Greymane/DBAgony

Agony of Existence Path

The following specialized Charms are of little use to demons, but allow their half-damned progeny to come closer to their infernal parents by emulating the suffering of the Yozi. Moonshadow Caste Abyssals and Eclipse Caste Solars can also learn these Charms, provided they can find a teacher. Demons can also learn these Charms, yet most prefer to teach them through the art of slow, methodical torture than to employ them themselves.

Eternal Sufferance Technique
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
While the anguish of the fallen Primordials lay beyond the comprehension of any living being, even the distant glimmer of understand can make all physical ills seem muted and trivial. Demon-Blood with this Charm have come to touch upon the outer-most layer of their infernal sire’s agony, through meditation and intense physical torture and taken the first step towards drawing strength from suffering. This Charm may be purchased three times and each purchase allows the character to ignore a level of wound penalties. The first purchase allows them to ignore -1 penalties, the second -2, and the third -4 penalties, allowing them to function unhindered right up to deaths doorstep.

Self-Sundering Method
Cost: 1 mote per 2 Health Levels
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum Conviction: 3
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Sufferance Technique
A dangerous and risky Charm often employed to savage multiple foes or empower later Charms in the path, a character may use this Charm to ruin his own physical self in order to bring suffering to others. When this Charm is activated, a sickening red light suffuses the demon-bloods eyes and pours from their mouth. Old scars pulse and clean flesh will bubble outward grotesquely before bursting open in spray of acidic blood and hellfire. Every mote of Essence spent allows the character to inflict up to two Health Levels of damage upon himself. A character may chose to inflict only one health level of damage, but the cost remains the same. At the end of the turn, any creature within a few feat of the demon-blood will be sprayed by the searing hot blood and gouts of burning flame that issue forth from the Hellborns open wounds, taking a level of lethal damage equal to half the number of Health Levels sacrificed in this Charm. This damage can be dodged, but cannot be parried through normal means.

Ecstasy in Agony
Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Conviction: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Sufferance Technique
The endless torture a demon-blood must endure in the mere act of existing can twist their perception of sensation. By use of this Charm, pain becomes as pleasure and torture a delight. Within the mind of the demon-blood, every wound inflicted upon their body does not rend their flesh but ascend their spirit closer to their infernal brethren. They no longer fear pain, but like the addicts of any drug long for it and seek it out at every turn, forcing conflict where it might not exists simply to suffer more. For the rest of the scene, they loose reason and cast aside rational thought or action as they seek out new suffering to inflict upon themselves, adhering to a type of behavior similar to that imposed by the Berserk Anger Virtue Flaw (see Exalted: page 133). All wound penalties count as automatic successes towards every dice action they make and they gain a number of dots in their Strength and Dexterity equal to the number of health levels they have lost, up to double their current attribute. When the Charm ends, the pleasured high comes crashing down in a wave of agony and the player must roll Conviction + Essence. The demon-blood remains incapacitated for a number of hours equal to the successes rolled. A demon-blood must have sustained at least a single level of health damage before activating this Charm.

Sympathetic Anguish Enforcement
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Eternal Sufferance Technique
Hellborn with this Charm are capable of forcing those around them to share in the agony they experience as their flesh is torn asunder. When activating this Charm, a character must make some manner of physical contact with a target. This can be a gentle touch on the arm or a vigorous punch to the face; all that matters is that physical contact is made. The target is allowed a reflexive Manipulation + Awareness roll to resist the Charm at difficulty equal to the Conviction of the demon-blood attempting to use it. Should the target succeed, the Charm is wasted and the Essence lost.

When successfully employed, for the remainder of the scene, the target will share the demon-bloods pain and believe himself to be as wounded as the character. While they take no actual physical damage from the Charm, they function as though they had suffered a number of health levels in damage equal to the number inflicted upon the demon-blooded who employed the Charm and make all dice rolls with the appropriate wound penalties. Should the demon-blooded who activates this Charm have suffered a number of health levels of damage in excess to what the target possesses the physical capacity to emulate, the character will become incapacitated. Mortal characters who believe themselves to have suffered more damage than their current Health Levels + Resistance will die instantly from system-shock.

