< Varanim The Last | SI Characters | Zahara Zhan >
Charms
Melee
| Excellent Strike |
| 1 mote per die; Instant; Supplemental |
| For each mote spent, add 1 die to a single attack, no more than doubling the total Dex+Melee pool. |
| Hungry Tiger Technique |
| 1 mote; Instant; Supplemental |
| On a successful attack, extra successes count twice for damage. Must be used before the attack roll. |
| Fire and Stones Strike |
| 1 mote per die; Instant; Supplemental |
| Add a die of damage to attack per mote spent, up to Strength rating. Must be activated before the attack roll. |
| Undaunted Weapon Technique |
| 2 motes; Instant; Supplemental |
| Next strike ignores penalties from illusion, visibility, shields, and cover. |
| Serpent Strike Technique |
| 3 motes; Instant; Supplemental |
| Add Dexterity + Melee in dice to a single Dexterity + Melee attack. |
| Steel Symphony Dance |
| 5 motes, 1 Willpower; Scene; Simple |
| Add dice equal to Melee rating to all Melee attacks this scene. |
| Inevitable Strike |
| 3 motes, 1 Willpower; Instant; Supplemental |
| Make a single melee attack roll guaranteed to hit, no matter how many successes are rolled (perfect attack). |
Endurance
| Ox-Body Technique |
| None; Permanent; Special |
| Add one -1 health level and 2 -2 health levels. |
| Radiant Essence Technique |
| None; Permanent; Special |
| Get an additional 10 points of peripheral essence, stored in a separate "radiant" pool that recharges 2 motes per hour spent in direct sunlight. |
Presence
| Harmonious Presence Meditation |
| 6 motes; One hour; Simple |
| Add permanent Essence in dice to Socialize, Presence, or Bureaucracy checks for one-on-one interactions. |
Investigation
| Ten Magistrate Eyes |
| 3 motes; One scene; Supplemental |
| Add Essence in automatic successes to Investigation rolls for this scene. |
| Crafty Observation Method |
| 5 motes; Instant; Simple |
| Reconstruct an event from undisturbed physical evidence. For disturbed evidence, make a Perception + Investigation roll with a difficulty determined by the disruption. |
| Owner-Locating Method |
| 4 motes; Instant; Simple |
| Handle an object for several moments, then learn the identity of the object’s most recent owner. Also make a Wits + Investigation roll with a difficulty equal to the owner’s Permanent Essence; on a success, learn the approximate distance, within an order of magnitude, that the owner is from current location. |
| Death Revealing Method |
| 3 motes; Instant; Simple |
| Touch a weapon and learn the appearance of the person it last killed and who was using it. If used on a corpse or part of a corpse, see the person as they looked when alive and learn their name and how they died. |
| History-Extracting Glance |
| 10 motes, 1 Willpower; One hour; Simple |
| Study an object for one hour, then roll Intelligence + Investigation. Number of successes determines how far into the object’s history user can reach — one success might be a few years, while seven successes would reach to the depths of the First Age. For that period, learn where it went, who owned it, and what notable events it played a part in. The object must have been actively involved in the events for the Solar to receive any information. |
| Judge's Ear Technique |
| 6 motes; One scene; Reflexive |
| Know if a specific target is lying. |
| Evidence-Discerning Method |
| 6 motes, 1 Willpower; Instant; Simple |
| Sort through evidence left by a person to make a psychological profile of them. More evidence means better data (suggest Crafty Observation Method); materials mixed in with another person's will give a distorted picture. |
| Unknown Wisdom Epiphany |
| 10 motes, 1 Willpower; Instant; Simple |
| Retrace a person's steps at a scene and see what happened in flashback, including the Nature and surface feelings of the subject. |
| Connection-Revealing Method |
| 10 motes, 1 Willpower; Varies; Simple |
| Pick two things and roll Intelligence + Investigation; learn the most immediate connection between them (more successes means more detail). |
| Abiding Blood Observation |
| 4 motes; Instant; Simple |
| See blood dripping from the hands of anyone within 10 yards who's killed in the last 5 days (amount proportional to numbers). |
Lore
| Lore-Unearthing Method |
| 4 motes; Instant; Supplemental |
| Rolls Wits + Lore; find desired information (if present) in a collection of documents within sixty minutes, minus five minutes for each success rolled. |
