Revision as of 23:32, 21 August 2004

Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Style

• by Telgar
• back to SiderealMartialArts

Background

One of the basic and ‘generic’ Styles of the Sidereals, the Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Style is rarely practiced outside the Division of Endings. Its various techniques focus malicious essence of the gods’ disfavor on those upon whom the Charms are worked, inflicting curses and incredible twists of misfortune. Because of the lack of direct attacks and defenses, this Style is most often paired with another more martial Style as a way to weaken and off-balance opponents.

There is no Sutra of Blasphemy, so mastering the Form and Pinnacle Charms of this cascade have no special benefits. Rumor says there was once a Sutra of Blasphemy, but it so displeased the Incarna that it was destroyed and the Sidereals commanded never to use it. If any living Sidereal remembers it, they surely will not pass it on for anything less then a dire need. Should any new Sidereal discern the Sutra of Blasphemy and use it, they are likely to be in a very great deal of trouble…

The first six Charms of this style are known as the Greater and Lesser Blasphemies, each being named after a common swear-phrase in Heaven. When invoked by a normal Martial Arts attack, which is provided by the Charm, that does at least one health level of damage, the Blasphemy settles around the target and draws the ire of the god to whom it refers. Botching the attack roll to inflict the Blasphemy causes it to settle around the Sidereal attempting to use it, who may attempt normally to throw it off. Lesser Blasphemies persist for one day per dot of the user’s Essence while Greater Blasphemies persist for one day for every two dots of the user’s Rssence. Every day of the Blasphemy’s effect, the target is able to make a standard Stamina + Occult roll. Success on this roll throws the Blasphemy off while botching it resets the Blasphemy’s duration.

Weapons and Armor

Because of the close associations between the sinuous and striking motions of the style's motions and the structure of the blade, not to mention the shared use in inflicting harm by mere presence and generally sinister prowess, the kris is treated as a signature weapon for the Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Style and all attacks made with it are considered unarmed. If two kris are wielded together, there is no off-hand penalty. The Blasphemy Style can not be used when in armor of any sort.

Charms

Plentimon’s Black Bones</b>

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 4
 Min Essence: 4
 Prereqs: None

By summoning Plentimon’s disfavor against his target, the Sidereal alters the rules by which the target’s rolls are judged. Any 10’s rolled count as a single success and any 1’s rolled cancel out one success. This effect persists as long as the Lesser Blasphemy of Fate is in place and manifests as a reddish-black tint to the target’s skin and hair.

Jupiter’s Green Teeth</b>

 <b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Plentimon’s Black Bones

The Maiden of Secrets can become quite angry when offended. Her anger shows in a sickly green glow around the body of the afflicted, the sign of the Greater Blasphemy of Fate. As Jupiter weaves hidden threads of misfortune into the target’s future, a terrible curse is placed upon him. For every health level of damage dealt to the target by the inflicting attack, one die in every pool the subject rolls is converted into a 1 automatically. The number of 1’s inflicted can not exceed (10 – target’s Essence). The 1's replace 2's first, then 3's and so on up the number line.

Gaia’s Dirt-Crusted Fingers</b>

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 4
 Min Essence: 4
 Prereqs: None

Though normally benevolent and hard to rouse to anger, the Lesser Blasphemy of Body can earn Gaia’s disfavor for a time. The disfavor of the Maiden of Plenty shows itself as a crusting of dead soil that can never quite be scrubbed from the target’s hands and feet. For as long as the Blasphemy persists the target must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll any time he moves faster then a simple walk or any time his body comes to rest upon the bare surface of Creation, failure of this roll indicates knockdown. The target is also at -1 to all pools when on the bare surface of Creation.

Luna’s Bloody Claws</b>

 <b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Gaia’s Dirt-Crusted Fingers 

The fickle Lady of the Moon is easy to offend, just ask any Lunar. But the Greater Blasphemy of Body draws her glare with particular strength. For as long as this effect remains in force the target’s eyes become milky white. Under the shadow of Luna’s disfavor, his body fails him at the most inopportune moments. A number of times equal to the number of health levels inflicted by the Blasphemous attack, the target will loose (10 – target’s Essence) dice from his current action. The Storyteller decides when these losses occur but is encouraged to make them as detrimental as possible.

Saturn’s Grey Hairs</b>

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 4
 Min Essence: 4
 Prereqs: None

The disfavor of Saturn is a deadly thing, in most cases. When called down by the Lesser Blasphemy of Essence, it can be cause for great sorrow indeed. The blood of the target turns a brilliant amethyst for the duration of the Blasphemy, disrupting his internal flows of Essence. Any of the target’s Charms activated while the Blasphemy is in force is limited in Duration to (10 – target’s Essence) turns.

