Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Rag Doll Style

By IceShade, Kraken, Etrangere, GoldenH, Andrix

Background

The Rag Doll, which once may have provided comfort to its owner and been cherished, has been neglected and allowed to sit, damaged and worn, in a dusty corner. Once it might have been taken out occasionally to entertain its owner, but now it has been abused and forgotten...

There is a concept of passive-aggressive anger ever present throughout the Rag Doll Style. The Charms are largely defined utilising concepts of a Rag Doll’s existence, and those Exalted that understand the hatred and bitterness a Rag Doll might experience during long years of neglect make the best out of this style. Heavily tortured deathknights constitute the largest group of practitioners, but Exalts with slave backgrounds or even catamites or concubines working in hideous circumstances make decent candidates as well. Though not limited to these groups of people at all, the style is largely a natural expression for the seriously abused.

Training to develop the Charms of the Rag Doll style, while not requiring as much physical exertion as some other styles, needs a great deal of mental strength. Learning to cope with pain and mutilation plays a large role and the exercises reflecting this are brutal and bloody. For many, the greatest hurdle in the tree is the Charm “Lost-Limb attack”. Having to sever parts of one’s own being plays directly against the principles of self- conservation.

Training times are tripled for those who do not come from a suitable background and wish to learn this style without a mentor.

Charms

Over-Loved Adaptation Style

 Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 2
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: None

Anticipating a blow, the Exalt adopts the qualities of a child’s doll, becoming limp and light. Flowing like cloth, her body bends unnaturally to avoid damage as muscle and bone briefly turn to cotton and cloth to absorb impact.

The Exalt may add her Martial Arts to her soak to resist a single attack that she is aware of.

Care and Repair Meditation

 Cost: 3+ motes, 1 Willpower 
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Over-Loved Adaptation Style

With a moment’s thought, strings of essence spring from the Exalt’s Anima. As if guided by invisible hands these threads sew cuts together and join severed limbs in an instant. The needlework tends to reflect the Exalt’s personality, and though the stitching may differ amongst Exalts, the effect is mechanically identical.

Every 3 motes spent powering this Charm heals one Lethal or two Bashing health levels. The Exalt may not heal more lethal health levels than her Essence rating at once. This Charm cannot heal others.

Comfort Blanket Method

 Cost: 1 mote
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Over-Loved Adaptation Style

Having provided much comfort and satisfaction in the past, the Exalt also knows best how to manipulate these feelings to instead rob another’s passion.

The Exalt may activate this Charm after he has been hit but before damage is rolled. For each health level actually taken, the attacker secretly loses one mote of essence. If essence cannot be taken, Willpower is drained instead. For every point of essence or Willpower lost, the Exalt gains one point of essence. The attacker should be unaware that he has lost these motes (it will likely come as a very nasty surprise - when a combo fizzes out mid-way, for example). This charm is also suitable for non-combat applications where the Exalt takes damage and may explicitly be used in a clinch.

Rag Doll Form

 Cost: 6 motes
 Duration: Scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Care and Repair Meditation, Comfort Blanket Method

The Exalt takes on the form of the Rag Doll. Her movements become staggered and unusual and her flesh appears to ripple slightly like material. When her skin is broken, threads, stuffing and sometimes even wood can be seen beneath. Her face will likely sport a wicked and constant grin, for the Rag Doll laughs in the face of adversity.

For the scene, the Exalt gains an amount of -1 health levels equal to her Martial Arts rating. These levels can be healed just like normal health levels and fade without issue when the Exalt ceases using the Charm. If the form should be adopted a second time in one scene, any damage taken to the extra levels persists. During the scene, these extra health levels can only be healed with the Care and Repair Meditation Charm. Additionally, the Exalt gains two motes for every actual level of damage she takes and will not normally bleed to death, automatically passing any and all rolls to staunch bleeding. This charm is incompatible with the use of armor.

Ruined-Form Familiarisation

 Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: Scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Rag Doll Form

Attuning herself further with the Rag Doll notion, the Exalt becomes disturbingly comfortable with damage. She may suffer serious wounds and not give them a second thought. As if supported by a child’s guiding hand she can continue to act as if unharmed. This technique is very unsettling for onlookers. Though the Exalt can function perfectly with the loss of all limbs, an alien style of movement may have to be adopted to compensate.

For the scene, the Exalt is unaffected by any wound penalties received from Bashing or Lethal damage. With this Charm active, the Exalt can function perfectly normally despite being in a horrific condition. An armless, legless, bloody stump can still operate at a -0 penalty. These penalties will come into effect when this Charm expires if the wounds are still present. This Charm does not prevent supernatural wound penalties, such as those caused specifically by Charms.

Lost-Limb Attack

 Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Health Level
 Duration: Scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Ruined-Form Familiarisation

Willing essence into certain parts of her body, the Exalt can animate them to function in a more dynamic fashion. She may tear off an extremity or attached hunk of flesh, or animate a currently dismembered limb.

For the remainder of the scene, the Exalt gains one additional unarmed martial arts attack or parry action per turn. This action cannot itself be split. Attacks from dismembered parts are considered to occur at close range. Though the Exalt animates separate and individual parts of herself, these “lost limbs” cannot be targeted or destroyed specifically. The Exalt may animate up to her permanent Essence in “lost-limbs”. The Charm will not continue to function if the health level and Willpower point are regained.

