MartialArtsRelay/SableEvocationOfImage

MartialArts Relay

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Previous Themes

MartialArtsRelay/PressurePoints - the Charadrius Style. MartialArtsRelay/SerpentOcean - a toxic, action-splitting, violent style MartialArtsRelay/GiantSlaying - Mountain Killing Gadfly Style MartialArtsRelay/LucentGuardianintheNightSky - Sidereal Warstrider astrology based martial art MartialArtsRelay/ConstrictingIvy - A Wood-Aspected Terrestrial grappling MA. MartialArtsRelay/CloudPalmStyle - Terrestrial Air phantom-fist style MartialArtsRelay/LocustStyle - Celestial style intended for group use MartialArtsRelay/BelovedBlossomStyle - Emotional flower warfare. MartialArtsRelay/ParadoxStyle - Odd and esoteric. MartialArtsRelay/Jesters - Slapstick and making others look foolish MartialArtsRelay/Crossbows - Bird of Vanileth Style MartialArtsRelay/GoldenPsalmOfGlory - Songs to the Glory of the Unconquered Sun

Sable Evocation of Image

Art

DigitalSentience's Guidelines: This is Sidereal-level, 13 Charms. Incompatible with armor. Paintbrushes and calligraphy brushes wielded as weapons count as unarmed for the purposes of Charms in this style, although most practitioners prefer to fight barehanded or else not at all.

Thoughts: This is a style based around the power of symbols, art, and specifically portraits. A Sable Evocation of Image practitioner is able to bring drawings and paintings to life, eventually even controlling the subjects of their art, creating phantasmal warrior-servants from simple sketches, or trapping a target's soul in a work of art.

Student's Sutra of Art: There once was a maiden, who painted a portrait...

---

1. Artist's Appraising Martial Eye</b> - Overshee

<b>Cost:  1 mote
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts:  5
Min Essence:  4
Prereqs:  None

of a man who shone with the brilliance of the sun.

Upon actiavtion of this charm, the martial artist's eyes flash from one end of the visible spectrum to the other, encompassing any and all colors imaginable for a split second. Drawing upon her training in anatomy and perspective, bolstered with a gentle rush of Essence, she may discern the combat capabilities of her opponent.

Mechanically, the martial artist may learn her opponent's rating in any two of the following traits: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Wits, Archery, Brawl, Melee, Martial Arts, Thrown, Resistance, Athletics, Dodge, Ride, Sail, Conviction, or Valor. As a side-effect, this Charm may activated simultaneously with any other Charm of the Sable Evocation of Image Style, unless otherwise specified.

2. Painting Trouble's Braids -- OhJames

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration:  Instant
Type:  Simple
Min. Martial Arts:  5
Min. Essence:  4
Prerequisite Charms:  None

The man said: "Is that really me? Or have you painted my ghost?"

The exalt breathes out a stream of Essence-laden air, sculpting it with an artist's grace into the form of a violent kata. Drawing her hand before her eyes, she gathers up the magic, creating a strip of silk upon which her target's face has been roughly calligraphed. A sympathetic bond between artist, painting, and victim now exists, which the exalt can subsequently exploit.

Mechanically, this charm allows a martial artist to make an attack, which can then be frozen into a portrait. A target must first be nominated. The character must know the target's name and have a basic physical description for it to be eligible. Then a normal Dexterity + Martial Arts attack can be rolled. When the target first makes contact with her portrait, roll damage, with extra successes gained on the attack roll adding dice as usual and the target's soak subtracting dice as usual. The silk explodes into a corona of jagged Essence that pulses with the exalt's anima color, dealing lethal damage equal to the successes on the damage roll. This damage cannot be dodged or parried. Attempting to touch the portrait to its victim during combat requires a Dexterity + Martial Arts roll, which can be dodged or parried. Finally, this charm cannot be comboed with any charm that adds dice to a Martial Arts attack.

