MartialArts/ScorpionStyle3
Scorpion Style (III)
By BerserkSeraph
Background
This style was formulated in the later years of the First Age by a Solar of little import, an upstart who coveted the power of the Sidereal's martial arts but lacked the necessary patience and spiritual insight to be accepted as a student. Insulted, he - or she, records are uncertain - decided to form a style that would mirror some of the forms of the Sidereal masters. Scorpion style was the result of this study, but was never finished. The master, although he passed on the style's rudiments, was slain in the Usurpation, and most records of the style were discreetly sealed by the Sidereals in the confusion. The style, therefore, is a corruption of the base tenets created by a disciple, lacking the refined Essence manipulation that the creator had aspired to. It is a style suiting the Age of Sorrows - efficient and pragmatic, ultimately suited for continued survival in place of glorious shows of honor and skill.
Scorpion style as a mundane martial art (that is, the forms and katas, sans Charms) is primarily preserved by the Delzahn - the forms include a potent body of spear arts that can be applied from horseback, and are seen as an energy-efficient method of self-defense, very important under the Southern sun. The higher levels of the mundane teachings include drills to build pain tolerance, and many young Delzahn use these shows of masculine toughness to bolster their own reputations. Some parts of the style were subsumed into Fire Dragon, and practitioners of Fire Dragon will find many familiar paths in the attack routines. Terrestrial Exalts that have learned Fire Dragon Style can even master a new weapon - harmonizing the martial energies of the spear in a similar fashion in which they have received understanding of the short sword.
Scorpion style favors spears - characters with at least one Charm from the Scorpion tree may treat them as martial arts weapons, and they count as unarmed attacks for the purposes of the Charms below. Additionally, if a Terrestrial practitioner of this style has mastered Fire Dragon style, they may infuse the use of a spear with the flow of active Essence, increasing the Rate of a wielded spear by 1 and may ignore one die of multiple action penalties in regards to spear-based actions. The motions of Scorpion style require fluid motions and flexible use of the arms, and as such it is incompatible with armor.
Some Scorpion arts depend on a mastery of one's own internal alchemy, and as such may have a limit applied by the character's Medicine ability.
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Charms:
Heaven-Grasping Pincer</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
Infusing his body with martial Essence, this Charm allows the user to strike with surprising force with his hands and feet, driving blows into steel and sinking fingers into stone.
For the rest of the turn after the activation of this Charm, the character may do lethal damage with unarmed attacks and parry lethal attacks while unarmed. Additionally they may use their hands to fashion handholds in walls or ceilings, greatly aiding in maneuvering or hiding. The character may thusly climb at an increased rate (Seraph: How fast can you climb, normally? This probably doubles that.) or create a perch in a ceiling or wall from which to hang.
Hasty Stinger</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
Curling forward in a hunched posture, the character concentrates on the flow of martial Essence around himself, internalizing some of the energy of the enraged scorpion in a flow of power that allows him to burst into action with unnerving speed.
During the turn in which this Charm in activated, the character may add his Martial Arts or Medicine (whicher is lower) score to his Initiative, as well as treating his Dexterity as if it were a number of dots higher equal to his permanent Essence, but only for calculating movement speed.
Scorpion Form</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Heaven-Grasping Pincer Kata, Hasty Stinger Methodology
The character slows his breathing, centering his being and his Essence as he curls his body into a backwards-leaning attack form, arm curled and poised, like a raised stinger, to strike. The flow of Essence in the character's body quickens into a burning rush that renders limbs supple and strong. Coronas of noxious power congeal around the character's hands or spear, infecting the Essence of beings that they touch, afflicting them with stiffness.
For the rest of the scene, the character adds his Martial Arts score (Or Medicine score; whichever is lower) to his initiative totals. Additionally, he deals lethal damage with his unarmed strikes and may parry lethal damage while unarmed or, if using a spear, boosts the spear's rate, accuracy, and damage by one each. Finally, those struck by the character's martial arts attacks may be affected by a supernatural toxin - they must roll Stamina + Resistance against a difficulty of the character's Essence. If they fail, they suffer a 1 die penalty to all physical actions for the rest of the scene. Multiple penalties stack, but the overall dice penalty cannot exceed the charm user's permanent Essence. Characters cannot use more than one Form-type Charm at a time.
Poison Alchemy Mirage</b>
<b>Cost: 10 motes and 1 Health Level Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Scorpion Form
Flooding his muscles and veins with corrupted Essence-venom, the practitioners of Scorpion form can render their bodies capable of blending in against numerous backgrounds, shifiting in tone as the envenomed flesh's lividity and rigidity fluctuates wildly as the toxin adapts to the character's surroundings. It is difficult for the eye to distinguish, much less follow, the charm's user.
For the rest of the Scene, attempts to dodge or parry the character's Martial Arts attacks have their difficulty increased by the character's Essence. This only applies to the first defense in each turn - subsequent defenses against attacks in the same turn are treated as normal.
