A custom Exalted Martial Arts Style

[grassWatcher]

The inspiration for this style was an image I found a while back (I don't know the original source, and so will refrain from posting it in case of copyright issues; just search synthesist summoner on Google Images, it should be on the second row, all the way to the right) and I used the Snake Style in the core book as a rough starting place. The weapons are cesti, fighting gauntlets, and smashfists

Fearsome Demon Style

Terrifying Aura
Cost: 2m
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
A demonic aura surrounds the Exalt, striking fear into all that look upon him. The Exalt's accuracy and his Dodge or Parry DV are increased by 1 until his next action as his opponents fight off paralyzing fear. This effect is ignored by anyone with Valor higher than the Exalt's Essence or by spending 1 Willpower.

Demonic Strength
Cost: 3m per point
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt augments his strength to give his blows the same force as those of the mightiest demons. For each temporary point of strength the Exalt must spend 3 motes.

Single Minded Assault
Cost: 3m
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terrifying Aura, Demonic Strength
The Exalt bears down on his foe, intently focused on destroying him. The Exalt adds 3 dice to his damage roll, but suffers a -1 DV penalty against any other opponent.

Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Form-Type, Obvious, Illusion
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Single Minded Assault
The Exalt adopts a stance that expresses his cruel dominance of all before him, and demonic illusions appear around his arms and face. Terrifying Aura is automatically applied to every foe the Exalt turns towards (does not stack, 1 willpower ignores the effect for the whole scene), and every enemy must make a Valor check or flee in terror as the Exalt assumes his stance.

Fearsome Strike
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt delivers a tremendous blow to his opponent. Damage is increased by the Exalts Essence post soak and the damage is Lethal.

Beguiling Speed
Cost: 7m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt moves with surprising speed, especially compared to his demonic illusions. +2 to Parry or Dodge DV and -1 to the cost of his action.

Inhuman Endurance
Cost: 4m per soak level
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (step 8)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt uses his essence to augment his body's defenses beyond what is possible even for other Exalted. He may increase both his Bash and Lethal soak 1 point for every 4 motes spent. If this negates all damage, then the attacker must make a Valor check or flee.

Unkillable Monstrosity
Cost: 10m
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inhuman Endurance
The Exalt invokes this charm in response to an attack. The attack must not be unexpected unless the Exalt is in the Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt form. This charm perfectly defends against any attack. After the charm is applied, continue the steps as if the opponent had any hope of injuring the Exalt. Any mundane weapon breaks if the attack would have caused 25L damage before soak. The attacker must make a Valor check or flee.

Never-ending Assault
Cost: 5m per action
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fearsome Strike, Beguiling Speed
The Exalt may attack his foe Stamina + Essence times for 5 motes per attack and a DV penalty equal to only the highest for any 1. If in the Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form, each blow is automatically a Fearsome Strike and the Exalt gains 1 temporary strength point for every attack that hits.

[meschlum]

The forum devours my first post, every time. I am wroth.

I'm not expert, but there appear to be mechanical issues. Some are a matter of presentation, some are more problematic.


Fearsome Demon Style

I suppose this is meant to be a Celestial martial art, so limited to Exalts (not Dragon-bloods) and powerful gods and demons?


Terrifying Aura
Cost: 2m
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Illusion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
A demonic aura surrounds the Exalt, striking fear into all that look upon him. The Exalt's accuracy and his Dodge or Parry DV are increased by 1 until his next action as his opponents fight off paralyzing fear. This effect is ignored by anyone with Valor higher than the Exalt's Essence or by spending 1 Willpower.

Should probably have the Emotion Keyword (possibly instead of Illusion).

The Duration should be "1 action", as that is how long the effect lasts. How does it interact with Extra Action charms or ordinary multiple attacks? A bonus die for two motes for a single attack in a flurry is overpriced (but probably not the case).

+1 to accuracy is essentially a dice adder, but not specified as such, so it might allow you to go beyond the dice limit, which is suspect. If it's an equipment bonus, the Errata has set limits to that so it might not work at all.

