Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/GrandmotherSpiderMastery
How Grandmother Spider Mastery works
Rebecca Borgstrom [02-16-2004 03:51 AM]
Charms as Technical Specifications
Hi!
The language used in Exalted Charms is actually fairly formal. It's a technical specification.
It's possible to make mistakes in writing formal stuff. It's useful to look at the flavor text and stuff. But always try reading the Charm as a technical specification first. The only time to look for anything else is if you think the author screwed up on the technical specification side. An informal look will *often* make Charms seem too weak or too strong, regardless of the results of a technical analysis, so I don't recommend starting with that. :)
Suppose that you have CMoS Form up, and take three fully independent actions.
According to CMoS Form, this works exactly like taking these three actions on three successive turns, except:
* Only one turn actually passes. This is important for some Charm durations and re: the sutra discount.
* You can interleave split actions (see the full dodge use, below.)
* You only get one movement.
* You cannot use Extra Action Charms or Combos because you took more than one independent action.
Here's an example of using three independent actions with GSM.
First Independent Action: Full dodge, dodging two incoming attacks.
Second Independent Action: Grandmother Spider Mastery. With the elder sutra, this costs 10m.
This is a Simple action. It uses your dice action and your Charm. It lasts until the end of the turn. It doesn't give you an attack---it just changes the attacks you do. But you don't have a dice action to attack with, so right now, it does nothing.
Third Independent Action: You split your MA pool and attack twice. You use the supplemental Charm Pattern Spider Touch on the first attack. This costs 20m, 1W. You don't get the sutra bonus again, because it's still the same turn.
You roll 8 successes on your Pattern Spider Touch. It's still the same turn, so Grandmother Spider Mastery's duration has not expired. Apply this attack against every visible opponent, twice. Every visible opponent must defend against two 8-success Pattern Spider Touch attacks. Let's assume that this turns most of your enemies into chickens.
You don't have the motes to use Pattern Spider Touch again, so your second attack is just an ordinary MA attack. You roll 6 successes. This also applies against every visible opponent, twice. Chickens have a low dodge pool, so you can probably slap each chicken twice. Perhaps once on each side of their head. This causes them to run around like chickens with their heads slapped twice.
Someone attacks you a few times, and you use a few more dodges from your full dodge.
The turn ends, and Grandmother Spider Mastery shuts off.
Rebecca
