Athletics
Charms
Graceful Crane
Stance
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: 1 Scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Athletics: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
Through the use of this Charm, the Exalted
channels Essence through his body, making it extraordinarily limber, deft and
light. For the remainder of the scene, the character has near-perfect balance
and can stand on things far too narrow and weak to normally support him (the
tips of pine trees, horizontal flagpoles, roof gables and so forth) with no
fear of falling or breaking the object. The Storyteller may wish to call for
Athletics rolls in the most extraordinary of circumstances (the character is
leaping from branch to branch on a moonless night in a snowstorm), but
generally, the character can run along even the narrowest ledges or stand on
the flimsiest perches with no worries.
Monkey Leap
Technique
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Athletics: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Graceful Crane Stance
The character leaps with the grace of a
flying crane and the speed of a striking hawk. Rather than make her normal
movement action, the character may make a leap of up to her Strength x 10 feet
vertically or twice that distance horizontally. The character can attack during
the round she performs Monkey Leap Technique, but gains no special bonuses.
Thunderbolt Attack
Prana
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum
Athletics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Monkey Leap Technique
The character leaps high into the air,
swinging his weapon (or fist or feet) in a brilliant Essence-laden arc. The
character makes an attack as normal, but the amount of damage he inflicts is
doubled after it is rolled. Characters cannot move during a turn when they use
Thunderbolt Attack Prana, which effectively rules out
the use of Thunderbolt Attack Prana and Leaping Tiger
Attack as part of the same Combo. Thunderbolt Attack Prana
is explicitly permitted to be part of a Combo with Charms of other Abilities.
Lightning Speed
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Athletics: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Graceful Crane Stance
The character becomes a blur of motion,
Essence leaking from her anima in fine streaks, as she flashes from point to
point almost faster than the eye can follow. The character may double her
sprinting distance for the turn and has no chance of becoming winded from the
exertion, as she is relying on her Essence, not her merely human endurance.
Spider-Foot Style
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Athletics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Lightning Speed
When using this Charm, the character’s
speed and balance become so heightened that she can perform acts of truly
supernatural athleticism. Not only may she run without fear across even the
most uneven of surfaces, she may scuttle up even the sheerest vertical surfaces
or even dash upside down across horizontal surfaces such as ceilings or the
undersides of tree limbs. This not only allows the Exalted to circumvent many
obstacles, it also allows her to bypass shields or move behind enemies.
Storytellers should assign bonuses as appropriate.
If the character is in a position she could
not naturally hold (fighting while standing upside down on a ceiling, for
example) and fails to spend Essence on Spider-Foot Style during a turn, she
becomes subject to the normal forces of gravity and inertia again and may be
seriously injured in the resulting fall.
Feather-Foot Style
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Athletics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Lightning Speed
The Exalted lightens her footfalls with
Essence and spreads her weight, allowing her to walk or run across fluid surfaces
such as water, quicksand, loose sand, acid, lava, lakes of writhing maggots and
the like. The character may traverse such surfaces just as if they were solid
earth during a turn in which she uses this Charm. Note that the bottom of the
character’s feet are still touching the material, so barefoot or lightly
shod characters running across acid or lava or man-eating maggots are still
risking serious injury.
As with Spider-Foot Style, if the character
fails to spend Essence on this Charm during a turn in which she is standing on
a fluid, she becomes subject to the normal laws of gravity and buoyancy. All
but the most lightly burdened character will risk death by drowning (or worse,
in the case of more exotic fluids).
Leaping Tiger
Attack
Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum
Athletics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Lightning Speed
The character flashes toward his opponent,
attacking as he blurs past her. The character makes the attack as normal, but
the amount of damage he does is doubled after soak but before damage is rolled.
