SolarMelee/IanPrice

Suppleness in Execution Path

Blinding Sunspot Feint</b>

<b>Cost:  5 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Melee: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: One Weapon, Two Blows

Instead of attacking more and more times, some Solars prefer to hone the speed of their attacks until two blows can strike so quickly that the strikes are truly indistinguishable from one another. This charm gives the Exalt a second full dice-pool attack, but the second blow is so fast that to be aware of it requires a Perception + Awareness roll at a difficulty of the attacker's Essence. If the defender becomes aware of the second attack, they may defend against it as normal, treating it as a seperate attack from the first. If not, their only recourse is charms like Reflex Sidestep Technique, as usual for attacks the defender is unaware of.

Second Edition: Gains Keywords Combo-OK and Obvious. Prerequisite becomes Peony Blossom Attack. The number of attacks is not increased by Invincible Fury of the Dawn.

Gentle Streaming Sunlight</b>

<b>Cost:  10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:: Blinding Sunspot Feint

Similar to the previous charm, this attack is the epitomy of fluid attack motion. However fast the opponent may be, they are hard-pressed to follow the change from one attack to another, as the Solar unleashes a staggering flurry of motion, all appearing as a single strike. The number of attacks is equal to (Melee/2), rounded up. To be aware of any of these attacks requires a perfect Awareness effect: Keen (Sense) Technique, Unsurpassed (Sense) Discipline, Surprise Anticipation Method, and Eye of the Unconquered Sun are all examples of this. Otherwise, the attacks are treated as surprise attacks, thus requiring special charms such as Reflex Sidestep Technique to avoid them.

Second Edition: Gains Keywords Combo-OK and Obvious. Prerequisite becomes Peony Blossom Attack. The number of attacks is increased by Invincible Fury of the Dawn, but only by 1 instead of 2. Instead of a perfect Awareness effect, each attack requires a Perception + Awareness roll difficulty (Essence x 2) to notice and defend against. Surprise Anticipation Method is no longer sufficient due to its less powerful nature in this edition, but the new Reflex Sidestep Technique would work if activated once for each attack.

Encompassing Rays Method</b>

<b>Cost:  3+ motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms:: Blinding Sunspot Feint

To truly defend against attacks which surround you like the light of the sun is futile and meaningless. The Exalt using this charm may re-roll a failed attack multiple times, paying 3 motes per attack, until the attack succeeds and rolls at least one damage success. The attack may only do damage once, but any number of attack rolls may be purchased. If placed in a Combo with an Extra Action charm, each attack must be re-rolled at least once if possible.

Second Edition: The prerequisite becomes Peony Blossom Attack. The Keywords are Combo-OK and Obvious. Since this is not an extra action charm, additional attacks may not do damage due to Invincible Fury of the Dawn. These rerolls are explicitly purchased out of order, after checking to see if the attack rolls any damage.

Invincible Master Path

Perfection of Motion</b>

<b>Cost:  2 motes/die
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: Excellent Strike, Dipping Swallow Defense.

In the use of swords, spears, and other close-combat weapons, there are only two basic maneuvers: to attack and to parry. A warrior who masters both is undefeatable in his field. This is the beginning of the path to such mastery, where the flows of Essence may be tightly controlled, bringing a brief instant of perfect motion where no energy is wasted, each movement flowing into the necessary parries and attacks all at once. Each die bought with this charm enhances every Melee attack and parry made in the turn this charm is activated. No more dice may be bought with this charm than the Exalt's Dexterity + Melee. In the case of parries, this will create a pool where none existed before, or it will enhance the dice pool of any other parry, from a dice action or from another charm.

This charm is explicitly allowed to be in a combo, despite its non-instant duration. However, unlike other Reflexive charms, it may not be placed in a combo with Simple or Extra-Action charms of other abilities, and may not be used unless the character's dice action uses Melee.

