MartialArts/SharkStyle
Shark Style
Charms
Disturbance-Detecting Senses Prana</b>
<b>Cost: 4 motes Duration: One scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
Mimicking the ability of sharks to detect their quarry from vast distances, Essence boosts the Exalt’s senses to sense a moment’s overlay of insights as to the whereabouts of any surrounding movement. For the remainder of the scene, the Exalt cannot be surprised, and can add her Martial Arts to her Perception+Awareness dice pool to discern between scents and tastes in the air (or water, if possible).
Flesh-Shredding Strike</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
Striking with the deadly capability of a shark’s teeth, Essence pours through the character’s preferred means of striking her opponent and deals considerable damage to her victim; the strike initiated with the use of Flesh- Shredding Strike does lethal damage; if using a martial arts weapon to strike, then the Exalt’s Essence is instead added to the damage for the weapon, though it costs an extra mote of Essence to do so.
Interposing Fin Method</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
Drawing upon the flashing Essence in the tail of the thresher shark, the Exalt may add Martial Arts to any block against any incoming attack.
Mako Power Prana</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: One turn Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
Drawing upon the great speed, strength, and underwater cruising ability of the large, fast-swimming sharks, the Exalt utilizes Essence to propel herself up a great distance from water, or to swim at far greater speeds. For the rest of the turn, the character may add her Martial Arts to her Strength or Dexterity for the purposes of finding swimming speed and jumping distance.
Shark Form</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Flesh-Shredding Strike, Disturbance-Detecting Senses Prana, Mako Power Prana, Interposing Fin Method
Drawing upon the Essence of frenzy born with weeks of starvation, the Exalt flies into action with great speed and all the deadly, powerful grace of a huge shark’s lightning-quick snapping jaws. The Exalt adds her Martial Arts to her Initiative and Damage, and after intiating the Charm, may roll half her Essence, rounded up; the number of successes gained in this roll is the number of extra attacks that can be made every turn of use. This Charm is compatible only with one type of armor – a buff jacket donated by a siaka-spirit or one of the Children of Siakal. The Exalt may also fight underwater without penalty, though finding a way to breathe while underwater is another matter entirely.
Harpoon-Turning Hide Style</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Shark Form
Drawing upon the mighty hide of the siaka, which can blunt almost any sort of trauma, the Exalt’s hide turns to something like armor. Add the Exalt’s Martial Arts to her Bashing and Lethal Soak totals. This Charm, and all those after it has the same stipulation in the use of armor as Shark Form.
Weapon-Blunting Shagreen</b>
<b>Cost: 8 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Harpoon-Turning Hide Style
With Essence flowing through the martial artist’s form, no weapon of any sort may make a mark; what’s more, with this Charm, any weapon that is used might very well end up as useless until such time as it can be sharpened again, set back ,etc. For the duration of the scene, roll Stamina+Martial Arts versus a difficulty depending on whatever weapon struck the character (as per the more aggressive Earth Dragon Form’s Weapon-Breaking Strike); success means that the weapon is not functional until repaired. Of course, it also has to find its mark on the Exalt… of course, the consequences of striking the Exalt barehanded are even worse; the number of successes gained on the roll to “ruin the weapon” are counted, in this case, as a counterattack with a base damage of Strength +1Lethal Damage from the denticles that have formed of Essence on the Exalt’s skin.
Horrific Mayhem-Turning Defense</b>
<b>Cost: 7 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Weapon-Blunting Shagreen
Charged with a spark of protective Essence, the martial artist’s body because incredibly resistant to injury, even to forms of magic that are the bane of the living, or that would ordinarily destroy a mortal body completely. For the remainder of the scene, the Exalt can soak aggravataed Damage with her Lethal Soak total.
Lurking Under the Surface Style</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes Duration: Special Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Shark Form
Moving just beyond detection, the Exalt can hide in shadows or just under the photic zone to establish the same effect; the stalking Exalt becomes very difficult to distinguish from her surroundings, and even while moving seems to shift and shimmer with any fluctuating of the shadows or light level. Add the Exalt’s Essence as a difficulty penalty to any attempts to spot her while she is hiding. This charm is maintained for as long as the Exalt remains in the shadows, though she must keep moving, and as such requires a fairly large obscured area to move around in.
