DBSInfernalExalted/Larceny

= Larceny Charms =

These Charms are themed around the theft of intangible things. They are designed to make Infernals into horrifying serial killers, implacable social assassins and Grand Viziers beyond par.

Prince And Pauper Inversion

• Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 3
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

Titles are bandied about like any other resource, granted, conferred and lost as all things are. They may also be stolen. Should the Infernal acquire an object indicative of a person’s position (such as that of the eldest prince, or the boss of a gang, or a middle-manager in the Celestial Bureaucracy), he may activate this Charm to bind the Essence of that title about the object. Whilst he continues to commit the Essence for this Charm, whoever has that object in their possession (though not, necessarily, on their person) holds the title in question. They have full access to the Command, Contacts, Followers, Influence, Resources and Spies backgrounds conferred by the position. Nobody with an Essence lower than the Exalt will notice the change, save the person whose title is stolen.

Illicit Heritage Style

• Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 4
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Prince And Pauper Inversion

A more challenging target for a thief than a title is someone’s name - people tend to keep them so close to their hearts. However, should the Infernal manage to persuade someone to surrender their name to them - under the influence of torture, as part of a bargain, buried in small print, or by any other method - they may activate this Charm to claim it as their own. The Infernal, whilst adopting that name, takes his victim’s titles, positions, relationships, and alliances. They gain access to all Backgrounds conferred by Prince And Pauper Inversion, plus Allies, Familiar, Mentor and Sifu. To all regards, the Infernal takes the place of his predecessor perfectly; only changes in personality and dogma will alert others that something is amiss. Creatures with an Essence higher than the Exalt are unaffected by both theft of their name and by the magic’s attempts to stifle their perceptions. Once the Essence is no longer committed to this Charm, the victim instantly regains their position in society (whatever is left of it). This Charm has no effect on Deathknights, who have already had their names taken.

Breaking Walnuts Exercise

• Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 4
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Illicit Heritage Method

One thing remains out of reach of the finest thieves - a person’s mind. However, this is only because it is so closely guarded. To overcome this restriction, the Infernal needs to persuade another to take part in a ritual that will open up both minds to each other, to share everything. Then the Infernal steals it all for himself.

The hour-long ritual is of an obviously occult nature, involving the marking of brows to open up inner Essence and arduous methods of meditation. At its culmination, the Infernal and his victim feel a sudden sense of release; the Infernal’s Caste Mark blazes into existence, as will his victim’s if she is an Exalt. As the sigils across their brows flow with energy, both participants make opposed Willpower rolls: if the Infernal wins, he may steal the memories of his victim without divulging any of his own, leaving them with total amnesia. If he does not, both participants become aware of each other’s full memories. Infernals consider this to be a considerable risk.

Magpie Seizes Scalp

• Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 3
• Minimum Essence: 2
• Prerequisite Charms: None

For something so important, a person’s face is so poorly secured. With the artful application of a scalpel on a helpless target, the Infernal may remove the skin from their head and bind it to his own. Skinning someones head requires a Dexterity + Medicine roll against a difficulty dependant on the time taken: 1 for a scene, 2 for a minute, and 3 for a single turn. The subject takes 3 lethal health levels of damage, minus one for every additional success. The Infernal then binds the skin and hair to his own with the use of this Charm, and may wear it as long as the Essence is committed. Powerful Infernals also gain the voice, build, tics and mannerisms of their victims; add the Infernal’s Essence to the difficulty of any attempts to see through his disguise. Stealing the heads of creatures with vastly different bodies to the Infernal’s own is an exercise in futility. Exalts losing their faces to this Charm do not regenerate them to until it is no longer in effect. There is one complication to this Charm - as the face is the victim’s, it will begin to decompose upon the victim’s death; it will first look pallid and unhealthy, before beginning to bruise and rot away. Should the victim die, reduce the difficulty bonus by 1 for every full day that passes. Infernals, predictably, prefer to keep their victims alive but unreachable.

Sanguine Invasion Method

• Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 4
• Minimum Essence: 3
• Prerequisite Charms: Magpie Seizes Scalp

This Charm functions in a similar manner to Magpie Seizes Scalp, but takes it to a logical extreme. The Infernal flenses away all of his victim’s skin to take as his own; with it comes their voice, mannerisms, build and all related features. Physical attributes and any abilities inherent to the skin (such as natural soak) are not affected. Using this Charm an Infernal may even emulate more bizarre humanoids, though the Storyteller remains final arbiter of what is feasible. Skinning someone to such a standard requires a Dexterity + Medicine check, against a difficulty dependant on the time taken - 2 for an hour, 3 for a scene and 4 for a minute. It deals six lethal health levels of damage to the victim, minus one level for each additional success on the Dexterity + Medicine check. Whilst the victim is kept alive and the Essence is committed, the disguise is physically perfect, even down to the slightest mannerism. There is no mundane way of perceiving anything amiss by sight or touch alone, but differences in outlook or memory may clue people who knew the victim well that something is amiss. Should the victim die, this Charm only gives an increase to the difficulty to see through the disguise equal to the Infernal’s Essence, decreasing by one each full day thereafter.

