Revision as of 17:43, 27 October 2004

Martial Arts Charms

Five Falling Butterflies Style

Most Infernals are tutored in the Five Falling Butterflies style, a martial art that combines their causality-twisting abilities with their delight in causing suffering. It draws upon knowledge of the ways by which the Yozis were isolated from Creation by geometry, the small ways such barriers might be overcome, and the profound consequence of such slight things. Practitioners of the Five Falling Butterflies style fight with understated grace, making the slightest movements in order to attack, move or dodge their opponent, though the effects of such are disproportionately deadly. They prefer to use their bare hands for their attacks, as only through direct contact can their Charms be used, but are proficient in martial arts weapons.

Eternal Hair's Breadth

• Cost: 2 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Reflexive
• Minimum Martial Arts: 2
• Minimum Essence: 1
• Prerequisite Charms: None

Seen closely enough, a hair's circumference is infinite. Is its diameter, then, not also so? Opening his senses and body to such a possibility, the Infernal may be unrestrained in his actions - with the flick of a fingernail he can strike at a foe, with a loosed hair he can entangle a daiklave, and with a jerk of the head he can punch a hole in a steel door. The character suffers no penalties for being restrained or having a lack of space in which to act.

Action In Inaction Method

• Cost: 3 motes per die
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Supplemental
• Minimum Martial Arts: 2
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Hair's Breadth

The secret of conventional martial arts is in moving with perfect precision. Those inducted into Five Falling Butterflies style see through this - why move, when you can have the world move around you? Letting his attackers strike at him freely, the Infernal allows his opponent to break their own bones, snap off fingers and dislocate legs with the force of their own blows. The Infernal may steal dice from his opponent's Martial Arts pool to add to his own, but may not steal more dice than his Dexterity + Martial Arts.

Five Falling Butterflies Form

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: One scene
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 4
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Action In Inaction Method

The character slows his actions until almost still, and what flickers of movement he takes become unstoppably deadly - a tug of a finger dislocates an arm, a tap on a shin breaks a leg in two, a pull on a hair scalps someone. Until the end of the scene, the Infernal deals lethal damage with any weapon he uses, and may parry lethal attacks unarmed. In addition, if the Exalt deals even a single health level with an attack, he immediately rolls his Essence and deals the resultant successes in unsoakable lethal health levels to the victim of the attack. As ever, characters cannot use more than one Martial Arts Form-type Charm at once.

Air’s Seal Sunders

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Falling Butterflies Form

The Infernal makes the sign of the Air seal and reaches a hand around, slapping it against the back of his foe's head. His opponent feels an excruciating ripple of gathering force coarse through his skull and out the other side, at which point his eyes explode. The Infernal makes a normal Martial Arts attack. If the attack deals damage, the opponent is immediately struck blind, suffering all of the commensurate penalties until the eyes are healed (mortals never recover, but Exalted have theirs anew when all health levels from the attack are healed). Whether the body part in question is revealed or not makes no difference; the effect easily resonates through armour.

Earth’s Seal Sunders

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Falling Butterflies Form

The Infernal makes the sign of the Earth seal and treads on his opponent's foot. Her leg immediately anchors itself deep into the ground, pinioned by overwhelming pressure, and will not come free. The Exalt makes a martial arts attack. If the attack deals damage, his opponent is tethered to the ground and may not move from the spot, dematerialise if she is a spirit, or dodge. Only by physically destroying the ground around her (requiring at least one die action to do so) can the victim be freed. Whether the body part in question is revealed or not makes no difference; the effect easily resonates through armour.

Fire’s Seal Sunders

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Falling Butterflies Form

The Infernal makes the sign of the Fire seal and taps upon his opponent's Caste Mark, a martial arts attack. With a flash of fierce pain, it breaks open to pour vivid metallic ichor over their brow and face (gold ichor for Solars, silver for Lunars, black for Abyssals, and caste colours for Sidereals). If the Exalt deals damage with the attack, his opponent may not recover Essence from any means other than stunts until the Mark is healed over (when all health levels from the attack are healed), and the ichor continues to pour even when the Caste Mark isn't visible. This attack has no effect on creatures other than Celestial Exalts. Whether the body part in question is revealed or not makes no difference; the effect easily resonates through armour.

