Difference between revisions of "TheKaishar/CharismaArts"

Latest revision as of 21:16, 10 February 2005

Charisma Arts

Foreboding Visitor
Cost:  1 blood feast
Duration:  One hour
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  2
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

Touching the forehead of the subject of this Art, the Kaishar blackens out to the world, falling to seeming sleep himself, though it is not actually any form of rest. Instead, he has entered into the subject’s dreams mentally. There he may communicate freely, though only as an intangible phantasm – nothing he does can change the dream. He is essentially a witness, even though this Art ensures his messages to the slumbering party are recalled upon awakening. While engaged in the dream, the Kaishar is unaware of the physical world around his body.

Lucid Dream Apparatus
Cost:  4 blood feast
Duration:  One week
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Foreboding Visitor

Activated identically to Foreboding Visitor, this Art now ensures not only partial control of a dream, but instead lends full control. The Kaishar constructs every element of the dream painstakingly, in an instant, with a Charisma + Crafts roll, successes indicating the impact of the dream on the subject. The slumbering subject immediately is engulfed in the makeshift nocturne. Indeed, this dream occurs once every night for the next week, every element stubbornly repeating itself in his head. Upon awakening, the subject always fully recalls these dreams to an uncanny extent. If horrible, the nightmares will haunt the subject. If seductive, they will arouse him. Et cetera.

Lulling Sympathetic Mien
Cost:  1 blood feast
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Reflexive
Minimum Charisma:  2
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

Although unskilled at true sympathy, the Kaishar are masters of deception. With a little Essence, they may hypnotically subdue anyone caught in fits of passion, calming them once again to a reasonable state of mind. The Kaishar makes a Charisma + Socialize roll, difficulty of the target’s Essence, and speaks soothingly to the target: whether a short phrase or a cooing noise. If he is successful, the target finds emotion has fallen from him, leaving only harmony and calm. This Art may be used to calm supernatural fits of passion as well as mundane, but that magnitude of effort requires two extra points of blood feast, in addition to giving the Kaishar a point of Consumption.

Debt of Immense Gratitude
Cost:  1 blood feast
Duration:   One week
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Lulling Sympathetic Mien

The character comes as a Guildsman in the night, his face honest and concerned with the plight of those around him. In the presence of the needy, the Kaishar with this Art reaps great reward. When the Kaishar has accomplished a favor for someone, somehow, he speaks with the subject, and activates this Art. In a subtle flow of Essence, the target feels a sensation of debt rise unbidden in the pits of his belly. While he knows something has changed about his standing with the Kaishar, he does not know exactly what. For the next week, the mortal will seek to in any way repay the debt to the Kaishar’s satisfaction. He will do almost anything within his character to do, though he will not overstep his normal morals in any way, as he believes he does this act out of his own free will. After one week, the gratitude sensation remains, but the Art’s impact is gone, and the mortal has no supernatural drive to repay the Kaishar. This Art is ineffectual on anything with an Essence rating higher than one. By accepting a point of Consumption, the Kaishar may place a sensation of dread in the ‘pact’, as well, rendering the subject almost afraid of not repaying his debt. There is no resistance possible to this Art, due to its insidious and subtle nature.

Passion-Driving Presence
Cost:  4 blood feast
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Lulling Sympathetic Mien

While some Kaishar settle with the ability to quiet furies of emotion, some Kaishar revel in the trappings of life and the emotions it brings. Or, more sinister Kaishar will recognize the weakness of passion, and drive others to it to serve as a distraction or hindrance to their foes or lessers. While in the presence of a Kaishar adorned by the effects of this Art, the difficulty for all Temperance rolls increases by a factor equal to the Kaishar’s total Charisma Arts. In addition, the littlest gestures provoke raging floods of emotion, and the smallest temptations become irresistible. The Storyteller may deem that normally uneventful happenings and temptations around characters that are under this Art’s sway now require Temperance rolls, lest the characters respond to the events with vigorous eagerness. This Art is tenacious and effectual, explicitly working on every being within ten yards of the Kaishar, regardless of their permanent Essence ratings. However, the difference between Essences is taken from the Temperance difficulty, to a minimum of one, should beings of higher Essence be forced to resist the current of passion.

Speech-Halting Touch
Cost:  1 blood feast
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  2
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

With a condescending smile and a gentle touch of halting, a Kaishar using this Art causes a subject to sputter to a halt, no matter what he may have been saying. If not driven by passion, the subject even forgets what he was saying. This Art does not work on creatures with an Essence score higher than one.