The character can move up to his normal
sprinting distance without penalty in the turn he launches the Leaping Tiger
Attack. The character need not move this far — the attack needs only a yard or
so — but the character cannot be bound or otherwise unable to move when he
launches the attack. This means that Thunderbolt Attack Prana
and Leaping Tiger Attack cannot be part of the same Combo. Leaping Tiger Attack
is explicitly permitted to be part of a Combo with Charms of other Abilities.
Racing Hare Method
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum
Athletics: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Monkey Leap Technique,
Spider-Foot Style
The character attunes himself to his own
Essence and that of the world around him and moves as though in a waking dream.
He travels in great, graceful leaps, over the ground, off roofpeaks,
from tree limb to tree limb. Moving in this fashion, the character can traverse
a number of miles per hour equal to his (Stamina + Essence) x 10.
This state is trancelike and ends if the
character stops for any reason. Likewise, the character is not preternaturally
aware of his location, and his perceptions of the world beyond the next leap are
often hazy, at best. He will notice only the most urgent stimuli (very large
landmarks, hordes of hobgoblins ambushing him) and can easily become lost when
traveling through areas he is unfamiliar with.
Increasing
Strength Exercise
Cost: 3 motes per dot
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Athletics: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
This Charm allows a character to increase
her Strength tremendously for short periods of time. For every 3 motes of Essence
the character spends, her Strength increases by 1. A character cannot increase
her Strength by more than her Essence rating through the use of this Charm. The
Strength lent by this Charm increases the damage of the character’s attacks,
just as if it were normal Strength.
Thunder’s Might
Cost: 2 motes per point
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Athletics: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Increasing Strength
Exercise
Through the use of this Charm, the
character can increase his Strength even further. For every 2 motes of Essence
the character spends, he may increase his Strength + Athletics by one for the
purposes of lifting and breaking objects. The character can no more than double
his regular Strength + Athletics pool through the use of this Charm — keep in
mind that the Charm Increasing Strength Exercise counts as a bonus, and thus,
its bonus cannot be doubled through the use of this Charm. If the character
makes an attack with the intent of destroying an inanimate object, each point
adds one to the character’s raw damage. This Charm does not increase the amount
of damage the character does in combat.
Ten Ox Meditation
Cost: 1 mote per 2 points
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum
Athletics: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Thunder’s Might
By burning vast quantities of Essence, a
character can increase his physical might greatly for a few moments. For every
mote of Essence the character spends on this Charm, he can increase his
Strength + Athletics by 2 for the purposes of a single attempt to lift or break
something. If it is used to aid a character in a hand-to-hand attack to break
or destroy an object, each mote spent adds two to the raw damage of the attack.
A character cannot burn more motes of Essence powering this Charm than he has
points of permanent Willpower. Ten Ox Meditation does not increase the damage
of a character’s attacks against animate beings , though it can cause indirect
damage. For example, if the character pulls down the main pillars of a temple,
those inside will probably be killed or injured.
Fish Swimming Technique
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics:
2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: None
This Charm allows
the character to swim almost as well as a fish. While he still needs to breath
normally and cannot swim in armor, he can swim at his normal movement rate and
never needs to worry about drowning in relatively calm water. This Charm
reduces the difficulty of all Athletics rolls related to swimming by 1 (to a
minimum of 1).
Swift Water Prana
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Fish Swimming Technique
The character can
now swim at twice her movement rate if unarmored and at her normal movement
rate if wearing no more than light armor. In addition, she swims underwater
easily and can hold her breath for up to Stamina x 10 minutes ― each
success on a Stamina + Resistance roll extends this time by 10 minutes. She can
swim in the worst seas without risk of drowning, and her player need never make
Athletics rolls for the character to stay afloat. Although the character cannot
swim if wearing anything heavier than light armor, she can still walk along the
bottom while holding her breath. This Charm reduces the difficulty of all
Athletics rolls related to swimming by 3 (to a minimum of 1).
