Dice Abyssals - Dark Future - Characters

Psychie · Jun 29, 2020

Character Creation tweaks to the rules will be posted here shortly.

Psychie · Jun 29, 2020

The players will start off at Essence 3, and you can raise it up to an Essence of no higher than 4 with your bonus points.
The Background of Abyssal Command is not allowed at this time.
The Background of Liege at a rating of 3 is free.

Attributes are set at 9 / 7 / 5
Abilities are set at 35 dots.
Characters can start with 15 Charms/spells instead of the usual 10.
You get 15 points in Backgrounds
And to top it all off, you can have 20 Bonus Points to sweeten you characters up a bit.

We will be using the errata for the 2.5 rules, so make sure you check there.

Remember, you are all dealing with dark, tragic backgrounds, or else you would not be chosen for the Dark Exaltation you now have. Also, the amount of time you can be Exalted for is under five years. That is when the Deathlords first got a hold of the Solar Shards and corrupted them, so you are freshly made.

Your Deathlord is the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires.

Xp total: 3 points

Sherwood · Jun 29, 2020

Name: Whispers from the Darkness
Caste: Dusk
Age: 33

Attributes
Str: 5 (8)
Dex: 5
Sta: 3

Cha: 3
Man: 2
App: 3

Per: 4
Int: 2
Wits: 4

Abilities
*Archery: 1
*Martial Arts: 1
*Melee: 5
*Thrown
*War: 3

Integrity
Performance: 1
*Presence: 3
*Resistance: 3
Survival: 2

Craft
Investigation: 2
Lore: 1
Medicine
Occult

*Athletics: 3
*Awareness: 3
Dodge: 1
Larceny
*Stealth: 3

Bureaucracy: 1
Linguistics: 3 - Old Realm, Riverspeak, Firespeak, Foresttongue
Ride: 2
Sail: 1
Socialize

Specialties
Melee: Two-Handed Weapons - 3
Awareness: Spotting Concealment - 1
Ally - Ghostly Servant named Alhara: 1
Artifact - Soulsteel Third Hand Glaive: 5
Artifact - Obsidian Sheath Armor: 4
Liege: 3
Manse - Gemstone of Perfect Mobility: 5
Spies in Lookshy: 2

Essence: 4
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 43 / 31
Committed: 12

Willpower: 6
Compassion: 1
Conviction: 3
Temperance: 2
Valor: 3

ANIMA POWERS
Abyssals can spend one mote to do either of the following:
• Cause their anima to flare to any level of display up to the 8–10 mote level. This display lasts for a scene or until reflexively dismissed, after which the character’s anima dims to its actual level.
• Attune her Essence to the emanations of the Underworld for a scene, extending this sixth sense to a radius of (Essence x 100) yards. Within this zone, she can feel shadowlands clearly enough to map their exact border. She immediately recognizes creatures and objects infused with the Essence of the Underworld for what they are (including other Abyssals). This sense does not reveal hidden characters or objects, but it does reveal the presence of necrotic Essence sources within the zone, even if the Abyssal cannot pinpoint the source of these energies. Characters can differentiate subtle differences in the source of Essence (Abyssal, ghost, zombie, etc.), but not the strength of the source.

Anima Effects: By reflexively spending 10 motes, a Dusk Caste envelops herself in an aura of dread. The Peacebringer’s enemies fear even to look at her, giving her a +2 DV bonus against their attacks. Characters whose Valor exceeds the Dusk Caste’s Essence are immune to this effect, as are automata, the walking dead and other creatures that cannot feel fear. This effect comes into play automatically once the Abyssal spends 11–15 motes of Peripheral Essence.
Melee

Cost= 1m per die; Mins: (Ability) 1, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
The Exalt's player can invoke this Charm when making a roll based on the relevant Ability. This Charm then adds one die to that roll for each mote spent.
Characters can also use this Charm to increase a Defense Value. When enhancing static values, her player rolls one die for each mote spent on the First Excellency. Each success increases her effective (Attribute + Ability) rating for the task by two. Therefore, each success on the First Excellency roll increases an applicable static value by one.

Cost: 2m+, 1wp; Mins: (Ability) 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Any (Ability) Excellency
Each two motes committed to this Charm reduces the mote cost of the first three Excellencies by one, to a minimum of 0. Exalted with Essence 3 can spend up to six motes on this Charm, while Exalted with Essence 4+ can spend as man motes as they like.

Cost: 2m per DV; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Melee Excellency
The Abyssal’s weapon spins in a flicker of shadowy images, confusing her foe. For every two motes the Exalt spends on Five Shadow Feint, her target’s DV against the attack drops by one.

Cost: 2m per attack; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Peony Blossom Attack; Exalted, p. 191), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Five Shadow Feint
The Abyssal spins and thrusts in a cascade of blows, trailing wispy afterimages that fleetingly resemble the petals of a blooming flower before the victim’s screams break the serenity of the display.
The maneuver burns significant Essence to unleash a powerful flurry of blows. This Charm is a magical flurry of two or more melee-based attacks. Each attack costs two motes, including the first, and the Exalt can buy up to (Permanent Essence +1) attacks. This Charm lets the character make these attacks regardless of the weapon's Rate, without multiple action penalties, and with a DV penalty equal to only the highest penalty for one attack.

Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 2; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Mirror (Iron Whirlwind Attack; Exalted, p. 191), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Unfurling Iron Lotus
The Abyssal’s Oblivion-touched weapon frays the strands of fate that weave its position in space and time, allowing the brief and bloody impossibility of its coexistence in many wounds.
This Charm is a magical flurry of many melee-based attacks. The Exalt makes a total number of attacks equal to her (Dexterity + 1).

