Awareness Charms
Precision Observation Method
Cost: 1 mote per two dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Awareness: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Everything that walks, flies or swims is in some way connected to the earth,
and the elements of air and water but rest upon the firmament. By grounding her
Essence into the earth, a Dragon-Blood can greatly increase her sensitivity to
things around her. Each mote invested in this Charm enhances the character’s
Awareness by two dice for a single roll only. The character cannot more than
double her Awareness with this Charm.
All-Encompassing Earth Sense
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Precision
Observation Method
While under the aegis of this
Charm, the character cannot be surprised by any means, magical or otherwise.
This doesn’t make her able to see the invisible or anything of the sort. It
just means that she cannot be struck by an attack she is not aware of.
This Charm can be extended to
the character’s companions by merely spending 2 extra motes per person to be so
affected. All-Encompassing Earth Sense is not effective unless the character is
standing on the ground. She need not be touching the earth itself ― the
Charm functions just fine inside structures, etc. ― but may not be
flying, swimming and so forth. Engaging in any of these activities breaks the
Charm immediately.
Feeling The
Dragon’s Bones
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:
All-Encompassing Sense
By taking a few moments to
attune herself to the pulse of the Earth Dragon, the Dragon-Blooded invoking
this Charm can sense the shape of things that sit upon the Earth Dragon’s back,
as well as those beings that walk upon it.
The Dragon-Blood’s player rolls
Intelligence + Awareness. With a simple success, the character instantly gets a
complete but vague mental picture of the surrounding area, up to her Awareness x
25 feet distant. This mental picture includes living beings. Further successes
refine the image. One success might yield, “The next room is about 10 x 10 with
three humanoid beings in it.” Three successes might impart, “The next room is
obviously a guardroom, containing three Wyld
barbarians, each carrying a large stone club.” Five successes would yield all
of the above information, plus estimates of the various strengths of the three
barbarians, what armor they are wearing and exact details on where they are
standing.
To be properly sensed, an object
or being must actually be touching the earth or touching something directly
touching the earth in some fashion. Objects floating in the air or immersed in
water would not be affected for instance.
The range of this Charm is
doubled for every additional mote of Essence spent. This Charm is especially
effective underground or in all stone structures, since they are actually
embraced by the earth. Double the range while using the Charm in such
circumstances, and all details the surrounding areas are perceivable.
Entombed Mind Technique
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: Five minutes
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Feeling the
Dragon’s Bones
Earth is the most static and
quiescent of the elements, and while it’s all encompassing nature enhances the
awareness of the Earth-aspected Dragon-Bloods, it
also allows them to suppress this awareness in others.
This Charm enables a
Dragon-Blooded character to infuse some of stone’s somnolent stasis into
another person’s mind, putting them to sleep. Some Dynasts work this Charm by
speaking in a low, droning voice; others prefer to use a glittering gemstone,
such as the jewel in a ring, to fix their victim’s attention and convey the
flow of Essence. The character can only bury someone’s mind if she can keep
them sitting still for five minutes, so this Charm calls for a fair bit of
guile.
The Dragon-Blood’s player rolls
Manipulation + Presence, with a difficulty equal to the target’s Essence.
Simple success causes the target to sleep for an hour, and each extra success
adds one hour to the total. During that time, nothing, not noise, light or
movement, will awaken the victim. You could send the entire Red-Piss Legion
past with clashing cymbals, and he wouldn’t wake up. At the end of this period,
the victim passes into normal slumber.
While in the grip of magic
sleep, the victim dreams strange, still dreams of the caves beneath the earth
and the mysteries within them. Once in a while, someone wakes up afterward
knowing where to dig a well that never goes dry or the location of a deposit of
ore.
(Sense)-Riding Technique
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Until disrupted
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Precision
Observation Method
A Dragon-Blood truly in tune
with the world can project her sense into others, riding along and perceiving
things from a great distance.
This Charm is actually three
separate Charms, together encompassing all of the five senses. The target must
be visible to the character when the Charm is activated but may leave the
character’s sight after the activation. The maximum range at which these Charms
function is the character’s permanent Essence in miles.
