Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Memory: The Garnet Scales of the Kings

By Shakenzerite

Background

The Dragon Kings of old were, for ages, one of the most powerful wielders of magic and warriors in Creation; even the Primordials feared their power, and as a result, their culture was devastated. Some became fast friends to Celestial Exalted, and some Celestials may have been raised in the Primordial War under the watchful eyes of the reptilian people. Some might have even been traiend by them, and as such, the development of a supernatural martial arts style to celebrate the traditions predating humanity that had been passed down to them was devloped by the Sidereals, who were greatly awed by such wonders as the Orrery of Arianthu. Now, with most Dragon Kings existing as stalkers, it remains a shining link to a brighter, albeit more savage, past.

Equipment Usage

Charms in the Garnet Scales of the Kings Style are compatible with weapons and armor made of crystal or vegetative Dragon King equipment. Otherwise, this style must be used unarmored and unarmed.

Charms

Student’s Sutra of Memory: Once, there was a maiden…

Reptilian Torpor Meditation</b>

<b>Cost: None
Type: Simple
Duration: Permanent
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: None

Who slept underneath the earth for eons

One of the first lessons of the reptilian masters of the time before is patience, which comes from a long life. Upon learning this Charm, the martial artist learns to patiently slow down his own life during sleep, so that he may live longer. While slumbering, the character does not age, though the uptake of Essence through respiration remains unchanged.

<b>Cost: 5+ motes
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Five Turns
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: None

She dreamt of her peoples’ past glories

Knitting his anima around his own flesh, the Exalt appears to grow a set of scales. Regardless of appearances, the anima-born integument is so finely drawn that it counts as a natural form of soak and thus cannot be bypassed by attacks that do piercing damage, but it can stop aggravated damage. The Charm supplies 3L/3B soak, plus 1L/1B per extra two motes spent. No more than 3+(Essence)L/3+(Essence)B may be gained in this manner, and this Charm may only be activated once per scene (disruptions and restablishments of the Charm withstanding, of course).

• You want to put a cap on this. - willows
• But what should the cap be? It's a 5/4 Charm, and to get an extra 10L/10B soak, you'd have to spend 19 motes, which is a pretty serious outlay. I'm not offering suggestions, I guess, just looking for opinions. I almost like it without a cap, but I guess it should have something, just something really high. - SilverMeerKat (something really high)
• Hgh reqs do not equate to breaking metarules; parametric Charms generally have diminishing returns (like Peony Blossom) or are very expensive. Why not just set the cost to 15 and have it provide +(Ess+Sta) or something? - w
• I don't see ceilingless soak as breaking the metarules. See Water Dragon Form for an example, or Knockout Blow for ceilingless damage. - SilverMeerKat
• Ha, silly me. There was that cap all along, but I forgot to cut and paste it - Shakenzerite

<b>Cost: 10 motes
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Five turns
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: None

But awoke to wars to drive back the blood-madness

Wreathing himself in primal and elemental energies as the Dragon Kings did, the martial artist’s strikes sear, freeze, or buffet his enemies as appropriate to the sort of attack he has learned. This is actually a set of five Charms, each with differing effects.

Air: A dark storm cloud leaks from the martial artist’s Essence while winds play about his anima, vaguely limning it with the movement of air. When attacking, the martial artist’s limbs are obscured and enhanced by these strong gusts, which tear holes in even the immaterial, allowing the martial artist to reach spirits with his strikes. Decrease the dice pool to defend against his attacks by his Essence rating as well.

Earth: Invoking the powers within every crystal buried in the soil, the martial artist’s body becomes as strong as adamant. Using the Enlightened Earth Fist allows the martial artist to deflect blows with a seemingly simple change in posture, acting as a supremely potent form of shielding. Add the Exalt’s Essence rating to any parries or dodges he makes, using those dice as a reflexive defense if he has no action available (one dodge and one parry made per attack); furthermore, he may use his entire Stamina rating to soak any form of damage that does land.

Fire: Active and deadly, a blazing aura laps around the martial artist, making his strikes incredibly quick and searing those that he touches. All those that the martial artist strikes are burned as if by the fires of the sun, adding the Exalt’s Martial Arts to Damage and Speed. Against demons, the undead, and other creatures of darkness, the damage inflicted becomes aggravated.

Water: Swirling and warping the space around him, the Exalt channeling Water’s primal stance affords him odd control over space. Any foe within the Exalt’s line of sight, even if that path is provided by a series of reflections, may be attacked, sending the force of the Exalt’s blows rippling through the world with singular power.

