[Exalted] Infernal Charms
Two aspected to She Who Lives In Her Name, because I like her Shaping effects. I'm toying with concepts for a redemption tree for her, by which a compassionate Green Sun Prince might restore to her the empathy that was taken from her when she was maimed.
Edit: Added more Charms written in the same general area for a RPGNet thread.
Persistent Principle Infliction
Cost: -- (2m) ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Principle-Invoking Onslaught
The violence of She Who Lives In Her Name is a tool, and she need not kill the fools who oppose her designs to render them irrelevant. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. If the Infernal successfully deals damage to a target with an attack supplemented by Principle-Invoking Onslaught, he may spend two additional motes in Step 7 of combat resolution; if he does, he may inflict a Crippling or Sickness effect appropriate to the attack's form. Like the shaping attacks granted by Principle-Invoking Onslaught, the effect may take nearly any form imaginable, but its effect is to either reduce one of the target's physical Attributes (or Appearance) by one dot, or inflict an internal penalty to all actions equal to the Infernal's Essence. Repeated uses of this Charm may remove more dots but may not increase the internal penalty. Lost Attributes return at the end of the scene; likewise, penalties fade at that time.
If the Infernal has purchased Will-Crushing Force, he may use this Charm to supplement attacks which remove points of Willpower, as stated in that Charm's effects. If he does, the effect does not manifest physically, instead taking place in the target's mind alone. This use of Persistent Principle Infliction inflicts an Emotion or Compulsion effect instead of a Crippling or Sickness effect, and reduces mental Attributes, Charisma or Manipulation rather than physical ones.
A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 4 extends its duration; damage and penalties both last until the target has healed all damage from the attack or until the end of the scene, whichever is greater. If the attack removed Willpower instead of dealing damage, the effects last until the target has regained all spent Willpower. At Essence 5, a third purchase permits the Prince to spend a point of Willpower to reshape the target more directly, giving this Charm the Desecration keyword; in this use, the Prince may provide up to his own Willpower in harmful mutations (if the attack deals damage) or derangements (if the attack removes Willpower). Like its prerequisite, this Charm has no effect on targets immune to Shaping.
Reactive Opposition Conception
Cost: -- (1 WP); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Counter-Conceptual Opposition
Woe unto those who offer offense to the Principle of Hierarchy; even the act of brushing their attacks aside may drive them to their knees. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. When the Exalt activates Counter-Conceptual Opposition in response to an attack, he may spend an additional point of Willpower. If he does, he receives a counterattack in step 9 of combat resolution, using his Willpower + Occult as a die pool. This attack renders both dodge and parry DVs inapplicable, but deals no damage. Instead, if it hits, the Green Sun Prince may choose to stun his enemy, knock them back or disarm them, at his option, using the raw successes on the attack roll. The torrent of water that extinguishes the firewand blast goes on to hurl its wielder back; the thunderclap that knocks an arrow off course dazes the archer with its fury.
Principle of Negation
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious, Combo-Basic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation, Collective Convergence of Principles
While She Who Lives In Her Name abjures violence for its own sake, it is sometimes necessary to tear down a flawed construct in order to make room for another more perfect one. This Charm enhances an attack using Mind-Hand Manipulation. It causes that attack to deal unsoakable aggravated damage, manifesting as colorless fire erupting from the wounds as the target's form is unmade.
If the target dies from damage inflicted by this Charm, his body dissolves into colorless fire and raw motonic flux, leaving only the Celestial Exaltation (if the target possessed one) intact. The Green Sun Prince may take advantage of this creative potential if he activates Collective Convergence of Principles within one scene, gaining bonus successes on the shaping equal to the target's Essence. If multiple characters are slain in this way, the bonus successes stack to a maximum of the Prince's Willpower + Occult.
