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Solar Melee Charms by CrownedSun

Melee I (Core Melee Charms)

Bone-Shattering Force Blow

 Cost: 5 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Melee: 4
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Fire and Stones Strike

The character enhances his attacks so as to cause maximum blunt force trauma, his blows rattling armor with force sufficient to pulverize bone, rendering heavy armor and other forms of protection notably less effective. This charm was particularly common in the First Age, as armor became more and more potent and Exalted Warriors looked for ways around this form of defense. After a successful hit on a target, the character's minimum damage is raised to twice his Essence. This is minimum damage after soak, and does not raise the characters damage rating to this value if he would normally inflict less damage. This damage can either be lethal or bashing, as the character wishes, but for this charm does not count as "inflicting damage" for the purposes of charms that require such a condition as part of their function.

Example:</b> Illhousen, an Essence 5 Solar of the Dawn Caste, strikes out at a heavily armored Dragon-Blooded warrior with this charm. After defenses, Illhousen scores one success on his attack. The base damage for his sword is 8L, increased to 9L by the single success left over. The Dragon-Blood has a lethal soak score of 18. Illhousen does 9 dice of lethal damage.

<b>Pitiless Scything Strike

 Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Melee: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: Bone-Shattering Force Blow

The character with this charm is effortlessly lethal, able to bring instant death to any opponent he can touch without warning. The methods vary as widely as the weapon used with this charm. A sword slices heavily armored infantry in twain or inflicts an instant decapitation, a hammmer crushes skills, and even daggers can slice open veins and bleed away all life in mere moments. Any successful attack that penetrates soak, infliciting at least 1L damage after soak has already been applied (not including Minimum Damage, allows the Solar to forfeit rolled damage to instead inflict an automatic ten levels of lethal damage to his target. If the target has a reflexive soak charm available, he may use it to attempt to reduce the post-soak damage below the threshold required for this charm. Otherwise, this damage is not further affected by the character's soak and is not rolled but automatically applied to the character's health chart. This charm must be used prior to the attack roll, and causes the character and his weapon to glow bright piercing gold.

Whirling Dervish Assault

 Cost: 7 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Extra Action
 Minimum Melee: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Peony Blossom Attack

The Exalt advances in a whirl of steel, his advance both relentless and unstoppable, his blade slicing out with liquid speed to strike down any enemy who blocks his path or comes into reach. The character may move up to his normal movement distance when using this charm, and may even run or sprint if he wishes to do so, though that causes him to loose his normal action. While making this movement, the Exalt gains one Melee attack against any target that comes within melee range of his weapon at any time. You cannot attack any target more than once, and this charm (along with your movement) instantly ends if any of your attacks are parried. This charm can explictly be Comboed with Athletics charms that increase your movement rate, movement-based attack charms such as Leaping Tiger Attack, or other similar charms.

Melee II (Cool Blade Tricks)

Summoning the Loyal Steel</b> (Revised)

 <b>Cost: 1 mote
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Melee: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Retrieve the Fallen Weapon

The character forms a close bond with his chosen weapon, and the two can never be truly separated from that point on. The character make as if to ready his weapon, and activate this charm, and his weapon appears suddenly in his hand. It does not matter where the weapon was previously, or even if the weapon was in another realm entirely. In addition, when holding his weapon the Solar can banish it into Elsewhere. A weapon that has been placed Elsewhere is gone from the world and can only be regained by a Solar using this charm. When used to retrieve a weapon banished to Elsewhere, Summoning the Loyal Steel does not count as the use of a charm for that turn. The Exalt must have an extremely close relationship with a single weapon to use Summoning the Loyal Steel on it and cannot know more than one weapon at a time well enough to use this charm with it.

Radiant Golden Blade

 Cost: 2 motes
 Duration:/b> Instant
 <b>Type:/b> Supplemental
 <b>Minimum Melee:/b> 2
 <b>Minimum Essence:/b> 2
 <b>Prerequisite Charms:/b> None

<b>Edge of Morning Sunlight (Revised)

 Cost: 1 mote
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Melee: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Radiant Golden Blade

The Solar Exalted channels some of the essence of the Dawn through his blade, giving it the power to burn away the darkness and enhancing its effectiveness against their ancient primordial enemies and those touched of their essence. When used against the demon-touched or the weakest of the undead, this charms effects are potent indeed. Any Extra who is wounded by an attack enhanced with this charm is instantly snuffed out. More powerful opponents suffer additional dice of damage equal to the Solar's Essence rating and an additional -1 wound penality if they are injured by the attack. This charm affects all kinds of demons, and undead, as well as Deathlords and the Abyssal Exalted.

