MartialArts/KirinsClawInitiation

Kirin's Claw Initiation

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The Terrestrial dedication to family, and their fascination with genealogical ties and related affairs, is legendary among the Exalted. The Kirin's Claw Initiation extends this interest to the martial lineages of the warrior world.

Charms

Son-of-Heaven Heraldry Analysis

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Simple

Min. Martial Arts: 3

Min. Essence: 2

Prereqs: None

By watching how a warrior handles his weapon, the Exalt can determine his martial lineage. He rolls Perception + Martial Arts while observing a warrior who has adopted a Martial Arts Form-type Charm, at a difficulty of the Essence requirement of that Form. If you are using the Face Background, add the target's Face rating as a non-Charm bonus to the user's dice pool. If the martial artist succeeds, he determines who taught the target the Form he is enacting.

Initiation Effect

Terrestrial Exalted who have mastered this Charm gain a deeper and subtler understanding of their weaponry of choice. If their number of Martial Arts Specialties in a particular weapon type exceeds the Essence requirement of a Terrestrial Martial Arts Form-type Charm, then they may treat that weapon type as a form weapon of the Style. If a Martial Artist has inherited a particular weapon from a currently deceased ancestor or martial teacher, who granted it to him of his own free will, uncoerced, then he may treat the Essence requirement of Terrestrial Forms as one point lower for the purposes of this effect and that weapon only. He must have at least one relevant Specialty to take advantage of this effect.

Comments

Does the special initiation power allow weapons which are not normally MA weapons? Could I, say, take a Daiklaves +2 specialty, and be able to use my daiklave with all Terrestrial Forms (can't think of any non-SMA forms which require Essence 3), even though I cannot normally use it with my MA Ability? _Ikselam

Wood Dragon Form requires Essence 3. -- Mapache

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Is it really an initiation? Presumably, an initiation in the relevant sense is something that allows you access to a new level of ability. This allows you to expand your ability at the level it is currently at. I would have thought Terrestrial Initiations would be for, say, god bloods or mortal thaumaturges wishing to learn Terrestrial Martial Arts. Perhaps I am confused about what you are trying to do here. Are you simply creating style-less Martial Arts meta-charms? - Szilard

Well, basically...if your ST lets you take that kind of weaponry as MA Specs, then I don't see why not. Personally I would only let you take specs in weaponry that you could use to begin with - which means MA weapons, or the form weaponry of at least one Style.

As for the definition of "initiation"... that I leave to the philosophers, but I don't want to restrict initiation benefits to only opening upper levels of MA ability. This is one of the odder effects I've cooked up; I'll post a couple more concervative initiations I have brewing soon. - willows