Athletics Charms
Effortlessly Rising Flame
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Athletics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Fire does not oppose Earth in the
same way that it opposes Water, but a glance at a bonfire shows the obvious:
Fire abhors Earth. With this Charm, a burst of fiery energy propels the Exalt
from the earth’s surface in as much time as it takes a man to take just a
single step. The Dragon-Blooded may rise from a prone or supine position
without taking an action to do so. This Charm can also be used to add two dice
to the Exalted’s Athletics for the purposes of
determining how far she can jump.
Falling Star Maneuver
Cost: 1 mote per two dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Athletics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:
Effortlessly Rising Flame
Fire lifts the Exalt’s every footstep. The Dragon-Blooded with Falling
Star Maneuver may jump, tumble, roll or outrun a foe in hand-to-hand combat
gaining a positional advantage that allows him to strike devastating blows.
Mechanically, this Charm adds
two dice per mote expended to the damage of an attack. No more motes can be
spent than the character’s permanent Essence rating. This damage is added
before soak is applied. Normally, this Charm can be used only with hand-to-hand
attacks, but with a stunt, the Charm can even be used to gain a bonus to the
character’s Thrown or Archery damage. However, this generally only happens when
a target has left himself wide open to attacks from
the sides and the Exalt can reach his flank swiftly. This Charm can explicitly
be used in Combos with Charms from other Abilities.
Bellows-Pumping Stride
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Athletics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Falling
Star Maneuver
The Exalt can double his
movement rate for the scene with this Charm. As he does so, he leaves fiery
footprints in the ground behind him. At a full sprint, he leaves a trail of
fire ― this is normal fire and can cause problems in flammable areas.
To his own perceptions, he is
not moving any faster; walking is still walking, and running is still running.
However, his walk is twice as swift as normal. Resultingly,
he can move up to (Dexterity + 12) yards and still act in a turn and up to
(Dexterity x 5) + 25 yards as his only action for the turn. This Charm does not
increase the character’s attack speed; it only affects his movement.
Incense Smoke Ladder
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Athletics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:
Bellows-Pumping Stride
Like a burning ember, the Exalt
is propelled away from the ground beneath him, so long as he has a surface to
guide his feet. During any turn this Charm is active, the Dragon-Blooded can
run up walls, trees and other vertical surfaces as easily as across an open
courtyard. This is not a casual shuffle ― the Exalt must get a running
start of at least two steps and then run up the wall, using his relationship to
the rising element of fire to push himself away from
the earth below. The character’s feet do not stick to the wall, and he cannot
stand on the wall’s surface ― he can only run up it. Similarly, the
Dynast may run across the surface of water while this power is active, though
he cannot stop. If he should attempt to run across the surface of dangerous
liquids, such as lava or acid, he will stay on the surface, but his feet may be
burned badly.
Dancing Ember Stride
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Incense
Smoke Ladder
The character drifts upward,
buoyed by a hot updraft. He may move a distance up to twice his ordinary movement
rate upward, or once he is in the sky, he can move horizontally as if he were
standing on the ground or ascend or descend as he wishes. As with many of the
other Charms in this cascade, the only restriction is that the Exalt must keep
moving; he cannot remain still, or he will plunge to the ground. The
Dragon-Blood can carry as much weight as he can normally lift while using this
Charm, as determined by his Strength + Athletics.
Phoenix Mate’s Lament
Cost: 1 mote per 2 soak
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Athletics: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Falling
Star Maneuver
The character’s affinity for
fire’s movement continues to grow as he learns this Charm. So long as the Exalt
maintains at least a jog ― that is to say, moving at least half of his
maximum running speed ― he can largely ignore many environmental hazards.
These include open natural flame, poisonous gas, falling rocks and so on. The
Dragon-Blood may add 2 to his soak against nonmagical
environmental hazards for every mote spent, up to a maximum of his Athletics
score. This ability does not protect against magical effects or Charms;
however, strong elemental effects that come as a result of a character’s
proximity to an elemental pole are considered natural environmental hazards and
are therefore protected against. This ability acts in addition to any anima
effect, Charms, sorcery or other protections the character may enjoy.
Fiery Prowess
Cost: 1 mote per two dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Athletics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:
Effortlessly Rising Flame
The Exalted feels a burning in
his veins as he pushes his body to its limits. Using this Charm, the
Dragon-Blooded can improve his Athletics Ability by two dice per mote of
Essence spent. However, he cannot increase his Athletics to more than double
its base value. Extra Essence spent is lost.
For Example: If Targan has Athletics 3 and spends 2 motes on Fiery Prowess,
his effective Athletics becomes 6, not 7.
The increase in Athletics lasts
for a full turn, and the character’s Athletics dice pool can be split normally
while under the influence of this Charm.
Swift Legion Technique
Cost: 2 motes per subject
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:
Bellows-Pumping Stride, Fiery Prowess
The Dragon-Blood with Swift
Legion Technique can greatly increase the swiftness of his traveling companions
or allies and himself. The fire at the core of his being invigorates and
rejuvenates his companions as they move. He must choose the subjects of this
Charm when he activates it and spend 2 motes of Essence for each of them
(including himself). For the rest of the scene, those
characters all double their basic speeds, as per Bellow-Pumping Stride, above.
Because of the malleable nature of time in the Exalted
system, this Charm can aid long-distance travel. A day’s travel is usually a
single scene. However, if the characters’ travel is interrupted, the
Dragon-Blood would have to activate the Charm again. A character cannot aid
more companions with this Charm than his permanent Essence.
Flawless
Balance Discipline
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Athletics: 3
Minimum
Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Effortlessly Rising
Flame
Use of this Charm grants the
Dragon-Blood the ability to maintain his footing and move gracefully regardless
of adverse conditions. By becoming intensely attuned to his sense of balance,
the Exalt can keep his footing at all times and never need worry about falling.
Anything he could normally do on flat ground, he can do on slick ice, on a
slanted roof, on a lurching ship’s deck or on a wire suspended between two
towers (while being buffeted by winds), without penalties of any sort.