Example: Gull's Respite, Chosen of Serenity and calligrapher, needs to deal with Cathak Agruna, who is closing in on his Solar training camp. He rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts, getting seven successes. He then sends the resulting portrait to the unsuspecting Cathak as a gift. When she picks up the silk, it explodes in stabbing barbs of sapphire essence. Now Gull rolls damage. With Strength 3 and 7 extra successes, he gets 5 health levels of lethal damage. That'll teach the meddling Terrestrial.

If he instead tried to loop it around Arguna's neck during a ninjabattle, he would need to succeed on another Martial Arts attack.

3. Prodigy's Adaptable Palette -- OhJames

Cost: 7 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: None

Laughing, the maiden replied, "I have painted many things..."

By concentrating for a moment, an Exalt may channel the Essence of art throughout her body. Ink begins to seep from underneath her fingernails, in a constant dribble of iridescent color. This ink is, in many ways, a distillation of the user's soul and its hue will reflect the martial artist's current mood along with her general personality. But this is not merely a cosmetic effect. By tracing splattered mandalas across her opponent, the Exalt may inflict a number of painful results.

In lieu of making a normal strike, the character may make one of the strikes listed below. Instead of Dexterity + Martial Arts, the character must roll either Dexterity + Craft (Painting) or Performance. Each of these effects last for five turns.

• With a flick of her wrist, the character dabs ink across her opponent's face in the shape of an ideograph symbolizing blindness. He loses 4 dice on all Alertness rolls as well as all rolls to hit the martial artist.
• With three, long, lazy strokes, the Exalt traces an ideograph symbolizing weakness on the breastplate or chest of her opponent. Armor loses 4B/4L soak. Natural soak is only reduced by 1B/1L.
• Her hand darting like a snake, the martial artist brands her opponent's weapon arm with an ideograph symbolizing distraction. Should an attack on the martial artist miss or be reduced to zero successes, the attacker counts as disarmed and his weapon will fly five yards in a direction of the martial artist's choosing.
• Lashing out with a heavy, open-palmed blow, the martial artist places the ideograph for foolishness between her opponent's eyes. The opponent's initiative total is halved.

New techniques can be invented at the cost of 3 experience points and two weeks of intense, artistic introspection. In addition, for the duration of this charm the Exalt's ink-laden fingers count as fine brushes and styluses; she adds 1 success to any Crafts (Painting) roll.

4. Viridian Life-Alteration Prana</b> - Issaru

<b>Cost :8 Motes, 2 Willpower.
Duration :Until Dismissed
Type :Simple
Min. Martial Arts : 5
Min Essence : 4
Prerequisite Charms : Strokes of Appraisal

"And so too shall I repaint you!"

The Exalt momentarily stills himself to the flows of Essence. Her hands becoming a pale blue-green blur of light and color. As she strikes her opponent the hands seem to pass through their bodies imparting the viridian glow just beneath their skin. This glow seeks to "repaint" the lives of others to better suit the martial artist's circumstances. By making a Dexterity + Craft (painting) with a difficulty equal to (targets permanent Essence) the martial artist may do the following:

• trade dots between any of the targets Abilities. The Abilities altered by this charm may not be reduced below one, and may not be increased above the Permanent Essence of the martial artist.
• Trade dots between any of the targets Virtues. Virtues may not be reduced below one in this fashion, also the Curse Virtue of the Exalted may never be reduced below 3.

The martial artist may only sustain a number of applications of this charm equal to their permanent essence. Also the Dexterity + Craft (painting) roll this charm uses to impart its effect is considered a Martial Arts attack ,and will inflict damage as one if the martial artist so chooses, that cannot be parried/blocked as this is an Essence based attack and as such it only needs contact to work. It is worth noting that the victim of this Charm does not know his abilities have been altered, and is likely to be bewildered by their lack or addition of skill.