Water’s Seal Sunders

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Falling Butterflies Form

The Infernal makes the sign of the Water seal and circles his opponent's lips with a finger. Following its movement, the victim's tongue rolls around her mouth, twists around itself agonisingly and then liquifies into blood. The Infernal makes a Martial Arts attack. If the attack deals damage, his opponent may not speak, cast spells or perform any action involving her vocal chords unless it is to scream incoherently. This affliction remains until the tongue is healed (never, in the case of mortals; Exalts regain their tongue when all health levels from the attack are healed). Whether the body part in question is revealed or not makes no difference; the effect easily resonates through armour.

Wood’s Seal Sunders

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Falling Butterflies Form

The Infernal makes the sign of the Wood seal and wraps his hand around his opponent's wrist; their foe feels riveting pain as their blood slows to a halt. The Infernal makes a martial arts attack. If the attack deals damage, his opponent may not heal her wounds naturally. Mortal foes are dealt lethal health levels sufficient to reduce them to Incapacitated, and die shortly thereafter from asphyxiation if not quickly healed. If the damage from the attack is healed by magical means, the effect ends. Whether the body part in question is revealed or not makes no difference; the effect easily resonates through armour.

Five Seals Undo Creation

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Supplemental
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: All five [Element]’s Seal Sunders Charms

Forming all five seals with a flicker of the wrist, the Infernal draws a shadowy rift about him, arcane symbols slowly revolving in odd orbits. Light shifts and twists about him, and sounds become distorted in his presence. Should he touch someone or make a successful unarmed attack against them, the Infernal can channel his corrupted anima through them. The attack deals aggravated damage.

Fivefold Sigil Staccato

• Cost: 10 motes, 1 Permanent Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Martial Arts: 5
• Minimum Essence: 5
• Prerequisite Charms: Five Seals Undo Creation

The Infernal raps lightly five times upon his foe's chest, each a heartbeat's distance apart and each with his hand showing the sigil of a different seal. The Infernal rolls a martial arts attack, defended against normally, and must cause at least one health level of damage. The Infernal must then succeed at a reflexive Dexterity + Martial Arts roll to perform the Charm correctly (difficulty equal to the target's permanent Essence). If so, the conjoined malignance of a thousand demons is bound within the victim's heart, waiting for the chance to break loose.

A large emblem of many irridescent colours appears at the centre of the victim's chest, which flutters and falters unbearably with the strain of what lies within. She may speak, drink or walk slowly, but taking even a single dice action will cause her heart to rupture and explode within her chest immediately afterward. The sigil opens and sprays out gouts of coalesced malice and blood; mortals die a sudden and painful death. Exalts are dealt lethal health levels sufficient to reduce the character to Incapacitated, leaving them dying. There is no way of undoing the Fivefold Sigil Staccato once it has been used. Not even perfect soak Charms can stop a character's heart from exploding, although they can negate the Charm by defending against the initial damage.

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Very Cool. I'm gonna enjoy browsing your ideas for quite a while, I can tell! B-)
Now, onto some questions and comments:

• Eternal Hair's Breadth : Did you design this to be uncomboable for a reason? It seems very stunt-worthy, so perhaps 2m and Instant Duration?
• Fire's Seal Sunders : Seems a bit cheap and easy for such a powerful effect. Denying an Exalt most of their essence is very harsh for a 5m Charm with a Min Essence of 2! To me it seems like at least an Essence 4 Charm and should have a Willpower cost as well.
• Fivefold Sigil Staccato : Very Kill-Bill. B-) But again, seems too powerful for it's prerequisites. Yeah, it costs a Permanent Willpower, so it won't be used often, or presumably lightly, however it is basically an auto kill that even a perfect defense cannot resist (in this case, a Perfect Soak)!!! That flies in the face of Defense trumping attacks, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but not at a mere Essence 4!

