IsawaBrian/SolarCraftSpecifics
Second Edition
Total Perspective Eyes of the Sun Map
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple Keywords: Obvious, Combo-Basic, Illusion Duration: One Scene Prerequisite Charms: Any Craft Excellency
Although this Charm would ordinarily require Craft (Air) or Craft (Wood), Craft (Earth) can be substituted. A Lawgiver's destiny is to hold the Mandate of Heaven over Creation. This truth is written into the very bones of the Earth, no matter how the scions of the Usurping Dragon-Blooded would try to deny it. As the Unconquered Sun sees, so, too, may his children, over all that is in Creation.
The Solar using this Charm will create a semi-translucent (and obvious) illusion made of sunlight, with no greater a radius than his Essence in feet and no less than a foot. It will be a perfect, three-dimensional map of the area the Solar chooses, which she must be familiar with. The extent to which the Solar is familiar with the area will mark the amount of detail shown, which will be current as of the time of invocation. The map will show everything within an area with a radius of up to the Solar's Craft in miles. The Solar may zoom in or out at will, but can never get closer to any particular large surface than 300', nor further from the surface of Creation than a significant distance from the Dome of the Heavens.
What a 'large surface' in this case means is up to the Storyteller; trees do not usually qualify, but (for example) a city suspended from the branches of titanic trees in Halta might. The perspective may be shifted from ninety degrees overhead (looking straight down) to up to only ten degrees off the "plane of vision."
The map will not show creatures that both live and move, though it will show inanimate living creatures such as plants and unliving moving objects like rivers. This Charm does not in any way negate invisibility or give the character any bonus to detect someone hidden, save that the character may use zooming and perspective alteration to see from otherwise impossible angles without revealing herself.
Worlds Within A Picture Style
Cost: 20m; Mins: Craft 5, Occult 3, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action) Keywords: Obvious (Special), Combo-Basic Duration: Special Prerequisite Charms: Any Craft Excellency
This is a mechanical conversion of the Charm on Time of Tumult p 96. Note that its essence is committed for the duration of the dramatic action necessary to paint the picture, and the Charm is only Obvious during this time.
Rock-Spinning Technique
Cost: 3m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action) Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK Duration: One Hour Prerequisite Charms: Any Craft Excellency
This is a mechanical conversion of the Charm on Time of Tumult p 95. Note that it usually uses Craft (Wood)
Spiritual Sustenance
Cost: Variable; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action) Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK Duration: Variable Prerequisite Charms: Object-Strengthening Touch
This is a mechanical conversion of the Charm on Time of Tumult p 98. Frankly, while the Charm’s effects are necessary for the plotline, they seem rather out of keeping with Solar majesty. Of course, the thematics aren’t very Solar, either. Personally, if I were allowing this Charm into my campaign, I’d probably make it a spirit charm that the Cook Servitor knew, and not Bax or any of his compatriots. Alternately, Bax’s version that was “imprinted” on the cook may have been a flawed version of a more appropriate charm that once existed…
Soup From Stone
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Dramatic Action) Keywords: Obvious, Combo-OK Duration: One Hour Prerequisite Charms: Rock-Spinning Technique
The Solar’s wondrous mastery of Essence allows her to prepare food from the raw substances of the earth itself. The Solar’s radiant, life-giving essence interacts with the hidden potential of earth and stone to grant them both nourishing qualities and softens them sufficiently so that they may be eaten. The character must make an ordinary Craft (Wood) roll to determine quality; earth and stone is considered Resources 0 material, and it thus takes a truly excellent cook to make something palatable to Princes of the Earth. Still, this technique may be used to feed troops on campaign well enough. The Solar spends a dramatic action equal to the time it would normally take to cook food for her desired amount-- up to the Solar’s permanent Essence in magnitude-- and the resulting food is only nourishing (or, indeed, eatable at all in the case of stones) for one hour.
Body-Forging Travail
Cost: 8m, 1 wp; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 7, DV -2) Keywords: Obvious, Combo-Basic Duration: One Scene Prerequisite Charms: Object-Strengthening Touch
This is a mechanical conversion of the Charm on CB: T p 69. Depending on your Storyteller, this may require Craft (Genesis) to actually work.
Brewing Venom Technique
Cost: 4m, 1 wp, 1 hl per pot created; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (One Dramatic Action) Keywords: Combo-OK Duration: One Week Prerequisite Charms: Any Craft Excellency
This Charm usually requires Craft (Wood or Water). The Solar understands that all fluids are made of essence, and all Essence can become poisonous. By concentrating while boiling a pot of water, the Lawgiver may infuse it with a deadly Solar Essence that burns the veins or sears the senses of those who succumb to its effects. Treat the resulting poison as having a Damage of (2 times relevant Craft)/Action, a Toxicity of (Relevant Craft), Tolerance - / - , and a penalty of –(Craft). The damage may be lethal or bashing, and may be delivered by ingestion or weapon coating. Both selections must be made at the time of brewing. The poison is odorless, tasteless and colorless, and has a thickness appropriate to its intended use, so the difficulty of any Perception + Awareness (or Investigation, etc.) roll to detect the poison is equal to the Solar’s Essence. Each pot carries sufficient poison to envenom a weapon twelve times, or poison a large meal. Each pot only lasts one week before the unstable essence subsides, returning it to pure water.
Envenomed Weapon Prana
Cost: --; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 3; Type: Permanent Keywords: None Prerequisite Charms: Brewing Venom Technique
The Solar gains the ability to condense the burning, venomous essence of Brewing Venom Technique out of the very air itself. The Solar may dose a weapon, plate of food, or goblet of drink by touch with a Simple action in normal ticks by spending an additional 2 motes, and reducing the effective duration of the venom’s efficacy to one day, and only producing a single dose. This use of the Charm may not be flurried under normal circumstances, and the character must touch that which he desires to envenom. At Essence 5, the Solar perfects the Mastery-of-Poison technique. He may spend an additional 2 motes (total of 4) to do so as a reflexive action, reducing the effective duration to one scene. This is still considered to be a Charm use, but the character not only may poison and strike at the same time, he may flurry multiple poisonous strikes.
Felicitous Multi-Stage Wonder Preparation
Cost: 3m per dot of artifact; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 3; Type: Simple Keywords: Obvious Duration: Special Prerequisite Charms: Any Craft Excellency
Talented Solars sometimes grow in power faster than the tools they inherit or create. For those Solars, many times they must face the agony of a choice between falling behind the capacities of their rivals or enemies and abandoning artifacts that have become old friends. For those who have mastered the ways of Craft, however, there is a third alternative. This Charm can only be used on an Artifact to which the character is Attuned.
Solar mastery of Essence is such that, with time and care, a Solar can actually "unfold" the hardened shapes of Essence that empower artifacts. So long as both attunement to the artifact and commitment of Felicitous Multi-Stage Wonder Preparation are maintained, this shape remains stable. In this state, the artifact will not function. If no changes have been made, the artifact will return to normal upon refolding when the commitment lapses.
While the shape remains stable, the Solar may attempt to "upgrade" the artifact in question. This will still require materials and manufacturing processes of an appropriately magical nature, but as long as the Solar's intended upgrades fit with the theme of the artifact-- Storyteller's call, and may depend on the name and use of the artifact, especially simple ones-- the Solar always accumulates one success per roll over the required difficulty (botching is impossible) and the amount of time between rolls is halved. No more than one dot may be upgraded at a time, and the little god of the artifact must have at least one season between upgrades to readjust before a new upgrade is performed.