Chitin Armor Agony Meditation</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes and 1 Health Level Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Scorpion Form
The character deliberately suffuses his body with Essence-venom, the shock of the toxins stiffening his form and tightening his body to the limits of his endurance for pain - but also making him, for that moment of horrible agony, as durable as steel.
The character must activate this charm before an attack against the character is rolled. Once activated, it empowers the character to completely ignore the attack, if it is nonmagical in nature, or reduce a magical attack to its minimum dice of damage. It can also be used against environmental or falling damage - but it provides only a mere moment of resilience. For the purposes of this charm, 'magical attacks' include Charm-enhanced attacks, sorcery, attacks made with weapons of the Five Magical Materials, and similar effects.
Twin Pincer Atemi</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Poison Alchemy Mirage, Chitin Armor Agony Meditation
This Charm allows a practitioner of Scorpion style to, with two quick strikes to a foe's pressure points, unleash paralytic toxins into the bodies of his enemies. This strike can kill mortals with ease, and is the most well-known and well-feared of the Scorpion techniques.
The character performs a normal Martial Arts attack, dealing normal damage. However, should the target take at least one health level of damage from the attack, they must also roll Stamina + Resistance against a difficulty of the Charm user's Martial Arts score (Or Medicine score; whichever is lower). Should the roll fail, they are paralyzed and incapable of physical actions. Mortals simply die - they lack the resilience to even continue to breath under the effects of the toxin.
Exalts and sturdier beings may continue to make Resistance + Stamina rolls once each turn until they overcome the difficulty. Should the Resistance roll succeed (or should the effects be shaken off by subsequent Resistance rolls), the victim instead suffers a two die penalty to all physical actions (Multiple penalties do not stack but do stack with the penalties from Scorpion Form). The effects last a number of turns equal to the character's Essence (A character who shakes off the effects is penalized for the rest of the duration).
Some charms (such as Flow Like Blood and similar 'stationary dodge' charms) may allow a fully paralyzed character to defend themselves - ST's discretion.
Spiteful Essence Toxin</b>
<b>Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Twin Pincer Atemi
The user of this Charm exhales a plume of fouled Essence that floats, like a miasma, around him. Those attacking the character find themselves dizzied and wracked with the poisons, and mundane weapons rust or rot to nothingness inside the toxic fumes.
Mundane weapons that are used against the character decay to useless fragments after a single attack (regardless of whether it deals damage or not), and those attacking the character in close combat (whether unarmed or wielding melee weapons) suffer dice of damage equal to his Essence. This damage results from poisons, so certain Charms may protect against it, but armor does not. This damage is dealt only once per turn - multiple attacks do not caus multiple instances of poison damage.
Earth-Parting Pincer</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Twin Pincer Atemi
This Charm empowers its user to sweep his hands - or a spear - through the earth as easily as through the air, tunneling through the ground with stunning speed. Scorpion practitioners use this Charm to set up ambushes, disappearing amid the dunes and chosing their battles with tact and preparedness.
For the rest of the turn after this Charm is activated, the character's martial arts attacks are treated as piercing and deal lethal damage. He may also parry lethal damage without a stunt, if unarmed. The character may move through dirt, sand, and loosely-packed rock at normal walking speed, the tunnel closing behind the character as normal for the substance. Hollows formed around the character provide enough air for roughly five minutes for a single person - obviously, groups will have a more limited supply of air.
Spirit-Scoring Bile</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Earth-Parting Pincer Kata
Flowing Essence congeals around the character's body, granting purchase in spirit-matter as easily as it does in flesh. The character's blows can massacre spirits, or even pierce the ambient Essence of the world, allowing a practitioner of this potent Scorpion technique to literally stand on air.
For the rest of the turn after this Charm is activated, the character's martial arts attacks deal lethal damage and may strike dematerialized spirits. He may also parry lethal damage without a stunt, if unarmed. It does not empower the character to see spirits, however. The character may also walk and leap on air as if it were solid ground - when the Charm lapses, the character falls as normal. Additionally, the character's martial arts attacks weigh down spirits with toxic Essence, allowing them to be struck (but not sensed) by others, as if the spirit was wholly materialized.
Eternal Misery Scorpion Venom</b>
<b>Cost: 10 motes and 1 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Spirit-Scoring Bile Treatment, Spiteful Essence Toxin Prana
The ultimate strike of the Scorpion style flushes a colossal amount of corrupted Essence into a foe by striking him in a vital chakra, wracking the body with immeasurable pain and leaving lasting agony that can leave a victim in pain days or weeks after the attack. Worse, the infecteed Essence coils around any Essence that nears it, spreading the corruption to the rest of the body.
