Revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Ikselam's Melee Charms

Every so often, someone on the WhiteWolf forum will talk about how it would be cool if there were iaijutsu-themed Charms. For a long time, I didn't make any since I'd come to the conclusion that such a tree couldn't reasonably be longer than three or four Charms. Eventually I decided to put my money where my mouth was, and these resulted.

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• back to [[Charms/IkselamSolarMelee/Ikselam/Ikselams]]'s Charms.

Dawn Breaks Swiftly</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote per two points
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Melee: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

The power of surprise must never be underestimated. A Solar who knows this technique has learned to draw his weapon and strike with incredible, fluid speed, pre-empting even the quickest opponent. Each mote spent activating this Charm raises the character's initiative score by two; the character may not spend more motes than his permanent Essence score. He suffers no penalty for drawing a weapon, and may split actions as normal, but his first action must be an immediate Melee attack.

The character's weapon must be sheathed when the Charm is activated. Weapons placed Elsewhere by powers such as Summoning the Loyal Steel are considered "sheathed" for purposes of Dawn Breaks Swiftly, but a Combo will be necessary unless calling the weapon back to one's hand does not require a Charm action.

Sunrise Over Mountains</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote per 2 dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Melee: 5
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Dawn Breaks Swiftly, Excellent Strike

The Exalted explodes from stillness into action with such rapidity that even the most alert opponent will have difficulty anticipating her attack. This Charm supplements a Melee attack made against a target whose initiative score is lower than the character's. For every mote spent, the character may add two dice to her attack pool, up to the amount by which her initiative exceeds the target's; the total number of dice added may not exceed her normal Dexterity + Melee.

The character's weapon must be sheathed when this Charm is activated; she takes no penalty for drawing it. Sheathing a weapon counts as a dice action that requires no roll. Weapons placed Elsewhere are considered "sheathed," subject to the same restrictions as detailed by Dawn Breaks Swiftly.

Patience Hones Intent</b>

<b>Cost: 4+ motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Varies
Type: Simple
Min. Melee: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Sunrise Over Mountains

Calmly sheathing her weapon, the Solar closes her eyes and assumes a balanced ready stance, bringing her into harmony with the Essence flows surrounding her and her opponents. When the proper moment arrives, she opens her eyes and grasps the hilt of her weapon, smoothly drawing and guiding it through a series of deceptively slow, incredibly precise motions. The Charm lasts until the character draws her weapon, opens her eyes, or makes an attack of any kind. While under its effects, she suffers the standard penalties for acting blind (unless she has some way of magically negating them), and cannot perform parries or Melee actions of any kind.

For each full turn this Charm is active, including the turn on which it was activated, the character receives a number of dice equal to her permanent Essence to distribute among her Melee actions on the turn in which she ends the Charm. She also has the option, each turn, to buy additional bonus dice at a cost of one mote per die; this is a reflexive action and does not count as Charm use. The total number of bonus dice awarded on any given turn cannot exceed twice her Essence score. These bonus dice continue to accumulate until the character chooses to end the Charm by opening her eyes, drawing her weapon, and taking one or more Melee actions.

Once the character acts, the bonus dice from Patience Hones Intent may be distributed however she wishes, and are assigned reflexively -- they can add to reflexive actions such as Solar Counterattack, or build up attacks or parries from nothing; such reflexive actions occur independent of initiative. This Charm is explicitly allowed to break the normal Attribute + Ability cap for dice added by Charms. The character takes no penalty for unsheathing her weapon on the turn she ends Patience Hones Intent. The character may split her action as normal on the turn she ends the Charm, but at least one of her actions must be a Melee action.

Any dice not used on the turn in which the Charm ends are wasted. A character may not benefit from multiple simultaneous instances of this Charm.