Anyway, keep up the good work... Nikink

Thanks for the comments! Anyhow...

• Eternal Hair's Breadth: Good idea - the changes have been made.
• Fire's Seal Sunders: I was a little worried myself as to the balancing element. I'll go for Essence bleed instead; see upward for the changes.
• Fivefold Sigil Staccato: I couldn't resist the Kill Bill overtones - the sensei is an Unclean caste is there ever was one. Bear in mind that heal-another charms, stabilising effects, mundane dodges and parries can all avoid the effect, and permanent Willpower still ends up being spent. Possibly an increase to Essence 5 is in order?

...DeathBySurfeit

The imagery attached to this style, particularly the student Charms (I'm not so fond of the sigil charms, really) is pretty cool. It's broken, though.

• ehb: reflexives can always be comboed with charms of other abilities.
• aiim: I am not sure why this charm steals dice, because I cannot imagine an instance where the dice-theft would actually affect the opponent.
• the form: Holy guacamole, man, this Form is out of its mind. It's better than Violet Bier of Sorrows Form! It's huge! This style is, on top of this, good with all weapons?
• All five [Element] Seal Sunders Charms: These should totally be Simple.
• 5fs^2: No attack should explicitly bypass perfect defences.

It warms my black little heart to see you say that Willows.  :) DS

- willows

Personally, I love the style, the imagery, and basically your entire Infernal concept. However, I think the prereqs on the Form Charms and on could do with a little adjustment:

• Action In Inaction: Martial Arts 3
• The Form, the [Element] Seal Sunders Charms: Essence 3
• Five Seals: Essence 4.

These changes give this tree a more realistic and natural progression while also compensating for the high-end power level this style has.

- Will

Good advice, all. I've increased the requirements for the Sundering and Form Charms, and edited the rules and text to make the Sundering Charms Simple. Overall, I think it results in a challenging and somewhat fragile Style, but one that excels at what it sets out to do. Which is kill Solars!

...DeathBySurfeit

Aiim - It says supplemental, so it affects any martial arts action. If they attack you, and you steal most of their dice and add it to your martial arts parry... that's a nice effect. Also, if you attack them and use it, and they then attempt to martial arts parry... they suddenly find themselves completely lacking in skill. I Agree this style is a little broken though, and the form is simply sick. Also, the perfect soak charm should probably work. Why would it fail to stop it? I mean, it stops the damage from having someone -steal- your heart... Hmm. Idea, make the form deal environmental damage, so high-stamina might drop the levels a bit?
-- Darloth

I'm not sure I buy your interpretation of aiim; it's instant, and actions don't generally happen in the same instant, so I wouldn't allow it to be used that way. - willows

I've always assumed for mechanical purposes that contested rolls take place in the same Instant, but I'm unsure if that's corroborated by the published metagame assumptions (...On reflection before updating, it seems easiest to assume this is the case. Attacks take one Instant and defense is invoked in the same Instant, otherwise attacking must take place over multiple Instants/instants, or the attack Instant is longer than the defense Instant, so that they somehow intersect.) The Charm could be reworded to specifically steal from a pool which may be invoked as a contested action without losing any clarity, and avoiding having to make explicit the course of Instants. ...Assuming I'm even on the same point as you. _Wohksworth

What bothers me about this is that it's either a prophetic effect (stealing from a hypothetical defensive pool) or a retroactive effect (stealing dice from an attack after it is committed)...neither of these is good! It implicitly requires the action it's supplementing to oppose some other action, which either has been rolled already, or may not even happen. Such paradoxes do not Charms make. I used lowercase instant for a reason, man. - willows

A few changes: the Form has been nerfed, rolling Essence rather than Martial Arts and losing the starmetal immunity. As per the discussion on DBSInfernalCharms, it has been clarified that perfect soak Charms DO work to prevent the initial damage of FfSS, but not the secondary effect. I'll reword the die stealing mechanics to make it perfectly clear as to when they can be activated, and under what circumstances. Any other suggestions on how to improve the FFBS or any other aspect of the Infernals is glady welcomed.

