Ryken Charms

Athletics

Graceful Crane Stance
Cost: 3m;
Mins: Athletics 1, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar draws Essence through her pores and into her bones, suffusing and lightening her form and steadying her step. For the rest of the scene, she has perfect balance, and can stand or run on things too narrow or weak to support her normally, with no chance of falling or breaking through. She can run on a guy wire, stand on a crumbling parapet, balance on the tip of a pine tree, and perform many similar feats without needing to roll (Dexterity + Athletics).

Monkey Leap Technique
Cost: 2m;
Mins: Athletics 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt leaps with the speed and grace of a striking hawk. Using this technique, a Solar may automatically leap forward or straight up one range band. A Solar using this Charm can easily leap to the top of a twenty foot wall or cross a Nexus street over rooftops, without having to roll. This Charm counts as the Solar’s movement for the turn. If the Solar continues to leap to a different range band each turn, the cost is reduced to one mote after the first activation.

Martial Arts

Gathering Light Concentration
Cost: 3m;
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mastery, Uniform
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The clashing steel and ferocious blows of the swordsman’s enemies do not disrupt her focus—rather, she welcomes them, gleaning the weaknesses of each foe’s fighting style from their offense. After successfully parrying an attack, the stylist can use Gathering Light Concentration to reverse the onslaught penalties inflicted by it. Instead of applying them to her Defense, she applies them to her attacker’s Defense until his next turn. Mastery: At Essence 3+, the Solar may spend an extra 3i when activating Gathering Light Concentration to cancel all onslaught penalties she’s suffering from, and inflict them on her attacker.

Shining Starfall Execution
Cost: 6m;
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Committing fully to a lethal blow, the swordsman cleaves through her enemies with killing speed. Shining Starfall Execution adds (her Dexterity/2, round up) to the raw damage of a decisive attack. If she is at Initiative 15+, she adds her full Dexterity instead. However, if the attack misses, then the stylist adds (Dexterity /2) to the amount of Initiative she loses. Mastery: Shining Starfall Execution also doubles 10s on the damage roll at Initiative 15+.

Single Point Shining Into the Void Form Cost: 10m;
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form, Mastery, Terrestrial
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Gathering Light Concentration, Shining Starfall Execution
Sheathing her blade for a brief moment, the swordsman centers her mind and Essence. As she draw her sword once again and enters this form, it is as a lightning bolt of flashing steel, moving with unimaginable speed and control. While in this form, it is customary to sheathe one’s sword after each strike, and draw it anew for each new one—not merely as a show of this style’s formidable speed, but to contain and dissipate the overwhelming buildup of Essence that might erupt beyond the stylist’s control without such restraint. The first time the swordsman uses this Charm in a fight, she rolls her sword into battle with a (Wits + Martial Arts) Join Battle roll, giving it its own Initiative track separate from her own. This does not represent the sword gaining intelligence or agency of its own, but rather, the superior speed of the stylist allowing her to strike twice during each round. When the sword’s turn comes up in Initiative order, the swordsman may choose to make an attack with it, or to delay the action until later in the round. No other actions can be taken (including movement actions), and if the stylist does not choose one of these options, the sword’s turn is wasted. The sword’s Initiative is separate from the swordsman’s own—withering attacks made by one cannot add to the other’s Initiative, and decisive attacks made by one do not reset the other to base Initiative. The base raw damage of decisive attacks made on the sword’s turn cannot exceed the swordsman’s own Initiative, even if the sword’s is higher. When the stylist is dealt Initiative damage, the character who damaged her may choose whether to apply it to her own Initiative or the sword’s, but cannot split the damage across both pools. The sword also loses a point of Initiative at the end of every round it was not used to successfully land an attack. If the sword’s Initiative is reduced to zero, then the stylist is forced out of this form, and cannot reactivate it again for three rounds. When she does, she does not reroll Join Battle, but only sets the sword to base Initiative. If the swordsman leaves this form voluntarily before the end of the fight, note the sword’s current Initiative rating. If it is reactivated later during the scene, the sword’s Initiative is reset to this value, rather than making a new Join Battle roll. Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist achieves the highest Join Battle value at the start of a fight, she may reflexively activate Single Point Shining Into the Void Form.
Terrestrial: A Dragon-Blood must pay a point of Willpower each round she wishes to attack twice. Otherwise, she may only make one attack per round, choosing whether to “use” her own Initiative or the sword’s each round.
Mastery: The martial artist gains the following benefits:
• When using the sword’s turn to make a decisive attack, its damage is not capped by the stylist’s own Initiative.
• The sword does not lose Initiative on turns it did not successfully land an attack.
• If the sword’s Initiative is reduced to zero or less, the stylist loses the benefits of this form, but it still remains active. Once three rounds have passed, its benefits resume without the swordsman needing to activate it or pay its cost again. Additionally, if the swordsman crashes an enemy who reduced his sword’s Initiative to zero, then he may immediately roll Join Battle for it again and take an action with it on the same tick, as per the usual rules for Initiative Shifting (p. 194).