Last Sovereign’s Fall

• Cost: 12 motes, 1 Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 5
• Minimum Essence: 4
• Prerequisite Charms: Sanguine Invasion Method

Whilst taking a person’s face or skin is difficult, taking their body is more so. The Infernal must first render their victim helpless or willing; he then inscribes a latticework across their chakra points in bile. This requires a Dexterity + Medicine check, with a difficulty dependent on the time taken: 3 for a day, 4 for a scene, or 5 for a minute, and deals a single aggravated health level to the victim. With the activation of this Charm, the Infernal touches his fingers to the sigils and his anima roars into iconic splendour, enveloping and reducing him to wisps of caustic Essence, which course through and into the latticework over the course of a minute. The Infernal possesses the body as long as the essence remains committed to it, using its health levels and physical Attributes instead of his own. He walks and talks like his victim, although his outlook may differ. The welts caused by the ritual subside; no physical clues are given. Even All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight and similar Charms will not reveal anything amiss, unless the character uses Infernal magics. The consciousness of the Charm's victim is suspended in Elsewhere for the duration of this Charm, dreaming of bizarre, frequently representative and occassionally portentous visions. Releasing the Essence from this Charm requires a minute of full concentration, essentially reversing the activation. Should the victim's body be killed whilst the Infernal is still within, the Infernal is killed as his Essence boils away from the body in a noxious cloud of oily smoke. When the last wisps disappear, the victim is conscious and whole.

God-Defying Heist

• Cost: 15 motes, 1 permanent Willpower
• Duration: Indefinite
• Type: Simple
• Minimum Larceny: 6
• Minimum Essence: 6
• Prerequisite Charms: Last Sovereign's Fall, Breaking Walnuts Exercise

No riskier gambit exists than the God-Defying Heist, and the Yozis' servants have accomplished it only once. It must be carried out during Calibration, whilst the tether between Heaven and Creation is muddled, and only works on Exalts. Both the Infernal and his victim must have their anima banners visible and touching one another. As the Charm is activated, the Infernal's own anima blazes into iconic splendour. Swathes of baleful light erupt from him, sounds of the Yozis' cacophonic music ringing loud and wide, the stench of hot metal and sulphur washing across the area. The sky darkens, green lightning rains down and omens of foulest portent appear for a mile in all directions. This is the character's cover. The Infernal and his victim make opposed Willpower + Essence rolls each round until one accumulates three more successes than the other. Additional dice for each roll may be bought by either at 5 motes apiece. Should the Infernal win his opponent's anima is obscured in his own, and as the displays of foul magic subside no trace of it is left. The Infernal thereafter gains the ability to learn Charms and Sorcery as though he were an Exalted of the victim's Caste, and to display their Caste Mark and anima instead of his own. The victim is rendered mortal, and loses use of their Charms, Sorcery and Peripheral Essence pool.

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Feedback

Quick thought on Last Sovereign's Fall: what happens if the possessed body is killed? It might be interesting (not to mention appropriately villain-esque and distressing to the players... <wg> ) if the Infernal is simply ejected from their "host" with no damage to themselves. -Suzume

May I suggest Prince and Pauper Inversion be reworded? Technically, the target of the charm is the object used, since that's where the essence is committed to, and if you were using AESS that's where you could examine the effect. It should probably say " Nobody with an Essence lower than the Exalt will notice the change, save the person who's title was stolen with this charm"
-- Darloth

Quick question on God-Defying Heist.. is it possible to get Larceny 6 without having Essence 6? -- Will

Not in most situations, but a spirit could Endow a sixth dot, or a character could lose a sixth point of Essence. Artifacts could conceivably grant functional dots in an ability, or any other rare but not infeasible situation. For the most part, though, it requires Essence 6 as well. There's a precedent for it in canon Charms -- something in Castebook Twilight, maybe? _Wohksworth

I stand corrected, CB:T's Power-Disrupting Blow is Occult 6, Essence 5. However, I do think that God-Defying Heist could stand to be 6/6. It seems a wee bit powerful for an Essence 5 Charm, what with stealing someone else's Exaltation.

Stealing an Exaltation strikes me as -way- more than an Essence 6 charm - Tiffa

I agree. It's not just replacing your own shard with it either, it's a combination. You can learn both infernal and target charms... I'd say Essence 7 or 8, with possibly Larceny as high as 8 or 9. Shards are one of the few things that so far, only portals to Oblivion have any chance of doing much to. I really do like this tree though, it's generally one of the better ones.
-- Darloth

Alright, major editification - thanks for all the feedback, it's been a great help. LSF has had two paragraphs added to it, after mulling on balance, cinematic effect and campaign potential. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, Suzume. PAPI has been reworded in accordance with Darloth's suggestions. GDH has been increased to Essence 6, after consideration of comments from a lot of you. Stealing an Exaltation would indeed be higher, but the Charm has specific prerequisites, requires Permanent Willpower, isn't reliable, and seems like the kind of thing Infernals could do. All further comments readily appreciated (I like this tree too)...DeathBySurfeit

Perhaps there should be an even -higher- charm that does steal an entire exaltation then? I would suggest it function sorta like a resplendant destiny. Basically, would cost 1 willpower (temporary) to switch your primary shard for another, and until you spend enough essence to go iconic, it stays that way. Another 1wp to go back, so there would be a choice of massive essence flare, or willpower, to revert back. For all intents and purposes the character would be treated as the exalt-type in question, save for amount of favoured abilities. This would include anima effects (at least up until iconic) favoured priestship (although if anyone who isn't really a solar prays to the UC, he'll -probably- notice you've stolen another one of his shards. He may well not be pleased. But still, it gets his attention.) and anything else. This is completely and utterly game-breaking, of course, and steps on (by definition) every schtick in existance, but it's certainly an interesting idea.
-- Darloth

Wait for the Stealth charms, Darloth...DeathBySurfeit