Entrancing Voice
Cost:  1/3 blood feast
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Speech-Halting Touch

The gravity in the Kaishar’s intonation magnifies with the added weight of blood Essence, which flows through the air on the current of his breath and seems to expand his voice into a multitude. The Kaishar rolls Charisma + Performance, difficulty equal to the target’s permanent Essence. If successful, the effect of this Art is then determined by how much power has been pushed into the effort. At minor effort, costing one point of blood feast, the target is paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to the successes plus the Kaishar’s total Charisma Arts. At maximum effort, costing three points of blood feast, the target simply falls unconscious for the remainder of the scene. Beings of permanent Essence two or higher may spend a point of Willpower to remain active and mobile through either of these conditions.

Uncloaked Predator Manner
Cost:  2 blood feast
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  1
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

With a slight effort, the Kaishar discards his adornment of docile mortality, becoming that which he has truly been made into: a thirsty un-alive cannibal, hungering ravenously for anything that can slake his immortal needs. Mortals sense this, and scurry along fearfully; animals flee outright, even plants subtly wither away from the Kaishar. This Art has no game effects aside from an extra two dice added to any intimidation attempt, as it mainly ensures that the Kaishar’s grim resonant sanguine Essence is felt around him. As a product, in a thirty-yard radius, all animals flee if possible, or become fanatically panicked, unable to rest until they may flee.

Dead God Mask
Cost:  2 blood feast
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  2
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  Uncloaked Predator Manner

The Kaishar’s face contorts suddenly, reshaped inhumanly into a grotesque mask, flushed with the red fury of blood Essence. Fangs burst from his mouth, which broadens like a hunter’s trap, and his tongue elongates for just a moment. An involuntary roar escapes his monstrous lips. More terrible than his misshapen face, though, is the feel of the Dead God Mask. This indescribable dread wafts off of the Kaishar like an ill wind, filling the target of the Art so suddenly that a Valor roll, resisted by the Kaishar’s Charisma + Presence, must be successfully made to resist the overpowering urge to flee. This power is useless against any creature with an Essence higher than the Kaishar’s, though the Kaishar may overcome this limitation by accepting the assistance of Oblivion, letting it seep through him and lend his presence a true, malignant dread. Allowing Oblivion to assist gains the Kaishar an amount of Consumption points equal to the difference between the two Essences. Even if immune or successfully resisted, this Art inflicts a –2 penalty on its target for their next action.

Sublime Quiescence Meditation
Cost:  4 blood feast
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  4
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Dead God Mask, Lulling Sympathetic Mien

Donning the dread presence locked within the Dead God Mask Art, the Kaishar distorts it, shaping it into a deranged serenity that envelops him in rippling waves. His face becomes calm, and confident, imposing in its harsh quiet. All beings around the Kaishar sense the power of this serenity, and loathe or fear the thought of having to break it for any reason. Attacking or disagreeing with any Kaishar surrounded by this aura of powerful sanctuary and awe requires a successful Conviction roll, difficulty equal to the Kaishar’s total Charisma Arts. This sanctuary effect does not have any impact at all on beings possessing of a permanent Essence higher than the Kaishar’s. The Kaishar may add dice equal to his total Charisma Arts to any Presence rolls made while this Art is active.

Endless Sleeping Imprisonment
Cost:  7 blood feast
Duration:  Circumstantial
Type:  Simple
Minimum Charisma:  5
Minimum Essence:  3
Prerequisite Arts:  Lucid Dream Apparatus, Entrancing Voice

This Art acts exactly as Lucid Dream Apparatus, except the Kaishar now locks within his dream construct a riddle of sorts – a condition to be met. Until this dream condition is met, the subject sleeps eternally, agelessly locked within a prison of his own mind. He requires no food or drink, bathing or change of any sort – he is for all purposes an un-interruptible statue. The escape requires a successful Wits + Investigation roll, difficulty equal to the result of the Kaishar’s Charisma + Crafts roll plus the Kaishar’s total Charisma Arts. This escape may only be attempted once per night. Creatures of a higher permanent Essence than one may stack as many Wits + Investigation as they have dots of permanent Essence, resulting in the sad truth that many Kaishar are unable to so imprison Exalted for long.

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