FairFolkWayCharms/BerserkSeraph
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Fair Folk Way Charms by BerserkSeraph
Forging the Way Grace (Redone)
Cost: 10 motes, 1 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Ring: 0 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: Forging the Heart Grace
The Raksha crafts, as described in Exalted: The Fair Folk, a Way Grace for himself or another creature, based off of his understanding of the Shinma Nirupadhika. This takes the form, as normal, of a finely-crafted weapon, suit of armor, or tool - generally, tools of navigation. It creates a Way Trait for the creature, starting at one and capable of being increased as normal for a Grace. Creatures with the Sword or the Ring as Major Graces can treat the Way as a Major Grace for increasing purposes, and use it as a feeding Grace, feeding on the Convictions of others, their wills to strive in the face of adversity.
In addition to the normal traits offered by a Grace - the use of Way-shaping actions and combat, the access to charms, etc. - the Way Grace allows its owner to rend space to a greater degree than the normal raksha. As a simple Way-shaping action, the creature can roll Way + a Way ability (Athletics, Endurance, Ride, Sail, or Survival), with each success allowing the creature to move an additional waypoint for that scene, above and beyond the standard one waypoint. The character of the shortcut is defined by the Ability used, and it may offer its own dangers - treat it as its own waypoint that is connected to the starting and ending positions, possibly containing the host of dangers offered to Wyld travellers.
Wondrous Compass Loom (Redone Perfect Reckoning Technique)
Cost: 1 gossamer Duration: One Story Type: Simple Minimum Way: 2 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: None
The Raksha can craft for himself a compass, woven together from a skein of gossamer and nailed into his Essence pattern. By feeding Essence into it, the compass can be coaxed into offering a glance through the eyes of Nirupadhika, allowing the raksha to plot a course to a known location in Creation or the Wyld. For the duration of the story, the raksha gains the following ability, which is used as a reflexive normal action.
Perfect Reckoning: For 4 motes, the raksha can gain an understanding of the general direction towards and relative travel time required to reach a location that he has visited or has seen on a map. The compass takes into account the condition and presence of roads and paths, but not concerns of circumstance ('It's to the North and will take 15 days to reach, along relatively well-travelled roads', for example, but not 'And the city is utterly surrounded by an army of the hungry dead').
Tethers of Intimacy
Cost: 1 gossamer Duration: One Story Type: Simple Minimum Way: 3 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: Wondrous Compass Loom
The Raksha can craft for himself a quasitangible compass of gossamer which responds to emotional, rather than physical, directions. By feeding Essence into this construct, the raksha can discern the location of an individual that they have some emotional attachment to - one with which they've spent more than a scene of social contact or on whom they have fed. For the duration of the story, the raksha gains the following ability, which is used as a reflexive normal action.
Bloodhound Reckoning: For 6 motes, the raksha can gain insight into the general direction to and travel time to reach an individual that they know. This will allow them to track a subject from the Wyld into Creation or otherwise across boundaries of reality, but will not allow them to track a subject who has mystically altered or obfuscated their persona - those using Charms, magic, or Fate trickery to appear as another being. It will allow them to trace those 'cover personalities' if they are linked with emotionally, unless the disguise is discarded.
All Roads Convergence
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower, 0 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Tethers of Intimacy
All roads eventually lead to all places, and by manipulating this fact and imposing his will on the vagaries of distance and time, the raksha can make this an even truer statement, walking down a street in Nexus to arrive at an intersection in Lookshy, should he so wish it. The raksha must name a 'known' (as per Tethers of Intimacy) individual to seek.
The raksha travels along a pathway (a road, a path, a bridge - any clear marker of 'something that leads somewhere') and invoke this charm, naming the subject. As long as he keeps moving on the pathway (or a linked path, intersecting road, etc.), the raksha will arrive at their location - regardless of any intervening distance or obstacle - one scene later ('Scene' being what is dramatically appropriate). The raksha tends to appear in some subtle fashion, rounding a corner to meet the subject instead of appearing in a flash of light - this holds less true the closer to the Wyld one gets.
