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View Full Version : [Exalted, Sidereal Martial Arts rewrite] Scarlet Patterned Battlefield Style



Maugan Ra
2013-11-21, 02:14 PM
Sidereal Martial Art styles re-write
Made with Sutra revision in mind.

Scarlet-Patterned Battlefield Style

General Notes: I started my revision with this style, mostly because it has some of the clearest and simplest thematics of all the Sidereal styles. It is essentially military ideals and philosophies distilled into a style, and most of the charms are fairly easy to work with. Individually, while a reasonably powerful style, the Scarlet-Patterned Battlefield is nothing particularly special. It reaches it's true potential in mass combat and strategic scenarios.

UNASSAILABLE REBUFF POSITION
Cost: 4m Ability mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Knockback, Obvious, Sutra
Duration: Until Broken
Prerequisites: None

Effects:
The ideal soldier, if given a point to defend, will hold his position until death. Activating this charm, the Martial Artist defines a single area or line, and makes a single, reflexive Blockade Movement roll. This roll is then applied to all targets that seek to cross the line or enter the region, which cannot be more than (essence x3) yards across in any dimension. The martial artist may chose to reflexively exempt certain targets from the effects of this charm, usually to allow the movement of allies. While this charm is active, the martial artist may not make Jump or Dash actions. The moment he does so, the charm is broken.

Sutra: Enemies that fail to overcome the Sidereal's Blockade Movement charm instantly suffer a Knockback effect that moves them to the edge of the warded area, or repel them ten yards away from a warded line. The Sidereal chooses precisely which direction they move, provided this does not place them in immediate peril (no shoving enemies into lava or off cliffs).

Notes: Not a great deal of changes made to this charm. I just tweaked the exact mechanics to reflect the addition of Blockade Movement as an action, and divided it up into the Sutra benefits. I am unsure about the cost, and will likely tweak this further to properly balance the charm against similar effects. It should be noted that the defended area is fixed and does not move. STs are encouraged to take retribution upon players who attempt to define their warded area in ridiculously complicated terms. Finally, the charm was made Reflexive in order to allow better tactical flexibility.

IMPECCABLE PATTERNED DEPLOYMENT
Cost: 4m Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Leader, War
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: None

Effects: Nothing can stop a determined officer, when the objective is within their sight. Activating this charm, the Exalt becomes immune to any effect that might slow or impede their movement. Be it environmental penalties like sucking mud, or active opposition such as a Blockade Movement action, the Exalt (and the mass combat unit they are a special character in, if applicable) perfectly overcomes all impeding effects. Should there be a magical opposition to this freedom of movement, the charm forces a roll off as normal, although the Sidereal adds their essence in automatic successes.

Sutra: By paying a 1wp surcharge and accepting the Obvious keyword, the Exalt and unit may become specifically immaterial as long as they are in motion. Specifically, they are dematerialized for as long as they take no actions other than moving, dashing or guarding. This renders them immune to most attacks (though enemies may elect to hold their actions until the unit attempts an action, striking in the moment of revealed vulnerability) and environmental hazards, and allows the unit to do such impossible things as walking through walls to get to their enemy.

Notes: Not much of a difference from the original charm, though I beefed up the cost of what would become the Sutra-specific upgrade. Being utterly immune to everything except spirit-cutting attacks while in motion is a pretty significant effect, and deserved a willpower cost. I'm still pretty unsure whether the cost is high enough, though.

GLANCE AND STRIDE
Cost: 2m Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Impeccable Patterned Deployment

Effects: Though generals scheme and armies march, often the fate of battle or an entire campaign is decided by one man, in the right place, at the right time. Activating this charm, the martial artist is instantly transported from his present position to any other within his line of sight. There is no distance limitation imposed on this charm, but a 1m surcharge is applied if no unobstructed route exists between the two points. It can only be activated on the Sidereal's action tick.

Sutra: The Sidereal has mastered the art of ultimate battlefield mobility, and may extend that benefit to others. The charm gains the Leader keyword, and may be used to transport a mass combat unit with a maximum magnitude of (essence).

