Brawl
Charms
Dead Man’s Grasp
Cost: 1 mote per turn
Duration: Until released
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Brawl: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal seizes his opponent and
crushes her with the unnatural strength of the risen dead. The character makes
a clinch attack as normal, but he inflicts lethal damage with his initial grab.
So long as the Exalt continues to reflexively activate the Charm at the
beginning of the turn, his clinch inflicts lethal damage rather than bashing.
In addition, the deathknight's damage pool increases by + 1L for every full
turn the Charm is maintained. This bonus is cumulative over successive turns,
but resets to zero if the Abyssal stops spending Essence or relaxes his grip
for even a moment.
Rapacious Lamprey
Technique
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Brawl: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Dead Man's Grasp
Fueling his hunger with Essence, an
Abyssal with this Charm can drain blood far more quickly. The Exalt can drink
up to his Essence x 3 health levels in a turn, rather than the usual one. Blood
loss afflicts the target normally. This Charm does not accelerate the rate at
which the Abyssal can devour flesh.
Inescapable Iron
Grip
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Until released
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Brawl: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Dead Man's Grasp
With this Charm, an Abyssal can grab a
victim and choke him to death without making a sound. The player rolls for a
standard hold attempt, adding her character's Essence score in automatic
successes to the initial roll to grab. As usual, this attack inflicts no
damage. If the Exalt succeeds, she tightly—and silently — seizes her victim by
the throat. He cannot breathe at all, either to inhale or to scream a warning,
although he may still try to escape on his next action. However, the victim cumulatively
loses one die from his Strength + Brawl/Martial Arts dice pool for every successive
turn the hold is maintained. Once a victim has no dice remaining, he can no
longer struggle. Incapacitated characters caught in an Inescapable Iron Grip
suffocate as though drowning. Players of victims may roll Stamina + Resistance
against a difficulty of the Abyssal's permanent Essence to hold their breath
longer. Victims begin breathing immediately if released before death.
Owl Seizes Mouse
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Brawl: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Inescapable Iron Grip
The character surges forward in a burst of
speed, allowing him to grab and pin an enemy before she can respond. The Exalt
makes a normal clinch or hold attack, but his target cannot parry or dodge.
Clinches enhanced by this Charm do no damage, but in the case of both clinches and
holds, the characters immediately have a reflexive contest to maintain the
clinch or hold as though it was a subsequent round. If the defender wins, she
retains her action for the round, but the actual clinch attack cannot be
parried or dodged. As an added benefit, the character may move up to his normal
sprinting distance without penalty on the turn he uses this Charm, to allow the
character to clinch opponents ordinarily beyond his reach. The character need
not make this extended action.
Ravaging Strike
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Brawl: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal channels wrath and Essence
through his hands to deliver terrible blows. The character makes his attack
normally but counts extra successes twice for the purposes of determining
damage. This Charm can be activated after the attack roll.
Scouring Erosion
Method
Cost: 1 mote per 1 or 2 soak reduction
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Brawl: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Ravaging Strike
The Abyssal concentrates his anima into a
roiling corona of Oblivion. His attack inflicts normal damage, but its
withering aura of entropy reduces the target's soak by 1 point for every mote spent,
or 2 points per mote in the case of inanimate objects. This reduction only
applies for resisting the character's one attack. Animate targets cannot have
their soak reduced below their permanent Essence.
Lashing Tempest Attack
Cost: 1 mote per 2 yards
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Brawl: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Ravaging Strike
With this Charm, the character envelops
her hand in a cyclone of howling shadows. With a normal strike or even a
gentle touch, the Abyssal blasts her opponent back two yards for every mote
spent. If the victim strikes a solid object, he suffers one bashing health
level of damage for every yard he would have otherwise continued to fly. This damage
is bashing unless the target collides with spikes or other lethal obstructions.
Characters cannot spend more motes powering this Charm than their Strength.
Bone-Shattering Blow
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplementary
Minimum Brawl: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Lashing Tempest Attack
The character strikes with horrible
crushing force, inflicting lethal wounds with her assault. If she inflicts at least
one level of damage with her attack, her victim doubles all wound penalties
until he fully heals. If this Charm is used on a target more than once, each
subsequent attack increases the victim's total wound penalty by one die. Once a
character completely heals, his wound penalties reset to normal. UnExalted
victims of this Charm do not lose their additional penalties until they receive
medical treatment to set their broken bones.
Five Knife Strike
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Brawl: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Lashing Tempest Attack
The character sprouts wicked bone claws
from his fingers, allowing him to inflict Strength + 1 lethal damage with all
hand-to-hand attacks. In addition, the character can safely parry weapons and
other lethal blows.
Blood-Drinking Palm
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplementary
Minimum Brawl: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Five Knife Strike
The Abyssal delivers a vicious open-handed
blow to an enemy. In addition to inflicting lethal damage, her attack forcibly
siphons blood through the target's skin. The Abyssal regains 1 mote of Essence
per point of raw damage inflicted before applying the target's soak. This Charm
is an exception to the usual rule that Abyssal Exalted can only regain Essence
for actual damage inflicted. However, the Abyssal cannot absorb more motes from
a single attack than the victim's Stamina + Essence. Blood-Drinking Palm only
works against living beings and Fair Folk and, then, only if the Exalt strikes
bare or cloth-covered skin. Storytellers should require a well-described stunt
for an Abyssal to successfully use this Charm against an armored opponent.
Writhing Blood Chain
Technique
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1 health level
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Brawl: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Blood-Drinking Palm
With a painful surge of Essence, the
Abyssal transforms her blood into deadly weapons. At the end of the turn,
chains of iron-hard congealed blood erupt from her back or arms. The character
grows a number of chains equal to her permanent Essence, and each is tipped
with a razor-sharp claw. For the rest of the scene, the character gains a
number of extra actions each turn equal to the number of chains grown. These
actions can only be used to attack or parry. If a character uses any chains to
attack, he cannot split his dice pool that turn, and vice versa. Blood chains
have a length in yards and a Speed, Accuracy and Defense rating equal to their
creator's Essence and inflict a base lethal damage of the character's Strength
+ Essence. They are wielded using the Brawl Ability. Once this Charm expires,
the chains revert to fluid blood and disintegrate in a splash of gore. A
character using Writhing Blood Chain Technique cannot use Extra Action-type Charms
or take advantage of extra actions granted by other magic while this Charm
remains active.