SolarMelee/FourWillowsWeeping
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MartialArts/StormCrowStyle is a Melee charm tree done in the spirit of Martial Arts, though it fails some of the criteria (like having a single pinnacle Charm.)
House Rules
Heavenly Guardian Defence is a stupid Charm. In my games, it will only perfectly parry an attack from someone with Essence no greater than yours.
Charms
New Perfect Defences
These Charms replace the now-flawed Heavenly Guardian Defence as the low-Essence Solar defensive capacity. They redistribute and rebalance perfection access.
Edge-of-Creation Barrier
- Cost: 5 motes
- Duration: Indefinite
- Type: Reflexive
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Hungry Tiger Technique
Using this Charm, the Solar generates a number of Melee boons equal to his Dexterity score. The character retains boons in the same manner that he retains the hanging extra actions of Principle of Motion. In general, an Ability has a number of Charms that generate boons; a boon can be spent to power the effect of any Charm of the Ability that generated it. Boons cannot power the Charms of other Abilities unless it is explicitly stated in the Charm.
While this Charm is in effect, one Melee boon can be spent to set the number of successes of a parry to exactly the number required to reduce an attack's successes to 0. This can be used after the parry is rolled. While the character retains any Melee boons, he cannot deactivate this Charm.
Flawless Dawn Wall
- Cost: 3 motes
- Duration: Indefinite
- Type: Reflexive
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Bulwark Stance
Using this Charm, the Solar generates a number of Melee boons, as with Edge-of-Creation Barrier, equal to his Melee score. While this Charm is in effect, one Melee boon can be spent to convert a parry into a perfect parry; if it has sufficient successes to reduce an attack's successes to 0, then it parries the attack and whatever ill effects it causes, comprehensively. This can be used after the parry is rolled. While the character retains any Melee boons, he cannot deactivate this Charm.
Preservation of Infinite Joy
- Cost: 2 motes, 1 Willpower
- Duration: Indefinite
- Type: Relexive
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Edge of Morning Sunlight
Using this Charm, the Solar generates a number of Melee boons, as with Edge-of-Creation Barrier, equal to his Dexterity score. While this Charm is in effect, one Melee boon can be spent to make a parry perfectly able to block any attack, including immaterial attacks and those that cannot be parried.
Esoteric Charms
Torrid Censer Posture
- Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Simple
- Duration: One Scene
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Sandstorm-Wind Attack
The Exalt's weapon smokes with the energy of his anima, filling the air around him with the smell of hot steel. While he is performing this Charm, he may spend 1 mote to convert an attack to a ranged Melee attack as Sandstorm-Wind Attack.
Feints
White Flash
- Cost: 2 motes
- Type: Reflexive
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 2
- Min. Essence: 1
- Prereqs: None
Sunlight flickering on the blades of the Chosen can confuse and blind their enemies. The most basic use of this is the White Flash. This Charm modifies a preexisting action. The Exalt's player makes a Melee attack roll, substituting Manipulation for Dexterity. Each success on this roll subtracts one die from the target's defensive rolls against the next attack unaffected by this Charm that the Exalt makes. This can reduce pools to zero; the dice subtracted are deducted from the first defensive roll, and if any remain they are deducted from the second defensive roll, and so on. These pool reductions do not carry over from one attack to the next, however.
Pillar of Dawn
- Cost: 2 motes
- Type: Supplemental
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 3
- Min. Essence: 1
- Prereqs: White Flash
The second method of confusion is the Pillar of Dawn. When the Exalt enacts this Charm, his blade shines with an actinic light that is painful to look upon. The target of this technique must succeed at a Willpower roll to attempt to parry or dodge. Dodges that do not require the defender to be aware of the attack are exempt from this effect, but their pool is reduced to its minimum if the defender does not succeed the Willpower test.
Diamond Sword
- Cost: 4 motes
- Type: Supplemental
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 4
- Min. Essence: 2
- Prereqs: Pillar of Dawn
The third method of confusion is the Diamond Sword. The sword affected by this attack weaves a prismatic tapestry of light into the air; its edge becomes lost in the radiance. The target of this attack must succeed at a reflexive opposed test of his Temperance against the attacker's Appearance in order to attempt to parry or dodge the attack.
Two Wings Strike
- Cost: 4 motes
- Type: Simple
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 3
- Min. Essence: 2
- Prereqs: White Flash
With a deceptive movement of his blade, the Solar makes an opening for his next attack. He makes two Melee attacks. The defender must react to these as though to a single attack. If the target attempts to parry the first attack, he may not attempt to parry the second. The same is true for dodging. Likewise, it is only possible to counterattack once. The attacker must choose one attack and inform the ST which it is; the attack he chooses cannot deal more than his Essence in Health Levels of damage.
