Hearthstones
Of Air
Gem Of Echoes (Manse •)
Trigger: Concentration
This Hearthstone is a black jewel that
glows softly with an inner light. It throws confusing echoes of any sounds its
bearer makes, causing footfalls or whispers to come from odd directions,
misleading anyone trying to locate the source of the sounds. Mechanically, it
adds 2 to the difficulty of anyone attempting to use hearing to detect the
bearer.
Gem Of Holiness (Manse •)
Trigger: None, constant
This Hearthstone is a banded, light-purple gem.
Its bearer takes on a faint air of holiness, and unless he does something to
obviously contradict this aura, people will take him to be a devout and
trustworthy man. The character gains one die to any Manipulation or Charisma
rolls when attempting to convince people that he can be trusted.
Jewel Of The Flying Heart (Manse •)
Trigger: Combat
This blood-red
stone has a number of sharp facets. The Jewel grants the possessor a bonus to
Dodge rolls equal to one-half her Conviction, rounded-up. In addition, if the
Jewel of the Flying Heart is set in an edged weapon, it grants the owner a
one-die bonus to any melee attacks made with that weapon.
Memory Stone (Manse •)
Trigger: Constant
An Exalt who
carries this stone will never forget anything. Every image or incident, from a
face seen in a crowd last week to the contents of a treaty that he hurriedly
read before being chased off by guards, will be remembered in perfect and exact
detail. The wearer’s player can even make Perception + Awareness rolls after
the fact for the Exalt to notice further details about an event. Although this
Hearthstone does not allow the wearer to learn Abilities, Charms or spells any
faster or easier, the wearer could read a 1,000 page ancient tome and remember
every word and illustration 50 years later. These unnaturally sharp memories
soon fade forever if the character ever ceases to be attuned to this stone (the
stone, not the Manse). If the character reattunes, the memories are still gone.
This Hearthstone is clear and colorless, with a shining
rainbow opalescence inside.
Stone Of Quick
Thought (Manse •)
Trigger: Concentration
This Hearthstone is banded with opaque red
and dark silver. When the bearer concentrates, time seems to slow down for her,
but in reality, her thought processes speed up. It gives her time to think when
in a tense and time-pressured situation and increases her reflexes.
Mechanically, this gives the stone’s bearer one extra die for Wits and
Dexterity rolls.
Stone Of The
Spider’s Eye (Manse •)
This square-cut white crystal is shot with
lines of pale blue and is quite small for a Hearthstone. The bearer of this
stone is gifted with a greater ability to penetrate veils of magical deceit or
subterfuge. The stone of the spider’s eye can either cancel up to -2 worth of difficulty
penalties due to magical stealth or concealment or give two bonus dice on rolls
to pierce such effects. Both bonuses cannot be applied to the same roll.
Gemstone Of
Surface Thoughts (Manse ••)
Trigger: Concentration
This Hearthstone is a round, light blue
gem, with fiery flecks of color throughout. It enables the Exalted bearing it
to pick up another person’s surface thoughts — whatever is foremost in the
target’s mind.
The bearer’s player must succeed at a
Perception + Awareness roll; the number of successes she achieves determines
the amount of information the Exalt picks up. One success allows the bearer to
pick up brief, enigmatic phrases and partial images. Two successes gives her a general idea of what subject most occupies the
target’s thoughts at the moment. Three successes adds
detail to that general impression. Four or more successes gives
the bearer a thorough idea of what the target is currently thinking about.
Godspeaking
Trillion (Manse ••)
Trigger: None, constant
A godspeaking trillion resembles a
square-cut piece of milky blue topaz. This Hearthstone causes its bearer’s
voice to ring and resonate in the ritual tones of the Council of Winds,
granting him the attention and a measure of respect from spirits and
elementals. A godspeaking trillion grants two bonus dice to all Social rolls
when dealing with spirits and elementals (not including ghosts or demons). When
Dealing with air elementals or spirits belonging to a court specifically
concerned with the element of air, this bonus is increased by an additional
die, for a total of three dice.
