Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Ivory Horde Style

By Nephilpal

Background

This necromantic martial art channels and focuses the Essence of the Underworld. Beings native to Creation have difficulty emulating these morbid techniques, adding a one mote surcharge to the cost of all Charms. Heroic ghosts may learn the rudiments of this style, but cannot master any Charms more advanced than the Form. Ivory Horde style treats attacks made with fighting chains and whips as unarmed attacks.

This style can also be located here.

Charms

Claws of Putrid Malady</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Exalt deftly claws at the air with an inauspicious gesture, poisoning his anima with invisible tendrils of decaying Essence. Any unarmed martial arts attacks the Exalt make for the rest of the scene carry the stain of infection. Mortals and animals who suffer levels of bashing damage from such an attack must check for infection with a Stamina + Resistance roll at difficulty 2. If this roll succeeds, the victim throws off all sickness and does not risk further infection by leaving the injuries undressed. Exalted and other magical beings do not need to make an infection check for receiving bashing damage. If the martial artist inflicts levels of lethal or aggravated damage on a living victim with an unarmed attack, the difficulty of the infection check increases to 5 for mortals and 4 for Exalted and other magical beings. Rules for infection may be found on page 233 of Exalted. This Charm may be placed in a Combo despite its non-instant duration.

Unholy Animation Strike</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Claws of Putrid Malady

The Exalt attacks with a rapid series of three-fingered jabs or delivers flicking lashes with a whip or chain, targeting the pressure points that anchor the vital Essence of animation. The precision required for this cascade of blows increases the base difficulty of the attack by one, but the attack inflicts normal damage against animate targets. If the character successfully strikes a human-sized corpse or intact skeleton using this Charm, the cadaver transforms into one of the walking dead. The character may also strike a living being, ensuring that the victim's body will begin transforming into one of the undead if she dies during the turn. Transformation of a corpse lasts (5 turns - the martial artist's Essence rating), which means the process is instantaneous when initiated by Essence 5+ characters. Undead created with this Charm are always considered extras and have the same statistics as common zombies (Exalted, p. 300). These creatures remain animated indefinitely unless destroyed and always obey their creator's orders to the best of their limited Intelligence. Even without orders, they will never deliberately harm their maker.

Ivory Horde Form</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Unholy Animation Strike

The martial artist flexes muscle and soul obscenely, bones audibly grinding under flesh pulled gaunt and ashen by the surge of necrotic Essence. This horrific emulation of undeath reduces the character's Appearance by three dots (to a minimum rating of zero).

More usefully, Exalted using this Charm find their attacks augmented by the necrotic Essence flowing through their bodies. All unarmed attacks that normally inflict bashing damage inflict lethal damage instead, whether the character uses Brawl or Martial Arts. This bonus applies equally to strikes and clinches. Additionally, the character's unarmed Martial Arts attacks add +2L to the base damage and may raise any human-sized victim slain by such an attack as a zombie for a reflexive cost of 2 motes each. This expenditure does not count as a Charm use. Such zombies arise with a scream at the beginning of the turn after they die and remain as permanent and loyal to their maker as undead created with Unholy Animation Strike.

Characters cannot use more than one Martial Arts Form-type Charm at a time. Abyssal Exalted may use this Charm in conjunction with Ivory Blossom Carapace and Crimson Petal Armor (Exalted: the Abyssals, p. 181-182), but Ivory Horde Form is otherwise incompatible with armor.

Shambling Guardian Sacrifice</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Ivory Horde Form

The character momentarily seizes control of a walking dead within his Essence in yards, commanding the creature to leap in the path of a physical attack intended for the Exalt. The character may use this defense against all attacks perceived or otherwise, except those noted as being impossible to block. One of the undead must be in range to serve as a sacrifice, although the creature need not owe prior fealty to the Exalt before it jumps to his aide. It is perfectly acceptable and common practice to force a rival necromancer's minions to involuntarily sacrifice themselves. Only undead animated with magic may be compelled with this Charm; nemissaries and other corpses inhabited by spirits are immune. This Charm must be used after an attack is declared, but before dice are rolled. The thwarted attack is rolled as if the undead bodyguard was the intended target, but the creature cannot dodge. It may parry if it is intelligent enough to do so and has an action available. If the attacker misses or the undead minion completely parries the attack, neither the Exalt nor the conscripted bodyguard takes any damage. If the attack successfully hits the creature, it suffers damage accordingly. It is possible to use the same minion to parry multiple attacks in the same turn through repeat applications of this Charm until the creature suffers complete destruction.

