Wandering Hero

The Wandering Hero - Raven Xanthus

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Humanity can't rely solely on the aid of the Dragon-Blooded hosts when a challenge raises its head. It was this simple thought pattern that caused the first true practitioner of the Wandering Hero style to begin his, or her, first steps into the style as it is now known. The lone swordsman who cuts his way through a dozen bandits to free slaves is a practitioner of the style a simple monk uses to resolve fights as he drifts from one shrine to the next in search of enlightenment. The style itself isn't made up of Charms, though it has some, but of the simple practice of using the passive application of skill to surpass adversity.

The style itself is not a suite of Charms but a set of dots, like the Fighting Style Merit of the NWoD or the Dragon-Kings Paths, which offer a constant benefit that don't cost anything to utilize and are all angled towards improving just about any character. Each dot can be bought for 3 xp and acts in a similar manner as a Specialization . When you chose to gain the first dot of Wandering Hero style you chose from Melee, Archery, Thrown, or Martial Arts and that is the ability that benefits from the effects of the style. You may chose to gain another 'first' dot in any of the other choices later and if you do they have iterative benefits.

•[Backing]: Attacks ignore one point of lethal soak and two points of bashing soak per dot when making an attack of the appropriate type, up to a maximum of +5 total across any iterative styles. Having all four 'first' dots grants you the ability to cut through a point of Hardness per dot of the style up to a maximum of 5.

••[Body Hardening]: You counts your stamina as one higher per dot of this style when calculating soak, up to a maximum of +5 total across any iterative styles. Having all four 'second' dots grants you a Hardness of the highest styles lethal soak, up to a maximum of 5.

•••[Tempering]: Gain an additional die to Join Battle rolls for every dot in this style, up to a maximum of +5 total across any iterative styles. Having all four 'third' dots grants you the Danger Sense Merit and the Essence Awareness.

••••[Esoteric Training]: You may select four points worth of mutations worth no more than two points each, and gain their benefits (but not their drawbacks) for a scene by spending a point of temporary Willpower. Once selected these cannot be changed; they represent special martial training not actual physical changes. Iterative styles stack as long as they are distinctly different. Having all four 'fourth' dots grants you the Merits Essence Recovery, Essence Mastery, and The Flow of Essence.

•••••[Heroic Tale Embodiment]: You raise the maximum benefit of Backing, Body Hardening, and Tempering by 1. In addition Esoteric Training gains an additional 6 points of mutations worth no more than three points each, but to gain the benefit of these choices you must take a level of Bashing damage in addition to the Willpower cost as the use of this visibly strains you. Having all four of the 'fifth' dots grants you the Prodigy Merit in all four abilities as well as the benefits of being a God-Blooded or Half-Caste of a chosen type.

Note: The iterative benefits may seem a bit over-powered but that is only if you pay for it, and fun fact it costs a whopping sixty xp to get the iterative bonus of Heroic Tale Embodiment and a equivalent experience Exalt smears the floor with him. That would rank you up in the same experience level as some of the most experienced thaumaturge. One of my friends jokingly said he'd go for it with his Exalt, but I don't think that such would happen unless you didn't care much for optimization. At sixty xp the price is too high with so little benefit.

The charms of the Wandering Hero Style are made to also be iterative having a Heaven and Earth side. The Heaven side is focused on Movement, Contemplation, and Opposition. The Earth side is focused on Stability, Rejection, and Harmony.

If anyone would like to help me develop the Charms i'd love to have some help just drop by the discussion tab.