MartialArts/UmbroseSaberStyle
Umbrose Saber Style
By Jabberwocky
Background
Umbrose Saber Style most commonly finds use among the Abyssal Exalted, but its aesthetics may appeal to any Exalt that wields a straight sword or similar weapon, which is required for the Style. A quick wit is not necessary, but will protect a practitioner nearly as well as a quick blade. This Style is incompatible with armor with any mobility penalty prior to Magical Material bonuses.
Charms
Imperative Drive</b>
<b>Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prereqs: None
The character shifts her weight forward, holding her foil as an extension of her arm. Perhaps she smirks through through the pain she has suffered, or merely stands stoic, facing her opponents. For the round in question, the initiative rating of the character's weapon is doubled. In addition, add the number of health levels of damage the character suffered last round to the initiative, as the taction of warm blood invigorates her. This Charm may only be used once per round.
Humiliating Swat</b>
<b>Cost:3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 2 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
An overproud opponent exposes himself to a ridiculing blow. When the character successfully attacks an opponent, who does not attempt to dodge or parry the attack, with three or more successes, she may opt to activate this Charm. Subtract two successes and roll damage as normal; in addition to any normal damage dealt, subtract a willpower point.
Blade-Wielding Bow</b>
<b>Cost:1 mote, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Imperative Drive, Humiliating Swat
The Exalt crosses her rapier arm along her waist and bows to her choosen opponent. During the turn of activation, the character recieves a free a parry against any attacks her target directs against her, as she exits her bow and wickedly swats away any weak attempts to get the slip on her. For the remainder of the scene, the selected opponent suffers a minus equal to the character's Melee when attacking or defending against the character. This Charm may only be used on one opponent at a time, and may only be activated against another foe if the original target is slain or flees the scene, or a more-important target presents himself; what constitutes a 'more-important target' should be determined by physical ranking, as well as the character's own personal biases.
Umbrose Saber Form</b>
<b>Cost:6 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Min. Melee: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Blade-Wielding Bow
The thus-far formless, intuitive rapier-wielding by the user becomes enhanced through this coordinated stance. Though her footwork reflects a formality of the Umbrose Saber Form, her blade still speaks the practitioner's cruel purpose. Once the form is active, the character may not be disarmed, though if she releases or sheaths her weapon for any reason, the form ends, and must be reactivated if she wishes to recieve the benefits again. Her weapon recieves a bonus of Essence to its defense and initiative ratings, and she subtracts up to her melee from opponents' armor soak when calculating attack damage. In addition, the practitioner may mark an opponent as a reflexive action, as part of any attack that does at least one damage. The character may also abort to a Cascading Parry, if she so chooses (akin to a Full Dodge, she subtracts a single die from her pool for each attack she parries that turn.).
Additionally, if the character wields a cloak or other similarly untraditional item in their off-hand, they may treat it as a simple buckler shield (-1 successes to hand-to-hand attacks against the character). A character may only have one form activated at a time.
Black Dagger Slip</b>
<b>Cost:5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Melee: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Umbrose Saber Form
Shadowy Essence licks at the critical points of a lock between two characters, weakening one's grasp until the character can momentarily move freely. In this instant, she looses a dagger from some hidden position and wickedly stabs her foe, jumping free in the process. This Charm explicitly functions in any hold-type situation, and immediately breaks such restraining actions. If the character has a dagger on her, she quickly has it in hand, even if it should be in an inopportune location; she pulls it from a handy pocket, or from behind her back. Even if she does not possess a dagger, she reaches for one regardless, while Essence coalesces into her hand, forming the equivilent of a Soulsteel knife (+1 accuracy, +1L damage, saps the character's Essence in motes on a damaging attack.); in the confusion of the lock, it enters her foe and vanishes before anyone might identify the attack as anything except a clever blow.
Resolve this attack as an attack from behind (Exalted, p. 238) and piercing: opponents may only defend against this attack with the help of Charms, and armor soak is halved for the purposes of calculating damage. This Charm may also be used by the initiator of a lock, be it hold, clinch, blade-lock (such as the one granted by Locking Blade Meditation), or any other restraining action. With luck, a single use of this Charm should convince characters to avoid locking blades or wits with as practiced a saberist as the character!
Joint-Piercing Swipe</b>
<b>Cost:4 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Min. Melee: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Black Dagger Slip
With a twist of the blade, a saberist can pierce the open defenses of an overextended opponent. This Charm may be activated after an opponent attempts and fails to dodge or parry a rapier attack from the character; it first negates the successes from the defense, and, in addition, adds the rating of the relevant defense ability to the character's damage roll. Cutting into an exposed opening, the attack is treated as piercing, halving armor soak for the purposes of calculating damage.
