Toccata 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).

Lightning Speed

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Like a flashing bolt, the Exalt streaks toward her goal, trailing streamers of anima. This Charm can be used to enhance a rush action (see p. 197). The Exalt moves with terrific speed—add one automatic success and reroll all 5s and 6s until 5s and 6s fail to appear. Lightning Speed can also be used each interval of a foot race or other test of speed (see p. 197).

Feather Foot Style

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Until the Exalt stops running
Prerequisite Charms: Graceful Crane Stance, Lightning Speed
Lightening her step and balancing carefully, the Exalt may run across fluid surfaces. She may dash over unstable sur- faces as if they were solid and move over surfaces no thicker than rice paper without breaking through. At full speed, she may also move across lava or other dangerous surfaces without getting hurt. This effect lasts until the Exalt stops dashing. As long as she is moving at a quick pace, she need not pay the activation cost again.
At Athletics 5, Essence 2+, the Exalt can pause on unstable surfaces without breaking through, changing the duration of this Charm to “one stunt.” She can walk slowly across the surface of a still pond, pause on the crumbling parapet of a castle to give a speech, and so on. This means if she’s using the Charm to dash across the water to reach a boat, then decides to pause on the water’s surface to address the captain, she must use the Charm twice. If the Exalt is still standing on an unstable surface and is unwilling or unable to renew Feather Foot Style, she becomes subject to the normal laws of gravity and buoyancy. Also note: while she may safely dash across a caustic or burning surface, standing on top of lava and other dangerous surfaces will cause harm.

Awareness

Sensory Acuity Prana

Cost: 5m;
Mins: Awareness 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
A breath of Essence seals the five senses into a more perfect form. The Solar’s senses are heightened and attuned to minute motions and sounds, dim and noisy conditions. She can dferentiate between subtle tastes and textures with only the slightest variation. Thus sharpened, it is more di cult for characters to escape her notice, or to deceive her hunting senses. For the rest of the scene, the Exalt’s Awareness rolls benefit from double 9s. If the effect of any Unsurpassed (Sense) Discipline applies, re-roll 6s until they cease to appear. Use of Sensory Acuity Prana comes without the danger of sensory overload; the Charm helps the Solar manage her senses more effectively.

Larceny

Seasoned Criminal Method

Cost: -;
Mins: Larceny 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Exalt adapts the nature of the iconic criminal, who must one day become a master of her craft. She is a creature of the criminal element; duplicity is in her every word and step. This Charm allows the Solar to invoke and discard a number of special distinctions at her leisure, which allow her to gather information, infiltrate criminal society, and protect her position there. The distinctions are as follows:
Familiarity: To a member of a criminal organization, she seems familiar—that is, she can play on a Minor Intimacy to make her target believe she is a criminal with whom to be treated: a member of the organization, a prospect for initiation, etc.
Dissonance: Magistrates or other officials seeking to establish her identity suffer a -2 penalty to their Bureaucracy and Investigation actions. Persons who do not know her personally but may have spotted her or seen her hanging around the scene of a crime find her unrecognizable and cannot remember doing so.
Vulnerability: The Exalt makes herself seem the best possible target for a type of crime dictated by the player. Confidence men will see her as an easy mark, gamblers will seek to engage her with betting gossip or games of chance, thugs will try to mug her, and so forth. This effect has a visual component: thieves are less likely to steal from an Exalt wearing armor and a battle axe, while a serial killer might find a person who wears her hair a certain way irresistible.
Receptivity: Similar to vulnerability, interested parties perceive the Exalt as a local player. Rather than prey on her directly, she may be identified as a drug buyer or seller, or a person looking to make a bet, hire a prostitute, or take part in other illicit or seedy activities. Such parties will be interested in providing her with information about where to go and who to talk to.

Martial Arts

Ebon Shadow Style

Nothing But Shadows

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Decisive-only, Mastery
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Students of the Ebon Shadow style fade in and out of sight in combat, emerging as if from nowhere to strike before vanishing back into the shadows. When the martial artist takes a Stealth action in combat, she may use Nothing But Shadows to apply a penalty equal to (higher of 3 or her Essence) to the opposed roll of any enemy with a lower Initiative than her, to a maximum of -5. Alternatively, when the martial artist is hit with a decisive attack, she may use Nothing But Shadows to play dead, slowing her heart rate to nearly nothing. This is treated as an attempt to go to ground by faking death, rather than seeking concealment. The usual penalties apply, but the martial artist applies the benefits of this Charm on all rolls she makes to go to ground for free, and also adds any wound penalties she is suffering as bonus dice on all rolls—the more damage she has taken, the more convincing her false death. Mastery: Every 1 that a non-trivial enemy rolls on his (Perception + Awareness) opposing the supplemented action gives the martial artist a point of Initiative, up to a maximum of (Stealth) points per activation.

Seven Points of Weakness Strike

Cost: 4m;
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Mastery, Withering-only
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Nothing But Shadows,
Pinpointing a seam or flaw in an enemy’s armor, the martial artist strikes through it with the expert precision of a trained assassin. Seven Points of Weakness Strike subtracts (the martial artist’s Stealth) from her enemy’s armored soak. Unexpected attacks double the amount of soak ignored. Mastery: If this Charm reduces an enemy’s armored soak to zero against a withering attack, any remaining points of soak reduction are converted to post-soak damage dice.

