Dodge Charms
Threshold Warding Stance
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Ordinarily, when dodging an
attack, the defender must have ample space in which to move around. The
character using the Threshold Warding Stance can dodge attacks while keeping
his balance and leaving his feet in one place; as he does so, his torso, arms
and legs flicker back and forth like a candle flame exposed to high wind. The
Dragon-Blooded cannot dodge attacks when he is entirely immobilized, but so
long as he has some degree of freedom to move, he can use his full Dodge dice
pool. This Charm works whether the character is standing on a tree limb, is
hemmed in by walls on three sides, is up to his shins
in quicksand or is dangling by his arms from a great height.
Hopping Firecracker Evasion
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Threshold
Warding Stance
When this Charm is activated,
the Dragon-Blooded’s dives to avoid attack become
truly pronounced. The Exalted with Hopping Firecracker Evasion can move more
than just a few steps as he avoids attacks. He can leap, dive or tumble up to
his normal running pace, which is half of (Dexterity + 12) yards, when he
succeeds in dodging an attack. If he is in hand-to-hand combat range after a
single attack, unless the attacker is able to move and continue attacking. This
effectively allows him to evade the effects of many multiple-attack Charms.
Virtuous Negation Defense
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Hopping
Firecracker Evasion
This altruistic Charm allows its
wielder to move his allies out of the way of incoming attacks. When he notices
an attack coming toward a companion, the Dragon-Blood can dive toward that
friend and shove him out of the way of the attack. The companion must be within
leaping distance ― 5 yards, ordinarily ― for the Exalt to interpose
himself.
The attack almost always misses
the character’s companion; the Dynast’s player should now roll his character’s
own dodge against the attack as though he were its original target. If he does
not receive enough successes to make the attack miss outright, it hits the
Exalted rather than his original target. However, if the Exalted rolls no
successes on his dodge, the attack strikes its original target.
Flickering Candle Meditation
Cost: 1 mote per two dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character’s outline and form
become more difficult to perceive as his movements accelerate and blur. The
Exalted can improve his Dodge dice pool with this Charm, at a cost of one mote
of Essence for every two dice added to his Dodge dice pool for this dodge
attempt. As with most Charms of this type, no more dice can be added than the
character’s Dodge Trait.
Smoke Obscuring Effect
Cost: 1 mote per two dice + 1
mote per ally
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Dodge: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Flickering
Candle Meditation
The Exalted conjures up a visual
distraction for his enemies, allowing his allies to more easily avoid their
blows. This effect might be smoke, as the Charm’s name suggests, or it might be
the flaring up of a nearby campfire; anything to distract opponents and give
allies a bonus to dodge. The Exalt expends 1 mote of Essence per ally that he
wishes to subject to this power, plus 1 mote per two dice to be added to the
allies’ Dodge pools. The Dragon-Blood may not contribute more dice than he has
dots in the Dodge Trait, and his allies cannot do more than double their own
Dodge Abilities, regardless of how many dice are contributed. A character may
not use this ability on more allies than he has Essence.
For Example: Plana
has Dodge 3 and Smoke Obscuring Effect, and his allies Orbro
and Tamota are in a combat with him. Orbro has Dodge 2; Tamota has
Dodge 5. Plana must spend 4 motes of Essence to
activate Smoke Obscuring Effect (two allies, plus 2 motes for all three of Plana’s Dodge dice). Orbro
receives two bonus dice to his Dodge (since he cannot more than double his
Dodge Trait), and Tamota receives three bonus dice
(since that is all that Plana can donate).
Safety Among
Enemies
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Flickering
Candle Meditation
In a fashion similar to Virtuous
Negation Defense, the Dragon-Blooded moves toward another person as an attack
is incoming. However, unlike Virtuous Negation Defense, this maneuver is
intended to cause an attack aimed at the Exalted to strike another person
― presumably an enemy, since the best use of this defense is to let a
well-armored foe absorb blows on the Exalt’s behalf.
The new target must be within three yards of the Exalted for this Charm to
work. Rather than rolling a standard dodge, the player should roll Dexterity +
Dodge, with a total of four successes needed. If the roll succeeds, the new
target is struck by the attack, and the user of this Charm avoids it. Treat the
attack as though it had been aimed at the new target all along. The new target
can attempt a dodge himself if he’s able to. A character cannot force an enemy
to attack himself.
Arrow-Consuming Flame Defense
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Dodge: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Safety Among Enemies
This Charm creates a coruscating
aura of fire that radiates for a few feet around the Exalted who activates it.
The aura destroys any wooden projectiles, such as arrows, that approach the
character; it also weakens the blows of other weapons intended to harm him.
Arrows automatically fail to
harm the character, as the shaft of the arrow is consumed by fire before the
arrow can reach him; at most, a harmless arrowhead might bounce off the
character’s clothing or armor. Additionally, the Exalted receives +2 to his
soak against metal or wooden weapons ― be they hand-to-hand or ranged
attacks ― as the blows are weakened by their passage through the
Arrow-Consuming Flame Defense. Only hard stone weapons and gear made from the
Five Magical Materials are unaffected by this Charm. Anyone attempting to make
an unarmed against a Dragon-Blooded with this Charm active takes 3L fire damage
each time she attacks, soaked normally.
Smoldering Karma Strike
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Virtuous
Negation Defense, Smoke Obscuring Effect, Safety Among
Enemies
The character’s talent at
avoiding attack and placing himself to take advantage of a foe’s weakness has
been honed by this point to allow him to instantly strike back at any enemy whose
hand-to-hand combat attack he has successfully avoided. When attacked at such
close range, if the attacker fails to achieve any net successes on his attack
roll (that is, when he either cleanly misses on his own or the defender’s dodge
successes reduce his attack to a miss), the defender with Smoldering Karma
Strike can spend Essence and immediately make a reflexive hand-to-hand attack
at his full dice pool. This Charm cannot be used to respond to a counterattack
launched with this or any other Charm.
Unassailable
Body Of Flame Defense
Cost: 4 motes and 1
Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Dodge:
5
Minimum
Essence: 4
Prerequisite
Charms: Smoldering Karma
Strike
Perhaps the most difficult of all the Dodge
Charms known to the Dragon-Blooded, Unassailable Body of Flame Defense
momentarily turns the character’s body to pure flame where an enemy’s weapon
touches it, generally allowing the weapon to pass harmlessly through the
character’s body. The Fire Aspect must have his fiery elemental anima ignited
in order to use this Charm. Only then can he become sufficiently attuned to the
element of fire that he can transform his own body into insubstantial flames.
In any turn in which the character has used this Charm, he can dodge all
physical attacks with his full Dexterity + Dodge pool.