Sol’s Burning Hands</b>

 <b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Saturn’s Grey Hairs

Almost as easy to offend as Luna, the Unconquered Sun shows his displease in an obvious way: he turns his back on the offender. While the Greater Blasphemy of Essence is in force, the target is forever shrouded in darkness and sunlight refuses to touch him, as does Essence. The ambient Essence of Creation no longer fills the target of this Blasphemy, making it impossible to regain Essence simply by resting. A Hearthstone is required to regain Essence passively but stunts still function normally.

Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Form</b>

 <b>Cost: 10 motes
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Jupiter’s Green Teeth, Luna’s Bloody Claws, Sol’s Burning Hands

As dark essence swirls around the Blasphemer, he becomes an avatar of the disfavor of Heaven. His sinuous motions are punctuated with sharp angles as the flows of Essence in his victims are disrupted. Anyone attempting to attack the Sidereal increases their Difficulty by the character’s Occult rating. In addition, the character’s own attacks deal +2L damage if unarmed or adds 2 damage if armed with a kris. If the character has two krises, there is no off-hand penalty for dual-weilding them and the multiple action penalty for using both krises in one turn are reduced by 2. All successful attacks made by the character slso deal a number of dice of unsoakable Lethal damage equal to the character’s Occult rating. This damage is treated as a seperate attack, much like the fire damage inflicted by Dragon-Graced Weapon.

Charm 8</b>

 <b>Cost: 4 motes per increase
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Form

The disfavor of Heaven is a heavy burden indeed. By laying a dark curse upon his enemies and twisting fate with a vicious strike, the character is able to raise the Target Number of any action that would negatively affect him by 1 for every 4 motes spent. No combination of circumstances can possibly raise a target number above 10.

Charm 9</b>

 <b>Cost: 7 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Black Expectoration of Blasphemy Form

In any situation, five wrong things can become the perfect solution. But it is far more likely that five wrong things become disaster. With the use of this Charm, even one wrong thing is a cataclysm. Activated in response to a failed action by another character, this Charm transforms any failed roll into a botch. This Charm can not be used if the failure was caused by Charms such as Charm 10 that specifically cause a roll to fail or if the pool was totally negated by Charms such as Abyssal dice removers.

Charm 10</b>

 <b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Charm 8

Instead of simply making it unlikely for an action to succeed, the Blasphemer has reached a level of skill manifested in this Charm so that any action he chooses to lay his dark curse upon is doomed to failure. When another character takes a dice-action, this Charm may be activated to cause that roll to fail. This failure takes place after willpower spending and after charm-enhancement. The successes rolled or purchased are simply negated, returning any essence or willpower used to buy them. This Charm can only be used once per scene on any given target.

Charm 11</b>

 <b>Cost: 6 motes
 Duration: Varies
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 5
 Min Essence: 5
 Prereqs: Charm 9

Gamblers are familiar with luck, good and bad. Every roll of the dice is a chance for luck to strike. Using this Charm, a Blasphemer forces his opponent to take a chance on luck. For a number of turns equal to the character’s Essence one target of the martial artist's choice is unable to activate Charms which grant automatic successes or convert dice into successes. If they already have a Charm active which grants such effects, the effects are suspended.

Example: Damer, a Chosen of Endings, is battling Silver Wing, a Full Moon Lunar. Silver Wing gets initiative on Damer and attacks him. Because the battle has been going badly, Silver Wing attempts to do some serious damage by activating Deadly Claw Blow and converting 5 of his Dexterity dice into automatic successes. Damer knows this would spell his doom and activates THIS CHARM to prevent Deadly Claw Blow from working. Silver Wing must take the roll as it comes.

Helios' Fickle Temperment</b>

 <b>Cost: 7 motes, 2 willpower
 Duration: Instant 
 Type: Reflexive
 Min MA: 6
 Min Essence: 6
 Prereqs: Charm 10

Nothing is assured, especially not perfection. Long ago, the Sun decreed that his Chosen would, in certain cases, become exempt from entropy and their endeavors would succeed whenever they called upon his might. By blighting his target with a blasphemous mark or sutra, the Sidereal causes them to become exempt from the Sun’s decree. When this Charm is evoked a single Perfect Effect used by another character in the Sidereal's line of sight is annulled, the motes are spent and the action occurs, but it is not guaranteed success. The roll must be made normally and at normal difficulty.

