OtherOptionsforCelestialBattleArmor

• Artifacts
• IsawaBrian

--Basic I believe that as it stands, the Celestial Battle Armor is a little underpowered. For my games, I add +1 to the strength bonus (total of 3) and 1 additional pick of special benefits (for a total of 4).

--All types:

• Aquatic Adaptation: Allows the wearer to breathe freely underwater (does not use up air supply), and may move and act freely underwater as per the Water Terrestrial Anima power. Benefits from Enchanted Stride apply fully to swimming.

• Cloaking Device: As per the Immaculate Dragon Armor ability, p 85 of Wonders of the Lost Age

• Low Power Mode: The character may direct the armor to shut off all nonessential functions. This shuts off all functions except for basic mobility and armor soak; allows for all hearthstones to be used in this case.

• Statistic Bonus: +1 to any attribute, including strength (over the basic bonus). This option may be selected multiple times, but must apply to a separate statistic each time.

Specific Magical Material Abilities:

I made these specifically for parity with Oblivion's Panoply. Why should Abyssals have all the fun?

• Fluidic Shinma Strands: When manufacturing Celestial Battle Armor in the first age, some sagacious No Moons and other elders were able to trap more Wyld than usual in droplets of moonsilver. Although these droplets are not stable by themselves, pulling these droplets out into long strands and laying them down upon moonsilver Celestial Battle Armor in patterns that call to the great Shinma from which Creation was made allows the droplets to contain the energy, drawing upon the stability of the armor itself. In return, fantastic powers of shifting and even Shaping are granted to the wielder.

• • Betrayal: Anyone who strikes the Fluidic Shinma Strands risks having his weapon refuse to follow his desires in battle. Anyone who attacks the wearer, including with N tags and ranged weapons, must roll his highest Virtue + Integrity vs. a difficulty of 2. Failure adds a +1 cumulative external penalty to all attack rolls for the rest of the day.

• • Unwanted Interference Retaliation: The Wyld nature of the Shinma-strands allows the character to react directly to attempts to Shape her or her environment. The character may not initiate Shaping combat, but once Shaping Combat has been activated by a character who can, she may defend and even retaliate as though she had Graces equal to her Virtues and a Heart's Grace of 5.

• • Variable Reality Defense: The tremendous grace and amazing ability to alter one's body that comes with moonsilver armor (and Lunar nature) is exponentially increased by the whirling, unstable power within the armor. Gross changes in shape and even minor ripples in reality will aid the character, granting her a +5 to all DVs.

Tremendously rare, all existing examples of Celestial Battle Armor with Fluidic Shinma Strands are in the hands of Lunar Elders. It may be impossible for any to currently create them, though a very specialized Factory Cathedral, or Luthe or Sperimen may have the necessary construction tools to successfully capture and imprint the Wyld energies and Shinma properties necessary for the use of this armor. As a result, a character that wishes to start with this enhancement on their armor must have Lunar Reputation at three dots.

Storytellers may permit characters with Mentor 5, Arsenal 5, Backing 5, or other extremely influential or powerful sources of magical arsenals to gain this sort of Celestial Battle Armor, but characters who gain it in the service of the Silver Pact's enemies or even from an unapproved source should be aware that the full might of the factions of the Silver Pact will be brought to bear to recover such a sacred artifact, and indeed, most Lunars would rather see the armor torn to shreds rather than worn by a Dragon-Blooded, Abyssal, Infernal, Fae, or other dire foe.

• Perfected Lotus Blossom Destiny Alignment Matrix: Unlike most starmetal artifacts, a Celestial Battle Armor with this upgrade is made almost entirely out of starmetal, save for systems that must out of necessity be made from some other material. A powerful god or a host of little gods was sacrificed to make this armor, but the cost may be worth it to a Sidereal:

• • Borrowed Destiny Blessing: Sometimes known as the Theft of Destiny Blasphemy by deities who dislike Sidereals (or just the use of this armor), the sheer mass of starmetal in the armor provides the character with some access to the raw power of destiny associated with the god who it once was. Although this does not provide access to any of that god's Charms or inherent powers, it does allow the character to continue funneling power into Resplendent Destinies, allowing them to be maintained without bothering the Pattern Spiders. Each scene, the armor produces 3 endurance points that can be used to fuel Resplendencies.