...DeathBySurfeit

On the Form Charm: does the Essence in unsoakable damage require an actual damage success to be rolled, or does it work any time that at least one damage die is rolled? (Also, does it stack with normal damage successes?) Furthermore, as Ben-San pointed out to me yesterday, the Form combined with FfSS (and why would you ever use FfSS and not have the Form up?) basically becomes a "dodge or die" situation if all you need is a damage die to get the Essence-in-unsoakable-damage element of the Form. I generally don't like "dodge or die" effects available at only Essence 5. -- AntiVehicleRocket

The Form has been clarified to dealing damage with an attack, rather than rolling. I hadn't noticed that; thanks for pointing it out.

...DeathBySurfeit

It still provides someone using the pinnacle a do-or-die attack and that's just..not right. Not with no after-the-fact resistance at all. - Telgar

It doesn't even kill Exalted outright -- anyone with competant medical training is allowed by the rules to try to stabilize a dying character. It's much less terrifying than Soul Mastery, what with the Permanent Willpower cost, and having to cause damage with the attack, which'll dissuade most people from ever relying on it. The only point of contention I see is explicitly noting that Perfect Soaks don't prevent non-damage effects, which should apply to Soul Mastery as well. Perhaps it'd be less contentious if a character got some sort of contested roll to resist, though I'd rather just simplify the Charm into one roll by increasing the difficulty of the attack by the defender's Essence. _Wohksworth

[ed: As a non-sequitor: on reading Soul Mastery through, I realize it can force you to make a contested roll against yourself, if you don't discharge the Charm in time, which is hilarious, and probably even worthy of a minor edit footnote.] _JW

I note that this style is -compatible- with all martial arts weapons... but doesn't actually count them as style weapons. Thus, most of the charms don't work with them... although some still do. The seals are obviously unarmed only. Perhaps you should state that everything above the form doesn't work with a weapon? (Needing an unarmed attack)?
-- Darloth

The unarmed thing has been clarified at the top, and used as an additional nerfing agent. I have to say I consider FfSS an inferior attack to Soul Mastery (a comparable pinnacle Charm), but it is under enough flak as it is. Although I'm not sure - if Exalted: The Sidereals was penned on the Wiki before its release, it would come under an awful lot of assault for being overpowered. As would Exalted: The Abyssals... and Exalted: The Lunars, possibly. It's a question of whether its overpower is balanced, I think. ...DeathBySurfeit

All those have come under fire at various times for being 'overpowered' at some time or other anyway. That's hardly the point. You can see many of the discussions archived here on the Wiki, and that will let you know where people stand on these matters, and why they suggest the revisions they do. You will probably never get 100% agreement by everyone, but it's something to aim for ;-) And by causing such discussions as these with your submissions, you can at least be assured that people are reading them, and by taking the advice offered, or rejecting it with counter-proposals or a re-examining of your ideas behind the submission, you will eventually end up with refined gold. - nikink Well, that's my experience here, anyway...

This is because published material is not immune to being totally broken. (Although sometimes it's broken the other way -- see FixTheLunarCharmTrees for ample examples of Lunar Charms that need more power badly.) Just because some overpowered stuff has gotten published (PAoC, anyone?) doesn't mean fans shouldn't strive for balance in their own stuff. Also, remember at the end of the day that we are just kibitzers and you're free to ignore this entirely. -- AntiVehicleRocket

Sorry, I might have come across as a little dismissive earlier. People's thoughts are more valuable than you can imagine, and I'm happy to have all of your input. Just to prove what an idiot I am, I'll post up the Blasphemous Caste Charms now (easrly morning inspiration for the Survival Charms, see)...DeathBySurfeit

Hey, dude, it's cool! You seem to have a really positive attitude toward discussion~critique. More Charms! - w