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| − | * back to DarkheartOne
| + | #REDIRECT [[DarkheartOne/IdeaDump]] |
| − | * back to MartialArts
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| − | * back to CelestialMartialArts
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| − | | |
| − | == Concepts ==
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| − | Smoke, in all its oppresive, nasty, blinding, choking terror. Obviously an Alchemical art, and meant to be one of five arts that mirror the Five Dragon Paths, the Five Protocols of Autochthonic Elemental Understanding (the Five Protocols for short).
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| − | * Vigilant Haze Style: Smoke
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| − | * Lucent Prism Style: Crystal (removing as a protocol, prolly)
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| − | * Faultless Alloy Style: Metal
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| − | * Searing Arc Style: Lightning
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| − | * Viscous Shadow Style: Oil
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| − | * Roaring Plume Style: Steam
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| − | This is massively preliminary, and my first actual MA. Much help would be appreciated.
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| − | == Compatibility ==
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| − | * Smashfists, God-Kicking Boots and the like are considered style weapons. Is only compatible with armor that is provided through Charms. (For example, an Alchemical user would have installations of Exoskeletal Armor Plating.)
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| − | * Can<b>not</b> be learned without the Perfected Lotus Matrix.
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| − | == Comprehension Submodules ==
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| − | * Only one Comprehension type may be active at any one time. Thus, one may activate Initial Comprehension of Smoke, but must wait for it to shut down before activating Initial Comprehension of Metal.
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| − | * A martial artist with a Perfected Lotus Matrix installed may only have one Absolute Comprehension submod installed into it. Once that submodule is put into place, it may never be removed, and the Alchemical's Essence is altered so during the installation process that they may not even gain the effects of a second Absolute submodule installed in another Perfected Lotus Matrix.
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| − | <b><i>Initial Comprehension of Smoke</b></i>
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| − | <b>Cost:</b> 2 BP or 6 XP
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| − | <b>Prereqs:</b> Essence 2, Perfected Lotus Matrix, Any one Vigilant Haze charm
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| − | Combining installed Alchemical technology and meditation of the ways of the Pole of Smoke, the Alchemical gains a unique advantage over those prefer to not immerse themselves so deeply into their art.
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| − | The actual submodule consists of a tiny glass cell, filled with smog taken directly from the Pole of Smoke, that is wired into the inner section of the Perfected Lotus Matrix with soulsteel wires thinner than hairs. While this only takes little more than 6 hours to install, the Alchemical must nonetheless remain within the Vats as a direct uplink to the latent thoughts and whims of Ku, Divine Minister of Smoke is opened. The complete process takes a day, after which the Alchemical may go about their business.
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| − | Activation of the Initial Comprehension module requires only a thought and the expenditure of 2 motes, and does not count as charm usage. Once activated, the Alchemical's body takes on a slightly hazy, wavering appearance. Stiff winds make this all the more obvious, as does direct physical contact. For a number of turns equal to the Alchemical's Essence, they increase their natural soak by 1 against non-energy physical attacks and become difficult to clinch, grasp and hold normally; those wishing to actually hold onto the Alchemical as opposed to simply hitting them do so at +1 difficulty.
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| − | The first time that this submodule's effects are activated in a scene, the Alchemical incurs a point of temporary Clarity as the idle thoughts of Ku presses deeply into their own, tugging them closer towards mechanical understanding.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Complex Comprehension of Smoke</b></i>
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| − | <b>Cost:</b> 8 XP
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| − | <b>Prereqs:</b> Essence 3, Initial Comprehension of Smoke, Vigilant Haze Form
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| − | Spending three days within the Vats (again, only 6 hours of that being upgrade time), the Alchemical has their Smoke Comprehension submodule upgraded, and also have a much larger mental uplink opened; the buzz of Ku's mind becomes a dull roar of mental static.
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| − | Complex Comprehension of Smoke replaces Initial Comprehension, and reverting back to the previous submodule is absolutely impossible once the upgrade has been finished. Activation of the Complex Comprehension module requires only a thought and the expenditure of 3 motes, and does not count as charm usage.
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| − | As with Initial Comprehension, the Alchemical's body takes on a slightly hazy, wavering appearance, but a faint aura of smoke also appears around the Alchemical's feet, curling out like murky tentacles. For a number of turns equal to the Alchemical's Essence, they increase their natural soak by 2 against non-energy physical attacks and become even more difficult to clinch, grasp and hold normally; those wishing to actually hold onto the Alchemical as opposed to simply hitting them do so at +2 difficulty.