Notes: Aside from the upgraded Sutra effect, this charm remains almost exactly the same as the original write-up. It is, in the right circumstances, an exceptionally useful battlefield tool, quite unlike anything else (and outright superior to the Solar flash-step charm, for which I will not apologise).

WITHOUT STRATEGY ARRANGEMENT
Cost: 5m, 1wp Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Sutra
Duration: One Action
Prerequisites: None

Effects: No plan survives contact with the enemy, they say, for how can one prepare to face something utterly unpredictable? So long as the Sidereal keeps the essence committed to this charm, he is utterly immune to any kind of directed counter-attack, as the enemy simply cannot accurately predict his movements well enough to take advantage of them. Indiscriminate counter-attacks, such as simply swamping the area in an environmental hazard, are still effective. Finally, he can utterly bypass the secondary DV bestowed by a Defend Other on his target.

Sutra: The Sidereal realises the advantages of being utterly unpredictable, and may choose to extend the duration to one scene in exchange for adding the Social keyword. In addition to allowing it's benefits to apply in social combat (and only in social combat, for the scene-long version), he becomes utterly immune to most attempts to read his motivation, intentions or intimacies. Magically perfect effects provoke a roll-off as normal.

Notes: This one was tricky, and I'm not too sure about it. The original was rather bad, as rolling a dice to potentially nullify every attack against you was needlessly awkward, and having a scene-long effect that automatically granted you surprise attacks divided your enemies into 'those with surprise negators' and 'dead'.

FALLEN IVORY DEFENSE
Cost: 2m per target, 1wp Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Sutra
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Unassailable Rebuff Position, Glance and Stride, Without Strategy Arrangement

Effects: It is the cruel math of the battlefield that not all men are equal. Some simply have more value, and must be protected above all others. But what if the enemy should threaten them all at once? By activating this charm, the martial artist names a number of individuals up to his Essence, committing two motes for each in order to declare a Defend Other action on them. So long as the motes remain committed, each target continues to receive the full benefits of of this protection, regardless of distance, as the martial artist teleports reflexively to their side in order to protect them from harm.

Sutra: The Sidereal realises that the mere fact of his protection is enough to ward his charges from harm. By committing an additional three motes when this charm is activated, the defended targets may continue to receive the benefits of the Defend Other action even if the Sidereal chooses not to shift his position to support them. A crimson blur of essence materializes instead, warding off the attack before vanishing. This does prevent most enemies from switching their attacks to the defending character, unless they are armed with ranged weapons and have a clear line of sight. However, if the attacker manages to overcome the Sidereal's DV, the Defend Other action on that particular target is terminated for the rest of the tick before reasserting itself, unless the Sidereal willingly appears in person.

Notes: The original charm was obviously written before the introduction of the Defend Other action, so I altered it a bit to work more smoothly with the appropriate action. It still feels a bit wordy, though. In any case, the ability to ward multiple characters at once balances out the loss of mote-discounting sutras, and the sutra effect itself allows a Sidereal to defend their interests without once exposing themselves.

SCARLET-PATTERNED BATTLEFIELD FORM
Cost: 8m Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Form-Type, Obvious, Emotion, Sutra
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Fallen Ivory Defense

Effects: To his allies, the superior General is a glorious hero and bringer of victory, who inspires them to heights undreamed of. To his enemies, he is a blood-soaked bringer of death, a terrible nightmare who can never be defeated. By adopting this form, the martial artist comes to embody this duality.

All allies within line of sight of the martial artist automatically pass all Valour checks and gain a +1 bonus to their Might. If they are essence wielders, they gain a 5-mote Overdrive pool that fills at a rate of 1m per action while they can see the martial artist. If they are mortals, they gain the ability to soak lethal damage with their stamina as Exalts do. Finally, any and all allied extras with line of sight to the martial artist no longer count as extras for all purposes while they maintain that contact.

By contrast, all enemies (defined by the martial artist at the moment of activation) within line of sight suffer a -1 external penalty to the difficulty of their rout checks. If the check was directly caused by the actions of the martial artist, this penalty increases to -(essence/2). Any attacks made against the martial artist suffer a -2 external penalty due to a fear-based emotion effect, though this can be resisted for the scene at the cost of 3wp.

