[Ex3] Homebrew Solar Charms

[Jen]

Resistance:

Weapon-Trapping Stone Flesh Crevasse
Whenever the Solar takes damage from a close-range weapon, she may spend X motes and roll Strength + Resistance to disarm her attacker. The weapon remains sealed by the Solar's muscles for a number of actions equal to her Essence, but someone attacking the Solar with Brawl may choose to forgo a successful attack's damage in order to pull the weapon out.

Hmmm, isn't this a little bit too Kimbery/Metagaos Infernal ?

[Tiresias]

Maybe. I was inspired by Kenshirou flexing his muscles to seal his wounds and stop his bleeding, which seems like a Solar thing.

...

You know what would have made a better charm? Flexing your muscles to stop your wounds from bleeding. Oh well. I'll just recycle it if I roll Resistance again.

[Gayo]

The beef disarm is actually pretty close to something I have planned for my Nemissary-focused MA style based on allowing others to hurt you in order to deliver a focused offense (though I imagined it more as "locking a blade between your ribs" or something). I was considering making it a standard counter-disarm and a technique rather than a charm, though.

[Sunder the Gold]

Investigation:

Lawman's Sudden Realization
If the Solar fails an Investigation roll to identify the culprit of a crime and the criminal begins to plan a second crime in the Solar's general vicinity, the Solar may reroll the Investigation roll in order to gain sudden insight into the culprit's behaviour and stop her before the second crime is committed. In addition, if the Solar uses the Investigation Excellency to enhance the roll, the excellency's cost is reduce by one mote for each of the culprit's crime scenes that the Solar has investigated, successfully or not.

To go into greater detail about why I like this Charm so much:

It introduces a novel way in which Solars can bounce back from failure. Solar Resistance Charms could be seen as doing this (as getting hit is often due to a failure of parrying or dodging), but outside of Solar Resistance and Integrity, I can't remember any Solar Charms that deal with the consequences of failure. Even Solar Resistance and Integrity are about avoiding or rejecting the consequences of failure rather than learning from mistakes or improvising with remaining resources.

For example, there isn't a Solar Craft Charm which allows the Exalt to take the twisted and ruined product of a failed project and make something useful out of it. There isn't a Melee Charm that allows you to turn a failed parry into a successful defense against the next attack, or perhaps into a counterattack.

Actually, I'm wondering if you couldn't build an entire Exalted Host around the idea of "come back stronger / learn from mistakes", and whether or not Solars really should explore this concept space given their power to succeed the first time around.

But trying to push "succeed the first time around" too far is what led to "solve crimes before they happen / determine guilt before the criminal considers committing the crime".

[Tiresias]

Craft:

Instruction of the Celestial Design
The Lawgiver writes down the plans and instructions necessary to create a mundane item which she has already crafted once. Anyone who reads and follows the Solar's instructions to craft this item uses the Solar's Attributes, Abilities and Merits rather than their own.

[Tiresias]

Survival:

Mammoth-Stalking Instinct
This charm activates when the Solar tracks a mundane animal with higher Strength than her. If the Solar rolls join battle against the animal, she immediately gains momentum equal to the number of threshold successes she rolled on the tracking roll, to a maximum of the difference between the animal's strength and the Solar's strength.

[Tiresias]

Ride:

Steel-Sundering Charge
When the Solar makes a successful close-range Melee, Brawl or Martial Arts attack immediately after moving towards her target, she may add her mount's Strength to the damage roll instead of her own.

[Walker-of-Ebony-Clouds]

Wherein I gaze into the future and write charms for a system I haven't seen yet. This is how I deal with boredom.

Melee/Brawl:

Dojo of the Mind
The Solar plays out the results of a battle in her mind to create the best opportunity to strike. When activating this Charm, the Solar selects a target. This Charm provides the following effects:
- The Solar's attacks take place only in her mind. Substitute Dexterity for Intelligence and Strength for Wits when rolling attacks and damage.
- The Solar's attacks gains long range.
- The Solar may defend herself and move normally, but may not attack anyone other than her current target.
- The Solar cannot use lethal attacks or Gambits, but can use all her other powers. The Solar's target may defend herself normally.
- The Solar's attacks gain [momentum] as normal. However, they cannot cause effects which require physical contact, such as poison and knockback.
- If the Charm's target attacks the Solar, the Solar immediately gains a clash attack against her.

