Architect of the Regal Puppet Style
From the deserts of the southern regions below the inland sea there came a tribe of lawless mercenaries and assassins named for the shadows of the sands; chief among their many skills and traditions were the artisans of their weapons, women and men devoted to the art of hidden function and veiled purposes. At first the southern city states has thought they had plundered an ancient site and gained control of autonoma, but as the decades wore on and some battles fought were lost to the invading Dynastic families, the secrets and techniques of the lawless were divined. Twisting delicately fine filaments of metal into wires so thin as to disappear from mortal sight but with the strength and endurance of an arachnid’s webbing had created a unique opportunity to manipulate objects from long distances.
Tying these wires to their thrown weapons, the lawless were able to deceive the oasis towns and villages spotted through the south of the clan’s true numbers seeming to attack from all sides, the most proficient of their number even crafting great puppets of inhuman form to seem as if demons or wylder creatures. All conceived by the one last, great Architect of their clan Sando of the Scorpion.
After their resounding defeat at the hands of a Wyld hunt, the secrets of the clan were spread and engineered, taught to those who had keen enough minds to compensate for the increased spatial awareness required to master the forms and so it's school lives on in fragmented memory and musty scrolls.
Style Weapons: Architect of the Regal Puppet Style utilises flowing motions punctuated with jarring snaps and pivots to throw and manipulate weights tied to the ends of long transparent wires; some expert practitioners add flair to their art by using its forms to manipulate life-sized manikins as combat puppets from which the style receives its name. Any weapon with the Thrown(Short) tag may be connected to the thin control wires emblematic of this style as well as any specially constructed manikin or improvised weapon that is essentially a weight on a long sash or wire. This style cannot be practised unarmed.
Armor: Architect of the Regal Puppet Style is incompatible with armor unless worn by the Architect’s puppets.
Complementary abilities: While not strictly necessary, true Architects also master Craft to construct complicated Manikins which provide even more options for the skilled practitioner. Dodge is also useful as the user ducks and weaves among the strings and weapons, blurring the line between Architect and Puppet.
Vector Bending Kata
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Uniform, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: None
Snapping back against the control wire at the precise moment the Architect sends their weapon jolting off in an unanticipated direction to catch their opponents off guard.
This Charm may supplement any attack made using this style, forcing the opponent to make a [Wits + Awareness] roll against the attacker's successes before it is compared to their defence. Failure results in a surprise attack.
Mastery: Even if the opponent succeeds, Any 1's rolled on the check further penalises the target's defence by one for a maximum penalty of the Martial Artist's Essence.
Perpendicular Interceptor Technique
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Counterattack, Dual
Prerequisite Charms: None
Raking their arms through the air in a studied defensive movement, the Architect brings their weapons to bear against the flank of an oncoming attacker.
After successfully dodging an attack, the Martial Artist may activate this charm to perform a Counterattack against their enemy. The attack type depends on how the opponent attacked; gambits and other decisive attacks are countered with a withering attack as the opponent overextends themselves into their attack and the Architect steals the advantage. Withering attacks are countered with a decisive attack, failure to properly establish better positioning leaves the opponent open to a quick and damaging strike to their flank. This charm does not count at the Architect's combat action for the turn but will reset them to base Initiative if the decisive counterattack is used.
Recurring Subset Algorithm
Cost: 5m (+2m per turn); Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Duration: Indefinite
Keywords: Withering-Only, Terrestrial
Prerequisite Charms: Vector Bending Kata
Casting out their famed weapons in all directions, the Architect establishes themselves as commander of their surrounds, their weapons dancing onward with only minor corrections as time and circumstance requires.
Activating this charm creates a withering attack that repeats again the next turn but may be redirected to a new target so long as they are within range of the Architect’s weapon (usually Short). Any supplemental charms enhancing the attack must be paid for again to apply to the secondary attack. This effect may be extended for an additional turn by paying 2m each turn for up to [Essence] turns. For the duration of this charm, the Architect may make other actions, even attack actions, at the usual penalty for flurrying actions. While this style's Form charm is active, the range of such attacks are calculated from the position of the puppet.
Terrestrial: A Dragon Blood may not expend additional motes to prolong the effect of this charm.
Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Duration: Scene
Keywords: Form, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: Perpendicular Interceptor Technique, Recurring Subset Algorithm
Charged with essence and forced to align to the Architect’s designs, the threads of wire connected to their weapons become ethereal and they shift and moves with the slightest mudric command; a twitch of a finger creating a lunging slash, the turning of a palm making it leap back out of harm's way, empowering them with what seems like a life of their own, springing and slashing through the air on invisible strings.
This charm establishes the style weapon readied with it as an individual actor in the combat, referred to as the puppet, that shares the Architect’s Initiative track and dice pools. This explicitly allows the Martial Artist to take two attack actions on their turn following the above rules but charms of this style may only enhance the action of the Servant.
Because of the immaterial nature of the command lines, the puppet may be positioned and commanded at up to long range from the Architect. When commanded to move about the battlefield, the puppet is not required to disengage to move outside of close range of an opponent and effects that rely on disengages to function will not trigger. If the puppet is a weighted cord or thrown weapon tied to a cable, it defends itself with the Architect’s evasion but has a soak equal to half the damage rating of the weapon rounded up. Specially constructed Manikins also defend using the Architect’s evasion, but have their own soak, armor and weapon panoply as per the sidebar "Being The Architect". When it becomes important to resolve a decisive attack against the puppet, each rolled damage success instead deals one initiative damage with an additional automatic success per four damage dice rolled.
If the Architect directs one or more of his puppets to make decisive attacks, split the initiative evenly between all successful attacks.
Special Activation Rules: If the Architect uses an ability, charm or other power to retroactively edit the scene or establish new information they may reflexively activate Architect of the Regal Puppet Form. If the Servant or Master are forcefully moved beyond the range of this charm, the Servant falls limp and can no longer be commanded, ending the charm's effects.
Mastery: The Martial Artist may retain commitment to this charm to keep it active even if moved outside of the charm's range. The Martial Artist may reestablish control by moving within short range of the fallen Servant and taking a "draw/ready weapon" action.
Sidebar: Being the Architect
While it is not necessary to utilise the specially constructed puppets that gave rise to the epitaph this style is known by, it cannot be denied that it's deepest secrets are best discovered and utilised when such an apparatus is crafted and maintained by the Architect. Many constantly tweak their Manikins to better suit expected challenges. Constructing a Manikin is a major project with a difficulty of 2 for each level of 'natural soak' the Architect wishes to impart to a maximum of five (at difficulty 10). Once constructed, the Manikin possesses the traits of a light thrown weapon but can be fitted with apparatus that are each a difficulty 3 major project granting one weapon tag beyond the default with each each project. Adding Smashing might be modelled as a heavy weight attached to one of its limbs, where adding Archery(Long) might be modelled as an inbuilt crossbow with limited shots. Additionally, a Manikin can have its traits upgraded to medium and then heavy for the price of one and two apparatus’ respectively. A manikin may hold a number of apparatuses up to its natural soak rating and any tag may be removed or exchanged by conducting another major project of the same difficulty. The base tags a Manikin begins with are Bashing, Martial Arts (Architect of the Regal Puppet Style) and Thrown (Short). All tags that represent additional weapons or gadgets hidden or built into the Manikin are not considered natural and can be disarmed or disabled with a suitable gambit. Additionally, if humanoid, the Manikin may be equipped with other arms or armor as if a regular character to be utilised in its defensive and offensive suites allowing it to make attacks using other abilities which may be enhanced using the Architect’s charms. While a Manikin itself cannot be an artifact, it may be equipped with artifacts attuned to the Architect and special modules that grant it evocation-like abilities using this style’s capstone charm.
Master Screening Trajectory
Cost: 3m (+2m per range band); Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Decisive-Only, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
When an Architect is outmanoeuvred and death seems imminent, a flourish of the hands and arms brings their puppet careening into the path of an attack to intercept the blow, sacrificing itself to prolong its own servitude.
When the Architect is targeted by a decisive attack activating this charm allows them to apply their parry against the attack and, if this is overcome, the attack shatters their style weapon instead of dealing damage. Artifact weapons used for this style are not destroyed but instead flung out to extreme range from the force of the attack. While this style's form charm is active, this charm instead creates a reflexive defend other action with the Architect as the puppet’s charge, for each range band beyond close that the puppet is positioned, the cost of this charm increases by 2m. Successful activation immediately moves the puppet into the same range band and position as the Architect. If a puppet is equipped with additional style weapons it may still utilise the non-form version of this charm to defend itself from decisive attacks.