Sutra: Upon assuming this form, the Sidereal's touch brings cruel death to his enemies and merciful relief to his allies. All the Sidereal's unarmed attacks have their raw damage increased by his Valour. Meanwhile, touching an ally automatically restores a number of lost non-aggravated health levels equal to the Sidereal's Compassion. A particular ally may only be healed by this effect once per scene.

Notes: This is one of the more severe changes I made to the charms in the style, mostly because the original was horribly overpowered. Unblockable and/or Undodgeable attacks, massive DV boosts, and the ability to cripple your foe's virtues. And, if you were running the Elder Sutra, all of this was for the princely cost of a single mote.

So I changed the effects somewhat to a hopefully more balanced and yet still appealing form, while keeping the thematics of the 'twin-faced avatar of war' that the original had going. It's now a generally large-scale positive/negative buff for the army your stylist hopefully fights alongside or leads, rather than making you into an army all by yourself.

VICTORY OF THE CHEAT
Cost: 10m, 1wp Ability Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Obvious, Shaping, Sutra, War
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Scarlet-Patterned Battlefield form

Effects: Much has been made of the parallels between the course of a battle and the moves of the Gateway board, elaborate allegories portraying opposing generals as rival players sitting across a game board, each move and counter-move of their armies conducted according to strict rules. But rules only have power as long as both sides agree to obey them.

So long as the essence remains committed to this charm, the character may take a miscellaneous action to utterly rearrange the placement of all Mass Combat units within his line of sight, shifting their locations, formations and orientations as desired, though he cannot break large units apart or merge smaller ones together into a cohesive whole. Nor can any unit be placed into an immediately lethal environment (such as 'two miles in the air' if they lack the ability to fly. The ST should exercise discretion here). Solo units are valid targets, which also allows the charm to function in personal scale combat. Mortals have no way of resisting this charm, but essence users instinctually understand what is happening and may choose to roll willpower against a difficulty of the Sidereal's essence in order to remain in place.

Sutra: The Sidereal gains the ability to break up or merge units as they desire. This explicitly does allow for unit commanders and special characters to be moved out of their retinues, often into tactically disadvantageous positions - surrounded by the Wyld Hunt, for example.

Notes: Not an incredible amount has changed on a fundamental level from the original charm, save the duration. Rather than just putting up the Elder sutra and paying 5m every time the character wishes to rearrange the battlefield, most of which would be rapidly stunted back, the sidereal now has to commit a fair portion of energy to keeping his chess master role open.

SINGULAR ESCAPE STRATAGEM
Cost: 6m Ability Mins: Martial Arts 6, Essence 6
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Obvious, Sutra
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Scarlet-Patterned Battlefield Form

Effects: When he learns this charm, the Martial Artist comes to understand a fundamental truth of the universe - perfection is a lie. There is always a flaw, no matter how minor or well hidden. And, knowing that, he learns to exploit it.

This charm enhances an unarmed martial arts attack, which may not be part of a flurry. The Sidereal specifies a single action or course of action, which can be anything that could reasonably be accomplished within the targets next two actions (ongoing effects, like 'hold your ground', are equally applicable - they will simply end after two rounds). This specific Flaw of Invulnerability overrules and replaces any Flaw possessed by a charm that the opponent may activate in response to the supplemented attack.

The Obvious tag means that the opponent becomes fully aware, on step one, of just what he will be required to do if he wishes to activate any kind of perfect defense against the attack - though this is more of a dramatic necessity brought about by the Sidereal's technique than outright magical compulsion. It is not possible to spend willpower to resist this effect, but any other charm that would defeat a Compulsion effect is a valid means of defense, at the Storyteller's discretion. And, of course, if the target declines to activate such a charm and the attack roll fails to overcome the DV normally, then nothing further happens.

The target of this charm also always has the option of defaulting to a Flaw of Invulnerability of 'for the next ten ticks, take no non-reflexive actions', as they are forced into a defensive posture by their attempts to avoid the onslaught.