| Forgotten Secrets Technique |
| 1 mote per die; Instant; Supplemental |
| Add one die per mote spent to a Perception + Lore or Intelligence + Lore roll involving secrets or arcane knowledge, no more than doubling the pool. |
Medicine
| Body-Mending Meditation |
| 10 motes; One day; Reflexive |
| Heal at ten times normal speed, not counting aggravated damage or missing pieces. Can also be used on other people up to the user's Medicine rating. |
Occult
| Spirit-Detecting Glance |
| 3 motes; One scene; Simple |
| See unmanifested spirits. |
| Spirit-Cutting Attack |
| 3 motes; One Scene; Simple |
| Attack an unmanifested spirit as if they were manifest, at +2 difficulty if you can't see them (so use Spirit-Detecting Glance first, dur). |
| Spirit-Repelling Diagram |
| 10 motes; One scene; Simple |
| Drive away unmaterialized spirits of lower Essence than user from an area of Essence yards in radius, and keeps them from using charms to affect people inside. Materialized spirits are unaffected. |
| Ghost-Eating Technique |
| 5 motes; Instant; Supplemental |
| Blow struck does aggravated damage to an unmaterialized spirit and transfers 2 x user's permanent Essence in motes from the spirit to the user (motes above normal maximum are lost). Materialized spirits are unaffected. |
| All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight |
| 6 motes; One scene; Supplemental |
| See the flows of Essence: spirits, Manses and Demesnes, enchantments from working charms and sorcery. Identify the kind of enchantment and possibly the specific caster with an Intelligence + Occult roll. |
| Bestiary Sight Technique |
| 6 motes, 1 Willpower; Scene; Simple |
| Determine species of an animal, nature of any Wyld mutations or persistent enchantments on it, and variety of Essence users (caste and type, lineage, etc.). |
| Spellbound Sight Technique |
| 6 motes, 1 Willpower; Scene; Simple |
| Within eyesight: see permanent Essence rating of creatures, total mote expenditures, and one-sentence descriptions of charm or spell effects (activated or continuous, but not permanent). |
(Custom charm to see into Netheos)
| Shadowlands Circle Necromancy |
| 1 Willpower; Instant; Simple |
| Activate to cast a Shadowlands circle spell. |
| Labyrinth Circle Necromancy |
| 2 Willpower; Instant; Simple |
| Activate to cast a Labyrinth circle spell. |
| Void Circle Necromancy |
| 3 Willpower; Instant; Simple |
| Activate to cast a Void circle spell. |
| Fundamental Understanding |
| 3 motes; Scene; Supplemental |
| Add Essence in automatic successes to Occult rolls for this scene. |
Awareness
| Sensory Acuity Prana |
| 5 motes; One scene; Simple |
| Heighten senses and increase Awareness pool by Essence number of dice. |
| Owl-Eye Technique |
| 5 motes; One day; Simple |
| See in the dark with no penalty. Side effects may include eye glowiness. |
| Inattentive Awareness Methodology |
| 8 motes; Varies; Reflexive |
| Observe even while seeming inattentive/unconscious. Activate on entering such a state, and continue to observe the world as if unaffected, without anyone noticing (but can't move or otherwise wake up prematurely). |
Dodge
| Reed in the Wind |
| 1 mote per 2(?) dice; Instant; Reflexive |
| Add one(?) die per mote to dodge an anticipated attack, no more than doubling the pool. Can be used after the attack is rolled. |
| Shadow Over Water |
| 2 motes; Instant; Reflexive |
| Dodge a single anticipated attack with full Dexterity + Dodge pool. Can be used after the attack is rolled. |
| Seven Shadows Evasion |
| 6 motes; Instant; Reflexive |
| Evade a single anticipated attack, even one with an area effect, without rolling. Can be used after the attack is rolled. |
| Scattered Sunlight Attitude |
| 4 motes, 1 Willpower; Instant; Reflexive |
| Evade one anticipated attack, even if normally undodgeable. Can also move away from damage at full movement, returning to human form afterward. |
| Reflex Sidestep Technique |
| 2 motes; Instant; Reflexive |
| Dodge an unanticipated attack with a pool of 2 x permanent Essence. Must be used before the attack roll is made. |
| Flow Like Blood |
| 5 motes, 1 Willpower; One scene; Simple |
| Use full Dexterity + Dodge pool against all physical attacks for the rest of the scene, perceived or not. |
Linguistics
| Sagacious Reading of Intent |
| 6 motes; Instant; Simple |
