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View Full Version : Dance Dance Reclamation! [Exalted][Malfeas Charms]



The Demented One
2009-04-24, 02:00 PM
Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates
Cost: 3m, 1wp
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 1 or 2)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None

Few know the secret passion of Malfeas, his hidden love of dance. For Malfeas, the dance is the only time when he can ever truly be free, free from the shackles the gods forged from him, free from his twisted, reshaped self, free from his own self-hatred. Those Infernal Exalted who have danced with the devil by the green sun’s light know the true power that lies in Malfeas’s dances. Whenever an Infernal using this Charm is attacked, they may substitute their (Performance) for either their Dodge or Parry DVs if it is higher (after DV penalties have been applied; they do not apply to the special Performance DV). In addition, they become immune to fatigue of all kinds, capable of dancing till the very end of the world.

Finally, while they dance, they may choose to conjure up otherworldly music to accompany them, music that comes from nowhere. For Slayers, it is always a loud blare of brass and martial drums, a war-like beat that stirs hearts and frightens foes. The music of the Malefactors is a rapid virtuoso display of strings, violins and deep cellos playing an ostinato melody. Defilers manifest the perfect order of She Who Lives In Her Name in a tremendously complex organ fugue, a point and counterpoint of dozens of subjects at once. Adorjan detests noise of any sort; thus Scourges do not conjure up music, but rather silence all things around them, replacing the noise of their own dance with the sounds of rushing wind. Fiends find that the only music they can call up is a single song, a dark parody of a wedding march replete with minor chords, tritones, and the tolling of leaden bells.

Beauty Chills The Blood
Cost: 3m per attack
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

So great and terrible is the beauty of dancing Malfeas that all things must either cower or flee before it. This Charm allows the Infernal to make a magical flurry of two or more Melee or Martial Arts attacks, to a maximum of (Essence + 1). These attacks are made regardless of the weapon's Rate, without multiple action penalties, and with a DV penalty equal only to the highest penalty for any one attack. In addition, if the Infernal has Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates invoked, then each attack in the flurry inflicts double the normal onslaught penalties.

A second purchase of this Charm at Essence 4 increases the maximum number of attacks to (Essence + 3).

Reaping Blade Pirouette
Cost: – (+1wp)
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Beauty Chills The Blood

Spinning and twisting like a ballerina or a whirling dervish, a Green Sun Prince’s dancing blades elegantly caress his foes, leaving them stained scarlet. This Charm enhances Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates. Whenever the Infernal uses it, he may pay an additional willpower. If he does, the rate of any weapon he wields becomes equal to his (Performance), to a maximum of rate 5.

Dancing Atop Thunderbolts
Cost: – (+5m, 1wp)
Mins: Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Reaping Blade Pirouette

Malfeas dances on the blades of his enemies, the breath of dragons, even the ultimately swift arc of the lightning bolt. His speed is unquestioned, insuperable by any. This Charm enhances Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates. Whenever the Infernal uses it, he may pay an additional five motes and one willpower. If he does, then whenever he takes an action, he may reflexively pay any number of motes to reduce its speed by one for each mote spent, to a minimum of 3. At Essence 6, actions can be reduced to speed 2; at Essence 8, to speed 1.

If the Infernal uses a flurry, then he must spend motes separately for each action whose speed he wishes to reduce, using the highest modified speed of any of the actions for the flurry’s speed. Thus, if he wished to reduce the speed of a flurry to 3, he must pay separately to reduce each action’s speed to 3. However, a second purchase of this Charm at Essence 5 removes this requirement; he may spend motes to reduce the speed of a flurry as if it were a normal action.

Gracious Acceptance of Bloody Applause
Cost: – (+2m)
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

When the dance is finished, the dancers bow deep, breathing in the adoration of their audience. And so it is that when an Infernal’s adoring audience circles round him to applaud him with their blades, he bows deep below their weapons, grateful to know their adoration. Whenever the Infernal invokes Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates, they may pay an additional two motes. If they do, they may ignore all coordinated attack penalties imposed on their DV for the duration of the scene.

A second purchase at Essence 4 extends this Charm’s applicability to mass combat. Just as the Infernal ducks under coordinated attacks, he learns to evade encirclement, dancing circles around enemy armies. Enemies attempting to make an enveloping attack against his mass combat unit must have a Magnitude that exceeds the Infernal’s by his (Performance).

