Latest revision as of 01:18, 6 April 2010

Gothic Lolita Marital Arts Tree

Four Aspects of the Lolita Style: This is a Fiancée level Marital Art that permits the use of fighting gauntlets, tiger claws and knives as in-style weapons. This style is not compatible with armor.

• Marital Arts Insight of the Lolita (1/1)
  • Confusing Lolita Marital Arts (2/2)
    • Absolute Lolita Marital Arts (3/3)
      • Persistent Loli Marital Arts Augmentation (4/4)
• Shroud of Mystery Attack (2/2)
  • Sickly Lolita Technique (3/2)
• Inexplicable Respect Kata (2/2)
  • Elegance Based on Prudery Method (3/2)
    • Four Aspects of the Lolita Form (4/2, also requires Sickly Lolita Technique)
      • I Am Unavoidable and Unexpected (5/2)
        • Many Desire Me, Yet I Remain Untouchable (5/3)
      • The Weaker I Am, The Better (5/2)
        • I See Everything and Do As I Please (5/3)
          • Love Me And Fear Me, For I Am Cute (5/4, also requires Many Desire me, Yet I Remain Untouchable)
            • Reality Revision: Goddess of Death (5/5)

Shroud of Mystery Attack

• Cost: 3 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Subtle/Mental
• Minimum Marital Arts: 2
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

This Marital Arts style explores the many aspects and qualities of Lolis, and more particularly, Gothic Lolitas. First of all, it is a known fact that Gothic Lolitas are mysterious. Even when they’re close, there’s an unfathomable distance that separates them from others. This Charm emulates that quality, making the Lolita’s attack difficult to perceive and, as a consequence, difficult to defend against. Characters attempting to dodge or parry blows enhanced with this Charm roll only half their normal dice pool, rounded down. In addition, such attacks make no noise, even from impact. The Moe to power this Charm must be spent prior to making the attack roll. This Charm is not compatible with weapons.

Sickly Lolita Technique

• Cost: 1 mote per turn
• Duration: One turn
• Type: Re-Useless
• Minimum Marital Arts: 3
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Shroud of Mystery Attack

What is it with Lolitas, that the more fragile they look the better? Gothic Lolita Marital Artists know how to willingly weaken some attributes to strengthen others for very short moments. She may reduce her Dexterity by 1 to increase her Strength by 2, or decrease her Strength by 1 to increase her Dexterity by 2, until her next action. She may also do the same with Stamina and Charisma or Appearance. She may not reduce any attribute below 1, which limits the maximum attribute increase, too.

Inexplicable Respect Kata

• Cost: 1 mote per pre-soak damage die removed
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Re-Useless
• Minimum Marital Arts: 2
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

Gothic Lolitas, despite their youth and apparent childishness, inspire awe and respect wherever they go. The Loli Marital Artist translates this in a special stance (not really that special, she just stands there) that protects her from those who dare lift their hands against her. She invokes this Charm after an attack has hit her but before damage is rolled. This Charm reduces the raw damage of the attack by one die per mote of Moe spent. The Gothic Lolita cannot spend more motes on this Charm than her Marital Arts score. This Charm can be Combo-ed with Charms of other abilities.

Elegance Based on Prudery Method

• Cost: 2 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Re-Useless
• Minimum Marital Arts: 3
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Inexplicable Respect Kata

Lolitas are graceful. Lolitas are not reckless. There’s no hurry. In the end, they always get what they want. Patience and prudence are their greatest defense. And it is this patience and this prudence which make them regal and graceful. The Marital Artist flows slowly and calmly through the battlefield, but that makes her anything but an easy target. She may be slow, but she’s also unpredictable, like cherry blossoms floating on a pond. The Lolita’s graceful movements add her Moe to the difficulty of an attack against her.

Four Aspects of the Lolita Form

• Cost: 7 motes
• Duration: One scene
• Type: Speech
• Minimum Marital Arts: 4
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Sickly Lolita Technique, Elegance Based on Prudery Method

Behold, the four aspects of the Lolita.

• The Ghostly Lolita, who shows up unnoticed and freaks the hell out of everyone with her “sudden appearance”.
• The Sickly Lolita, who gets better and better as she gets weaker and weaker.
• The Victorian Lolita, who sees everything, commands respect from others and does as she pleases.
• And the Über-Kawaii Lolita, who is desired by all yet remains untouchable in her infinite cuteness.

A Marital Artist is the embodiment of all four aspects, the living incarnation of all things Loli. For the rest of the scene, she adds her Moe to the difficulty of all attacks against her, and to all Stealth and Presence rolls. All opponents subtract her Marital Arts score from every defensive dice pool against her unarmed Marital Arts attacks, which deal lethal or bashing damage as she pleases. Finally, her wound penalties become “wound bonuses”. She still falls unconscious (or dying) when she reaches Incapacitated level.

