Survival
Charms
Essence Engorgement
Technique
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Survival:
1
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
Lacking ready sources of Essence apart
from cannibalism, Abyssal Exalted must often conserve their power in Creation.
Deathknights with this Charm can offset this weakness somewhat by bloating
their animas with stolen power. For each time this Charm is taken, the Abyssal
adds an additional 10 motes to his Peripheral Essence pool.
However, the Exalt can only fill this
extra capacity by consuming flesh or blood or by using Essence-draining magic.
The character cannot recharge this bonus pool with Hearthstones, respiration or
any other passive means. Characters cannot take this Charm more times than
their permanent Essence rating.
Blood-Feasting Technique
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum
Survival: 2
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Essence Engorgement
Technique
Once an Abyssal masters this Charm, he can
subsist entirely on a diet of human blood. The character must drink a number of
health levels per day equal to his permanent Essence if he wishes to replace
his body's need for regular food. While subsisting on blood, characters suffer
no dietary deficiencies. Many deathknights who learn this Charm find their
palettes prefer the sweet taste of life to blander solid food. Note that blood
consumed specifically as sustenance for this Charm does not provide Essence.
Superior Predator
Style
Cost: 10 motes
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 1
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
With this Charm, an Abyssal can intensify
his aura of menace to ward off animals. Herbivores and domesticated beasts
avoid the character completely and panic if directly confronted. Most
non-magical predators keep their distance, fighting only as a last resort if
cornered. This Charm has less effect on magical beasts and super-predators such
as tyrant lizards and siaka. Such beings can overcome the aversion with a
successful Willpower roll, although they still suffer a +1 difficulty to attack
the Exalt.
Fetter The Beast
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower,
1 experience point
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 3
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms:
By beating an animal into submission or
otherwise abusing it to establish dominance, an Abyssal with this Charm can mystically
chain a beast to her will. The character gains one dot of the Familiar
Background each time she uses this Charm, although she can only have one Familiar
at a time. Thus, it would take three applications of this Charm to enslave a
wild omen dog and another two to gain communication and sharing of senses.
Although dangerous animals make superior slaves, it takes considerably more
work to tame them. Beating an angry bear until it cowers in obedience can be
problematic at best, to say nothing of subduing a full-grown tyrant lizard.
Characters should prepare for appropriately epic combat unless they plan on
raising such monsters from birth.
Hunter Becomes The Prey
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum
Survival: 3
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms:
While most deathknights can only absorb
Essence from the blood and flesh of other sentient beings, a few have learned
to draw power from lesser creatures. Once a character purchases this Charm, he
can devour animals to regain Essence. Such prey must be consumed within minutes
of death and cannot be cooked or otherwise prepared. Additionally, the animal
must be a predator or scavenger. If these conditions are met, the Exalt regains
1 mote for every two health levels eaten. Otherwise, the meal affords only
physical sustenance.
Enduring Huntsman
Method
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 3
Minimum Essence:
1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
With this Charm, a character gains
unnatural resilience to hostile environments, regardless of attire or
preparation. She can withstand brutal extremes of temperature without ill effect
and need never fear hypothermia, frostbite, parasites, sand blindness or any
other hazard of the wilderness. This resistance applies to virtually any
condition a human body could actually survive, however briefly. Thus, a
character could trudge naked through a blizzard without discomfort but would
not have an easier time breathing underwater or surviving a raging bonfire.
Ultimately, the limits of this Charm are left to Storyteller discretion.
Sheltering Interment
Prana
Cost: 3 motes per hour, plus 1
Willpower
Duration: Until released
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 5
Minimum Essence:
3
Prerequisite
Charms: Enduring Huntsman
Method
Pulling his arms and legs together like a
corpse ready for burial, an Abyssal with this Charm can mystically sink into the
earth. This process buries the character a full yard underground, leaving no trace of excavation on the
surface. The character slips into a state of suspended animation for the
duration of the Charm and does not breathe, although he still hungers normally.
Sheltering Interment Prana lasts one hour for every 3 motes spent, unless the
torpid character is injured or uncovered by digging. Once the Charm ends for whatever
reason, the character arises to the surface in a shower of dirt and immediately
regains consciousness. Characters may regain Essence while interred (assuming
they are in a location that permits it), although motes used to power the Charm
remain committed during its duration.
Underworld Foraging
Technique
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 4
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Enduring Huntsman
Method
By definition, few environments are as
inhospitable and lifeless as the dim recesses of the Underworld. The food of
ghosts is a poor substitute for the fruits of Creation, and the strange beasts
that lurk in the realm of the dead afford little in the way of palatable meat.
With this Charm, however, an Abyssal may readily consume spectral food and derive full
nourishment from her meal.
Maze-Unraveling Concentration
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Enduring Huntsman
Method
With this Charm, an Abyssal can mentally
unlock the twisting paths of a labyrinth
to find a desired course or egress. The character may add his permanent Essence
in automatic successes to a single attempt to navigate a maze or similarly
convoluted network of passages. This Charm also aids in navigating the
Labyrinth beneath the Underworld, although to a lesser degree. The Ebon Maze
defies sane comprehension, both for its size and alien geometry. Characters can
only unravel short stretches at a time, and this Charm only applies to a single
navigation roll.
Infallible Barghest
Mien
Cost: 1 mote per die, plus 1
Willpower
Duration: Until released
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 5
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Enduring Huntsman
Method
With this Charm, an Abyssal can pursue a
quarry with supernatural prowess and determination. The player can add one die
per mote to any roll to track a single target individual. This target must be
decided when the Charm is invoked and cannot later be changed. Bonus dice
gained from this Charm apply to all tracking attempts until the character finds
his quarry or gives up his hunt, although this Charm cannot more than double a
character's dice pool. Infallible Barghest Mien aids in tracking regardless of environment;
the character can stalk his quarry through the twisting streets of a necropolis
as readily as any wilderness. Characters may only benefit from one application
of this Charm at a time. Characters using this Charm are considered
supernatural trackers.
Ghost Leaves No Trail
Cost: 5+ motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Survival: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Infallible Barghest
Mien
For the duration of this Charm, the
character passes as unobtrusively as a phantom. She leaves no footprints or scent
or any sign of her passing that can be detected by conventional means. The
character can also extend this protection to a maximum number of companions
equal to her permanent Essence rating at a cost of 5 motes each. Only characters with supernatural tracking
abilities can hope to follow an Exalt
shrouded by this Charm, and such attempts are resolved through a normal
tracking contest.