ExMod/CrunchyModernSiderealFirearms
Ammo Appropriations Committee Cost: 2 motes Type: Simple Duration: Instant Minimum Firearms: 2 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
The Sidereal, chosen servants of the Maidens of Fate, always seem to possess an uncanny preparredness. Even when they should, by rights, be flatfooted, they always seem to have what they need near at hand. This Charm helps with such- it dispatches an emergency memo to the Spiders, informing them that they were not supposed to run out of bullets just yet.
This Charm creates a clip of any type of ammo, by informing the Spiders that the Sidereal had foreseen this firefight and brought extra ammo that must already be here. It may only be used in conjunction with the actual act of reloading a gun; the Sidereal cannot conjure ammo out of no where for no reason.
Improbable Jam Cost: 4 motes Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Minimum Firearms: 3 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
Learning more about guns and gunplay inevitibly draws a Sidereal into meeting with the patron Gods of various firearms. Many Sidreal take the pains to become fast friends with these spirits- and so, many guns simply refuse to fire upon them at a later date.
This Charm may only be used in response to a Firearms attack on them. When it's used, the attack is aborted, and the gun is found to have jammed. Unjamming the gun requires a full turn to attempt, and a successful Intelligence+Firearms, difficulty equal to the Sidereal's Essence. Firearms crafted of pure Essence or the Five Magical Materials are unaffected by Improbable Jam.
Magic Bullet Cost: 3 motes / TN Reduction Type: Supplemental Duration: Instant Minimum Firearms: 3 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
Some things are simply meant to be. It so happens that this bullet, from the day it was cast to this vary second, has existed only to kill this one person. And it will happen, no matter how improbable the shot may seem.
Magic Bullet may only be used with a Firearms action that uses only a single bullet- not Strafing, Covering or Suppressing. If the Magic Bullet shot fails to kill the person it's intended for, the Sidereal in question gains 3 dice of Paradox from failing to cut the thread at the proper time. Otherwise it functions as any other TN reducer.
Silent Benediction of Unwilling Eyes Cost: 5 motes Type: Simple Duration: One Scene Minimum Firearms: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: None
One of the great difficulties of using firearms in the modern world is how nervous everyone is about them. This Charm helps ease such difficulties- mortal eyes slide off of the gun as though it were a child's play thing, and no one is able to percieve the Sidereal actually shooting it.
A Sidereal may infuse a firearm with the Silent Benediction of Unwilling Eyes for five motes of Essence. For the duration of the scene, no one will question the presence of the gun- it will not set of alarms, searches for it will fail, and even if the Sidereal goes on a shooting rampage, no one will associate the Sidereal with being armed. Further, no shootings performed by this gun in this scene will be associated with the Sidereal. This Charm has no effect on beings with an Essence equal to or higher than the Sidereal's or those outside of Fate. Further, the results of a Sidereal's rampage will still be obvious- and if they don't take at least some concealment, people will realize the Sidereal is /somehow/ associated with the shooting, even if they can't see or hear the gun. Mundane investigation automatically fails to link the two together, and magic investigation has it's difficulty raised by the Sidereal's Essence.
Burning Blossom of Death Stance Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower Type: Extra Actions Duration: Instant Minimum Firearms: 4 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Ammo Appropriations Committee, Improbable Jam, Magic Bullet
A sudden calm falls over the Sidereal who adopts the Burning Blossom of Death Stance. Time slows around them, as they take careful aim over and over again. There is a sudden roar- and then the peace of the grave.
The Sidereal may make one Firearms action against every target they can see. If they miss or run out of ammo, the Burning Blossom of Death Stance ends immeditly. The Ammo Appropriations Committee may be comboed with the Burning Blossom of Death Stance as a Reflexive Charm, creating new clips of ammo as long they have the motes to pay for it.
Far Slaying Shot Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 Lethal HL Type: Simple Duration: Instant Minimum Firearms: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Silent Benediction of Unwilling Eyes, Burning Blossom of Death Stance
Those struck true but the bullets of the Sidereal are not always the ones collected by the Maiden of Endings. A few unhappy souls know this to their unending despair- they were struck by a Far Slaying Shot and live still. To use the Far Slaying Shot, a Sidereal must first have the Scripture of the Bound Man written on a prayer strip. This strip is curled into a narrow tube and stuffed into the barrel of their gun, immeditily before firing. When the bullet comes out, it leaves a red and purple dust streamer in it's wake.
The Far Slaying Shot adds the Sidereal's Permanent Essence to their base pool. Additionally, if a target is struck by the Far Slaying Shot, they must either take the damage as unsoakable aggravated damage- or shift that damage to someone or something they love. If this is a person, the person takes the damage meant for the target. If it's a process or system (such as a government or business), tasks undertaken by that system have their difficulty raised by the Sidereal's Essence for the next year. If it's a thing, that thing is typically stolen within the next week by the enemies of the target. This damage manifests as a sheer coinencedence- a drunken driver slams into the new reciepent, business suffers or the robbery was already being planned.