Cost: —; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mirror (Invincible Fury of the Dawn; Exalted, p. 191)
Duration: N/A
Prerequisite Charms: Time-Scything Technique
The Abyssal learns to strike with impossible speed, fulfilling the Charm’s name with blurs of violence that leave bewildered victims covered in countless shallow cuts or bruises. Only a handful of blows have any real force to them, but these are usually sufficient. In addition, a character who uses this Charm with a successful flurry may incidentally arrange the wounds inflicted into artful designs or calligraphy to add literal insult to injury. At the Storyteller’s option, Solars can do the same with Invincible Fury of the Dawn. If the player can think of something particularly witty or obnoxious for the character to inscribe in blood, the Storyteller might consider granting a stunt bonus.
This Charm increases the maximum number of attacks received from Unfurling Iron Lotus and Time-Scything Technique by two.

Cost: 2m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Dipping Swallow Defense; Exalted, p. 192)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Melee Excellency
The Abyssal’s weapon interposes itself in the path of an attack with contemptuous disregard for the laws of inertia, as if possessed of its own volition and horrid grace.
This Charm is used in response to an attack. It allows the Exalt to ignore all penalties that apply to her Parry DV when resolving that attack. Her Parry DV is still 0 if it is inapplicable, but it takes no further penalties.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Counterattack, Mirror (Solar Counterattack; Exalted, p. 194)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Elegant Flowing Deflection
The Abyssal holds his weapon loosely at his side, his monstrous arrogance practically inviting opponents to strike him, while promising horrific retribution on anyone foolish enough to take the dare. The Charm does not defend the deathknight in any way, but he can strike back with his
weapon at his attacker.
This Charm gives the Exalt a counterattack, with is resolved in Step 9 of the initial attack's resolution.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Heavenly Guardian Defense; Exalted, p. 193), Obvious, Spectral
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Vengeful Riposte
Whether the arrows of man or the spear of the Unconquered Sun, no force may strike an armed Abyssal with this Charm. Note that this Charm does differ slightly from its Solar counterpart in its Essence cost and bearing the Spectral keyword.
The character invokes this Charm in response to an attack. The attack must not be unexpected, and the character must have a weapon in hand. This Charm is a parry that perfectly defends against any attack, even if it is unblockable.

Cost: 1m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 2)
Keywords: Mirror (Call the Blade; Exalted, p. 191), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The weapons of the Abyssal Exalted fear their masters and swiftly leap to their grasp when bidden by an imperiously outstretched hand.
If the desired weapon is within (Essence x10) yards, and a flight path exists between the weapon and her hand, this Charm draws the weapon into her grasp. She must own the weapon she calls.

Cost: 1m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Summoning the Loyal Steel; Exalted, p. 192)
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Blade-Summoning Gesture
The weapons of the Abyssal Exalted have no reality except when they are needed, lessening the offense of their existence against the purity of Oblivion. As with Solars, separate committed activations of this Charm may concurrently banish multiple weapons.

Resistance

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mirror (Ox-Body Technique; Exalted, p. 208), Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm works exactly the same way for Abyssals as for Solars, though deathknights prefer to give it names like “Corpse-Body Resilience.”
A player may purchase this Charm up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability the character possesses. Each purchase provides one of the following:
One -0 Health Level
Two -1 Health Levels
One -1 and two -2 Health Levels

Athletics

Cost= 1m per die; Mins: (Ability) 1, Essence 1; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-Ok
Duration: Instant
The Exalt's player can invoke this Charm when making a roll based on the relevant Ability. This Charm then adds one die to that roll for each mote spent.
Characters can also use this Charm to increase a Defense Value. When enhancing static values, her player rolls one die for each mote spent on the First Excellency. Each success increases her effective (Attribute + Ability) rating for the task by two. Therefore, each success on the First Excellency roll increases an applicable static value by one.

Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 2;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Thunderbolt Attack Prana; Exalted, p. 223), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Any Athletics Excellency
The deathknight strikes with a distinctive and artistic flourish, to haunt the survivors’ nightmares.
This Charm gives one bonus success on this attack in Step 3 of attack resolution and doubles the post-soak damage of the attack in Step 7 of attack resolution.

Cost: 3m; Mins: Athletics 1, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Graceful Crane Stance; Exalted, p. 222)
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Deathknights move like the ghosts they lord over, stepping lighter than a bird over all obstacles.
This Charm lets the Exalt automatically succeed on any valid Athletics action to keep her balance. Moreover, this Charm allows the Exalt to keep her footing on any surface at least as strong and wide as a human hair. She treats it as a three-foot-wide ledge capable of supporting a thousand pounds of weight when determining what movement and Athletics actions she can take and what penalties to them might apply.

Cost: 3m per point; Mins: Athletics 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Increasing Strength Exercise; Exalted, p. 225), Obvious, Stackable
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Overcharging his body with the unholy energies that animate the walking dead, the Abyssal stands stronger than living flesh should be. Taut tendons and rigid muscles betray the agony of this exercise, a small price to pay for such brutal power.
This Charm adds one dot to the character's Strength for each three motes spent. No combination of Charms that includes Corpse-Might Surge can increase the character's Strength by more than her Essence.
Health Levels
-0 [ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
I [ ]

Essence: 4
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 43 / 31
Committed: 12
Willpower: 6

Join Battle: 7

Dodge DV: 5
Parry DV: 9 (+4 after first attack with the Glaive)

Natural Soak: +2L/+3B
Total Soak: +14L/+15B

Movement
Move: 5 yards per tick (9 yards with Obsidian Sheath)
Dash: 11 yards per tick (19 yards with Obsidian Sheath)

Soulsteel Third Hand Glaive
Speed 4 (3 with hearthstone), Accuracy +6, Damage +8L, Defense +4, Rate 2, Attune 5
Soulsteel weapons drains a number of motes of Essence equal to the wielder's Permanent Essence whenever it strikes a target and inflicts at least one health level of damage.