5. Prismatic Composition Motif - Wohksworth

Cost: 12 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms: Painting Trouble's Braids, Prodigy's Adaptable Palette, 
Viridian Life-Alteration Prana

She drew a scene of battle to cover the skies,

Like an artist paints a heroic portrait from the horrors of war, the exalt takes the offense of attack and forms an idyllic image. She crosses any blockable attack directed at her that she is aware of with the kata of brush strokes, parrying it completely while inking the air around her with the chromatic hues of the blow. The image of the attack, spartan brush strokes replete with any Charms that augmented the attack, flitters around her. The exalt draws alacrity from each composition, gaining +1 initiative for each active floating composition.

With an angry twist, the exalt can wrest her idyllic painting into the frey of battle. The hovering strokes solidify in a twist of light, becoming a strangely chromatic simulacrum of the weapon used or splashing the exalt's hands with ink. She makes a Reflexive Martial Arts attack against anyone in the weapon's range, augmented by any Supplemental or Simple Charms of turn-long or less duration employed in the original attack, replacing any instance of the original Ability in the Charm text with "Martial Arts". The painting is consumed in the attack.

An artisan may have up to her Essence in hovering compositions around her at any given moment. They drip away to ruined paint at the end of the scene.

6. Sable Evocation of Image Form - FlowsLikeBits

Cost: 12 motes
Duration: Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prerequisite Charms: Prismatic Composition Motif 

the maiden, the man and the others, all were present,

The artist composes the scene, painting the subjects and the relationships between them. Furious brush strokes define the participants and the scene and the result hovers behind the artist, changing slowly as the scene changes, but keeping the same style. These compositions are visible behind the martial artist, but they do interfere with the scene they show in any way. When this form is invoked, the artist may elect to work the sutra into her art. In this case, a sutra for this style may be invoked at no cost, althought the sutra's duration is then tied to the duration of the Sable Evocation of Image Form, and will cease when it does.

This composition defines the scene, participants and relationships, although the outcome is not preordained. This effect arises from the artists understanding of the participants and stakes involved, rather than Sidereal knowlege of fate. The artist and a number of allies up to the artists essence get one of the following bonuses for the duration of this charm. Each may get a different bonus.

• Add the artists Essence in dice to all rolls with one Ability. This does not count against dice adding limits.
• Add the artists Essence to Lethal, Bashing and Agg soak.
• Add the artists Essence to Initiave.

Also, a number of enemies up to the artists essence get one of the following penalties for the duration of this charm; this may be different for each enemy.

• Subtract the artists Essence in dice from all rolls with one ability.
• Subtract the artists Essence from all soaks, this cannot reduce a soak below zero.
• Subtract the artists Essence from Initiave.

Changing the composition in any way(i.e. who get's what bonus or penalty) requires reinvoking the form.

7. The Painter’s Art Is His Sword </b> -- by OhJames

 <b>Cost:  12 motes
 Duration:  One Scene
 Type:  Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts:  6
 Minimum Essence:  6
 Prerequisite Charms:  Sable Evocation of Image Form

The maiden became a master of her art...

Inhaling sharply, the martial artist charges her lungs with coruscating Essence, then breathes out a cloud of roiling, bubbling, monochromatic change. She lashes out, sculpting the cloud with jabs and punches, lunges and kicks. When she finishes her creative furor, she holds in her hands an elegant weapon that resonates with her soul, in particular, and the Sable Evocation of Image Style, in general.

The weapon has Speed of (Essence x 2), Accuracy of (Essence), Damage of (Essence + 2L), and Defense of (Essence – 2). In power combat, Rate equals Wits. In addition to the weapon’s prowess, it also reduces the cost of Painting Trouble’s Braids, Prodigy’s Adaptable Palette, Viridian Life-Alteration Prana, and Prismatic Composition Motif by 2 motes.

8. The Tattered Portrait</b> - Wohksworth

 <b>Cost:  18 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration:  One Scene
 Type:  Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts:  6
 Minimum Essence:  6
 Prerequisite Charms:  Sable Evocation of Image Form

...finding sublimity in all its forms...

