MartialArts/FearsomeBarghestStyle
Fearsome Barghest Style
By Thinker
Note
Warning! This Martial Art is very vicious, and powerful, but it is not as powerful as it looks on the surface.
Charms
Snarling Barghest Mien</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prereqs: None
This Charm allows the Exalt to take upon themselves the mien of the dreaded bargest to intimidate and unsettle their opponents. When used to supplement an intimidation roll it allows the Exalt to add their Martial Arts as bonus dice to the roll. These are considered a Martial Arts bonus and explicitly stack with all other Charm bonuses even if this would take the Character beyond their normal total.
Frightful Unsettling Attitude</b>
<b>Cost:3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Snarling Barghest Mien
Extending the power of the Snarling Barghest Mien this Charm allows the Abyssal Exalted to cause an attack to falter by striking such terror into their enemies that their resolve is shattered. When employing this Charm the Abyssal Exalted may remove a number of successes from their opponents attack against them equal to their Essence score.
Loping Barghest Run</b>
<b>Cost:2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
Using this Charm the Exalt takes on the loping attitude of the bargest, this requires that he have at least one hand free and he must move somewhat hunched over like a bargest. Using this Charm they make take a free movement action at their normal rate, or double their normal rate if they use it in conjunction with their normal movement. This Charm may only be activated once per Turn.
Fearsome Barghest Form</b>
<b>Cost:5 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Loping Barghest Run, Frightful Unsettling Attitude
The Exalt hunches over imitating the movements of the bargest; vicious, deadly and cunning. While the character is using the Fearsome Barghest Form they may add their Martial Arts to their initiative total, and to their Dexterity trait for purposes of calculating their base movement speed. This bonus is not considered to be a Charm bonus but a natural one for the purposes of other charms that adjust the base movement rate. Additionally the Exalt may add a number of dice equal to their Essence score to all Martial Arts dice pools while this Charm is active. This Charm is not compatible with armor. A character may only have a single Form-Type Charm active at one time, if another Form Charm is activated the Fearsome Barghest Form is immediately canceled and replaced with that one.
Barghest Strikes Twice</b>
<b>Cost:4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Extra-Action Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Fearsome Barghest Form
Attacking like a barghest enraged the character may take two Martial Arts attacks in place of one. This Charm actually consumes the Characters action witch must be to make the first attack. The two attacks are separate and must be blocked or dodged separately.
Ravening Hunger Stance</b>
<b>Cost:10 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One Scene Type: Extra-Action Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Barghest Strikes Twice, Vicious Claw Enchantment
Adopting the deadly fighting style of the Barghest for longer than an instant the Character may now take an additional Martial Arts attack each Turn for the rest of the scene in addition to their normal action. This Charm is not compatible with weapons, should the character hold a weapon its effects are canceled until the weapon is released.
Vicious Claw Enchantment</b>
<b>Cost:3 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One Scene Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Fearsome Barghest Form
The Exalt curls their fingers in imitation of the claws of the bargest and their finger nails grow unnaturally sharp, strong and long. They become weapons with the following characteristics +2 Spd, +2 Acc, +Essence Lethal Damage, +2 Def. This Charm is not compatible with weapons, though the claws are comparable with Melee, Brawl or Martial Arts Charms that are.
Hunting Claw Empowerment</b>
<b>Cost:4 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Vicious Claw Enchantment
This Charm charges the characters hands with Essence, giving them the magical material bonus appropriate to their Exalted type. If this is not Soulsteel then the charm costs 5 motes instead of 4. While this Charm is active the Characters barehanded attacks are fully compatible with other Charms that require the character use a weapon of a specific magical material type, so long as that is the type of material being simulated. This Charm is fully compatible with Vicious Claw Enchantment transforming the claws into the appropriate material for the rest of the scene.
Leaping Barghest Pounce</b>
<b>Cost:6 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Hunting Claw Empowerment, Ravening Hunger Stance
Momentarily hunching down and then leaping with preternatural speed the Exalt makes a Martial Arts attack, from up to Essence x 10 yards away (They actually cross the distance and make the attack all at once). Such is the speed and viciousness of this attack that it cannot be dodged and may only be blocked by a Perfect Parry of some kind, otherwise no matter how many successes are canceled or reduced by the defenders parry the attack still lands for a simple successes.This Charm is not compatable with other Charms that require a successful hand-to-hand attack to take effect except for other Fearsome Barghest Style Charms.
Blood Drinking Jaw</b>
<b>Cost:10 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 5 Prereqs: Leaping Barghest Pounce
By channeling the hunger and blood drinking bite of the Barghest through a Martial Arts attack the Exalt may consume a portion of their opponent’s very soul. If the attack is successful the target must roll their Stamina + Resistance in a contested roll against the Exalts Essence + Martial Arts. If they succeed they ‘merely’ take a number of dice of unsoakable aggravated damage equal to the attacking Exalts Essence score, from the tearing at their soul. If they fail then a piece of their soul is actually torn loose, they loose one unspent experience point and the attacking Exalt instantly heals a number of levels of damage of any type (except aggravated) equal to their Essence score as they consume the stolen piece of their opponents soul. If the target should not happen to have an unspent experience point, then they instead take a number of unsoakable levels of aggravated damage equal to their opponents Essence score, this damage cannot be prevented unless the targets defenses specifically include defense against damage directly to their soul (Bottomless Depths Defense and Adamant Skin Technique are both equal ineffective). If the target wins the roll off they may opt to exchange an unspent experience point rather than take the damage, and the damage inflicted on a target who succeeds the roll off (dice rather than levels of Aggravated damage) can be blocked normally (i.e. Bottomless Depths Defense and Adamant Skin Technique both work normally). This Charm is incompatible with weapons and Charms or abilities that allow the character to deliver attacks remotely, they must actually touch their opponent for it to work.