I Am Unavoidable and Unexpected

• Cost: 4 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Subtle/Mental
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Four Aspects of the Lolita Form

The Lolita walks right past her target and calmly stands behind him, ready to strike. Regardless of how obvious her movement is, the target just can’t see her. The subsequent attack does no more damage than usual, but it gains all of the benefits of attacking from behind.

Many Desire Me, Yet I Remain Untouchable

• Cost: 3 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Re-Useless
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: I Am Unavoidable and Unexpected

A Gothic Lolita Marital Artist needs no other armor than her cuteness. The Lolita invokes this Charm after an attack hits her but before damage is rolled. Roll (Moe + Marital Arts) against a difficulty of the attacker’s Moe. On a success, all damage is prevented; on a failure, the Lolita still gains +6A/+12L/+12B soak.

The Weaker I Am, The Better

• Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Until released
• Type: Re-Useless
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Four Aspects of the Lolita Form

It is a known fact that people on their deathbed can kick some serious butt before they die. This is particularly true for Lolitas. One of the reasons Lolitas are so awesome is precisely the fact that such a little and fragile thing can wreak so much havoc. On the activation of this Charm, the Loli releases a chilling cry as she becomes a cute weapon of mass destruction. Her Stamina score drops to 1 and Endurance and Resistance scores drop to 0, and her Strength and Dexterity scores increase by half her Moe + Marital Arts, rounded up. She adds her Moe in automatic successes to all attack, parry and dodge rolls, and her Marital Arts score (rounded down) to all damage rolls. She also gains an additional, fully-independent extra action per turn. However, she also takes one unsoakable level of lethal damage at the end of every turn, as this “final” outburst relentlessly kills her. She may end this Charm at any point by spending one additional point of temporary Willpower, as a reflexive action that does not count as her action for the turn, and her stats immediately return to their normal level (health levels lost are not recovered). Should she lose her Incapacitated level while this Charm is active, she instantly dies.

I See Everything and Do As I Please

• Cost: 7 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Extra Action
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: The Weaker I Am, The Better

The Lolita is superior to all others. She has no constraints or inhibitions. She is who she is, and woe to those who complain. The player rolls half the Lolita’s (Moe + Marital Arts), rounded up. She may take an extra action during the turn for every success in the dice roll. This extra action need not be an attack. A character may not split her dice pool during the turn she uses this Charm.

Love Me and Fear Me, For I Am Cute

• Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Speech
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Many Desire Me, Yet I Remain Untouchable, I See Everything and Do As I Please

Cuteness owns. Cuteness kills. Lolita Martial Artists can concentrate their cuteness to levels matched by few others, and even their most subtle caress can kill. The character invokes the Charm and makes a Marital Arts attack as normal, but adds her permanent Moe to the damage of the attack, which deals aggravated damage that can only be soaked by armor and ignores all Charms, sorcery, and any other effect that increases aggravated soak.

Reality Revision: Goddess of Death

• Cost: 15 motes, 2 Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Speech
• Minimum Marital Arts: 5
• Minimum Moe: 5
• Prerequisite Charms: Love Me and Fear Me, For I Am Cute

The epitome of Gothic Lolita subtlety, the victims of this Charm do not realize they’re dead until the Lolita says that is the case. The Lolita makes an ordinary Martial Arts attack, adding her Moe to the attack dice pool. The attack can be parried and dodged normally. If the attack hits, damage is not calculated. Instead, the target makes a reflexive Stamina + Resistance/Willpower/Moe roll (whichever is higher) contested by the Lolita’s Manipulation + Conviction/Willpower/Moe (whichever is higher). The Lolita adds an extra die to this roll for every three extra successes on the attack roll. If the target fails, he is dead. As simple as that; and nothing short of the direct intervention of a Celestial Incarna could change that. However, the Lolita’s Moe traps the victim’s life in its body for a while longer. He still acts normally, as if nothing had happened, until the Gothic Lolita declares he’s already dead. The target must hear the words to realize the truth of his nonexistence and for the soul to finally leave the body.

When the target dies, all registers of his existence are removed from the Ultimate System. This means he cannot be affected by magic that intervenes and tampers with his fate, which doesn’t exist. The Lolita can keep her victim “alive” for as long as she leaves Moe committed to the Charm, but it is a matter of time before the Helping Goddesses intervene.