Second Edition: The prerequisite becomes "any Melee Excellency." Combo-OK. Flurries, magical or otherwise, gain the benefit of this charm to all Melee attacks in them with only one payment. The dice are added directly to the Defense calculation of Melee parries before halving to determine Parry DV.

Eternal Readiness Meditation</b>

<b>Cost:  3 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: Perfection of Motion, Summoning the Loyal Steel.

Master warriors need the right tool for the right job. Unfortunately, the biggest daiklaves which are often the best tools for killing an opponent can't be wielded along with a better weapon for defending at the same time. This charm is a solution to that problem. With it, a Solar may send up to his Essence different weapons Elsewhere for a scene, and for that time may choose any of those weapons to return for the space of an attack or parry. The Exalt using this charm may even attack with different weapons in succession, and parry with different weapons still; the only limitation is how many weapons may be stored for purposes of this charm. If the Solar has a weapon stored Elsewhere through Summoning the Loyal Steel when this charm is activated, that weapon automatically enters the queue for this charm. At the end of this charm, all weapons not stored with Summoning the Loyal Steel will materialize around the Solar in a sunburst pattern, typically stuck into the ground at easily-retrievable angles, but sometimes just lying there if the ground does not facilitate the first way. The weapons will always appear in an accessible place, not fall off a cliff edge or in a lake or some such. In precarious circumstances, though, the Solar may find himself in trouble at the Storyteller's discretion. This charm can provide a weightless arsenal while swimming, for example, but the wielder of it had best swim to shore before it runs out!

Second Edition: Combo-OK.

Unconquered Warrior Stance</b>

<b>Cost:  8 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:: Eternal Readiness Meditation, Fivefold Bulwark Stance, Ready in Eight Directions Stance.

Close-combat warriors must ultimately be able to go toe to toe with any foe and see them vanquished, and masters of this charm have taken another step closer to that. This charm adds the Exalt's Essence in automatic successes to any parry or counterattack attempt, creating a pool for such an attempt where none exists.

Second Edition: Combo-OK, Obvious.

Flaring Solar Radiance</b>

<b>Cost:  10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 mote per attack
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms:: Unconquered Warrior Stance, Blazing Solar Bolt, Fire and Stones Strike.

The weakness of a Melee warrior is just that: he is restricted to fighting in Melee range. Even spears and pikes can extend this range but little. Exalted masters of blades and cudgels can seek to exceed this limitation through Essence. The pinnacle of such understanding is this charm, which allows a Solar to spend 1 mote per attack for the rest of the scene to make that attack at a range of up to 5 x Essence yards. Any attack so enhanced adds Essence dice to its accuracy, and Essence dice of damage are converted to automatic successes after soak. These attacks may be blocked as if they were normal melee attacks, even though it is a shining wave of Essence leaping from the edge of the weapon which strikes at the target.

Second Edition: Combo-OK, Obvious.

Thousandfold Invincibility Prana</b>

<b>Cost:  10 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Melee: 5
Minimum Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms:: Unconquered Warrior Stance, Heavenly Guardian Defense.

The attacks of other dangerous foes seek to evade the defenses of the master, but a true master's defenses cannot be pierced. This charm provides a reflexive parry and a reflexive counterattack at the Exalt's full Dexterity + Melee dice pool, including specialties and weapon bonuses. The parries provided by this charm can stop unparryable attacks, and can defend against attacks which hit regardless of successes. If Fivefold Bulwark Stance and/or Ready in Eight Directions Stance are active along with this charm, only one parry or counterattack is provided by the combination of charms, but the parry and attack rolls involved may be rolled twice, and the player may apply the better result.

Second Edition: Combo-OK. While this charm is active, the Exalt's Parry DV may not be rendered inapplicable. This charm also protects against the effects of any charm which would make an attack hit with a roll that did not exceed the Parry DV. Finally, when such a failed attack roll is made, the difference between the attack successes and the DV is applied as bonus successes to a counterattack. If no counterattack would otherwise exist, only these bonus successes are applied, with no other roll.

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