Wood: The Exalt that chooses to walk down the path of the bark does so in order to reshape his own hands and rend his foes. The martial artist gains wickedly large claws which add his Essence to his unarmed Speed, Accuracy and Defense ratings and deal out a base damage of his Strength + Essence in lethal damage. Lunars may use this Charm as if it were a natural form of shapeshifting, regardless of whether they are tattooed.

• Not Supplemental. Supplemental Charms affect exactly one dice action that is erformed concurrent with the Charm's activation. These should probably be Simple or Reflexive. Water is weak but very cool. - w
• I dunno, I've thought that about several Charms, e.g. Adamantine Fists of Battle in CB:D, which is Supplemental and lasts a scene. I think Charms like this (that is, very powerful ones) can be Supplemental to limit how they can be combo'd (easier than a Simple, harder than a Reflexive). The only question I'd have is what sort of action you have to be performing to activate the Enlightened Earth Fist. - SilverMeerKat
• Good point,there's good precedent for that. In that case, though, you want to specify precisely what the activation action is, and what actions it will subsequently benefit. Seems like that means that all of the effects should be action-based (which means you want to redo Earth, as smk said.) - w

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Type: Simple
Duration: One Scene
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Shining Scale Pride

Creatures scurried from her presence

Assuming a reptilian combat stance that was old before humans came about, the Exalt may radiate an aura of mind-warping and ruining terror. Any who gaze upon the Exalt, feel his Essence, smell his scent, or hear his voice that has a Valor less than 4 must make a difficulty 3 Valor roll. Those who fail have their dice pools reduced to 0 before the effect of Charms for as long as they continue to detect the Exalt’s horrific primal glory; those who botch go catatonic and if human, enter comas. Those that have a Valor of 4 or higher simply reduce the dice pools used to strike the Exalt by his Martial Arts rating.

• This is functional but not interesting, and I suspect that it is too strong. - w

<b>Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower
Type: Simple
Duration: Instant
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Imposing Dragonfear Stance

As she awoke and reclaimed her place in the world

Untold ages before Exalts, or even humans, were running about, Dragon Kings commanded the respect of small demons and elementals. That control may be reclaimed under the Exalt’s mantle, allowing him to take command of a First Circle Demon or of an elemental by making a successful opposed Essence + Martial Arts vs Essence + Willpower roll. If successful, the victim must serve the Exalt as if he summoned the demon or elemental. The control roll may only be made if the martial artist using the Charm successfully strikes the target in question, though the strike does no damage.

• Is this actually an attack? It could use clarification. - w

<b>Cost: 12 motes
Type: Simple
Duration: One Scene
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms: Primal Dominion Reinforcement Blow, any one Enlightened Element Fist, Reptilian Torpor Meditation, one complete Martial Art style (all Charms)

And took up arms against the foes of the light and heat

Long have the Chosen of the Maidens been able to study at the Essence changes that occurred when Dragon Kings were possessed and ridden by one of their glorious Gods of War. This posture, along with a series of exercises that brings energy up through the spine, inundates a martial artist’s system with just that kind of change.

The Exalt’s anima changes as a result of this, bearing the image of a great and terrible winged reptilian predator. Great blades of sunfire lash out from the Exalt’s forearms, which allow him to make attacks of vastly increased lethality, giving his unarmed attacks Speed + (Essence), Accuracy + (Essence), Damage + (Essence + Martial Arts), Defense + (Martial Arts) and allowing him to block lethal damage without a weapon; should he wield an allowable weapon in this Style, only the damage is increased. Solars invoking this form do aggravated damage against creatures of darkness when utilizing the sunfire blades. When struck, this blazing light will interpose itself between the Exalt and the attack, searing and weakening it. This allows the martial artist to soak it as if it was bashing damage, though if it is lethal or aggravated, any wound that gets through will still be lethal or aggravated.

This Charm is not compatible with any form of armor other than the crystalline constructions of the Dragon Kings.

• Since one of these effects (the scare one) duplicates a previous effect in spirit, it might as well do so in body. I think that the weapon enhancements of the other effect are too strong; they would be more reasonable id they were specifically incompatible with shaped forms and crystaltech (i.e., working only with unenhanced hands, essentially using the variables as base weapon stats rather than modifiers to a base). - w

<b>Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Type: Simple
Duration: One Scene
Min. Martial Arts: 6
Min. Essence: 6
Prereqs: Garnet Scales of the Kings Form 

Elder Sutra of Memory: The hope of the future will fly through the sky

By concentrating the Essence of his anima into two spots on his back, the Exalt can actually cause something truly amazing to happen – he can sprout wings, made partially of Essence and partially of his own body. Strengthened by Essence, these wings shine with a color appropriate to the Exalt’s anima, and also lend considerable advantage to mobility and combat. The Exalt may fly at a speed equal to his Essence times his sprinting speed, and may stoop and attack going at twice that speed; individuals trying to attack him or defend from his attacks have their dice pool reduced by his Martial Arts rating. The wings also add 5L/5B soak, even against aggravated damage. When taking off, the force of them will also buffet those around the Exalt with hurricane force winds, giving those trying to attack him a penalty similar to the one to do so when the Exalt is airborne. Lunars may use this Charm as if it were a native shapeshifting Charm.