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| − | The first time that this submodule's effects are activated in a scene, the Alchemical incurs a point of temporary Clarity, Ku's psycho-statis rushing into the Alchemical's thought processes. After that, the Alchemical's player must immediately roll Compassion; failure inflicts a second point.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Absolute Comprehension of Smoke</b></i>
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| − | <b>Cost:</b> 10 XP
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| − | <b>Prereqs:</b> Essence 4, Complex Comprehension of Smoke, Air-Eating Gas Plume
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| − | Spending one week within the Vats (yet again, only 6 hours of that being upgrade time), the Alchemical has their Smoke Comprehension submodule upgraded for the last time, adding a permanent uplink to Ku and a plethora of soulsteel wires that feed all throughout the Alchemical's Lotus Matrix.
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| − | Absolute Comprehension of Smoke replaces Complex Comprehension, and reverting back to the previous submodule is absolutely impossible once the upgrade has been finished. Activation of the Absolute Comprehension module requires only a thought and the expenditure of 5 motes, and does not count as charm usage.
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| − | As with Initial and Complex Comprehension, the Alchemical's body takes on a slightly hazy, wavering appearance, along with the faint aura of smoke also appears around the Alchemical's feet; they also cannot help but exhale thick clouds of smog while the submodule's effects are active, and their personal belongings begin to bear the undeniable scent of acrid smoke. For a number of turns equal to the Alchemical's Essence, they increase their natural soak by 4 against non-energy physical attacks and become quite difficult to clench; those attempting to grasp and clench the Alchemical as opposed to hitting them do so at +3 difficulty.
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| − | Only one Absolute Comprehension submodule may be added to the Alchemical's Perfected Lotus Matrix. The very act of upgrading to the Absolute Comprehension submodule grants the Alchemical a permanent point of Clarity so long as their Matrix is installed.
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| − | == Charms ==
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| − | <b><i>Null-Sensory Smokescreen</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: 3 motes</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Supplemental</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: 3</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: 2</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Perfected Lotus Matrix</b>
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| − | The first lesson learned when one trains in the way of Smoke is that it is easy to become lost, wandering blindly in a cloud of thick smog with no one nearby to hear your choked cries for help. This Charm inflicts a similar sort of disability when invoked; on a successful attack, even if it does no damage, the target's head is surrounded by a swirling sea of seemingly living smoke. While the target can still breathe, their vision, hearing and ability to be heard are impeded somewhat--for a number of turns equal to the martial artist's Essence, the victim suffers a one-die penalty to all actions and must succeed in an Awareness check (difficulty equal to the remaining number of turns in the charm's effect) in order to hear anything around him. Likewise, those trying to hear the victim's cries much succeed in a similar Awareness check.
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| − | When empowered by the Vigilant Haze Form, the dice penalty to all actions increases by one, and the effect's length is increased to the martial artist's Essence + 2.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Ill Wind Lash</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: 3 motes</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Supplementary</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: 3</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: 2</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Perfected Lotus Matrix</b>
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| − | The smoke from burning synthetics in Autochthonia has a way of curling out a thin tendril and wafting into the nostrils of the unsuspecting, gagging them with its acrid stench. Using this Charm with a normal attack, the martial artist can strike an opponent up to Essence x 5 yards away, their limb seeming to curl and lengthen like a strand of smoke.
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| − | If the attack passes through all applicable defenses and does post-soak damage, said damage is negated; instead, the victim has a number of motes of Essence equal to twice the number of Health Levels that would have been lost 'locked', as if committed to a charm they cannot shut down. These motes become usable on the victim's next turn.
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| − | This charm explicitly does not 'stack'; it cannot be used repeatedly on a single target to increase the number of motes locked away. The maximum number of motes that can be locked equals to three times the Alchemical's Essence.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Cloud-Aura of Noxious Menace</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: 5 motes</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Simple</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: 4</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: 2</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Null-Sensory Smokescreen</b>
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| − | Drawing from both the adrenal heat of combat, their inner control of Essence and a small touch of Smoke-attunement, the martial artist focused his enhanced ire on one person actively involved in battle. Without warning, a haze of foul-smelling, greasy smog curls around them, tinged with the aura of menace and impending disaster, and they suffer an environmental dice penalty to their next action equal to the martial artist's Essence. Any active form of Essence-fueled fear resistance (or, in a rare instance, a suitably impressive stunt) cuts this penalty in half, rounded down.
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| − | This Charm may explicitly be used outside of the Alchemical's normal turn order, so long as they have not used any Charms before or have activated a combo containing the Charm.
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| − | When empowered by the Vigilant Haze Form, the dice penalty cannot be lowered by fear resistance or stunting.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Particle Disincorporation</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Reflexive</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: 4</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: 2</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Ill Wind Lash</b>
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| − | Smoke, as one would readily notice, curls around objects pushed into it. The Smoke Adept, too, learns how to use their Essence to make their body act in a similar manner. At the very moment that the martial artist is about to be struck, their form seems to curl inward around the offending object, giving instead of holding firm. Until the martial artist's next turn, they gain their Martial Arts rating in natural soak against non-energy attacks.