Obsidian Sheath Armor
Soak: +12L/+12B, Hardness +6L/+6B, Mobility 0, Fatigue 0, Attune 7
This unusual armor looks like a suit of articulated plate carved from shining black stone trimmed in orichalcum, and it provides the magical material bonuses for orichalcum armor when properly attuned. While based primarily on Dragon King crystal technology, it was originally developed with the aid of the Jadeborn Mountain Folk. It was only worn by the elite troops of the Dragon Kings, and all suits are marked with an orichalcum sunburst in the middle of the breastplate, symbolizing the wearer’s devotion to the Unconquered Sun. When attuned, the armor not only acts like a second skin, it also boosts the wearer’s Strength and mobility. The armor automatically increases the wearer’s Strength by 3. In addition, in combat, the wearer adds four yards per tick to move actions and eight yards per tick to dash actions. When walking long distances, the wearer can march at a speed of 15 miles per hour, covering up to 210 miles in a day.

A five-foot staff topped with a thick, two-foot blade, carved from dark wood and laced with Soulsteel, this weapon is perfect in its balance, weight and razor’s edge. As if that were not enough to set it apart, a wide and thin sash hangs from the point where the metal of the blade meets the haft, permanently fastened to the weapon. Over 10 feet in length, the sash is made from tiny links of Soulsteel, and flows smoothly through the air. The Third-Arm Glaive has many powers.
In war, the sash is the perfect banner for friends and foes alike. While its bearer lives, the sash undulates to better reflect whatever light available — the rays of the sun, the shine of the moon or the animas of nearby Exalted. The light is visible to the entire battlefield. Troops friendly to the bearer of the weapon gain a one-die bonus to their Valor checks, and enemy units are penalized by one. In personal combat, the sash has additional uses. Once its bearer has struck — inevitably a long, smooth motion that causes the sash to flow out behind the blade — the sash begins to act on its own, twisting and swirling through the air about him. When someone or something comes too close to the sash’s master, the metallic sash raps the object or being to keep it away. This effect adds the user’s Essence to her Parry DV for an entire battle after she has taken an offensive action. If the sash aids in the successful parry of an unarmed attack, the attacker suffers one die of bashing damage.
The wielder of the Glaive can choose to forego this benefit for a greater one. Taking a Speed 3, DV -1 action to commit an additional 3 motes to the Glaive, the user may demonstrate the source of the weapon’s name. From that point on, the sash acts entirely independently from the weapon’s wielder in battle. Though the Glaive’s first action is simultaneous with the committal of Essence, the sash’s future actions depend solely on the speed of its attacks. The weapon either makes an unarmed attack or a clinch, at the wielder’s option. The Glaive can attack and clinch out to nine yards. The wielder may uncommit the 3 motes reflexively, at any time.
Third-Arm Glaive has two hearthstone settings, one on either side of its blade. Attuning costs 5 motes.

This brilliant-red, faceted square glows as brightly as a candle. Any Exalted bearing it is as swift as a beam of sunlight. A character attuned to the hearthstone halves (round up) the number of ticks all actions require, without causing any penalties and may divide her dice pools normally to gain additional actions. In addition, these increased speed also applies out of combat, allowing the character to walk, run or sprint twice as fast as normal. The only limitations on using this hearthstone are that sorcery still takes the normal time to cast, and that using these additional actions makes the character appear inhumanly fast. Anyone seeing the character move or react this rapidly will know she is not human. The additional action gained from using this hearthstone is incompatible with all Extra Actions Charms. The character can use one or the other, never both.
Amanda Dennison was a citizen soldier from the nation of Lookshy before the day of her Dark Exaltation. She was a happy woman, living a good life in the military with a loving husband and dreams of someday having a family with her man. Assigned to the quartermaster's office, Amanda was a skillful paper pusher, and was slowly working her way up the ranks in the administration offices when a series of unexpected events changed her life forever.

During a routine examination of some records, Amanda discovered that one of the officers working in the department was stealing funds and redirecting it for his personal use. She immediately turned him in to her superior, thinking he would be disciplined for his crimes, not knowing that the thief was the relative of a very powerful member of the Seventh Legion's command staff. Amanda's efforts to do the right thing had doomed her career. At a hearing to go over the allegations, she was informed that she was going to be reassigned to a field unit and sent out to help man a small outpost in a clear message that she had stepped on the wrong toes.

In tears, she went home to tell her husband about the misfortune that had befallen her, expecting to find a comforting shoulder to cry on. Instead, Amanda finds her 'one true love' in bed with another woman! In a rage, she attacks the two, but was promptly subdued by the much stronger man. In the end, she left to go to the fort alone, with a stripe missing from her shoulders for good measure.

Filled with bitterness, Amanda poured her anger into her training, and quickly built up her strength and skill with a blade, until she was the best swordsman of the squad. But just as her life was starting to turn around, fate hit her with another low blow. A recent series of border incursions put her small fort at alert, and soon her squad was being deployed to intercept a hostile force, expecting that they would have more support on the way to back them up.

As the squad engaged the much larger force of soldiers, the expected aid never arrived. Amanda and her team was left out to dry, and the tide of the battle quickly turned against the forces from Lookshy. As they fell one by one, even Amanda's great skill with the blade could not save her, and she was soon struck down with a mortal wound.

While she lay there, gasping for breath and slowly bleeding out, she musters up the last dregs of her strength to spit out a curse against the world that had turned on her: her husband, her superiors, and finally her nation of Lookshy. Amanda even mutters out a curse against the Unconquered Sun for abandoning her in her time of need. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she suddenly hears a voice, offering her the chance for revenge on all those that had wronged her. All she would have to do was to swear allegiance to a new master, one of the great Deathlords.

With a bitter laugh, Amanda accepts, and soon, all the pain and weakness faded away as her body was remade in a new, dark image of her former self, and the name Amanda was forever ripped from her, to be replaced by the new name of Whispers from the Darkness.

After Whisper had been able to prove her loyalty to her Master, she was given a fine gift: somehow, both her former husband and his lover had been taken prisoner by her new Liege, and Whisper was able to watch as they were both tortured under her direction as a reward for a recent mission. Her husband was then sent to the Artificers and his body and soul was then worked into a fine Glaive of Soulsteel that was presented to Whisper, along with the skull of his lover, now a ghostly servant bound to follow Whisper's directions by powerful sorcery.

