Latest revision as of 23:41, 8 June 2010

Servant of the Blade Style

By EJGRgunner (with massive help from Morpheus)

Background

It is said that deep within the Forbidding Manse of Ivy there are archives that hold all knowledge ever learned, that if one simply devoted enough time and energy to searching through the myriad racks of paperwork, one could learn the most arcane and forgotten of secrets, from the true name of the Scarlet Empress, to the first victim of the Great Contagion, to the last Yozi imprisoned in Malfeas. None who work for the Bureau of Secrets will deny such rumors, and this leads many to believe that within the walls of the Forbidding Manse, all things are remembered, and that the chosen of Jupiter ensure that nothing is forgotten.

Sadly, this is not true. Time and time again, the Division of Secrets has failed; things have fallen out of light, and now, are only vaguely remembered in the faded dreams of the oldest denizens of Creation. In deep slumber, images of lost artifacts and sorcery flicker in the corner of Chejop Kejak's eye. An ancient behemoth stirs in the night, haunted by blazing animas that lack definition. And somewhere in the southwest, the Last Child of Keona dreams, watching someone she knows to be herself dance and whirl across a wall of smoky mirrors; she cannot truly discern the forms and katas her dream-self performs, and she does not understand the Old Realm mantras that fly from her lips, but she knows that they are all powerful.

The Servant of the Blade Style Martial Art is old. Its age cannot be reckoned in years, and its true origin has been lost forever. In modern times, only two creatures in all of Creation know anything of the style. One is Mere Niran, the last tribeswoman of Keona, a lonely atoll so deeply isolated in the waters of the South West that Creation has not known of it since before the fall of the Terrestial Shogunate. The other is Dai Haru, her one-time Sidereal mentor.

Together, they rediscovered the ancient discpline, and its strict tenets based upon a warrior's respect and subservience to the blade he carries. "All battles begin and end with the sword," the Style teaches. "The sword protects our life-force, and strikes down those who would harm us. Only the sword knows the taste of blood, the howling rage of the death-blow, and the bitter laments of final victory. Truly, the sword is master over life and death, and it decides who will walk away from battle: the Servant or the foe. The sword can be made slave to the swordsman, but this breaks its spirit, its will, and the swordsman who breaks his sword's spirit will surely fall in battle."

Special Rules

Servant of the Blade Style depends entirely on the use of a sword of some kind and is explicitly compatible with all swords, including daiklaves.

In order to begin to study Servant of the Blade Style, the Martial Artist first acquire at least one dot of melee.

This form is explicitly not compatible with staves, bows, hammers, and any other weapon that does not fall under melee and/or does not have a cutting blade.

Servant of the Blade Style requires even masters of the style to accept that they are slaves to their blades, and not vice versa. Servants revere and care for their swords very deeply; most have at least one dot of Craft (Sword Repair) or an equivalent ability and spend great deals of time polishing, repairing, and generally maintaining their swords. Every charm in the tree requires the Martial Artist to internally recognize both the power of the sword itself and his own dependance on the blade for survival, let alone victory. Doing so "empowers" the blade, though exactly how is open to interpretation. Perhaps the charms use the Little God of the weapon whenever dealing with the blade's will or consciousness.

Finally, just to make this clear well ahead of time, all these charms are based on your sword's stats. This is the underlying principle of the style: letting the sword (and mechanically, its stats) do the work.

Charms

Heeding the Blade's Command</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: none

To begin to become a Servant of the Blade, a discple must first spend great deals of time meditating silently with his weapon of choice, so that he may learn to hear and feel the commands and impulses of the weapon. A Servant of the Blade who has learned this Charm has successfully attuned himself to the underlying will of his sword, and can sense what actions it wishes to take almost precognitively.

The Servant can declare use of this charm at any time before his first action is taken in a round and spends three motes of essence. Doing so double's the Speed bonus of the Exalt's sword. This charm does not defeat Thunderclap Rush or other initiative pre-empting charms.

Comments on this charm here:

Trusting the Blade's Honor</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Heeding the Blade's Command

After learning to listen to her blade, a Servant then learns that whenever her sword is drawn, she is entrusting her life to it. A disciple who reckognizes and embraces this fact whole heartedly envigorates her blade and establishes a true relationship with the steel. A Servant of the Blade that learns this charm has not only entrusted her life to the sword, but has so honored it that the sword actively seeks to protect the wielder from harm.