Jewel Of The Clever Merchant (Manse ••)
Trigger: Business negotiations
This silvery-white
stone carries many complex facets. The bearer of this stone gains a three-die
bonus to all rolls associated with business negotiations, including price
dickering, contract negotiation and bidding for rights. This bonus can be
applied to both Mental and Social rolls.
Mind-Cleansing Gem (Manse ••)
This blue topaz is
the pale shadow of dawn before the sun has fully risen and a precise sphere.
Its clarifying influence assists the wearer in casting off attempts by others
to dominate or influence his mind. Any wearer gains an extra two dice to all
contests involving Willpower. In addition, if the Hearthstone is touched to
someone who is under sorcerous or Charm-induced mental influence, it allows the
target’s player to attempt to free his character by rolling a reflexive opposed
Willpower test. If the target’s player rolls fewer successes, nothing changes,
but if he rolls an equal or greater number of successes, the target is freed
from all mental influences.
Mind Shield Stone (Manse ••)
Trigger: None, constant
This Hearthstone is a smooth blood-red.
This stone prevents the bearer from developing any new derangements; it does
not cure derangements that the bearer already possesses.
Purifying Mercy Stone (Manse ••)
This Hearthstone
makes the air pure and sweet for its wearer, so that he will never suffer from
the effects of smoke, airborne gases, poisonous vapors or even the stench of a
dunghill. In effects extend for five feet around him in a sphere, so those
close to him may also be protected. Smoke and visible vapors can be seen to ebb
and curdle around the boundaries of the sphere, leaving the Exalt standing in
clear, fresh air. The stone itself is heavy rock quartz, thick and limpid as
the purest spring water.
Stone Of First
Impressions (Manse ••)
Trigger: Concentration
This stone is an opaque blue and white. Whenever
its bearer meets someone for the first time, he gets an immediate sense of
whether he likes or dislikes her, based on what that person’s intentions are at
that time toward the bearer or his immediate concerns. The stone only grants a
first impression; it lends no insight into a person’s overall personality or
trustworthiness.
Gem Of Elemental
Travel (Manse •••)
Trigger: None, constant
This faceted, bright-red gemstone allows
its bearer to walk safely on water, lava, mud, ice, quicksand or any other
naturally non-traversable ground. This does not grant the bearer the ability to
walk on air or to travel on anything other than a generally horizontal surface.
Gem Of Forgetting (Manse •••)
Trigger: None, constant
This arrowhead-shaped Hearthstone bears a
pattern of swirling red and rose, and its surface is perfectly smooth. Anyone
who meets the bearer of this stone will be unable to remember her clearly
later. Only repeated and prolonged exposure to the possessor of this stone will
negate this effect. Thus, the bearer’s family and friends will remember what
she looks like, while random shopkeepers will not. The player of any character
who sees this Exalted after their first meeting must make an Intelligence roll
at difficulty 3 for his character to remember who she is. Repeated contact
lowers this difficulty.
Key Of Mastery
(Manse •••)
Hearthstones of this type are highly sought
after by military sorcerers for their potential great boost to the efficiency
of combat magics. In order to make use of a key, a sorcerer must ritually
attune it to a spell in her repertoire over an uninterrupted period of hours
equal to the base Essence cost of the spell, culminating in casting the spell
into the key itself. While wearing the Hearthstone, the attuned spell’s Essence
cost is reduced by the user’s Essence x 2. These flat, crystalline rectangles
are perfectly clear normally but fill with a smoky and symbolic color when
attuned to a spell. The cost of a spell can never be reduced by more than half
through the use of a key of mastery or through the use of a key of mastery
coupled with another, similar effect (such as the No Moon Caste ability). No
combination of effects can reduce a spell’s Essence cost below 1 mote. A
character can possess more than one key of mastery but gains no additional
benefit from attuning more than one of them to the same spell.