If more than one scene passes before the Prince takes advantage of this opportunity, the accumulated motonic flux destabilizes and drains away, possibly inflicting minor cosmetic mutations on mortals in the area. She Who Lives In Her Name abhors waste above all but free will, however, and will inflict a point of Limit on a Prince who does not attempt to reuse the raw potential he freed, to a maximum of one point per scene. Green Sun Princes who frequently displease the Principle of Hierarchy in this way may find themselves summoned to Malfeas for...corrective instruction.
Will-Predicting Engram
Cost: -- (4m); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: --
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Analytical Modeling Intuition
Through correct analysis, all things may be predicted -- even the vagaries of free will. This Charm permanently enhances the function of its prerequisite, allowing the Prince using that Charm to commit an additional 4 motes on activation. If he does, he may forgo asking a question to analyze the target's thought patterns, storing them as a theoretical model in his consciousness. So long as the 4m remain committed, the Infernal Exalt gains a two-die artificial specialty which applies to any action in which the target would oppose him; this counts both against the maximum possible specialty and as dice granted by a Charm, though applying them does not count as a Charm activation. In addition, with an Intelligence + Investigation roll at an external penalty of half the target's MDV, the Prince may gain an idea of how the target would react in a given circumstance. The Prince's specialty explicitly applies to this roll. The target's player must accurately describe the target's most likely course of action in the scenario the Prince provides, but need not provide contingency plans or responses to details the Prince has not described. The Infernal must spend one scene in quiet contemplation to run such a scenario. He may have, at most, a number of active profiles equal to his Investigation.
At Essence 4, with a second purchase of this Charm, the Prince's analytical powers extend to hierarchical organizations to which the target belongs, with a Magnitude no more than his Intelligence. His artificial specialty applies to all members of the organization acting in an official capacity, and he may analytically predict the organization's doctrinal response to events he postulates. In addition, he gains automatic successes equal to his Essence when making social attacks against members of that organization, explicitly including Analytical Modeling Intuition and other Charms of She Who Lives In Her Name compared against mental defense values; insight into the organization's doctrine and principles allow him to take advantage of the metaphysical connection between the organization and its members.
Edit: Added more Charms written in the same general area for a RPGNet thread.
Persistent Principle Infliction
Cost: -- (2m) ; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Principle-Invoking Onslaught
The violence of She Who Lives In Her Name is a tool, and she need not kill the fools who oppose her designs to render them irrelevant. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. If the Infernal successfully deals damage to a target with an attack supplemented by Principle-Invoking Onslaught, he may spend two additional motes in Step 7 of combat resolution; if he does, he may inflict a Crippling or Sickness effect appropriate to the attack's form. Like the shaping attacks granted by Principle-Invoking Onslaught, the effect may take nearly any form imaginable, but its effect is to either reduce one of the target's physical Attributes (or Appearance) by one dot, or inflict an internal penalty to all actions equal to the Infernal's Essence. Repeated uses of this Charm may remove more dots but may not increase the internal penalty. Lost Attributes return at the end of the scene; likewise, penalties fade at that time.
If the Infernal has purchased Will-Crushing Force, he may use this Charm to supplement attacks which remove points of Willpower, as stated in that Charm's effects. If he does, the effect does not manifest physically, instead taking place in the target's mind alone. This use of Persistent Principle Infliction inflicts an Emotion or Compulsion effect instead of a Crippling or Sickness effect, and reduces mental Attributes, Charisma or Manipulation rather than physical ones.
A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 4 extends its duration; damage and penalties both last until the target has healed all damage from the attack or until the end of the scene, whichever is greater. If the attack removed Willpower instead of dealing damage, the effects last until the target has regained all spent Willpower. At Essence 5, a third purchase permits the Prince to spend a point of Willpower to reshape the target more directly, giving this Charm the Desecration keyword; in this use, the Prince may provide up to his own Willpower in harmful mutations (if the attack deals damage) or derangements (if the attack removes Willpower). Like its prerequisite, this Charm has no effect on targets immune to Shaping.
