BookOfThreeCirclesErrata

(if you're looking for the ArtifactCreationErrata you won't find it here)

Exalted: Book of Three Circles Errata

Note: These changes became official when they were released in the third installment of Exalted errata from White Wolf.

This represents an attempt to make the spells in Book of Three Circles thoroughly consistent with the main rules in their current form, and to clarify their effects so they don't require constant judgement calls and consequent hair-pulling from Storytellers. Some of the spells appear to have been totally broken, and where this was the case, they have been rewritten so they actually do what the spell says they do.

Terrestrial Circle

Becoming the Wood Friend

Characters using this spell cannot be tracked by mundane trackers, only those of supernatural skill (Exalts using Charms and spirits with access to the Landscape Charms, for example). The sorcerer adds +2 to the difficulty of such magical beings tracking her. This sorcery is incompatible with other effects that make the sorcerer harder to track. The sorcerer also adds his Essence to his Strength when determining his jumping distance when braciating or leaping in or throgh wooded environments, and likewise adds his Essence to his Dexterity when determining his base movement speed in forests, jungles, savannahs or other green environments.

Burning Eyes of the Offender

If the attacker is taking half the sorcerer's Essence as a penalty for aiming through a mirror, round the penalty down if the sorcerer has an odd Essence.

Calling the Stalwart Servitor

The Servitor has an effective Strength + Athletics of 100 for the purposes of lifting, carrying and breaking objects.

Cirrus Skiff

The cloud can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour, not 3. Also, where the text reads "whichever comes sooner" in specifying the spell's duration, it should in fact read "whichever comes later". The cloud will be the sorcerer's willing and obedient steed for a scene, and after that, if he leaves it, it will immediately escape back to the firmament.

Dance of the Smoke Cobras

Decrease the cost of this spell to 10 motes. An attacker must actually roll a damage success against a smoke cobra to dissipate it.

Droning Suggestion

Anyone exposed to the hum of Droning Suggestion must make a reflexive Willpower roll at a difficulty equal to the sorcerer's Essence. Increase the difficulty of this roll by +1 if the target failed his Willpower roll in the previous turn. If the target fails the roll multiple turns in a row, then the difficulty of the roll increases by +1 each successive turn.

If the target fails the roll, then he takes one "willpower point" of damage for every success his resistance roll fell short by. These don't actually subtract from the character's temporary Willpower, and are just a temporary tally to determine how entranced the character is. If the victim is not fully under the sorcerer's beguilement and for some reason leaves the area of the spell, they wear off one minute after the character escapes the drone. If the number of Willpower points of damage taken exceeds the character's Willpower, he succumbs to the drone, and becomes pliant and suggestible, as detailed in Book of Three Circles. The effect of pliancy lasts until (10 - the victim's Willpower) minutes after the victim leaves the sorcerer's psychoharmonic field.

Magical beings exposed to the drone may make a Wits + Occult roll at standard difficulty to detect its sinister hum. This grants them no immunity to the effect, but they could flee the area or end the sorcerer's life. Mortal characters will never detect it except in the unlikely event of their resisting its insidious effects.

The mesmerizing droning continues until the end of the scene, but a character cannot be affected by it for more turns per scene than the sorcerer's permanent Essence. At that point, she will either be suggestible or she will have resisted its siren call. Characters who resist the droning successfully are immediately aware of it. Characters who succumb to it will not realize they have been exposed until at least after the 10 - Willpower minutes of pliancy are up, and if the sorcerer is careful to keep his requests plausible, they may never figure it out.

Flight of the Brilliant Raptor

This attack does raw damage equal to the Sorcerer's Perception + Occult + Essence, and extra successes on the attack roll add to the damage. If any of the damage penetrates the target's soak, then a number of damage dice up to the sorcerer's Essence are considered automatic successes rather than rolled. Dice of damage exceeding the Sorcerer's Essence are rolled, as normal. This means that a successful attack with this spell will almost always do at least one health level of damage to the target, as under most circumstances there is at least one die of damage rolled for any successful attack.

The penalty imposed by this spell is subtracted from all physical dice pools. Even if the spell misses the target, it exploded right beside him and he must roll to escape the penalty. Its burning wings give Flight of the Brilliant Raptor a range of 1600 yards - about one mile.

