawn to the clue in question. This Charm can only activate once an hour, and is not guaranteed to involve whatever crime or research the Exalt is currently focusing on; only that it is important to the resolution of -some- mystery. An Exalt can choose not to follow the instinctual guidance of Ripples in the Water, and GMs should not attempt to "trick" players into using up their hourly use of Ripples in the Water.

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: One day per success
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Falsehood-Unearthing Attitude

One of the most successful and famous magistrates of the Shogunate period was known simply as Voultu. It is unknown to which clan or daimyo he owed original allegiance, but he is said to have dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth and justice. His exploits were so widely known that even today, connoisseurs of the classic "magistrate tale" consider a holocrystal play or novelization of his cases to be extremely valuable.

Aside from his legendary investigative skills, he was quite famous for being extremely homely. Voultu was not precisely ugly, but certainly unattractive, and his short, unassuming demeanor caused many whom he encountered to underestimate his intelligence and capability. Voultu manipulated this perception to his own advantage, tricking his foes into revealing themselves. At his best, he developed a series of charms designed to take advantage of the ego and paranoia of criminals.

Cascading Paranoid Snowfall was the first of Voultu's Charms. By carefully speaking one relevant, true fact that he knows about a crime (often, but not required at the end of a series of innocent-seeming questions), the user of this Charm can give the target an overwhelming sense that the magistrate knows everything about his crime, and is on the very edge of solving them. This requires a contested Manipulation + Investigation roll against the target's Willpower. For every success over the target that the investigator achieves, the target will be possessed for a day by this powerful fear, making her attempts to conceal any crime sloppy and hurried-- giving her a + 1 difficulty to all attempts to conceal a crime.

This is, however, a dangerous charm to use. A more powerful opponent may simply decide to eliminate the magistrate, and even a less powerful target may be driven to extreme acts. Even if the magistrate does not overwhelm his target's mind with fear, the target will have that sense that the magistrate knows. The magistrate must know some true, relevant fact about the target and speak it, although use of this Charm on an incorrect target (as long as the fact used is true) may cause the revelation of an unrelated crime.

Author's note: Does this seem underpowered for what it costs/requires?

 <b>Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: Indisputable Physical Analysis Technique

Sometimes subtlety is required when performing an investigation. Perhaps a magistrate is stuck at a party where she needs to search for a murderer; perhaps she must search a library for a specific book without giving away her true intentions. This Charm allows her to take on the subtle concealment of a calm pool, and yet observe everything around her. The player may make a single Investigation roll without her character appearing to actually be investigating. Attempts to discover what she is doing require a Perception + Awareness (or other relevant ability) at a base difficulty of 3, and the roll is not reflexive. An interested party must actually state that they are attempting to discover what the magistrate is doing. This is not one of Voultu's charms, although he made use of it.

 <b>Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: A number of turns equal to the target's Willpower
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 4
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Calm Pool Sees All, Cascading Paranoid Snowfall

Another one of Voultu's methods involved a constant and steady stream of questions, all designed to force the target's mind to remember something that he had otherwise forgotten or did not wish to remember. The Charm also could serve to bring memories relevant to the line of questioning into the forefront of the target's mind. However, unless the target fails a reflexive willpower roll, he is not forced to actually blurt out an answer. If the target does fail, he must blurt out a single relevant sentence concerning the memory that the investigator is attempting to evoke. On a botch, the target will hauntingly describe the whole memory. The investigator may make a Perception + Investigation roll to discern some information concerning the target's feelings about the memory; this roll has a difficulty of 3. On five or more successes, the GM may give additional clues as to the nature of the memory. This Charm cannot be used to create false memories. A being with a higher Essence than that of the Investigator may reflexively spend a Willpower point to suppress the memory effect entirely.

 <b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: Ten Turns
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Investigation: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms:Steady Drops Penetrate the Closed Mind

One of Voultu's more insidious Charms, this one only functions after the Exalt has somehow made the target honestly answer a question on some subject (The Charm will fail, costing only 4 motes, if the target has not honestly answered). If activated at that time, a target with less Willpower than the Essence of the Exalt will babble her head off on the subject for the next ten turns. A target with a Willpower less than twice that of the Exalt's Essence may make a Willpower or Manipulation + Socialize roll against a difficulty equal to the Exalt's Investigation. If she succeeds, she will only blurt out a single sentence. If she fails, she will speak for the full ten turns. A being with a Willpower greater than or equal to twice the Exalt's Essence is utterly immune to this Charm.

 <b>Cost: 4 or 5 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive or Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Falsehood-Unearthing Attitude

Sometimes, even the great Voultu found himself unable to convince important judges, officials, daimyos, or clan members of the crimes of others. His manner was not the most eloquent, after all, nor was he particularly couth. However, using a modification of his Cascading Paranoid Snowfall, he was sometimes able to use the shining light of truth to illuminate a subject.

Activating Canyon-Carving Question has one of two effects, depending on how the user chooses to utilize it. First, it may be used as an ordinary reroll charm. If the character has failed any social roll to convince a target of the truthful results of an investigation, he may get a reroll by stating some new, true and relevant fact about the investigation (usually in the form of a penetrating question) and expending four motes of Essence. This second roll may also be made with Manipulation or Charisma + Investigation instead of the character's normal social dice pool. The results of this second roll must be accepted, even if they are worse than the original.