Performance

Masterful Performance Exercise
Cost: 2m;
Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar’s talent is not free or instinctual, but rather the hard-won excellence that comes from a lifetime of practice. This Charm supplements a Performance-based action, granting one automatic success and rerolling 1s until 1s fail to appear. This Charm also makes the Exalt’s 1s unavailable to magic that might interfere with her performance.

Respect-Commanding Attitude
Cost: 5m;
Mins: Performance 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: One Performance action
Prerequisite Charms: None
The return of the Solars is a miracle never before seen. The universe inclines to hear their voices once again. When this Charm supplements a Performance action of any length, characters are inclined to stop and listen. This does not guarantee that the Lawgiver is persuasive in her arguments, but it does guarantee that her audience listens respectfully to her entire performance. Characters may pay one Willpower to leave the performance, but if they wish to interrupt or attack the Lawgiver, they must pay two Willpower, and may only approach her by blending into her demonstration, capping the actions of each affected character by their individual (Charisma + Performance) ratings until one of them is able to successfully stop her act. This Charm does not function after combat has started, but if activated beforehand, it remains active after Join Battle has been rolled, up until the Solar is forced to stop her performance.

Occult

Spirit-Detecting Glance
Cost: 3m;
Mins: Occult 1, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar can look through the pall of reality to glimpse the realm of spirits beneath. With this Charm, the Solar can see (but not touch) immaterial spirits.

Ancient Tongue Understanding
Cost: 6m;
Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt expands her knowledge of the realm of spirits to all corners of her mind, shunning knowledge that binds her understanding. While this Charm is in effect, the Lawgiver automatically speaks and understands Old Realm, even if it is not a language she has learned, but loses her ability to comprehend any other language. In addition, the Solar also naturally comprehends other spirit languages as old and strange as Old Realm, languages for which there exists little to no record. While this Charm is in effect, the Solar gains (half her Essence, rounded down, minimum one) automatic successes to all Occult rolls and shaping actions.

Resistance

Ox-Body Technique Cost: —;
Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The bodies of the Exalted are much more durable than those of mere mortals. To help simulate this, an Exalt may buy extra health levels with this Charm. The purchasing choices are based on the character’s Stamina rating:
At Stamina 1 and 2: One -1 and one -2 health level.
3 and 4: One -1 and two -2 health levels.
5: One -0, one -1, and one -2 health level.
The Solar may purchase Ox-Body Technique (Resistance) times. If she increases her Stamina after purchasing Ox-Body Technique, her health levels automatically change to reflect the new rating.

Spells

Invulnerable Skin of Bronze Cost: 20sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One day
The sorcerer suffuses the void between her skin and the surrounding air with Essence, weaving a second skin of shining bronze, supple and flexible as silk but cold and impervious as any metal. The Invulnerable Skin of Bronze gives the sorcerer +6 natural soak and Hardness 6, while rendering her immune to poison delivered through contact. Her metal-armored limbs deal lethal damage and use the traits of medium weapons when she makes unarmed attacks. While her mobility is not normally impaired, she is considered wearing medium armor, which might deny her the use of certain Martial Arts styles or other effects. Her bronze skin is also heavy—she will sink in water or mud, and fragile surfaces won’t support her weight.
In addition, characters with an Essence pool gain access to the following powers while this spell is active:
• Brazen Aegis Rebuke (3m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Decisive-only): Even hardened steel recoils from the Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, ringing off its indestructible surface. After being hit with an attack in close combat, the sorcerer may use this power to counterattack with a disarm gambit. This counterattack is both unblockable and undodgeable. • Invincible God-Metal Flash (10m, 2a or 3a; Reflexive; Instant; Decisive-only):' When even the Invulnerable Skin of Bronze cannot withstand the force of an enemy’s blows, the sorcerer may shed it in a burst of protective Essence. While her anima is at the burning or bonfire level, she may use Invincible God-Metal Flash to reduce the raw damage of a decisive attack by her (Essence + 5), discharging her anima through the spell. The skin of bronze shatters as it absorbs the attack, and the sorcerer cannot cast it again until its original duration has elapsed. Her anima is returned to the dim level.
• Sorcerer’s Impervious Mantle (4m; Reflexive; Instant; Withering-only): The sorcerer’s Essence surges through her armored skin, reducing the minimum damage of a withering attack by one.
A sorcerer who knows Invulnerable Skin of Bronze as her control spell may add her Essence to the soak and Hardness bonus she receives as long as she is unarmored. Even without the spell, her skin takes on a faint bronze tint. She may also add her Essence to her soak when the spell is not in effect.
Distortion (Goal Number: 12): Distorting the spell forces the sorcerer to feel the full weight of her metal skin bearing down on her, imposing a -4 mobility penalty for one scene. If her total mobility penalty exceeds (the higher of her Strength or Athletics), then she loses the ability to take reflexive move actions, and must take a miscellaneous action to cross a range band even under normal circumstances. Distortion also disables all three of the spell’s special powers.