Reactive Opposition Conception
Cost: -- (1 WP); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Counter-Conceptual Opposition
Woe unto those who offer offense to the Principle of Hierarchy; even the act of brushing their attacks aside may drive them to their knees. This Charm permanently enhances its prerequisite. When the Exalt activates Counter-Conceptual Opposition in response to an attack, he may spend an additional point of Willpower. If he does, he receives a counterattack in step 9 of combat resolution, using his Willpower + Occult as a die pool. This attack renders both dodge and parry DVs inapplicable, but deals no damage. Instead, if it hits, the Green Sun Prince may choose to stun his enemy, knock them back or disarm them, at his option, using the raw successes on the attack roll. The torrent of water that extinguishes the firewand blast goes on to hurl its wielder back; the thunderclap that knocks an arrow off course dazes the archer with its fury.
Principle of Negation
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Shaping, Obvious, Combo-Basic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Mind-Hand Manipulation, Collective Convergence of Principles
While She Who Lives In Her Name abjures violence for its own sake, it is sometimes necessary to tear down a flawed construct in order to make room for another more perfect one. This Charm enhances an attack using Mind-Hand Manipulation. It causes that attack to deal unsoakable aggravated damage, manifesting as colorless fire erupting from the wounds as the target's form is unmade.
If the target dies from damage inflicted by this Charm, his body dissolves into colorless fire and raw motonic flux, leaving only the Celestial Exaltation (if the target possessed one) intact. The Green Sun Prince may take advantage of this creative potential if he activates Collective Convergence of Principles within one scene, gaining bonus successes on the shaping equal to the target's Essence. If multiple characters are slain in this way, the bonus successes stack to a maximum of the Prince's Willpower + Occult.
If more than one scene passes before the Prince takes advantage of this opportunity, the accumulated motonic flux destabilizes and drains away, possibly inflicting minor cosmetic mutations on mortals in the area. She Who Lives In Her Name abhors waste above all but free will, however, and will inflict a point of Limit on a Prince who does not attempt to reuse the raw potential he freed, to a maximum of one point per scene. Green Sun Princes who frequently displease the Principle of Hierarchy in this way may find themselves summoned to Malfeas for...corrective instruction.
Will-Predicting Engram
Cost: -- (4m); Mins: Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: --
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Analytical Modeling Intuition
Through correct analysis, all things may be predicted -- even the vagaries of free will. This Charm permanently enhances the function of its prerequisite, allowing the Prince using that Charm to commit an additional 4 motes on activation. If he does, he may forgo asking a question to analyze the target's thought patterns, storing them as a theoretical model in his consciousness. So long as the 4m remain committed, the Infernal Exalt gains a two-die artificial specialty which applies to any action in which the target would oppose him; this counts both against the maximum possible specialty and as dice granted by a Charm, though applying them does not count as a Charm activation. In addition, with an Intelligence + Investigation roll at an external penalty of half the target's MDV, the Prince may gain an idea of how the target would react in a given circumstance. The Prince's specialty explicitly applies to this roll. The target's player must accurately describe the target's most likely course of action in the scenario the Prince provides, but need not provide contingency plans or responses to details the Prince has not described. The Infernal must spend one scene in quiet contemplation to run such a scenario. He may have, at most, a number of active profiles equal to his Investigation.
At Essence 4, with a second purchase of this Charm, the Prince's analytical powers extend to hierarchical organizations to which the target belongs, with a Magnitude no more than his Intelligence. His artificial specialty applies to all members of the organization acting in an official capacity, and he may analytically predict the organization's doctrinal response to events he postulates. In addition, he gains automatic successes equal to his Essence when making social attacks against members of that organization, explicitly including Analytical Modeling Intuition and other Charms of She Who Lives In Her Name compared against mental defense values; insight into the organization's doctrine and principles allow him to take advantage of the metaphysical connection between the organization and its members.