I know we're excited for the Charms dropping all through this week, and after yesterday's manuscript section I'm extra eager for MORE!
But that doesn't mean there aren't other things to dream about! We've got lots more coming over these next three+ weeks, so let's see if we can get a sneak peek preview of what's ahead.
What happens if we take some Martial Arts from Chapter 6 and some weapons from Chapter 7? Let's find out!
Gyroscopic Weapons
Gyroscopic weapons are thrown weapons like chakrams and knives that are fitted with sophisticated self-correcting guidance mechanisms that allow them to seek out and attack enemies. Internal gyroscopic mechanisms stabilize them in flight, while high-speed rotary engines for propulsion and maneuvering. Some advanced gyroscopic weapons also incorporate arrays of Essence-fired rockets, magnetic repulsors, gravity-warping fields, or stranger mechanisms. Any Thrown weapon with a cutting edge can be a gyroscopic weapon.
Gyroscopic weapons always return to the wielder’s hand after an attack. Additionally, all gyroscopic weapons provide the Recursive Trajectory Cut Evocation for free when first attuned.
As the weapon maneuvers to return to its owner's hand, it adjusts its path to strike again at its target.
When the wielder makes an attack that receives dice from aiming, she can forgo the dice bonus to ignore cover as the weapon arcs around it. She can even ignore full cover, as long as there’s an opening for her weapon to pass through and she knows approximately where her target is.
If an aimed attack misses, the wielder to have the weapon strike on its return trajectory, adding three non-Charm successes to her attack roll. This can turn her miss into a hit, but she deals reduced damage. A withering attack is reduced to its base damage. A decisive attack’s base damage equals to the amount of Initiative she lost for missing, ignoring Hardness. This doesn’t reset her to base Initiative (Exalted, p. 191). The wielder can use this benefit even if she didn’t forgo dice from aiming, and can use it with aim actions that didn’t provide a dice bonus.
Martial Arts in Autochthonia
As in Creation, the Chosen are the foremost masters of the martial arts in the Realm of Brass and Shadow, though not their only practitioners. The Eight Nations maintain martial arts schools where those who qualify for self-defense training are taught sanctioned styles to promote physical fitness and moral rectitude. Other styles are safeguarded by elite groups within the Tripartite, or by independent schools ranging from legitimate communities to voidbringer cults. Tunnel folk masters pass ancient martial secrets within their clans. Some among the more powerful of machine spirits are studied in martial arts, and pass their wisdom down to the Eight Divine Ministers’ Machine Saints.
Where Did You Learn That Technique? Some martial arts styles published in other Exalted books have their historical origin at some point after Autochthon’s departure from Creation. However, Storytellers shouldn’t necessarily make this a barrier to such styles existing in Autochthon, especially a style that a player character wishes to use. Their presence in Autochthonia might be explained by a shared descent from ancient martial traditions of the early First Age, convergent evolution among Autochthonian martial artists, or inspiration experienced by Alchemicals when creating their Perfected Style Matrix.
Thousand Wounds Gear Style
Thousand Wounds Gear evokes mechanical efficiency and industrial violence, crushing and debilitating foes with brutal unarmed attacks and hurled chakrams. The Alchemical Exalted are Autochthonia’s foremost masters of this style, and of its signature weapon, the gyroscopic chakram. It’s also practiced by Estasia’s elite band of Militat razor-gear rangers, who receive their chakrams only after passing a grueling training regimen. The bejeweled raiders of the Baranek Tunnel Folk wield diamond-bladed chakrams in their battle-dances, practicing antique forms carried over decades ago by Octet exiles.
In Creation, this ancient style is known as Thousand Wings Murder, a meditation of the passionless majesty of birds of prey and the bleak indifference of nature. The First Age’s artificers created few of the gyroscopic weapons that led to this style’s convergent development, and most stylists in the Second Age have never heard of a gyroscopic chakram. Elite pekumi warriors of the Randan Smith’s Lodge practice it with brightly enameled chakrams, enchanted to respond to the wielder’s voice. The monks of Skhandar-Bhal’s Silver Dragon Temple synthesize it with an offshoot of Air Dragon Style for truly deadly chakram techniques.
Thousand Wounds Gear Weapons: This style’s unarmed attacks focus on circular slashing motions, wrenching joint locks, and finger gouges. It also uses chakrams, which can either be thrown as a ranged weapon or wielded at close range as a light weapon. Unarmed attacks enhanced by Thousand Wounds Gear Charms can be stunted to deal lethal damage.
The gyroscopic chakram is the style’s signature weapon. Some of the style’s Charms offer additional benefits when gyroscopic chakrams.
Armor: Thousand Wounds Gear style is compatible with all armor.
Thousand Wounds Gear Form
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2 Type: Simple Keywords: Dual, Form Duration: One scene Prerequisite Charms: The Circle Screams, Gear-Catches-Gear Defense
The martial artist assumes a posture of cold precision and calculating menace, an industrial engine of violence.
The stylist gains the following benefits:
Her attacks ignore two points of armored soak and Hardness.
Her attacks add +1 Accuracy against enemies with lower Initiative.
She adds an additional +1 Parry when she uses Gear-Catches-Gear Defense. That Charm’s cost is reduced by one mote against enemies with lower Initiative.