This works by considering both attack rolls as the same attack; you can't double-dip defences against it. Infernal Charms that allow one to double-dip defences, like the Ninefold Darkness Defence. can be used against the two attacks just as if it were being used against a single attack.
In Opposition to Perfection
Prince of Apprentices Attitude
- Cost: 3 motes
- Type: Supplemental
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Heavenly Guardian Defence, Excellent Strike
This attack is invulnerable to the idealized defences of the Chosen; its power lies in its imperfection, by which it bypasses the lines of the canonical counters. Parries and dodges which succeed automatically without a roll, such as Heavenly Guardian Defence and Seven Shadows Evasion, are converted into a normal defensive action without any supernatural enhancing effects derived from that Charm; instead, they roll the defender's full defensive pool when used against an attack enhanced by this Charm. Additionally, Charms which generate a defence that succeeds regardless of their number of successes, such as certain Lunar Charms, are affected in the same way.
Conversely, an attack enhanced by this Charm cannot be a perfect attack - it must not be an attack that succeeds automatically regardless of the number of attack successes rolled. An example of a perfect attack is the Archery Charm Accuracy Without Distance. A defence of the form of Accuracy Without Distance, which includes a roll but will succeed automatically regardless, is stripped of its automatic success ability.
Ash and Thorn Assault
- Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Simple
- Duration: One Scene
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 4
- Prereqs: Prince of Apprentices Attitude
The Exalted charms his motion with the fluttering motion of falling leaves; his weapon twists through unpredictable patterns. While this Charm is in effect the Exalt's non-perfect attacks have the effect of Prince of Apprentices Attitude.
Smiling Dawn Dharma
- Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Simple
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 5
- Prereqs: Refulgent Spirit Edge (below)
The Exalt performs a movement snipped out of the dances the Wyld danced before the world was made; his movements are supernaturally innocuous to their target, though to other observers they may shimmer with danger or fascinate with their unshaped beauty. The Exalt performs a Melee attack, but to the target's perception, the attack bears no harm; it is no attack at all. He can take no action to respond to it. Defences that do not require actions, such as Snake Form and soak-increasing Charms, still function normally, but persistent reflexive defences such as Flow Like Blood do not. In addition, persons other than the target are explicitly permitted to act against it if their abilities permit; the Charm affacts only the target and no others.
Better Offence
This set of Charms is a response to the complaint that offensive Charms tend to focus on damage improvement and that Charms that simply improve the quality of attacks are horribly inferior to defensive Charms of the same type. Consider them not to be in the universe of ordinary Exalted, but in the universe where offense is an equal to defense or superior.
Orichalcum Chrysanthemum Blade
- Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
- Duration: Instant
- Type: Extra Actions
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 4
- Prereqs: Iron Whirlwind Attack
Like the thousand-petalled chrysanthemum, the character can touch countless things at once. She bursts into a flower of light, her blade seeming to replicate itself to fill the blossom's petals. The Exalt's player rolls the character's Melee attack pool; we will call this roll the chrysanthemum roll.. For each success on the chrysanthemum roll, the character may make a Melee attack.
The chrysanthemum roll explicitly must be affected by any Supplemental Charms this Charm is Comboed with that add dice to an attack roll. At the Storyteller's discretion, it can also be affected by other Supplemental Charms which modify attack rolls - it if is, those must always be used as well. Such Charms include the Sidereal Orchestration of Conflict.
This Charm is my vision of a Solar Ringing Anvil Onslaught; it reflects its superior nature in the larger pool rolled, the lack of a cap, and its unusual Comboing properties. I wouldn't expect anyone to actually use this Charm, apart from within some kind of Ultimate Finishing Technique Combo, or a high-Essence Solar who's using it to unload some ungodly ping flurry.
Lambent Dancing Sunlight
- Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Simple
- Duration: One Scene
- Min. Melee: 1
- Min. Essence: 2
- Prereqs: Excellent Strike
With this Charm, the Exalt lightens his blade so it moves with the grace and sensitivity of a beam of light or a calligrapher's pen. He adds his permanent Essence to Melee attack dicepools.
Meteor Pursues the Moon
- Cost: 4 motes
- Type: Simple
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 3
- Min. Essence: 2
- Prereqs: Lambent Dancing Sunlight, Hungry Tiger Technique
The Exalt's blade falls toward his target, drawn there magnetically. Gliding on Essence currents, the attack will inevitably strike its target if no force opposes it. The Exalt performs a Melee attack that cannot be dodged (though if the attack is unsuccessful, it still fails).
