Presence
Charms
Elegant Tyrant’s
Majesty
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One
hour
Type: Simple
Minimum
Presence: 3
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
An Abyssal using this Charm radiates
terrible allure. His words resound with unholy power and conviction, while his every
gesture bespeaks grace and nobility. The Exalt's player adds a number of dice
equal to his character's permanent Essence to all Presence, Socialize and
Bureaucracy rolls involving one-on-one interaction. This bonus also applies to all
intimidation attempts, regardless of the number of onlookers present. Note that
this Charm engenders respect and fear — it does not win friends or make the
Exalt more likeable.
Command The Dead
Cost: 5/10 motes, 1 Willpower + 1/3 motes per additional
target
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Presence: 3
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Elegant Tyrant's
Majesty
An Abyssal using this Charm may issue
orders to the dead and demand their obedience. If targeting mindless undead or
hungry ghosts, the cost of the Charm is 5 motes, plus 1 mote for every
additional target beyond the first. Actual ghosts require 10 motes, plus 3
motes per additional target, and the Exalt must have a permanent Essence of 3 or
higher to control such beings.
The Exalt's player rolls Manipulation +
Presence against a difficulty of the target's permanent Essence. If targeting multiple
beings, use the highest Essence rating in the group. The amount of control the
character has depends on the number of successes rolled. One success is
sufficient to bark simple harmless commands that do not violate the target's Nature
("Back off!" for example). With three successes, the target must
completely obey the Exalt, although sentient targets may ignore commands that
would cause them physical harm. With five successes, the target does anything
the Exalt commands for the duration of the Charm.
Keep in mind that the walking dead aren't
the brightest creatures and have difficulty comprehending anything more
complicated than a simple sentence. While more intelligent, ghosts are
similarly limited by language. The dead cannot obey instructions they do not
understand, regardless of their degree of obedience. Ensorcelled targets never
attack their master, however — at least, not until they regain their own free
will.
An Abyssal may also use Command the Dead
to usurp control of walking dead and ghosts from other necromancers. This
follows the same rules, except that the difficulty is the Essence rating of the
targets' current master. Characters cannot usurp control from necromancers with
a higher permanent Essence than their own.
Skeleton Summoning
Gesture
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Presence: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Command the Dead
The Abyssal channels a burst of Essence
into the ground beneath her feet. If a largely whole skeleton is in the
vicinity, it claws its way out of the ground and emerges at the beginning of
the next turn. Skeletons raised with this Charm obey their maker to the best of
their limited intelligence and have the same statistics as common zombies.
These monsters are always extras.
Irresistible Succubus
Style
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Elegant Tyrant's
Majesty
Irresistible Succubus Style heightens an
Abyssal's cold beauty, transforming her visage to match her idealized form.
Deathknights using this Charm are alabaster angels or onyx goddesses, achingly
beautiful apparitions with flawless skin and ruby lips. A character adds her
permanent Essence to her Appearance rating as long as she remains enchanted.
This metamorphosis is no illusion, however, but an ideal brought to life with
Essence. As such, the character's altered beauty cannot be pierced by magic
that detects glamour or illusions.
In addition to augmenting her beauty, this
Charm also causes the Abyssal to exude an aura of seduction. Players of
characters who behold the Exalt or interact with her must make a successful
Temperance roll. If the roll fails, the characters find the Abyssal
overwhelmingly desirable regardless of their normal sexual preference. They
will not harm the Exalt and are likely to behave irrationally in an attempt to
impress her. If the Exalt actually wishes to seduce a smitten character, she
may do so without a roll.
This aura has no effect on beings with an
Essence rating higher than the Exalt invoking the Charm, nor does it affect the
Fair Folk. Similarly, this aura has no effect on characters engaged in combat
or who otherwise believe the Abyssal means them harm. Overtly hostile acts on
the part of the Exalt may render a particular subject immune but do not prevent
this Charm from enthralling others.
Soul-Flaying Gaze
Cost: 8 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One turn
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Elegant Tyrant's
Majesty
By staring intently at a target, an
Abyssal with this Charm can sap that victim's will and subjugate her spirit. The
target must be within five yards and must be able to see the Exalt when
Soul-Flaying Gaze is invoked. If these conditions are met, the target finds her
vision drawn to the deathknights own eyes.
As their gazes connect, the Abyssal's
player rolls Manipulation + Presence in a resisted roll against the target's
Willpower. If the Exalt wins, the target is immediately entranced and can take
no further actions that turn. Additionally, the victim loses a number of points
of Willpower equal to the Abyssal's permanent Essence. If the target wins, the
Charm has no effect. A character who loses all
Willpower from this Charm becomes highly suggestible to the Abyssal. Although
she cannot be ordered to do anything to harm herself or others (unless
naturally predisposed to do so), such a hapless individual otherwise obeys the
Exalt for the rest of the scene. This control shatters immediately if the victim
suffers actual damage, although she must regain lost Willpower normally.
Compelling Whisper
Technique
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Flaying Gaze
Layering his speech with a haunting chorus
of voices, the Abyssal may implant hidden commands in a target's psyche. Roll
the character's Manipulation + Presence in a resisted contest against the
target's Willpower. If the target wins, she immediately knows what the Exalt
attempted to do and the precise conditions of the suggestion. If the Exalt wins,
however, he may issue one order.
This instruction can be as simple or
complicated as desired, but the intended task cannot take longer than the Abyssal's
Essence rating in turns. The suggestion remains until its conditions are met or
a number of days equal to the Manipulation of the Exalt have passed. During
this time, the target has no conscious recollection of her orders. Even after
the target carries out her instructions, she does not recall the act unless
specified to do so. Even if she remembers her actions, she does not connect
them with a hypnotic suggestion unless she has other reason to believe such tampering
occurred. This Charm cannot make characters hurt themselves or others unless
they are already strongly predisposed to do so.
Heart-Stopping Mien
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Soul-Flaying Gaze
An Abyssal with this Charm blazes with
unholy power and radiates unimaginable soul-chilling horror, causing his anima
to flare as if he had spent 15 motes of Peripheral Essence. While
Heart-Stopping Mien is in effect, a successful reflexive Valor roll is required
each turn to attack the character or to voluntarily approach within two yards
of him. If an aggressor fails, she suffers unsoakable lethal damage equal to
the Abyssal's Essence rating. Characters that suffer more damage in this
fashion than their Stamina spend the rest of the turn writhing in agony and lose
their action.
Injuries inflicted by this Charm typically
manifest as heart attacks or strokes, although more exotic torments are not
unheard of. Magical beings (including other Exalts) do not suffer this damage
but, instead, cannot attack the deathknight on a turn that their players fail a
Valor roll. Those who can attack the Abyssal do so at a die penalty equal to
the deathknights permanent Essence. This Charm is not compatible with the Dusk
Caste anima power.