Inventive Counter-Hypothesis
Cost: 2m, 2wxp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Terrestrial, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
Many are the secrets hidden with the folds of the Architect's designs, a labyrinth of tricks, counter tricks and fail safes that keep their opponents always wary of fully engaging, lest they be caught off guard.
Activating this charm reveals a hidden function of a style weapon, instantly granting it a tag of the Architect’s choosing and, if an appropriate manoeuvre using that tag could trigger, trigger that effect and waive the initiative cost if any.
If the Form charm of this style is active, this charm becomes scene long and gains the Stackable keyword, further uses of the revealed weapon or armor tag remain discounted for this charm's duration.
Terrestrial: A dragon blood does not receive the Initiative discount when activating hidden tags.
Mastery: If the Martial Artist possesses a native charm that allows them to create retroactive establishments (e.g., Master Plan Meditation, Dual Magnus Prana or Ever-Ready Innovation Discipline) this charm may be used to duplicate the effects of that charm and track it on a separate reset condition. The cost of the duplicated charm must be paid in full on top of the cost of this charm; this function can be used only once per story unless reset by successfully completing a Superior Craft project.
Fracture Stressing Calculus
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Withering-Only, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Master Screening Trajectory
Turning the most basic lessons learned in the forge and workshop inside out, the Architect is capable of striking hard against opposition to reveal a stress point and hammering away at it until their subject breaks from the pressure.
Turning all their puppets against a foe, this Charm creates a unified withering assault on a single enemy from each attack generated by charms of this style taken on a single tick. This includes repeated withering attacks from Recurring Subset Algorithm and any active puppets within range of the target. Each attack in this all-in assault automatically applies its onslaught penalty prior to any attacks being rolled, reducing the target's defence against all attacks. Initiative gained by the Architect is equal to the most damaging attack in the assault plus one for every other successful attack. Other combatants on the field may join this assault by delaying their action but only if they also make withering attacks and track their initiative separately.
Servant Propagation Array
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Duration: Scene
Keywords: None
Prerequisite Charms: Master Screening Trajectory
An Architect needs tools, workers and materials to see their grand designs realised and those nearing the pinnacle of this style are empowered to make the most of everything at hand.
Activating this charm allows the Architect to make an additional attack action on each of their turns, letting loose a new style weapon into the fray and controlling it with a free hand. This additional attack may not be enhanced with charms of other abilities.
When the form charm of this style is active, the Architect can temporarily fill a Superior project slot (reflexively creating one via fusing major slots or paying crafting experience if necessary) to duplicate the form charm's effects and establish an additional puppet in the combat. The Architect may field up to [Essence] additional puppets as long as they have project slots to spare and pay the charm’s cost again.
Eyes-Turned-to-Glass Proof
Cost: (10wxp); Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: None
Prerequisite Charms: Fracture Stressing Calculus, Inventive Counter-Hypothesis, Servant Propagation Array
Never fear that an Architect might waste valuable resources, every scrap of twine metal or flesh from their workshop is twisted into their grand designs and added to their fearsome array of horrible weaponry.
This charm is a permanent enhancement to the Architect's natural abilities, allowing them to spend 10wxp to start a superior project with one week's preparation. This project involves collecting the corpse of a slain enemy and studying it for its unique properties, then using that knowledge to create a unique two-dot artifact mimicking one of the foe's special abilities.
The inherent and latent traits of animals and beasts can be directly copied and installed into a specially prepared puppet. Charms of spirits and the magical abilities of stranger beasts require more preparation and work time, increasing preparation by one week per point of essence required to use the selected ability and making the resulting artifact rating equal to any such essence requirement to a minimum of two. Charms and abilities of beings of spiritual power greater than essence 5 are beyond the abilities of the Architect to emulate.
The charms of Exalted cannot be duplicated in this manner, but if an exalted's corpse is studied via this charm for a period of months equal to their essence rating, the Architect may create an artifact that grants a custom evocation to one of their style weapons following the themes of the exalted type studied in such a way with a power commiserate to the essence rating of the Exalted so studied. Such powers should be modelled on the signature style of the Exalted in question. Each style weapon may have one artifact module of any rating installed per point of unmodified natural soak it possesses.