She adds (higher of Essence or 3) to her Initiative to determine when she acts on each round, and whether her Initiative is higher than an enemy’s for this style’s Charms.
In Creation, this is known as Thousand Wings Murder Form.
Special activation rules: Whenever the martial artist makes a withering attack that lowers an enemy’s current Initiative value from greater than her own to less than her own, she may reflexively activate this Form.
This technique expresses a refined understanding of the methods by which force may be gathered and directed to one purpose.
The stylist makes a withering attack, doubling 9s on the damage roll. Against an enemy with lower Initiative, she doubles 8s instead. She also doubles 8s if she uses this Charm to make a withering throw from a grapple.
If the stylist deals 5+ damage, the target is knocked back one range band and falls prone. He cannot be thrown further than long range from the stylist. If she deals 10+ damage or crashes her target, he is knocked back two range bands instead.
In Creation, this technique is known as Doomed Nestling Flight.
Terrestrial: This Charm can only be used on enemies of lower initiative and doubles 9s on its damage roll.
The martial artist hurls her opponent at a high-angle trajectory, briefly imparting flight.
The stylist can use this Charm after crashing an enemy with Linear Flight Principle, causing her enemy to briefly float in midair. He floats suspended one range band above the ground instead of falling prone, although he still suffers the penalties for being prone.
A suspended enemy can’t take a movement action this round (or the next round, if he’s already taken one). After that, he can use his movement action to attempt to break free with a difficulty 3 ([Dexterity or Strength] + Athletics) roll. If the stylist deals decisive damage to a suspended enemy before he can make this roll in a round, she adds (Strength) to the difficulty of his next roll to break free.
Terrestrial: The stylist must declare this Charm before the attack roll enhanced with Linear Flight Principle. If she hits but doesn’t crash her target, the Charm’s Willpower cost is refunded.
The frailty of flesh is nothing against the hungry teeth of the machine.
The stylist can use this Charm after dealing 5+ decisive damage to an enemy. If he suffers any crippling penalties inflicted by this style’s Charms, they’re subtracted from the total amount of damage the stylist must inflict to trigger this Charm, minimum one.
If the Alchemical’s target doesn’t accept the highest level of crippling injury possible (Exalted, p. 201), he still suffers a less permanent maiming. This inflicts a −3 crippling penalty on all his physical rolls until the end of the scene. He also suffers additional dice of decisive damage equal to his total crippling penalty, maximum (stylist’s Strength). This includes the penalty inflicted by this Charm.
If an enemy takes a crippling injury in response to this Charm, doing so doesn’t count against the once-per-story limit.
In Creation, this technique is known as Hungry Beak Assault.
Reset: Once per scene. Terrestrial: Targets can take a crippling injury one level lower than the highest possible to negate this Charm’s alternative effect.
Thousand Wounds Persistence
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3 Type: Reflexive Keywords: Decisive-only, Terrestrial, Mastery Duration: Until next turn Prerequisite Charms: Floating Target Lock, Hungry Gear-Tooth Attack
The stylist’s weapon ricochets and maneuvers across the battlefield, striking her foe again and again in a perpetual killing motion.
The stylist can use this Charm after she misses with a decisive attack using a chakram. Her weapon reorients in mid-air, as it prepares to attack her enemy again, rather than falling to the ground or returning to her hand. It remains locked in close range with him, moving wherever he goes.
On the stylist’s next turn, she can reflexively make a decisive attack using the chakram against the same enemy. She counts as attacking from close range if this is advantageous for her and ignores cover as long as there’s any opening by which her weapon can reach her target.
The chakram can be knocked from mid-air with a disarm gambit, ending this Charm prematurely. Its Evasion is (stylist’s Essence + Dexterity).
In Creation, this technique is known as Endless Murder Persistence.
Terrestrial: This Charm’s attack counts as the martial artist’s attack for her next turn. Mastery: The stylist’s reflexive attack benefits from any non-Excellency Charms that enhanced the missed attack.
The stylist makes a deadly whirlwind of attacks like the gears of a clanking god-engine, leaving no space to evade.
The martial artist makes an undodgeable decisive attack against an enemy with lower Initiative. If she hits, she doesn’t immediately roll damage, but instead makes two more undodgeable decisive attacks, rolling damage once all three attacks are complete. If the initial attack benefited from aiming, the same benefits apply to these two attacks. Each attack has a base damage equal to the total number of attacks that hit, plus one die. The stylist divides her Initiative equally between them, rounding up, to determine their total damage.
If the the stylist uses a gyroscopic chakram’s Recursive Trajectory Cut Evocation on one or more of these attacks and turns a miss into a hit, that attack deals its full damage, ignoring Recursive Trajectory Cut’s usual limit.
In Creation, this technique is known as Vultures Strip the Bones.
Special activation rules: If the stylist uses Thousand Wounds Persistence after missing with any of the three attacks, the reflexive attack she makes on her next turn with that Charm is undodgeable and adds one die of damage. Mastery: Non-excellency Charms that enhanced the first attack also enhance the subsequent two.
Backers will receive the full text from these Chapters in upcoming weeks! We'll get Chapter 6 on December 3rd and Chapter 7 on December 5th!
Tomorrow, we'll have the next section of our Charms week previews! Until then, let's keep spreading the word and working towards our next Stretch Goal target!
