LunarBrawl

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BerserkSeraph’s Lunar Brawl Charms

This is the first Charm set for my concept of a revised, Ability-based, Lunar design. In this set, I'd be moving the Lunars to Ability effects both because it allows more logically-designed trees with a minimum of having to go outside one's Caste to be effective, and will hopefully remove the Lunars' utter reliance on DBT to be effective. Tentatively, the limit for Lunar dice-adders will remain Attribute-based, until I get a better suggestion.

This introduces the idea of Transformation Charms - these Charms generally possess a duration but focus on a part of the Lunar's basic makeup - their ability to shapechange. As such, Lunars - and only Lunars - will be able to make 'Shapechanger Combos' - Combos of Transformation Charms that ignore many of the normal limits, allowing a Lunar with the appropriate Combo to cast on a number of his transformational scene-long self-buffs in less time. Such Charms will often have 'designations' or Totems which will replace some of the other limitations - thusly a character who specializes in certain methods of strengthening his body will be able to make more dangerous combos than a generalist.

Please comment!

Grasping Raptor Talons

 Cost: 4 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: One Scene
 Min. Brawl: 2
 Min. Essence: 1
 Prerequisites: None

The character’s flexes his fingers and molds his bones into a potent fist or open-handed claw. Such 'Talons' allow the Lunar to strike with the force of steel, and catch blades with his bare hands. The character deals lethal damage with his or her unarmed strikes, may parry lethal damage while unarmed without a stunt, and gains bonus dice to all clinch rolls equal to her Essence or Dexterity, whichever is lower.
This is a Transformation Charm, for Strength Totems.

Jackdaw Avarice Method

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 3
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Grasping Raptor Talons

The character snatches his foes' weapons in an iron grip as they bounce off his god-like flesh, wresting them away and forcing the foe to fight the unarmed Lunar on equal terms. Cunning Lunars even use the tricks of the jackdaw in a clinch, purloining items from their foes as they grapple.
The Lunar may activate this charm upon declaring a parry attempt or clinch attack. Should the parry succeed, the Lunar may make a reflexive disarm attempt against the opponent. Disarmed weapons can be cast aside or kept, as the character desires. If used in a clinch, the Lunar may instead make a reflexive Larceny attempt to filch another item on the target's person - the item cannot be strapped tightly to the subject (such as armor or a limb). The Larceny attempt gains bonus dice equal to the Lunar's Essence or Wits, whichever is lower.

Crow's Beak Mercy

 Cost: 5 motes + 3 motes per success
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Grasping Raptor Talons

The character pressess his fingers together as he makes an unarmed strike, driving them in a steepled 'beak' into the body of the opponent - most often plucking out an eye. With the eye, the Lunar takes, in what passes for mercy among the tribes of the Wyld, a fragment of the subject's sorrowful memories. The Lunar activates this charm upon making a Brawl attack. Should the blow hit, the Lunar may convert post-soak damage dice into automatic successes, at the cost of 3 motes per die. The Lunar cannot convert more dice in this method than his Strength.
Should the attack deal damage, the Lunar may force the target to make a reflexive Dexterity + Wits check, with a difficulty of the damage levels dealt. Should the target fail, they lose an eye and may (ST's call) suffer shock. The eye brings with it fragmented memories of misery - the recollection of one sad event in the target's recent past is passed to the Lunar, who may chose to remove the memory for the subject or keep it as bargaining leverage. Most mortals suffer permanent damage from this Charm, while Exalts may regain their vision with time (the other eye strengthening to compensate) or through the use of Charms.

Vulture's Patience Meditation

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Grasping Raptor Talons

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Lurking Hyena Rush

 Cost: 4 motes
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Vulture's Patience Meditation

Should an opponent leave even the smallest opening for the Lunar brawler to exploit, he takes it - rushing in with brutal speed to strike an off-balance or unaware foe. The Lunar may activate this Charm when an opponent within his reach fails a parry, dodge, or attack roll, for whatever reason. The Lunar may reflexively attack the target with his normal Dexterity + Brawl pool, and any defense against the Rush has applicable wound penalties doubled. The Lunar cannot activate this Charm more times per turn than his Dexterity or Essence, whichever is lower, but may activate it in response to a failed defense against itself. (So if a Lunar hits you, and your dodge fails, he can hit you again with this - and if your dodge fails against this, he can use it again...and so on.)
Ghosts and other creatures of the underworld are particularly vulnerable to this predation - attacks made against animate dead with this Charm deal aggravated damage and can strike dematerialized ghosts. Animate dead with higher Essence than the character are proof against this added trauma, however (So no Aggro on the Thorns behemoth).

