MartialArts/PermissiveWaterStyle
Permissive Water Style
Background
This style was developed by a hardline pacifist Eclipse Caste Solar during the middle of the First Age (who later faltered in his views). His intent was to develope a style which allowed him to converse with his opponents while fighting, but remained even less violent than Mantis Style, since he often worked mutual nonagression clauses into the oathes he witnessed (and wasn't particularly excited about drawing the potential ire of heaven by joint-locking someone). To this end, he incorporated advice, techniques and tactics from several water-apected terrestrial masters of free-form brawling, lending the style a much more fluid feel than many other martial arts. Also, because of its extreme focus on defense, this style is completely incompatible with weapons, but is compatible with any armor that is completely without fatigue or mobility penalty.
Charms
Giving Body Method
Cost: 2 motes/die Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 2 Minimum Resistance: 1 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisites: None
The character softens and lightens her body, cushioning the blow of a weapon or negating less damaging attacks. For every two motes the Exalt pays before soak, she converts one die of Lethal damage to Bashing damage or negates one die of Bashing damage from a single attack. This charm may only be activated once per turn, and the Exalt may not convert or negate more total dice from any attack than her Martial Arts. The character momentarily becomes as light as a mist when using this charm, and must immediately roll Dexterity + Resistance at difficulty 3 or suffer a knockdown. If an attack ends up doing both Lethal and Bashing damage, the totals are soaked separately and applied simultaneously.
Laughing Ripple Motion
Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 3 Minimum Dodge: 2 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Giving Body Method
As ripples on a still puddle dance through the grasp of the child who tries to clutch them, the martial artist flows through an attempt to apprehend him. By invoking this charm, every die comes up a success in any Martial Arts or Dodge roll to escape or avoid a clinch, hold, tackle or throw, or in any Larceny or Athletics roll to escape restraints such as manacles or ropes (but not a cage or prison cell).
Permissive Water Form
Cost: 6 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Dodge: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Laughing Ripple Motion
The Exalt assumes a calm stance, hands up and open, palms out. His movements become as silk, and he flows away from attacks as fast as whitewater. For the remainder of the scene, add the character's Martial Arts to his initiative and to all Dodge rolls (subject to normal dice-adder caps). Further, the character may reflexively dodge any attack, even those of which he is unaware, by spending 3 motes, up to a number of times each turn equal to his Martial Arts. This does not count as charm use. Furthermore, the character always rolls for knockback instead of knockdown, and remains standing even if successfully knocked back, tripped, tackled or thrown, as he instantly rolls back to his feet. This specifically supercedes the knockdown roll made while using Giving Body Method. A character cannot benefit from more than one Martial Arts form at a time, and activating any other form immediately ends the effects of this one. This form is explicitly compatible with any armor that is completely without fatigue or mobility penalty.
Popping Droplet Dance
Cost: 4 motes Duration: Special Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Dodge: 4 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Permissive Water Form
Small droplets of water on a hot skillet will dance back and forth, popping and darting from one place to another. The Exalt imitates these droplets, hopping about in an unpredicatble fashion and becoming exceedingly difficult to hit. The character activates this charm while declaring a full dodge. On this turn, and for every subsequent consecutive turn on which the character declares a full dodge, he makes all dodges at his full dice pool. This charm ends immediately if the character uses any charm, hearthstone, artifact, or any other method of gaining an attack of any kind - he may not abuse this power to harm anyone directly, though he may still take any actions normally allowed for a character taking a full dodge.
Water Before Fire Evasion
Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Dodge: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Popping Droplet Dance
Water flees before fire. Put flame to an amount of water insufficient to douse the flame, and the water escapes into the air as steam. Just so, the martial artist knows that some attacks cannot be overcome, and must be avoided instead. This Charm causes every die in one Dodge roll to come up a success, and allows the character to move up to (Martial Arts x 5) yards in any direction. This is a "hopping defense," and will break strings of attacks unless the attacker has some way of matching the martial artist's movement.