Twined Traveler Destinies
Cost: 5 motes, 0 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: All Roads Convergence
The raksha links his story with that of another, riding on their own motion, following the wake they leave in Nirupadhika's vision - the raksha becomes a recurring character in the subject's travel saga. As long as the victim moves away from the raksha, the raksha can follow - he is an inevitable actor in the subject's journeys.
The raksha may activate this Charm whenever a chosen subject attempts to move away from the raksha - by normal movement, using a hopping defense, using a Charm to relocate himself, or using sorcery to transport himself to a new location. The raksha is instantly moved to the same degree, preserving relative distance for the most part (So if the raksha is 10 yards away when you activate Avoidance Kata, if he uses this charm he'll come with and arrive 10 yards distant from where you did), in the most appropriate safe location. This Charm only covers the motion for that turn - if the subject continues to move, the raksha must continue to use this Charm to keep up.
Abarimon Sudden Step
Cost: 2 Gossamer Duration: One Story Type: Simple Minimum Way: 2 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Wondrous Compass Loom
The raksha twines supple gossamer around his limbs and his being, twisting his form in a fashion that allows him to move with terrifying rapidity, his entire body warping to accomodate motion, the world parting in front of his gossamer-laden stride. For the duration of the story, the raksha gains the following ability, usable as a reflexive normal action.
Reverse-Foot Run: By expending 3 motes, the raksha may reflexively double his move speed for the turn, moving either 2 waypoints (4 if sprinting), or doubling his speeds in Creation (dependant on Dexterity). He may activate this ability multiple times (each time increasing the multiplier by 1, so two activations = tripled speed), but no more times per turn than his Essence.
Soul-Shedding Succor
Cost: 3 motes and 1+ gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Way: 2 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Abarimon Sudden Step
The raksha flings a skein of gossamer away from himself, using the tether to pull himself with stunning speed out of the way of an attack. The raksha may activate this charm to make a reflexive dodge with a dice pool equal to his Dexterity + Way trait. Should the dodge succeed, he may also move 1 waypoint away from his foe for every gossamer expended, or (Way trait) yards away in creation. He must declare the amount of gossamer to expend before attempting the dodge. The Raksha cannot spend more Gossamer on this Charm than his Essence.
Obstacle Crushed Underfoot
Cost: 7 motes and 1 Willpower. Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Way: 3 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Shedding Succor
The raksha rolls a pathway over his obstacles, demanding a smooth path where his opponents would present him a challenging road. By asserting greater creative power, the raksha can completely overcome an opponent's shapings, smashing them flat with the force of his narrative.
The Raksha may activate this Charm upon being the target of a shaping attack, allowing him to make a reflexive shaping roll as if he were making a Way-shaping attack with a prepared weapon. Should his attack have more successes than the attacker's, the attack of the foe is entirely ignored and the foe suffers the Way attack with the difference in successes.
Example: A Xia attempts to craft a scene of bucolic tranquility to lull his opponenty, the Way-shaper Adz-Kai, into false security. Adz-Kai is wily, however, and sees through the attack. His opponent rolled 6 successes on his attack, but Adz-Kai activates this Charm and, wielding a pair of Seven League Boots, runs past the scene with superhuman speed. His responsive attack (Wits + Athletics, the ST decides) scores 10 successes, enough to cancel his foe's attack AND direct a 4-success Way attack with the Boots towards the Xia.
Shattered Self Stride
Cost: 1 mote, 1 Willpower, and 1 gossamer. Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Obstacle Crushed Underfoot
The raksha shatters himself, smashing his own Graces into fragments, rending his own flesh into thin strands, powdering his own bones and sundering his own mind, reducing himself to the merest portion of his being and then riding a whisper-thin strand of gossamer through the air and Elsewhere to arrive at another location, ruined but relocated.
The raksha names a location or person in Creation, the Wyld, or the Underworld. If that target is valid (The person exists [They may well be dead, however], that location exists [chancy, in the Wyld], etc.), the raksha is transported instantaneously to it or them - at the cost of much of himself. For the rest of the story, the raksha's Graces are reduced to 1 each, rendering him incapable of shaping and most social contact. His Attributes are reduced by 4 points a piece, to a minimum of 1, and he suffers two health levels of damage to his Way Grace. This is a last-ditch ability that allows the raksha to retreat to anywhere, but at great cost to his immediate safety.