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| − | In order to activate this Charm, however, the target must actually have been successfully struck in combat.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Vigilant Haze Form</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Lethal health level</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Scene</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Simple</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: 4</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: 3</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Particle Disincorporation, Cloud-Aura of Noxious Menace</b>
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| − | The artist does little more than focus their Essence, take a deep breath, then exhale a thick cloud of scentless smoke, tinged with their own life-force, that settles around them in a sort of murky halo. Once this ritual is complete, the effects of certain Vigilant Haze charms are improved, and all charms in the Vigilant Haze tree cost one less mote to use.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Gap-Seeking Fog Razor</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: X</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Supplemental</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: X</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: X</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Vigilant Haze Form</b>
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| − | Armor soak-busting attack; possibly even a natural-soak buster at a certain point.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Essence-Smothering Smog</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: X</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: X turns</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Supplemental</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: X</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: X</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Vigilant Haze Form</b>
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| − | Small tariff to *all* mote expenditures for a short period of time. Smoke-special.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Smoke Detects The Cracks</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: X</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: X turns</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Simple</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: X</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: X</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Gap-Seeking Fog Razor</b>
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| − | Instant full-pool counter after successful dodge/parry, or full-pool counter with bonus dice after unsuccessful dodge/parry. Doesn't counter other counters.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Gaseous Disperal</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: X</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: Instant</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Reflexive</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: X</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: X</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Essence-Smothering Smog</b>
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| − | Dodge supplement (that may require taking damage/being hit). The body vanishes into an Essence cocoon Elsewhere, while the user's consciousness disperses like smoke in an area equal to Essence X (2? 4?) yards and becomes fully aware of surroundings. May delay return up to Essence turns, keeping same initiative, and may reappear anywhere in the dispersal range. Smoke-special.
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| − | ----
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| − | <b><i>Air-Eating Gas Plume</i></b>
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| − | <b>Cost: X</b>
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| − | <b>Duration: ?</b>
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| − | <b>Type: Simple</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Martial Arts: X</b>
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| − | <b>Minimum Essence: X</b>
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| − | <b>Prerequisites: Gaseous Disperal, Smoke Detects The Cracks</b>
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| − | Creates an point-blank area-of-effect gascloud that lowers the amount of nearby oxygen (causing weakness and eventual unconsciousness for all but the user who needs to breathe, range to be determined) and reacts quite violently to Essence usage in its vicinity, exploding in said user's face for considerable damage. Smoke-special
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| − | == Comments ==
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| − | Thematically it looks great. I'm not enough of a crunch person to comment on balance. My only major question is why only 5 Protocols? Autochthon has six elements. Why no Steam based Style? -- [[Glamourweaver]]
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| − | Yeah. I personally consider Crystal the 'odd one out' if you're going to only pick 5... I mean, they get the secret flavour of alchemicals and the Crystal pole is kinda the unifier of the rest, sortof. I'd like to see one for all of them though, personally. It does indeed look great, and soonish, maybe, I'll look over from a balance point of view. But for now, much kudos! <br> -- [[Darloth]]
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| − | Good idea, and good flavor. As a fan of Alchemicals, I'm always pleased to see them being brought in. However, I've got two power-level problems with this style, as you openly contradict canon in one place, and contradict near-canon in another. The first is that you can learn ''any'' of these charms without the Perfected Lotus Matrix. It's not an optional component. It's a required component for any Alchemical to learn ''any'' Martial Art charm. If these are MA charms, then the Alchie needs the PLM, canonically. More poigniantly, an Alchemical can only learn Attribute-based charms. The whole point of the PLM is to make them able to learn MA charms. The second thing is the repeated use of the word "perfect" in these charms. Both the absolute and one other charm (at least, I didn't read with a fine-toothed comb) say that they're perfect. Thing is, perfection is the purview of Solars, which Martial Artists aren't. More specifically, if these are MA styles, that means Lunars, Sidereals, and *gasp* Terrestrials can learn them, and we all know that Terrestrials can't have perfects. No perfect clinch-avoidance, no perfect dodge, even if it means going elsewhere. If a Solar wants to hit you with an arrow, you're screwed, no matter what. No alchemical charm really can beat that. You can get near-perfection, yes, I'd agree. But perfection is really only seen in one style that I'm familiar with, and I believe that's the charm that kills you when you're done. So yeah. A lot of neat ideas, but perfection is too much. Especially since you've already got Sidereal-style meta-charms in here, with things like the ability to effectively lower your opponent's Essence, and to increase his mote cost (and one to decrease yours!). Lowering an opponent's essence effectively cripples him for a number of charms, so it's a big deal. With MA, you're allowed only so many big deals before it seems to much, and I think you've crossed that line. -- GregLink, ''taking on the mantle of crunch-whore''
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| − | Duly, duly noted. Reworking this massively with that in mind. I dumbly missed the PLM req, and I get the perfect overuse, after rereading. Blah! ;_; --DarkheartOne, who's just terrible at non-Raksha crunch.
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