• • Defensive Blossom Harmony: As the entire armor is made out of elegant, relatively thin and cunningly worked plates, it has a greater harmony with Creation and the user, allowing her to move as fluidly as though she was wearing only a simple dojo gi. As a result, the armor does not interfere with Charms that are normally incompatible with armor, including all forms of Martial Arts.

• • Survival-Influencing Destiny Circuits: Enhancing the normal ability of starmetal to avoid unpleasant fates, the armor is designed with special prayer circuits to shunt off damaging energy and inflict last-second curses upon a foe. In addition to the normal 1 health-level reduction, the armor's hardness raises as high as its normal soak-- normally 12L/12B, but may rise as high as 15L/15B with Enhanced Durability.

This selection costs two picks, and may only be used by characters with at least Salary or Sifu 4; it takes great trust from the Bureau of Heaven or great personal favor from one with such trust to obtain this item.

• Solar Glory Aurora: The entire surface of the armor is made of consecrated orichalcum. It must be blessed repeatedly by a Zenith in good standing during both the refinement of the metal and the manufacture of the armor, and work may only be done on between the tenth and fourteenth (10 am - 2 pm) hours of the day in full exposure to sunlight. A cloudy day will make all work impossible; attempts will cause the manufacture to fail.

Few Celestial Battle Armors with Solar Glory Aurora exist any more; many were lost prior to the Usurpation in massive combat or to the jealousy of fellow Exalts, and as time ticked on to the Usurpation itself, fewer and fewer Zeniths could channel the necessary blessings (and fewer still were willing to risk the devastating social consequences of failure). The end product is, however, always beyond peer. The armor constantly glows with a soft, warm radiance unless the adaptive camouflage is engaged, striking into brilliant sparks whenever an assault is brought against the aurora or bursting into flames whenever a hostile force comes in contact with it.

• • Heat: The armor generates a constant aura of burning energy when in combat, and attacks are retaliated against in a burst of fire. This is treated as an environmental hazard with a Trauma equal to the wielder's Essence and 5L/action (including multiple actions in a flurry) damage. Any time the wielder attacks with close combat effects and inflicts any damage the target must roll to resist as though the armor had been struck.

• • Total Perspective Field: Adapting the tactical mastery of an Atlas of the Unconquered General to a battlefield suit of armor is difficult, but the Unconquered Sun's eyes see all and the superior manufacture of a Solar Glory Aurora allows the suit to tap into his transcendent perspective. The suit provides the user with a full field of vision-- 360 degrees around himself-- with the tactical readout equal to that of the Atlas (page 92 of the Wonders of the Lost Age) that provides its same benefits apparent superimposed over the battlefield; the character may dedicate a portion of her vision to viewing it overhead. The full benefits (not just information) of General of the All-Seeing Sun are available, as are the +3 War dice. Because of the total perspective allowed, the character is never surprised and does not suffer unexpected attacks, even if the attacker is concealed by charms. This does not include the powers of the 5-dot Atlas.

• • Resistance Field: The solar radiance produced by the armor can divine the difference between hostile and welcoming interaction perfectly, becoming nigh on as invulnerable as the walls of Yu-Shan when struck. Add 15L/20B soak and hardness as the incoming assault is scattered in a brilliant field of golden sparks.

In order to use this armor, the character must be a true hero beyond all heroes. The armor will not function at all for most non-Solars, and Solars who do not have at least one Virtue at least at 5 will only be able to move the armor and receive defensive benefits from it that do not require the Solar Glory Aurora; in other words, it enters into a Low Power Mode (see above) that does not cost extra picks but still requires the powers of a hearthstone. Non-Solars who attune the armor with its orichalcum bonus may receive a Low Power Mode that still requires a hearthstone if they have at least one Virtue at 5, and may receive full access if they have two Virtues at 5.