Internal Flame

The damage is compared to the target's soak as one lump sum, but the victim incurs the damage on a turn by turn basis, so that they will die in appropriately drawn out screaming agony. The penalties caused by this spell are wound penalties. Characters who reduce wound penalties consequently reduce the penalty suffered by targets who avoid damage. Having boiling metal replace one's bone marrow is agonizing beyond belief, however, and only characters who are wholly immune to wound penalties are immune to the paralytic effects of taking damage from this spell. The agony-induced paralytic effects persist for the duration of the scene, though an effect that negates wound penalties applied to the target will allow her to act again, assuming she is not dead. Without powerful magical healing (that capable of curing maiming and regenerating lost tissue) mortals targeted by this spell will surely die within a month at most, for the destruction of their marrow is a mortal injury. Exalts recover normally from these wounds.

Paralyzing Contradiction

The roll to solve the Contradiction is not reflexive. Immediately after hearing the contradiction, characters become unable to do anything but contemplate the contradiction. They may roll to solve the conundrum on their next action, but cannot split their dice pools to contemplate multiple times at once any similarly abusive solution. Characters with held actions who hear the contradiction immediately abort to pondering it. Characters who are in the middle of an extended action like a full dodge immediately stop. The only defenses that the character continues to take are those that work automatically, such as Flow like Blood, Five-Dragon Blocking Technique and the Virtuous Guardian of Flame. The victims cannot invoke reflexive Charms, abort to a full dodge, activate a Combo or anything else but contemplate the koan.

River of Blood

For every 3 motes of Essence expended in casting the spell, the spell's basic area of effect can be caused to extend for one mile beyond the character?s line of sight. The character must be relatively near the surface of the water to be cursed, no farther 10 yards per point of permanent Essence.

Shedding the Serpent?s Skin

This spell was broken. The effect of this spell should be thus: For every 5 motes expended casting this spell, the character gains +2 automatic successes on all Stealth rolls to evade detection for a number of turns equal to the number of turns the effigy would stand if undistrurbed. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The errata file originally stated that the bonus increased by +1 success for every 5 motes, but that didn't make a damn bit of sense given the example they provide later in the file. So, it could be said that I added some unofficial errata to some unofficial errata.--Kai] This decreases by one success per turn. The spell?s example should read: "Thus, a character who spent 20 motes casting this spell would gain +8 automatic successes to Stealth on the first turn, +7 on the second turn, +6 on the third turn, and so on until the end of the eighth turn, when the spell?s effects will dissipate totally and the effigy crumbles to dust."

The first turn of the spell?s effect is the turn that the character releases the magic, and the sorcerer recieves a reflexive Dexterity + Stealth roll to evade detection that turn, unless for some reason he chooses not to evade detection immediately. As the spell implies, if the shell is destroyed, the character still gains these bonuses until the effect dissipates. Unless the sorcerer is detected, keep the results of the first Stealth roll and just subtract one success from it every turn. If the sorcerer attempts to do something like sneak through an open space, be sure to give the observers a number of automatic succesess to detect her (probably 3, but this can be adjusted depending on lighting and distractions).

Note that if the character reaches the 4-7 mote level of anima display, the spell shatters instantly, so there is a limit to how much effect it can have. Note that like all spells, this sorcery creates an unmistakeable display of Essence when cast. Sorcerers familiar with this spell will know exactly what happened, though others might be decieved.

Sting of the Ice Hornet

The needles melt one turn after impact. It may take them up to three turns to reach distant targets. While in flight, the needles cannot be attacked, but can be targeted with Emerald Countermagic.

Thunder Wolf?s Howl

This has a range of 100 yards, and cannot be parried or dodged because it is not an attack. This spell does dice and not automatic levels of damage. The sorcerer is not immune to the effects of the howl.

The Titan's Icy Breath

The cloud of icy breath that billows from the titan?s mouth is 60 yards long, 40 yards wide and 10 yards tall. It can be neither parried nor dodged, but armor does add to soak. The reduction in speed also applies to leaping and jumping distances, and halves the character?s base speed, before multipliers.

Unbreakable Bones of Stone

Ignore the confusing statement about how the spell increases dice pools using Physical Abilities. The spell increases the sorcerer?s Strength and Stamina by a number of points equal to her Essence. It has no effect on Dexterity. This bonus adds to weapon damage and soak as normal.

Unstoppable Fountain of the Depths

The wave acts with a fixed 10 successes. Character attempting to stand against it must roll Strength + Athletics and attempt to defeat this. This is not a reflexive roll, it is a dice action, though characters are permitted to abort to it. The tidal wave cannot be blocked or dodged, but characters with high vertical mobility can rise above it without much trouble.

