SolarAwareness/Darloth
My take on the solar awareness issue, also trying to make Surprise Anticipation Method slightly less useless if it isn't comboed.
Surprise Anticipation Method</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes, or 1 mote instantaneously Duration: Scene, or Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Awareness: 3 Min Essence: 2 Prereqs: Sensory Acuity Prana
By attuning their heightened senses to the world, a solar can enter a state where any unexpected physical danger becomes known and can be responded to without the liability of surprise. When used normally, this charm grants an automatic success on the wits + awareness roll to respond to ambush, and the solar may act as they wish, using charms or other abilities. This is not a perfect defense. This will also tell a solar quickly enough so that if they trigger a trap or other harmful physical event (such as putting too much weight on a crumbling brick, causing it to fall) they can respond normally without any penalties or awareness rolls. Typically, this will mean the difficulty of a dodge or athletics roll to avoid harm is difficulty 1, rather than any increased difficulty.
However, once they have internalized this lesson, a solar can never truly be surprised again, even when they are not specifically watching for danger. If this charm is inactive, it will trigger reflexively and with instant duration to any of the above conditions. It may also be placed in a combo, in which case it activates as per the instant effect, but provides no information whatsoever about the event, and so when it is activating reflexively, the solar must guess at what might be happening to select an appropriate combo (or lack of) for a response. Storytellers should not use the charm this way to drain motes of essence from a character.
The charm works perfectly when asleep (activating reflexively and bringing a character to full wakefulness instantly) but will not detect any indirect physical sources of danger or any mental or spiritual dangers. As such, this charm will not detect poisoned drinks, immaterial spirits/ghosts using charms to affect the world, or purely mental wards/attacks. It is NOT a perfect defense against anything, and can be trumped by a perfect ambush charm or utterly perfectly concealed traps.
Ambush Defeating Exclamation</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes, 1w Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Awareness: 4 Min Essence: 3 Prereqs: Surprise Anticipation Method
By means of this charm, a solar detecting an ambush may assist others in responding to such. Although it may only be used when the solar is aware of the attack, it may be comboed as usual with Surprise Anticipation Method or Danger Avoiding Mien. The solar gives a great shout and makes an essence enhanced gesture.
Mechanically, this charm must be used before initiative is rolled and on the turn on which an ambush is occurring. All of the solar's allies becomes aware of the incoming ambush, and -everyone- who chooses to target the ambusher(s) automatically wins initiative against them in the turn they unleash their ambush, unless other automatic init charms are in use, in which case, resolve as if neither being were using auto-init effects, as per usual.
Danger Avoiding Mien</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Awareness: 5 Min Essence: 3 Prereqs: Ambush Defeating Exclamation
At this level of skill, the solar's perceptions are so amazingly in tune with the world, that as long as they have access to essence, they cannot be surprised. Beyond this, their senses collect and process data so quickly that it is as if they forsaw the event several seconds before it actually came to pass, although this charm does not grant actual prescience.
This charm activates reflexively whenever something that would cause harm to the solar is about to occur. This includes, but is not limited to, ambush, drinking from a poisoned cup, triggering a trap, falling off a ledge in the dark, sorcerous mental assault, possession by hostile spirit or shaping attacks from a hostile Raksha. The storyteller is encouraged to use their discretion, but to be generous towards the solar possessing this charm. It is a powerful defensive magic, and if it fails, it should be because of an epic event or amazing feat of stuntage and magic. However, while it protects flawlessly against everything of a physical or mental nature, it will not detect the occurance of or in any way prevent social gaffes. For that, you will need Mastery of Small Manners.
Mechanically, this grants a perfect defese against being surprised due to ambush, and provides information about any other source of danger, along the lines of "You're about to drink poison" or "The sidereal hiding in the bushes is about to flip out and hit you with an unblockable combo". Obviously, this makes the source of the danger highly apparent, and in the case of things such as poison or traps, the solar is warned in time to not drink, or avoid actually triggering the device. In the case of ambush or other character's actions, the solar can declare whatever response seems appropriate, and is explicitly allowed to respond as if they knew it was coming all along. As a side effect of this, the solar automatically wins initiative over the source of the danger, unless other automatic-init charms are also in use, in which case, resolve as usual.
If this charm is placed in a combo, then the solar can choose to activate a combo containing this charm even after receiving and digesting this information, for the usual cost.
This charm functions as normal when asleep or otherwise lacking in sensory information - it uses the attunement to the flows of essence to detect danger, and does not actually require a solar to have any functional senses at all. It detects dangers invisible to essence sight or dangers from creatures outside of fate with no discernable loss of effectiveness.