Lover Seeks The Last Dance
Cost: 3m
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

Malfeas ever hastens to the dance, never willing to let his partner escape their final dance. When the Infernal uses this Charm, he may move up to (Performance x 5) yards to engage an enemy. No matter how far he moves, he must end his movement next to an enemy–if there are not any within (Performance x 5) yards, this Charm is of no use. In addition, if the Infernal has Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates invoked, then the first attack he makes in the same action against that enemy cannot be parried, the momentous force of the dance driving it past all defenses.

Unlearning of Limits
Cost: –
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Lover Seeks The Last Dance

As he dances, Malfeas forgets all things that bind him, unlearning what his imprisonment has taught him. This Charm permanently enhances Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates. While the Infernal has it invoked, they may dance on vertical or inverted surfaces such as walls or ceilings, just as if they were perfectly normal ground. If the Exalt is still on an otherwise impossible surface when Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates ends, he falls normally.

Outworld Rhythm Tantra
Cost: 5m
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

What difference is their between slaughter and revelry? Malfeas makes no such distinction. Striking with elegance and grace, the Infernal makes an attack that seems little more than an exotic dance move. He might perform a handstand and kick up at his opponents, lunge out with a brutal arabesque, or slaughter his foes with a waltz step. This Charm supplements a Melee or Martial Arts attack, adding a number of post-soak successes equal to the Infernal’s (Performance).

In addition, if the Infernal has Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates invoked, then a successful attack knocks the enemy back by a number of yards equal to the Infernal’s (Performance). Targets that strike hard objects take one die of damage for each yard they would have otherwise traveled–typically bashing damage, but some surfaces may inflict lethal damage. If multiple attacks in a flurry are supplemented by the Outworld Rhythm Tantra, then the knockback occurs at the end of the flurry, and the number of yards traveled is cumulative from each attack.

Soft Footfalls Rouse The Chained Dragon
Cost: 2m per square yard or 10m
Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

Beneath the earth, the Kukla lies bound at the will of the Unconquered Sun. Malfeas knows the suffering she endures, and wishes he could alleviate her pain. See how he calls out to her, begging her to dance with him! With a pounding dance step, the Infernal stomps the ground. He can shatter the ground beneath him, spending two motes for each square yard. All characters in the effected space must succeed on a (Dexterity+Athletics) check, at a difficulty of the Infernal’s Essence, or suffer knockdown. The Infernal can target any area of ground he can see, shaping the area as he wishes, but the entire area must be contiguous–he could not leave certain squares unaffected, or divide up the area between two locations. This Charm can only be used to effect soil or unworked stone–it would be of no use indoors, on sand, at sea, or at any other location where the earth is not immediately accessed.

A second purchase allows the Infernal to raise up a pillar of stone from the earth, lifting up him and all characters with (Performance x 5) yards. The pillar stands (Essence x 10) feet high, and is made of solid stone. Using the Charm in this way costs 10 motes. At Essence 6, he may instead raise up a coiling tower of brass. This does not change the mechanical effect of the Charm, but the tower is always considered an area built for habitation.

Slave to the Dance
Cost: –
Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates

Nothing keeps Malfeas from his dance–not the wrath of the gods, not the blades of the Exalted, not even the embarrassed chastisements of Ligier. This Charm permanently enhances Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates. While it is invoked, the Infernal treats any command that would require him to stop dancing to perform as an unacceptable order. Actions that could be performed while dancing are not affected.

In addition, the Infernal does not gain Limit when he spends Willpower to resist unnatural mental influence. However, in any scene in which he is aware of an audience and does not dance, he gains one point of Limit. This effect is not optional.

Green Sun’s Secret Shame
Cost: – (+10m, 1wp)
Mins: Essence 5
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Compulsion, Obvious
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Dancing Atop Thunderbolts, Outworld Rhythm Tantra, Slave to the Dance

The green sun of Malfeas, the fetich soul Ligier, finds his master’s dances unbearably embarrassing. Nevertheless, even his will is not mighty enough to resist the manic call of the dance. Whenever the Infernal invokes Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates, they may pay an additional ten motes and one willpower. If they do, they unleash a powerful compulsion that forces even their most hateful foes to dance. All characters within (Performance x 10) yards must roll (Wits+Integrity) at a difficulty equal to the Infernal’s (Performance), or fall prey to this compulsion, but they lose all dice before Charms.