Lame Prey Selection

 Cost: 5 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: One Scene
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: Lurking Hyena Rush

The Lunar scrutinizes his foes, discerning the gaps in their defenses, the flaws in their forms - even the weaknesses of their minds. Armed with this knowledge, a skilled brawler can tear his chosen prey to shreds. The Lunar using this charm must spend a turn observing the movements of the group, then roll Perception + Brawl with a difficulty based on how secretive the group is attempting to be (So a circle of Solars travelling incognito might impose a difficulty of 5, while observing a sworn brotherhood of Dragon-Blooded in combat is a 1). Successes on this roll translate directly to information - a single success grants rough estimates of skill in combat ('He's worse at brawling than you but is a capable swordsman'), three successes grant insight into style and preference ('He uses a spear and tends to counterattack') while five gives uncanny understanding ('He will likely move to protect the woman') - the Lunar can simultaneously observe a number of individuals equal to his Essence with a single application of his Charm, and gains insight into how their combat strategies interact in such a case ('The woman looks weak in the legs but has strong archer's arms - she may use the spearman to harry foes while she strikes from a far').
At the beginning of each turn of interaction with the subjects, the Lunar gains bonus dice equal to the successes on his roll. He may apply these dice as he sees fit to enhance rolls interacting with the subjects - attacks, defenses, possibly including social tricks - such as playing on the man's protective feelings for the archer. The Lunar also gains a bonus equal to his Essence to his initiative against the targets. The subjects can, if they become aware of the Lunar's insight, invalidate his knowledge by changing tactics - this negates the bonus dice pool but not the initiative bonus. Bonus dice from this Charm cannot exceed the Lunar's Perception, and count against normal dice-adder caps for actions.

Disruptive Komodo Fang

 Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: Vulture's Patience Meditation

The Lunar coalesces a corona of noxious Essence around his fist as he strikes, leaving horrific wounds that fester and decompose - the Essence of the region utterly corrupted by the quicksilver flow of Lunar power. A Brawl attack supplemented with this Charm deals lethal damage if it would not already - if it would, it deals two additional dice of damage. Additionally, should it deal damage, for a number of turns equal to the damage levels dealt the target doubles their wound penalties and must make a reflexive Stamina + Resistance roll against a difficulty of the Lunar's Stamina or spend the turn vomiting and writhing instead of acting. Exalts may reduce this difficulty to the Lunar's Essence, as their immune systems are far more capable of dealing with foreign influence.
If used against a subject suffering a natural disease, however, the vomiting has a purging effect, clearing infected Essence from the body. Mortals who survive the trauma of the blow will recover from the disease immediately after the Charm's effects finish. Spirits, gods, ghosts, and the Fair Folk are immune to this Charm's effects, as their internal alchemy functions in a different fashion from that of living beings.

Rapacious Scavenger Haste

 Cost: 11 motes, 1 Willpower
 Type: Reflexive
 Duration: One Turn or until discharged.
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 4
 Prerequisites: Lame Prey Selection, Disruptive Komodo Fang

A bared throat, a lame leg - the slightest weakness spells death in the natural world. So, too, in combat against the Lunar. The first opponent to leave an opening for the Lunar using this Charm is struck with horrific speed and force.
Once activated, this Charm 'triggers' when an opponent of the Lunars' who is within the character's reach is dealt damage (suffers health levels) - the Lunar may reflexively attack that target with his normal Dexterity + Brawl pool. This attack deals bonus damage equal to the Lunar's Essence, and halves the subject's soak (If the Lunar is using a Piercing weapon, apply this modifier, not both).
Defense dice pools against the attack are reduced by the number of health levels of damage the target has suffered this turn. The Lunar may only attack one foe for each activation of this Charm, and cannot attack a foe multiple times for the same instance of damage, nor trigger an application in response to itself (so if Bob Lunar activates this Charm twice and punches you, he may trigger one of the Rap. Scavenger Hastes in response to the damage he dealt, but not both - nor can he activate the second one in response to damage dealt by the first.)

