MartialArts/HandsomeDevilStyle

Handsome Devil Style

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Note

These Charms were designed with the Power Combat rule set in mind.

Weapons and Armor

The Charms of Handsome Devil style treat attacks made with bows as unarmed. None of these Charms function in armor.

Charms

Wind-Carried Razor Kiss</b>

 <b>Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

The Handsome Devil knows the secret paths of love and hatred; they travel unhindered by spaces in-between! Her ranged Martial Arts attacks have twice their normal range. This applies not only to attacks with bows and thrown weapons, but also to Charm-generated ranged attacks.

Early Days Euphoria</b>

 <b>Cost: 1 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 1
 Prerequisite Charms: None

When love is new, time flies. The Handsome Devil catches these fleeting moments; she becomes swift and ever-ready! Add her permanent Essence score to her initiative rating for the rest of the turn. She may instantaneously draw and ready any weapon she carries. This Charm can only be activated once per turn.

All the Pleasure of the World</b>

 <b>Cost: 2 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Wind-Carried Razor Kiss

There is no greater pleasure than to wound one's rival, be it in love or in war. To this end, the Handsome Devil adds a number of damage dice equal to her permanent Essence score to the raw damage of a ranged Martial Arts attack.

Eager, Thrusting Lover</b>

 <b>Cost: 4 motes
 Duration: One turn
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Martial Arts: 3
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Early Days Euphoria

The Handsome Devil adopts the stance of the young and long-denied to add her permanent Essence score to the rate of her unarmed Martial Arts attacks for this turn.

Handsome Devil Form</b>

 <b>Cost: 4 motes
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: All the Pleasure of the World, Eager, Thrusting Lover

The Handsome Devil's beauty is a wound upon the world. While this Charm is active, minimum damage isn't determined only by Essence, but also by beauty. The minimum number of dice rolled for damage from a successful and potentially damaging unarmed Martial Arts attack cannot be reduced below either the character's permanent Essence score or her Appearance score.
Every foray into her jaded heart is met with a well-rehearsed rebuke. Add her Martial Arts score in dice to any pre-existing parry attempt. She may parry Lethal and ranged attacks unarmed. The piercing effect of any attack directed at her is negated.
She has a throne in every heart. Add half her Martial Arts score (rounded up) in dice to any seduction attempt incorporating her physical appearance.

Pretty Eyes Distraction</b>

 <b>Cost: 3 motes
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 4
 Minimum Essence: 2
 Prerequisite Charms: Handsome Devil Form

This is the terrible truth that liberates all beings: beauty is a curse upon the world. Anyone who sees the Handsome Devil is too overwhelmed by her wicked beauty to fight effectively. Attackers subtract her Appearance rating from the dice pool of their attack. Characters with a permanent Willpower score higher than her Appearance rating may choose to close their eyes and fight with the usual penalties for blindness.

With Cruelty Most Intimate</b>

 <b>Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Supplemental
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Handsome Devil Form

Wickedness waits in every heart; nowhere more so than in a loved one's. He who seeks sanctuary in arms and armor invites his doom; seldom will he live to know it. An attack aided by this Charm must be parried as immaterial and bypasses all armor that is not made from one of the Five Magical Materials or otherwise magical in nature.

All Yield to Thee</b>

 <b>Cost: 4 motes
 Duration: Instant
 Type: Reflexive
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 3
 Prerequisite Charms: Handsome Devil Form

The Handsome Devil forges a shield; refined cruelty and jaded love, Essence and intent are its substance. She may attempt to parry any one attack against her that she is aware of with a dice pool of her Appearance + Martial Arts. This counts as Martial Arts parry and is applicable against immaterial attacks as well as attempts to seduce the character and magical compulsions that would make her fall in love.

Dalliance with the Damned</b>

 <b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower
 Duration: One scene
 Type: Simple
 Minimum Martial Arts: 5
 Minimum Essence: 4
 Prerequisite Charms: All Yield to Thee, Pretty Eyes Distraction, With Cruelty Most Intimate

With her array of well-honed responses and her predatory wit, the Handsome Devil is difficult prey indeed. For the rest of the scene, she can retaliate against any attack with an immediate Martial Arts counterattack made with her full Dexterity + Martial Arts dice pool. The counterattack happens after the enemy makes his attack roll but before damage effects are applied. This Charm cannot be used in response to any counterattack Charm, and only as many times per turn as the character has points of permanent Essence.

Comments

I love bow styles. Thus, comments.

Early Days Euphoria - Very nice. Good feel, nice mechanics.

With Cruelty Most Intimate - YIKES! Don't you think it's a bit early in the tree for a mostly-unparryable, partly-unsoakable attack?!

All the Pleasure of the World - No issues here either.

Handsome Devil Form - It feels a bit weak, but I can't put my finger on exactly why. I like the Appearance minimum, but in Power Combat it's not likely to be much of a boost; even VBoS Form actually loses its benefit fairly quickly, and that's an Ability - much easier to raise than an Attribute. With the extra benefits, though... It's probably a bit too expensive, at the least.

Wind-Carried Razor Kiss and Eager, Thrusting Lover - Both of these seem to have the same problem - they are severely underpowered for their place on the tree. I'd strongly suggest swapping Eager, Thrusting Lover for With Cruelty Most Intimate (and raising the Essence minimum to 3 on WCMI, and some kind of WP cost to boot). Wind-Carried Razor Kiss should be cheaper, and possibly even include an out-of-Ability Combo provision.

All Yield to Thee - I really like this Charm - it's just quirky enough to work for me - but I think it's probably only worth 4m.

Pretty Eyes Distraction - This is like Snake Form, but with more prereqs and a lot more expensive and with none of the Form's other benefits. Though it might make the opponent lose a die or two more. Maybe.

Dalliance With the Damned - Personally, I've never been a fan of Martial Arts Charms that are Melee Charms in funny clothes, and this is obviously Steel Devil Style (note that the Power Combat version of SDS limits the counterattacks to your Essence per turn). Nothing that I can see wrong with it from a purely mechanical standoint (though I think you meant for it to have All Yield to Thee as a prereq, right?), but aestethcially, I would prefer to see something that is as original as the rest of the style is.

All in all, I like the idea here and some of the execution, but I think there's still some work to be done. Looking forward to a second draft! - Hapushet

Feedback, yay! I'm totally new to Charm design, so constructive input like yours is very much appreciated.

• WCMI - yeah, I'll probably swap that one around
• Form - hm, I don't want to overcomplicate it by adding another distinct benefit; maybe give some autosuccesses for parries?
• ETL - I wasn't sure about the pricing/power level of the added rate. Didn't find canon charms to compare against, totally guesstimated.
• PED - Started out as something similar to solar "look at me and despair" presence charms; didn't even see the similarity to snake until you mentioned it
• DWTD - Good catch on the prereq. Wasn't actually based on steel devil style; it's a fusion of parts of pinnacle charms from 2 canon styles.

I'm off to rewrite (and maybe even add some flavor text!) -- Stanoje

EDIT Here we go.