Second, the charm may be used in a similar manner at a later date to try and change a target's mind about an investigation. Once more, the investigator must present some new, true, and relevant fact about the case, typically in the form of a cutting question or remark at the end of an innocent series of questions; however, he must expend five motes of Essence to trigger this effect. However, the roll is made as though he had made no previous attempt; the target's mind will temporarily soften to the possibilities. Again, this new roll may be made with Manipulation or Charisma + Investigation instead of the character's normal social dice pool and the results of this roll must be may not be affected by a reroll charm.

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower, +1 mote per person.
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Canyon-Carving Question, Steady Drops Penetrate the Closed Mind

One of the greatest charms created by the master magistrate, Voultu, Reflecting the Shaded Past allows an Exalt to share her insight with others who might ordinarily not understand the totality of a crime scene. This Charm, which must either be activated at the scene of the crime to be recreated or in a place with a large reflecting pool or mirror, will show willing participants the reconstruction of the events of the crime as honestly reconstructed by the investigator. This Charm does not automatically convince those who participate in it that it is true, and cannot project images for which there is not even circumstantial proof. It can, however, project images that the magistrate has been misled on, and other than the magistrate's word, there is little to separate it from an illusion created by sorcery or a Larceny charm.

The scene will appear in the minds of the participants, superimposed over the real world. They may break out of the vision at any time as a reflexive action. The vision will appear as though made from light shining through water, wavery and shadowed. The level of detail will depend on how much the investigator actually knows-- or thinks she knows, anyway. Appearances or actions that are based on supposition and circumstantial evidence will appear hazy and indistinct; the visages of people that the investigator has indisputable evidence or rock-solid logic proving that they were at the scene will appear crystal clear.

 <b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: Reflecting the Shaded Past

The spirits that ripple within waters reflecting light and those within mirrors do not forget what they have seen. And they are cousins, one as easily called as the other. An Exalt with this powerful charm can invoke a mirror or pool of water to reveal visions of the past. The source must be within the character's Essence in yards away; for large mirrors and lakes, only part of the reflections will appear. With a mirror, the player can make a Perception + Investigation roll, and based on the results, a scene that was reflected by the mirror and occurred within a number of hours ago equal to the number of successes rolled will be revealed to his character in the mirror.

This Charm has even more resonance with pools and other bodies of water; for these, they will create a three-dimensional image of water and light of the scene-- and will pick up events that happened within the Exalt's Essence in yards away from their shore, even if the events were not reflected in the pool.

 <b>Cost: 1 mote per two dice + 1 mote per ally
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms:Indisputable Physical Analysis Technique

Many magistrates are forced to operate alone, or with unsuitable help at best. By means of this Charm, the Exalt can transform peasant police volunteers into masterful sleuths and aid his magistrate allies to surpass all mortal limits. Their minds become linked to a certain extent, gaps in the perception of one filled by the sight of another; a ripple of phantom, luminous water disturbing the air where a vital clue may be found. The Exalt spends 1 mote of Essence per ally he wishes to link into this Charm, plus 1 mote per two dice to be added to the allies' Investigation pools The Dragon-Blooded may not add more dice than he has dots in the Investigation trait, nor may his bonus more than double the Investigation Abilities of his allies, regardless of how many die are contributed. A maximum number of allies equal to the character's permanent Essence may be affected.

 <b>Cost: 1 willpower and 3 motes per "fang"
 Duration: One hour
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Investigation: 4
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Many Tributaries Investigative Technique

Sometimes, subtlety is the last thing required for an investigation. When a huge area is required to be searched, a magistrate may need to direct vast numbers of individual helpers of varying skill in order to search broad areas. The Dragon-Blooded using this Charm becomes a master at delegation and assignment, creating search grids and giving flawless orders with which to direct subordinates. For every 3 motes spent, the character can direct five individuals in a massive investigation undertaking, up to a number of "fangs" equal to her Essence plus 2.

For the purposes of making an investigation roll, the character using this charm, this has two benefits. First, the character is considered to be covering everywhere that her helpers are searching, so long as they remain within a useful communication distance. Second, the character gains a benefit to her investigation roll as though she were leading an army in Mail and Steel combat-- that is to say, she gains a number of automatic successes equal to half of the average Perception + Investigation dice pool of her "troops". She will also gain a bonus in dice equal to the Magnitude of her "army", with no limitations for "opposing army", but limited as usual to a maximum bonus of her Investigation Ability plus any relevant specialties. This is a synergistic Charm.

Comments

Reflection in the Pool. Knowing a person's true nature in real life is pretty hard to do, which I believe is why IsawaBrian costed and put the somewhat high pre-requisite for it that way. However, mechanically, the benefit of knowing a person's nature (i.e. he's Bravo, she's Architect) is really minimal. You get to know how to manipulate him better, but it's not like you couldn't try manipulating him before. Also you can guess a person's Nature pretty well by simply observing him for some time or by interviewing his neighbours, etc. So I argue that based on the minimal utility, this should be a basic charm, easy to learn and cheap to use. There might be some precedent for the pre-requisites being a bit high so I'm a bit ambivalent about it and would like to hear what others think.
Note: Brian and I discussed this earlier elsewhere and he already adjusted the cost and pre-req down. I still don't think it's cheap enough (Willpower cost!) but both of us agree that waiting to see what the other wikizens have to say is best. - TonyC

I discussed it with Patkin on IRC; he's pretty good with the Dragon-Blooded, and he thinks the WP cost is cool, but he did suggest to knock it down a tier, which I did. (along with many, many other very helpful suggestions for tweaking these Charms. Thanks, Pat!) --IsawaBrian