Latest revision as of 16:22, 8 June 2010

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These are high Essence Solar Medicine Charms.

Solar Medicine Charms by NailRat

Solar Regeneration Blessing

Cost:  6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration:  One Scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Medicine:  5
Minimum Essence:  4
Prerequisite Charms:  Healing Trance Meditation

The character meditates along with his target, if his target is someone other than himself. The target must also give a Simple action to meditate with the Solar activating this Charm. Once this Charm is in place, the character benefiting from it will heal one Bashing level a turn or one Lethal level every two turns. Even horribly mangled limbs or lost eyes will regenerate. This has no effect on damage that was already in place when this Charm was activated, only that damage that differs from the character’s state when receiving the Charm is regenerated.

Affliction-Warding Touch

Cost:  2 motes
Duration:  One Day
Type:  Simple
Minimum Medicine:  5
Minimum Essence:  4
Prerequisite Charms:  Body Purifying Technique, Addiction-Cleansing Touch

The character touches a target – which may be herself – who is willing and guards them from disease and poison. While this Charm is active, the character benefiting from it is immune to all poisons and diseases, even the Great Contagion. This Charm does nothing to cure damage already caused by poisons or diseases, but it does halt them from causing further damage – until the Charm wears off.

Miraculous Preservation of Youthful Vigor

Cost:  2 motes
Duration:  One Year
Type:  Simple
Minimum Medicine:  5
Minimum Essence:  4
Prerequisite Charms:  Healing Trance Meditation

The character possesses the ability to prolong the lives of mortals extensively. The Charm must target a mortal who is willing. While this Charm is active, the passing of a year to a mortal is as the passing of three months; thus, a human benefiting from this Charm from birth could theoretically live over three centuries. There is obviously a limit to how many mortals the character may preserve in such a manner, as he only has so many motes to commit to instances of this Charm – but this is the only limiting factor to how many people he may preserve in this manner. This Charm was used by many First Age Solars to preserve the lives of their children as long as possible. This Charm has no effect on Exalts.

Contagion-Free Solar Civilization

Cost:  25 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration:  One Month
Type:  Simple
Minimum Medicine:  5
Minimum Essence:  5
Prerequisite Charms:  Solar Regeneration Blessing, Affliction-Warding Touch, Miraculous Preservation of Youthful Vigor

The character’s intricate understanding of diseases allows her to protect entire cities from them. While this Charm is active, the Solar may protect a city – from which she may wander no farther than (Essence * miles) for longer than a day – from any and all diseases. This protects from the Great Contagion as well as it does from minor diseases brought on by the squalor of the slums. First Age cities had living conditions that were much improved even for the lowest classes; even if a character living in a city ruled by a Solar with this Charm lives in complete filth, he will never grow sick. This Charm does not cure diseases already in place, but halts their progress. The size of the city that can be affected by this Charm is 50,000 citizens per dot of the Solar’s permanent Essence.

Wyld Touch Purification

Cost:  15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration:  One Hour
Type:  Simple
Minimum Medicine:  5
Minimum Essence:  5
Prerequisite Charms:  Solar Regeneration Blessing, Affliction-Warding Touch, Miraculous Preservation of Youthful Vigor

At this level of medicinal mastery, the Solar possesses the ability to undo the very transmutations of the Wyld. The character and the target – which may be himself – both fall into a deep trance as he focuses on the target’s Essence, attempting to restore it to its proper state. For every hour spent in this deep meditation, the target has a number of mutation points equal to the Solar’s Essence purified. The target must be willing, and during this time, neither the character nor his target regain Essence.

Comments

More excellent Charms. But more and more, I'm seeing Charms that seem to be too powerful for even Essence 5. Personally, I'd rate Contagion-Free Solar Civilization at Essence 6 at least, and more likely Essence 7 or 8. I'm curious as to your reasons for rating it as you did. - Quendalon

I didn't make the Charms and then rate them; I was coming up with stuff that I felt fit for Essence 4 and 5. If you have stuff like Healing Trance Meditation and Tiger Warrior Training Technique and Heavenly Guardian Defense at Essence 3, it stands to reason the stuff at Essence 4 and 5 is going to be absolutely nuts. And isn't that what Solars are supposed to be - amazingly powerful at the things they focus on? I can't help but feel that if these Charms were Essence 6 or 7, then whatever Charms came between the existing ones and these would probably be pointless speedbumps that made a Solar put up with being second-fiddle to a Sidereal for an intolerably long time. These Charms are powerful, but they're also much narrower in scope than the things you can get with Sidereal Martial Arts at Essence 5. The social/medicinal stuff that exists at Essence 5, in my opinion, should make your jaw drop compared to Essence 3 Charms the same way higher-Essence Martial Arts did. Essence 4 and 5 are not a pointless springboard to powerful Charms(like ones that let you be a great leader, as I've done with a lot of the Solar trees) - they represent vast increases in power over their Essence 3 counterparts. If the Charms are too powerful, then I'd just replace them, not change their requirements. I have no interest in making Essence 6 and above Charms, they are pointless. No PC will ever have them. But, Sidereal Martial Arts and Immaculate Martial Arts is all we've got to work with, and I don't think these Charms are inappropriate for their Essence level and the number of Charms a Solar has to dump into one Ability to get to them. - NailRat

For clarification, I'll point out that the most powerful Charms - at least the ones you've specifically mentioned - are all Charms that deal with a Solar leading. Even with the combat Charms I've made, it will take an Essence 5 Solar an immense amount of Charms to really have a prayer against an Essence 5 Sidereal; he'd have to climb quite a few gigantic trees and be able to get multiple scene-longs off to have any hope against CMoS, FMM, and other such things. But in leadership - the area that is supposed to be the realm of the Solar Exalted - I have given them ridiculously powerful Charms at Essence 5 that require over ten prereqs in a single Ability, have high costs, and sometimes require the Solar to stay in the same place for an extremely long time. Kind of like how the Sidereals have ridiculously powerful MA charms at Essence 5. These are not easy Charms to get, and play into the purported theme of the Solar Exalted. If their Essence 5 Charms don't show the beginnings of their ability to make or break entire cities, I don't see what else they could do - HTM, but it takes half the time? - NailRat

I agree with your statements in principle. My issue is with the application. I wonder whether a few the power jumps are too big. In the specific case of Contagion-Free Solar Civilization, you go straight from "prevent illness in one person" to "prevent illness in hundreds of thousands of people" without dealing with of the scales in between.

As to the hard Essence cap, you may not want to bother with Essence 6+ Charms for your PCs, but simply for the sake of consistency, you have to consider what high-Essence NPCs can do. If Essence 5 already lets you render a whole city immune from all diseases, what can you do at Essence 7? Protect the entire world?

With regard to the matter of Solar leadership, I'm under the impression that the Solars are leaders because of their general excellence at everything, not because they're even more excellent at leadership than anything else. I'm sure that others can comment on this; I think that issues of "Solar spheres of influence" have come up before.

I also want to make it clear that I'm not attacking you. I like your ideas; I wouldn't be spending time on them otherwise.

In order to put my money where my mouth is, I will now start working on a cascade of Solar Medicine Charms, to see where I'd think the breakpoints should fall. Maybe I'll end up agreeing with you. We'll see. - Quendalon

On further consideration, Contagion-Free Solar Civilization looks balanced for Essence 5. - Quendalon