Soul-Grinding Tedium
Cost: 4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Way: 2 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: None
The raksha adds a certain force to the paths he shapes, granting them a quality that wears at the edges of a creature's desire to persist, their very will. The raksha may activate this Charm upon making a Way-shaping attack. Should the attack deal damage, the victim must make a Valor + Resistance check against the damage successes. Should they fail, they lose Temporary Willpower equal to the attcker's Essence.
Highwayman Methodology
Cost: 5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Way: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Grinding Tedium
The raksha's forged path pulls at the possessions of others, crafting a road that bristles with highwaymen or forces them to abandon their packs - the raksha spends the motes for this Charm upon making a Way-shaping attack and attacks as normal. Should the attack hits, in addition to dealing normal damage, the raksha may chose to co-opt the ownership of a normal possession (not a Grace, Artifact, or Hearthstone) and transport it to himself. Should the subject at any later point in the story inhabit the same waypoint as the attacker, he or she may reflexively expend a Temporary Willpower to reclaim their possession.
Weakest Moment Meditation
Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Highwayman Methodology
Coursing along the paths of least resistance, this Charm allows a raksha's attack to insinuate itself on a mind that is momentarily off-balance, to gnaw at the roots exposed by erosion - it shifts the focus of one's resilience to the immediate pains as opposed to the core self. A Way-shaping attack modified by this Charm will use its target's Temporary Willpower (As opposed to Permanent) for soak purposes.
Travel's End Affirmation
Cost: 2 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 3 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: None
The raksha flushes himself with power as he completes a goal, his ecstatic joy sweating out of his Essence pattern in the form of power. This charm must be activated at the end of a story or the completion of a combat, or any other milestone that marks the successful end of an endeavor. Upon doing so, the raksha rolls his Essence + Way trait, regaining twice the number of rolled successes in motes of Essence. Alternatively, he may roll Way alone and gain gossamer equal to the successes. This Charm can only be activated once for each such milestone. If activated upon the completion of the later Charms in this tree, Travel's End Affirmation has different effects - these effects replace the normal gains and are included in the descriptions of the Charms in question.
Viscera Universe Exploration (My take on the excellent charm in FairFolkCharms/FourWillowsWeeping)
Cost: 4 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Travel's End Affirmation
The raksha casts himself into himself, inverting his entire being so that all he contains becomes what contains him - he enters a terrifying world of gruesome intestinal palaces and ribcages that brush the sky. As most raksha's grasp of what 'proper' anatomy looks like is somewhat shaky, these universes are often strange indeed. It is here that the raksha can affirm his physiological needs.
Under normal circumstances, this has the effects of the Willows charm, save that it cannot reconfigure Glorious Hero Form mutations. Mazing one's internal unshaped, has two possible effects - if the raksha is suffering under a mazing that affects his ability to leave a region or take a particular item, he can unravel it. Otherwise, it allows the raksha to affirm a personal journey, creating an 'internal gate' - he names a waypoint that he has visited. As long as he keeps 3 motes attuned to that Waypoint, he may travel there (as a by taking two health levels of damage to all of his Shaping damage tracks, ripping himself open and diving through his organs to a new location.
If Travel's End Affirmation is activated upon finalizing a battle against one's internal Unshaped, the raksha vomits forth a fragment of his victory in the form of a gruesome organic structure that, over the course of six scenes, forms into a Behemoth of a level equal to the average of the raksha's Sword + Way, rounded down. This is in addition to the normal benefits of victory.
Hearth and Homestead Introspection
Cost: 4 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Travel's End Affirmation
The raksha delves into his desires for security and personal safety, moving into a universe formed of his insecurities and desires, where the foundation is that which is possessed and cherished, the sky is that which the raksha aims for, and inbetween whorls of lust and wishes spin about eachother, the semi-sentient inhabitants of the universe. Herein the raksha can find, coiled around the hearth on which he has burned his unattainable dreams. By defeating his unshaped mind in a shaping combat, he may achieve several accomplishments, which replace the normal effects of shaping victories:
- Ravishing the unshaped self allows the raksha to reclaim lost desires, pulling them from the hearth - the raksha may gain experience points equal to his Cup trait, but which can only be applied for Cup charms, raising the Cup Grace, or increasing Entertainer abilities.