The martial artist takes inspiration from hardship and creates masterpieces. As opponents press on against adversity, sadistic Essence coalesces and, for a moment, binds the souls of the martial artist and her foes. An outcome that will never occur passes between them, and is lost. The air around the martial artist is rich with inspiration, waiting to be given form by expert hands.

Any roll suffering a reduced pool from effects of Style Charms triggers this effect. A number of motes equal to the dice lost are regained by the martial artist and immediately Committed. Any time the artist makes a Crafts roll, she may Reflexively commit motes equal to her successes on the roll. She may Reflexively decommit and spend Committed motes from these and only these sources on the following Instant non-Charm effects; these effects may stack and may reoccur in the same Instant:

• 2 motes: Add one die to any roll of the martial artist or her allies as defined by the Form. These bonuses do not count towards die limits. She may activate this up to Essence times per instant; this limit is rescinded when modifying Craft rolls.
• 1 mote: an additional rating may be divined by Artist's Appraising Martial Eye.
• 5 motes: Painting Trouble's Braids inflicts piercing damage.
• 6 motes: one dot shifted by Viridian Life-Alteration Prana may instead shift to the Martial Artist's Abilities, governed by the same limits as normal modification by that Charm.
• 7 motes: Prismatic Composition Motif may paint more impersonal attacks. If activating when another party is attacked, the martial artist may paint the attack made, as per the Charm text, save that she does not parry this attack.
• 7 motes: Floating Compositions of Prismatic Composition Motif persist for five rounds once summoned, floating but solid; any benefits besides weapon statistics and mundane powers persist only for the first instant they are summoned.
• 3 motes: A persistent Floating Compositions will defend the Martial Artist with a supplemental parry, rolling the artist's Intelligence + Craft (Painting) + bonuses from the weapon. This is not a parry by the martial artist. This effect may be activated once per weapon per contested roll.

Techniques take the form of perfected, chromatic hued imagery. In the instant The Tattered Portrait or its non-Charm effects activate, the martial artist and affected parties seem richer: wearing robes of kings; bearing weapons of the gods, or their demeanor; or bearing the scorn of philistines, fighting battles against foes of pigment. New techniques that affect pre-Form Charms can be invented at the cost of 3 experience points and two weeks of intense, artistic introspection.

9. Artistic Shorthand Methodology</b> - Dasmen

 <b>Cost:  15 motes, 1 Willpower
 Duration:  Instant
 Type:  Supplemental
 Minimum Martial Arts:  6
 Minimum Essence:  6
 Prerequisite Charms:  Sable Evocation of Image Form

...and contentment in its ways...

While it is an often overlooked skill, great artists don't just create masterpieces, they also make countless quick sketches. For a true master, though, a quick sketch may a times seem a masterpiece.

Upon using this charm, the martial artist fingers fluter as he sketches his desire, and then traps his enemy within it. The martial artist may activate this charm at any point before soak is rolled. If the original attack was parried, ignore the successes gained on the parry roll, the attack retroactively becomes unblockable. This attack does no damage. Instead, count the number of successes obtained.

The martial artist immediately activates another charm that supplies or enhances an attack as if he hadn't used his charm for the turn, or a combo where all the charms involved supplies or enhance an attack. This may include Extra-Action charms, provided that all the actions are attacks against the target struck. These don't have to be Martial Arts Charms. If the charms required weapons or other tools, he must have them on his person, though he doesn't need them to be readied. None of these attacks are rolled, they all have the number of success equal to the number of successes the martial artist obtained on the attack supplemented by Artistic Shorthand Methodology plus his Permanent Essence, and it is impossible to defend against these painted strokes with anything but an applicability trumping defense like Heavenly Guardian Defense.