The character makes a Martial Arts attack as normal and deals normal damage. The attack deals additional damage equal to the charm user's Essence. Additionally, for the rest of the scene (or until the victim succeeds at a protracted Stamina + Resistance roll against a difficulty of the charm user's Martial Arts + Essence), every time the victim spends more than 4 motes of Essence he is wracked by paroxysms as his Essence is corrupted by the lingering effect. Targets thus affected take dice of lethal damage equal to the charm user's Martial Arts (or Medicine, whichever's lower) score, soakable only with natural soak.
In addition to the damage, the victim suffers a one-die penalty on all physical actions until poison-curing Medicine Charms are applied. Mortals never recover from this penalty without aid, while Exalts and similarly hearty beings recover after a number of weeks equal to the charm user's Essence.
Comments
- Hey folks, thanks for looking this over. I'd appreciate any insight or suggestions you could provide. ~ BerserkSeraph
A friend asked my opinion, and I don't think you're his alias but I figured I'd just comment on the Style here. I don't usually like doing Charm-by-Charm analysis, but they're already done, so I might as well fess up and just post them. Firstly, I guess, I like the Fire Dragon Immaculate bonus--it's a simple benefit and a subtle piece of flavor. Onto Charms:
- Scorpion Form</i>: Form is good. I had thought it might be a little weak until I noticed Snake Form doesn’t do Lethal. Preceeding Charms are equally fine.
- <i>Weeping Family at the Oasis, Poison Alchemy Mirage</i>: Don’t like the "stealth" branch that much. Should have some combat benefits rather than strictly stealth. Maybe excise one of the Charms, and make the other some sort of minor dodge-enhancer, like allowing a short-distance hopping dodge after and attack.
- <i>Chitin Armor Agony Meditation</i>: This is clever. I might specify the Health Level is Lethal damage, to put it a little more in line with other MA damage averters. I don't <i>think it's unbalanced, but you could always adjust the cost to use Willpower if someone disagrees.
- Twin Pincer Atemi</i>: Better than the pinnacle, effectiveness wise. I like mid-tree low-cost-potent-effect Charms, but full paralyzation, especially with limited defense options, is probably a bit much, if not assured death. Perhaps allow an extended roll to accumulate successes, so most people will break free in a turn or two--then they’ll probably survive unless they’re immediately trounced. I’d explicate exactly what defenses can still be used, at any rate. Mortals dying is cool; you should describe the terrible agony they suffer.
- <i>Spiteful Essence Toxin Prana</i>: I’m wondering if this and thus the pinnacle couldn’t be Essence 4. It’s a mean Charm, but it and CAAM give the style the defense it was lacking. I’d probably let weapons successfully attack once before wasting away, just to give folks a chance. The flavor text implies it only stops metal weapons, so that should be clarified, and allowing Unarmed attacks (which I assume are allowed) should probably be explicit.
- <i>Earth-Parting Pincer Kata</i>: Probably a little undercosted. I can imagine a Supplemental Piercing Charm that costs 3 motes, so a turn-long that lets you walk through dirt is maybe a mote or two too cheap.
- <i>Spirit-Scoring Bile Treatment</i>: Both climbing in air and attacking spirits sort of come out of nowhere (the climbing continues the first Charm's effect, of course, but it's sort of appeared again out if the blue.) It’s a bit of the odd-man out compared to the rest of the Charms, not that it's a problem, really. It’s a bit weak for its place in the tree, and I’d probably move it down a couple tiers, or increase the cost and make it poison spirits, or force them to materialize, or make it scene-long, or something along those lines.
- <i>Eternal Misery Scorpion Venom</i>: It’s not too hard for any character with a soak-enhancer Charm to soak a character’s Essence in Lethal. Even without, most characters will be taking 3-(3/2)=1 lethal die a turn, which isn’t much. The -1 penalty is good.
I'm not sure how I feel about Medicine being a limiter--it feels a bit constricting, and not... hella heroic, I guess. It'd be boss if Charms benefitted in some fashion from having a high Medicine, without flat out reducing the bonus to the lower of the Abilities. That said though, some of the later Charms are better with lower difficulties and Hasty Stinger Methodology would probably need to cost another mote--though most people taking this Style would probably synergize and have a high Medicine anyways, so it doesn’t matter too much.
Lastly, Charm names: some are a little silly. You can safely drop the last word from half of them without losing anything--Earth-Parting Pincer, Spiteful Essence Toxin, Chitin Armor Agony, et cetera. I didn't intend to post the Charm notes originally, so apoligies if any are unclear. It looks like a decent style, and I hope notes help, though my Exalted-fu is a little rusty. _Wohksworth
- I've changed some effects and cycled out a stealth charm, and am currently thinking of bouncing the new (and more dangerous) pinnacle charm up to Essence 4. Your thoughts? Thanks for commenting, by the way - it's the only way I'll improve. Regarding Earth-Parting Pincer - my thought was that Essence Fangs and Scales makes your attacks piercing for the entire scene for 6 motes, so 3 motes for a single turn plus some additional tricks seemed fair. ~BerserkSeraph
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