- Incumbering the unshaped self allows the raksha to define something that is invioable. The object or desire resists vexing or incumbering - attempts to do so require the attacker to roll Sword or Ring (as appropriate) against a difficulty of the raksha's Cup - should the roll fail, the vexing or incumbering does not take hold.
- Vexing the unshaped self allows the raksha to fling himself onto the hearth, burning his being into a new and terrible form more capable of defending itself. The raksha may gain mutation points equal to his Essence.
- Mazing the unshaped allows the raksha to wrest himself free of his wishes for stability, instilling his body with Wanderlust - he may overcome a mazing that denies him a desire. Alternatively, he may attune to a form of desire (such as lust, greed, etc.) and attune to it with three motes. As long as he remains attuned to that desire, he may expend 1 Willpower to completely ignore any shaping effect attempting to instill that emotion or work on that desire.
If Travel's End Affirmation is activated upon overcoming one's hearth Unshaped, the raksha snatches an ember from the fire, plucking the desire out of his body as a glowing stone, which cools over six scenes into a Glamour Sorcery spell of a level equal to the average of the raksha's Cup + Way, rounded down. This is in addition to the normal benefits of victory.
Passion Web Navigation
Cost: 4 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Travel's End Affirmation
The raksha meditates on the ties that bind him to other creatures, the scarlet and gold threads of social contact that form, as the raksha observes, the web of the raksha's personal society - the raksha can, by forging himself a line of gossamer, ascend into this web and, scuttling across the lines of emotion and taboo, find his deepest societal strictures and mores personified, his very Staff Grace inverted into an unshaped. By defeating his unshaped responsibilities in shaping combat, he may achieve several accomplishments, which replace the normal effects of shaping victories:
- Ravishing the unshaped self allows the raksha to unfurl his shortcomings and pass them on, sharing his misery with a less-fortunate pariah - the raksha may select a target with whom he has had social contact and who has a lower Heart than the raksha himself, reducing the subject's appropriate Virtue to repair the damage to the raksha's own.
- Incumbering the unshaped self allows the raksha to define his social contexts more rigidly, re-considering his role in a Society-Forging Charm or imposing a burden (in the form of a social taboo) on a subject with a lower Heart Grace who shares a Society-Forging Charm with the raksha. This is seen as somewhat uncouth among near-equals, but nobles freely do such things to commoners to ensure that they don't get too familiar with their betters.
- Vexing the unshaped self allows the raksha to tug harshly on one of his society-strings, wresting a previously-owned artifact or Grace (of a level not higher than the raksha's Staff grace) back from a previous opponent who vexed it away. The opponent may, if his Heart Grace is higher than the raksha's, make a resisted Sword (versus the raksha's Staff) check to retain ownership.
- Mazing the unshaped allows the raksha to twist his way out of a Society-Forging Charm or oath, warping the words of the world itself to get an out. Alternatively, he may attune to an individual with whom he shares a Society-Forging Charm's effects, for three motes. As a simple Staff-shaping action, the raksha may expend 1 willpower and two levels of Staff health to transport himself to the individual in question, if they are in the Wyld.
If Travel's End Affirmation is activated upon overcoming one's society unshaped, the raksha screams his decisions across the Web, where it is heard by any being with whom he has shared social contact. The echos vibrate the strands into a womb, which unfurls over six scenes into an adjuration of a level equal to the average of the raksha's Staff + Way, rounded down. This is in addition to the normal benefits of victory.
Stagnant Pool Divination
Cost: 4 gossamer Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Travel's End Affirmation
The raksha considers what limits he has imposed for himself, swooping into his own Essence pattern and striding along the paths of his defintions and restrictions. At the center of the spiral he finds his Ring Grace, and in it a stagnant pool of cool water- the small fragment of pattern in the raksha's tempestuous soul. Here the raksha can confront his desire for order as an unshaped, and overcoming the unshaped law offers some benefits, which replace the normal effects of a shaping victory:
- Ravishing the unshaped allows the raksha to reconsider his passions and limitations, reducing one Virtue by a single point while increasing a second Virtue by the same amount.
