Endurance Charms
Ox-Body Technique
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Endurance: Varies
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Terrestrial Exalted may not
be quite as resilient as the Anathema they oppose, but they can still take a
good deal more punishment than normal humans. Like their Solar
enemies, the Dragon-Blooded may buy extra health levels as if they were a
Charm.
Each level of the Dragon-Blooded
Ox-Body Technique provides one -1 and one -2 health level. Characters cannot
take Ox-Body Technique more times than they have points of Endurance.
Unsleeping Earth Meditation
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: None
By simply invoking the strength
of the Earth Dragon, a Dragon-Blooded using this Charm is able to go without
sleep for 24 hours without ill effect. The character suffers no penalties of
any kind during this period due to fatigue from sleep and is fully alert. The
character still has to rest from physical exertion.
Using this Charm for more than
the character’s Essence + Endurance days is not recommended. For every day past
that point, the Exalt loses one temporary Willpower
per day. This Willpower cannot be recovered until he has had at least 24 hours
of uninterrupted sleep.
Uneating Earth Meditation
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Unsleeping
Earth Meditation
Stone does not need nourishment,
and with this Charm, neither do the Dragon-Blooded. A character under the
influence of this Charm does not need to eat or drink. The Exalted functions
perfectly well with no nourishment whatsoever and suffers none of the penalties
associated with hunger.
Using this Charm for more than
the character’s Essence + Endurance days is remarkably hard on the body. For
every day past that point, the character loses one bashing health level per
day, which cannot be healed until use of the Charm is discontinued. Most Terrestrial
Exalted using this Charm for extended periods tend to go without its effects
for a day or two before reinvoking it.
Unbreathing Earth Meditation
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Uneating
Earth Meditation
The mountains do not breathe.
Neither need a Dynast who has mastered this Charm. For
the rest of the scene after activating this Charm, the Dragon-Blooded does not
breathe. She can survive under water, in clouds of poison gas and in other
asphyxiating environments with no ill effects whatsoever.
Keep in mind that, for the
duration of the Charm, the character is incapable of breathing. This also means
that speech is out of the question, since the noise of it is caused by expelling
air. This Charm can be used on others, if they are willing. All the character
need do to affect a voluntary target is to simply touch him.
Unfeeling Earth Meditation
Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Varies
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Endurance: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Unbreaking
Earth Meditation
The pain and frailty of mortal
flesh may be avoided for very short periods of time by the invocation of this
Charm. Once active, the character may ignore all wound penalties for a number of
turns equal to his Stamina + Endurance. This Charm does nothing to actually
protect the character from damage ― it only temporarily alleviates the
symptoms of injury.
Untiring Earth Meditation
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Unsleeping
Earth Meditation
This Charm roots the
Dragon-Blooded’s Essence down into the elemental Earth, magically sustaining him.
As long as the Dragon-Blood’s feet touch the earth once every two turns, he
incurs no fatigue whatsoever from any source, whether it be armor, encumbrance,
great physical exertion or magical effect. This Charm does not relieve fatigue
already present when it is invoked, however. The Dynast under the influence of
the Charm also may ignore wound penalties up to his permanent Essence rating.
If the character does not touch the earth at last once every two turns, this
Charm is instantly disrupted.
Unflagging Vengeance Meditation
Cost: 3 motes + 1 Willpower
Duration: Until satisfied
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 4
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Unfeeling
Earth Meditation, Untiring Earth Meditation
As well as protecting an
Exalted’s flesh from harm, the steady strength of the Earth Dragon can be used
to fuel the inner flame of vengeance. This Charm is invoked through speaking
aloud the terms for the vendetta, to which the character commits himself with
all his soul. The goal must be a simply stated purpose such as, “Find the
person who killed my father” or “Avenge the stain to my honor inflicted upon me
by the cowardly vassal of the Lord of Singing Birds.”
Until the terms of the vendetta
are fulfilled, the Exalted does not need to eat, sleep or rest, so long as he
remains in pursuit of the vendetta. The character incurs no penalties from any
sort of fatigue, whether it be magical or natural. He
will walk tirelessly and fight tirelessly in pursuit of his aim and takes no
fatigue from armor. He may soak both lethal and bashing damage with his
Stamina, and he adds his Endurance to both his lethal and bashing soaks.