With these gifts, Whisper is now looking for the opportunity to stand in the center of the broken and burning rubble of Lookshy, and so she plots and plans for the day that she can help make that dream a reality.
Attribute: Rating x4
Favored or Caste Ability: (Rating x2) -1
Out-of-Caste Ability: Rating x2
Essence: Rating x8
Virtue: Rating x3
Willpower: Rating x2
New Ability: 3
Specialty: 3
Favored/Caste Charm: 8
Out-of-Caste Charm: 10

Xp Banked: 3

Rykon · Jun 30, 2020

Name: Zakas Starfall
Caste: Day
Age: 30
Concept: Former Lookshyan Agent
Motivation: End the world, so a new one can take its place

History
Attributes
Physical (9)
Strength ●●●●
Dexterity ●●●●●
Stamina ●●●

Social(7)
Charisma ●●●
Manipulation ●●●
Appearance ●●●●

Mental(5)
Perception ●●
Intelligence ●●●
Wits ●●●

Abilities
Archery
Martial Arts
Melee ●●●●● (+Swords ●●●)
Thrown
War ●

Integrity
Performance ●●●
Presence ●●●●●
Resistance ●
Survival

Craft
Investigation ●
Lore ●
Medicine
Occult ●●● (+Hunting Spirits ●)

Athletics ●●●
Awareness ●●●
Dodge ●●●●●
Larceny ●●●
Stealth ●●●●● (From Charm: +In Darkness ●●●)

Bureaucracy
Linguistics ●●● (Riverspeak, Old Realm, Flametongue, Seatongue)
Ride
Sail
Socialize ●
Artifact ●●●●● Amulet of Shadow Walking (Ring)
Artifact ●●●●● Infinite Resplendence Amulet (Soulsteel, Orichalcum, Starmetal, Moonsilver)
Artifact ●● Soulsteel Daiklave
Manse ●●● Gem of Grace

Liege ●●●
First Excellency
Melee, Athletics

Athletics
Falling Scythe Attack

Dodge
Flitting Shadow Form
Flickering Wisp Technique
Uncanny Impulse Evasion

Larceny
Chains Cannot Hold

Linguistics
Scathing Cynic Attitude

Melee
Savage Shade Style
Elegant Bloodletting Art
All Blades Cry for Blood

Occult
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Shadowlands Circle Necromancy
Spirit Sensing Meditation

Stealth
Shadow Cloak Technique
Spells
Stormwind Rider
Spells
Door of the Dead
TBD
Essence ●●●●
Willpower ●●●●● ●●●●●

Personal Motes:
Peripheral Motes:
Committed:

Compassion ●
Conviction ●●●
Temperance ●●
Valor ●●●
Bonus Points 20
Essence 4, 7
Willpower 6-10, 5
Melee 4-5, 2
Dodge 4-5, 2
Stealth 4-5, 2
Presence 4-5, 2
Athletics
~~Falling Scythe Attack~~
Raiton's Nimble Perch
Shadow Races the Light

Dodge
Flitting Shadow Form
Flickering Wisp Technique
Foe-Shaming Defense
~~Uncanny Impulse Evasion~~
Untouchable Phantom Mien

Melee
Savage Shade Style
Elegant Bloodletting Art
All Blades Cry for Blood

Occult
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Shadowlands Circle Necromancy
Spirit-Sensing Meditation
Corpus-Rending Blow
God-Slaying Torment
Oblivion Triumphant

Presence
Poisoning the Will
Dread Lord's Demeanor
Heart Stomping Mien
Hungry Darkness Prana
Light Devouring Labyrinth

Resistance
Ox-Body Technique x5
Injury-Absorbing Discipline
Spirit-Hardened Frame
Wounds Mean Nothing
Plague Knows Its Master

War
Morale-Shattering Method
Arise and Slaughter
Glorious Carnage Typhoon
Hardened Killer Training Style

Sorcery Spells
Terrestrial
Corrupted Words
Dragon of Smoke and Flame
Flying Guillotine
Peacock Shadow Eyes
River of Blood
~~Stormwind Rider~~
Theft of Memory

Celestial
Raise the Puissant Sanctum
Shadow Theft
Threefold Binding of the Heart

Necromancy Spells
Shadowlands
~~Door of the Dead~~
Dusk Eyes
Summon Ghost

D. Rex · Jun 30, 2020

Name: Merciless Judge Wandering the Pale Dunes
Caste: Dusk
Age:
Concept: Betrayed Sheriff that brings brutal and cold retribution
Motivation: To bring revenge to the traitors of the Usurpation.

Attributes
Strength ●●●
Dexterity ●●●●●
Stamina ●●●●

Charisma ●●●●
Manipulation ●
Appearance ●●●

Perception ●●●
Intelligence ●●●
Wits ●●●●

Abilities
*Archery ●●
*Martial Arts ●●●●● +3 firearms
*Melee
*Thrown
*War

**Integrity ●●
Performance
**Presence ●●●●● +1 Intimidation
Resistance ●●●●●
Survival ●●

**Craft ●●● (Alchemy)
Investigation
**Lore ●
Medicine
Occult ●●

Athletics ●●
**Awareness ●●●●
Dodge ●●●
Larceny
Stealth ●

Bureaucracy
Linguistics ●●● (Flametongue, Old Realm, High Realm, Skytongue)
Ride
Sail
Socialize
Essence ●●●●
Willpower ●●●●● ●●●●●

Personal Motes: 22
Peripheral Motes: 47/35
Committed: 12

Compassion ●●●
Conviction ●●
Temperance ●●
Valor ●●

Join Battle: 8

Health Levels
-0 ●
-1 ●●●●● ●●
-2 ●●●●● ●●●●● ●●
-4 ●
In ●

Dodge: 5
Parry: 5

Natural Soak: 2L/4B
Armored Soak: 12L/11B
Total Soak: 14L/15B
Hardness: 9L/9B
TBD

