Air Charms -- Linguistics
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dragon_bloodedLinguistics
Dragon-Blooded can speak two languages for each dot of Linguistics they possess.
Characters with no dots in Linguistics still begin play with the ability to speak a single language.
Editing History
09/04/12 - Changed the effects of Linguistics Ability to generally improve it. Added Dragon Claw Stylus, Dialect Understanding Defense. Removed Craft Icon (it was terrible). General edits for clarity.
10/04/12 - Changed Voice of Mastery. Changed defensive bonus on With One Mind so it made more sense. Some additional edits for language and clarity.
Dragon-Blooded Charms -- Linguistics
Inscription of Mela's Will
Cost: -- (1m)
Minimums: Linguistics ●, Essence ●
Type: Permanent
Action: Reflexive
Keywords: Elemental, Intrinsic, Obvious, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: None
This Charm creates magical ink with which the character may transcribe her will. When she activates this Charm, essence the color of her Aspect bleeds from her fingertips. For the rest of the scene, she may use this essence to write on any solid surface. This writing is as permanent as ink and it glows with a faint light the color of the character's Aspect. It provides no meaningful illumination, but it can be read in even total darkness. If the essence ink is used to mark skin or hair it can be easily washed or scrubbed off and otherwise fades naturally over the course of the Dragon-Blooded's [Essence] days. Finally, the ink created by this Charm is not toxic and is of insufficient quantity to have any use in combat.
This Charm has one other purpose, by spending a mote of essence when activating it, the ink takes on some of the Dragon-Blooded's personal characteristics. Attempts to forge or alter a document written in this matter suffer an external penalty equal to the Dragon-Blooded's [Linguistics].
Dragon Claw Stylus
Cost: 3+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard or Dramatic
Keywords: Elemental, Harmonious, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Inscription of Mela's Will
This Charm shapes the character's essence into a writing tool. A Dragon Claw Stylus takes the shape of a curved dragon's claw with a knot of feathers sprouting from the knuckle. The stylus produces ink identical to the kind created by Inscription of Mela's Will, including the option of a one mote surcharge to hamper tampering or forgery. When not in use, it hovers in the air near the character's shoulder, awaiting a command. For the purposes of combat, a stylus has no defenses or soak and any successful attack will scatter it into motes of elemental essence.
The stylus can write on its own, rapidly transcribing the character's thoughts. Not only does this leave the character's hands free while she composes or takes notes, but the essence-charged tool multiples the speed at which she writes by her [Essence + Linguistics]. On her orders, the stylus can copy whole documents or books while the character turns her attention to other things, though it must remain within [Essence] yards of the character or it dissipates back into essence.
As a final effect, the stylus grants additional elemental effects to written social attacks. Air attacks glitter with perfection, ignoring the MDV cap for Linguistics. Earth attacks convey authority and might that quashes defiance, they cost one additional Willpower to resist. Fire attacks surge with energy and passion, doubling successes on both 9s and 10s. Water attacks use lateral logic to flow around barriers, halving a target's MDV. Wood attacks tap into the cycles of essence that connect all living things. The penalties for a social attack that plays on Intimacies, Virtues, or Motivation stack. Composing a written social attack is a dramatic action.
Imprint of [Dragon's] Power
Cost: 5m, 1W
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard
Keywords: Elemental, Obvious, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Inscription of Mela's Will
When a character invokes this Charm, essence briefly bleeds from her fingertips as with Inscription of Mela's Will. With this power, she draws the great seal of one of the Elemental Dragons. This image must be placed directly onto a character's flesh or clothing, or an item on her person which she has ownership of. When the last lines are completed, the diagram comes to life in a pattern of elemental essence and blazes with light the color of the Dragon's Aspect. This seal can be placed upon another, but a character can only activate and/or benefit from one seal at a time.
