Revision as of 17:34, 10 April 2009

Another Exalted Charms

This page will hold all the information on charms for Another Exalted until such time as I need to split it up.

Changes to Charm Mechanics

Obviously I'm changing a lot of Charms, but my main goal with this system is to provide a small and complete pool of generic fundamental Charms and then have everything else be custom charms designed specifically for the character in question.

Miscellaneous Changes

DICE CAPS: These no longer exist as such. However, the old dice caps live on in another form -- charms with the "Capped" keyword.

DV PENALTIES: Charms do not generally penalize defense, since that was intended to discourage people from making huge flurries, and you can't do that here anyway.

EXTRA ACTION: Extra Action charms do still exist, though they're going to be rather more expensive since nonmagical flurries are out. All the actions are taken in immediate succession.

ESSENCE-ONLY CHARMS: A few charms have only an Essence minimum and are not attached to any other trait. These charms are considered favoured for everyone who can use them, but it's not possible to invent new ones. If some mechanic requires the charm's trait minimum, use the Essence minimum for both. Essence-only charms can't supplement rolls of any kind unless they say otherwise.

EXCELLENCIES: There's only one universal excellency. Individual Exalt types have their own custom Excellencies as well, but these have descriptive names rather than being called "Nth Excellency."

Keywords

There are a crapload of keywords and, like with Magic: the Gathering, I've totally forgotten about most of them. Thus this isn't an exhaustive list of changes, though it should suffice for Solars.

Changed/Removed Keywords:

• Combo-OK is now the default, so it doesn't need a keyword. Every Charm is assumed to be fully combo-compatible unless it says otherwise.
• Counterattack effects work as they did in 2e, but they no longer penalize your defense to invoke.
• Form-type charms do not exist, since this functionality is largely been shifted to mortal fighting styles.

All the keywords describing effects (Obvious, Servitude, Sickness, etc) are sticking around, but they should be taken as guidelines -- ultimately, whether a charm counts as a Poison effect should depend on what it does, not on whether it has the Poison keyword.

New Keywords:

• Capped charms have a variable mote cost. The maximum number of motes you can spend in a single invocation of a Capped charm (or a series of stacked invocations) is equal to the traditional Exalted dice cap. That is, Attribute + Ability for Solars, Ability + Specialty for Dragon-Blooded, Essence for Sidereals, and so on. The cap applies to the cost before accounting for any surcharges or discounts. Not all charms with a variable cost are Capped -- some have unrelated charm-specific limits.
• Excellency-type charms have a special usage limitation. No two different Excellency-type Charms can modify the same task, even if put in a combo together.
• Focus indicates that the charm demands focus to use. It costs you your ability to defend yourself for the rest of the turn, and can't be used if you've already employed that ability during the current turn.

Universal Charms

There are a handful of explicitly "broad-based" charms that every type of Exalted can use, but they tend to have slightly different functionality for different Exalt types. The three Sorcery charms (and Necromancy, I guess) are the closest thing to true universal charms this variant has. In particular, the generalized Martial Arts charmsets do not carry over. I'm going to be doing something quite different with those, but I haven't totally figured out what yet, so, uh, stay tuned!

Conflicting Effects

The big question is, "how are you going to handle conflicting Charm effects, especially conflicting perfection?" And I'm not really sure yet, beyond that perfect defense will maintain primacy and the Flaws of Perfection will be expanded somewhat. This is one of the big things I have yet to settle on.

Generic Charms

These charms are associated with a specific type of Trait (Attributes for Lunars, Abilities for everyone else), and each Trait of that type has a separate version of the charm, which must be learned individually. Another Exalted has more generic charms than the real thing, because they are responsible for much of a character's overall power, while custom charms provide narrower gimmicks.

Note that an "a" in the cost refers to Agency, not aggravated damage.

QUINTESSENTIAL (SKILL) EXCELLENCY

Cost: 1m per point
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant 
Keywords: Excellency, Capped, Stackable
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Universal 

This is the most fundamental of all Charms, and is available to virtually all Essence-channellers. Every mote spent increases the associated skill by 1 for a single instantaneous usage of that skill. This may be a roll involving the skill, but it may also be an unrolled use of the skill, like a Science minimum required to use an ancient magical weapon.

When using this charm to enhance a rolled action, it uses the timing of a Supplemental charm. When using it defensively, it must be used before the attack roll. Sidereals are the exception: they activate the Quintessential Excellency after all rolling is done.

For Lunar Exalted, this is an Attribute-based charm, rather than a Skill-based one. It cannot be used to momentarily increase Health or Willpower.

FLAWLESS (SKILL) EXECUTION

Cost: 1m
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant 
Keywords: Excellency
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Solar, Abyssal

This charm modifies a roll involving the associated skill to ensure good performance. Negative dice are treated as neutral (0) when determining the result of the roll. Note that because defense is unrolled, the charm cannot be used to resist attack.