Liege - ●●● (free)
Manse - ●●●
Manse - ●●●

Artifact - ●●●●● (Necrotic Abyssal Cannon)
Artifact - ●● (SS Plasma Tongue Repeater)
Artifact - ●● (SS Reinforced Breastplate)
Martial Arts
First MA Excellency
Infinite MA Excellency

KISS OF THE SUN CONCENTRATION
Cost: 1m to 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The character extends her senses to feel the fl ow of Essence that connects her weapon to her target. That fi ne line of possibility between the Righteous Devil and her target fl ares up invisibly in anticipation of the martial artist’s shot fi ring true. For each mote of Essence spent, the player may reduce the number of ticks it takes to complete an Aim action, though she may not reduce that action’s Speed to less than 1 (see Exalted, p. 142). If the Exalt covers targets with successive Aim actions, the player must pay the mote cost anew for each successive action whose Speed she wishes to reduce.

If the player spends three motes to activate this Charm, she gets a slightly different effect. She still takes an Aim action, but when she does, the fl are-up of Essence that connects her weapon to its target actually burns the target. This burn consumes none of the weapon’s fi redust ammunition, nor does it require the character actually to discharge the weapon. The effect infl icts no damage on a target other than to mark him with a black circle no larger than half an inch in diameter.

With a called shot, the character can use this effect to disarm an opponent by burning his exposed fi ngers or to ignite a highly fl ammable substance (such as exposed fi redust). Doing so requires a (Dexterity + Martial Arts) roll as normal, with an internal penalty commensurate with the complexity of the called shot. (See p. 158 of Exalted for the rules on called shots.) The roll does benefi t from the bonus dice gained from the Aim action, though, as well as any appropriate stunt dice. If the player spends three motes to use the Charm for this purpose, the Aim action takes its full three ticks. If she spends only one or two motes, all she does is decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the Aim action.

BLOSSOM OF INEVITABLE DEMISE TECHNIQUE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Kiss of the Sun Concentration
This Charm increases the damage the Righteous Devil’s weapon can infl ict. The character draws a breath and concentrates before fi ring his weapon. When he does, the stream of fl ame expands to twice its normal girth, dramatically fl aring out from its center in a spiral of fi ery Essence. The Essence-augmented blast doubles the raw damage of a successful Martial Arts attack using a fi rewand or similar weapon.

LIGHTNING DRAW STANCE
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Refl exive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Kiss of the Sun Concentration
With this Charm, the martial artist need not have her weapon in hand before Join Battle is rolled to use it. Vibrant bands of crackling Essence coalesce about her forearms, and the Exalt readies her fi rewand and fi res it all in the same action (without suffering the -1 DV penalty normally associated with readying a weapon). Aside from the surprise factor this Charm allows, it also enables the character to attack more quickly, adding one extra automatic success to her Join Battle roll per dot of Essence she has. On successive actions, however, the character must take an action to reload a single-shot fi rewand after every shot. If the character wants to draw a fi redust weapon after combat has begun, the Charm enables her to draw and fi re in a single action, without the DV penalty for readying a weapon.

CLOUD OF EBON DEVILS
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Refl exive (Step 10)
Keywords: Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lightning Draw Stance
Firewands are prized and powerful weapons, but most fl ame weapons fi re only a single shot. For a Solar with this Charm, however, a fi rewand becomes a much more effi cient and terrible weapon in battle.

After the character attacks with her weapon, the player may spend one mote for the character and attempt a refl exive (Wits + Martial Arts) roll, diffi culty 2. If the roll succeeds, the character’s hands move in a blur, trailing faint clouds of black fi redust in the air around her, as she reloads her weapon and brings it to bear before her next action. The Exalt still suffers the -1 DV penalty for reloading. If the roll fails, the character still suffers the penalty but does not load the weapon correctly.

A botch means the trails of black fi redust ignite around the martial artist’s upper torso. An appropriate stunt can also allow another character to target and ignite the “ebon devils” surrounding a Righteous Devil. Either way, the igniting fi redust infl icts the weapon’s base damage to the character, but only if the martial artist fails or botches the reloading roll. If she loads her weapon properly, she does not leave enough fi redust fl oating in the air for an enemy to do her harm.

RIGHTEOUS DEVIL FORM
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 3)
Keywords: Compulsion, Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Blessing of Righteous Solar Spark
Meditation, Cloud of Ebon Devils
Creation itself seems to hold its breath when the martial artist cloaks himself in the majestic and terrible stillness of the Righteous Devil Form. He exerts an inescapable gravity and a withering unease that sends the innocent scurrying away and calls the unjust to reap the consequences of their deeds. When a Righteous Devil activates this Charm, all extras who lay eyes on him move swiftly for cover, pulling other innocent bystanders along with them and bolting doors or windows behind them.

At the same time, the martial artist can compel chosen people to confront him. The compulsion has a radius equal to (the Righteous Devil’s Essence x 10) yards and is an unnatural mental infl uence. Even spending Willpower points won’t hold it at bay for long. The martial artist’s target must spend one Willpower each action to resist the Righteous Devil’s dreadful gravity. Otherwise, the target must walk out and confront the Righteous Devil face to face. The effect ends for the rest of the scene once a target makes eye contact and spends one subsequent action in combat or parley with the Exalt. The Righteous Devil can designate as many opponents as he has dots of Essence as “targets” for this Charm’s purposes, but he must do so the moment he activates the Charm.

PHOENIX FLIES ON GOLDEN WINGS ATTACK
Cost: 1m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Righteous Devil Form
The Righteous Devil extends her weapon’s range with this Charm. A halo of gold and cobalt Essence rings the tip of the fi rewand’s barrel, and six golden wings spiral out of the halo to speed the tongue of fl ame to its target. The player spends only one mote of Essence, and the normal range of the Exalt’s fi rewand (or other fl ame weapon) doubles.