Virtuous Guardian of Flame

Ignore the confusing description of how the Virtuous Guardian works to defend against hand-to-hand attacks. It instead parries all incoming hand-to-hand attacks with the sorcerer?s Occult + Essence, without needing to split its dice pool. In addition, the guardian ignores initiative and can parry from the beginning of the turn. This is compatible with other forms of defense, and the sorcerer can see the result of the Guardian?s attempts to defend her before deciding her response. For example, if she has split her dice pool to include multiple defensive actions she need not waste defensive actions against attacks that the guardian stops.

Celestial Circle

Bone Lion

These are the exact statistics for the Bone Lion: Str 12, Dex 6, Sta 10, Willpower 10, Attacks: Bite 12/10/13L, Claw 12/12/12L, Health Levels: -0x2 / -1x4 / -2x4 / -4x2 / Incap, Dodge 10, Soak 5L/15B, Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 5 (Spotting Victim +3), Brawl 4, Dodge 4, Presence 5 (Intimidation +3), Stealth 4, Survival 5 (Tracking +3)

The Bone Lion is sorcererously aware of the target?s general location, and can make its inexorable way to within several hundred yards of their location. After that, it must make Survivial and Awareness rolls to track them.

Cantata of Empty Voices

This spell does 2L per turn, not 1L. The damnable singing of the empty voices can be heard one half-mile (about 800 yards) away per point of the sorcerer?s permanent Essence.

Cloud Trapeze

The cloud may travel at speeds of up to 100 mph, not 30 as the spell states.

Geyser of Corruption

The difficulty of the roll to dodge the geyser for characters in its area of effect is equal to the Occult of the sorcerer who cast the spell.

Imbue Amalgam

Every 4 motes the sorcerer spend on this spell adds 1 dot of Essence and 5 motes of temporary Essence to the amalgam, which can be used only to power Charms that have been given to the Amalgam. An amalgam must have enough dots of Essence to meet the Minimum Essence requirements of any Charms the sorcerer grants it. The motes recharge at the normal rate - 4 per hour of gentle activity, 8 per hour of meditation. A sorcerer cannot add more dots to a given Ability or Attribute than his Occult + Essence.

Amalgams often develop natural armor and attacks. Each bonus point spent creating the Amalgam can give it +1L/+1B soak. A sorcerer cannot spend more bonus points on the amalgam?s soak than he has points of Occult + Essence. The sorcerer can spend one bonus point for choice of adding +2 speed, +1 accuracy, +1L damage or +1 defense to the Amalgam?s hand-to-hand attack. For missile- armed amalgams, each mote adds +1 to accuracy or rate, +1L to damage or +100 to range. Amalgams may be armed with both hand-to-hand and missile weapons, but each must be paid for seperately. Amalgams do not generate their own ammo without Charms. A sorcerer cannot spend more bonus points on either weapon individually than he has points of Occult + Essence.

A sorcerer need not know the Charms he lends to the Amalgam. However, although the amalgam is a product of sorcery, it is intimately connected with the Exalt who created it, and the Charms he lends it are those of his own type, so a Solar creating amalgams could only give them Solar Charms. Amalgams betray no anima banner, but close examination will show what type of Exalt created them. Amalgams cannot be granted sorcery more powerful than the Terrestrial Circle. Teaching an Amalgam a spell is just like granting it a Charm, save that the sorcerer must know the spell he grants. Amalgams bleed, heal and fight infection and disease as Exalted . They can use stunts and their 10s count as 2 successes. Though they are typically used as magical killing machines, they need not be.

Magma Kraken

Note that the base damage of the tentacles is added to their strength, meaning they do a base of 15L + extra successes. The hot magma tentacles heal fully every turn, so attackers must inflict ten levels of damage in a single turn to sever them.

The Princes of the Fallen Tower

The attack must actually do 6 levels. Though the princes do not soak or defend themselves, the attacker must still roll damage and do at least 6 lethal levels.

Solar Circle

Light of Solar Cleansing

Doing damage against Abyssals, Deathlords and free-willed ghosts costs 5 motes, as listed. Hungry ghosts, the walking dead and other shambling horrors can be destroyed at a rate of one per turn for but a single mote of Essence.

Comments

I'm not sure I buy Cloud Trapeze going 100 mph. At 30 mph it's relatively innocuous, clouds can go that that fast naturally. At 100 mph, that's not really the case. What's the souce of this erratum?

qaphsiel

Geoff posted this a little bit after we got the Dragon-Blooded errata back in like 2002 or some such. It was sorta in the works, but never got totally completed. And remember, don't think about speeds of real clouds too much. This is magic:)

Stuff. Blaque