Miedvied/NightShadows
- Nightshadows</b>
- Artifact <b>••• - •••••
- Armor
- Statistics and Commitment Vary; see individual descriptions
While Warstriders were often the artillery weapon of choice among First Age Solars and their terrestrial knights, and sidereals stayed far from the field of battle, working their divinations on the stars and the blood that moved beneath them - there were still the Lunars.
While, admittedly, there were some Exalts that chose to use to use the Nightshadows, the Nightshadows were truly developed by the No-Moon sorcerors in order to aid their own people to march into battle beside their Solar rulers and lovers.
The Nightshadows, as a nod to their animalistic creators, were created - most often - in the shapes of wolves, while the occasional greater Nightshadow was forged in the manner of larger beasts; lions and bears were occasionally to be had. Standing easily 18' at the shoulder, and running 30' from nose to tail, the Nightshadows are truly immense companions to the Warstriders.
The foremost difference between the Nightshadows and Warstriders was the fact that Warstriders were created almost only in amalgams of moonsilver and orichalcum; while the No-Moons would forge the occasional golden Nightshadow for a lover, none were created for the other Exalts, who were felt to be unworthy of the greatest creation of Luna's embraced.
A second, but no less important, distinction is the fact that where Warstriders allow their pilot to use their own Charms and simply allow the Warstrider to function as a suit of armor, Lunars were forced to rely on the power of the Nightshadow itself, as their protean nature could not be easily communicated to the armor itself. As such, the Nightshadows required a far greater amount of power invested in them, as well as additional power sources beyond the mere hearthstone required by the Warstriders.
- Benefits:
-Great Strength: Nightshadow's greatest advantage is their strength. The armor, instead of the wearer, propels itself through the power of Essence. The pilot hangs in a complex web of moonsilver threads -bound so tightly that the slightest movement is impossible; he becomes one with the Nightshadow. Unlike Warstriders, Nightshadows not only lend their strength to damage, lifting/carrying, and breaking objects, but also to the distance that a Nightshadow can jump.
-Unlimited Endurance: Same as Warstriders.
-Massive Armor: Same as Warstriders.
-Powerful Weapons: The Nightshadows, being in the forms of animals, do not recieve massive weapons. However, they do have their own claws and bites. They recieve the same penalty against small targets (losing 2 sxx's), as well as the ability to brush past weaker weapons.
- Essence Requirements:
- 10 motes to harmonize
- Requires a hearthstone of level 4 or greater. (That's 4, not 3)
- Nightshadows incur less fatigue than Warstriders; they are less like armor and more like an extension of the body. This blessing extends only to Lunars - who /do/ to some extent morph into the armor. This does not extend to their Solar partners. A lunar in a nightshadow may subtract 2 from its fatigue r ating. Solars must use charms as normal to reduce fatigue. Mobility penalties are also lower than in Warstriders, due to the massive amount of moonsilver used in its construction - even in the Solar Oricalchum versions.
- Limited Vision. As normal, however, the Exalt inside of the Nightshadow may commit 3 motes to give him the ability to share senses with the Nightshadow; and thus, enhance the Nightshadow with his own charms. Solars may use Awareness-enhancing charms as normal, and need not commit the 3 essence to use Awareness charms - this simply negates the -2 penalty. Lunars must pay a surchase of 2 motes on each such charm, due to the extra effort of molding the Nightshadow's physical form according to the needs of the charm.
- Limited Manipulation. No fine manipulation is possible; the Exalts must deal with using paws and nose and jaws. All attempts to perform delicate tasks are at +5 difficulty, and tasks like picking locks or turning the pages of a book are simply impossible.
- No Sorcery. Same.
- Giant Size: Tracking one is trivial. Solars using charms to make themselves impossible to track increase the difficulty of their survival roll by 4. Lunars can't use stealth charms in the Nightshadow at all.
- Maintenance: Same.
- Individual Armor Statistics</b>
<b>Type: Wolf form (level 3 artifact)
Most Commonly Used by: The majority of Lunars that used such Nightshadows at all, used the Wolves. The wolves were the most agile, most versatile, and the most likely to keep up with their fast-moving Solar brethren. Further, because they were actually faster, they could serve in the added capacity of powerful and reliable scouts. They were also cheaper to manufacture, which was definitely an added benefit.
-Soak (L/B): 16/16
-Strength: 8
-Mobility Penalty: -4
-Fatigue Value: 4
-Accuracy: +5 (Applies only to natural attacks of the Nightshadow; Solars using charms like fiery solar chakram or solar bolt while in the Nightshadow do not gain that accuracy bonus. Further, weapons like the Nightshadow's built-in essence cannons do not recieve this bonus. This applies only to /natural/ attacks; claws, bites, etc.)
-Movement Factor: x14 (sidebar pg 122 notes that Warstriders gain a x10 movement bonus; wolves /do/ move faster).
-Built-In Charms: Essence Claws, Chain Gun, Massive Jumps, Camoflage, Speed Boost
Type: Lion form (level 4 artifact)
Most Commonly Used by: These were usually crafted for Solars. While some southern Lunars found affinity with the Lion form, and appreciated it's emphasis on strength over speed, it was not found to be particularly popular.
-Soak (L/B): 18/18
-Strength: 10
-Mobility Penalty: -5
-Fatigue Value: 4
-Accuracy: +3
-Movement Factor:<\b> x 12
<b>-Built-In Charms:<\b> Essence Claw, Speed Boosts, Essence Roar, Massive Jumps, Thick Skin
<b>Type: Grizzly Bear form (level 5 artifact)
Most Commonly Used By: Lunars that disdained anything but the biggest, bloodiest battles. Solars simply found no use for this, save for the occasional Brawler that got a kick out of being a tank.