This image confers several benefits. Firstly, it emits light bright enough read by. Secondly, if the imprint matches the character's Aspect it reduces the cost of all in-Aspect Charms by 1 (to a minimum of 1). Thirdly, the character receives three temporary dots to assign between Attributes, Abilities, and Virtues. The character cannot 'double up' on these dots, each must be assigned to a different Trait. While the Charm is active, these temporary boosts act as though they were 'real' and increase the character's die adder caps appropriately. Bonuses granted by this Charm cannot increase an Attribute, Ability, or Virtue above 5. Grating an increased rating in Willpower or a Virtue does not provide the temporary point.
Mela, the Air Dragon allows the character to boost Dexterity, Intelligence, Wits, Willpower, or any of her Aspect Abilities.
Pasiap, the Earth Dragon allows the character to boost Strength, Stamina, Perception, Conviction, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
Hesiah, the Fire Dragon allows the character to boost Dexterity, Charisma, Wits, Valor, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
Daana'd, the Water Dragon allows the character to boost Stamina, Manipulation, Perception, Temperance, or any of her Aspect Abilities
Sextes Jylis, the Wood Dragon allows the character to boost Stamina, Appearance, Intelligence, Compassion, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
At Essence 4+, bonuses granted by this Charm can increase a Trait above 5.
Language Learning Ritual
Cost: 5m, 1W
Minimums: Linguistics ●●, Essence ●
Type: Simple
Action: Dramatic
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: One Week
Prerequisites: None
With this Charm a character can 'absorb' a foreign language into herself, becoming a totally fluent speaker for the duration. Activating this Charm properly requires an hour of quiet meditation, reduced by five minutes per success on an [Intelligence] + [Linguistics] roll. A character can maintain a number of invocations of this Charm equal to her permanent Essence. If the character has at least Lore ●●, she may also write any languages she has absorbed with this Charm. Fluency in any absorbed languages fades when the Charm does.
At Essence 2+ the roll to activate this Charm becomes [Intelligence] + [Linguistics] + [Essence].
At Essence 3+ the Duration of his Charm becomes Indefinite, and the character retains knowledge of the language or languages as long as the essence remains committed.
At Essence 4+ this Charm no longer costs Willpower.
Dialect Understanding Defense
Cost: 4+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Reflexive
Action: Reflexive
Keywords: Elemental, Harmonic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
The character's extensive knowledge of language allows her to predict the tricks, twists, and turns of the written word and can be used to protect her from social attacks. This Charm can be used to bolster her defenses in various ways, with each Aspect taking a different elemental approach. This Charm works against any social attack that utilizes the written or spoken word. It provides no protection against more direct forms of mind control, such as an Anathema who uses nothing more than its baleful will to control the character, or an attack that uses art or interpretative dance to make its point.
Air allows the character to predict shifts in conversation or writing as she would a subtle shift in the breeze. She removes the Unexpected quality from a single social attack. Earth entrenches the character's mind. She reduces the Willpower cost of resisting a social attack by 1, to a minimum of 0. If the attack forces her to pay Willpower at certain intervals, she may apply this cost reduction at each interval. Fire fills the character with a burst of energy and defiance. When she resists an attack using her Parry MDV, she may launch a reflexive social counterattack back at her attacker. Water cools and ultimately freezes the character's heart, mind, and soul. She suffers no MDV penalty from a social attack that plays on her Intimacies, Virtues, or Motivation. Wood draws on the power of life to defend that which the character holds dear. She doubles the MDV bonus granted by an attack that attempts to get her to go against an Intimacy, Virtue, or her Motivation. This effect also doubles the MDV bonus cap to +6.
Cipher Missive
Cost: 3m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●, Essence ●
Type: Simple
Action: Dramatic
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
Exalted use this Charm to create documents written in supernaturally complex codes. The document in question must be created by the Exalt herself (though a Dragon Claw Stylus counts as the character for this purpose) and can be no longer then her [Essence] in pages. No roll is necessary to create the document, and the number of successes required to break the code is [5 + the character's permanent Essence]. Each code-breaking roll has a base difficulty of the [Essence] of the character who created the document and takes a number of days equal to that character's [Essence].