AZURE ABACUS MEDITATION
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Emotion, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Phoenix Flies on Golden Wings
Attack
The martial artist uses this Charm to perceive the ebb and fl ow of Essence permeating the world around him. When he does so, he could close his eyes and still attack, for he need not see his target to strike it. His weapon and his enemy are one. His caste mark fl ares, and several notched rings of silver-blue light spin around his target. These rings vary in width, numbering between three and nine and rotating around the target at odd angles.

Both the martial artist and his target perceive this vision of silvery rings, known as the Azure Abacus. Its image remains in the Righteous Devil’s mind’s eye even if he closes his eyes. The display is also as visible to onlookers as is the Righteous Devil’s anima banner (based on how much peripheral Essence the Exalt has spent up to that point). Modern Righteous Devils know the pattern of rings bears some arcane signifi cance, but its meaning has been lost to time.

When a martial artist who invokes this Charm fi res his weapon, his shot zeroes in on his target, not as a stream of fi re, but as a brilliant comet of fi ery Essence. As the fi reball closes in, the rings of the Abacus align themselves a moment before the martial artist’s attack hits. As long as the target stays within the fi ring range of the martial artist’s weapon, the attack cannot miss. Even if the target moves, the attack cannot be dodged by any means and can be parried only if the target has Charms that enable him to parry insubstantial attacks.

In the eternal moment just before the Exalt’s attack strikes the middle of the Abacus, time slows from the target’s perspective. He hears a harmonious chorus of disembodied voices, gaining in volume as the azure rings align. These voices recount the target’s wrongdoings and praise the Righteous Devil for taking this necessary action to resolve the soul’s accounting. A subjected target suffers the effect of an unnatural persuasion at that point. His player must spend a point of Willpower for the character to do anything other than stare or scream as the chorus reaches its crescendo and the fi ery bolt strikes. Should a target die as a result of this attack, his soul’s accounting is resolved for this lifetime, and he proceeds immediately to his next incarnation, with no chance of becoming a ghost.

Resistance

SPIRIT-HARDENED FRAME
Cost: 3m; Mins: Resistance 2, Essence 1;
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Durability of Oak Medita-
tion; Exalted, p. 206)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Having returned from death, an Abyssal sneers at feeble attacks. Sets hardness to 8.

Wound-Eating Invulnerability
Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 5, Essence 3;
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mirror (see below)
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Hardened Frame
The prerequisite’s conferred Hardness raises to (Essence + 5), and it may be extended to a duration of one scene by raising the cost to (6m, 1wp). Injuries prevented this way occur and instantly heal as per Wounds Mean Nothing. The Solar Mirror “Heroes Never Die” correspondingly expands Durability of Oak Meditation.

Cadaver Grotesquerie
Cost: 1m+; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Spirit Strengthens the Skin),
Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Hardened Frame
The Abyssal’s body goes horrifically limp as he is struck, bending and distorting under the force of the blow far more than any flesh or bone should be able to. His foes can only gape in shocked silence as they witness him laughing off his unbleeding wounds, or popping dislocated limbs back into place. Every mote spent on this Charm removes one die from the post-soak damage of an attack against the Abyssal, to a minimum of one die.

The attacking character gains an Intimacy of fear towards the Abyssal if they have a Dodge MDV lower than the number of motes spent on this defense, as they realize the true nature of the undying horror they face. Resisting this unnatural Emotion effect costs one Willpower

OX-BODY TECHNIQUE
Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mirror (Ox-Body Technique; Exalted, p. 208),
Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm works exactly the same way for Abyssals as for Solars, though deathknights prefer to give it names like “Corpse-Body Resilience.”

Lore

ESSENCE-DRAINING TOUCH
Cost: 3m; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 1; Type: Simple (Speed 4)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Essence-Lending Method;
Exalted, p. 217), Obvious, Touch
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal devours motes with a touch. This Charm reverses its Solar Mirror, transferring motes from the target to the deathknight. The target must be willing, unconscious or otherwise not resisting—if only from fear.

Occult

SPIRIT-SENSING MEDITATION
Cost: 3m; Mins: Occult 2, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Spirit-Detecting Glance;
Exalted, p. 221)
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Spirits cannot hide when Abyssals hunt them down.

Awareness

VOID STARES BACK
Cost: 3m (2xp); Mins: Awareness 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Taint
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal’s pupils ooze outward to stain iris and white alike with featureless and pitiless darkness. Enemies who stare into this darkness sometimes see their own death reflected within, the death they fear or perhaps the death the Neverborn wish for them (though such visions carry no true prophetic power). More practically, the deathknight can see perfectly in the dark without any penalties or reduction in visibility. He is no better able to see through fog or othervisual obstructions.

The Taint drawback to this Charm is that the Abyssal’s eyes become painfully sensitive to direct sunlight within Creation, imposing a -1 internal penalty to all non-reflexive actions while so illuminated unless he closes his eyes completely. His eyes also immediately betray his supernatural nature if he cannot somehow hide their stain. The Taint costs one bonus point or two experience points.
Mirror: Plasma Tongue Repeater
Material: Soulsteel
Speed: 5
Accuracy: +4
Damage: +12
Rate: 1
Range: 20
Ammo: 5
Tags: F

FIERY SOLAR CANNON (ARTIFACT •••••)
Repair: 2
This is one of the most powerful handheld weapons created during the First Age. The body of the weapon is carved from a single fi ve-sided tube of solid ruby inlaid with orichalcum. This weapon is three feet long and as thick as a grown man’s calf, and it can be wielded only by one of the Solar Exalted. It is normally carried over the wielder’s back and requires the user to stand still and use both hands to fire it. (The wearer cannot use a move action while fi ring this weapon, and he can dodge or parry only by using refl exive Charms or persistent Charms that are already in effect.) When fi red, this weapon shoots balls of golden sun fi re that fl y as swiftly as an arrow and then explode into a sunburst two yards in diameter. If two targets are standing next to each other, the explosion affects both equally. Otherwise, it affects only a single target. This attack can be dodged, but it cannot be parried without Charms that allow the user to parry any attack. These sunbursts burn the target with the heat of the sun and damage stone or metal as readily as they damage flesh. The user must expend two motes of Solar Essence for every shot.