From the deserts of the southern regions below the inland sea there came a tribe of lawless mercenaries and assassins named for the shadows of the sands; chief among their many skills and traditions were the artisans of their weapons, women and men devoted to the art of hidden function and veiled purposes. At first the southern city states has thought they had plundered an ancient site and gained control of autonoma, but as the decades wore on and some battles fought were lost to the invading Dynastic families, the secrets and techniques of the lawless were divined. Twisting delicately fine filaments of metal into wires so thin as to disappear from mortal sight but with the strength and endurance of an arachnid’s webbing had created a unique opportunity to manipulate objects from long distances.
Tying these wires to their thrown weapons, the lawless were able to deceive the oasis towns and villages spotted through the south of the clan’s true numbers seeming to attack from all sides, the most proficient of their number even crafting great puppets of inhuman form to seem as if demons or wylder creatures. All conceived by the one last, great Architect of their clan Sando of the Scorpion.
After their resounding defeat at the hands of a Wyld hunt, the secrets of the clan were spread and engineered, taught to those who had keen enough minds to compensate for the increased spatial awareness required to master the forms and so it's school lives on in fragmented memory and musty scrolls.
Style Weapons: Architect of the Regal Puppet Style utilises flowing motions punctuated with jarring snaps and pivots to throw and manipulate weights tied to the ends of long transparent wires; some expert practitioners add flair to their art by using its forms to manipulate life-sized manikins as combat puppets from which the style receives its name. Any weapon with the Thrown(Short) tag may be connected to the thin control wires emblematic of this style as well as any specially constructed manikin or improvised weapon that is essentially a weight on a long sash or wire. This style cannot be practised unarmed.
Armor: Architect of the Regal Puppet Style is incompatible with armor unless worn by the Architect’s puppets.
Complementary abilities: While not strictly necessary, true Architects also master Craft to construct complicated Manikins which provide even more options for the skilled practitioner. Dodge is also useful as the user ducks and weaves among the strings and weapons, blurring the line between Architect and Puppet.
Vector Bending Kata
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Uniform, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: None
Snapping back against the control wire at the precise moment the Architect sends their weapon jolting off in an unanticipated direction to catch their opponents off guard.
This Charm may supplement any attack made using this style, forcing the opponent to make a [Wits + Awareness] roll against the attacker's successes before it is compared to their defence. Failure results in a surprise attack.
Mastery: Even if the opponent succeeds, Any 1's rolled on the check further penalises the target's defence by one for a maximum penalty of the Martial Artist's Essence.
Perpendicular Interceptor Technique
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Counterattack, Dual
Prerequisite Charms: None
Raking their arms through the air in a studied defensive movement, the Architect brings their weapons to bear against the flank of an oncoming attacker.
After successfully dodging an attack, the Martial Artist may activate this charm to perform a Counterattack against their enemy. The attack type depends on how the opponent attacked; gambits and other decisive attacks are countered with a withering attack as the opponent overextends themselves into their attack and the Architect steals the advantage. Withering attacks are countered with a decisive attack, failure to properly establish better positioning leaves the opponent open to a quick and damaging strike to their flank. This charm does not count at the Architect's combat action for the turn but will reset them to base Initiative if the decisive counterattack is used.
Recurring Subset Algorithm
Cost: 5m (+2m per turn); Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Duration: Indefinite
Keywords: Withering-Only, Terrestrial
Prerequisite Charms: Vector Bending Kata
Casting out their famed weapons in all directions, the Architect establishes themselves as commander of their surrounds, their weapons dancing onward with only minor corrections as time and circumstance requires.
Activating this charm creates a withering attack that repeats again the next turn but may be redirected to a new target so long as they are within range of the Architect’s weapon (usually Short). Any supplemental charms enhancing the attack must be paid for again to apply to the secondary attack. This effect may be extended for an additional turn by paying 2m each turn for up to [Essence] turns. For the duration of this charm, the Architect may make other actions, even attack actions, at the usual penalty for flurrying actions. While this style's Form charm is active, the range of such attacks are calculated from the position of the puppet.
Terrestrial: A Dragon Blood may not expend additional motes to prolong the effect of this charm.
Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
Cost: 10m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Duration: Scene
Keywords: Form, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: Perpendicular Interceptor Technique, Recurring Subset Algorithm
Charged with essence and forced to align to the Architect’s designs, the threads of wire connected to their weapons become ethereal and they shift and moves with the slightest mudric command; a twitch of a finger creating a lunging slash, the turning of a palm making it leap back out of harm's way, empowering them with what seems like a life of their own, springing and slashing through the air on invisible strings.