The Exalt who crafted the document containing the Cipher Missive can specify up to [Essence x 2] individuals who can read the text without difficulty. Alternatively, she can designate a single class of individuals (such as, 'Members of House Tepet') who can freely read the document. A Cipher Missive can contain a written social attack.
At Essence 3+ the character can specify any number of individuals who will be able to read the text without difficulty.
Thousand Tongues Mediation
Cost: 4m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
For the duration of this Charm, a Dragon-Blooded can speak and understand any foreign language, although she is limited to interaction with a number of people equal to her [Essence x 2]. The character can 'shift' the focus of this Charm to new targets as a reflexive action. The understanding granted by this Charm is not perfect, and the character suffers a -4 penalty on social attacks that rely on speech. This penalty is reduced by one for each point of permanent Linguistics and Essence by which the character exceeds the Charm's prerequisites. This Charm does not grant the ability to write any of the languages the character now 'speaks'.
At Essence 3+, the number of people the character can interact with rises to her [Essence x 5].
At Essence 4+, this Charm expands its purview to sign language and other forms of non-verbal communication.
Poisoned Tongue Technique
Cost: 2m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Action: Social, Standard
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion
Duration: Concentration
Prerequisites: None
Dragon-Blooded use this Charm to twist the words of others. To do so, the character must be within [Essence x 100] feet from all participants in a conversation. She rolls [Manipulation] + [Intelligence], with the number of successes determining how far she can twist the conversation. One successes allows for minor details, perhaps confusing or offending one of the parties. Three or more successes allows the character to alter major details and make social attacks that seem to have come from one of the participants. Five or more successes allows the character to control any aspect of the conversation.
Targets of this Charm receive a free [Wits] + [Perception] roll to notice what's going on. The difficulty of the roll is the character's [Linguistics]. If this roll is successful, the targets notice the effects of this Charm and can attempt to communicate through non-verbal means. Note that each target rolls separately and some participants in a conversation may pass and others fail (making the situation even more confusing).
Voice of Mastery
Cost: --
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Permanent
Action: None
Keywords: Dynasty (Wood), Elemental, Harmonious, Intrinsic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None
This Charm expands and improves Mela's General Charms and Abilities, granting them additional elemental effects. These elemental effects apply only to Linguistics or when the character enhances a Linguistics roll.
Air is everywhere, and it extends the character's reach. She removes the Touch Keyword from [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement, granting it a range of her [Essence x 10] feet. Earth's might cannot be matched, and the character extends the die-adder cap to [Linguistics] + [Relevant Specialty] + [Essence]. Fire Aspects brim with explosive power and burning speed. Change the Type of [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement to Reflexive. Water flows through all nations, the character speaks three languages for each dot of Linguistics she possesses. Wood opens the character's heart to the needs of her friends and family. [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement has no one mote surcharge if it targets a family member, sworn brother, or another Dragon-Blooded that the character has a positive Intimacy towards.
Wind Carried Words Technique
Cost: 1+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: None
Prerequisites: None
Dragon-Blooded use this Charm for rapid long-distance communication. The character can transmit a 25 word message up to her [Essence x 100] feet. Each additional mote spent when invoking this Charm increases the range by a factor of 10. The sender need not know the exact location of the recipient, but must have a general idea of it that she can specify. If her target is at or near this location, with 'near' defined as 'within the sender's [Essence x 5] miles, the message reaches them. This Charm can carry a single (very concise) social attack, if the sender wishes to employ one.
Voices on the Wind
Cost: 3+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Concentration
Prerequisites: Wind Carried Words Technique
With this Charm a character can listen to the wind for the sound of distant conversations or speech. For the Charm's base cost the character can clearly hear normal speech originating from anywhere within her [Essence x 100] feet. Each additional mote spent increases the range by a factor of 10. It is difficult, but not impossible, to listen in on multiple conversations this way. The base difficulty of the [Perception] + [Linguistics] to eavesdrop on a conversation is 0 (thus, a character automatically succeeds), and rises by 1 for each additional conversation the character is trying to overhear.