-Soak: 20/20
-Strength: 13
-Mobility Penalty: -6
-Fatigue Value: 4
-Accuracy: +3
-Movement Factor: x8
-Built-In Charms: Essence Claw, Essence Jaws, Chain Gun, Earthshaking Paw, Thick Skin
Nightshadow Weapons:</b>
<b>Wolf: -Claws: Spd 8, Acc 0, Damage 5L, Def 0, Rate 6 -Bite: Spd 12, Acc -1, Damage 12, Def -2, Rate 4
Lion: -Claws: Spd 5, Acc 1, Damage 9L, Def 0, Rate 4 -Bite: Spd 8, Acc -1, Damage 14L, Def -2, Rate 2
Bear: -Claws: Spd 4, Acc +1, Damage 12L, Def -2, Rate 3 -Bite: Spd 7, Acc +3, Damage 22L, Def -3, Rate 1
Built-In Charms:</b>
Since the Nightshadows do not allow for the use of their pilots' charms (with the exception, primarily, of awareness charms), the Nightshadows have powers resembling charms directly built into them. Fueled partly by the hearthstone setting, and the remainder funded by the Exalt pilot, the Nightshadow's have a limited array of charms with which to prevent them from becoming nothing more than expensive tombs.
Note that the Nightshadows can not use combos, but may use reflexives at any time, in a manner similar to Dragon-Blooded.
<b>Essence Claws / Jaws</b>
<b>Cost: 4 motes per success
Duration: One Turn
Type: Supplemental
This Charm allows the Exalt to spend Essence to turn his Dexterity dice into automatic successes when making a attacks with Claws or Jaws (Depending on which Charm the given Nightshadow has). The dice converted into successes are not rolled as part of the dice pool, but remaining dice (from ability and specialty) are rolled normally. Each die costs 4 essence. No more Dexterity dice can be converted for the turn than the Exalt has Essence.
This charm lasts for one turn.
If a Nightshadow has both Essence Claws /and/ Essence Jaws, he must pay separately for Claw dice and Jaw dice.
The Essence must be paid for before the Nightshadow's first attack for the round.
Chain Gun
Cost: 6 motes, +2 motes/die of damage
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
The Nightshadow's back opens, and a massive crane-arm-operated chain gun lifts from within. The chain gun can be swung in three-hundred-and-sixty degrees horizontally, and has a one-hundred-and-twenty degree swivel vertically. The Chain gun operates by shooting a series of Essence bursts, in place of "bullets." The gun has it's own dice-action for the turn, for the cost of 6 motes, separate than that of the rest of the wolf (thus allowing for the Exalt to have a full dice action with claw, and another with gun). The gun can split its dice, but only to a maximum of 3 targets. Otherwise, the gun can be used as the main action for the turn, and thus avoid both the 6 mote cost and the limit on dice pool splitting.
Either way, each attack with the gun must be paid for with essence. The gun's essence cannons do damage equal to 2L per mote of essence spent, with no more essence spent on any individual cannon to be greater than the Exalts permanent Essence x 3.
Attacks for the Chain Gun are rolled using Perc+Thrown, Perc+Archery, Perc+Lore, or Perc+Occult, at the Exalt's discretion. [Post-PG Note: The Chain Gun may now use Perc+Martial Arts, and can be used in tandem with RDS Martial Arts].
The chain gun has a range increment of 300.
Note that due to the chain gun's massive vertical swivel, it can attack targets as close as (but no closer than) eleven yards to the side of the Nightshadow, but not below the nightshadow. (Yes, I did the damned trig. I AM A FANBOY! I ADMIT IT!)
Massive Jumps</b>
As per Monkey Leap Technique, Exalted core page 193, save that the Essence cost is 5 motes instead of 1. The Nightshadow's strength bonus /is/ factored in for this jump.
<b>Camoflage</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes/success converted
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
As per Chameleon Skin Disguise, see Lunars page 182
Speed Boost</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes, + 1 mote per +1 to init
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
When rolling init for the turn in which the Nightshadow plans to make an attack, the Exalt may spend Essence to improve his initative rating for that turn. The character cannot spend more essence than he has Dexterity. Essence cost is paid before rolling init.
Essence Roar</b>
<b>Cost: 10 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
The Nightshadow opens it's massive jaws, and bellows forth a roar that could - and has - shake the heavens. The sound waves are visible, as they roil with coalescing essence in the way that heat makes the air shimmer.
The roar leaves the Nightshadow's mouth in a narrow cone, targetting a single target equal to the Nightshadow in size, or a group of roughly 25 human-sized beings (or roughly 8 mounted warriors.)
Everyone in the area of affect must soak 16 Bashing damage, in addition to rolling Stamina + Resistance against Knockdown, versus a difficulty of 3 plus the number of health levels of damage inflicted by the Roar.
Thick Skin </b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes/point
Duration: Scene
Type: Simple
The exalt may spend essence to raise his Bashing and Lethal soak, for 3 motes / one point of soak, or 3 motes per point of Hardness, at his discretion. He may not raise his soak or hardness by more than his stamina rating or his permanent essence, whichever is lower.
Earth Shaking Paw </b>
<b>Cost: 15 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
The Nightshadow's massive paw comes down on the ground, causing it to ripple and burst in every direction. Everyone within 60 yards - in every direction - must soak 16 Bashing (without armor bonuses), and make a Stamina + Resistance roll against knockdown versus difficulty 5, plus any health levels of damage inflicted upon them. The ground continues to shake for a number of turns equal to the Exalt's Essence; those that fell can not get back up against during those rounds, and those that did not are at -2 dice to all physical actions.
This can also be used as a very essence-costly way to clearcut a meadow in the timespan of a breath.