Unflagging Vengeance Meditation
can be sustained without ill effect for up to the Exalt’s Essence in days.
After that, the character begins losing one health level of unsoakable bashing
damage every time his Essence in days passes. The Exalted grows pale and draw,
his face set into a mask of vengeance. These health levels may be healed only
after the Charm is allowed to lapse. Healing damage taken from this effect of
the Unflagging Vengeance Meditation takes twice as long as usual.
A number of additional
characters can join the vendetta equal to the Essence of the character
initiating the oath. Other characters involved must each pay a point of temporary
Willpower to take the oath. Unflagging Vengeance Meditation ends when either
the vendetta is satisfied or the individual who invoked it consciously stops
it. If anyone involved terminates her part in the oath prematurely, she takes a
number of unsoakable levels of lethal damage equal to the sum of the permanent
Essences of the characters involved. This damage may not be reduced in any
fashion, either with armor or natural protection.
Sleep
Of Stones Trance
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One hour
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Unsleeping Earth Meditation
The Exalt assumes a meditative position and becomes perfectly
still, clearing his mind of all thoughts as he locks his gaze forward without
really seeing. The character does not actually sleep or dream in this trance and
regains no Essence for meditating, but remains peripherally aware of his
surroundings. If the character experiences any substantial distraction or
interruption, he may prematurely and reflexively snap out of his torpid reverie
to confront the situation. Ignoring the distraction and remaining in the trance
requires a Temperance roll at standard difficulty. If the character goes a full
hour without leaving the trance, roll one die. Success restores one point of
Willpower, while a failure or botch indicates the meditation provided no real
benefit except to rest the character’s body. Characters may not use this Charm
more times in a day than their Endurance rating, and trances broken by
distractions count against this limit. Dragon-Blooded with Essence 3+ may
explicitly use Sleep of Stones Trance to regain Willpower points lost by
overusing Unsleeping Earth Meditation, allowing these disciplined stoics to go
indefinitely without sleep so long as they regularly meditate.
Breath
Of Earth Trance
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Until broken
Type: Simple
Minimum Endurance: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Sleep of Stones Trance
The character sinks into deep meditation, opening her
consciousness and soul to the breath of the Elemental Dragons flowing through
the world. Whenever the character experiences a substantial distraction and
after each hour that passes, roll her Temperance to maintain the trance. The
difficulty starts at one and increases by +1 after every two successive checks.
A failure or botch on any of these Temperance rolls breaks the meditation and
ends the Charm. For each hour the Exalt remains in the trance, she recovers
(her permanent Essence + 8) motes. Hours spent using Breath of Earth Trance
refresh the soul even better than time spent asleep, possibly supplanting the
need for sleep altogether. Characters using Breath of Earth Trance for at least
four consecutive hours may regain Willpower with a standard Conviction roll,
but players of Exalted only receive one Conviction roll for their characters to
regain Willpower each day regardless of the number of hours they sleep or
meditate with this Charm.
Breath of Earth Trance only functions within Creation.
Dragon-Blooded cannot concentrate on the Essence of their patrons inside the
tainted energies of a shadowland or Wyld zone, let alone in the Deep Wyld,
Malfeas, Autocthonia or the Underworld. The sanctums of the little gods and the
Celestial City of Yu-Shan are considered part of Creation for the purpose of
this Charm.
Purifying
Blood Ascendancy
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Endurance: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Uneating Earth Meditation
The Terrestrial Exalted calls upon the blood of the Elemental
Dragons to awaken and cleanse her body of dangerous impurities. Liquid Essence
glows visibly as it spreads through the arteries and veins beneath her skin, growing
into a web of vibrant pulsing light the color of her anima. Characters can use
this Charm to completely rid themselves of a single disease they have
contracted or to completely nullify a single toxin currently present in their
bodies. Once this Charm has purged a disease or poison, the character becomes
completely immune to that impurity and may ignore any and all future exposure without
a Resistance roll for a number of days equal to her permanent Essence.
Characters may also use this Charm to cleanse all wounds of infection, which
also serves to make their bodies immune to any infection for days equal to
Essence. Purifying Blood Ascendancy does not aid against magical plagues and
poisons. Characters may use this Charm while unconscious or otherwise incapacitated,
making this an effective defense against paralytic venom.