Revision as of 09:02, 3 April 2010

Medicine Charms

Milk-Curdling Touch

• Cost: 5 motes
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 2
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

An Infernal’s anima is a cocktail of foulness of spirit and scathing hatred, a dulled maelstrom of poisonous Essence. A character using this Charm focuses her venomous soul about her fingertips, forming a thin veneer of creamy poison to which she is immune. The poison has a resistance difficulty and damage if unresisted equal to her Essence in health levels, one health level if resisted successfully. It imposes a penalty equal to the Infernal’s Medicine Ability, lasting one minute.

Her next unarmed attack may pass this venom across; if it deals a health level of damage, the poison takes effect. If used against an unsuspecting foe, simple skin-to-skin contact is sufficient. As part of activating this Charm, she may spread the venom across an arrow or weapon, thereafter following the rules of transmission by unarmed attacks. Either way, the poison lasts a scene before coming inert and useless.

Seething Manifest of Intent

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 3
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Milk-Curdling Touch

As the effects of Milk-Curdling Touch, save that the venom created, a bright yellow liquid, is even more toxic. It deals a number of health levels equal to the Exalt’s Essence on a successful Resistance check, and equal to the Exalt’s Medicine Ability if the check is failed. Its penalty lasts for a number of hours equal to the Exalt’s Medicine Ability.

Angered Hornet’s Sting

• Cost: 5 motes per health level, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Supplemental
• Minimum Medicine: 4
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Milk-Curdling Ichor

As she makes an unarmed attack, the Infernal’s wounds close and bones reset, all traces of her injury dissolving into her anima as a filmy crimson stain. For every five motes spent, she converts a lethal health level to a bashing health level. Should she hit, every health level converted adds one die to the damage of her attack as the red mist coalesces around her foe; otherwise, it dissipates harmlessly. This Charm is explicitly allowed to be included in Combos with Charms of other Abilities.

Convulsing Volcano Retribution

• Cost: 5 motes & 1 Willpower per health level
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 5
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Angered Hornet’s Sting

Seething rivulets of oily scarlet ebb from the Infernal’s wounds, bleeding out into her anima with a shrill cry and circling about her. This Charm functions as Angered Hornet’s Sting with the following exceptions: the Exalt’s aggravated health levels are converted into lethal levels rather than lethal into bashing. This Charm is explicitly allowed to be included in Combos with Charms of other Abilities.

Letting the Heart of Darkness

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 lethal health level
• Duration: Instant
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 5
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Seething Manifest of Intent, Convulsing Volcano Retribution

The Infernal refines her venomosity to a hideous extent, focusing all of her malice into a phosphorescing green mucous about her fingers. The effects of this substance is comparable to that of Seething Manifest of Intent, but the poison is more harmful still. It has a resistance difficulty, resisted damage and penalty equal to the Infernal’s Medicine Ability. These penalties last for her Medicine ability in hours. If the victim fails his Resistance check, he receives lethal health levels of damage equal to the Infernal’s Medicine ability plus her Essence score, and is further crippled: he may lose a sense, gain a derangement, or lose all ability to channel Virtues. This further penalty lasts until all health levels from the poison are healed.

Sudden Atrophy Technique

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 experience point
• Duration: One hour
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 3
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

The character spends an hour etching sigils across the skin of a willing or helpless target and filling them with old copper leaf, dealing a lethal health level. The Infernal then courses the corruption of his anima through the lines of verdigris, causing the target’s body to corrode away into pure Essence. The Infernal rolls Intelligence + Medicine, and may remove up to as many attribute points from the target as she rolled successes. The target gains back all experience spent on those attribute points. The Infernal may use this technique on herself, if she so wishes.

Blind Butcher Approach

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 experience point
• Duration: One hour
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 3
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Sudden Atrophy Technique

The Infernal slices away at her victim’s body and mind, concerned only as far as to prevent permanent harm. This Charm functions as Sudden Atrophy Technique, save that the target does not regain their experience points – they are simply butchered.

Bloated Empowerment Method

• Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 experience point
• Duration: One hour
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Medicine: 3
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: Sudden Atrophy Technique

Before activating this Charm, the Infernal spends an hour painting lines of molten bronze across the flesh of a helpless or willing target, dealing a lethal health level. Touching the patterns, the Infernal infuses them with her own consuming ambition, coalescing inner Essence into newfound vigour. She may instantly spend her target’s spare experience points on raising attributes, but may not add more dots than she scores successes on an Intelligence + Medicine roll. Note that it is the Infernal and not the target who chooses where these are spent. The Infernal may, however, use this technique upon herself.