This Charm cannot penetrate an airtight room (and many Dynasts have airtight rooms constructed for exactly this reason), and certain warding magics can defeat its effects.
Speech Without Words
Cost: 2m + 1m per ally
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Wind Carried Words Technique, Cipher Missive
This Charm was developed for situations where speech would be inappropriate or dangerous. It allows the character to convey messages using a specialized form of magical sign language. While mundane sign language does exist in the Realm, this Charm grants instant fluency and understanding to all participants. The gestures used as part of this magic are subtle and unobtrusive, and do not indicate that any of the characters affected by this Charm are communicating.
With One Mind
Cost: 4m, +2m per dot of increase
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dynasty, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Speech Without Words
This Charm allows the character and her allies to share surface thoughts, making verbal speech superfluous and a waste of their time. In order to activate this Charm, all participants must meditate together for about five minutes while standing with their hands joined. This Charm has a target limit of the character's [Essence + 1], although the character herself does not count as one of the targets. The number of targets allowed doubles if members are all blood relatives. The 'group mind' the character and her allies share conveys several effects. Firstly, the all observations made by any participant are shared by all. So ambushing the group requires each member to be surprised. Secondly, in a combat situation, all orders, warnings, or observations are non-verbal. Finally, the linked characters possess supernatural teamwork and co-ordination. Their enhanced battle tactics grant each member a +2 bonus to all defenses, so long as they remain within ten feet of another linked character.
As an additional effect, the character who invoked this Charm may spend essence to increase the Wits, Perception, and Melee ratings of all allies sharing the group mind. Each 2m spent affects all participants and increases each of the three ratings by 1. The character can increase these ratings by no more than her [Essence].
Dragon-Blooded can speak two languages for each dot of Linguistics they possess.
Characters with no dots in Linguistics still begin play with the ability to speak a single language.
Editing History
09/04/12 - Changed the effects of Linguistics Ability to generally improve it. Added Dragon Claw Stylus, Dialect Understanding Defense. Removed Craft Icon (it was terrible). General edits for clarity.
10/04/12 - Changed Voice of Mastery. Changed defensive bonus on With One Mind so it made more sense. Some additional edits for language and clarity.
Dragon-Blooded Charms -- Linguistics
Inscription of Mela's Will
Cost: -- (1m)
Minimums: Linguistics ●, Essence ●
Type: Permanent
Action: Reflexive
Keywords: Elemental, Intrinsic, Obvious, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: None
This Charm creates magical ink with which the character may transcribe her will. When she activates this Charm, essence the color of her Aspect bleeds from her fingertips. For the rest of the scene, she may use this essence to write on any solid surface. This writing is as permanent as ink and it glows with a faint light the color of the character's Aspect. It provides no meaningful illumination, but it can be read in even total darkness. If the essence ink is used to mark skin or hair it can be easily washed or scrubbed off and otherwise fades naturally over the course of the Dragon-Blooded's [Essence] days. Finally, the ink created by this Charm is not toxic and is of insufficient quantity to have any use in combat.
This Charm has one other purpose, by spending a mote of essence when activating it, the ink takes on some of the Dragon-Blooded's personal characteristics. Attempts to forge or alter a document written in this matter suffer an external penalty equal to the Dragon-Blooded's [Linguistics].
Dragon Claw Stylus
Cost: 3+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard or Dramatic
Keywords: Elemental, Harmonious, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Inscription of Mela's Will
This Charm shapes the character's essence into a writing tool. A Dragon Claw Stylus takes the shape of a curved dragon's claw with a knot of feathers sprouting from the knuckle. The stylus produces ink identical to the kind created by Inscription of Mela's Will, including the option of a one mote surcharge to hamper tampering or forgery. When not in use, it hovers in the air near the character's shoulder, awaiting a command. For the purposes of combat, a stylus has no defenses or soak and any successful attack will scatter it into motes of elemental essence.