Fondness-Instilling Gesture

 Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Rag Doll Form

Making brief spiritual contact, the Exalt instills in an opponent the sensation that he is fond of her, as someone might be of an old sentimental belonging they owned as a child. Attackers will hesitate to attack the precious Exalt, and those that attack are distracted by an inner turmoil.

An attacker must make a willpower roll with a difficulty of the Exalt’s Essence before launching an attack at her. If he fails this roll, the attacker must spend a point of temporary willpower to attack. Even if the attacker succeeds at this roll, he will still lose a number of dice from the attack equal to the Exalt’s permanent Essence. The Exalt must use this Charm before the attack has been rolled, and its effects defend only against one attack - the cost must be paid multiple times in a turn to defend against multiple attacks.

Unloved Angst Technique

 Cost: 2 motes per health level taken
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Rag Doll Form

An Exalt using this Charm concentrates the hurt she suffers, and stores it deep within. This stored damage can be unleashed on those opponents who have harmed her. Essence-echoes augment the Exalt’s attacks against the target - even barehanded strikes smash bones and crumple armor to an unnatural degree.

After the Exalt has taken damage from an attacker, she may spend two motes per level of damage taken to add one die of damage to a special pool. This pool can later be used to increment the damage of any martial arts attack made against that attacker later in the scene. The damage dice in this pool persist only for as long as the health levels remain damaged.

For Example: Shades of the Rose Sanguine takes 5 levels of Lethal Damage from Andrix’s grand daiklave “The Archangel’s Voice”. Shades Activates Unloved Angst Technique and decides to spend 6 motes for three of the levels taken. For the remainder of the scene, all martial arts attacks made against Andrix have their base damage increased by three dice. If Shades should heal more than 2 of these damaged levels, her pool of special damage dice versus Andrix will diminish.

Long-Forgotten Presence Defense

 Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: Special
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Unloved Angst Technique 

Many people forget about a belonging they once owned as a child. Perhaps they became uninterested and it was moved to storage, or perhaps a parent decided it was time for the belonging to move on. In time, the child forgets regardless. Imitating the process, the Exalt may disappear from the mind of an individual.

Having paid the cost of this Charm, the Exalt chooses one target that she can see. For the Exalt’s martial arts in turns, the target will ignore and disregard the Exalt. If the Exalt should disappear from the target’s sight before these turns are up, then the target will forget about the Exalt completely until it next sees her or is supernaturally reminded of her existence (this can include a brilliant artwork or extremely vivid description). The memory loss is supernatural in nature and the target shouldn’t even consider the Exalt during the duration. This Charm can only effect one target at a time.

Neglected Attic Attitude

 Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: Lost-Limb Attack, Fondness-Instilling Gesture, Long-Forgotten Presence Defense

This Charm, at the apex of the Rag-Doll tree, is the pinnacle of the Style’s passive-aggressive theme. A practitioner who reaches the apex of the Rag-Doll Style has learnt to understand and utilise the hatred and bitterness one might accumulate during long years of neglect in isolation. The Exalt can briefly channel all the trauma she has suffered to launch an overly aggressive and vicious counterattack against an opponent.

The Exalt may activate this Charm when an attack has been declared against her. The Exalt immediately makes a full-pool martial arts counterattack against her attacker. This attack has a base damage equal to the number of health levels of damage the Exalt currently suffers from. The player rolls the counterattack as normal, but if she rolls insufficient successes for her character to hit the target, she still hits it, doing base damage as described above. This is a perfect counterattack, and may only be truly defended against by perfect defenses such as Seven-Shadow Evasion. In addition, if the counterattack was not avoided, the attacker takes an amount of unsoakable dice of damage equal to the raw, pre-rolled damage of its original attack. A character may not use Neglected Attic Attitude in response to other counterattack Charms.

Comments

This is SO creepy! I love it!!! But, one charm requires commited willpower. Since you can't normally commit willpower, people may think you simply misunderstood the rules and disregarded that part. If it really is your intention to have committed willpower, be explicit and say, "This is an exception to the rule that you cannot normally commit willpower."

-- DaveFayram

The charm you speak of is Lost-Limb Attack. It seems to be pretty explicit, but this tree in general breaks the rule about only essence being committed.

And so, I believe that may not in fact be what is intended. I suggested for Unloved Angst Technique that if the health level should be healed, the charm will end. This isn't quite being the same as committing the HL, but it seemed like a good way to balance certain charms at the time, and acts pretty much the same both ways; if you heal the HL, the charm ends, and the essence is no longer committed, and if you stop committing the essence to the charm then you can surely heal the HL.

I suppose you realized this though, since your comments do not include the fact that you cannot commit health levels, either. The bit with WP is confusing though, so perhaps dudeman stole a bit too much crack from me, and shall explain and add in the line you suggest. That charm seems to be the only one that commits WP though.

I am just an cryptic whiner, it's nice being in the credits. -- GoldenH

As a general policy for fan-charms, when you do something that is normally against the rules, say so that people know you aren't just marfing. For all the great charms that are here, occasionally some pop up on charm digests or on the wiki that are wrong. People are human, so it's bound to happen. :) Being explicit means that people will realize you knew what you were doing. -- DaveFayram

ta thanks people, feedback's always welcome :) -- IceShade