Lacerated Torturers Touch
Cost: 4 motes per Health Level transferred, 1 Willpower
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum Conviction: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Sympathetic Anguish Enforcement
Moving from mere shared mental agony to inflicting their pain upon a physical level, Lacerated Torturers Touch allows a demon-blooded character to heal themselves by forcing their injuries onto another. The character must engage the target in a successful grappling hold (Dexterity + Brawl) and maintain close physical contact for the remainder of the turn, as the Charm itself does not actually activate until the end of a turn. Should the demon-blood successful hold on to their victim until the end of the turn, the wounds upon their body will seem to come to life. Cuts writhing like serpents and bruises pulse, the demon-bloods flesh will part and close or roll like a black cloud across their skin as a single wound races across their body and slides onto their victim, a single health level worth of wounds instantly healing upon the demon-blood and transferring over onto their foe. For every turn there after the demon-blood manages to maintain his grip upon the victim, they can transfer another health level of damage for an addition four motes of Essence. This can continue until the hold is broke, until the demon-blood chooses to stop, or until the victim is dead. Should the hold be broken, the Charm ends and the demon-blood must repay the Willpower cost to activate it again on the same target.

Crimson Carapace
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Conviction: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Self-Sundering Method
Using this Charm, the half-damned causes the blood of his wounds to engulf his body and harden into a second skin as supple as silk, yet as hard as steel. This armor of blood blunts the impact of an incoming blows and turn the strikes of their foes towards the wounds already rendered in their flesh that they do no more harm than what has already been suffered. This shell can take any form the Hellborn wishes, though the mechanics remain unchanged regardless of the appearance. Some seem clad in an every flowing river of crimson that swirls around their body while some seem to burst forth a suit of scarlet armor adorned in gothic horns, but appearance is limited by imagination alone. For every health level of damage currently inflicted upon the demon-blooded, add +3B/+2L soak to his natural soak for the remainder of the turn. After damage has been rolled on every attack, reduce the successes made by a number equal to the wounds penalties currently inflicted upon the demon-blood. Damage can be reduced to zero through this method. This Charm is not compatible with armor and takes into account health levels in damaged inflicted at the moment it is employed. Any subsequent damage inflicted turning the turn is not added to soak, but additional wounds penalties are calculated for the purpose of negating damage.

Torment Rending Strike
Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Conviction: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Lacerated Torturers Touch
A demon-blood with this Charm as learned to channel his agony into deadly energy. When this Charm is activated, every mar and wound upon the demon-blood’s body beings to simmer and steam. A malevolent crimson glow pulses from out of open cuts and tiny licks of flame snake out to seer and scorch the edges of the Hellborns wounds, filling the air with the scent of burning flesh. All bleeding stops as the demon-bloods wounds are cauterized by the fire flushing through his veins. Torment Rending Strike is only effective with completely unarmed Brawl or Martial Arts attacks; even those weapons normally considered to be Unarmed for the purpose of a Martial Arts style known to the character cannot be employed with this Charm. The Charm may be activated after an attack roll is made, but before damage is rolled or soak is calculated. Add a number of automatic damage successes equal to every current health level of damage inflicted upon the demon-blood to a single attack.

Comments

I really like these Charms, and the mechanics seems to work well but why did you price them (motewise) as high as you did? Given the size of the average Demon-Blooded's Essence pool, they'd burn out their pool pretty fast. I suggest dropping the 5 mote charms to 4 motes, and the higher ones maybe by two.
--DarkWolff

Probably a little late. I never realized until just today that anyone had even posted anything here. ^^; I must have been out dog-sitting when you asked this, Wolff. And also, suggestion happily taken and the costs lowered. I wasn't really sure about those when I first jotted this down. I had been going by Death in Life Path, which didn't seem to give too much regard for the ghost-bloods Essence pool, but Death in Life Path also has uses outside of combat, while these Charms don't in particular.
--Greymane

I never thought about the Death in Life Path, but you bring up a good point. Still, your path has more requirements on its use then the Death in Life Path, so it should probably be cheaper anyway. I look forward to see what you will make next.
--DarkWolff