10. Depicting the True Likeness</b> - Darloth

 <b>Cost:  30 motes, 3 Willpower
 Duration:  Variable
 Type:  Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts:  8
 Minimum Essence:  8
 Prerequisite Charms:  Everything else up till now, and maybe a little more.

In the end, she painted herself, and was gone. Only the art remained.

When the artist invokes this charm, they immediately begin painting almost in a trance. The shared tension of battle provides the canvas, and powerful threads of essence are the ink. With every measured, precise stroke, a single opponent becomes less and less real, until only the picture remains.

Mechanically, the artist rolls Dex + Craft(Painting) at a difficulty equal to the target's Essence. If this roll succeeds (and it is not an attack and so cannot be defended against) then the target loses 1 from every attribute and ability, including willpower but not virtues or essence. The artist continues to make these rolls once every turn until the target has reached 0 in all of the affected statistics or until distracted (use the rules for distractions while casting sorcery, but substitute martial arts for occult). If the artist is successfully distracted before the charm completes, then the lost points return at a rate of 1 per scene.

Once a target has reached 0 in all of those stats, they can do nothing but fade away, although someone else can still intervene and save them by distracting the martial artist. However, every time the martial artist succeeds on a roll now, the target loses 1 from every virtue and from their Essence. Once all of THOSE have reached 0, then the target is utterly gone, removed from existance, and the artist has a perfect painting of them, the most accurate representation of that being that there ever could be.

At any later date, this painting may be invoked for a cost of 1 willpower and 1 aggravated health level per two points of essence or part thereof that the being depicted possessed at the time of the painting, and as it is soaked in the artist's own blood, that being becomes real again for a scene. This effect brings whoever (or whatever) was in the painting back into existance for a single scene, with all powers, weapons, attuned artifacts, etc that they vanished with, to fight or serve on the behalf of the artist for a single scene, before disappearing, this time entirely.

It should be noted that this charm will also paint and thus unmake any and all equipment including attuned artifacts. Dropping them before you lose all your willpower will save the artifacts, if you really need them, but otherwise, they are included in the painting and thus cease to exist.

If this charm is used on an Incarna or a Primordial, the resultant painting will likely be much, much larger, and require such a cost that the artist would die if he invoked it, but aside from that, it would still work. Primordials will only become a malfean after their painting has been used, so this provides a neat but difficult way of trapping them, although noone has yet succeeded. After the martial artist dies, anyone can use their paintings of people for twice all costs, these are usually artifact 5.

Comments

If you're familiar with FinalFantasy6 (or FF3 in America), think "Relm." I'm sure there are other characters with similar abilities to use as reference, but I'm not familiar with them.
I'm picturing the prototypical Sidereal badass whipping out a brush, painting an intricate portrait of his enemy (on the ground/nearby wall/thin air/whatever) in a few brush-strokes, and then doing something suitably horrific to said enemy via the painting.
I leave the actual structure of the style in your capable hands (and number of Charms is open to debate as well; I chose 13 because that sounded about right for Sidereal MAs, and this is the 13th MartialArtsRelay). - DigitalSentience

I'm going to take a crack at this. -Overshee

Thanks for posting a Charm! I cleared up some of your formatting and stuff; I hope you don't mind. - willows

No problem, and no I don't mind, infact I thank you. I didn't have time to format it, and I wanted to get it done so I could eat. -Overshee

Strokes of Appraisal: I really don't think Sidereal Martial Arts should start at Essence 2. I don't have my book in front of me, but I'm very sure that Essence 4 is the lower threshold for SMAs. I think you should rethink your approachon this. I'll give it a bit of thought and add my own later, I think. - David.