Defiling Minds Discipline

• Cost: None
• Duration: Permanent
• Type: Special
• Minimum Medicine: 4
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Sudden Atrophy Technique, Bloated Empowerment Method

When using Sudden Atrophy Technique, Blind Butcher Approach or Bloated Empowerment Method, the Infernal may also spend successes from the Intelligence + Medicine roll on adding or removing Ability points at a rate of two points per success.

Soul Searing Scalpel

• Cost: None
• Duration: Permanent
• Type: Special
• Minimum Medicine: 5
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Defiling Minds Discipline

When using Sudden Atrophy Technique, Blind Butcher Approach or Bloated Empowerment Method, the Infernal may also spend successes from the Intelligence + Medicine roll on adding or removing Virtue, Sin or Willpower points at a rate of one point per success.

Back to DBSInfernalCharms / Back to DeathBySurfeit’s page

Feedback

With Essences of greater than 5, Seething Manifest of Intent can actually do more damage when it is resisted! This seems rather odd. I'd make an attempt to find a pair of values that guarantees one being larger than the other in all cases.

Letting the Heart of Darkness has, in my opinion, too few prerequisite Charms. An obvious set of additional prerequisites would be the tree of Charms that independently produces the "further crippling" effects that the Charm describes.

Angered Hornet's Sting seems unnecessarily complicated, but it's got a very cool effect! Here's a reinterpretation for you to take a look at: The Infernal’s wounds close and bones reset, all traces of her injury dissolving into her anima as a filmy crimson stain. She converts up to her Essence in lethal health levels into bashing damage as she makes an unarmed attack, adding the same amount to the damage successes of the attack. This Charm is explicitly allowed to be included in Combos with Charms of other Abilities. Converting this to a Reflexive or Supplemental would allow it to be Comboed with a similarly revised Convulsing Volcano Retribution, but I feel that that Charm is rather too efficient at healing aggravated damage, so...

Sudden Atrophy Technique seems very advanced and abstract for an entry-level Charm, particularly one that mimics the effects of a spell of indeterminate Circle.

Does Defiling Minds Discipline allow you to rearrange the same amount of Abilities, or simply say, "you can spend your successes on Ability disarrangement as well"? I think that the first effect may make the other Charms overly efficient; as an alternative, I suggest that 1 success be worth 2 Ability dots or 1 Attribute dot. The same comment applies to Soul Searing Scalpel.

Also check your durations again. - willows

Thanks for the feedback, willows, your comments have proven really helpful. LtHoD now has considerably more prerequisites by incorporating the 'vicious healing' string. Speaking of the vicious healing string, I liked your reinterpretation and have implemented it above. I'm glad you liked the concept - it took a long time to work out how Infernals would heal!

The SAT Charm tree was designed as a specific advantage to the Infernals - something imitating the creation of akuma. This, alongside the sorcerous mantras and a few surprises yet to be unvieled, provides compensation for the loss of conventional perfect defences in the Infernal tree. I do not feel it is sufficiently unbalancing to require Charms before it, bringing us back to the whole 'silly Charm placement' conundrum. Would it help if it was altered to a more conventional descriptor, ie surgical alteration? Anyhow, I've altered the text in line with what you have suggested, and I think it works much better as a result...DeathBySurfeit

I'm glad to be of servive! It's a good deal of fun going over these Charms; the mechanics are interesting to pick over. On SAT - mostly, I find it kind of alarming that this permanent, life-changing alteration is something a starting-level Infernal can do with no long-term investment or irrecoverable cost. I mean, it allows you to do really scary things with the Attributes of your friends, at the cost of a trivial effort. Don't change the flavor text! That part is way cooler the way it started. - willows

Should the SAT tree only work on mortals? Or at least god-blooded with essence less than the infernal... It seems overpowered for an entry level if you can do it to an unwilling exalt. (Even if you need to restrain said exalt somehow)
-- Darloth

Indeed, the SAT is a fearsome opponent to even the Exalted...everyone fears the SAT. - Telgar

I'm really fond of the SAT tree in general, but I do have one question on SAT itself: can one choose to discard successes (if, say, you roll way too well to dissect your Circlemate)? The "may" implies yes, but it's not explicit. Also, can the SAT tree be used on the Infernal himself? (The text implies not, but Infernals seem to be good at using self-mutilation to further their own glory, so...) -- AntiVehicleRocket

Thanks for the continued feedback! The SAT tree has retained its present capabilities to affect Exalted (it's no less pleasant to a restrained foe than, say, just killing them), and gained the ability to be used upon themselves(good point, AntiVehicleRocket). In return, they now require a single experience point to use, in addition to the essence, willpower and health level. Ouch! Nonetheless, I hope it remains an interesting and viable advantage in the hands of Infernals...DeathBySurfeit (PS. Wretched Caste Charms up soon! Awareness and Larceny Charms are particularly... particular.)