Ox-Felling Fists

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: One Scene
 Min. Brawl: 2
 Min. Essence: 1
 Prerequisites: None

The character toughens his hands to the point where they hit with the force of a mace - even the toughest of foes may be staggered by these tremendous strikes. The character's unarmed Brawl attacks deal +2B damage, he may parry lethal damage without a stunt, and a foe, if damaged by the character's Brawl attacks, must roll Stamina + Resistance against a difficulty of the health levels of damage dealt, or suffer a 1 die penalty to all actions on his next turn. Multiple penalties are cumulative but the overall penalty cannot exceed the Lunar's Strength or Essence, whichever is lower.
This is a Transformation Charm, for Strength Totems. It is slightly incompatible with lethal damage - if the character is using natural weapons, Brawling aids, or Charms to deal lethal damage with their unarmed strikes, they lose the damage-boosting benefits of this Charm, but regain the stunning and parrying properties.

Tyrant Lizard Strike

 Min. Brawl: 3
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Ox-Felling Fists

May be used for parries but not with MA. Otherwise, as in E: The Lunars.

Tortoise-Pulping Hammer

 Cost: 7 motes
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Tyrant Lizard Strike

The character swings his fist with titanic force, the shock of the blow resonating through armor and coursing down weapons placed in its path - no mere steel can stop a determined Lunar from slaying his opponent.
The unarmed blow supplemented with this Charm ignores armor for the purpose of soak. It cannot be parried with normal weapons -they shatter if placed between the Lunar's fist and his target, ignoring the parry. If parried with a weapon made of the Five Magical Materials, it deals 3 dice of bashing damage to the opponent from the shock of the blow.

Unforgiving Lion's Maw

 Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower. 
 Type: Simple
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 4
 Prerequisites: Tortoise-Pulping Hammer

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Earth-Shaking Stride

 Cost: 3 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 3
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Ox-Felling Fists

The character moves close to his foe and slams an Essence-charged fist or foot into the ground at his feet, creating a potent localized tremor that casts the unlucky subject to the ground. The Lunar makes a Brawl attack, as normal, which deals no damage but may be parried or dodged as normal. Should it hit, the subject must make a reflexive Dexterity + Athletics roll against the successes the Lunar rolled on the attack (before modifiers for defense) or be knocked down, suffering dice of bashing damage equal to the Lunar's Brawl, which may be soaked as normal. Even if they remain standing, foes are off-balance, suffering a 2 die penalty to all attack and defense rolls for the next turn.
Objects targeted with this blow are generally (if nearly equal in height to the Lunar) shaken to pieces (assume that most stone and wood structures are destroyed, with metal structures suffering strain as if the Lunar had made a Feat of Strength against them) - larger objects are disrupted and damaged, and may topple under their own weight if struck in proper locations (As if the Lunar had targetted the location with a Feat of Strength).

World-Rending Claw

 Cost: 6 motes
 Type: Supplemental
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 4
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: Earth-Shaking Stride

The Lunar's blow disturbs the air itself, coursing across the ground in great furrows to strike at a foe. The attack supplemented by this Charm is dodged at increased difficulty (increase the difficulty by the Lunar's Essence) and may strike foes up to (Essence x 3) yards away. The Charm's attack leaves visible damage on the ground, and may be used to destroy small objects between the Lunar and a target - or as a novel way of plowing a field.

Stone Fangs Kata

 Cost: 4 motes
 Type: Simple
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 2
 Prerequisites: World-Rending Claw

The Lunar slams a fist into the ground, casting shards of stone, pavement, and debris towards a foe. The Lunar makes a Dexterity + Brawl attack (difficulty 3) against a target within (Essence x 15) Yards, with a base lethal damage equal to his Essence.

Mountain-Sundering Style

 Cost: 8 motes per success, 2 Willpower.
 Type: Simple
 Duration: One Scene
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 3
 Prerequisites: World-Rending Claw

The Lunar tenses his every muscle as he calcifies the flow of his internal energies, centering his brutal energy into a surge of primal destruction of unmatched caliber. As long as this Charm is active, the Lunar's every step causes a small rumble in the ground, his very touch ripples with power - and, should he connect with his charged fists, he does horrific damage. Upon activating this Charm, the Lunar may convert up to his Essence in dice. This dice pool becomes his 'safe pool' - should a Brawl attack by the character strike a foe it can damage (One that is not immune to the attack, using a perfect soak charm, etc.) that many dice of damage are treated as automatic damage successes. They are not rolled and the dice are removed from the damage pool - should the Lunar make the merest touch with his fists, he is assured to cause at least some damage. This 'safe pool' cannot add damage - if the blow causes less damage than the 'safe pool', only existing damage dice are converted.
This is a Transformation Charm for Strength Totems.