OVERARCHING (SKILL) WORLDVIEW

Cost: 1m, 1a or 4m, 1a
Mins: Essence 4, (Skill) 3
Type: Reflexive, Instant 
Keywords: Excellency
Prerequisites: Any other (Skill) Excellency
Charm Style: Solar, Lunar

With this excellency you can substitute the associated skill for any other in a single instantaneous usage. It costs 1 mote, 1 Agency if both skills are from the same Solar Caste, and costs 4 motes, 1 Agency otherwise.

The substituted skill is considered to be the "real" one, but actions modified in this way can be supplemented by charms of either the original or substituted skill. The original skill's specialties do not apply, but the substituted skill's do, if they somehow manage to be relevant.

The Lunar version of this Charm is called All-Purpose (Attribute) Method, and allows substitution of Attributes. It requires Essence 4, (Attribute) 4. It costs 1m, 1a for attributes of the same Lunar Caste, and 3m, 1a for others. As with the Quintessential Excellency, it can't alter Health or Willpower.

INFINITE (SKILL) MASTERY

Cost: 3m per point
Mins: Essence 3, (Skill) 4
Type: Simple, One Scene
Keywords: Capped, Stackable, Combo-Basic
Prerequisites: Any other (Skill) Excellency
Charm Style: Solar, Lunar

Every three motes spent on this charm increase the associated skill by one for its duration. The skill is in every way treated as if it were higher, even if this causes it to exceed the natural maximum. However, the motes committed to this charm count against the spending cap for Capped Excellency-type charms of the same ability.

The Lunar version of this Charm is called Instinctive (Attribute) Unity and it applies to Attributes. Unlike Attribute-enhancers of shorter duration, it can increase Health and Willpower if appropriate.

(SKILL) PRINCE'S MANDATE

Cost: 2m, 2a or more
Mins: Essence 4, (Skill) 5
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Excellency
Prerequisites: Any other (Skill) Excellency
Charm Style: Solar

The Solar places the full weight of his Exalted nature behind an instantaneous usage of the appropriate skill, willing it to succeed. He announces his intentions and bids a number of Agency. He must bid at least 2 agency in Creation and 3 elsewhere, and can bid no more than his Essence. Anyone who is present and would be adversely affected by the Solar's success may opt to pay Agency equal to the bid in order to cancel it. Multiple parties cannot pool their Agency, and no one can match a bid greater than their own Essence.

If someone else matches the bid, she loses the Agency while the Solar loses nothing. The action proceeds as if nothing had happened. If no one can match the bid, however, or if there is no one present to contest it, the Solar spends the Agency and automatically succeeds at the action with a margin of success equal to his (Essence + Skill). Even otherwise impossible actions can be performed this way, though defence retains primacy.

This charm is subject to a Flaw of Perfection, regardless of how it is used.

RESOURCEFUL FLUID (ATTRIBUTE)

Cost: 1m per point
Mins: Essence 1, (Attribute) 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant
Keywords: Excellency, Stackable
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Lunar

Each mote spent on this charm removes (Essence) points' worth of penalties for an instantaneous usage of the associated attribute. Even penalties taken as a result of Aspect compulsion can be negated. However, the excellency can only provide optimal conditions: it cannot make an inherently difficult task easier, it cannot reduce an opponent's abilities, and it cannot enable an inapplicable tactic.

This charm has no spending cap.

FLAWLESS (ATTRIBUTE) FOCUS

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 3, (Attribute) 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Prerequisites: Any (Attribute) Excellency
Charm Style: Lunar

Identical to the 2e Lunars Charm of the same name.

INDOMITABLE RESURGENT (SKILL)

Cost: 2m
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant
Keywords: Excellency, Stackable
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Dragon-Blooded

This charm is invoked after a roll involving the associated skill, and allows the user to reroll any or all of the dice. If the new total is still unsatisfactory, the charm may be used as many times as the user wishes, provided they have enough motes. Unrolled uses of the skill (like defending) cannot benefit from the charm.

DIVINE (SKILL) CALLING

Cost: 1m
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant
Keywords: Excellency
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Dragon-Blooded

This charm doubles the benefit of all the associated skill's Specialties for a single instantaneous usage of that skill. It follows the same timing rules as the Quintessential Excellency.

AUDACIOUS (SKILL) BRINKMANSHIP

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Dragon-Blooded

This charm permanently enhances chance rolls involving the associated skill. The chance rolls also succeed if one die comes up + and one comes up 0, whereas normally both dice must come up + for a chance roll to succeed.

AUSPICIOUS IDEAL (SKILL)

Cost: 2m, 1a
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Instant
Keywords: Excellency
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Sidereal

This charm removes the random factor from a roll involving the chosen skill, ensuring that it goes as well as possible. Don't even make the roll -- it's treated as if it came up +5. The charm may also be used when defending with a skill, in which case it adds +5 to the defense.