When activated, a roll is made,
pitting the Dynast’s Awareness + Essence against the target’s
in a reflexive opposed roll. The Dynast needs but a single success to invoke
the Charm. If the Dynast ties the target, there is no effect. If the target is
an Exalted and beats the Dragon-Blood, his player gets to make a reflexive
Awareness roll with a difficulty of 3 to sense that some was trying to Sense
Ride him. Players of normal mortals get no such roll, and they remain unaware
of the enchantment.
While Sense Riding, a character
may not take any sort of disruptive action whatsoever. It is best to sit
quietly and just observe the sense ridden. Simple actions such as sitting on a
slowly walking horse may be possible at the Storyteller’s option, but the
character may be in danger of missing important details of what is being
observed. If the target is injured (takes any health levels
of damage) while being sense ridden, the character takes an unsoakable
level of bashing damage, and the Charm is disrupted.
The effects of riding each sense
are detailed below:
Sight: The character may perceive anything the target sees,
including any magical enhancements that the target applies to his own senses
while the character is “riding” him. The character may only observe through the
ridden target’s eyes. The character cannot use Charms or sorcery or otherwise
affect the world around the target through the channel of the shared sense,
though it might provide targeting information for some other sort of attack.
Hearing & Touch: The character may perceive anything the target hears or
touches, including any magical enhancements that the target applies to his own
senses while the Exalt is “riding” him. This perception does not give the
Dragon-Blooded the ability to understand languages she doesn’t know, even if
the person being ridden understands them.
Smell & Taste: This Charm is probably the least of the three, but a
truly thorough Dynast may wish to learn it. When combined with the other three
Charms, it provides a complete picture of the target’s environment and
surroundings. As with the other (Sense)-Riding Charms, the character may
perceive anything the target does with his sense of smell and taste, including
any magical enhancements that the target applies to his own senses while the
character is “riding” him.
(Sense)-Destroying Method
Cost: 3+ motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One turn per point of
permanent Essence
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Awareness: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:
(Sense)-Riding Technique
This Charm is a cluster of three
Charms just like (Sense)-Riding Technique, and it functions in much the same
way. However, instead of tapping into the target’s senses, the character
completely shuts them down. When this Charm is activated, the Dynast’s player
makes an Essence + Awareness roll with a difficulty equal to the target’s
Perception. The effects for each sense are detailed below.
Sight: Each extra success subtracts one die from the target’s
Awareness rolls relating to sight and adds a -1 penalty to any task involving
sight. If the character’s extra successes exceed the target’s Perception, the
target is blinded completely for the Charm’s duration.
Hearing & Touch: Each success subtracts one die from the target’s
Awareness rolls relating to these senses and allows him to ignore one level of
wound penalties. If the character’s roll exceeds the target’s Perception, the
target is rendered completely deaf but also suffers no wound penalties for the
Charm duration. Some enterprising Dynasts use this Charm on their minions
before sending them into combat ― but are careful to give them explicit
instructions before doing so.
Smell & Taste: Each success subtracts one die from the target’s
Awareness rolls relating to these senses. If the Exalt gains more successes
than the target’s Perception, he is rendered completely unable to smell or
taste for the Charm’s duration.
A Dynast may not use this Charm
on herself.
Essence Disruption Attack
Cost: 3+ motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One turn per dot of
permanent Essence
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Awareness: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: All three
(Sense)-Destroying Method Charms
After perfecting the art of
suppressing another’s physical sense, a truly skilled Earth-aspected
Dynast can actually use his own Essence to suppress his victim’s ability to
perceive and manipulate Essence. The character must pay the base cost of the
Charm, plus any additional motes. The maximum number of additional motes of
that the Exalt can spend is equal to her permanent Essence.
Her player then makes an
Awareness + Essence roll with a difficulty of 3 for the Exalt to correctly
judge the patterns of Essence around the target, who must be in sight and no
farther away than 10 x the character’s permanent Essence in feet. If the roll
succeeds, the player makes a Willpower + Essence roll against a difficulty of
the target’s Essence. Each extra success on this roll adds 1 mote to the cost
of all Charms and sorcery used by the target, to a maximum penalty equal to the
amount of extra Essence the character spent activating this Charm.
