Larceny Charms
Observer Awareness Method
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Larceny: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
This simple Charm allows a
Dragon-Blood to know if he is being observed. It was developed in the days before
the Realm proper, when it was conceivable that one of the noble Terrestrial
Exalted could act in a criminal capacity. In these dangerous days, the Charm
sees use among those Exalted who might act as spies or who wish to speak to a
confidante unobserved. Simply spend the necessary Essence and roll Perception +
Larceny; a single success tells the Exalted whether he is being observed. Each
additional success points out the location of an observer, starting with the
closest.
Trackless Walk Style
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Observer
Awareness Method
The greatest spies and thieves
of the Realm know that the best way to avoid detection in their efforts is to
leave as little evidence as possible of their passing. However, those spies and
thieves know full well that the most talented magistrates and house
investigators can learn a great deal from a trace as innocuous as a single
hair. By activating this Charm as he enters a location, a Dragon-Blood prevents
himself from leaving inadvertent evidence. This Charm does not prevent
the character from being observed; it merely prevents him from leaving behind
clues to his identity, such as footprints. Also, this Charm does not prevent
the character from deliberately leaving behind evidence of his presence (if,
for instance, he is a romantic master thief and always leaves a rose at the
scene of a crime, this Charm does not prevent him from doing so). Characters
using this Charm cannot be tracked except by supernatural means, but the
Charm’s short duration means that it is an expensive way to conceal ones
passage for a long time.
Ears Of The
Snowy Owl
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One minute
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Observer
Awareness Method
This Charm, quite useful when
sneaking about in places and one shouldn’t be, allows a character to hear
conversations and movement in other rooms as clearly as if the walls between
him and those spaces weren’t there. By spending the necessary Essence in
conjunction with a listen-oriented Perception roll, the player can eliminate
any penalties to that roll that might come as a function of obstacles between
his character and the thing he’s listening to. The Charm does not eliminate
penalties due to distance, just physical obstructions.
Window-In-The-Door Technique
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One turn
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Ears of the
Snowy Owl
Many a time has come when a mortal
thief or spy has wished for the ability to see what lies beyond a doorway or
inside a chest without risking the opening of a latch or lock. Spies among the
Terrestrial Exalted do not merely wish for this ability; this Charm allows them
to do precisely that. The character simply spends the necessary Essence, and an
area roughly two feet square before his eyes becomes transparent. That area doesn’t move ― once the
character has used this Charm, the area that was in front of him when he spent
the Essence remains transparent to him for a full turn. The Dragon-Blood can
only see through about a three-inch thickness of stone ― perhaps twice
that of wood and half that much iron or jade. The material is only transparent
to the Exalted using this Charm; others cannot see through it. Walls, doors and
containers can be enchanted to prevent this kind of voyeurism.
Resetting Tumblers Technique
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
With this ability, the Exalted
can immediately discard a failed break-in attempt or other Larceny action and
try at once to remedy the situation. A player may spend the required Essence
and then immediately reroll the dice pool for the
most recent Larceny action his character performed; this must take place right
after the roll is made and before the Storyteller describes its success or
failure. The exalted must accept the result of the second dice roll, even if it
is worse than the first one. Additionally, if the Larceny action and this Charm
are part of a Combo, then using the Charm forces the Exalted to re-spend all of
the necessary Essence to activate the other Charms in the Combo, even if he
does not need to reroll or reactivate them.
Artful Sprinting Theft
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One turn
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Resetting
Tumblers Technique
The occasional orphaned
Dragon-Blood on the streets of the hinterland cities such as Nexus might grow
up to learn this Charm; ordinarily, noble Terrestrials of the Realm will have
nothing to do with it, save possibly for its application to later Charms.
Ordinarily, even the simplest Larceny actions ― pocket-picking and
bag-snatching ― require the character to slow down slightly, using only
half of his maximum movement (which would be his Dexterity + 12 yards) on the
turn he uses the Larceny. With this Charm, the character may use his full dice
pool on a simple Larceny action (one that would ordinarily take just one turn)
while running flat-out. The action can take place at the beginning, middle or
end of this movement.
Space-Crossing Theft Technique
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Window-in-the-Door
Technique, Artful Sprinting Theft
With this Charm, the Exalted can
cause an object to disappear from its current location and reappear in his
hands without crossing the intervening space. The character must be able to see
the object clearly ― if it is within a locked chest, he must use
Window-In-The-Door Technique to see it before he can use Space-Crossing Theft
Technique to grab it. However, if he can see it, he only need to expend the
Essence and off it goes, as long as it weighs less than about 15 pounds (the
Storyteller’s judgment is final as to what can be taken and what can’t). This
Charm does not work on items held by a sentient being (a mortal, Exalted or
spirit), but it will work on items they are merely wearing: the Exalted could
snatch a sheathed sword but not a sword in a foe’s hand.