Sutra: The Sidereal may pay a +4m and 1wp surcharge on this charm in order to also render the supplemented attack Unblockable and Undodgeable.

GREAT THINKER'S DEFENSE MANEUVER
Cost: 8m Ability Mins: Martial Arts 6, Essence 6
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack, Sutra
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Victory of the Cheat, Singular Escape Stratagem.

Effects: Against lesser opponents, it can be a sound strategy to simply attempt to bury them under weight of numbers. Against the master strategist, such a tactic merely accelerates the slaughter, as he turns the strength of the attackers against one another.

As long as this charm is active, the martial artist suffers no DV penalties for his own attack actions, and he does not suffer onslaught penalties from flurries or coordinated attacks. Similarly, surrounding him does not provide an unexpected attack. For every attack made against the martial artist while this charm is in effect that fails to pass his DV, he receives one free stocked reflexive attack, as per the normal rules for such effects.

Sutra: Whenever the Sidereal receives his full allotment of (essence) stored reflexive attacks in a single tick, he may choose to expend them all in order to make a single unarmed attack roll, which is then applied equally to all foes (defined as those currently rolled into battle against the Sidereal) within Line of Sight.

Notes: Yup, I pretty much completely re-wrote this one, since the original was essentially a scene-long perfect defense that could only be overcome by superior numbers. Which sucks pretty hard for the guy who is trying to take on the Sidereal in a climactic final duel. So now you have a charm which makes you ever-more fantastically lethal as the number of incoming attacks increases.

THE EMPRESS LIVES FOR ALL
Cost: 10m, 1wp Ability Mins: Martial Arts 6, Essence 6
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Shaping, Sutra
Duration: Until Released
Prerequisites: Great Thinker's Defensive Manever

Effects: To defeat an army, slay it's leader. In the annals of war, there are few truths held to be more fundamental or self-evident. This charm merely makes the aphorism more literal than usual.

Upon activating this charm within visual range of a single, pre-defined target, the fates of all that target's subordinates and allies within line of sight are immediately bound to his. For the purposes of this charm, 'subordinates' are assumed to be any individuals who acknowledge the target's military, spiritual or political authority over them (ST judgement may be required for certain cases), while 'allies' are defined as anybody who holds a positive intimacy towards the target.

Until the essence is released, any effect applied to the target in Step 10 of combat resolution is likewise applied as an unavoidable Shaping effect to all of those subordinates or allies. This includes damage, knockdown, poison and all the other assorted woes that can befall such a high value target. However, anyone who would be slain by transferred damage and the like is instead simply knocked unconscious.

Sutra: The Five-Score Fellowship, as the name suggests, do not have the numbers to personally attend to eliminating every potential enemy from the field of battle. And yet, many organisations have demonstrated a frustrating ability to rebuild themselves from even the most scattered survivors of otherwise fatal purges. The master of this style resolves these problems with enviable efficiency.

If the target of this charm holds an official position in any kind of hierarchy, then slaying them simultaneously 'slays' the relevant part of the organization as well. This is obviously not a literal fact, since squads and divisions and religions do not (usually) have an actual life to take, but they are none the less obviously destroyed - typically by a series of improbable coincidences. The day after the unfortunate demise of the High Priest, for example, the local authorities may be moved to declare the religion illegal and conduct an (obviously long-planned) purge of it's members and holdings. The player defines the exact method this systematic destruction occurs, and should be granted considerable leeway.

This effect explicitly only impacts those members and divisions of a hierarchy subordinate to the slain target. Killing a fang-lord will not dissolve an entire Legion, but slaying it's general would. The effect is optional, and entirely under the Sidereal's control.

Elder Sutra: One cannot play the game of kings and generals if one cannot even tell apart the pieces on the board. As a permanent effect, upon mastering this Style, the Sidereal gains the ability to tell at a glance exactly which characters within their line of sight consider themselves subordinates and/or allies of those around them, as defined in The Empress Lives for All.

Possessing such a dry and instinctive grasp for the delicate social networks that make up most of society does not automatically make one callous and dismissive of the mere 'pawns', but living with it for decades or centuries probably will, without careful effort to the contrary.