Temple-Toppling Predator

 Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower.
 Type: Simple
 Duration: Instant
 Min. Brawl: 5
 Min. Essence: 5
 Prerequisites: Mountain-Sundering Style, Lame Prey Selection

The manipulation of the flows of Essence and the use of combat skills all hinge on one truth - the understanding of one's own body. While to a certain extent every Exalt is aware of this, it is the Full Moon Lunars who have devised a way of making that elegant machinery foul up. With a single devastating blow, the Lunar renders the foe incapable of using his skills and Charms to the fullest - a weakness that often spells death for the unfortunate victim.
The character makes a Brawl attack, as normal. Should it damage the foe, they suffer damage to their centers of motion and balance - reduce all their combat dice pools by the health levels dealt. Additionally, each turn the victim must roll Stamina + Resistance against a difficulty of the health levels dealt - if the roll fails, the subject cannot use Charms that turn and loses 6 motes of Essence. Even if they succeed, they lose 3 motes of Essence.
Each turn after the initial blow, the dice penalties and the difficulty of the roll to use Charms decrease by one until the scene ends or the penalty is decreased to 0 dice - whichever occurs first.

comments

I don't think I like the mechanics behind Unforgiving Lion's Maw. It should be dependent upon the defender's Essence much more so than the attacker's (one possibility: Make the difficulty of the attack equal to the defender's Essence). I also dislike the Stamina reduction - I'd just make it do bashing damage that is soakable only with Stamina (and only then on a successful Stamina+Resistance roll) each turn until the victim dies or achieves a number of successes or something. -szilard

I suppose that's fair - I wanted to avoid more rolls, however, so I'll have to think on a better method to simulate the suffocation. I've added some charms - note that a few of them have unusual mystical effects tied in, like Crow's Beak Mercy and Lurking Hyena Rush - I think this adds a little utility AND it emphasizes the knowledge which the Lunars may have lost over time - why would someone have developed these facets of power, sort of thing.

I'm thinking of slightly restructuring the Trees to be more readable (You don't want to see the diagram I was using previously.) and have thought out a couple more charms and moved some around. You can find my two 'planned' Brawl trees at [1] and [2].

Hmmm... you tend to be using a lot of this "Essence or Attribute X, whichever is lower" thing. Any particular reason? I tend to find it a bit awkward. Maybe it is just dwelling on the negative that bothers me. Perhaps if it were "dice equal to Attribute X up to, but not exceeding Essence" (which is equivalent), I would like it better. Perhaps not. I dunno. -szilard, who is babbling.

It's an idea I'm throwing around, but I'm not certain of it - I may just set all of those to Essence, given that that's far more likely to create the cap in any case. The situation that I'm covering for it probably rare enough that it won't come up in any case (Attribute lower than Essence) - I appreciate the help, by the way. I'd hoped to get more response but I guess the idea isn't as intriguing as I thought. I may just port all these to Solar brawl. :D ~ BerserkSeraph

Bunch of comments below. In general, I like the ideas behind a lot of these. My big concern is that the power level seems too high when compared with Solar Charms... and when you realize that the Lunar using these Charms might be using them in DBT with moonsilver claws and ridiculous physical attributes... shudder...

These modified Lunars will likely have less reliance on DBT and a similarly reduced ability to increase their stats - I'm toying with the idea of removing DBT altogether and making it hinge entirely on Transformation combos - but in any case you aren't going to see a Str 14 Lunar in this set, at least not at Essence 3-4. You have hit upon one of the snags I've encountered - I'm trying to make these less good than I would similar Solar charms, but Solar Brawl...blows. It's really bad. So I have to guesstimate - I'll probably scale these a little better when I find the time.

Grasping Raptor Talons - I'd drop the clinch enhancer bit - it is already a scene-length charm that has some extra comboability and has no prereqs.

Shrug. You can get the lethal parry and damage from a Resources 1 expense - brass knuckles - so I hardly see why it'd take more than a single mote for a Charm to do similar - I feel that almost all of the 'deal lethal damage while unarmed' Charms are vastly overcosted for what they do. Add in the fact that Lunar charms in this system will tend to have numerous effects... voila.