Melee III (Defense)

Bulwark Stance (Revised)

 Cost: 4 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Melee: 3
 Minimum Esssence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Golden Essence Block

The character gains the ability to use defensive Essence flows to gain perfect form and poise, aligning himself naturally against all of a given opponents attacks. When used, this charm enhances the effects of a single dodge attempt so that it can be used against every attack an opponent makes for the rest of the turn. The character makes the appropriate roll as many times as necessary. All benefits, modifiers and penalities on the supplemented parry charm also apply to all additional parries made with this charm. If placed in a combo with the appropriate parry charm, Bulwark Stance can be used with a reflexive parry as normal.

Heavenly Guardian Defense</b> (Revised)

 <b>Cost: 3 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Melee: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Bulwark Stance, Dipping Swallow Defense

The Solar adopts the posture of the perfect swordsman, becoming undefeatable by mundane force alone. When using this charm, the character may block a single attack against him without rolling a parry. This is a perfect defense, and defeats any blockable attack that it is presented against without fail. If used against an unblockable attack, the character can roll his full Dexterity + Melee defense pool against a difficulty of the opponents Essence; on a success, he stops the attack. A character using a mundane weapon to block the attacks of Essence 6+ gods, demons, or deathlords will almost certainly destroy the weapon so used, but the attack will be stopped at no harm to the Exalted.

I Am the Bulwark</b>

 <b>Cost: None
 Duration: Permanent
 Type: Special
 Minimum Melee: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: Heavenly Guardian Defense

The Solar with this charm has aspired to a new level of intimacy with his weapon of choice, and perfectly understands the vagaries of its use and the secrets of its limitations. So strong is the characters bond that he transcends the lesser limitations of his weapon, and gains several potent benefits. First, he can use Excellent Strike without the use of a combo or the expenditure of any willpower. Any experience points used to combo Excellent Strike are freed, and can be used in the creation of other combos. Second, any unblockable attack made against him looses that property and can be blocked normally with charm-enhanced defenses. This property only works against physical attacks, and only applies to weapon-based parries.

When he first purchases this charm, the character must pick a particular class of weapons such as swords, axes, spears. In order to recieve any of the benefits from this charm the character must be using a weapon of that particular class. You can purchase this charm again to perfect your mastery of other weapons.

Wailing Steel Defense

 Cost:  10 motes, 2 willpower
 Duration:  One turn
 Type:  Reflexive
 Minimum Melee:  5
 Minimum Essence:  4
 Prerequisite Charms:  Heavenly Guardian Defense, Ready In Eight Directions Stance

The character intercepts an attack or flury of attacks with a veritable wall of steel, casually turning aside most attacks and retaliating with a number of vicious counterattacks. From the chaos of battle emerges the Order of the Solar Exalt standing above the bodies of his fallen foes. The character can parry every attack against him this turn with his normal Dexterity + Melee pool, and adds a number of automatic successes equal to his Essence. In addition, he may make three counterattacks against every opponent who attacked him this turn. He only recieves three counterattacks per attacker, regardless of how many attacks any individual attacker launched against him. A target may defend against both counterattacks with a single activation of a perfect defense.

Changes to Other Charms

• Fivefold Bulwark Stance: now requires Bulwark Stance and Dipping Swallow Technique

Melee IV (Duelist)

Master Duelists Eye

 Cost: None
 Duration: Permanent
 Type: Special
 Minimum Melee: 1
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

An Exalt with this charm is able to perceive the subtle flows of essence that make up a persons fighting style, allowing him to approximate his opponent’s skill at arms and some of the fundamentals of his combat style. With a reflexive expenditure of 1 mote, the Solar can spot the level of Melee ability that the opponent possesses, identify most Melee charms that might be in use (even if activated with Personal Essence), and derive a rough idea of the opponent’s combat style giving him an idea of his next action.

Example: Illhousen, engaged in negotiations with a number of Dynasts from Chiaroscuro, uses this charm. He determines that each of them has Melee 5, and have activated a number of Melee-affecting scene long charms using personal essence. They intend to attack him soon, two of them ganging up to hold him down while the third finishes him with a spear.

