Revision as of 06:27, 23 June 2004

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Abyssal Lore Charms by CrownedSun

Infallible Recall Meditation

 Cost: 2 motes per die
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Lore: 1
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

Memory is a fickle and living thing, constantly changing and folding. What we remember might be true in the broadest sense, but the details sometimes shift and fold in small ways when out of our thoughts. Sometimes, important thoughts languish in the distance portions of our mind and rot away entirely – or simply refuse to come when bidden.
None of these problems bother an Abyssal who enhances his thought process with this charm. For the purposes of any Lore roll regarding the Abyssals own memory, the character can add one die to his Ability + Lore score to a maximum of double the normal value before any other modifiers are included. If at least one mote is spent, the characters memory also improves in general with regard to this one fact, giving him a clearer picture of his own knowledge.
The difficulty of recalling information varies depending on how much the character knows on the subject. Most knowledge doesn’t even require a roll, and this charm would only be used to improve the quality of the knowledge gained. Routine matters that none the less escape the mind of the Abyssal at that moment are difficulty 1. The average bit of obscure datum that the Abyssal nonetheless has some reason to think he knows is difficulty 3. Lastly, information that is incredibly obscure or which the Abyssal can only vaguely be said to know at all is difficulty 5.
The first category might include the name of a person whom the Abyssal has met before but which has slipped his mind. The second might include details about that person that the character knows, but can’t quite remember. The third might be various useful bits of information that the character learned in Secondary School in the Realm, but which did not stick into his actual database of knowledge. The last is the most potentially powerful, as it allows the Abyssal to recall tiny details such as a scene vaguely glimpsed upon years earlier or information that he only heard in passing from his Deathlord.
This charm doesn’t help you to remember things that you don’t know; you have to, in some way, have access to the information.

Rigorous Examination Technique

 Cost: 3+ motes
 Duration: One week
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Lore: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Infallible Recall Meditation

The fickleness of memory can be a great problem to anyone, when they are called upon to absorb vital bits of information. Writing is a tool that was invented to solve this very problem but it is not always feasible. Thankfully, the Abyssals have this charm which allows them to commit information to their prodigious memories – endowing the knowledge with the static essence of Death, ensuring that it remains exact and perfect in his mental recall until such time as he should need it again.
Use of this charm requires a thorough but not necessarily obsessive look over of the material, the time of which varies. If memorizing a book, the Abyssal must read the entire book with careful attention to detail. If he wishes to perfectly capture the essence of a painting, he must spend several minutes casually observing it. Once that period is deemed sufficient, the character spends the motes.
The cost is considered 3 motes for most items of knowledge, such as every word in a book or every individual stroke of a painting. If the feat is especially challenging, the cost should increase by about 2 motes per additional datum. I.e., memorizing two books would cost 5 motes, while preserving an entire room (about a dozen) of pictures would require 25 motes.
The recall engendered by this charm is perfect in every way. The character might as well have the item or information in question before him, so perfect is his recall of it. More than sufficient to later make a copy of the item studied, with just as much accuracy as if the Abyssal himself was still before the item. It does not bestow any particular facility for such copying, however, merely the perfect memory. The memory itself lasts no longer than the charms duration, but can be banished to the characters un-enhanced memory (with no more benefits from this charm) at any time. This results in the loss of a good deal of the preserved information, however. The ‘perfect copy’ does NOT still linger somewhere within your memory, only what you would normally remember after such an examination.

Ghost-Touched Knowledge Meditation

 Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: One hour
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Lore: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Rigorous Examination Meditation

<when I get a good system for this, this charm will allow the Abyssal to tap into the ambient knowledge of the Underworld. Probably will involve a Intelligence + Lore roll, difficulty depending on the information (age based?), and I should probably make sure that you can’t combo this charm with the Infallible Recall Meditation.>