Investigation
Charms
Ten Magistrate
Eyes
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum
Investigation: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
The character attunes himself to the world’s
ambient Essence and becomes preternaturally aware of the order of and links
between objects. For the remainder of the scene, add his Essence score in
automatic successes to any Investigation rolls.
Crafty Observation
Method
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 3
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Ten Magistrate Eyes
By examining the undisturbed physical
evidence of an event, the character can reconstruct the physical process behind
that event. For example, finding a body with a knife wound, the character can
tell what sort of knife was used, from what direction the blow was struck and
so on. This effect need not be limited to bodies and the scenes of crimes —
characters can likewise reconstruct the evidence left behind by liaisons,
examine the details of a camp site, etc.
Obviously, the event must have left
significant physical evidence for a character to analyze. If the evidence is
disturbed significantly, the Charm doesn’t function automatically. The player
must instead make a Perception + Investigation roll with a difficulty
determined by the amount of disturbance the evidence has been subjected to,
with success indicating that the character can reconstruct the events.
Judge’s Ear
Technique
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Ability: 2
Minimum
Investigation: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Ten Magistrate Eyes
This Charm allows the character to tell if
a specific individual is lying to her. This Charm is infallible, within its
limits. If the target refuses to answer or answers in an unclear fashion, the
Charm will not indicate him as having lied.
Likewise, it can only detect lies the
target knows to be lies. If the target sincerely believes something to be the case,
then the Charm will not detect him as having lied. This Charm in no way compels
or reveals the truth — it only detects falsehoods.
Evidence-Discerning
Method
Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Judge’s Ear Technique
By sorting through possessions, physical
evidence and so on left by a particular individual, an Exalted using this Charm
may construct a psychological profile of the character who
left the evidence. The clarity of this profile is determined by the amount of
material the Exalted employing this Charm has to sort through. The more
material, the more likely the character is to derive an accurate picture; the
use of the Investigation Charm Crafty Observation Method is extremely
beneficial as an aid to the use of this Charm. If there is material mixed in
that does not actually belong to the target of analysis, then the Exalted’s picture of the target will be distorted.
Irresistable Questioning
Technique
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Judge’s Ear Technique
An Exalted using this Charm can make her questions
impossible to resist. During the extended interrogation of a target whose
Willpower is equal to or less than her Essence, she may wring him utterly dry —
he is unable to lie, dissimulate or otherwise prevaricate. If the target has
Willpower equal to or less than twice the Exalted’s
Essence, the Exalted’s player may make a Manipulation
+ Investigation roll. For every success, the target must truthfully and to the
best of his ability answer a single question. The Charm Ten Magistrate Eyes
cannot be used to gain extra successes on this roll.
This Charm does not work on targets whose
Willpower is higher than twice the Exalted’s Essence.
In any event, this Charm loses its effectiveness with repeated use — if used by
an Exalted on the same target more than once during a period equal to the
target’s Willpower in weeks, the Charm has no effect.
Unknown Wisdom
Epiphany
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Crafty Observation
Method, Evidence-Discerning Method
By visiting the scene of an event and
attuning himself to local Essence flows and residues, the Exalted can
psychically reenact history, reconstructing the event to the point of gaining
insight he could not normally receive from evidence alone. The character must
have time alone to go over the scene, touch and examine the largely undisturbed
evidence and “get into the shoes” of one of the people involved. The Exalted
experiences flashbacks of the event from the perspective of the person he is
emulating and gains insight into the target’s persona, including her Nature and
her superficial feelings and attitudes over the course of the reenacted event.
Characters involved in reenacting an event
are rarely dangerous, but if disturbed, they may very briefly cling to the
adopted persona before snapping back to the current moment.
Abiding Blood Observation
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:
Ten Magistrate Eyes
When a character
uses this Charm, he will perceive blood dripping from the hands of anyone
within 10 yards of him who has killed someone within the last five days. The
vision is momentary, but quite clear. The Charm lasts long enough for him to
turn around and look all around him, though if someone takes pains to hide her
hands, he will not be able to see any blood that might be there and judge
whether or not she has killed. A target who has merely
kileld a single person will have simple bloodstains
on her hands; an Exalted who has massacred a troop of guards will have hands
dripping with gore. The Charm makes no distinctions on the basis of motives for
killing or types of killing, but merely shows whether or not those close by have
killed.
Hawk Aloft Gaze
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Crafty Observation Method
This Charm allows
the Exalted to scan a crowd of people or a landscape, as far as the eye can
see, searching for a particular person or thing, focusing all his attention on
his prey. IF any part of his target is theoretically within his view ―
however great the distance ― then he will see it as clearly as if he were
only 10 yards away, together with the immediate surroundings for five yards
around the target. This applies even if his target is camouflaged or partly
concealed, in which case the visible part of the target will be identified as
obviously part of the complete target. The only way to avoid this Charm is to
be wholly concealed by some object between the target and the Exalt. However,
the Exalted must know what he is looking for; attempts merely to look for
“something odd” will be fruitless. Characters who are
invisible cannot be detected with this spell, but even the cleverest of magical
camouflage is penetrated by it.
Guilt-Finding Inquisitor Method
Cost: 7 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Judge’s Ear Technique
With this Charm,
an Exalt can hear the private whispers of guilt that underlie most speech,
betraying the dark secrets of an interrogated person. When invoked, it will
allow the Solar to know the single thing about which the target feels guiltiest
concerning the subject under discussion. The Solar will seem to hear the
target’s voice whispering his guilt and shame about the matter, while the
target continues to speak of whatever he chooses and is not necessarily aware
that he is revealing his hidden secrets. If the target refuses to say anything,
then the Charm fails to provide any answers. Also, the Charm operates on the
target’s personal perceptions of guilt: If the target feels no guilt or shame
about his private actions, then the Charm will not reveal them. Thus, a sincere
and self-justified revolutionary might betray his shame in not speaking up
publicly for his cause but not his private involvement in a recent
assassination of a Terrestrial Exalted. Unfortunately, the Charm will not
function on someone with an Essence equal to or great than that of the user.
Death Revealing Method
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Investigation: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Crafty Observation Method
By touching a weapon,
the character can instantly determine the appearance of the person who was
killed by it last and the appearance of the person who wielded it then.
Similarly, if used on a corpse or even a fragment of bone or hair, the
character can get an image of the person while she was alive and will know both
her name and exactly how she died.