Lore:

Victorious Stratagem Contemplation
The Solar studies her opponents in order to understand her weaknesses. The Solar activates this charm when her nemesis rolls battle against someone else. If the Solar witnesses the fight from its beginning to its resolution and takes no other action during that time, she gains (Lore?) momentum the next time she rolls join battle to fight the charm's target.

Stealth:

Wing of the Swooping Owl
While the Solar is engaged in battle and hidden, he may select one of her opponents as this charm's target. For every round in which the Solar remains hidden from the target, the Solar gains X additional momentum. This charm lasts until the target becomes aware of the Solar.

Occult:

Demon-Hunter's Instinct
Whenever a spirit uses one of its Charms to harm a mortal within (Essence) miles of the Solar, the Solar may roll Perception + Occult to learn the precise location of both the spirit and its victim.

Resistance:

Manna of Flesh and Will
Whenever the Solar would gain a point of Willpower, she may instead satiate herself as if she had eaten and slept enough to last a number of days equal to her Essence without requiring further rest or sustenance.

Medicine:

Remedy of Exalted Resilience
The Solar's supernatural healing skills persist in her absence. When treating a wounded mortal, the Solar may commit a number of motes equal to the lesser of her Intelligence + Medicine or the patient's Stamina + Resistance. So long as the motes remain committed, the patient may apply the benefit of the Resistance Excellency to all attempts to resist poison, disease or death from grievous wounds, adding a number of dice equal to the number of motes committed.

Ride:

Steel-Sundering Charge
When the Solar makes a successful close-range Melee, Brawl or Martial Arts attack immediately after moving towards her target, she may add her mount's Strength to the damage roll instead of her own.

& endorsed, I may present some of these to my ST and ask for permission to use them.

[Tiresias]

Integrity:

Exemplar of Righteous Will
The Solar may activate this charm whenever she successfully resists a social influence using her Resolve and one of her Intimacies. All witnesses who are not directly engaged in the debate automatically gain the Solar's Intimacy as a Minor Intimacy for the rest of the scene.

[Tiresias]

Stealth:

Bound Shadow Steps
Whenever the Solar is hidden and following a specific target at close range, she ignores all penalties to her Stealth rolls to remain hidden from her target. She can blend in a crowd and use her environment for cover or to make her presence look completely mundane.

[Gayo]

Stealth:

Bound Shadow Steps
Whenever the Solar is hidden and following a specific target at close range, she ignores all penalties to her Stealth rolls to remain hidden from her target. She can blend in a crowd and use her environment for cover or to make her presence look completely mundane.

This seems a little weak, but we'll need to see what 3e looks like, I guess. It also depends somewhat on how the game contextualizes things -- my experience is that a game has to really drill into your head the importance of using a pile of modifiers all the time before a power that negates non-specific situational penalties becomes useful by itself. As it stands it's always been pretty uncommon for people to apply one-sided penalties to opposed rolls.

I'm a little wary of blanket penalty negators generally, because they have the tendency to make the game more like a white-room.

[Tiresias]

Craft:

Inventor's Fleeting Inspiration
This charm allows the Solar to work on multiple projects at the same time. The Solar rolls against the project with the highest difficulty and distributes threshold successes across her projects however she wishes. Charms used to enhance the Solar's crafting apply to all projects.

[Tiresias]

Thrown:

Scattering Starfall
The Solar rolls her attack roll against all enemies within close range of her intended target. Enemies who are hit by the attack take Blunt damage, which supersedes the weapon's normal damage tag, and suffer Knockback. If the attack is also used to target a building or other structure, it gains the Piercing tag when dealing damage against it.

[Jen]

Thrown:

Scattering Starfall
The Solar rolls her attack roll against all enemies within close range of her intended target. Enemies who are hit by the attack take Blunt damage, which supersedes the weapon's normal damage tag, and suffer Knockback. If the attack is also used to target a building or other structure, it gains the Piercing tag when dealing damage against it.

I hope your weapon does scattering into essence when using this charm, gonna be a great party trick.

[Walker-of-Ebony-Clouds]

This seems a little weak, but we'll need to see what 3e looks like, I guess. It also depends somewhat on how the game contextualizes things -- my experience is that a game has to really drill into your head the importance of using a pile of modifiers all the time before a power that negates non-specific situational penalties becomes useful by itself. As it stands it's always been pretty uncommon for people to apply one-sided penalties to opposed rolls.

I'm a little wary of blanket penalty negators generally, because they have the tendency to make the game more like a white-room.

I liked it. Specifically the close range part.