Shaking Bite in Dark Waters</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes Duration: Special Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Lurking Under the Surface Style
When the prey of the great siaka sets out and swims around, it will often not be aware of its imminent demise until it is already to late to prevent, and they are in the jaws of the great fish before they realize it. Drawing upon Essence to gather the same effect, this Charm facilitates a deadly grapple. An attack roll is made as usual, with the defender penalized a number of dice equal to the attacker’s Martial Arts rating; the combatants then, if the attacker is successful, enter a clinch, with a continuing penalty to the defender’s dice pool for any action taken; if the defender succeeds, then the clinch will either not be initiated, or they will successfully end it, depending on when the success occurs
Calm in Clouds of Blood</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Shaking Bite in Dark Waters
n spite of what people may know of sharks, the expectation that they will fly into feeding frenzies upon smelling one drop of blood are mostly false – the would only do so if they had been starved for several weeks. Channeling Essence to maintain a calm even when surrounding by the pulverized corpses of enemy and ally alike, the Limit of the Exalt who uses this Charm is stunted for the scene – for at least this point in time, no one is going to get the best of the Exalt with his formerly unstable temper. Additionally, any attempts not centering on the Limit, but still relying on psychological warfare (such as taunting or intimidation), automatically fail, and Valor rolls made by the Exalt using this Charm automatically succeed. Standing up to any Primordials or Malfeans that the character in question has kicked up, is not certified to succeed; the Exalt will merely remain in a calm, if still passively violent, state of mind.
Sea Change Resistance Method</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes, 2 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 5 Prereqs: Calm in Clouds of Blood
As outlined in its basement technique, the battlefield can be a dangerous, frightening place, particularly at the edge of the world, where the Wyld is ascendant, and the Fair Folk and land alike bring horrific madness of all kinds. Using the understanding of Essence garnered from understanding and imitating the oceanic predators that swim on forever, the Exalt can avoid becoming victim to such things as Beguilement or Wyld Mutation, though not to objects made out of gossamer or fabricated from Glamour. Though not too long in duration, it has a complete chance of success, no matter how mighty the Fair folk in question or how great the storm of unformed and inchoate potential is, and inflicts reality on chaos whenever it might interfere with the Exalt’s course of movement, plowing through chaos and replacing it with vast waters or with solid, if moist, ground, depending on the user’s preference.
Crushing Jaw Strike</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote per die Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Shark Form
Making a sudden, vicious blow, the Exalt strikes out and lets Essence flow into the business end of the attack. The attack is enhanced in Accuracy by a number of dice equal to the number of motes spent on the attack, up to the limit of the Exalt’s type (Attribute+Ability for Solars and Abyssals, for instance).
Merciless Siaka Jaw Strike</b>
<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Crushing Jaw Strike
Drawing upon the devastating might of sharks that can pass whole platoons of Dragon-Blooded through their gullets, the Exalt strikes with Essence to ensure that her opponent will not be standing after the next attack. The base damage of the attack is doubled, as are the number of successes when determining damage.
Body-Rendering Blow</b>
<b>Cost: 15 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 5 Prereqs: Merciless Siaka Jaw Strike, Shaking Bite in Dark Waters
Drawing upon the way in which mortal bodies cannot handle the traumas of a set of eight-foot wide jaws crushing down on them, the Exalt channels Essence in such a way that anything made of meat that gets hit, will soon be nothing more. For the remainder of the scene, any blows that land on anything that was at one time living, with the exception of automata and their ilk, has aggravated instead of bashing or lethal damage inflicted upon it. Chomp.
Divine Siaka Body</b>
<b>Cost: 20 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 6 Min. Essence: 6 Prereqs: Body-Rendering Blow, Sea Change Resistance Method, Horrific Mayhem-Turning Defense
Though not what you could consider the “pinnacle” of training (if only because most people that imitate the siaka to this extent typically abandon such concepts), it is and impressive expression of Celestial Martial Arts nonetheless. Upon channeling the Essence of the Shark through their body, the Exalt will be ready to do battle with the gods; firstly, the channeling Exalt gains twice her Essence as an armor value (Bashing and Lethal; can even soak Aggravated) to reflect basic factors of toughness. Additional effects include the doubling of Strength, and a vastly increased ability to deal out damage, with the paired Martial Arts and Essence scores added to Accuracy and Damage. Also, if the Exalt was wielding any Martial Arts weapons at the time, their potency is also increased for this scene, though non-magical ones will not survive the combat; seven-section staves and tetsubo have their speed and defense increased by the Essence of the wielder, khatars (in this instance) have their damage increased by the Essence score of the wielder, and Wind-Fire Wheels have their Accuracy and Defense increased by their wielder’s Essence score. While under the effects of this Charm, the individual can also move about and breathe in water as they would on land, and have their Strength and Dexterity Increased by their Martial Arts score to determine their possible feats of strength and running/swimming speed; this Charm was made for wrecking boats, and things bigger than boats.