Wind Jewel (Manse •••)
Trigger: Concentration
This Hearthstone
grants the wearer the ability to control minor winds and light breezes within
10 yards. The character can easily perform simple feats such as clearing a room
of smoke in a few minutes, blowing out torches or stilling the wind to enough
that uncovered candles can burn without fear of being blown out. The wearer can
also precisely direct the wind so that it can blow out only one candle from a candelabra or riffle the pages of a single open tome,
while not disturbing the other papers on a table. To perform such complex and
exacting feats requires a Wits + Larceny roll. Success indicates that the wind
has performed only the desired feat, failure means that either the wind cannot
achieve that task or that it has also affected nearby objects, while a botch
means that the wind has affected something quite different from what was
desired. The wearer can also summon up a moderately strong breeze to help or
hinder a ship. It can add or subtract up to 20 miles per hour from the speed of
any single craft up to the size of a yacht or small cargo vessel (add •• to the
ship’s speed) and up to 10 miles per hour for larger ships (add • to the ship’s
speed). These same breezes can also be used to blow the character upward so
that he takes no damage from falls. Occasionally, tiny breezes will play around
the wearer when he is exceedingly upset. This stone is a transparent sky blue,
with a slight cloudiness inside.
Windhands Gemstone (Manse •••)
This Hearthstone is perfectly clear — so
clear that it becomes invisible if submerged in clear water. A character
bearing this Hearthstone has his reflexes enhanced, allowing him to knock aside
or dodge arrows and thrown attacks with casual ease. Whenever the character is
subject to a ranged attack, he may make a reflexive roll to dodge or parry it
(his option) at his full Dexterity + (his Dodge or his highest combat Ability,
whichever he chooses) dice pool.
Lightning Rod
Gemstone (Manse ••••)
Trigger: None, constant
This Hearthstone is a shaft of very deep
purple. Any lightning (normal or magical) that would strike within 10 yards of
die bearer will instead be drawn into the stone and have its energy dissipated
harmlessly.
Savant’s Icy Eye
(Manse ••••)
A Hearthstone of this type is formed from
imperishable, clear-blue ice and seems to contain within itself a shifting
matrix of crystalline patterns and shapes. The user of the icy eye is instantly
aware of the number of any objects that he can see and can estimate with
near-flawless accuracy the number of things if he can see only a part. Trees in
a forest, soldiers on a battlefield, coins in a vault: All of these things can
be instantly and accurately identified. With this intuitive knowledge, the
wearer of the icy eye can also analyze and manipulate the relationships of
these figures with preternatural ability. A character using a savant’s icy eye
gains five bonus dice to any task where numbers and analysis are a factor.
Stone Of Airwalking (Manse ••••)
Trigger: Concentration
Whenever the
bearer of this stone desires, she can walk on the air instead of the ground.
Although she still moves at her normal movement rate, the character can move
safely across water or quicksand by walking on a layer of air lying above the
surface. In addition, the character can walk up or down the air as easily as
others walk up or down a staircase. With sufficient climbing, the character can
walk along for miles above the ground. However, if the character trips or is
knocked down, she may fall to her death unless she can get her feet under her
by making a successful Dexterity + Athletics roll at difficulty 3. Also, the
stone only allows the character to move in this fashion. Any steed she rides
must still travel along the ground. This stone is a soft white with brilliant
sky-blue veins and swirls, resembling a tiny solidified cloud.
Stone Of Easy
Breath (Manse ••••)
Trigger: None, constant
This Hearthstone is a cloudy, almond-shaped
gemstone. It allows the bearer to breathe easily in any surroundings — under
water, in toxic fumes, at elevations where the air is thin and so on.
Twice-Striking
Lightning Prism (Manse ••••)
Plainly but perfectly formed prisms made of
a material that is somehow both metallic and transparent, these Hearthstones
are as prized by some, especially sorcerers, as they are thought dangerous by
others. The wearer of a twice-striking lightning prism can reflexively and
momentarily add a phantom +1 to her Essence rating for the purpose of
calculating the effects of Charms or spells. Every use of this effect drains
one point of temporary Willpower from the user, as the very Essence of her
being is momentarily concentrated to empower her actions.