The stylus can write on its own, rapidly transcribing the character's thoughts. Not only does this leave the character's hands free while she composes or takes notes, but the essence-charged tool multiples the speed at which she writes by her [Essence + Linguistics]. On her orders, the stylus can copy whole documents or books while the character turns her attention to other things, though it must remain within [Essence] yards of the character or it dissipates back into essence.
As a final effect, the stylus grants additional elemental effects to written social attacks. Air attacks glitter with perfection, ignoring the MDV cap for Linguistics. Earth attacks convey authority and might that quashes defiance, they cost one additional Willpower to resist. Fire attacks surge with energy and passion, doubling successes on both 9s and 10s. Water attacks use lateral logic to flow around barriers, halving a target's MDV. Wood attacks tap into the cycles of essence that connect all living things. The penalties for a social attack that plays on Intimacies, Virtues, or Motivation stack. Composing a written social attack is a dramatic action.
Imprint of [Dragon's] Power
Cost: 5m, 1W
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard
Keywords: Elemental, Obvious, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Inscription of Mela's Will
When a character invokes this Charm, essence briefly bleeds from her fingertips as with Inscription of Mela's Will. With this power, she draws the great seal of one of the Elemental Dragons. This image must be placed directly onto a character's flesh or clothing, or an item on her person which she has ownership of. When the last lines are completed, the diagram comes to life in a pattern of elemental essence and blazes with light the color of the Dragon's Aspect. This seal can be placed upon another, but a character can only activate and/or benefit from one seal at a time.
This image confers several benefits. Firstly, it emits light bright enough read by. Secondly, if the imprint matches the character's Aspect it reduces the cost of all in-Aspect Charms by 1 (to a minimum of 1). Thirdly, the character receives three temporary dots to assign between Attributes, Abilities, and Virtues. The character cannot 'double up' on these dots, each must be assigned to a different Trait. While the Charm is active, these temporary boosts act as though they were 'real' and increase the character's die adder caps appropriately. Bonuses granted by this Charm cannot increase an Attribute, Ability, or Virtue above 5. Grating an increased rating in Willpower or a Virtue does not provide the temporary point.
Mela, the Air Dragon allows the character to boost Dexterity, Intelligence, Wits, Willpower, or any of her Aspect Abilities.
Pasiap, the Earth Dragon allows the character to boost Strength, Stamina, Perception, Conviction, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
Hesiah, the Fire Dragon allows the character to boost Dexterity, Charisma, Wits, Valor, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
Daana'd, the Water Dragon allows the character to boost Stamina, Manipulation, Perception, Temperance, or any of her Aspect Abilities
Sextes Jylis, the Wood Dragon allows the character to boost Stamina, Appearance, Intelligence, Compassion, or any of his Aspect Abilities.
At Essence 4+, bonuses granted by this Charm can increase a Trait above 5.
Language Learning Ritual
Cost: 5m, 1W
Minimums: Linguistics ●●, Essence ●
Type: Simple
Action: Dramatic
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: One Week
Prerequisites: None
With this Charm a character can 'absorb' a foreign language into herself, becoming a totally fluent speaker for the duration. Activating this Charm properly requires an hour of quiet meditation, reduced by five minutes per success on an [Intelligence] + [Linguistics] roll. A character can maintain a number of invocations of this Charm equal to her permanent Essence. If the character has at least Lore ●●, she may also write any languages she has absorbed with this Charm. Fluency in any absorbed languages fades when the Charm does.
At Essence 2+ the roll to activate this Charm becomes [Intelligence] + [Linguistics] + [Essence].
At Essence 3+ the Duration of his Charm becomes Indefinite, and the character retains knowledge of the language or languages as long as the essence remains committed.
At Essence 4+ this Charm no longer costs Willpower.