Refulgent Spirit Edge
- Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Supplemental
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 3
- Min. Essence: 4
- Prereqs: Meteor Pursues the Moon
The warrior's blade burns with the intensity of his soul. This Charm makes a single Melee attack impossible to fend off completely, if it is successful. Parrying and dodging cannot reduce the attack's successes below the Exalt's permanent Essence. This is a perfect effect. If this Charm is put into a Combo with any Charms that add dice to an attack (Excellent Strike, for instance), the mote costs of both Charms are doubled.
Shimmering Golden Mirage
- Cost: 3 motes
- Type: Supplemental
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 3
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Lambent Dancing Sunlight, Summoning the Loyal Steel
With this Charm, the Exalt's blade flickers in and out of Elsewhere as he strikes. This increases the difficulty to parry the attack by the Exalt's Melee. This Charm may only be used with a weapon the Exalt is intimately familiar with and can summon in and out of Elsewhere as per Summoning the Loyal Steel.
Advanced Counterattack Techniques
Almoury of Earthry Sphele Meditation
- Cost: 7 motes, 2 Willpower
- Duration: One Scene
- Type: Simple
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 5
- Prerequisite Charms: Ready in 8 Directions Stance, Fivefold Bulwark Stance
Rendering himself perfectly unified with weapon, battlefield, and opponent, the Solar may perform a counterattack, using his full offensive pool, against any character attacking him. This counterattack occurs after the attack is rolled and the Solar may use defences prior to executing it, but before the triggering attack's damage roll. As with Solar Counterattack, this may not be used against other counterattacks. Furthermore, countering a ranged attack requires that the Solar have sufficient movement to reach his attacker.
The Solar adds dice to his counterattack pool equal to the extra successes he has on a parry against the triggering attack. If he causes an attack to miss, as by using Seven Shadows Evasion or a dodge roll, his prowess is such that he may still roll a parry pool against that attack (this Charm does not provide a parry pool, or allow the character to roll a parry pool against an attack that may not be parried) for the sole purpose of positioning himself to improve his counterattack!
Advanced Counterattack Techniques that are old and probably suck
Swaying Judgement Scale
- Cost: 4+ motes
- Type: Reflexive
- Duration: Instant
- Min. Melee: 4
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Solar Counterattack, Excellent Strike
This Charm teaches the principle of equal-and-opposite reaction; with it, the Solar may counterattack as per Solar Counterattack, and furthermore he may add dice to the counterattack at a rate of two dice per mote spent. He may not add more dice than his Dexterity + Melee in this manner.
Serenity-of-Ivory Kata
- Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Reflexive
- Duration: One Scene
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Swaying Judgement Scale
This Charm is so named for the distinctive Essence discharges it creates; white-hot arcs of light, tapering like tusks, outline the motions of its elegant techniques. While this Charm is in effect, the Exalt may reflexively parry any counterattack made against him at his full defensive pool, and may add dice to it as per Golden Essence Block.
Thousandfold Lotus Mandala
- Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
- Type: Simple
- Duration: One Scene
- Min. Melee: 5
- Min. Essence: 3
- Prereqs: Ready in 8 Directions Stance
While this Charm is active, the Solar moves through a defensive-offensive pattern that touches all that approach him, drawing eldritch shapes in the air. He may reflexively counter any hand-to-hand attack as per Solar Counterattack with his permanent Essence in dice, or add Essence dice to any counterattacks other Charms provide.
Comments
Orichalcum Crysanthemum Blade, ow ow OW OW! I love it, although using it in a Combo seems like a recipe for emptying your Essence pools in three seconds flat. - Moxiane
Thanks! John and I talked about OCB - in a Combo with just Excellent Strike, you can reliably pump out like 12 attacks. It is a great way to drain your Essence dead. - willows
Don't you think 2 die for 1m is a bit cheap for even a counterattack charm, admittedly it is somewhat defensive, but I would have thought it offensive enough to rate the increased cost of offensive die adders. Diamond
- I think the increased base cost accounts for this differential. - willows
In OCB, since everyone seems to be getting in on this, (and since it's a DAMN! cool image! ^_^ Suzume like!), the explanitory text might be a touch clearer if sentence seven were moved inbetween sentences three and four. Keep up the good work! -Suzume (Although, now that I look at it closer, I see where that wouldn't work, so maybe just a clarification of the language, somehow?)
- Thanks for the compliment! I edited it so it makes more sense, I hope. - willows
- Perfect! ^_^ Clear as crystal. Now to use this... >Grinning wickedly at the thought of what her players are going to suffer< -Suzume
Hmmm, I'm not sure about the new perfects. I think I'd like it better if the "enhancing" charms didn't actually generate boons, but instead allowed boons generated with Edge-of-Creation Barrier to be more powerful and do more stuff. Otherwise, interesting idea. Hmmmm. I'm not sure if I like the changes it would make to the combat dynamic, but it is a nifty idea.
- CrownedSun
- Thanks! - w