By spending three motes, the Exalt may add her blade's defense bonus in dice to a parry, including parries with zero dice. This charm can only be applied once to any single parry.

Comments on this charm here:

Enacting the Blade's Wish</b>

<b>Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 3 
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Trusting the Blade's Honor

A Servant of the Blade communicates on a fundamental level with his sword, and thus knows a secret that elludes even the mightiest of swordcrafters: although a sword is built for battle, it abhors combat. A sword knows all too well how much pain it inflicts, and nothing is more aware of the suffering that follows the letting of blood and the clashing steel. As such swords wish for any combat to be as brief as possible, and a Servant who learns this can (to a degree) grant this wish, and foreshorten a battle.

The Exalt activates this charm before parrying an attack and spends two motes. If the Exalt succeeds, for each success above the minimum on the following parry roll, the Exalt's opponent loses one die on all of his following attack rolls for the rest of the round. The player must declare use of this charm before his opponent rolls to attack. This charm provides no benefit if the parry fails, and the motes spent are lost until regained normally. Dice penalties accrued through this charm are cumulative and do not go away until the round ends. If the total dice lost due to application(s) of this charm equals or exceeds a character's attack pool, the attack fails. Characters may use charms to overcome dice penalties caused by Enacting the Blade's Wish.

EG: Mere Niran is facing a Fae cataphract who attacks her five times. Since she has already assumed the Servant of the Blade Form, she has a cascading parry to defend with. She has a base parry pool of ten and the cataphract has a base attack pool of fifteen. Since the cataphract splits her dice pool, she and Mere both have ten dice for the first attack and parry, nine one the second, eight on the third and so on. Mere uses Enacting the Blade's Wish on the first parry, and rolls 5 successes on her parry roll while the cataphract rolls 2 successes on her attack. This means that the cataphract now loses three dice on all following attacks that round. Her next attack now has only six dice to Mere's nine, but she attacks anyway. Mere uses this charm again and gets 5 more successes parrying than the cataphract does attacking. The cataphract now loses 8 dice for her remaining attacks, meaning that she has no dice for her next attack, -1 for her fourth, and -2 for her fifth. The cataphract cannot attack again that round without the use of dice adding charms, and in order to have a dice pool of at least one must add at one die, then two, then three to her remaining declared attacks or else they will simply fail.

Comments on this charm here:

Servant of the Blade Form</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Enacting the Blade's Wish

A Servant of the Blade is truly no more than a conduit, a means for a sword to act. Servants who master the style's form learn how best to serve an individual blade, and allow their swords to transcend simple weapons so that they may become powerful entities unto themselves.

Assuming the Servant of the Blade form is a simple action. Any Exalt who uses Servant of the Blade form may use declare or revert to a cascading parry for the remainder of scene. Additionally, for the remainder of the scene his or her sword receives bonuses equal to the Exalt's Martial Arts plus Essence in dots. These bonus dots may be used to increase the Speed, Accuracy, or Defense rating of a the weapon, but cannot be used for Damage or to lower attribute or ability minimums. At least one dot must be allocated to each category (Speed, Accuracy, Defense), after these the dots can be allocated however the Exalt sees fit. The player should decide how these points are going to be distributed before she first assumes the Form with a given sword. Increasing the character's Martial Arts or Essence adds an equal number of dots to the bonuses granted by the form.

If a character assumes Servant of the Blade form while wielding one blade, and wishes to use another blade, the Exalt must devote a simple action to reassuming the form and must spend another 4 motes to "harmonize" with the new blade.

This is a form Charm. It does not work with armor, or with other form Charms.

Comments on this charm here:

Releasing the Blade's Vengence</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Servant of the Blade Form

A Servant's blade is revered by its owner. It knows and is reminded of its importance and power. Long ago, some said that this made the blade arrogant. This particular charm supports that notion, as the Servant's weapon strikes back at those who foolishly believe that it cannot protect its Servant.

After a successful parry, an Exalt may spend 3 motes and activate this charm. Doing so allows the Exalt to make a reflexive counterattack against his opponent with a dice-pool equal to the sum his sword's accuracy and defense modifiers.

Comments on this charm here:

Concealing the Blade's Fury</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instnat
Type: Reflexive(Supplemental?)
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Servant of the Blade Form

(Flavor text)

While her blade is sheathed, an Exalt may activate this charm. Doing so allows her to draw her weapon and attack before initiative, ala Thunder-Clap Rush et al.