Dialect Understanding Defense
Cost: 4+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Reflexive
Action: Reflexive
Keywords: Elemental, Harmonic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
The character's extensive knowledge of language allows her to predict the tricks, twists, and turns of the written word and can be used to protect her from social attacks. This Charm can be used to bolster her defenses in various ways, with each Aspect taking a different elemental approach. This Charm works against any social attack that utilizes the written or spoken word. It provides no protection against more direct forms of mind control, such as an Anathema who uses nothing more than its baleful will to control the character, or an attack that uses art or interpretative dance to make its point.
Air allows the character to predict shifts in conversation or writing as she would a subtle shift in the breeze. She removes the Unexpected quality from a single social attack. Earth entrenches the character's mind. She reduces the Willpower cost of resisting a social attack by 1, to a minimum of 0. If the attack forces her to pay Willpower at certain intervals, she may apply this cost reduction at each interval. Fire fills the character with a burst of energy and defiance. When she resists an attack using her Parry MDV, she may launch a reflexive social counterattack back at her attacker. Water cools and ultimately freezes the character's heart, mind, and soul. She suffers no MDV penalty from a social attack that plays on her Intimacies, Virtues, or Motivation. Wood draws on the power of life to defend that which the character holds dear. She doubles the MDV bonus granted by an attack that attempts to get her to go against an Intimacy, Virtue, or her Motivation. This effect also doubles the MDV bonus cap to +6.
Cipher Missive
Cost: 3m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●, Essence ●
Type: Simple
Action: Dramatic
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
Exalted use this Charm to create documents written in supernaturally complex codes. The document in question must be created by the Exalt herself (though a Dragon Claw Stylus counts as the character for this purpose) and can be no longer then her [Essence] in pages. No roll is necessary to create the document, and the number of successes required to break the code is [5 + the character's permanent Essence]. Each code-breaking roll has a base difficulty of the [Essence] of the character who created the document and takes a number of days equal to that character's [Essence].
The Exalt who crafted the document containing the Cipher Missive can specify up to [Essence x 2] individuals who can read the text without difficulty. Alternatively, she can designate a single class of individuals (such as, 'Members of House Tepet') who can freely read the document. A Cipher Missive can contain a written social attack.
At Essence 3+ the character can specify any number of individuals who will be able to read the text without difficulty.
Thousand Tongues Mediation
Cost: 4m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Action: Standard
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Language Learning Ritual
For the duration of this Charm, a Dragon-Blooded can speak and understand any foreign language, although she is limited to interaction with a number of people equal to her [Essence x 2]. The character can 'shift' the focus of this Charm to new targets as a reflexive action. The understanding granted by this Charm is not perfect, and the character suffers a -4 penalty on social attacks that rely on speech. This penalty is reduced by one for each point of permanent Linguistics and Essence by which the character exceeds the Charm's prerequisites. This Charm does not grant the ability to write any of the languages the character now 'speaks'.
At Essence 3+, the number of people the character can interact with rises to her [Essence x 5].
At Essence 4+, this Charm expands its purview to sign language and other forms of non-verbal communication.
Poisoned Tongue Technique
Cost: 2m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Action: Social, Standard
Keywords: Combo-OK, Illusion
Duration: Concentration
Prerequisites: None
Dragon-Blooded use this Charm to twist the words of others. To do so, the character must be within [Essence x 100] feet from all participants in a conversation. She rolls [Manipulation] + [Intelligence], with the number of successes determining how far she can twist the conversation. One successes allows for minor details, perhaps confusing or offending one of the parties. Three or more successes allows the character to alter major details and make social attacks that seem to have come from one of the participants. Five or more successes allows the character to control any aspect of the conversation.
Targets of this Charm receive a free [Wits] + [Perception] roll to notice what's going on. The difficulty of the roll is the character's [Linguistics]. If this roll is successful, the targets notice the effects of this Charm and can attempt to communicate through non-verbal means. Note that each target rolls separately and some participants in a conversation may pass and others fail (making the situation even more confusing).