I'm not so great at charms and Martial Arts. Critiqueing like this is really a great help for me. Thanks! -Overshee

Painting Trouble's Braids: Uh... I don't know if I quite got this right. Originally it was going to be a scene-long that allowed three different types of attacks, but I decided that the first power I wrote was good enough to be used on its own. It's not really mechanically in line with the guidelines above, but it fits thematically, plus I like it. Anyway, it probably still needs to be tweaked. -- OhJames

Re: Painting Trouble's Braids: The wording's a little confusing. What part takes three turns? And, is this meant to be an unblockable/undodgeable attack? Basically, how does the fact that you store the attack in the image interact with the normal defense options? - DigitalSentience

I fixed it up to be prettier and less confusing. Also made it more sneaky and less combat-y. -- OhJames

Nice. Does the MAist have to see the target to make the 'portrait'? Also: "ninjabattle?" *grin* - DigitalSentience

No, but they've got to know the victim's name and basic physical description. -- OhJames

It's an old term. They occured so often in the First Age there's now just one word for them. Chejop Kejak got tired of shouting "You will be punished for your interference! Prepare for Martial Arts Combat!" ~ BerserkSeraph True story

That's what I figured. Thanks for clearing that up. Er, you too, OhJames. - DigitalSentience

Well, this might be a little rude, posting two charms in a row, but I had an idea and wanted to write it up before it fled my mind. If anyone objects, I'll just take it down, no complaints. -- OhJames

That is a terrible Charm name... OhJames

God! I finally thought of a better name. -- OhJames

Viridian Life-Alteration Prana is actually weaker (but more flexible) than Sidereal Shell Games. - willows

Hmmm! Well I didn't think so, but if you have any suggestions please post them - I was going to add the ability to switch Attributes too, but I thought against it. The fact that it can empower minions <Changing that meek scholar into a kung-fu bad arse, or changing that rampaging kung-fu bad arse into a good historian> was the main factor in costing. Also taking your opponents abilities is kinda nice, and if used creatively very potent <Oh we're fighting on a collapsing bridge..well you won't be needing that Athletics now! will you?>. Additionally I didn't want this charm to be willpower free even at the Elder Sutra level. Finally I was very concerned about making the charm too powerful for a Post form charm. As always thanx for the comment. - Issaru

Prismatic Composition Motif: Woo complicated, probably abusable mechanics. I'd tried to cover a couple contingencies, but I'm certain to have missed something. _Wohksworth

Sorry for getting distracted away from the Relay for so long. Is anyone else uncomfortable with the 2/2 requirements for Strokes of Appraisal? I'm tempted to beef it up a bit, but it seems rude without original authors' consent. What I'd like to do is something that enables a user to paint a picture of arbitrary complexity within just a few turns, which would hopefully have applications for other Charms in the tree... and then give it the 'Appraisal' ability as a side-benefit. - DigitalSentience

I agree. I think the low requisites for the Charm are unsuited to Sidereal-level Martial Arts. Hopefully Overshee will look at this again and rethink his Charm, then revise it to me more in line with martial arts on this tier. - David.

Sorry, I've been busy, but I've changed it. Is it better now? -Overshee

Erm... what they're getting at, I think, is the fact that the Charm just isn't powerful enough for a Sidereal style. It's also, just in my opinion, not martial art-y enough. Maybe you could try to scale up the power level to be in line with the new ability/essence minimums? -- OhJames

Yeah, that's sorta what I meant, at least. I mean, I might allow someone to get a general sense of someone's Attributes with a decent roll on a Perception+whatever check - it just doesn't seem all that powerful, especially now that it's 5/4. Maybe, if sucessfully used against an opponent, it gives a persistent benefit over the course of one fight against them? - DigitalSentience

Equal to what... permanant essence? -Overshee

So, this Style is problematic, because it doesn't really display (to me) a unified combat strategy...I need to identify that before I can make a Form. Anyone able to help? - willows

The strategy I think weakly embodied in the style so far is to understand one's opponents strengths symbolically, and, by changing the symbols, changing those strengths. A good Form for this style might involve the ability to erase parts of the opponent (symbolic or actual parts) or create simaculara for some purpose. Wohksworth's Charm is pretty Form-y, except I don't understand if it's activated in response to a successful parry, grants a parry, or grants a parry which is automatically successful. - Arafelis

