IsawaBrian/SolarMeleeAttack
First Edition and Conversions
Focused Attack
Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Melee: 2 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: None
By concentrating on the flows of Essence, the Exalt tunes out all distractions and bypasses obstacles. Even darkness is not a barrier to him, as long as he knows where to strike or parry. The character suffers no penalties for a single melee attack or parry. This specifically does not negate any penalties due to active defenses.
In Second Edition, this Charm reduces both internal and external penalties to a single melee action to 0. This does not include DV. The cost is increased to 3 motes. It is Combo-OK and Leader. It requires any Melee Excellency.
Mind and Blade Discipline
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Melee: 4 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Focused Attack, Excellent Strike
The Exalt fills her weapon with Essence, harmonizing it with her mind. Thought becomes action, and mere distractions and impediments cannot stop her from striking her opponent. For the rest of the scene, her difficulties and penalties for Melee actions are reduced by her Permanent Essence, to a minimum difficulty of 1, and a minimum ‘penalty’ of 0. This will not subtract from active defenses.
In Second Edition, this Charm is Combo-OK, Leader, and requires Focused Attack and any Melee Excellency. It reduces both internal and external penalties to melee actions by the Solar's permanent Essence. This specifically does not effect DVs. Its Speed is 5.
One With the Blade
Cost: 1 mote, 1 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Melee: 5 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: Focused Attack, Excellent Strike
The character attunes her senses and reflexes to the Essence around her. She connects her weapon to those flows, and forces them by will and Essence to prevail over the world She may make a Melee attack with absolute certainty that the attack will succeed. The player rolls to attack as normal, but if she rolls insufficient successes for her character to hit the target, he still hits it, doing his weapon’s base Strength + Damage Rating damage. This has no effect on soak; while the character may use this Charm for melee tricks such as puncturing cards in the air with her spear, or slicing objects spinning in the air, it will not allow her to evade armor soak by stabbing for an eye, throat, or what have you. A perfect defense will prevent this attack from functioning; nothing less will.
In Second Edition, this Charm requires Essence 3. It is Combo-OK and Obvious. The attack is resolved as normal, with raw damage calculated on an assumption of 0 attack successes if the attack would have missed without this Charm. It only requires Focused Attack. It is Combo-OK, Leader, and Obvious.
Spear Of The Unconquered Sun
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Melee: 5 Minimum Essence: 5 Prerequisite Charms: Felicity of Style Method, One With the Blade
Tapping on the power and skill of his patron, the Exalt opens the floodgates of Essence from his soul and channels it through his limbs and weapon. Just as the Unconquered Sun himself is said to never miss, the Exalt will not; his focus is absolute and his aim unerring. The Exalt’s weapon glows with the Essence running through it, creating a brilliant arc or slash in the air as it is brought home to its target at the speed of light. This is a perfect attack, and cannot be dodged or blocked. No penalties are applied to this roll; only a perfect defense can stop it in any way. The character should still roll to attack with a number of automatic successes equal to the character’s permanent Essence. All successes rolled here, plus the character’s Melee score, are added to the character’s raw damage, which may be bashing or lethal as the character prefers. The opponent soaks as normal, and damage is rolled as normal.
In Second Edition, this Charm's requirements become One With the Blade and Melee Essence Flow. It is Combo-OK, Leader, and Obvious. The 'Perfect Attack' title no longer applies in Ex2.0; instead, no DV is ever applicable nor can be made applicable, except for Perfect Defenses. The bonus successes to the attack and bonus dice to damage still apply, as does the bashing/lethal choice.
Blurring Blades
Cost: 5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Melee: 3 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Excellent Strike
The character launches a blizzard of attacks against one foe, striking rapidly and having his blows shadowed by hundreds or even thousands of Essence-copies of his weapon. The character doubles his Melee pool for the purposes of a single attack which cannot be dodged, only blocked. This attack can affect only one target, but may be used to shred vegetation from an area, completely slice fabric to tatters, and so on.
In Second Edition, this Charm is Combo-OK, Leader, and Obvious. It doubles the number of successes on an attack roll before it is compared to defense, and makes the target's Dodge DV inapplicable. It requires Any Melee Excellency
Eye-Dazzling Stance
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Minimum Melee: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: One With The Blade, Careful Warrior Method
The Solar shifts into a swift-moving, essence-glittering stance that allows her to make a continuous series of unbalancing feints and deceptively skillful attacks. As a result, the Exalt's opponent is left dazzled and off-balance, giving increasing levels of control to the Solar. Once activated, the Solar is given the option to turn an attack into a feint reflexively, after a first defense type has been chosen but before the defense is rolled. This is an unusual change to the way that attack activations work, so the Storyteller and other players should take note.
If a feint is called, the attack will do no damage. However, the player should keep track of the successes accumulated over the net defense. Those successes may be added to any future attack against the target of the feint. This does not have to be the subsequent attack; even ordinary attacks used while Eye-Dazzling Stance is active are deceptive and aimed to continuously off-balance the opponent. However, only two feints may be made in a row-- though they can be accumulated beyond that point to a maximum number of 'held' feints equal to the Solar's Melee score-- before an attack of some sort must be made. Successes from a single feint must all be applied at once.
In Second Edition, this Charm has a Speed of 5 and a DV penalty of -0. It requires One With the Blade and Any Melee Excellency. It is Combo-OK and Leader. The decision to make an Attack into a Feint is done during Step 4, allowing for defense rerolls to negate a feint. A feint of this type cannot be used against a character who is Guarding. A target who has more than one Feint accumulated on them may negate all of the feints by succeeding at a Wits + (Melee, War, or Dodge) roll with a difficulty equal to 1 + the number of accumulated successes. Doing so is a Speed 4, DV -2 action called Rebalancing.
Unconquerable Abrupt Twist
Cost: 4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Melee: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: Mind and Blade Discipline
Through a rush of Essence, the Solar creates an abrupt and unpredictable twist in a disarm attempt, making it much easier to remove a weapon from his opponent's possession. Add the character's Melee score to a disarm attempt. If the attempt is successful, the opponent's weapon will end up wherever the Exalt desires, including in his own hand, with no additional difficulty or penalty.
In Second Edition, this Charm is Supplemental and costs 3 motes. It is Combo-OK. It supplements any Disarm action as above, though the number of dice it adds is equal to the character's Essence.
Note: this Charm's structure is based on the rules from the Mantis Style disarming Charm. As a result, in my opinion, it's a bit wonky.
Second Edition
Excellent Strike
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 1; Type: Simple (DV –2) Keywords: Combo-Basic Duration: Until used Prerequisite Charms: Peony Blossom Meditation
A Solar’s mastery of weapons is a deep and personal connection to the art of combat. By meditating upon a weapon for five minutes, the Solar can find one supremely excellent strike to imprint upon his Sun-blessed instincts. The Solar expends the motes and willpower necessary for the charm, committing the motes, and the Solar’s player rolls the character’s (Wits + Melee), with a number of bonus successes equal to the Solar’s permanent Essence. The number of total successes should be recorded for future use.
This Excellent Strike may be later released as a reflexive non-Charm use, though the original invocation is considered to be a Charm usage. This may be done at any point during combat resolution until Attack Reroll, step 5. When the Excellent Strike is released, replace the number of successes rolled on any Melee roll with those rolled for the Excellent Strike, or the Solar may simply release the motes and attempt again. Only one invocation of Excellent Strike may be stored at any one time, and using the successes fully erases them; the Charm must be used anew, with a different roll.