Ebon Dragon's Merciless Coils</b>

 <b>Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level.
 Duration: Varies
 Type: Simple
 Min MA: 6
 Min Essence: 6
 Prereqs: Helios' Fickle Temperment

Instead of merely focusing the disfavor of Fate on a single target, a true master of Blasphemy is able to call down misfortune on all of his enemies. For a number of turns equal to his Essence score everyone within (10 X Essence) yards suffers accidents and misfortune that inflicts a number of dice of aggravated damage equal to the character’s Essence + Occult. This damage can not be dodged or parried and can only be soaked with Stamina and other natural soak sources. The use of this Charm is unmistakable as a nimbus of red-black light surrounds the user and scarlet or ebony sparks crackle in the air with each accident. This Charm can only be activated once per scene.

Comments

In general, the Blasphemies seem to persist too long, and be too hard to shake off. I reduced the Lessers to Essence Days and the Greaters to Essence/2 Days. And the roll to throw off is now diff 1. - Telgar

Jupiter's Green Teeth needs to specify a mechanism for converting dice; do failures get converted first, or what? Correct, failures are removed first. I made note of the progression. - Telgar

Charms 9, 10, and 12 make me wary. Does the Form give unsoakable bonus damage, or does it simply cause all attacks to do your Occult in unsoakable lethal? (I am positive you meant the former, but the wording is unclear.) They do your Occult in unsoakable Lethal as a seperate damage source, like Fire damage from Dragon Graced Weapon. - Telgar

12 just seems like a cheesy way around "defense always wins"; it's not even an imaginative way of working around perfect defenses, it's just something which causes them to not be perfect -- which suggests a slippery slope of increasingly-more-perfect-than-perfect defenses and offenses.

Pretty much, it is a way to get around Perfects. I like the idea of a style about bad luck and curses being able to curse even Perfection into semi-perfection. But I do think it needs better implimentation. I'd like any ideas you have, Roger. - Telgar

Pretty much the only thing I have to offer at this point is that an established way of working around perfect effects is to attack the Charm itself. For example, PAoC's or Hungry Ghost's Charm-cancellers. Some perfect effects (HGD, but not the Sidereal version) can also be short-circuited by imperceptible attacks, like that Ebon Shadow thing I keep mistakenly referring to as Distracting Finger Gesture. Unfortunately, neither of these things really seem in-concept for your style here. _Ikselam

9 and 10 seem designed for Combos of Death; a 9+10+12+(devastating attack Charm of your Choice) Combo would cost a lot, but the target would automatically die. If you didn't have to use 12 (and you might not; it's Reflexive), it would actually be very cheap for the effect produced. The fact that 9,10, and 12 are all Reflexive means that the attack portion of the Combo wouldn't even have to be MartialArts. _Ikselam

Indeed. I've altered 9 so that it can't botch forced failures, preventing "you fail, you botch, your perfect doesnt work, you DIE" combos. I may add a restriction that you can only force a person to fail one roll per scene. Makes you think harder about what they have to fail. - Telgar

Also, compare to PAoC's Charm-cancellers. An oft-overlooked aspect of those is that they're Supplemental; they require a MA action in order to work. A large part of what makes 10 so ridiculous is that it's Reflexive, with no restrictions on its use apart from the fact that it requires Willpower. Consider the fact that when you activate it, you are basically getting an almost-perfect defense (only something like AWD will cause the attack to succeed on zero successes) or an almost-perfect attack (although it would be expensive versus layered defenses), or a miscellaneous screw-you tool. To see the last in action, consider what happens if you happen to also have Soul Mastery; if you manage to hit the target, they automatically die, because you will use this Charm to make them fail their Stamina check to resist. You can also render useless any Charm whose activation involves a dice roll. Because of this really wide range of usefulness, I'd be much more comfortable with 10 if its use were more limited. _Ikselam

Note that Charm 10 can only cause ACTIONS to fail, not just any roll. But I also make it so it can only be used as a defense and only once per scene on any specific target. - Telgar

Hm. That might actually make it too weak for its prereqs. Related question: What do you define as an "action"? _Ikselam

I agree, really. Removed the defense only, it just applies to actions. Actions I define as something that requires a dice-action. Parry, dodge, investigation...not a reflexive roll in response to a Charm like Soul Mastery. - Telgar

What about reflexive actions created by Charms? For example, counterattacks and reflexive defenses. _Ikselam