This surcharge applies to ever
activation of a Charm, meaning it may be paid multiple times per turn if an
Exalt, for example, uses reflexive defensive Charms. If Combos are involved,
then the surcharge is applied to every Charm in the Combo, every time one of
those Charms is activated. The effects of the Charm linger for a number of
turns equal to the Exalt’s permanent Essence.
Unfailing
Dragon Glance
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Awareness: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character hesitates and looks more carefully, a quick
flare of Essence pushing aside all distractions. Her player may reroll a single Awareness roll but must take the new
results over the old. The Dragon-Blood cannot use this Charm more than once for
the same action. If Unfailing Dragon Glance is part of a Combo, Essence must be
spent to reactivate all the other Charms in that Combo when the reroll takes place. If those Charms have separate dice
rolls associated with them, they are not rerolled.
Sight
Of Fluttering Tremors
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
Minimum Awareness: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: All-Encompassing Earth Sense
Upon activating this Charm, cataracts like white jade
cloud over the character’s eyes, and he becomes blind for the duration of the
effect. In exchange, the Dragon-Blood gains a preternatural awareness of
vibrations echoing through the air and ground. He can “see” in any or all
directions at once as desired, simultaneously perceiving the shape and exact
location of all objects within half the range of his normal vision or his
(Awareness x 10) yards, whichever is less. Beyond this range, objects and
sounds blur together and have no coherent meaning. Darkness and environmental
conditions impairing true vision do not normally hinder the “vision” granted by
this Charm, although magical obfuscations and effects that muffle sound may
create regions of murky vision. Within a radius of (Awareness + Essence) yards,
the character can even see through and around thin walls and other blocking
physical obstructions by sensing the vibrations passing through the
interrupting objects. Thick walls obscure and disrupt echoes too much to allow
vibration sight to peer around them without a substantial crack or flaw through
which sounds can flow. This omnidirectional
perception makes the character difficult to surprise, adding one automatic success
to all Awareness rolls made to avoid ambush. Despite
the obvious utility of sensing vibrations, the sense is not sight and cannot
fully replace vision. Vibrations do not convey colors or shades, making it
impossible to read or otherwise notice exclusively visual information. Characters
can recognize people and objects they have “viewed” with vibration sight
previously, using their memory of profiles and surface contours.
Dragon-Blooded who know this Charm can reflexively spend
four additional experience points as insurance against blindness. Should such
characters ever become truly blind for any reason (whether temporarily as the result
of magic or permanently from maiming), they gain the
full effects of this Charm for the duration of their blindness without spending
any Essence. This special benefit vanishes if a character regains her sight.
Pulse
Of The Dragon’s Soul
Cost: 1 or 3 motes
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive or Simple
Minimum Awareness: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Feeling the Dragon’s Bones
The Dragon-Blood concentrates and spends 3 motes as a
simple action, allowing his consciousness to flow down and outward through the
Essence currents of the earth. For a moment, he experiences the land as an extension
of his own body and perceives the unnatural wounds and blights of all shadowlands and Wyld zones within
a number of miles equal to his permanent Essence. He cannot gauge the strength
or direction of these tainted regions unless they are within a mile, in which case he can determine the rough size, shape and potency of
the blights. The character can also sense all Manses and Demesnes within a
mile, but only as wellsprings of power. He knows where these sites are and
whether they are weak (rating 1-2) or strong (3-5), but he cannot differentiate
between Manses and Demesnes or identify a site’s type (Earth, Solar, Celestial,
etc.). At the end of a turn, the mystical perception fades, and the character’s
senses withdraw back into his flesh.
In addition to the Charm’s active use, Pulse of the Dragon’s
Soul activates reflexively for a cost of 1 mote whenever a character crosses
into a shadowland or Wyld zone
without realizing it. The Charm does not activate itself if the character
already knows the nature of his location. The character becomes immediately
aware of the blighted energies of his new location and their overall type, but
he does not gain the full awareness of the surrounding terrain as with
conscious activation of the Charm.