Comments

You can't make an attack not subject to perfect defenses. This is why they are _perfect_. So I would say that while the core idea of Goddess of Death is good, it violates Exalted Metaphysics and thus that has to be changed. You can't trump perfection of defense. (2nd ed defenses have vulnerabilities, but those are spelled out by the defender, not by the attacker.) --JohnBiles

Indeed. This is just the sort of effect that perfect defenses are supposed to stop. In addition, this is a pretty unbalanced effect (as with many of the Lolita charms) because of it's over-reliance on Stamina+Resistance against high difficulties. With a default maximum of Stamina+Resistance of 13 for extreme characters, and a realistic value for most around 6, the character is rolling against a minimum difficulty of 5 (the min essence to learn this charm), or perhaps much much higher, if the attack was wildly successful. Thus, an average Exalt would have pretty much no chance to survive this. Fair enough. The nearly maxed-out Exalt (most don't take specialties) has about a 50-50 shot, with his 10 dice. Thing is, almost every charm he has is inapplicable. Not doing damage (and not requiring a single damage be done to inflict the effect), the Resistance-monkey would activate something along the lines of Adamant Skin, or just plain have a giant soak. Thus, the most powerful charms of the Resistance-monkey are inapplicable - his only defense being a low-grade excellency, not useful for other defensive purposes in a round. He most likely uses things like Iron Skin Concentration and Adamant Skin to avoid damage from other attacks, and is thus caught off-guard by something that does no damage, cannot be soaked, and even his optimized self will most likely die from. Thus, this charm will kill any non-Resistance-monkey (as they won't succeed at the roll) and will most likely even kill a Resistance-monkey, as they don't have the raw dice required, and no relevant and suitable charms. My wholehearted recommendation is to require this to at least successfully inflict a health level of damage. I mean, does it make much sense to inform your opponent that they're already dead after you struck them, only to have your sword bounce off of their adamant skin? I mean seriously, you didn't even scratch them. Tell them they're dead all you want, and they'll laugh at you. It's not that in the heat of the battle, you cut them in half, and they didn't realize it - it's that your sword *spannnngggg*-ed right off of their arm, as if striking a mountain. -- GreenLantern, who dislikes high difficulty rolls against commonly low pools .

Okay, you got me there. I don't knwo what I was thinking. The whole 'ignores perfect defenses" thing is just crazy. Hence, It's been removed. I also gave the target a chance to use Resistance, Moe or Willpower for his effect resistance dice pool. Now I think this Charm becomes much more balanced. After all, a Lolita won't use a 15 mote-2 WP Charm against "average" characters, I think. In a battle between Moe 5+ characters, they just won't allow themselves to be hit most of the time, which means the resistance roll wouldn't really matter anyway. And no, Adamant Skin (I mean, its EKE equivalent, Orichalcum Barrier Defense) still doesn't work. Hate me if you want. Besides, even if it worked, it can't be used when the Loli makes the announcement. I mean, the attack was resolved a long time before. If the death attack is dodged or parried or whatever, the Lolita knows it, and she knows she's just wasted one helluva lot of Moe and WP, while the target doesn't even know he just dodged/parried instant death. -- Wings

Oh, almost forgot. GreenLantern, you said at some point that many Lolita Charms are unbalanced. May I have some examples, to see what I can do? I mean, if Lolita Charms are unbalanced, then Bishonen Charms have to be redone!

The 'imbalance' I speak of is fairly limited to the Lolita charmset, as it seems to rely much more heavily on "roll vs. static value to..." mechanics, especially when that static value is high (such as Lolita's Moe or Willpower) or when the rolled pool is often low (such as Moe, Willpower, or Virtues). For a 50-50 chance of winning, you've got to have a pool twice as high as the difficulty, and the static difficulties are often 4 or higher, meaning minimum pools of 8. While higher Moe characters are often 'higher power', few have the time, energy, reason, or thematic reason to up every last thing. That means you've got, say, Bishies, who just haven't had a chance to up their, say, Socialize. Enter the Lolita charm that has them roll Appearance+Socialize as a defense, vs. a static difficulty of the Lolita's Moe. Suddenly, that poor Bishie is stuck needing 6 dice to even have a 50-50 shot of winning, and that means he needs either Appearance 5+Socialize 1, or more. Even weirder is when the Bishie is forced to roll his Virtues, as there are no canonical Virtue-boosting charms, meaning Virtue vs. Static Value of 3 or higher means almost everyone is going to lose - in fact, since most people don't have all virtues at 5, almost everyone will lose. My recommendation, then, is to go through the Lolita charmset and just check for this kind of 'roll vs value' thing, and change 'roll vs. static value' into 'opposed roll of X vs. X' or 'opposed roll of X vs. Y'. -- GreenLantern