DarkPhoenix/Masamune

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Masamune, Bushido Blade

Artifact 5
Orichalcum Daiklave / Flamepiece
Commitment: 8 motes
Sword: Spd +8, Acc +3, Dmg +10L, Def +3, Rate 4
Flamepiece: Acc +4, Dmg 10L, Rate 1, Rng 15, Ammo 5

This weapon has 2 Hearthstone slots

Masamune

The ultimate weapon of the samurai, this one-of-a-kind weapon was constructed by Autochthon himself, and gifted to one of the great commanders of the pre-First Age Solars. As such, this weapon focuses the Essence of Exaltation itself through the Way of the Warrior, which manifests in the weapon's Bushido abilities (below). These abilities are psuedo-charms; mechanically, this means that you can only use one per turn, but this does not count as charm usage for the turn, meaning they can be combined with other charms.

As this is a weapon of war, using it in the characters off-hand suffers penalties. Every time this weapon parries (while in the off-hand only) the character suffers from x dice of damage, which can be soaked normally, where x is equal to half the damage blocked. This is reversed for creatures of the Underworld; they suffer x damage whenever they use it to attack while it is in their off-hand, where x is half their raw damage, un-aided by Charms. Additionally, if wielded with Muramasa, Tenchu Blade, regardless of which hand this is in, neither it nor Muramasa suffer from off-hand penalties; the character acts as if ambidextrous.

Bushido Abilities (Way of the Warrior) =

• Dragon Fang (8 motes, Instant, Simple) - Targets Essence*2 enemies within melee range with a Melee attack, which counts as a surprise attack. Dragon Fang is unblockable. Anyone struck by the attack has their initiative reduced by the amount of damage taken from the attack next turn. If Masamune contains a Wood-aspected Hearthstone, the highest initiative loss is added to Auron's
• Shooting Star (10 motes, Instant, Simple) - Shooting Star causes no damage. Instead, the attack causes knockback of (raw damage * Essence) yards, with bashing damage calculated as normal on landing. This technique can still work on large enemies, but at a reduced effect, the exact nature of which is up to the Storyteller. If Masamune contains an Earth-aspected Hearthstone, the crash damage is increased by 1/4, rounded down.
• Banishing Blade (12 motes, Instant, Supplimental) - Upon a successful attack using Banishing Blade, the target loses x dice from all Physical and Mental attribute-based combat rolls, where x is Auron's Essence minus the target's Essence, to a minimum of 1. This effect lasts for a scene. If Masamune contains a Water-aspected Hearthstone, this ability becomes reflexive, allowing it to be used defencively with a parry. Additionally, if the blade is treated with alcohol, especially sake, before the attack hits (which requires a two-way split action, but not a dice roll for the first action) then the effect is increased by 1.
• Tornado (15 motes, One Turn, Simple) - Tornado targets everything, friend or foe, within 30 yards of Auron, and is undodgeable. This technique causes 2*(Strength+Melee+Essence) Bashing damage to all affected targets, and anyone caught in the attack taking more than Stamina+Resistance damage after soak is instantly knocked down. If Masaumne contains an Air-aspected Hearthstone, the attack's range increases to 40 yards, and if Masamune contains a Fire-aspected Hearthstone, Auron can control the attack, specifically where and who it affects. Additionally, if Auron uses the secondary ability of the Ronin's Sake Jug (below) the damage is converted to Lethal, but only does 3/4, rounded down, of it's original damage.

The 'True' Masamune

'True' Masamune is a dubbed term given to the original version of the Masamune; the above version was discovered to have been slightly damaged. There are only four differences between the two versions:

1. The ammo limit of the weapon is 6 instead of 5, 6 being the 'magic number' of Autochthon.
2. The weapon has 6 Hearthstone slots, instead of 2.
3. The weapon is Artifact 6, thus character can not start with it without Storyteller approval. To repair the Masamune to it's status as 'True' Masamune requires Craft 3, Lore 3, but only needs Resources 2.
4. The weapon gains the Meijindo abilities below if a Hearthstone of the appropriate Celesial alignment set into one of it's Hearthstone slots. This ability vanishes again if the Hearthstone is removed, and if two are set in at once, the effect is not doubled. For example, setting a Solar Hearthstone into the 'True' Masamune gives the character access to the pseudo-charm Omnislash.