Dance of Blades

 Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Melee: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Master Duelists Eye

The Solar with this charm adapts perfectly to the combat style of his opponent, unerringly searching for a weakness in his foes defenses. A Parry is followed by a Riposte, then a Reversal, duelist circles duelist, until eventually the Solar proves himself superior. Any time the Solar’s attack is successfully parried (his attack does not hit), he can use this charm to immediately make a second attack. If this charm is in a combo with other non-reflexive melee charms, all applicable attack charms must be reactivated for each additional attack. The Solar cannot make more attacks in a turn using this charm than his Essence rating, including his original attack. The use of a perfect defense at any point renders this charm inapplicable. Similarly, this charm cannot be used if your opponent opts to Dodge instead.

Foe-Barring Assault

 Cost: 3 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Melee: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Dance of Blades

Often the Solar must turn his great skill at arms to the defense of others, using blade to pry others from the jaws of death. This charm is slightly more proactive in it's defense of others, working as it does off a sense of deterence. With his castemark burning on his forehead, the Solar stands between his foe and his ward, his magic tuned toward making the foe instantly regret any action against those the Solar protects. When he activates this charm, the Solar picks a single enemy, and some action that the Solar wishes to prevent that ward from taking. So long as the targeted enemy does not undertake the action in question, this charm has no effect, and the Solar's action is "wasted." If the Enemy undertakes the forbidden action, however, the Solar can make a single melee attack. The Enemy must make a choice: He can either abandon the action, or suffer the attack without defending against it in any fashion. The use of any defensive charm is considered "abandoning the action".

Solars often put this charm in Combos; if used so, the Solar does not have to activate the other charms in the combo unless he actually makes the attack. If the enemy does not make the attack at all, or chooses to abandon the action instead of suffering the attack, no essence or willpower cost for the other charms need be paid. A Solar using this charm gives up his main action, but may still abort to defense if attacked. However, unless using a Reflexive Defense charm or action, doing such aborts the effects of this charm and leaves the enemy free to undertake the forbidden action. The "action" to be defended against must be some kind of attack, or non-combat action. One cannot choose to use this charm if the enemy "defends against my friends attack", or similar.

Complete Charm Trees

• the Blade Bond Tree - /BladeBond

Comments

Okay, I was going to explain some of my changes to Bulwark, HDG and so on but I forgot -- so here we go. First, I changed the structure of the tree a tiny bit. It's possible to grab Bulwark Stance without getting Dipping Swallow Defense. This required I change HGD and Fivefold (incidentally, I forgot to note to change to Fivefold on here -- whoops -- fixed that!). The change to Bulwark, simply, allows you to parry all of /one opponents/ attacks. It's very useful if your facing one opponent who likes to split, but not quite so much if your facing a lot of opponents. So it balances well with Dipping Swallow. One reason I like this change is because it's not a speed bump. It stacks VERY VERY well with Heavenly Guardian Defense. I'm almost convinced that it's overpowered, and might add an extra willpower cost to Bulwark when its used with a perfect defense. However, the ability to perfect all the attacks of one specific opponent for 8 motes, 2 willpower isn't TOO bad.

One solution would be to make Heavenly Guardian Defense a supplemental charm as well, but I think I prefer it like this. Solars are supposed to be badass, and if its a little overpowered I figured it'd be easier to raise the cost a bit. However, in the end, I decided... "This IS too powerful," and I applied a light coating of Nerf to HGD by taking away the "can block the unblockable" stuff. I figure the net change isn't too bad, since you can now use it to become completely invulnerable against one attacker for a turn with a combo for an additional 7xp. Not so bad, eh? I brought back the old HGD with "I am the Bulwark", the new charm that I wrote up. It's a special permanent, and provides both an offensive and a defensive bonus. It's Essence 4, so I wanted it to be pretty badass.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this defensive package. It's cool, discourages speed bumps, and seems to be pretty balanced. Comments welcome! -- CS

Dude, these Charms are all excellent. Bulwark Stance has a typo-- it says 'dodge' instead of 'parry'. Other than that, you've removed the speedbumpness, changed HGD while leaving the "Solars can't be beaten with single attacks" thing intact, and even have a nifty new counterattack in there. Excellent work all around. -TheMyriadOfShades