+1 to DV has the same issue, though there are explicit limits to DV bonuses somewhere.

Valor higher than Essence becomes inapplicable at Essence 5+, but things are insane there anyway.

Isn't this just a copy of the Dawn anima banner anyway? In which case it shouldn't be done, as the anima banners are supposed to be unique (and if people could buy a Charm granting them Eclipse or Twilight powers they would do so, especially for a Tier 1 (no prerequisites)).


Demonic Strength
Cost: 3m per point
Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt augments his strength to give his blows the same force as those of the mightiest demons. For each temporary point of strength the Exalt must spend 3 motes.

Solars do not do direct attribute modifiers. That's a Lunar trick. This also opens the gate of increasing your dice cap on Strength based rolls, which isn't good news. Especially since you are limited to gaining Strength + Martial Arts dots, so you could get an infinite loop rolling (given enough motes, and there are things with enough motes).

A duration of instant is probably a good idea, as the motes would be committed otherwise.


Single Minded Assault
Cost: 3m
Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Terrifying Aura, Demonic Strength
The Exalt bears down on his foe, intently focused on destroying him. The Exalt adds 3 dice to his damage roll, but suffers a -1 DV penalty against any other opponent.

3 damage and a disadvantage for 3 motes feels a bit expensive.

Solars have charms to remove all penalties, so this is just an incentive to have the relevant charm ready.


Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Form-Type, Obvious, Illusion
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Single Minded Assault
The Exalt adopts a stance that expresses his cruel dominance of all before him, and demonic illusions appear around his arms and face. Terrifying Aura is automatically applied to every foe the Exalt turns towards (does not stack, 1 willpower ignores the effect for the whole scene), and every enemy must make a Valor check or flee in terror as the Exalt assumes his stance.

Again, Emotion keyword.

Having the terror effect trigger "as the stance is assumed" is potentially problematic, since it means that anyone entering the fight later is immune.

Terrifying Aura is rather underwhelming in terms of its effects, and the stance is basically not going to work when gained. You're Essence 2, anyone you fight has Valor 2+, and so is immune. This is a bad place to be.

A stance granting a minor numeric bonus is not a good martial arts stance anyway.


Fearsome Strike
Cost: 5m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt delivers a tremendous blow to his opponent. Damage is increased by the Exalts Essence post soak and the damage is Lethal.

Automatic damage added after soak is, essentially, forbidden. This is because Perfect Soaks are supposed to be a valid form of defense, and an attack that deals damage even if all its damage is perfectly soaked is going into player conflict territory.

Having this charm and a high Essence (required for the Stance to work, after all) means that you can kill anyone with a few hits, whether they soak the damage or not. Again, not a good place to be as it forces your opposition to have lots of health levels - and things with lots of health levels tend to have system breaking powers on the side.

Lethal damage for martial arts is cheap to acquire, and +Essence to damage (pre-soak) is fairly weak for where the charm is on the tree.


Beguiling Speed
Cost: 7m
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt moves with surprising speed, especially compared to his demonic illusions. +2 to Parry or Dodge DV and -1 to the cost of his action.

What is "cost"? Motes? Willpower? Ticks?

Duration is weird again. Should probably be "Action" or such.

+2 to DV is 4 motes cost with a Second Excellency (against a single attack, true), so cost is hard to gauge. 3 motes for -1 Speed is impressive (I think), but at the same time 7 motes is a major part of your pool and this just helps you for one attack... So it's probably overpriced, especially at Essence 2.


Inhuman Endurance
Cost: 4m per soak level
Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (step 8)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form
The Exalt uses his essence to augment his body's defenses beyond what is possible even for other Exalted. He may increase both his Bash and Lethal soak 1 point for every 4 motes spent. If this negates all damage, then the attacker must make a Valor check or flee.

Compare to the price for the Soak increasing Charms, and never use this.