Although this weapon can be fired only once in a flurry (per its Rate), the wielder can cause it to simultaneously fire a number of additional balls of sun fire equal to his permanent Essence in a single shot. Each attack must be aimed at a separate target. Each target dodges each ball of sun fire separately, but all of these attacks use the same attack roll, with no loss of dice from multiple actions. Each ball of sun fire costs an additional two motes of Essence, however. The character may spend only one mote per shot to fire less powerful balls of sun fire, which are only one yard in diameter.

This weapon requires the user to commit eight motes of Essence to it. In addition, he must also insert a Fire or Solar hearthstone of at least level 2 into the base of the weapon. This hearthstone provides no benefits to the user, as all of its energy is used to help power the solar cannon. This item must be serviced after every 100 shots. If it is not maintained, the fiery solar cannon will lose levels of damage from its rating for every 10 additional shots fired until it is no longer capable of firing. This artifact can be used only by the Solar Exalted, so the material bonus for orichalcum has already been figured into this weapon’s stats.

Full/Half power
Speed: 5/5
Accuracy: 3/3
Damage: 18L/9L
Rate: 1/1 (Up to essence targets)
Range: 300
Cost: 2/1
Attune: 8

Material: Soulsteel
Soak: 12L/11B
Hardness: 9L/9B
Mobility: -1
Fatigue: 1
Attune: 4

Hearthstones

Unusable, socketed in Cannon as Ammo

This spherical gray stone’s surface seems covered in powdery dust. If the character spends 1 mote of Essence and touches any single item made of dead organic tissue, such as leather, bone, wood or ivory, he can instantly turn the object to dust. The character must touch the item directly, and the item can weigh no more than (character’s Essence x 10) pounds. This stone does not affect artifacts, enchanted items or undead of any sort.

PRECISION OF FORM GEMSTONE (MANSE •••)
This brilliantly iridescent, egg-shaped opal reduces the Essence cost to use all Martial Arts Charms of a particular style by 2 motes after the character activates that style’s Form-type Charm. This effect cannot reduce the mote cost of a Charm to less than half its original value. The bearer also cannot activate any Charms of another martial arts style until she abandons the Form she has already chosen. A character could abandon one Form, however, and then activate the Form-type Charm of another martial arts style, gaining the mote discount for all Charms of that style.
History:

Even if he wanted to, he could not remember the name he had in his mortal life. Orin, maybe. He was sure he had one at some point, it just stopped mattering, as most people just called him Stranger. And he lived in a region where strangers weren't appreciated.

He was a nomad. Born into a small southern herders caravan. But it didnt last long. For the first decade of his life, the only memories he could drudge up was that of brigands and rustlers. Stealing livestock, people, and food and jade. Before he was even fifteen, he lost everything at least twice. There was never a time for mourning. The only thing the caravan could ever do was pick up the pieces and keep moving just to hope to survive.

They wouldn't. The losses added up over time. Those that hadnt been killed, gave up. The caravan eventually broke up. And he was left as nothing more than a dusty vagabond. Going from town to town, trying to find some semblance of a new life. Something peaceful. But the region was plagued with bandits. There was never any peace. And always being the newest in town, he was almost always accused of being one.

It was a dreary life. Until one day where fate threw him a bone. He saw a tattered poster, looking for a lawman. No experience required. Food and board and pay. It could be a start to a new life. Better than the one he had now. He was tired of the bandits. So maybe he could make a change. So he sold the last of his livestock, and headed to the small mining town know as Torgue's Grotto.

It was quaint and friendly. So welcoming that they didnt even ask his name. They hired him on the spot. And with the authority of Ragara Quobo, the owner of the town and mining magnate, he was given the title of Sheriff. And all he had to do was kick out ruffians and scare off the odd bandit. It was easy! The Dynast didnt ask much him. And seemed happy to just have the presence of law and order.

Of course. It wasn't that easy. While the townsfolk themselves were friendly, the town itself seemed to attract the bad sorts like a magnet. It was a popular stop for gangs and bandits to drink and spend their money. As well as to cause general unpleasantness. Bullying. Fights. Drunkenness. Petty theft.

The stranger did what he could, but the bandits never took him seriously. Saw him as nothing more than a stooge or pushover. And the town itself seemed to have no choice but to let it happen. Well he had enough of them. He had seen too much of what the brigands were capable of, and he liked this town. He wasnt about to lose it too.

So the stranger trained. He planned. He armed himself. The Dynast didnt approve. saying he didnt want to escalate the problems. It didnt matter. The stranger was responsible for this town now. And he had to keep it's people safe.

The laws enforcement truly began. Showing the bandits that their kind wasnt welcome. Standing up for the locals and keeping the peace. He went out personally to defend shipments and the mine.

Law and order was indeed prevailing. Strangely,though, the town didnt seem as enthusiastic as he expected. They seemed nervous. They grew more distant. A bit more terse and colder. Something was brewing and the stranger didnt like it. He had a feeling though. A storm was coming.

It was months later. The town was peaceful... but anxious. There was a rumor floating around that the bandits leader was coming personally. That she wanted the stranger dead. Even worse... some believed that she was an Anathema. They claimed her a beast. Whose flesh shifted in unnatural ways. Whose hands bore claws and mouth like that of a lion. She was coming, and coming soon.

The stranger sent out word to the Dynast. Requesting assistance. He got a letter back the next day saying that the Wyld hunt would be there, and he just had to hold her off. Of course... being a mortal... that was easier said than done.

The day came, and the stranger went out to meet them head on. The woman had come with a horde of her sneering gang. But it was only her that approached him. The rumors were true... she was an Anathema. Furred and terrifying. Though the stranger refused to be cowed.