Grants an automatic semiperfect parry; I was trying to be spartan and left the reader to intuit that the parry was granted, since no roll was indicated--lemme see about rewording that. I used the generalized 'hovering compositions' terminology in the hope that people would use it in subsequent Charms. _Wohksworth

Hmm, I really didn't want my first SMA attempt to a form, oh well. It seemed to be what should be next, if people don't like it, I understand. The effects are somewhat weak, but are fairly flexible, so the weak bonus seemed justified. I tried to go with the symbol theme. - FlowsLikeBits

This relay is dead and it appears Overshee is not going to alter her Charm. So... I did it for her. -- OhJames

Speaking of 'this relay is dead', what do you say we shut this one down and move on? SMA tends to stall us out pretty severely; we only did the first 6 of Ebon Tendrils too. - willows

Sorry, I just got a Sid book recently, so I couldn't take a crack at SMA till then. Anyway, it is a bit hard as you basicly need one book to do it, while most others the mechanics and themes involved are more straightforward. That's just my opinion. The other point is that there arn't that many regular people and MA's are longer than other relays. Thus they tend to take longer bc it seems weird to enter the same relay twice. -FlowsLikeBits

Heh. I don't think that you really need a Sid book, but, like, the combination of OHMYGOSH gigantic trees and really high Trait requirements makes this sort of thing particularly tough. - willows

I think the length is a greater detriment than the requirements: momentum is often lost after four or five Charms, though more commonly on less directed or inspired Styles. I'd limit relay Martial Arts to 10 Charms or less, with guidelines where the Form should occur. I think we're close to a reasonable end on this style, if someone would like to write a capstone Charm. _Wohksworth

So this is my first Martial Arts charm, tell me what you think? - Dasmen

First, spelling errors abound, I would fix them myself but I need to write the final charm and cook dinner, sorry. Secondly... Interesting and nice effect, but it seems... slightly underpowered for essence 6. Are the successess just applied, or are those secondary effects just applied with no chance to block or dodge... also how does that interact with applicability breaking defenses? Anyway, I would suggest dropping this charm to around essence 4 or 5, and shoving it in somewhere a little earlier in the tree, as it fits really well, just not there ^_^
-- Darloth

Muahaha! I have it... If only the Essence requirement for the style was up to the sickening level I wish to paint with. Hopefully, noone will mind if it jumps rather a lot from the previous charm to my final charm... although you're welcome to cram some more in there if it seems appropriate. I am writing the charm now, when I -should- be cooking dinner, because inspiration like this is too good to miss.
-- Darloth

Okay, done ^_^ - It's a bit short and messy right now, I'll tidy later, but what do you think? Also, feel free to suggest better names and costs/prereqs. It's expensive right now, but it seemed like it should be.
-- Darloth

Might I also suggest that Artistic Shorthand Technique does full damage, and ALSO allows you to paint a picture of the attack you have just performed. Then, at any time within (your Essence) in turns, you can unveil the picture as a reflexive non-charm action, and the attack repeats, with the number of successes you originally attained, and only defendable with the same method as the original attack was (If it was blocked, it is undodgable, if it was dodged, unblockable... if they chose not to defend, then it is both undodgable and unblockable).

If it did that, then I would suggest another charm immediately above it, where the artist draws or reveals (as a Simple action) a picture of some unpleasant happening, usually involving the five elemental themes, and then simply shows it to the target (they need to be able to see, so base ranges on their perception?). If the target is not blind, what they see flows off the paper and comes to pass, expanding to 5 normally rolled martial arts attacks inflicting (Essencex2)L damage, and ignoring all cover. As a neat side effect, anyone looking through a telescope or using sight enhancing charms would be especially vulnerable to this charm, if the artist knows he is being observed, as the effects would appear around the target. Perhaps it should require pre-drawn scenes, or get the artist to make a diff 4 Dex + Craft(Painting) roll to create one in the same instant the charm is used. How does that seem? It would probably be MA5 Ess5, and I would place it before Artistic Shorthand.
-- Darloth draws heavily from Land of the Rising Sun's Painter Mage class. Free basic magic effects is REALLY powerful.