Jackdaw Avarice Method - it is unclear when this can be activated - when parrying? in a clinch? any time? I suspect the first two. This sort of seems like two separate charms to me. Also, can it be used multiple times in a round in a clinch? It seems sort of odd to allow that... perhaps it ought to be supplemental. I think that would make it much clearer.

It's using a formula that will apply to many of these Charms - in situation A it has effect 1, and in situation B it has effect 2. I'll clear up the wording and probably make it Supplemental somewhere down the line.

Crow's Beak Mercy - This Charm needs to be Simple. Using it should also carry some consequences for the Lunar as he gains the memories - perhaps gaining a point of Limit.

It's doubling as their damage booster at this juncture, but I'll take the idea into account.

Vulture's Patience Meditation - This should be two Charms. They both ought to be Supplemental.

It needs to be fixed, yeah. I dunno if I want to split it or not, that might help. Suggestions on what to split it into, given that as-is the split charms wouldn't be quite as 'broadly multipurpose' as the Lunar charms should be?

Lurking Hyena Rush - This is a weird Charm. The way to beat it is, apparently, not to dodge or parry (because then you won't fail).

Yup! Intentional - it costs similar to the EA charms of the Solars, but it's easier to avoid getting attacked again - either take a hit and roll with it, or parry the first attack entirely.

Lame Prey Selection - The duration should be scene length. There should also be some guidance on what checks are relevant. My suggestion, though, would be to avoid the issue and say that the bonus dice are given once each turn and may be distributed as the Lunar wishes among his rolls that turn in combat. I'd also give him an initiative bonus in that combat.

Good idea - they need an init booster in this Tree anyway

Disruptive Komodo Fang - why is the difficulty the Lunar's Stamina? Does this have any effect upon gods, elementals, fair folk, ghosts, or undead?

Stam is a good catchall for 'internal alchemy' tricks like this, I thought - certainly more appropriate than the other physical stats. And probably not, as all of those lack internal systems to scramble.

Rapacious Scavenger Haste - does the 1 die maiming penalty count as a wound penalty? I'm not a fan of the auto-kill to normal mortals - if a mortal actually manages to survive the attack, that strikes me as cool and heroic. Why take that away? Also, this Charm might be due for some combo limitations.

I love mortal autokill, it makes me happy. And that's probably a better wording for the penalty, I just didn't want to increase the potence of Charms reliant on a foe's wound penalties with it. And probably - I may make it Turn-length and just say that 'the first opponent who becomes available this turn gets the attacks' - removing comboality from it in its entirety.

Ox-Felling Fists - why is this reflexive rather than simple?

Because...because...sloppy writing.

Tortoise-Pulping Hammer - eh. The parrying bit makes little sense to me. I'd just say that if non-5MM weapons are used to parry this attack, they shatter.

Modified.

Unforgiving Lion's Maw - does this have an effect upon spirits or the undead? why are Fair Folk treated like mortals with respect to it? Perhaps, instead of increasing the cost, this should be a Simple charm.

I'll probably scrap that Charm and start it again from scratch.

Earth-Shaking Stride - your comments on attacking objects with this ought to be given mechanics... and note that there are Solar charms that do nothing but damage objects, so this ought not to be as good at that as a comparable-level Solar Charm.

Some rules added that I think are fair... yout thoughts?

Mountain-Sundering Style - this charm is a bit unclear: "should a Brawl attack attack and deal damage"?? I assume you meant hit and deal damage, but how do you determine if damage is dealt here? Suggestion: The safe dice only apply if the damage dealt in the attack would exceed the target's soak.

Should read 'if a brawl attack successfully strikes a target it can damage' - that is, roll damage dice against. So someone using Incomprable Body Arsenal or similar to avoid damage...etc. And the problem with the suggestion is that it invalidates the primary application of the charm - making ping more lethal for a Brawler, who generally lacks the ability to beat the soak of a well-armored opponent. It's supposed to ensure that at least the ping damages the target.

Temple-Toppling Predator - this Charm seems to involve an excessive amount of rolling. I'm also unclear why Stamina+Resistance is used to control Essence flows...

Internal alchemy again - your mileage may vary. And it does - I've got a potential fix I've slid in.

Hope this stuff helps. -szilard