| While reading a text, learn the biases, opinions, and hidden agendas of the author (even if the author was unaware of them). Also good for finding forgeries. |
Spells
Shadowlands Circle
| Banish Ghost |
| Cost: 12+ motes |
| Target: One ghost |
| Contested Essence + Willpower roll each turn (reduce ghost's pool by 1 die/3 motes), until someone accumulates the other's Essence in successes. If the ghost wins, it stays put, no trying again for three days. If the caster wins: banish the ghost for three days, either to the Underworld, to its tomb, or from the caster's presence. |
| Death Inversion Loop |
| Cost: 18 motes |
| Target: One ghost |
| Roll Willpower + Essence against ghost's Willpower; difference in successes is the number of times the caster can force the ghost to view its own death (negative successes turn on the caster). After each loop the ghost loses a permanent Willpower, then rolls "that value"(?) against a difficulty of the caster's Essence. After the chosen number of loops or a success on the Willpower roll, the ghost comes out, having been paralyzed for only a single combat turn. Reduction to zero Willpower dissolves the ghost into a haunt of its death scene. |
| If cast on living targets (including rebound on the caster), they get vague disturbing visions without paralysis and have a one-die penalty to all attacks for a turn. |
| Field of Fell Dreams |
| Cost: 16 motes |
| Target: Area of effect |
| People other than the caster are grabbed at by skeletal hands from the floor, reducing Dexterity by one dot (two dots for movement purposes) within 50 yards of the casting brand. Anyone moving through the field suffers one clinch attack for every five yards, at an accuracy of caster's Essence + 5. The hands don't inflict damage, and have a pool of seven dice to maintain the hold. Ghosts can be caught as well, and must spend a mote to manifest. The hands deanimate at the stroke of midnight (Setesh Standard Time). |
| Gathering a Ghost's Strings |
| Cost: 10 or 20 motes |
| Target: One ghost |
| Get glimpses of a visible ghost's Fetters and Passions (one turn for each vision). Can overwrite them afterwards by spending 10 motes, although the ghost knows what's happening. Rewrites last for one month per Essence dot of the caster. |
| Hail the Conqueror Worm |
| Cost: 15 motes |
| From anywhere in the Underworld (including Shadowlands), caster plus 200 pounds per dot of Essence are carried by a Labyrinth worm at 100 miles per hour to a chosen destination. No stopping halfway, except to be spit up randomly. |
| Shattered Void Mirror |
| Cost: 20 motes |
| Target: One living creature |
| Read description for the cool special effect, then the target has to soak lethal damage equal to twice remaining health levels, with natural soak only. Target also loses Essence motes equal to twice their permanent value. Extras die instantly. |
| Silent Master's Pollen |
| Cost: 18 motes |
| Target: One or two ghosts |
| Invoke the cycle of Lethe in a small pearly glow, usable as either an unarmed attack or a thrown weapon. Struck ghosts roll Willpower at difficulty 3, slipping into Lethe on failure or botch (no risk of Oblivion). Struck ghosts also are freed of binding spells or charms (Iron Circle or Essence <= 3), whether or not they pass on. |
| Summon Ghost |
| Cost: 15+ motes |
| Needs an hour-long ritual (at night, or in the Underworld) requiring either the ghost's name or a piece of its corpse. Roll opposed Willpower + Essence (reduce ghost's pool by 1 die/5 motes) each turn until someone accumulates three more successes than the other. If the ghost wins, it escapes and can't be recalled for a year. If the caster wins, the ghost must obey for a year or fulfill a single task (to the letter, not necessarily spirit) of unlimited duration. |
Labyrinth Circle
| Brick-by-Brick Solitude |
| Cost: 19 motes |
| Target: Caster |
| Ghosts can't approach within (permanent Essence x 10) yards of the caster, so they can't make hand-to-hand attacks, and ranged attacks lose half dice. The caster can't push past more than 3 x Strength rating in ghosts. |
| Crystal Ghost Shard |
| Cost: 15 motes (committed) |
| Target: Caster |
| Caster's higher soul steps out of the body as an anonymous ghost (Appearance 2, other stats unchanged, unable to use "natural"(?) charms). Arcanoi can be learned, at normal XP cost. The body's cocoon is immune to Terrestrial or Shadowlands circle spells, has 30L/20B soak (attacks under 15L/10B raw damage do no damage). The shard cracks at 20 damage levels and shatters at 40, pulling back the caster with two unsoakable aggravated damage levels. If the caster is killed while out in ghost form, the cocoon shatters and the caster wakes sans a dot of Willpower. |