Foe-Vaulting Style
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Athletics:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Monkey Leap Technique
As a part of any
attack, the character may vault over the head of any foe she is facing. At the
end of this vault, the character lands behind the foe and may attack this
opponent from behind. This attack does no additional damage, but it gains all
of the benefits of attacking from behind. Normally, this Charm can only be used
once on a given foe ― enemies who are expecting this maneuver can pivot
around rapidly enough to parry or dodge attacks. However, against the
unsuspecting, this is often a devastating technique.
Soaring Crane Leap
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Athletics:
4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Monkey Leap Technique
Supported by both
air and Essence, the character can almost fly, leaping vast distances in a
single fantastic bound. Rather than making an ordinary movement action, she can
leap (Strength + Athletics) x 10 yards vertically or twice this distance
horizontally. The character can attack and perform other actions in the same
turn that she performs Soaring Crane Leap but gains no special bonuses to these
actions. If desired, this Charm can be used to leap down from great heights,
effectively making the character almost immune to falling damage.
Mountain-Crossing Leap Technique
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics:
5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms:
Soaring Crane Leap
This Charm allows
the character to leap long distances in a single bound, which takes the
remainder of the scene (or about five minutes in real time). The character can
cover a distance of five miles per point of permanent Essence. If he does not
know his destination, his player may be required to make a successful reflexive
Dexterity + Athletics roll on the Exalt’s landing or
have him tumble and potentially take up to three dice of bashing damage. The
character may take no other actions except to parry and counterattack during
the scene he’s leaping. If the character can fly or otherwise navigate through
air, doing so immediately ends this Charm’s effect and leaves the character
dependent on whatever means of locomotion he activated. A character can reach a
height of several miles at the apex of the leap, so flight effects of short
duration are suicidal unless the character can survive such a long fall.
Cloud-Foot Style
Cost: 5 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics:
5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Spider-Foot Style, Feather-Foot Style
Through the use of
this Charm, the Exalt can obtain the effects of Spider-Foot Style and
Feather-Foot Style for the remainder of the scene, allowing her to walk up horizontal
surfaces, across ceilings and also over fluid surfaces such as water. The Exalt
may stop, stand, kneel or otherwise do whatever she wishes ― the effects
will not end until she wishes for the Charm to dissipate or the scene changes.
Eagle-Wing Style
Cost: 4 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Athletics:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Spider-Foot Style, Feather-Foot Style
The character can
focus her Essence to actually repel the ground ― she leaps and will
continue to move through the air for the rest of the scene. The character moves
with a speed up to triple her sprinting distance per turn. She can effectively
fly like a bird, but she must keep moving at no less than half her sprinting
distance every turn, or she will have to land and end the Charm. Though she can
“climb” higher obstacles such as walls and cliffs by zooming along the vertical
surface, a character flying with this Charm cannot naturally maintain an
altitude higher above the ground (or whatever flat, stable surface lies below
her) than three times her normal vertical leaping distance ― so, no more
than 3 x her Strength + Athletics in yards.
To direct the
flows of Essence, the character must keep one arm extended out in front of her.
As a result, she cannot use bows or any other two handed weapons while flying.
However, she may use thrown weapons, fight unarmed or wield one-handed
hand-to-hand weapons normally, regardless of how fast she is moving. The
character can engage in aerial duels with opponents capable of taking to the
air, or she can hurl thrown weapons at foes on the ground or swoop down and
strike them as she flies past.
Flying characters
may be attacked only by ranged attacks, by other flying or leaping characters
or on the initiative count when they attack someone on the ground. Keep in mind
that any foe who rolled a higher initiative can delay his action and attack the
character as she swoops by. People other than the character’s target who
attempt to strike the Exalt as she swoops in for the attack do so at -3 dice
(due to the Exalt’s speed), unless they are using
long weapons such as spears or poleaxes. In such cases, the penalty is reduced
to -1. The Exalt’s target can attack the Exalt
normally and without penalty, but only during the initiative count in which he,
the target, is attacked. Otherwise, he must use some sort of ranged attack.