Willstone Of The
Strategos (Manse ••••)
Trigger: Concentration
The Willstone of the Strategos is a spindle
of fiery red spinel, with a center of solid blue
amethyst. It is normally carried in the pommel socket of a daiklave. When used
by a general coordinating a battle, the stone give her an uncanny insight into
the way events will likely play out, selecting the most probable outcomes from
among options and giving the general the ability to make sure her forces fight
at their best. At the start of each turn, her player can roll the character’s
Wits + Lore (Tactics) as a simple action — every two successes scored adds 1 to
her unit’s initiative, and every four successes adds 1 to their Valor and all
dice pools.
If their Valor is raised above 5, soldiers
under the bearer’s command become immune to fear and will not fail Valor checks
of any kind until their Valor falls to 5 or lower. These benefits are dependent
on the general being able to communicate with her troops and wear off at the
rate of 1 initiative/Valor/die every other turn. So, for example, if her player
rolled eight successes on the first turn of a battle, the initiative would have
worn off eight turns later, and the Valor benefits after four turns. Rolls on
successive turns do not stack, but can supplant earlier rolls at the wearer’s
option. Charms may not be used to improve the dice pool, but Virtues may be —
Valor is always appropriate, and Conviction normally is.
Gem Of Sapphire And Emerald (Manse •••••)
This gem has no constant color — depending
on the angle the viewer sees it from, it appears pale
or brilliant, cloudy or translucent, green or blue. A character bearing this
Hearthstone is treated as if she was constantly under the effects of the spell
Sapphire Countermagic. Terrestrial Circle spells cast at her are snuffed out
instantly, and
Gem Of The Wind’s
Secrets (Manse •••••)
Trigger: Constant
The Gem of the Wind’s Secrets is a perfect
diamond the size of a man’s fist. Unlike most Hearthstones, it is not intended
to be worn constantly. Instead, it is permanently emplaced in a stand in the
center of a great hemispherical chamber in the Aviary. When an attuned user
touches the stone, it immediately casts forth an image of every thing that
flies within 100 miles of the Aviary, identifying them by size, airspeed and
direction. Each representation appears in a general relation to the Aviary
(“located” where the Hearthstone is placed). The user can refine this to screen
out unwanted detections — this is commonly done to filter out low-flying birds
— and can magnify any particular contact to get a closer look for
identification purposes. The latter allows a normal Perception + Awareness
check, but the gem cannot bring the point of vision closer than 500 yards from
a target, for unknown reasons, and normal penalties for range should be
assessed. Even dematerialized spirits are shown by the gem — sorcery of the
Stone Of Memory
Capture (Manse •••••)
Trigger: Meditation
This Hearthstone is a bright orange
gemstone. Its possessor can recall in perfect detail any memory she wishes.
This allows her to pick up details that she missed when she first viewed a
scene or to remember details that she might otherwise forget. The bearer
meditates on the memory, and her player makes an Intelligence + Awareness roll.
The more successes achieved, the more detail the Exalt
remembers. One success allows her to recall general events. Five or more
successes allows her to recall the most minute
details.
Third Hand Orb
(Manse •••••)
This hollow, silver oval is another form of
Hearthstone often desired by sorcerers, as it possesses the ability to store a
spell within itself for later release by the bearer. To use this orb, a
sorcerer must ritually attune it to a spell she knows over an uninterrupted
period of hours equal to the base Essence cost of the spell, culminating in
casting the spell into the orb itself. This spell may released
as a reflexive action at any time, as if cast by the wearer. The spell stored
inside the orb is lost if the orb is ever caught within the radius of a
Countermagic spell, and the wearer may suffer minor negative effects due to the
spell’s forced dissipation. Essence committed to casting the spell is committed
until the spell is released.