This charm establishes the style weapon readied with it as an individual actor in the combat, referred to as the puppet, that shares the Architect’s Initiative track and dice pools. This explicitly allows the Martial Artist to take two attack actions on their turn following the above rules but charms of this style may only enhance the action of the Servant.
Because of the immaterial nature of the command lines, the puppet may be positioned and commanded at up to long range from the Architect. When commanded to move about the battlefield, the puppet is not required to disengage to move outside of close range of an opponent and effects that rely on disengages to function will not trigger. If the puppet is a weighted cord or thrown weapon tied to a cable, it defends itself with the Architect’s evasion but has a soak equal to half the damage rating of the weapon rounded up. Specially constructed Manikins also defend using the Architect’s evasion, but have their own soak, armor and weapon panoply as per the sidebar "Being The Architect". When it becomes important to resolve a decisive attack against the puppet, each rolled damage success instead deals one initiative damage with an additional automatic success per four damage dice rolled.
If the Architect directs one or more of his puppets to make decisive attacks, split the initiative evenly between all successful attacks.
Special Activation Rules: If the Architect uses an ability, charm or other power to retroactively edit the scene or establish new information they may reflexively activate Architect of the Regal Puppet Form. If the Servant or Master are forcefully moved beyond the range of this charm, the Servant falls limp and can no longer be commanded, ending the charm's effects.
Mastery: The Martial Artist may retain commitment to this charm to keep it active even if moved outside of the charm's range. The Martial Artist may reestablish control by moving within short range of the fallen Servant and taking a "draw/ready weapon" action.
Sidebar: Being the Architect
While it is not necessary to utilise the specially constructed puppets that gave rise to the epitaph this style is known by, it cannot be denied that it's deepest secrets are best discovered and utilised when such an apparatus is crafted and maintained by the Architect. Many constantly tweak their Manikins to better suit expected challenges. Constructing a Manikin is a major project with a difficulty of 2 for each level of 'natural soak' the Architect wishes to impart to a maximum of five (at difficulty 10). Once constructed, the Manikin possesses the traits of a light thrown weapon but can be fitted with apparatus that are each a difficulty 3 major project granting one weapon tag beyond the default with each each project. Adding Smashing might be modelled as a heavy weight attached to one of its limbs, where adding Archery(Long) might be modelled as an inbuilt crossbow with limited shots. Additionally, a Manikin can have its traits upgraded to medium and then heavy for the price of one and two apparatus’ respectively. A manikin may hold a number of apparatuses up to its natural soak rating and any tag may be removed or exchanged by conducting another major project of the same difficulty. The base tags a Manikin begins with are Bashing, Martial Arts (Architect of the Regal Puppet Style) and Thrown (Short). All tags that represent additional weapons or gadgets hidden or built into the Manikin are not considered natural and can be disarmed or disabled with a suitable gambit. Additionally, if humanoid, the Manikin may be equipped with other arms or armor as if a regular character to be utilised in its defensive and offensive suites allowing it to make attacks using other abilities which may be enhanced using the Architect’s charms. While a Manikin itself cannot be an artifact, it may be equipped with artifacts attuned to the Architect and special modules that grant it evocation-like abilities using this style’s capstone charm.
Master Screening Trajectory
Cost: 3m (+2m per range band); Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Decisive-Only, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
When an Architect is outmanoeuvred and death seems imminent, a flourish of the hands and arms brings their puppet careening into the path of an attack to intercept the blow, sacrificing itself to prolong its own servitude.
When the Architect is targeted by a decisive attack activating this charm allows them to apply their parry against the attack and, if this is overcome, the attack shatters their style weapon instead of dealing damage. Artifact weapons used for this style are not destroyed but instead flung out to extreme range from the force of the attack. While this style's form charm is active, this charm instead creates a reflexive defend other action with the Architect as the puppet’s charge, for each range band beyond close that the puppet is positioned, the cost of this charm increases by 2m. Successful activation immediately moves the puppet into the same range band and position as the Architect. If a puppet is equipped with additional style weapons it may still utilise the non-form version of this charm to defend itself from decisive attacks.