Characters that succumb to the compulsion must dance on every action. They can take no action other than to dance around the Infernal. They may resist this unnatural mental influence for one action by spending a point of Willpower, but doing so reduces their Dexterity to 0 for the action, as they must fight the unnatural motions of their own body. Once a character has spent Willpower equal to the Infernal’s Essence, they are freed of the compulsion.

Death Waltz of the Demon City
Cost: 50m, 3wp
Mins: Essence 5
Type: Simple (Special)
Keywords: Blasphemy, Compulsion, Sorcerous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Green Sun’s Secret Shame, Soft Footfalls Rouse the Chained Dragon

Should Malfeas ever be freed of his imprisonment within himself, he would return to Creation, full of wrath and hatred. But he would raise no sword, no brands of green flame, no rains of vitriol. He would dance. He would dance till the seas ran red with blood, till the stars fell from the skies, till the gods cast themselves into Oblivion to escape the mind-destroying beauty. He would dance the apocalypse.

An Infernal must already have Ecstatic Revelry at the Brazen Gates invoked to use this Charm. As he does, a mandala of green fire appears at his feet, representing all of Creation. At the same time, his anima banner flares totemic. Sigils in Old Realm appear within his anima, and begin falling downward towards the mandala. Each sigil indicates a direction of Creation–north, south, east, west, or center–and as the sigils fall into the mandala, the Infernal must step on the direction so indicated, weaving an intricate dance of destruction. The otherworldy music of his dance takes on a pulsing, inhuman rhythm, and green fire limns his flesh as he dances, though without harm to him.

After using this Charm, the Infernal may take a number of special dance actions (Speed 5, DV -4) up to his Essence. Each time he does, he rolls (Charisma+Performance), keeping a cumulative total of the successes rolled. These dance actions are much like shape sorcery actions, in that the Infernal cannot take voluntary reflexive actions and cannot activate Charms or Combos–with the exception of Malfeas’s excellencies, which may be used to enhance the Performance roll. However, the Infernal does not risk losing his concentration if attacked–he is too committed to the dance for such hindrances to have any effect.

Once the Infernal has taken as many dance actions as he chooses to (or as many as he can), the dance is complete. Two massive Old Realm sigils appear in the sky, traced by green fire–the glyph for “dance,” one appearing over the Infernal, the other appearing over where he casts his wrath. The mandala beneath his feet extends to cover hundreds of yards, and becomes the Old Realm sigil for “Reclamation.” Then, in a burst of Malfean wrath, a pillar of green flame erupts anywhere within 200 yards.

The pillar of flame is 50 yards in diameter and five miles high. It is unblockable and undodgeable, and deals unsoakable levels of lethal damage equal to the total number of successes rolled to all characters caught in it. It then flares out in a cataclysmic blast that deals 10 levels of unsoakable lethal damage to all characters in a 100 yard spread. All damage from the Death Waltz effects incorporeal characters as if they were materialized, and is aggravated to gods, and the souls of creatures killed by it are permanently destroyed (although this does not apply to beings with perfect reincarnation, such as Dragon Kings, until Essence 7). Characters with Charms that allow them to perfectly defend against unblockable or undodgeable attacks can use them to negate all damage from this. All characters that survive the blast immediately begin dancing, as the Green Sun’s Secret Shame Charm, although they receive no roll to resist this–they may only escape the compulsion by spending Willpower. The green fire mars and maims the essence flows of the surrounding land, tainting even it with the whim of Malfeas–thus, any character that enters the area of the blast for the next (Essence x 10) years also succumbs to the urge to dance. The maiming of essence flows also changes the aspect of any demesnes (but not manses) within the area, causing them to become aspected either to Vitriol or Malfeas himself.

The Tygre
2009-04-24, 03:13 PM
Yes! Infernal charms! I'm saving up my money just so I can get a three pack for the Malfeas, Infernal, and Fae sourcebooks.

The Demented One
2009-04-24, 07:06 PM
Yes! Infernal charms! I'm saving up my money just so I can get a three pack for the Malfeas, Infernal, and Fae sourcebooks.
And I don't think you'll ever regret it.