Meijindo Abilities (Way of the Master)

• Solar:
  • Omnislash (20 motes 1 Willpower, One Turn, Extra Action) - Continue making independant, full dice pool attacks until you miss Essence times.
• Lunar:
  • Renzokuken (20 motes, One Turn, Extra Action) - Get Essence 'actions', as well as a single Bushido skill for free. 'Actions' can be used either to activate charms/spells, or traded for 2 indepentant attacks; 'actions' can NOT be split. All Bushido skills are carried out at the end of the turn; Banishing Blade includes a free, full dice pool attack.
• Sidereal:
  • Zantetsuken (10 motes 1 Willpower, Instant, Simple) - Roll attack as normal, subtracting the target's Aggravated soak from raw damage, then further subract the results of a Stamina+Endurance roll of the target. That damage is then rolled as normal, but the attack does no damage. Instead, if the number of successes on the damage roll is greater than the target's permanent Essence score, the target instantly dies. If not, the attack does nothing.
• Abyssal:
  • Dark Attack (5 motes, Instant, Simple/Supplemental) - This ability can be used in two different ways. The first way is to use it as a ranged attack, using the character's Dexterity+Melee+Essence dice pool, doing Strength+Essence base lethal damage, and attacking up to (10xEssence) yards away. The second way is to use it to boost a Melee attack, in which case it adds Essence dice to the dice pools of both the attack and damage rolls. In both cases, the character can choose, before rolling damage, to halve the dice pool, converting it to Aggravated. In addition to the base cost of the ability, this attack also inflicts one automatic level of Bashing damage to the character, but will never take them to -4. If the additional level would reduce them to -4, then a level of Bash damage becomes Lethal, and when all Bashing damage is lethal, convert a level of Lethal into Aggravated instead.
  • Charon (Special, One Turn, Simple) - The ultimate last resort technique. The character sacrifices all Health Levels down to -4, recorded as Lethal damage, all non-commited motes of Essence, all temporary Willpower, and all temporary Virtues. This attack automatically hits everyone within (100xEssence) yards. The raw damage of this attack is based upon the expenditure; the base damage is equal to the character's permanent Essence. Every Health level, Willpower point, and Virtue point spent adds 1L to the damage. Every 5 motes spent, rounded up, adds an additional 1L. In addition, the character may also reflexively siphon Essence through any hearthstones they normally regain Essence through, able to drain up to 8 hours worth from each stone, which is automatically added to the damage pool; the stones then become inert for as many hours as were drained. The character must have at least 10 motes, 1 Willpower, and 1 Health level to spend to use this ability.
• Alchemical
  • Orbital Bombardment (10 motes 1 Willpower, Varies, Simple) - This technique, never known to exist until the creation of the first Alchemical Manse, harnesses the power of the Manse itself to attack. The character spends the turn choosing a destination, the Essence spent used to 'lock-on', then the Manse does the rest; the character actually needs to be within Essence x10 yards of the area they wish to mark. The attack arrives in (Manse level) turns, to a maximum of 5, explodes in a radius equal to (Manse level x 100) yards, and has a raw damage of (Manse level x 5) Lethal. Legendary Manse's, unless they specifically state otherwise, count as Manse level 6.

'Dark' Masamune

A Soulsteel version of the Masamune, this weapon has the exact same abilities as above, but uses the following stats:

Sword: Spd +8, Acc +1, Dmg +9L, Def +5, Rate 3
Flamepiece: Acc +2, Dmg 12L, Rate 1, Rng 15, Ammo 5

Comments

This weapon was specifically created for my character Auron, both of which are based on FFX. -DarkPhoenix

Don't you think that's a little easy to repair? It's a nice enough weapon on its own as an art 5, but that repair rating is basically trivial, so people are getting an artifact 6 for very little extra work. I'd say it should need some major quest to repair, or ratings a LOT higher (I'd say Lore, Occult and Craft all at 5, and a resources 5 expenditure, plus some rolls, personally.)

Aside from that, it's really nicely done, you seem to have both the flavour and (in most cases) good mechanics for backing up that flavour. I do have a few comments on effects though:

• Dragon's Fang is probably overpowered. For a base-sword effect, instant, and only 8 motes, you're getting various different things. First, you have a very large number of targets. Ess*2 is a lot, that justifies 8m right there. Admittedly, you'd never get Ess*2 within melee range without other charms or extendible arms or something weird like that, but it's still powerful. What makes it too powerful in my opinion is the combination of the next two effects. It has an automatic surprise effect, which is pretty strong, although awareness charms (etc) presumably work against it as normal. But, following that, it's unblockable. That combination right there slices straight through HGD unless it's comboed with SAM, as well as most lesser defenses. The init subtract is fine after that, I just think it's the combination of multi-attack+surprise+unblockable which makes me think it's too much.
• Renzokuken - generally great, just checking that when you say 'independant' you actually mean extra-attacks? Because typically you can split independant attacks and/or use separate charms on them, and you've already given charm-use as taking up one 'action'.

-- Darloth

As for the note of repairs, I think DarkPhoenix was basing it off of the fact that those skill requirements were those needed for Independantly Deviant Examiner, my Alchemical Character for that campaign, to repair it. Who of course gains benefits due to a more intimate knowledge of first age weaponry, and that the weapon was made by Autochthon. So in reality for a creation based smith, or scholar to attempt to repair or instruct on its repair, would require the aforementioned Craft 5, Lore 5, however Resources 5 seems a little much, 3 would be more appropriate if an increase must be made, given the fact that you aren't building an entirely new one, simply repairing it. - ArabianNinja.