Inventive Counter-Hypothesis
Cost: 2m, 2wxp; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Terrestrial, Mastery
Prerequisite Charms: Architect of the Regal Puppet Form
Many are the secrets hidden with the folds of the Architect's designs, a labyrinth of tricks, counter tricks and fail safes that keep their opponents always wary of fully engaging, lest they be caught off guard.
Activating this charm reveals a hidden function of a style weapon, instantly granting it a tag of the Architect’s choosing and, if an appropriate manoeuvre using that tag could trigger, trigger that effect and waive the initiative cost if any.
If the Form charm of this style is active, this charm becomes scene long and gains the Stackable keyword, further uses of the revealed weapon or armor tag remain discounted for this charm's duration.
Terrestrial: A dragon blood does not receive the Initiative discount when activating hidden tags.
Mastery: If the Martial Artist possesses a native charm that allows them to create retroactive establishments (e.g., Master Plan Meditation, Dual Magnus Prana or Ever-Ready Innovation Discipline) this charm may be used to duplicate the effects of that charm and track it on a separate reset condition. The cost of the duplicated charm must be paid in full on top of the cost of this charm; this function can be used only once per story unless reset by successfully completing a Superior Craft project.
Fracture Stressing Calculus
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Duration: Instant
Keywords: Withering-Only, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Master Screening Trajectory
Turning the most basic lessons learned in the forge and workshop inside out, the Architect is capable of striking hard against opposition to reveal a stress point and hammering away at it until their subject breaks from the pressure.
Turning all their puppets against a foe, this Charm creates a unified withering assault on a single enemy from each attack generated by charms of this style taken on a single tick. This includes repeated withering attacks from Recurring Subset Algorithm and any active puppets within range of the target. Each attack in this all-in assault automatically applies its onslaught penalty prior to any attacks being rolled, reducing the target's defence against all attacks. Initiative gained by the Architect is equal to the most damaging attack in the assault plus one for every other successful attack. Other combatants on the field may join this assault by delaying their action but only if they also make withering attacks and track their initiative separately.
Servant Propagation Array
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Duration: Scene
Keywords: None
Prerequisite Charms: Master Screening Trajectory
An Architect needs tools, workers and materials to see their grand designs realised and those nearing the pinnacle of this style are empowered to make the most of everything at hand.
Activating this charm allows the Architect to make an additional attack action on each of their turns, letting loose a new style weapon into the fray and controlling it with a free hand. This additional attack may not be enhanced with charms of other abilities.
When the form charm of this style is active, the Architect can temporarily fill a Superior project slot (reflexively creating one via fusing major slots or paying crafting experience if necessary) to duplicate the form charm's effects and establish an additional puppet in the combat. The Architect may field up to [Essence] additional puppets as long as they have project slots to spare and pay the charm’s cost again.
Eyes-Turned-to-Glass Proof
Cost: (10wxp); Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Duration: Permanent
Keywords: None
Prerequisite Charms: Fracture Stressing Calculus, Inventive Counter-Hypothesis, Servant Propagation Array
Never fear that an Architect might waste valuable resources, every scrap of twine metal or flesh from their workshop is twisted into their grand designs and added to their fearsome array of horrible weaponry.
This charm is a permanent enhancement to the Architect's natural abilities, allowing them to spend 10wxp to start a superior project with one week's preparation. This project involves collecting the corpse of a slain enemy and studying it for its unique properties, then using that knowledge to create a unique two-dot artifact mimicking one of the foe's special abilities.
The inherent and latent traits of animals and beasts can be directly copied and installed into a specially prepared puppet. Charms of spirits and the magical abilities of stranger beasts require more preparation and work time, increasing preparation by one week per point of essence required to use the selected ability and making the resulting artifact rating equal to any such essence requirement to a minimum of two. Charms and abilities of beings of spiritual power greater than essence 5 are beyond the abilities of the Architect to emulate.
The charms of Exalted cannot be duplicated in this manner, but if an exalted's corpse is studied via this charm for a period of months equal to their essence rating, the Architect may create an artifact that grants a custom evocation to one of their style weapons following the themes of the exalted type studied in such a way with a power commiserate to the essence rating of the Exalted so studied. Such powers should be modelled on the signature style of the Exalted in question. Each style weapon may have one artifact module of any rating installed per point of unmodified natural soak it possesses.
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