Ebon Shadow Form

Cost: 8m;
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form, Mute
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Nothing But Shadows, Seven Points of Weakness Strike

The martial artist’s outline begins to distort and flicker, as if it were a shadow cast by a candle’s unsteady flame. She moves with eerie speed and unnatural grace, making her enemies question whether she is even human. If her anima banner flares, it seems shapeless and dark, an umbral mantle enveloping her in its depths. Any enemy who fails an opposed roll to spot her when she enters stealth loses a point of Initiative, and she adds (her Stealth/2, round up) to her base Initiative when she resets after make a decisive unexpected attack. She also adds +1 to her Defense. " If the martial artist is killed while in the Ebon Shadow Form, her body evaporates into an acrid black smoke, leaving behind no physical remains by which she might be identified. " Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist makes a Stealth roll in combat that beats the opposing rolls of all enemies in the combat, she may reflexively activate Ebon Shadow Form. Enemies within range lose Initiative for failing their roll as described above.

Performance

Masterful Performance Exercise

Cost: 5m;
Mins: Performance 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Indefinite
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 re-rolling 1s until 1s fail to appear. This Charm also makes the Exalt’s 1s unavailable to magic that might interfere with her performance.

Presence

Listener Swaying Argument

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Presence 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar’s passionate appeals can soften even the stoniest of hearts. This Charm supplements an instill or persuade action, granting the Solar one automatic success and additionally granting one non-Charm bonus die for every two points the target’s Resolve is boosted by any means. The Solar cannot gain more than three bonus dice in this fashion.

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.

Durability of Oak

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Resistance 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Dual
Duration: One Tick
Prerequisite Charms: None

A child cannot cleave a tree with a dull knife, nor can a foe hope to strike down the Solar with his petty blade. Against a withering or decisive attack, this Charm reduces raw damage by two. Against a decisive attack it also grants the Exalt four hardness. Note that the hardness bonus cannot be applied during crash.

Socialize

Mastery of Small Manners

Cost: 5m;
Mins: Socialize 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Scene
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Solar attunes herself to the patterns of social interaction, allowing Essence to guide her responses. While this Charm is active, the Exalt adapts to the expectations of a host culture, and is able to instinctively and reflexively follow its customs, behaving appropriately for the situation at hand. This Charm does not grant the Exalt perfect understanding of a society, but covers greetings, eating and gift customs, and flirtation mores. This Charm eliminates all penalties incurred by unfamiliarity with cultural expectations and group dynamics, and prevents a character from committing any major faux pas. In addition, those who hold positive Intimacies for the culture the Solar has attuned herself to gain a temporary positive Minor Tie of respect or admiration for the Solar, while those who hold negative Intimacies for foreigners or out- siders have that Intimacy temporarily lowered by one level of intensity.

Stealth

Perfect Shadow Stillness

Cost: 1m, 1 wp;
Mins: Stealth 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant br> Prerequisite Charms: None

The Lawgiver’s stealth technique is honed until it’s flawless. Perfect Shadow Stillness allows a re-roll of any Stealth- based action, preserving the 10s from those results and re-rolling the remaining dice. At Stealth 5, succeeding at a stealth attempt with this Charm awards the Solar one point of temporary Willpower.

Easily-Overlooked Presence Method

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene br> Prerequisite Charms: None

The Lawgiver evades detection by hiding in plain sight. A Solar with this Charm is able to drift unnoticed through crowds or alone. This Charm models her talent for blend- ing in and remaining unobtrusive. When active, characters cannot notice her unless she takes overt action. Such actions include any display of prowess—leaping from the street to the rooftops, braving a snowstorm in summer clothes, etc. Join Battle always counts as an overt action. This skill does not work against alert guards or those who intend to stop everyone (as with a checkpoint), but can be overcome by magic only if the user has a Minor or greater Intimacy to the Solar or a Major or Defining Intimacy to a cause the Exalt’s presence directly threatens. Certain Charms may aid in detecting the Exalt. Roll the Lawgiver’s ([Wits or Dexterity] + Stealth) against her opponent’s relevant (Attribute + Ability) or Resolve, if the attacking Charm is based on the opponent’s Integrity.

Blinding Battle Feint

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Solar leaps in and out of battle with nigh untraceable speed. The Exalt may use her (Dexterity + Stealth) to Join Battle. Her Join Battle result also acts as an attempt to enter Stealth. If she beats her opponent’s Awareness-based Join Battle roll, she is automatically concealed, so long as there is a viable place to hide. If her foe uses a Join Battle roll modified to use any other Ability than Awareness, then he must make an Awareness roll to spot her, su er- ing a penalty equal to the difference in their Initiative, even if he rolled higher. If he fail the Awareness check, the Solar still vanishes from view.

Stalking Wolf Attitude

Cost: 3m;
Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Solar stalks her prey unseen, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. While concealed, the Solar uses this technique to focus on an opponent. Feeling along the pulse of the world’s Essence, she stalks her target from the shadows, her veins coursing with lethal readiness. With this Charm, the Solar ignores the -3 penalty to Stealth rolls for moving while concealed. In addition, on each round in which she succeeds at the contested roll to evade detection by her mark, she gains an amount of Initiative equal to her extra successes on the roll. When the Exalt senses the perfect moment to strike, she may then leap from concealment to unleash a decisive attack, as long as she’s been hidden by this Charm for at least a round. For each round that she remains under the effects of this Charm, the Solar gains a mounting -1 penalty to her Stealth rolls, and if she is discovered or if she voluntarily leaves concealment or terminates the Charm without making a decisive attack, she loses all of the Initiative she gained through her most recent activation of the Charm.