Meat Puppet Kata

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Shambling Guardian Sacrifice

The Exalt executes a stylized strike against a single opponent in her line of sight. If the victim is within reach, this attack is resolved normally. Otherwise, the "attack" cannot be blocked, but inflicts no damage on a successful hit. If the Exalt strikes her intended victim, the Charm seizes control of nearby walking dead, forcing them to echo the attack. Only undead within a number of yards of the victim equal to the Exalt's Martial Arts rating may be compelled with Meat Puppet Kata, and this Charm may not command beings immune to Shambling Guardian Sacrifice. Walking dead affected by this Charm exactly mirror the Exalt's attack using her own dice pools to hit the victim instead of their own Traits. Each attack is rolled separately, cumulatively decreasing the dice pool to hit by one die for each echo attack after the first. Damage is based on the Exalt's own Traits and the number of successes rolled, modified by any ongoing Charms such as Ivory Horde Form. When the dice pool reaches zero or all undead in range of the target have echoed the attack, the onslaught ends. If a character builds a Combo incorporating Meat Puppet Kata, undead compelled by the Charm may actually echo appropriate Charms in the Combo to affect the victim or enhance their attack against him.

Severed Strings Technique

Cost: 2+ motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Ivory Horde Form

The character focuses on a zombie or other walking dead in his line of light. With a contemptuous gesture, he seizes the threads of the creature's Essence and sharply twists. Cold light flares as the undead falls back to an inanimate corpse, the dim glow momentarily illuminating a handful of broken strings unraveling in the Exalt's palm and fluttering threads trailing from the target. Severed Strings Technique only affects walking dead raised with magic and ghosts using Arcanoi to inhabit corpses. Walking dead extras cost only two motes to render inanimate, regardless of the power of their creator. Non-extras cost a number of motes equal to their creator's permanent Essence at the time they were raised. Forcing a possessing ghost from a corpse costs a number of motes equal to the ghost's permanent Essence, but the ghost may subsequently resume control with another use of her Arcanoi. Exorcising a ghost from a corpse causes no harm to the displaced spirit.

Creeping Rot Touch

Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Severed Strings Technique

The Exalt strikes a vicious open-handed blow at a living victim's heart with a standard Martial Arts roll, leaving an eerie handprint of luminescent mildew at the point of impact. If the Exalt uses a whip or chain instead, the weapon leaves a stripe of glowing rot. It is also possible to pull the blow to inflict no damage, but this increases the difficulty of the attack by two. The victim contracts a necromantic plague unless her player makes a successful Stamina + Resistance roll against a difficulty of the Exalt's Essence + 2. For mortals and non-magical animals, this plague strips away a dot each of Stamina and Appearance every day until the victim reaches Stamina 0 and dies. The victim also cumulatively loses one die from all non-reflexive actions for each day of illness from the excruciating pain of the wasting disease. Charms and effects that ease wound penalties and other sources of debilitating pain also protect against this penalty. Although mundane treatment can numb the pain, only a powerful magical cure can save a mortal or beast suffering from Creeping Rot Touch (i.e. four successes with Contagion-Curing Touch or comparable magic). Mortals who miraculously recover from this Charm lose all penalties from pain immediately and regain lost dots of Stamina at the rate of one per week. Appearance loss is permanent without magical aid or some other remedy capable of reversing the extensive and hideous scarring.

Exalted and other magical beings who fail the Resistance roll also contract the wasting disease, but their magically augmented bodies resist the plague far more easily. Each day, roll the victim's Stamina + Endurance. With less than three successes, the character adds one to her cumulative wound penalty and loses a dot each of Stamina and Appearance. The dice penalty cannot exceed -2 and magical beings cannot lose their last dot of Stamina or Appearance. Six successes allow the Exalt to overcome the infection. All wound penalties from the disease vanish as the fever breaks, while lost Stamina and Appearance both recover at the rate of one dot per day.

Victims who perish while infected with Creeping Rot Touch arise as common zombies at the next sunset. These creatures are always extras and "survive" indefinitely unless destroyed. They can automatically recognize their creator on sight and will obey her to the best of their limited Intelligence, but rampage mindlessly until they encounter her and receive orders they understand. These undead will never deliberately harm their creator.

Breath-Denying Blow

Cost: 2 motes per turn, plus 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Ivory Horde Form

By cruelly striking a living target's throat or chest with thrusting fingertips (or a precise stroke of a weapon allowed by Ivory Horde style), the Exalt unleashes a constricting web of Essence that burrows into the victim's lungs. The initial attack must hit, but need not inflict any damage to impose the effects of the Charm. The target gasps or screams as Breath-Denying Blow violently squeezes the air from her body. In addition to inflicting usual damage for the initial strike, the attack rapidly asphyxiates the victim. This effect lasts one turn for every two motes spent on the Charm, inflicting one level of unsoakable bashing damage at the beginning of each turn (starting on the turn following the attack). Multiple applications of this Charm to the same victim extend the duration of the effect rather than increasing the damage inflicted each turn. Victims denied breath cannot speak, scream or make any sort of vocal utterance, nor can they perform any other action that requires breath. Victims that do not need air may ignore this Charm and suffer no damage. The unconsciousness or death of the Exalt before the end of the asphyxiation period releases the target's breath. Characters may not spend more than 14 motes powering each use of this Charm.