Calm Heart Strikes True</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Melee: 5
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Sunrise Over Mountains; Hungry Tiger Technique; One Weapon, Two Blows

Closing his eyes and gently resting his hand on the hilt of his weapon, the Solar fills his lungs with doubt and exhales. His weapon leaves its sheath, slashes through its target, and returns so quickly that onlookers' first clue that he has acted will probably come when his target falls over dead. The character makes a single Melee attack at full dice pool, which cannot be blocked or dodged except with Charms or other magic abilities which state they apply to attacks of which the user is not aware.

If the target is killed by the attack, she will remain standing for a number of turns equal to the character's permanent Essence, most likely with an expression of mild surprise on her face. Onlookers must make a Perception + Awareness check at difficulty 3 to realize that she is dead before she falls over; if anyone touches her before this time, her condition will become immediately apparent to everyone.

The character's weapon must be sheathed when this Charm is activated; it is automatically returned to the sheath after the attack is made. If Summon the Loyal Steel is Comboed with Calm Heart Strikes True, and the character does not have an actual sheath into which the weapon may be placed after it is used, he must pay Summon the Loyal Steel's cost a second time in order to "re-sheath" his weapon Elsewhere.

Note that while the character's weapon is sheathed, none of his Melee-based defenses will be available. This means that on the turn in which a character uses Calm Heart Strikes True, he will be unable to parry any attacks unless he has some way of reflexively drawing his weapon, or comes up with a very creative stunt.

One With the Blade</b>

<b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Melee: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Calm Heart Strikes True, Fire and Stones Strike, Blazing Solar Bolt

The Exalted focuses her perceptions until her entire universe consists of only two things: herself, and her target. In this moment of clarity, she strikes, Essence cascading through her weapon until it blazes like the sun, leaving the afterimage of its perfect, deadly arc burned into the eyes of all who witness the strike. The character makes a single Melee attack at normal dice pool. This attack cannot be blocked or dodged, and any dice of damage which penetrate the target's soak are not rolled, but are automatically converted into levels of lethal damage.

Use of this Charm causes the character's Caste Mark to flare brilliantly. Any non-artifact weapon will be completely disintegrated by this Charm.

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Comments

Wow, talk about scary pinnacle Charms. One With the Blade really means business. Question regarding Dawn Breaks Swiftly and Sunrise over Mountains - do these also summon your weapon back from Elsewhere, or do you have to Combo them with Summoning for that to work? (Calm Heart implies the second reading for its prerequisites, of course, but it's nice for these things to be explicit.) - FourWillowsWeeping

Yes, if you would normally need a Charm to "unsheath" your weapon, these don't allow you to bypass that.\\ _Ikselam

Re: Patience Hones Intent. So, Hiro Protagonist closes his eyes, and for every turn he waits he acquires between three and six extra dice to his final group of melee actions (assuming Essence 3). And if he so chooses, after three turns at six dice each (say), he may apply them all on top of a normal attack that he adds to with Excellent Strike and his specialty and daiklave, creating a 43-die single attack? The penalty is that he may not parry during this time - instead he must only dodge if he wishes an active defense - and that penalized by his blindness.

Neat. Domino

Yes, exactly. Keep in mind that you only get dice for each full turn of powerup. So if Hiro activated the Charm on Turn 1, his huge attack would occur on Turn 4, not turn 3.

You can pull out really stupid attacks if you successfully power-up for a long time, but doing so can be tough and expensive. I think I may stipulate that the Charm also ends if you are struck by an attack.

I should note that this idea was sort of inspired by one of FifthChild's iaijutsu Charm, Unsheathed Fury Meditation. Charms/FifthChildSolarMelee.\\ _Ikselam

I can't shake the feeling that One With The Blade reads an Essence 5 charm to me. Is my scale of power off here? ^^; Also, how do you feel Patience Hones Intent would function when coupled with Glorious Fan Style (by FifthChild). Do you suppose it would be possible to continue to parry in this case while charging? Alex

One With the Blade is Essence 4 because it has 13 prerequisite Charms. As for the MA stuff, I guess that any of the Charms which function as long as your weapon is sheathed would be compatible with Patience Hones Intent. When I make up Charms, I don't tend to think about how they interact with other fan-made Charms. _Ikselam