Voice of Mastery
Cost: --
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Permanent
Action: None
Keywords: Dynasty (Wood), Elemental, Harmonious, Intrinsic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None
This Charm expands and improves Mela's General Charms and Abilities, granting them additional elemental effects. These elemental effects apply only to Linguistics or when the character enhances a Linguistics roll.
Air is everywhere, and it extends the character's reach. She removes the Touch Keyword from [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement, granting it a range of her [Essence x 10] feet. Earth's might cannot be matched, and the character extends the die-adder cap to [Linguistics] + [Relevant Specialty] + [Essence]. Fire Aspects brim with explosive power and burning speed. Change the Type of [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement to Reflexive. Water flows through all nations, the character speaks three languages for each dot of Linguistics she possesses. Wood opens the character's heart to the needs of her friends and family. [Mela's] Ability Reinforcement has no one mote surcharge if it targets a family member, sworn brother, or another Dragon-Blooded that the character has a positive Intimacy towards.
Wind Carried Words Technique
Cost: 1+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: None
Prerequisites: None
Dragon-Blooded use this Charm for rapid long-distance communication. The character can transmit a 25 word message up to her [Essence x 100] feet. Each additional mote spent when invoking this Charm increases the range by a factor of 10. The sender need not know the exact location of the recipient, but must have a general idea of it that she can specify. If her target is at or near this location, with 'near' defined as 'within the sender's [Essence x 5] miles, the message reaches them. This Charm can carry a single (very concise) social attack, if the sender wishes to employ one.
Voices on the Wind
Cost: 3+m
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Concentration
Prerequisites: Wind Carried Words Technique
With this Charm a character can listen to the wind for the sound of distant conversations or speech. For the Charm's base cost the character can clearly hear normal speech originating from anywhere within her [Essence x 100] feet. Each additional mote spent increases the range by a factor of 10. It is difficult, but not impossible, to listen in on multiple conversations this way. The base difficulty of the [Perception] + [Linguistics] to eavesdrop on a conversation is 0 (thus, a character automatically succeeds), and rises by 1 for each additional conversation the character is trying to overhear.
This Charm cannot penetrate an airtight room (and many Dynasts have airtight rooms constructed for exactly this reason), and certain warding magics can defeat its effects.
Speech Without Words
Cost: 2m + 1m per ally
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Wind Carried Words Technique, Cipher Missive
This Charm was developed for situations where speech would be inappropriate or dangerous. It allows the character to convey messages using a specialized form of magical sign language. While mundane sign language does exist in the Realm, this Charm grants instant fluency and understanding to all participants. The gestures used as part of this magic are subtle and unobtrusive, and do not indicate that any of the characters affected by this Charm are communicating.
With One Mind
Cost: 4m, +2m per dot of increase
Minimums: Linguistics ●●●●●, Essence ●●●
Type: Simple
Keywords: Dynasty, Touch
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisites: Speech Without Words
This Charm allows the character and her allies to share surface thoughts, making verbal speech superfluous and a waste of their time. In order to activate this Charm, all participants must meditate together for about five minutes while standing with their hands joined. This Charm has a target limit of the character's [Essence + 1], although the character herself does not count as one of the targets. The number of targets allowed doubles if members are all blood relatives. The 'group mind' the character and her allies share conveys several effects. Firstly, the all observations made by any participant are shared by all. So ambushing the group requires each member to be surprised. Secondly, in a combat situation, all orders, warnings, or observations are non-verbal. Finally, the linked characters possess supernatural teamwork and co-ordination. Their enhanced battle tactics grant each member a +2 bonus to all defenses, so long as they remain within ten feet of another linked character.
As an additional effect, the character who invoked this Charm may spend essence to increase the Wits, Perception, and Melee ratings of all allies sharing the group mind. Each 2m spent affects all participants and increases each of the three ratings by 1. The character can increase these ratings by no more than her [Essence].