Despite All Odds</b>
<b>Cost:4 motes Duration: One turn Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Umbrose Saber Form
When confronted on the foggy shore, or when forcing their way up a towering, spiraled stairwell, a character with this Charm will casually turn such obstactles to her advantage. In the turn this Charm is used, external penalties, such as environmental conditions and height disadvantages, are nullified for the character, and instead imposed on any opponents that choose to attack. Each attack parried only further assists the character's position; additional successes from one parry carry to the next parry the character makes. Opponents facing a fencer using Despite All Odds will often end up turned around, or haphazardly collide with other attacking does.
Clever Flourish Advantage</b>
<b>Cost:3 motes, 1 Willpower Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Despite All Odds
An Exalt using this Charm shows an opponent that reliance on their blade is only worthwhile if they raise it to match the skill of their foe. Clever Flourish Advantage may be activated any time the character is involved in a parry action. She first rolls her Dexterity + Melee (ignoring her weapon's Defense stat), adding it to her parry successes; if her opponent has more successes than her originally, she must obtain more successes in order to use this Charm. Assuming this is the case, the opponent's weapon becomes lodged in a nearby object, be it building, tree, or earth, and cannot be dislodged until the opponent accumulates successes on a simple extend Strength + Athletics roll equal to the chracter's addition parry successes, including her second roll.
This may be used to break an opponent's multiple actions, but, if this is the situation, he is allowed to sacrifice remaining actions for Strength + Athletics rolls to dislodge the weapon, or to dodge or parry (with a second weapon) oncoming attacks.
Clever Devil Grin</b>
<b>Cost:6 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Min. Melee: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Umbrose Saber Form
The saberist contemplates for a moment, and twists her blade in such a to make sure it is best prepared for oncoming parries. She may also twist her lips into a knowing grin, if the occasion presents itself. For the remainder of the scene, all parries made with the wielded weapon do not add the weapon's Defense statistic, instead counting it as automatic successes. On a significant success, in which the character has more than twice the successes of an opponent's attack, the fencer's foe may find himself disarmed. He must reflexively roll Wits + Awareness, with a difficulty of the character's successes to parry minus twice his attack successes, or his weapon will be pulled from his hands with a quick yank.
Example: Torrid Ocean attacks Prismatic Feather Queen, who has previously activated Clever Devil Grin. Prismatic Feather Queen weilds Evocative Wispers, a Soulsteel Daiklaive, Defense +2 (+3 from the Umbrose Saber Form.). Ocean rolls 6 successes; PFQ parries, first counting 5 dice (her weapon's augmented Defense statistic) as automatic successes, and rolls the rest of her pool, for a total of 14 successes. This is more than 12 (as you may know), more than twice Torrid Ocean's 6 successes from his attack. Torrid Ocean must roll Wits+Melee, difficulty 2 (14 parry successes - 6 attack successes * 2), or have his weapon torn from his hands.
Locking Blade Meditation</b>
<b>Cost:6 motes Duration: Until disrupted Type: Reflexive Min. Melee: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Clever Devil Grin
The fencer's blade locks edges with an opponent's weapon, restraining both, as well as their wielders. This may be activated in response or in addition to an attack, and takes effect after the initial blow is resolved; this does not grant a parry action, so one might consider using such a thing before blade-lock. Once initiated, both characters lose any additional actions they possessed that turn, and reflexively roll a contested Dexterity + Melee, which the character may reroll once if she does not first have the advantage.
The winner of the contest may opt to maintain the lock, in which case another roll is made the next round, though neither side gains any potential rerolls. On the round the lock is broken, the loser may not act before the winner's Initiative - the winner's Melee, unless augmented by perfect initiative Charms, and suffers the winner's Melee as a penalty to all actions contested by the winner. If a blade-lock is interrupted by a damaging attack to one side or the other, it is immediately resolved with no clear winner. The duel may also be mutually disolved, if both sides are so inclined. Blade-lock does not inhibit persistent parry Charms, although their resulting effects may require some clever descriptions.
Seven Shadow Duel</b>
<b>Cost:6 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Type: Simple Min. Melee: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Joint-Piercing Swipe, Flourishing Disarmament Stance, Locking Blade Meditation
The practitioner of Umbrose Saber Style gestures at an opponent with his blade, and the world around them seems to fade into murkiness, as though one were underwater, though one's opponent remains clear as day. The two combatants are inexorably drawn to fight; they are unable to target other opponents, though other targets likewise have extreme difficulty attacking them. Any action against another foe, or by a foe to one of the combatants, is done at a difficulty equal to 4 times the combined Essence of the two foes. They may interact with inanimate structures as usual, but only if it has an immediate effect on the duel. The Seven Shadow Duel only ends once the combatants reach a definite conclusion, or one flees the scene; if a coward chooses to run, they loose all temporary Essence and Willpower, and will not begin to regain it for their opponent's Essence in hours. The initiator of the duel gains a Willpower point each time she deals at least one point of damage to her foe; this may not take her above her maximum Willpower.