Unkillable Monstrosity
Cost: 10m
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Inhuman Endurance
The Exalt invokes this charm in response to an attack. The attack must not be unexpected unless the Exalt is in the Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt form. This charm perfectly defends against any attack. After the charm is applied, continue the steps as if the opponent had any hope of injuring the Exalt. Any mundane weapon breaks if the attack would have caused 25L damage before soak. The attacker must make a Valor check or flee.

This is a perfect defense. It needs a flaw of invulnerability. Is it a parry or a dodge?

Forcing the opponent to 'continue the attack' is either pointless (mundane weapons will not do 25L damage) or horribly broken (forcing your opponent to spend motes on an attack that cannot work is extremely inappropriate).

Is the Valor check automatically required? It needs a Keyword if so.

Post errata, perfect defenses cost 8 motes. A 2 mote surcharge for weapon breaking and a forced Valor check seems pricy, but then perfect defenses are so it might balance out.


Never-ending Assault
Cost: 5m per action
Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Fearsome Strike, Beguiling Speed
The Exalt may attack his foe Stamina + Essence times for 5 motes per attack and a DV penalty equal to only the highest for any 1. If in the Crouching Demon, Hidden Exalt Form, each blow is automatically a Fearsome Strike and the Exalt gains 1 temporary strength point for every attack that hits.

This makes for a strange martial art, as it has two capstones.

This is an expensive Extra Attack charm, with all the issues that come with Fearsome Strike.

What are temporary strength points? How long do they last? Do they count as dots from Charms? If so, what is the limit?

At Essence 4, it takes two hits with Feasome Strike to kill an opponent (8 damage after soak versus 7 health levels). This is probably an issue.

The charm, used for a single attack, is an improved Fearsome Strike and costs as much. This is not standard Charm design - there are charms that upgrade prior ones, but they do so explicitly, but otherwise the idea of a charm tree is that all the charms in it are useful.

If the Charm is directed at the ground, can it be used to gain unlimited strength?


The general concept of the style is interesting, but the mechanics are not overly clear and have some balance issues, in my view. I'm not up to date on the specific costs and balancing points, so I could be wrong, but it's still not something I'd be comfortable using. It's also fairly low Essence except for the capstones, which seems odd for a Celestial art.

Depending on Valor checks is also an issue when it gets used against you, because you have only 5 dice at most so you (the player) are going to be forced to run when affected at least 7% of the time (worse than the odds of getting a critical hit in D&D, where people worry about that). Virtues are generally hard to boost and lack automatic success routes, so it's a potentially disempowering route to take. Willpower bypasses this, but trading your motes for their willpower is an excellent deal in your favor and therefore a balance issue.

Overall, it looks like you want something that makes its user more powerful (better damage, defense, soak, speed) and tosses terror effects around, with a few special tricks linked to be especially strong, tough, and fast.

The basic boosts can be obtained via the Martial Arts Excellencies or specific minor Charms, possibly inspiring yourself from other Charm trees (or the Solar armor wearing charms, even). Martial Arts charms tend to be less powerful than their 'tier', because anyone can learn them and blend them into a general style, so keep that in mind price-wise (this suggests my worries about things being overpriced, where expressed, might be inappropriate). For the greater effects, you need an impressive Form charm which resonates with the style.

I'd suggest looking at Knockback (because mere mortals are pushed back by the True Power of a Demon!) and an Emotion Supplemental which causes Valor checks (possibly having it trigger on 2+ hits on the same target in one action, to boost the mote cost. Or affecting nearby foes with Essence equal or less than the Essence of the person you kill, to clear extras quickly). Disarm is a form of weapon breaking that works on everyone and can be suitably fluffed (the weapons fall out of their hands from the impact), as a Counter-Attack charm.

To go into weird territory, consider something that gives you a Magnitude boost (so you're better at fighting armies, as your aura grows and you do as well) or mobility options (flight, increased movement, Athletics bonuses).


Incidentally, as I'm semi-contractually obligated to state, Raksha can do a lot of this. Cheap. Just give them a few souls and you're set.