Comments on this charm here:

Unveiling the Blade's Temper</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Releasing the Blade's Vengence, Concealing the Blade's Fury

(Flavor Text)

If an Exalt is targeted for a hand to hand attack while his blade is sheathed he may activate this charm. Doing so causes the Exalt to pre-empt the incoming attack, draw his blade, and attack with his full Dex + Martial Arts pool.

Enforcing the Blade's Will</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes 
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Servant of the Blade Form

(Flavor Text)

An Exalt may activate this charm before rolling for a Martial Arts attack. Doing so ensures that the blade used will not be broken, and grants the Exalt a number of automatic successes equal to the blade's accuracy rating.

Comments on this charm here:

Liberating the Blade's Brother</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 5 
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Servant of the Blade Form

A Servant's blade, unlike most other swords, is revered by its owner. It is honored by its owner's continued subservience, and every time an Exalt uses the sword to make an essence-powered Martial Arts attack the sword grows in esteem. A warrior who does not become a Servant of the Blade, instead tries to become the sword's master, and suppresses the will of the blade. Such weapons essentially exist in a state of bondage. A Servant's blade is "liberated" from cruel uncaring masters, and they actively seek to free other swords, which they consider brothers and sisters.

An Exalt activating this charm makes a Martial Arts attack targeted at her opponent's weapon with a difficulty of 3. This attack can be dodged but not parried. Success on this roll disarms the Exalt's opponent, who then gets a reflexive Wits + Ability roll to avoid being disarmed, but with a difficulty equal to the number os successes on the disarm roll + the Exalt's Essence.

Comments on this charm here:

Humiliate the Unworthy Opponent</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes (+1 WP if used against an artifact weapon)
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Enforcing the Blade's Might, Liberating the Blade's Brother

(Flavor Text)

The Exalt using this charm makes a single difficulty three Martial Arts attack targeting his opponent's weapon, which can be dodged but not parried. Assuming the attack is successful, damage from this attack is applied towards the weapon's bonus ratings, permanantly subtracting one from the weapon's damage rating. This Charm physically damages and destroys weapons, and a weapon is considered destroyed when it's damage modifier is reduced to below +0.

This Charm can be used against weapons made from any of the Five Magical Materials, but with following limits and conditions: 1) the weapon used to activate this charm must be made from one of the Five Magical Materials, 2) The Essence cost is doubled and the Exalt must also spend one point of willpower, 3) weapons of the made from one of the Five Magical Materials cannot be destroyed by this charm no matter how much damage they suffer, 4) all damage inflicted upon a weapon made from on of the Five Magical Materials is temporary, and the blade's normal bonuses will return at the end of the scene.

Comments on this charm here:

Loosing the Blade's Wrath</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Unveiling the Blade's Temper, Humiliate the Unworthy Opponent

Activating this charm allows the Exalt to make a single Martial Arts attack that ignores armor and that cannot be parried (but can be dodged) and does aggravated damage.

Comments for this charm here:

I love this horrible, horrible charm. - Morpheus

Falcon - Er... that's horrible. I mean, it renders tank characters instantly dead. Instantly. The only defence here is dodging, right? Which characters in armour can't do so well. The equivalent Combo in Snake Style (Armour-Penetrating Fang Strike, Essence Venom Technique) costs 15 motes, 3 Willpower and a health level, can still be parried, and does unarmed damage (4A or 5A). This charm is cheaper, and does more base damage because you're using a sword instead of your bare hands (7A to 11A, depending on Strength and sword type, and not even thinking about daiklaves). I think it needs toning down a bit.

I rely on Morpheus for all my mechanics advice, so I'm not going to try and justify it/compare. Would it be possible to up costs/add weaknesess to balance it out? Maybe throw in a standard can't-split-dice-pool clause and increase the DC for the attack, or maybe a "user of this charm loses initiative and acts last" clause. Whaddya think? EJGRgunner (PS, many thanks for the comment)

Comments

On examining the initial mechanical idea for this tree, I think you're going to want to limit the bonus to the weapon's stats by something Exalt-internal, regardless of how this taints your theme. It is very easy to break characters by multiplying bonuses. - willows

I'm not sure I follow. Do you mean setting a limit on dice based on something on the char's sheets (eg Att + Abil)? EJGRgunner