SaltLotus/Lazuline Raptor Style
Many thanks to The Betrayerof Hope and Azurelight for their suggestions on the White Wolf Exalted fourm.
Background
Lazuline Raptor Style is a First Age Celestial Martial Art created by Solar combat specialists who preferred maneuver and mobility in battle. Seeking to capitalize on speed and shock value, the style’s developers turned to the predators and deities of the sky for inspiration. After the successful realization of their concept, they founded the Qīnggōng Temple on the shoulder of the Imperial Mountain as a school in which to instruct students. The art is characterized by its use of leaps and burst of speed to outmaneuver armored opponents and to allow the martial artist to exploit the terrain around her. While employed primarily among the Night Caste, the style had several devoted Dawn practitioners. Lazuline Raptor Style’s form weapons are hooked swords, claw weapons and war fans.
Armor issues: Because the art’s techniques are founded upon mobility, Lazuline Raptor is normally compatible with only light armor — those panoplies with -1 mobility penalty or less. During the First Age, students who successfully completed training in the Raptor Style were given sky-blue panoplies of Silk Armor, orichalcum bracers and a protective Hearth Stone from one of the many manses that had been gifted to the temple. The art contains no charms that grant its practitioners additional soak dice or soak augmentations, so modern practitioners must look elsewhere for protection.
Lazuline Raptor Style is used by Dawning Daughter in Munificent Perception's SaltLotus story.
Charms
Raptor’s Leap
- Cost: 2m:
- Mins: Martial Arts 2,
- Essence: 1
- Type: Supplemental.
- Keywords: Combo–OK
- Duration: Instant
- Prerequisite Charms: None
The Lazuline Raptor Style’s practitioners may reflexively make a leap during an attack or dodge, and adds her Martial Arts Ability in yards to the jumping distance. If performing a Join Battle action by leaping into combat, the Charm adds her Martial Arts in dice to her Join Battle roll
Whirling Iron Wing Evasion
- Cost: 3m
- Mins: Martial Arts 3
- Essence: 1
- Type: Reflexive
- Keywords: Combo-OK
- Duration: Instant
- Prerequisite Charms: Raptor’s Leap
- Source: Munificent Perception
Even when caught in the entangling press of battle, the art’s practitioners can dodge and block against multiple opponents at only a minor disadvantage. As the characters whirls and leaps, the Charm grants a +2 bonus to her Dodge or Parry DV against attacks.
Sky Predator's Rush
- Cost: 2m
- Mins: Martial Arts 2
- Essence: 1
- Type: Reflexive
- Keywords: Combo-OK
- Duration: Scene
- Prerequisite Charms: Raptor’s Leap
The Exalted practitioner becomes capable of bursts of speed in order to outmaneuver lumbering opponents. This Charm adds the character’s Martial Art score in yards to his move or Dash actions for the rest of the scene. Additionally, opponents suffer a +1 difficulty to strike a practitioner when she is dashing.
Raging Eagle Form
- Cost: 6m
- Mins: Martial Arts 4
- Essence: 2
- Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV-1)
- Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
- Duration: One Scene
- Prerequisite Charms: Iron Wing Evasion
When the bearded man had finished his false explanations and Dawning Daughter her meal, she hurled the wooden bowl at him. It struck his chest with a satisfying crack, even as she came to her feet with a piercing shout. Her twin hooked swords flashed as she unsheathed the blades and cut through the air in a short, furious kata. The motion gave reality to recollection and wove invisible flows of Essence from within Dawning’s body into an elaborate mandala. She became as light as raptors' wings, and her gaze so focused and supernaturally intense that those who beheld it lost their coordination under the force of its power. She came out of the alley in a gliding leap. Her first blow clubbed down the nearest soldier, striking him with the reverse blunt backside of a sword between his eyes. She parried the spear thrust of the next man with the arced motion of both swords; then spun past him. Her Essence-fueled predator's glare slowed the bearded man as she faced him, knocked aside his saber with one hooked sword and decapitated him with the other. The rest of the mercenaries broke and ran... From [[[SaltLotus/Lazuline_Raptor_Style/Dawn]]-2]].