EFFORTLESS CONFIDENT (SKILL)

Cost: 2m
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 1
Type: Simple, Indefinite
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Sidereal

As long as this charm is in effect, the user is incapable of botching with the associated skill. Chance rolls that would result in a botch are instead treated as simple failure, as are effects that force a botch. However, this effect can't be used in conjunction with any that increases the likelihood of success on a chance roll.

PROPITIOUS (SKILL) ALIGNMENT

Cost: 1m or more, 1a
Mins: Essence 3, (Skill) 3
Type: Simple, One Scene
Keywords: Capped, Stackable
Prerequisites: Any (Skill) Excellency
Charm Style: Sidereal

This charm makes it easier for the Sidereal to use Aspects for tasks involving the chosen skill. For any task using that skill (whether rolled or not), the Sidereal can invoke one aspect free of charge (or tag an opponent's aspect) for each mote committed to the charm. The normal limitations of Aspect use apply.

Non-Generic Cross-Type Charms

These charms are associated with specific Traits but are possessed by many types of Exalted, because they represent fundamental powers of essence users.

SORCERY AND NECROMANCY

I'll put more detail into this later, but the Charms enabling the use of Sorcery and Necromancy function as they do in 2e (with the same restrictions on who can learn them). However, they are Essence-only charms, and learning a circle also grants a free spell of that circle, which must be either summoning or countermagic. Spells expend Agency rather than Willpower.

OX-BODY TECHNIQUE

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 1, Exertion 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Universal

This charm may be taken a number of times equal to your Exertion. It increases all your Consequence Thresholds by 1, and increases your Health or allows you to suffer additional physical consequences. The threshold increase is the same for everyone, but the other benefits vary:

• Solar and Abyssal Ox-Body grant either +1 Critical consequence or +1 Serious consequence and +1 Health or +1 Minor consequence and +2 Health.
• Lunar Ox-Body grants either +1 Serious consequence and +1 Minor consequence or +3 Health.
• Sidereal Ox-Body grants +2 Minor consequences.
• Dragon-Blooded and Spirit Ox-Body grant +1 Minor consequence and +1 Health.

Lunars' Ox-Body is a Stamina charm, and can be taken a number of times equal to the Lunar's Stamina. Spirits' Ox-Body is an Essence-only charm which can be taken a number of times equal to the spirit's Essence.

UNHESITATING DEDICATION

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 1, Discipline 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Universal

This charm permanently enhances one of the character's Aspects. Invoking that Aspect to enhance a roll or defense gives a flat +3 bonus, rather than the usual benefit. Only Aspects of a particular type can be enhanced by this charm, and the type varies by the type of Exalted. However, I forget exactly how that works so I will specify the types later!

Unhesitating Dedication can be taken repeatedly, for a different Aspect each time. If an associated Aspect is ever lost, the Charm can be transferred to another for 2 XP.

GRACEFUL CRANE STANCE

Cost: 3m
Mins: Essence 1, (Athletics 1 for Solars, Dexterity 2 for Lunars)
Type: Reflexive, One Scene
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none
Charm Style: Universal

Identical to the 2e version of the same name. It's an Athletics charm for Solar Exalted and a Dexterity charm for Lunar Exalted.

Fundamental Solar Charms

ESSENCE-GATHERING TEMPER

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 2, Exertion 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none

When your consequences are compelled, you may choose to regain 3m instead of a point of Agency. This applies to both physical and mental consequences. but not to Aspects of other kinds.

Fundamental Lunar Charms

Fundamental Dragon-Blooded Charms

HARMONIOUS BATTLE DANCE

Cost: 1m
Mins: Essence 1, War 1
Type: Reflexive, Instant
Keywords: ???
Prerequisites: none

The Exalt has mastered the subtle shifting of the battlefield, and can effortlessly coordinate her actions with her allies. This charm switches the user's place in the initiative roster with that of another willing party. It can only be used before either character has acted in the current turn.

Fundamental Sidereal Charms

GRACIOUS AGENT OF (MAIDEN)

Cost: --
Mins: Essence 1, (Skill) 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: none
Prerequisites: none

This is actually five separate charms, one for each Maiden, and each is associated with a different skill. Battles is a War charm, Endings is Medicine, Journeys is Travel, Secrets is Investigation, and Serenity is Charm.

Whenever doing so would directly serve the purview of the associated Maiden, the Sidereal may spend 2m to invoke or tag Aspects, rather than a point of Agency. For instance, Gracious Agent of Battles lets you do this when fighting or inciting conflict.

Fundamental Abyssal Charms

INEVITABILITY

Cost: 1m
Mins: Essence 2, Persuasion 2
Type: Reflexive, Instant
Keywords: ???
Prerequisites: ???

The only truth is this: in the end the Void will devour great and small alike. By channelling the nihilistic certainty of death, an Abyssal denies her enemies the right to question their fate.

This charm is invoked when the Abyssal's player tags someone else's Aspect. If the victim permits the Aspect to be compelled, they receive nothing in return. The charm must be used before the party decides whether to resist the tag or not.