Difference between revisions of "TheKaishar/AppearanceArts"

Revision as of 19:01, 10 September 2003

Appearance Arts

Graven Beauty Suffusion
Cost:  1 blood feast per die
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Suffusion
Minimum Appearance:  1
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

The Kaishar involves himself with the slow, flowing nature of blood Essence, re-sculpting his features into an immaculate effigy of perfection. For every point of blood feast spent activating this Art, the Kaishar may raise his effective Appearance by one for the scene. The Kaishar may not add more dice to Appearance than he has total Appearance Arts. Suffusion Arts may be used in the same turn as other Suffusion Arts. No more than the Kaishar’s permanent Essence in Suffusion Arts may be activated per turn.

Phantom in the Mirror Technique
Cost:  3 blood feast
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Appearance:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Graven Beauty Suffusion

After feeding, the Kaishar takes a part of his prey with him. Using this Art, the Kaishar takes reigns of the temporary memory of his stolen vitality, and assumes the face of the most recent contribution to his palate. The rest of his shape accommodates as much as it may, but the alteration is not significant enough to take the exact shape of the individual – however, the face is identical. This Art adds the Kaishar’s total Appearance Arts in difficulty to any attempt to see through his disguise for anyone less than slightly familiar with the individual, and half that (rounded down) for close relations who just know something isn’t right with their friend.

Splendid Doppelganger Method
Cost:  5 blood feast
Duration:  Varies
Type:  Simple
Minimum Appearance:  4
Minimum Essence:  3
Prerequisite Arts:  Phantom in the Mirror Technique

Acquiring this Art is the product of acquiring a profound understanding of the lingering memory inherent in the soupy blood Essence swirling in a Kaishar’s corpse body. There is more in it than the basic Arts allude to, and this Art is the culmination of using the elements there. Heeding the singing current fully, the Kaishar surrenders to the impression of his most recent dinner. Not only does the Kaishar take on the perfect shape of the prey, but also the instinctual facets of his memory and mannerisms. For all purposes except practical knowledge, the Kaishar becomes their prey entirely for one night. Love and emotions drive the Kaishar toward unusual action, and knee-jerk responses guide him through the prey’s intuitions. This is a perfect disguise, and only the Kaishar’s ignorance of minute detail has any chance of revealing the doppelganger amongst the prey’s former herd. This Art may be extended to a week’s duration if the Kaishar accepts a point of Consumption with it. This Art may be extended indefinitely by accepting two permanent points of Consumption, which cannot be rid of until after the shape is relinquished. For the expenditure of three experience points, the new identity becomes permanent; permanency also awards the Kaishar with another point of Consumption – losing one’s identity is only fuel added to the fires of eventual annihilation.

Midnight Catharsis Transformation
Cost:  Varies
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Appearance:  2
Minimum Essence:  1
Prerequisite Arts:  None

Stagnant body misshaping under rippling contortions, the Kaishar hones the latent ferocity of sanguine magic, putting on its predator shape in a brief show of transformation. Activating this Art, the Kaishar may alter his shape in grotesque fashion, adorning features he did not have before – perhaps even donning the new shape to become more suited to battle readiness. The first time purchasing this Art allows the Kaishar to spend three feature slots on the below list. Some features require more than one slot. Each feature has a different blood feast cost – these costs are summed together, and the total cost must be paid for the transformation every time the Kaishar wishes to use it. Subsequent purchases of this Art add one new feature slot; these may be accumulated through repeated purchases of this Art. Some features are stackable – these features accumulate if purchased with feature slots more than once. Their cost also accumulates. This Art only counts once towards the maximum amount of Appearance Arts the Kaishar may learn, no matter how many times he may purchase it. It also only counts once towards the total Appearance Arts the Kaishar knows, for the purposes of limiting other Arts of the same Attribute. A Kaishar may not have more instances of any single Art than he has permanent Essence.

Midnight Feature	Blood Feast	Slots	Effect				
------------------------------------------------------
Barbed Flesh		1		2	1L damage to unarmed contact; stacks
Dense Shape		2		1	Extra –1 health level; stacks
Eight Eyes		1		1	May see in all directions
Extra Upper Limbs	1		1	-1 on multitasking; stacks
Horns			1		1	Spd +1, Acc +2, Dmg +3L, Def +0
Leathery Carapace	2		2	+2B/+2L armor; stacks
Luminous Flesh		1		1	May see 5 feet in dark; stacks
Plumage			1		2	+3 Presence, +3 Performance
Talons			1		1	Spd +3, Acc +1, Dmg +2L, Def +0
Venom			1		1	Arrow frog poison bite
Wings			2		3	May fly (x2 ground movement)

Mind-Shattering Visage
Cost:  2 blood feast
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Simple
Minimum Appearance:  2
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Midnight Catharsis Transformation

Filling his shape with mad, random pulses of blood Essence, the Kaishar contorts himself into the very image of something truly horrendous, for just a brief flashing moment. He may become towering and megalithic momentarily, or spend a millisecond as something incomprehensibly infinite, yet subtly haunting and suggestive. Regardless of the shape chosen for this Art, the effect is the same: the unexpected limitlessness of the Kaishar’s maddening shape holds the secret of breaking sanity. Mortals who witness this Art in close (10 feet or so) effect suffer debilitating plagues of madness and self-doubt, panic and paranoia. If the mortal’s Willpower is less than twice the Kaishar’s permanent Essence, they are driven to flee and gibber madly. These mortals then roll their Willpower, resisted by the Kaishar’s Essence – if they fail, they are driven mad forever, but if they succeed, the madness lasts only through the night. If the Willpower of the mortals exceeds twice the Kaishar’s permanent Essence, the mortal still suffers a –1 penalty to actions for an hour, shaken and uncertain. This Art may be used on beings of permanent Essence higher than one, but doing so requires an extra point of blood feast and gives the Kaishar a point of Consumption, for then the Kaishar truly accepts the seed of Oblivion into his Visage, so that it looms all the more terribly with the added incomprehensible weight of nothingness.

Mantle of the Untamed
Cost:  4 blood feast
Duration:  One scene
Type:  Simple
Minimum Appearance:  3
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Arts:  Midnight Catharsis Transformation

The Kaishar pushes his shape to the upper limits of transmogrification, taking his ideal of fierce independence and shaping himself according to it, completely leaving behind his human frame for a short time. Upon learning this Art, and for each subsequent purchase of it, the Kaishar selects two shapes – a beast of the sky and a beast of the land – he may transform into using this Art. These animals may be no bigger than the resplendent elk, and no smaller than the beshadowed rat. Clothes or possessions do not change with the Kaishar, instead shredding or falling free of him. This Art only counts once towards the maximum amount of Appearance Arts the Kaishar may learn, no matter how many times he may purchase it. It also only counts once towards the total Appearance Arts the Kaishar knows, for the purposes of limiting other Arts of the same Attribute. A Kaishar may not have more instances of any single Art than he has permanent Essence.

Got Balthasar?