Presence
Charms
Harmonious
Presence Meditation
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
3
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
An Exalted using this Charm increases her
personal magnetism greatly, making her words seem wise and her arguments
persuasive. While this Charm is in effect, add a number of dice equal to her
permanent Essence to any Socialize, Presence or Bureaucracy rolls that involve
one-on-one interactions.
Listener-Swaying
Argument
Cost: 2 motes per die, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Presence:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Harmonious Presence
Meditation
The character can use Essence to make
himself almost irresistibly persuasive. For every two motes of Essence spent on
this Charm, add another die to any Socialize, Presence or Bureaucracy roll
involving one-on-one interaction. A character cannot more than double his pool
using this Charm.
Hypnotic Tongue
Technique
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Special
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Listener-Swaying
Argument
Through this Charm, an Exalted can program
a target to undertake an action at a future time. The Exalted must touch the target,
and the player makes an opposed Willpower roll. If the Exalted wins the
Willpower roll, she may give the target an unspoken command. This command can
be as specific and elaborate as the character wishes, and the target will not
be aware of having received it. The suggestion will stay in place for a number
of days equal to the Charisma of the Exalted using the Charm, after which the
target forgets it.
The command can take no more time to
execute than the Exalted’s Essence score in turns. The target can forget or
remember the act after executing it, at the choice of the Exalted when the
suggestion is implanted. Characters will not attack themselves or others unless
already strongly predisposed to do so. If the target wins the Willpower roll,
she is instantly aware of what the Exalted has attempted to do and what the
suggestion and conditions were.
Majestic Radiant
Presence
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Harmonious Presence
Meditation
A character with this Charm active burns
with the incandescent radiance of the Unconquered Sun. The players of
characters attempting to attack the Exalted or to stand against him in argument
must make a successful Willpower roll to have their characters do so. This
Charm is not compatible with the Dawn Caste anima power.
Underling
Promoting Touch
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Majestic Radiant
Presence
This Charm causes the target (typically a
mortal servant of the Exalted) to be imbued with the majesty of the Exalted’s
office. While this Charm is in effect, individuals will treat him with the
respect and deference they would normally reserve for the Exalted who used the
Charm (or for any powerful magical being, if they are not acquainted with the
target’s benefactor). Players who wish their characters to do otherwise must
succeed at a Willpower roll with a difficulty of 1 + the Essence score of the
Exalted who deputized the character.
Terrifying
Apparition Of Glory
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Majestic Radiant
Presence
If the Majestic Radiant Presence Charm
makes the character seem terrible and powerful, then Terrifying Apparition of
Glory makes him unspeakably so. While Terrifying Apparition of Glory is in
effect, a successful Valor roll is required to attack the character. Most
animals, even trained attack animals, will simply flee. Players of characters
who are not actively hostile to the Exalted using Terrifying Apparition of
Glory must make a successful Conviction roll not to obey immediately any
nonsuicidal orders the character gives. This compulsion lasts for at least a
scene after the target leaves the Exalted’s presence.
Those who are able to attack the Exalted do
so at a die penalty equal to the character’s Essence score. This Charm is not
compatible with the Dawn Caste’s anima ability.
Prey-Freezing Gaze
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One
scene or special
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Harmonious Presence Meditation
When the character
uses this Charm, she impresses a single target with the overwhelming power of
her commanding nature. Targets who fail a Valor roll at difficulty +2 are
frozen in place, unable to move for the next scene. This paralysis is emotional
rather than physical, but cannot be broken as long as the attacking character
continues to gaze intently at the target. While keeping this eye contact, the
character can be no more than five yards from the target. She also cannot move
faster than a walk or perform any complex or difficult actions. The target
receives additional Valor rolls whenever anyone harms or obviously attempts to
harm him. If the character ceases to gaze at the target, the paralysis
continues for the next three full turns, but the target instantly breaks free
if anyone harms or obviously attempts to harm him. This Charm has no effect on
target whose Essence is higher than the casting character’s.
Command Voice
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms:
Hypnotic Tongue Technique
The character
surrounds herself with a potent aura of authority. Unlike Terrifying Apparition
of Glory, this Charm does not produce an obvious or overwhelming effect.
Instead, everyone who is inclined to follow orders ― including peasants,
servants, shop assistants, enlisted military personnel and similar individuals
― will obey the character as if she were in a position of authority over
them. Any target that makes a successful opposed Willpower roll against the character
realizes that the character does not have the authority to command him.
Everyone else will obey all reasonable-sounded commands given by the character.
Orders to commit suicide, go on killing rampages, or requests to give the
character most or all of the target’s money or possessions will end the
character’s influence over the target. However, requests for information or
admittance to otherwise restricted areas will be instantly granted, as will
demands for moderately expensive merchandise (up to Resources ••) in a shop,
even if the character does not pay for it.
Targets may make another opposed Willpower
roll to disobey the character if a recognized superior contradicts the
character’s orders. Targets who fail this roll will ignore their actual
superior’s requests. One of this Charm’s most potent and useful features is
that others observing the interaction will see nothing odd or magical about the
character or the target’s reaction. This Charm has no effect on beings with an
Essence greater than 1, though it has proven effective on Fair Folk commoners
and other supernatural creatures of an inherently servile nature.