• I like this. - w

<b>Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 experience per use or per dot of Manse or Demense created
Type: Simple
Duration: Instant
Min. Martial Arts: 6
Min. Essence: 7
Prereqs Charms: Garnet Scales of the Kings Form

Make the land bow in respect to render aid

While there are many Charms that suggest the ability to topple mountain ranges, this is not one of them, per se. Rather, it reshapes the landscape and alters the dragon tracks that run across them, even to the point of being able to pull up the shape of a Manse from the soil, structurally fully formed but not furnished with any sort of amenity. It can also create normal Demesnes, or even mundane cities that could house up to (Essence times 100,000) people comfortably. One use of this Charm can form a Manse, a Demense, or a city, or alter the natural structure of the land, turning plains into mountains and vice versa. The Exalt seems to be making a series of low kata that hit the ground at various points, each strike forcing architecture or Essence out of the ground and in a certain path. Hearthstones may be any kind of element, plus the Exalt’s own Celestial Essence; for instance, a Solar may choose any element, or may create Solar Demesnes or Manses, but not make a Sidereal Demesne or Manse.

• This is also quite cool. - w

<b>Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower
Type: Simple
Duration: One Scene
Min. Martial Arts: 6
Min. Essence: 7
Prereqs: Garnet Scales of the Kings Form

Draw upon the hunters of the ocean

Leeayta many times sent her powerful god-servants to aid the Dragon Kings, sometimes even riding great warriors themselves. Using their combined skill at arms, they could take on the most powerful of foes. The most renowned warriors lived in the West, and it is through their Essence patterns that this charm send’s the martial artist’s, gaining skill such that not even Behemoths may prevail against him. The player rolls the Exalt’s Essence + Martial Arts, and for every success, the Exalt gains one additional automatic success on attack, damage, and parry rolls for the rest of the scene, with reflexive defense dice pools of 0. If the roll succeeds at all, he may also move and breathe freely through water, and may use any weapon as if it were a Martial Arts weapon, even to the extent that it may be used in this style’s attacks as an unarmed attack.

• Again, not liking the weapon compatibility effect. It's simply too much to pop this and the Form and be walking around wielding Mount Sumeru, and on top of that adding your Essence to each of the weapon's stats. - w

<b>Cost: 10 motes per turn, 1 Willpower
Type: Simple
Duration: Special
Min. Martial Arts: 7
Min. Essence: 7
Prereqs: Wings of Feathers and Essence, Mountain-Reshaping Blow, Martial Memory of Eons Past Style

And will topple that which stands against the world

Drawing upon the grand ideology of the Unconquered Sun wrought by the Eastern Dragon Kings, the Exalt may cause even the most implacable and fearsome of foes to shrink from their assault by bombarding their consciousness and unconsciousness with ages of events, burying their minds with time. While active, the stance reduces the dice pools of enemies to 0 before dice from Charms are added. Furthermore, those facing the martial artist must also make Temperance rolls (at difficulty 5) in order to remember a Charm before they use it; if not, their mind goes slack with the incomprehensible infinity of memories, and they are unable to locate where exactly in their minds the Charm is. Even Primordial creatures can be affected by this Charm, as it works through their link to life and Cytherea as the ones that forged Creation out of chaos. All who are affected by it must make a final difficulty 2 Temperance roll or simply wander off after the duration of the Charm has expired, rather than immediately attack the martial artist. Individuals so affected will often simply stare up at the sky or out to the Wyld in mute awe.

• The scare effect is boring here... this is its third repetition. I like the forgetfulness effect a great deal, however. - w

Comments

Falcon - I like. I haven't read it in detail, but it seems just as powerful as the other ludicrous sidereal martial arts (well, it has me giggling with sick glee :) ) and it's got the atmosphere thing going. Nice.

This is short for a Sidereal-rank style, and has a lot of repeated effects. I liked it overall, but have left specific critiques per Charm. - willows, trying to start his weekly MA critique.

I agree, this is a great style. Willows is pretty right-on with these critiques - I just thought I'd make a couple of (minor) points above. - SilverMeerKat

Changed around some things, added in more Mokole-type inspiration on the last one. I'll probably amend the Sutra of Memory and add in more Charms once the Player's Guide comes out and I've given the Dragon King section a thorough reading-through. - Shakenzerite