Comments
on Ammo Appropriateness, I'd just have it give the character a full clip. Not unlike, say, Avoidance Kata -- but not nearly as tough. "I send the Spiders a memo, saying that SURELY I knew I was going to get involved in this gunfight, and thus had the foresight to prepare and load an extra clip." Allow it to work for any caliber or type of weapon, and you've got a nice charm:)
Fixed.
on Magic Bullet. I'd note that the TN reducton applies to the attack AND the damage roll. I'd increase the Paradox to 3, if you fail to kill the subject with that one bullet. Maybe raise the cost a bit, since it's a bit more powerful.
Gah! I'd forgotten that. Fixed.
Silent Benediction. I'd make a note of how this stacks with a mundane ballistics and Crime Scene Investigation stuff; does it cover up the fact that a gun was used in the crime, prevent the Sidereal from being associated with the weapon (assuring that, in the abscence of other convicing evidence, the Sidereal almost always gets off), etc. Think modern cop shows. I kind of like the idea that, if the authorities DO get the Sidereal, it most certainly won't be by anything connected to the gun:P
Good point- I'd left it vauge, on the basis of some Solar stealth charms that don't explicitly explain how much harder you're made to discover. I'll unvague that up a bit.
I love the two final charm; though I can't help but think that there's something /wrong/ with Burning Blossom of Death Stance. I can't put my finger on it, however. Hmmmm.\\
Death Blossom Mode was meant to be modeled after both the reputation of the AK (When you absolutely, positively have to kill...) and Arrow Storm Technique. If that helps any :)
Is the Paradox from Magic Bullet in automatic units or in Dice? - Malikai
You know, I honestly don't know. I meant for it to be the same as the Sidereal Anima Flare, but that's just *** Paradox- if that's dice, then three dice of Paradox, and if it's units, then three units. DS
Always dice. - willows
Very nice! Two suggestions: Ammo Appropriations Committee really ought to be Reflexive, since reloading isn't actually part of shooting. You don't have to be making an attack in order to reload. Also, you should have a note in Burning Blossom of Death Stance explicitly stating whether Ammo Appropriations Committee lets you keep shooting. --MF
Huh. I'd meant for Reloading is a Simple action, just as it is with the Firedust Wands. That needs to be made clear in the ExMod/CrunchyFirearmsSystem and in the Ammo Appropriations Committee, however.
And, neat idea, comboing the Death Blossom with AAC. I think I'll make that function as an explicit exception to the normal combo rules :) (Changes made). DS
I just read Magic Bullet. My immediate reaction was, "Aw, man, JFK was offed by a Sidereal." - Miedvied
I think Magic Bullet ought to be only 2 motes/TN reduction, if it's going to cause you paradox if you fail to kill your foe and only allows a single shot. As those are both pretty big limitations, IMO. Though the damage TN changing is pretty nice...hrmm... - JohnBiles
Burning Blossom of Death is ... way overpowered for an Ess 2 charm. If it lets you attack anyone you can see, and is a ranged weapon (Firearms), and can have limitless ammo (combo'd with ammo appropriations), you can theoretically activate this one charm and let off 200 attacks or so (walk into a crowd and start shooting.) I think you need to put a cap on the number of extra actions going on, or make it an Ess. 4 or 5 charm. Or, you know, keep the ammo charm Simple instead of Reflexive; an ammo clip is also a reasonable cap on the number of actions taken. - Miedvied
- Burning Blossom of Death is functionally equivalent to another Essence 2 charm, Arrow Storm Technique. Given Arrow Storm is a Solar charm, Burning Blossom probably should be Essence 3, since this is a Sidereal charm, but beyond that, I don't think it's overpowered. -- JohnBiles
- Arrow Storm also makes the requirement that every hit be *successful*; any miss automatically ends the charm. Also, we're talking about different costs in Essence for the extra ammo - a Solar will pay out 1 mote/arrow if he combos this with his "Extra ammo" charm, the Sidereal will pay 2 motes and get a fresh clip of 16 rounds. So you've got a sidereal with a Charm that lets him make an attack vs. everyone in sight, as opposed to one after the other till he misses, and he's got an ammo-replenishment charm 8 times more effective. I'd say Burning Blossom is overpowered even if it wasn't used in concert with the ammo charm that's better than the Solar equivalent. - Miedvied
- I suggest you reread the charm; it states that any miss immediately ends Burning Blossom of Death. To quote -- If they miss or run out of ammo, the Burning Blossom of Death Stance ends immeditly. I will also note that with a bow, you can, in fact, normally fire more shots than with a gun, if you have a hefty quiver--you could be toting 30 or 40 arrows. I don't even need another charm to shoot a huge number of people with Arrow Storm. -- JohnBiles
- You are correct. I mis-read. The charm still should not, IMO, be of equivalent power to a Solar charm, but you're correct about the missing. -- Miedvied