Ducking Trough Throw
Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisites: Permissive Water Form
As a boat can tumble and capsize in the trough of a great wave, so can an attacker be made to falter with her own inertia. The Exalt may activate this charm after successfully dodging any hand-to-hand attack. The character immediately makes a standard roll to throw the attacker, adding a number of automatic successes equal to his Essence plus the number of extra successes on the dodge attempt. The character may choose to have this throw deal no damage.
Gentle Tsunami Shout
Cost: 5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Ducking Trough Throw
Building on his emulation of a storm at sea, the character focuses for a moment and gives a bellow like a foghorn, which rolls outward from him like a tsunami, affecting everyone within (his Essence x 10) yards. Those affected take one die of Bashing damage and are automatically thrown away from the character a number of yards equal to his Martial Arts + Essence, as per the effects of Crashing Wave Throw (Core, p. 159). Note that this is not a form of knockdown - rather, it counts as a throw for the purposes of effects that protect against knockdown or knockback.
Lost to the Depths Prana
Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Resistance: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Permissive Water Form
Things lost to the depths of the oceans are not returned. Likewise with weapons striking a character who knows this charm. Whenever the character takes at least one health level of damage from an attack, he may activate this charm. The martial artist rolls Wits + Martial Arts and adds automatic successes equal to the number of health levels the attack dealt. His opponent opposes this roll with his Strength plus his applicable combat ability (usually Melee). If the character ties or wins, the opponent is disarmed, and the weapon passes through the character's body and is expelled out of his back, landing a number of yards behind him equal to his Essence. In the case of a barehanded attack, the attacking character (if he loses or ties) is put into a hold, with the Exalt receiving automatic successes on all rolls to maintain the hold equal to his Essence plus the extra successes on the Wits + Martial Arts roll to activate this charm. In this case, the motes spent on this Charm remain committed until the hold ends.
Benthic Imperturbability Stance
Cost: 3 motes per health level Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Resistance: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisites: Lost to the Depths Prana
The depths of the oceans can part, allowing behemoths to pass, and close behind them without a seam or a thought. So too can the character who knows this charm allow attacks to pass through him without disturbing his physical form. Whenever he would take damage from a single, finite, instantaneous, solid source of damage against which he raised no defense (such as an attack, or a fall, but not something like Internal Flame (Bo3C, p. 39), or poison, or a fire), he may pay 3 motes per health level to heal the damage as it is being dealt. Note that the character still takes the damage to begin with, and so poisoned blades will still affect him, and charms triggered by taking damage, such as Lost to the Depths Prana, will still function. This charm may not be used to heal damage after it has been dealt.
Rage of the Kraken
Cost: 12 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level Duration: Instant Type: Extra Action Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisites: Water Before Fire Evasion, Gentle Tsunami Shout, Benthic Imperturbability Stance
Some ancient texts refer to the Elemental Dragon of Water as the Kraken, whose bottomless throat swallows all who dare tread past the elemental pole of water, and on whose tentacles rest the islands of the West. The Exalt who developed this style frequently lost control of himself after the great curse set in, becoming fantastically cruel and violent for short periods. Eventually, he refined his violent urges into this charm, which he used to devastating effect during the Usurpation. The Exalt calls forth and stokes the rage within himself, and forms watery tentacles out of his own essence. These pseudopodia rip through the exalt's skin, destroying any armor (even artifact armor) he may be wearing and lashing uncontrollably at everything within (the Exalt's Essence x 25) yards. First, add two points to the character's Limit. If this takes the character's Limit to or above 10, his limit breaks the instant this attack is over, but for the purposes of this attack the Limit is considered to be the current total instead of zero. Next, roll the character's Limit + Essence + Dexterity, applying the resultant successes as successes on a separate attack against each possible target within the charm's range, including all animate and inanimate things (walls, statues, servants, pets, enemies, allies, absolutely everything). These attacks do damage equal to the character's Strength + Essence + Limit + extra successes in Lethal damage, doubled against inanimate objects, and ignore the soak values of armor, though they may be dodged and parried as normal. A character who makes frequent use of this charm (Storyteller's discretion) will almost certainly gain some sort of derangement related to his Virtue Flaw, as it draws his corrupted nature closer to the surface. Because of its ties to the character's Virtue Flaw, this charm may never be learned by any character who lacks one. That is, this charm may only be learned by Solars and Lunars.