Impassioned Orator Technique
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One turn
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Presence:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Listener-Swaying Argument
An Exalted acting
in accordance with virtue is an impressive figure indeed ― an Exalted
using this Charm is even more so. By using this Charm, the Chosen puts the
weight of her passions behind her arguments. She may add one of her Virtue
ratings in automatic successes to a single Presence roll. The Virtue may be
chosen when the Charm is invoked, but the Exalted must be acting in accordance
with the Virtue in question. If the Exalted is not, or does not, act according
to the Virtue, the Essence is spent, but no bonus is gained. Invoking this
Charm automatically adds one point to the character’s Limit.
Countenance Of Vast Wrath
Cost: 10 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:
Impassioned Orator Technique
When driven by his
passions, an Exalted can be an almost irresistible force. Through the use of
this Charm, one of the
Rose-Lipped Seduction
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Presence:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:
Harmonious Presence Meditation
Infused with
Essence, the Exalt becomes incredibly attractive to a particular person that
she wishes to seduce. The
Soul-Shaping Words
Technique
Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Listener-Swaying
Argument
The words of an Illuminated Solar are as
forceful as his fists, allowing him to assert dominion over a social conflict. The
saintly Solar turns to his target and speaks profound words, a deep insight
fueled with Essence. The effect is immediate and powerful. As the target of his
words contemplates their meaning, and either he accepts the fundamental truth
of the words and the inherent sainthood of the Solar, finding his spirit
uplifted, or he rejects them and the Solar, the words ripping through his soul
like spurs. The Solar selects the target of his words and reveals his sagacious
truth, his player rolling the Solar’s Charisma + Presence at a difficulty of
his opponent’s Essence.
If the roll is successful, the target has a
choice: submission or defiance. For one who submits to the Solar, accepting him
as divine, everything in the world makes sense, and her place in the world is
reaffirmed, and the target gains a temporary point of Willpower. For one who defies
the inherent lordship of the Solar, she suffers beneath the weight of her own,
false world view, unable to reconcile the truth of the Solar’s statement with
her own ideology, losing a number of temporary points of Willpower equal to the
number of successes the Solar’s player rolled beyond the requisite difficulty,
to a maximum number of Willpower points equal to the Solar’s own Essence. The
Solar cannot reduce a target below 0 Willpower points, and those who have no
Willpower left as a result of this Charm can no longer bear the sight of the
Solar and immediately flee his presence. This technique is as useful as a
weapon against unbelievers as it is a way of strengthening the righteous.
However, the Charm can only be used upon beings who truly are beneath the Solar
and is not effective against anyone with an Essence equal to or higher than the
Solar.
True Harmony Revelation
Cost: 15 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite
Charms: Soul-Shaping Words
Technique
The desperate, the downtrodden and the weak
can find new hope and new joy in the words of the saintly Illuminated. With a
gentle whisper and uncommon insight, a Solar may reveal someone’s true nature
to herself, so that she may find the sense of purpose she longs for. This Charm
only affects characters who have no remaining temporary Willpower points. The
Solar makes a Manipulation + Presence roll at a difficulty of his target’s Conviction.
If successful, the Solar molds the spent will of the target into a new form,
and the Solar may select a new Nature to replace the target’s old one. For each
success beyond the required difficulty, the Solar may rearrange one point of
Virtue, making a cowardly man brave or a loving man cold and hard. The effects
normally last a month. However, the Solar may spend 1 experience point to make
the Nature change permanent, and 1 experience point per Virtue dot shifted
during the target’s change to make that permanent. Some characters of strong
will may overcome even these permanent changes with time. After a minimum
number of months equal to (11 - the character’s Willpower), at the Storyteller’s
discretion, even the permanent effects of this Charm subside. This Charm will
not affect beings whose Essence exceeds the Solar’s.
Horizon-To-Horizon
Presence Method
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Presence:
5
Minimum Essence: 5
Prerequisite
Charms: Hypnotic Tongue
Technique, Terrifying Apparition of Glory
While any Solar who masters the Charms of
Presence has a weighty aura of charisma and influence, those who master
Horizon-to-Horizon Presence Method have vast auras that insinuate themselves
into all aspects of life. Such an Exalt impacts people whom she has never met. Assassins
abandon their quest for her destruction after seeing a painting of her.
Hopeless young men devote their entire lives to her upon hearing mere stories
of her deeds. The character may influence the world without raising a finger
through the power of her charisma alone.
Upon activating this Charm, the Solar may
make a single use of her Presence Ability, usually rolled with either Charisma
or Manipulation, against any single character irregardless of distance. The
difficulty rating of the Presence roll is increased by an amount equal to the target’s
Essence. The Solar need not speak or interact with the target in anyway.
Indeed, the Charm may be activated unconsciously as the character’s charismatic
aura affects people and events completely outside of her knowledge. However,
the Charm requires some interaction, even if only distant rumor. The
target must hear of her deeds or witness the impact the character has made upon
the world. Further, when the character fails to impress someone through the use
of this Charm, it diminishes in usefulness. Anytime the Charm is activated but
fails to achieve a number of successes equal to the target’s Essence, the Charm
may not be activated again for a full day, and the target of the Charm is rendered
immune to its use for a month (or longer at the Storyteller’s discretion).
Finally, the Charm only creates emotional impressions and vague ideas, not
specific messages. While Horizon-to-Horizon Presence Method could persuade a
king to seek the Solar’s amorous affections, it could not, for example, convey
a secret password to him or convince him to perform a very specific task.
While the primary use of this Charm is
long-ranged interactions, the strength of the character’s aura does not diminish
in close proximity. The Charm may be activated to affect someone in the
character’s presence, allowing for powerful nonverbal interaction.