System: The character adopts the attitude of a hunter floating on the wind. Essence infuses her body, making her light as a raptor’s wings and her gaze as arresting as an enraged eagle’s. For the rest of the scene, the characters can jump as a reflexive action while attacking or evading and adds her Martial Arts score to her leaping distance. The Charm also subtracts the Exalt’s Essence from the dice pools of all enemies who can see her eyes. Note that this does not work against opponents who are blind or could not otherwise make eye contact and is subject to the normal limitations of Martial Arts Form type charms.
Golden Hawk Strike
- Cost: 4m/6m
- Mins: Martial Arts 5
- Essence: 2
- Type: Supplemental
- Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
- Duration: Instant
- Prerequisite Charms: Raging Eagle Form
The practitioner leaps into the air and strikes downwards, or throws his entire body into the attack. His hand is surrounded by a corona of the Unconquered Sun’s golden Essence as it punches through even the strongest of armors. This Charm allows an attack to ignore the targets armor soak, though the target still soaks with stamina and charms such as Iron Skin Concentration. Spending an additional 2 motes causes the attack to inflict lethal damage.
Jade Raiton's Flashing Strike
- Cost: 5m 1wp
- Mins: Martial Arts 5
- Essence: 3
- Type: Simple
- Keywords: Obvious
- Duration: Scene
- Prerequisite Charms: Golden Hawk Strike
The Practitioner dashes reflexively for the rest of the scene, moving quickly as to make her blows penetrating and precise. The character is at a +2 difficulty to be hit and gains penetration value equal to twice her Essence against foes in armor.
Azure Falcon War Shout
- Cost: 6m
- Mins: Martial Arts 5
- Essence: 3
- Type: Simple (Speed 3, DV -1)
- Keywords: Combo-Ok, Obvious
- Duration: Instant
- Prerequisite Charms: Jade Raiton’s Flashing Strike
The character slashes through the space before her in frenzied set of slices, carving a falcon out of air and Essence. This short-lived entity rockets into the midst to the Lawgiver’s enemies and explodes in a scream of avian fury. The attack travels for up to four times the character’s Martial Art score in yards and has a blast radius equal to the Exalt’s permanent Essence in yards. Anyone caught within the stunning explosion must succeed on a (Stamina+Resistance) roll with a difficulty equal to the attacker’s Essence or suffer a +2 difficulty for his or her next five actions. This charm can be dodged normally as an attack with success equal to the practitioner’s Permanent Essence.
Heavenly Shrike's Purifying Flight
- Cost: 8m, 1wp
- Mins: Martial Arts 5
- Essence: 3
- Type: Reflexive
- Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
- Duration: Scene
- Prerequisite Charms: Azure Falcon War Shout
Originally Azure Falcon War Shout was the highest charm in the Lazuline Raptor Style’s chain of development. However, a mendicant Sidereal Sifu visiting the Qīnggōng Temple during the First Age concluded that the art’s full potential had yet to be realized, and thus after careful study he developed Heavenly Shrike’s Purifying Flight.
This Charm allows a practitioner to fly, swoop and strike as a deity of the sky. The character Moves at triple her normal dash rate and is at a +2 difficulty to be hit. Grounded opponents may only make a melee attack against the character on a tick when she attacks them in close combat or otherwise flies within in the reach of melee weapons. During diving attacks, the speed imparted by this charm doubles the post-soak damage of the character’s attacks.
Back to: SaltLotus
Comments
The final charm is RIDICULOUS. RI-FLIPPING-DICULOUS. And not in a good way. An effect like that ought to require Essence 4, minimum, and even then it seems unbalanced. For that matter, everything from the form on up should have an Essence minimum one higher than it does now. Rather than its current effect, perhaps Jade Raiton's Flashing Strike could cause the damage to be piercing, a more conventional mechanic? Or even better, get rid of the armor-ignoring effect and just go with the increased speed. Going back to the pinnacle charm, it makes your Move action triple the distance of your Dash action? Why, since you have a charm that lets you Dash reflexively? Redundancy is bad (again, Golden Hawk Strike and Jade Raiton's Flashing Strike). And instead of doubling post-soak damage, consider instead adding half of the damage the attacker would have suffered had they fallen the distance they dived to the attack's damage. Also, the name of your Form-type charm does not match the name of your style. And on the topic of names, Jade Raiton's Flashing Strike - it's a scene-long. Maybe a plural name? Jade Raiton's Flashing Strikes?.
That all sounded pretty bitchy, and in fairness it was. But this style needs work. - Han'ya