Corpse Body Prana

Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 health level
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Breath-Denying Blow

The Exalt performs a brutal kata of self-mutilation, stabbing his own pressure points with jabs and poisoned Essence. When the character finishes the technique, his flesh desiccates and contracts like a mummified corpse. In addition to reducing the character's Appearance to zero, this grotesque transformation grants the semblance and benefits of undeath. The character's leathery hide adds his permanent Essence to his bashing and lethal soak and rolls, while subtracting his Essence from all wound penalties. Furthermore, the Exalt is beyond living metabolism and does not need food, water or air. Lingering effects of prior starvation, dehydration or asphyxiation are completely deferred for as long as the Charm remains active. The character similarly ignores all physical fatigue and lingering effects of prior exhaustion or sleep deprivation. Finally, the character is immune to all non-magical diseases and poisons.

Unfortunately, use of this Charm carries several key disadvantages. First, the character cannot heal at all while the Charm remains active, including the initial health level forfeited to activate the Charm. Secondly, the character continues to deteriorate, suffering one level of unsoakable bashing damage after every full day that he maintains the Charm. Finally, the character has no breath and therefore cannot speak or make any form of vocal utterance. When Corpse Body Prana ends, any biological needs and penalties incurred before using the Charm return in full, but the character does not suffer fatigue for actions and exertions performed while under the effects of the Charm.

Arisen Horror Stance

Cost: 9 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 health level
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Meat Puppet Kata, Creeping Rot Touch, Corpse Body Prana

In the final technique of Ivory Horde style, the Exalt concentrates and floods his being with the ravaging power of the Underworld. Every bone in his body breaks and resets as this wash of necrotic Essence passes over him, while his flesh putrefies into a monstrous parody of the human form. Runes of power tear open across his skin as stigmata, bleeding cold red flames of Essence. This drops the character's Appearance rating to zero for the scene. Additionally, characters with an Appearance rating less than 5 lose a permanent dot of Appearance each time they activate this Charm (to a minimum rating of zero). Those with Appearance 5+ instead take on a pallid, alien beauty that unmistakably marks them as a creature of the Underworld. Hair darkens to midnight luster or fades to ash white, while skin smoothes to polished alabaster or ebony etched with the fine tracing of stigmata scars.

While Arisen Horror Stance is active, any human who dies within a radius of the Exalt's (Essence x 10) yards attracts an arc of red lightning from one of the runes on the character's flesh. This lightning pierces the corpse's heart, suffusing it with Essence and awakening the creature as a common zombie at the beginning of the next turn. Such zombies are always extras, obeying their creator to the best of their limited Intelligence. Even without orders, they will never deliberately harm their creator. These creatures remain animated and loyal indefinitely unless destroyed.

Comments

This really should be under MartialArts/IvoryHordeStyle, shouldn't it? - Quendalon

Redirected and moved. - FourWillowsWeeping

Fixed Jabberwock's mistakes in the layout and blasted his changes. I am the wiki god after all, I can get away with that sort of thing :) -- DaveFayram

Once, in a DnD Forgotten Realms campaign, we were sent scurrying around by the Powers That Be to find records and legacies of the greatest master of the elven long blade ever to walk the sphere. At length it came out this was because he had "convinced" the entire sorcerous population of Myth Drannor to make him a sword worthy of his hand. (PS, he was really good) The day this sword was made, one of the elven savants handling it cut his thumb, and upon the thumb of the left hand of every elf then alive appeared a similar cut. The Genocide Blade was born.

Now, one of the parties most interested in this device was that crazy Lich-King guy whose name escapes me. You see, he has a Relic that turns any being he kills into an undead under his control. So it doesn't take an ages-old intellect to see the possibilities there.

I only mention all this because combining the effects of Grandmother Spider Mastery and the above Unholy Animation Strike will have remarkably similar effects.

- Kicker

Also, Corpse Body Prana says that it reduces wound penalties by the user's Essence. But the highest would penalties get is -4, and the Charm has a minimum Essence of 4. So shouldn't it just eliminate would penalties? - Kicker

It's probably meant to encompass penalties such as those inflicted by Joint-Wounding Attack, as well as "proper" wound penalties.\\ _Ikselam

Oooh... -Kicker