| Dead Man's Voice |
| Cost: 18 motes |
| Target: One creature |
| Requires an arcane link |
| Caster sees the target's vicinity and can take a mortal or ghost as mouthpiece (blockable by "normal wards"). Caster can see and speak through the victim, but not move them. The spell usually kills mortals or dissolves ghosts after the first half-hour, although they'll keep talking until the hour is up. The spell only works on mortals of Essence 1 or ghosts of Essence <= 2, and they take an unsoakable level of lethal damage for every five minutes of talking. |
| Denying the Call |
| Cost: 24 motes |
| Target: One creature, recently dead |
| Raise a creature less than a minute dead, giving it one health level above Incapacitated that only aggravated damage can harm. It stays alive for rounds equal to the caster's Essence, although it won't be happy about it. When it finally dies, it appears in the Underworld with half normal health levels. |
| Golden Shadows Cast in Frieze |
| Cost: 30+ motes |
| Target: One spectre |
| Target rolls Willpower + Essence, difficulty 7, with the caster able to buy extra successes at 3 motes each (up to Essence). Success means the spectre is free of Oblivion-related ties, but keeps all memories and skills. It also cures the taint of Oblivion's whisper (Abyssals p. 284) for all tainted Passions. It's believed the Malfeans know when this spell is used successfully. |
| Links Born of Tumult |
| Cost: 22 motes, 1 lethal health level |
| Target: Caster |
| After an hour-long disgusting ritual, the caster pulls out the po into her shadow, with stats as a hungry ghost (see Abyssals pp. 61-62). It obeys simple commands and can be taken over by the caster (at which point it can be used to cast charms or spells). The spell ends when the caster re-devours the shadow and po. If the shadow is destroyed while it's out, caster loses a permanent Willpower (and is stunned for an hour if she was driving at the time). |
| Shadow Stones Travel |
| Cost: 24 motes |
| Target: Area of effect |
| A portal opens to the Underworld, lasting for three turns. The Shadowland spreads for 50 yards and pulls everyone inside to the Underworld. It also works in reverse. |
| Silenced Whispered Prayers |
| Cost: 27 motes |
| Target: Varies |
| Severs victims (see below) from followers, zeroing any Cult rating a ghost possesses, Underworld or Ancestor, for the duration. (Worshippers don't notice.) Area effect version: all ghosts within 45 yards loses one dot in any Cult rating. Living creatures hit by the focused version lose half of their Cult rating, round down, and are unaffected by the area version. Lasts until the sun has risen in the Underworld seven times. |
| Summon the Greater Dead |
| Cost: 30 motes |
| Call a variety of hella dead shit: plasmics, powerful hungry ghosts, spectres, etc. A category of ghost can be chosen rather than a specific name. Midnight ritual, 10 gallons of blood, opposed Willpower + Essence contest with -1 die to the ghost per extra 6 motes from the caster. Victory when three more successes are accumulated by one party. Winning ghost can return home or stay and attack the caster, while winning caster gets ghost service for a year and a day or a single indefinite duration job. |
Void Circle
| The Barless Gate |
| Cost: 42 motes |
| Blackstorm Coffle |
| Cost: 48 motes |
| Blood from the Slaughter |
| Cost: 35 motes |
| Lord of the Dead |
| Cost: 25 motes |
| For the next day, command any ghost, walking dead, or other creature of death with a lower permanent Essence; they obey to the best of their intelligence. No creature of death can attack the Exalt (Abyssals and Deathlords exempt, o sad). |
| Nightshade and Honeysuckle Kiss |
| Cost: 32 motes |
| Up to 10 ghosts within 10 yards must make a difficulty 5 Willpower roll or be pulled to Lethe; bindings up through Obsidian circle or of Essence less than the caster's are broken, and the caster gains 1 mote per soul. |
| Rightful Solitude Restored |
| Cost: 50+ motes |
| Summon Hekatonkhire |
| Cost: 40 motes |
| Void Cocoon Warrior |
| Cost: 28+ motes, optional 1L |
< Varanim The Last | SI Characters | Zahara Zhan >
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