Naked
Thief Style
Cost: 2 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Larceny: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Resetting Tumblers Technique
Sometimes, the most useful time to be able to pick a lock
or open a barred door is when no one is expecting the character to be able to
do so. This Charm allows characters to pick locks, untie bonds, unbar doors and
lock or unlock all manner of non-magical locks without any sort of tools or
equipment. Regardless of whether the character would need a set of fine steel
lock picks to finagle a sturdy lock, a paper thin saw to cut through the bar on
a door or simply a pry bar to jimmy open a window, this Charm allows the
character to attempt the feat without any tools by creating temporary tools
made from solidified Essence. While this Charm does not otherwise aid the
character when opening a lock, it can be successfully used in Combos with
Charms that do. The character must use this Charm once per lock or other
obstacle — for example, if a door has both a bar and a lock, the character
would need to use this Charm twice.
Instant
Disguise Prana
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Larceny: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Naked Thief Style
In emergencies, even the most skilled thieves and spies
lack the time to adequately prepare a disguise. While this Charm does not allow
the character to disguise herself more thoroughly than normal, it does allow
her to disguise herself as well as if she had a full set of disguise makeup and
to do so inhumanly rapidly. In a single minute and without any equipment, a
character can use this Charm to disguise herself as
well as if she had no shortage of time or equipment. The character can change
her hair color and the shape of her nose and make other similar changes, but
she cannot exceed the limits of ordinary disguises — she cannot make herself
noticeably shorter or thinner or perform other normally impossible changes.
Also, the disguise produced by this Charm is no better than any other created
by the character. It can simply be accomplished faster and without penalties
for lack of equipment.
Although the Charm requires only a minute to perform, the
effects last for one full scene. This Charm in no way alters a character’s
clothing or accoutrements.
New
Voice Technique
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm allows the character to perfectly imitate someone
else’s voice for an entire scene. In addition, also allows the character to
imitate the sound of any animal, spirit or other creature, as well as any other
noise that the character can perceive. The character must have heard the voice
or sound she is attempting to duplicate at least once, and she must correctly
remember the sound she is attempting to duplicate. To do so, the player must
make a successful Perception + Larceny roll for her character. The difficulty of
the roll varies depending upon how familiar the character is with a sound and
how complex the sound is.
Remembering the sound of a friend’s voice is difficulty
1, while remembering the voice of a three-mouthed god that speaks in music and
that the character only heard once is difficulty 5. Also, regardless of what
the original sound did, the character cannot use this Charm to do damage or to duplicate
any magics associated with the target’s voice. Each
different sound that the character duplicates requires a new casting of this
Charm. This Charm will fool both a character’s closest associates and animals
trained to respond only to the target’s voice.
Precise
Ink Technique
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One task
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
Forgers and spies everywhere favor this Charm. A character
using this Charm can duplicate anyone’s writing and even her writing style. The
only limit on this Charm is that either the character must have a sample of
what he wants to duplicate in front of him or he must examine the document
carefully and his player make a successful Perception + Larceny roll for the
Dragon-Blood to correctly recall the details that he needs to duplicate. The
character can forge anything from a brief signature to a multi-page letter. In
addition, this Charm allows the character to use ordinary forging tools to
perfectly duplicate any mundane stamp or seal used to prove a document’s
authenticity. This Charm does not translate languages, and the character must
have seen an actual sample of the person’s writing that he is attempting to
duplicate. However, it allows the character to create a perfect duplicate of
someone’s writing that is impossible to differentiate from the original by mundane
means. If someone examines the forgery using Charms, the difficulty of any roll
to determine the authenticity of the item is increased by the character’s
permanent Essence.
Waters
Of Honesty Method
Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm allows the character to determine if anyone is
cheating at a game that she is observing. The character can only observe one
game at a time, but the Charm allows her to learn both who is cheating and how the
cheating is being accomplished. This Charm works on any game or contest, from
footraces or duels to games involving dice or cards.
Perfect
Gambling Prana
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Waters of Honesty Method
This Charm allows the character to control a single event
during any game of chance. The character can control the outcome of a single
throw of dice or the draw of a card. To use this Charm, the character must be
the one throwing the dice or the recipient of the drawn card — the character cannot
influence someone else’s dice rolls or the cards that someone else is dealt.
Each new roll or draw demands a different use of this Charm. Frequent use of
this Charm will exhaust the character’s Essence pool quite rapidly. This Charm
is illegal in the Realm, and offenders will be imprisoned or executed,
depending upon their status.
Flood
Of Victory Prana
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Larceny: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Perfect Gambling Prana
A gambler using this Charm automatically wins whatever game
she is playing. Regardless of whether the character is playing craps, cards,
roulette or any other game of chance, she will win. The only exception is if
another character uses the same Charm on the game. In such a case, the
character with the highest permanent Essence wins. The only limit on this Charm
is that it cannot be safely used in casinos run by gods or Exalts, since they
almost always have ways to determine if someone is using this or some similar
Charm to cheat. In general, using Charms to cheat at a casino run by a powerful
god is a quick way to attain a messy death, and it is illegal in the Realm, as
well as very poor social form.