That wasn't quite the effect I was aiming for. Here's a fixeruper on the charm. Hopfully it more balenced now. - Dasmen

Yes, seems better now, although I don't really know how to balance essence 6 effects anyway. Maybe I'll add mine as separate charms, since SMA should be amazingly large anyway, and a spread of effects to choose from after the form somehow seems appropriate. Opinions from others?
-- Darloth

Agh. *kung-fu's this relay to death* - David.

You know. I concut that this relay should get archived, and we should start something else. But between this and Ebon Tentacles of Entropy ... Siddie styles falter and die, after ess 5. Why not cap Sidereal MA at Ess 5, and the form? it still gives you as many (if not more) charms to play with than TMA, and keeps things in the realm of things people can compare to other MA, and worth with easier. - Scrollreader

Personally, I'd cap them at like 5 Charms. CMA and TMA are much more amenable to writing; Darloth, can you give us a new theme, please? - willows is surprised he never got around to writing a charm for this

Darloth's on holiday for around a week.. so it's probably up to you whether you want to wait or just have someone else do the next :) FluffySquirrel

Well, then...someone post a theme! We'll give Darloth the next theme pick or something... - willows

I have a couple of random ideas for additional charms, but I really suck at balancing sidereal MA charms, so someone else feel free to add flesh. These ideas aren't actually in order, so might need to be inserted at various points in the tree, if people want them.

• An attack charm that transfers one of the attacker's resplendent destinies onto the target, by force. The target is forced to adopt that identity for some period (I suggest a year and a day). Essentially, the attack "repaints" the target.
• A ranged, unnoticable "attack" that allows the attacker to paint a portrait of someone in eyesight. The portrait can later be used to make astrology easier against that target. One (possibly over the top) idea is to create a painting of a group, and the group can be affected using only highest Essence rating of the group, rather than their sum (assuming non-mortal people in the group). This would get around a huge restriction on astrology.
• A long (five minute or so) kata/painting process that allows the repainting of a friendly target to do things like heal damage, regenerate limbs, cure disease and possibly reverse aging. Can't be used on self.
• I don't think anyone did anything with the "creating phantasmal warrior-servants from simple sketches" idea at the start of the post. It'd be interesting if you could mail a squad of fighters someplace.

One other random point: I think the form should also allow the user to use Craft (Calligraphy) skill in place of martial arts if the user wants. - Wordman

I also have a suggestion for the next tree in the relay (or at future one at some point): a celestial martial art geared towards shapeshifting (meaning it is largely for lunars, and may require lunar charms as prereqs). In particular, the idea is to master shapechanging while attacking/defending, doing things like instantly coating your arm in plates, then springing out tentacles to grab the attacking weapon, or reversing the direction of your joints during a clinch. In other words, use shapeshifting in a more refined and subtle way than the typical brutality of lunar combat charms. To get the control needed, the practicioner must be in human form, but the pinnacle charm of the tree allows the form to be used in deadly beastman form. - Wordman

Notes on my planned completion of this style:-

• Move Dasmen's charm up to 7/7... even at ess6, it seems too strong, converting 1 attack post-defences into (potentially) a megacombo, all undefendable.
• Add the two pre-charms I postulated before Dasmen's charm
• Add a servant-creation charm, maybe based on Painting Trouble's Braids and possibly rearrangement effects (rearrange to servants? or just paint in... hrrm)
• maybe try wordman's idea about the ally-repainting technique, it sounded cool.

-- Darloth likes this style, and, if noone else does, will eventually finish it

I've created (and, ahem, completed) a style inspired by this one. It's different in tone, but similar in concept. I'm also looking forward to see what Darloth comes up with. -- Wordman