- Incumbering the unshaped self allows the raksha to reconsider what binds him, overcoming a previous incumbrance or excising an Oath from the raksha's pattern.
- Vexing the unshaped self allows the raksha to redefine his body, reassigning a number of mutation points to new mutations equal to the raksha's Ring grace.
- Mazing the unshaped allows the raksha to render the slate blank, removing all existing mutations (Non-selective - you can remove them all or remove none), incumbrances, and mazings tied to the mind. Alternatively, he may attune to an existing mutation (attunement cost of three motes) and suppress it, acting as if it did not exist for the purpose of mutation point totals but not for the modified cost to increase Essence (So the raksha won't calcify but will have difficulty gaining Essence).
If Travel's End Affirmation is activated upon overcoming one's law unshaped, the raksha reaches into the waters of the pool and draws forth an icicle of purest form, which melts over six scenes into a Wyld Artifact of a level equal to the average of the Raksha's Ring + Way, rounded down. This is in addition to the normal benefits of victory.
Infinite Space Satori
Cost: 16 gossamer, 1 Willpower. Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Way: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: Viscera Universe Exploration, Stagnant Pool Divination, Passion Web Navigation, Hearth and Homestead Introspection.
The raksha casts himself out in all directions, then draws himself inward, realizing that the only limits to where and what he is lie inscribed on the inside of his Heart. Flung into the dark infinity of positionless terror, the raksha confronts his innermost self on the writhing back of Nirupadhika himself. The battle can take moments, centuries, or millenia - it could end before it starts, it could rage in the heart of the very Sun or in the depths of Oblivion, for Nirupadhika is all places, all times - the most treacherous and wondrous battlefield ever. Defeating one's self - represented by an unshaped of unusual power (designed as appropriate by the ST) - offers some benefits that replace the normal gains of shaping victory:
- By ravishing his Self, the raksha unfurls all ravishments that have ever graced his Self, wresting them forth in a putrescent ball that is lost among the swirling chaos of Nirupadhika's travels - the raksha has all of his Virtues restored to their optimal levels. Additonally, the raksha may reopen any and all damaged Graces, and, if stripped of a Grace, may restore it to its original level (but the owner of the Grace may strip the raksha of that Grace again, if they wish)
- Incumbering his Self, the raksha plucks the livid veins from his Essence pattern that represent bonds - he may slip out of all oaths, all incumbrances, and all adjurations to which he is sworn, and bow out of any Society-Forging Charm he participated in.
- Vexing his very Self, the raksha refills the gaps that represent lost property - any and all possessions that have been stolen from him via vexation are returned, and any broken shaping weapon he owns is repaired.
- Mazing the Self allows the raksha to overcome all boundaries, removing his own shackles - the raksha may invalidate all mazings affecting his person and remove any number of mutations of his choice, leaving these restrictions as a putrid scab of purest Limitation on the body of Nirupadhika.
If Travel's End Affirmation is activated upon overcoming one's Self, the raksha realizes any goal he imagines - he gains a number of points equal to his Way + Heart to assign to Backgrounds, with no Background being raised by more than the raksha's Heart trait. This WILL allow a raksha to increase his Birth - he rides Nirupadhika to the moment of his conception and adds a store of power to his infant self.
Comments
Old comments clipped - you can find what I expect the Way charm tree to shape up to be here:
http://daikamen.kaitoukage.net/Way.PNG
The black dots are the Way requirement, the red ones are the Essence requirement. And, as an added bonus I've made
two of the charms so they exist somewhere other than 'in BerserkSeraph's crazed mind' ~ BerserkSeraph
I'm thinking of extending these Charms to work alongside Ring-shaping or Staff-shaping (One or the other), like how most attack charms work with Staff. Would that be alright, or should the Way Stand Alone? (Alongside the Cheese, presumably.) Also not sure on costs, Soul-Grinding Tedium seems undercosted.
God, my endless desire to please the Wiki is making me uncharacteristically productive. You can find the map of the Quest charms hence -
http://daikamen.kaitoukage.net/Quest.PNG
