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Moxiane’s Solar Ride Charms

The Chosen of the Unconquered Sun are among the finest riders in Creation, should they choose to be, exhorting performances from their mounts that can make even the horse-lords of the Marukani weep with envy. These Charms are meant to provide a decent toolkit for a riding Solar, replacing the (honestly quite poor) Charms from both Exalted and Castebook: Eclipse. Despite certain wordings, all of these Charms can be used either on or when riding any applicable animal.

Prancing Steed Method

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: 1 scene
 Min. Ride: 2
 Min. Essence: 1
 Prerequisites: None

By sending Essence along the bond between mount and rider the Solar can increase the reflexes of both, allowing the pair to react with inhuman rapidity. As long as the character is mounted add his Ride score to his initiative for the scene.

Pounding Charge Meditation

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Ride: 3
 Min. Essence: 1
 Prerequisites: Prancing Steed Method

As the Exalted masters the mounted arts he can use the momentum of the charge to terrible effect, greatly increasing the force and power of an attack. When the character uses this Charm it adds the Strength of his mount of the base damage of the attack. This occurs before any multiplication due to charging. Pounding Charge Meditation can be placed in a Combo with Charms of other Abilities.

Flashing Hoof Retort

 Cost: 1 mote
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Ride: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Pounding Charge Meditation

The mutual respect between the Exalted and his mount increases to the point where the horse will strike at those who dare to attack its friend and master. Whenever the character is mounted and attacked in close-combat he can activate this Charm and his mount will make an immediate counter-attack. This is usually performed as a Kick or Claw attack (depending on the mount). Flashing Hoof Retort cannot be used in response to any other counter-attack Charm or effect.

Terrain-Eating Canter

 Cost: 6 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: 1 day
 Min. Ride: 3
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: None

Horses have been used as mounts since the time of the Primordials, their combination of speed, carrying capacity and endurance making them almost ideal for the purpose. Unfortunately, horses also have many weaknesses, including a far greater sensitivity to extremes of terrain than humans so. This Charm was created with the express purpose of mitigating that problem. While Terrain-Eating Canter is in effect the character’s mount can largely ignore rough terrain – rugged grassland becomes as easy to traverse as a well-tended lawn, hills seem to flow beneath its hooves or feet, and swamps and rivers can be traversed with little or no difficulty. Only the roughest terrain (mountains and deserts, for example) will have any deleterious effect on the character’s travel, and even then those effects are greatly reduced. Note that this Charm does not affect the endurance of the mount, it merely reduces the effect of terrain.

Thunderbolt Gallop Method

 Cost: 2 motes
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Ride: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Terrain-Eating Canter

Flooding the muscles of his mount with Essence, the Solar lightens both his own weight and that of the animal itself, to the point where it seems to flow effortlessly across the landscape. The mount’s speed for this turn is multiplied by the permanent Essence of the Solar (regardless of type of movement). This Charm can only be activated once per turn.

Wall-Crossing Leap

 Cost: 2 motes
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Ride: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Terrain-Eating Canter

With a burst of Essence and an encouraging word the Exalted can get his mount to make leaps far beyond its natural capacity, clearing walls and small lakes with a single jump. The mount and character make a single jump that covers a distance in feet equal to the mount’s Strength times the character’s permanent Essence times 10, and has a maximum height of half that amount. This Charm can only be used once per turn.

Mount of Legend Method

 Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
 Type: Simple
 Duration: 1 scene
 Min. Ride: 3
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: None

Rather than providing the short-lived bursts of power that other Charms do, Mount of Legend Method is far more transformative. Golden Essence sinks into the flesh and bone of the animal, strengthening and improving it in manifold ways, to create a mount truly worthy of one of the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun. While this Charm is in effect the mount gains a bonus equal to the character’s permanent Essence to it’s Dexterity and Stamina, as well as a bonus of half that amount (round down) to its Strength. Furthermore it becomes able to soak Lethal damage as the Exalted do and can understand simple spoken commands. Fragmentary records from the First Age suggest that repeated uses of this Charm on the same creature could have permanent effects.

Phantom Steed

 Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
 Type: Simple
 Duration: 1 day
 Min. Ride: 5
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: Mount of Legend Method

This is essentially identical to the Charm on p.208 of Exalted with the addition that the Essence mount has health levels equal to the Exalted’s Essence + Willpower and ignores all wound penalties.

Horse-and-Rider Bonding Meditation

 Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
 Type: Simple
 Duration: 1 day
 Min. Ride: 4
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: Mount of Legend Method

Whispering to one’s mount while looking it in the eyes is a time-honoured method of communicating your wishes to the animal, and to improve the partnership between the two. With this Charm the character increases the strength of that bond to uncanny levels, becoming able to guide and control his mount with a mere thought. The horse will never panic or buck and will adjust to its rider being struck in combat, so that he will never have to make Ride checks to stay in the saddle, while for all other manoeuvres the Exalted will gain a bonus equal to his permanent Essence.

Comments

Oooooh! Nice, I like these. I'm biased for revised Ride trees, obviously, but still...very good stuff:D I think this might even be a better tree than my own, though I'm not sure I entirely like the changes to Phantom Steed. - CrownedSun