He gave her a warning. She laughed. He said the Wyld hunt was coming. She laughed harder.

"Our mutual friend Quobo assured me, that they are not." She replied.

Something was very wrong here.

He drew his flame piece, and there was a loud crack as a trigger was pulled. Unfortunately... the trigger wasnt his. Nor was it the Anathema's.

The stranger felt a pain in his back. A hole burned into it. He feel forward into the furred chest of the anathema, sliding down until he fell face first into the dirt. He was able to barely look behind him.

Holding the smoking flame piece was the town mayor. And the rest of the townsfolk.

The Anathema kicked the stranger onto his back. "See what your naive ideals of justice gets you? That isn't how the world works, mortal." She drew a crossbow from her back, and shot an arrow into his chest. Turning away without a second thought. Leaving him there to die.

The stranger gasped for breath as his blood stained the sand. The mayor approached. "All you had to, Sheriff, was look good in the books. You just had be a bureaucratic pet. We liked you... but you were ruining all the deals that we had going on. We didnt hire you to fix things."

The stranger breathed his last breath on that note. Just as the clouds above grew dark. Time stopped and a face appeared before him. A woman, stroked his face and offered him salvation. To be more. To bring true peace to the chaos of creation. And all he had to do was give himself to her. The stranger accepted.

In that moment, lightning flashed and his body surged with essence. As his corpse twisted into its ideal form. Visions of past lives filled him. Injustice after injustice. Crime after crime. The horrors of the Usurpation. A greater betrayal than the one he suffered now. A betrayal of creation itself. He remembered things. Remembering friends turning on him. Killing him and ripping him apart while while his mate suffered the same fate.

As he stood up, and droplets of blood fell from the sky like sheets of rain. He massacred the town in righteous retribution. Turned the ground red, and with their bones, he coated the dunes in white ash. He killed them all. The women and the children too. The traitors were animals. And he slaughtered them like animals.

He would, as commanded, find his way to the Underworld. Where he bring order and peace... and enforce the law of his new Mistress. And punish those in creation who dared to ruin it.
TBD
Bonus Points 20

10bp - Essence 4
5bp - 5 willpower
5bp - 5 ability over 3

Xp: 3/0

Random Word · Jul 3, 2020

Name: The Bearer of the Epiphany Kindled in Pyreflame
Caste: Midnight
Age: 19
Motivation: Wreak Bloody Vengeance Upon the Gods

Attributes
Str: 3
Dex: 5
Sta: 4

Cha: 5
Man: 4
App: 0

Per: 2
Int: 4
Wits: 2

Abilities
Archery: 0
*Martial Arts: 1
Melee: 0
Thrown: 5
War: 0

*Integrity: 5 (+1 Defying Heaven)
*Performance: 5
*Presence: 0
*Resistance: 5
*Survival: 0

Craft: 0
Investigation: 0
* Lore: 1
Medicine: 0
Occult: 0

*Athletics: 5
Awareness: 0
Dodge: 5
Larceny: 0
*Stealth: 5 (+3 In Darkness)

Bureaucracy: 0
Linguistics: 5 (+3 Written in Blood) - Old Realm, Riverspeak (Native), Flametongue, Foresttongue, High Realm, Skytongue
Ride: 0
Sail: 0
Socialize: 0

Specialties
Linguistics: Written in Blood - 3
Integrity: Defying Heaven - 1
13/15
Artifact - The Hands that Pull on the Heartstrings of Oblivion: 5
Liege: 3
Manse: 3
Whispers: 5

Essence: 4 (7 BP)
Personal: 22/22
Peripheral: 44 / 36
Committed: 8

Willpower: 10 (5 BP)
Compassion: 2
Conviction: 4
Temperance: 2
Valor: 2

ANIMA POWERS
Abyssals can spend one mote to do either of the following:
• Cause their anima to flare to any level of display up to the 8–10 mote level. This display lasts for a scene or until reflexively dismissed, after which the character’s anima dims to its actual level.
• Attune her Essence to the emanations of the Underworld for a scene, extending this sixth sense to a radius of (Essence x 100) yards. Within this zone, she can feel shadowlands clearly enough to map their exact border. She immediately recognizes creatures and objects infused with the Essence of the Underworld for what they are (including other Abyssals). This sense does not reveal hidden characters or objects, but it does reveal the presence of necrotic Essence sources within the zone, even if the Abyssal cannot pinpoint the source of these energies. Characters can differentiate subtle differences in the source of Essence (Abyssal, ghost, zombie, etc.), but not the strength of the source.

Anima Effects: As her action, a Midnight Caste can reanimate a corpse as a zombie by touching it and
spending five motes. Ten ticks later, the cadaver rises as a zombie extra (see Exalted, p. 314). This effect becomes reflexive and gains a 10-yard range once the Abyssal spends 11–15 motes of Peripheral Essence. Once per action, the Midnight Caste’s anima automatically reanimates one corpse within range, at no further Essence cost. These zombies are under the Abyssal’s control but they steadily decay, suffering one level of aggravated damage per day until they disintegrate completely.
A Midnight Caste can also slay mortals with the pure power of Oblivion. As her action, a Resplendent Dark- ness can spend five motes and indicate a mortal within 10 yards. That mortal suffers dice of unsoakable, aggravated damage equal to the Midnight’s Essence.
The Unconquered Sun (Hatred) [Emotion]
The Gods (Hatred) [Emotion]
Music (Love) [Emotion]
Whispers from the Darkness (Obedience) [Compulsion]
Fire (Fear) [Compulsion]
Her Appearance (Revulsion) [Emotion]
Atropos, The Gatherer of Ten Thousand Strings (Affection) [Emotion]
She was raised in chattel slavery as a Helot of Lookshy, labourer, entertainer, and, briefly, priestess of the Unconquered Sun inducted by the Cult of the Illuminated. When poor planning, incompetence, and treachery conspired to see a field force of the Seventh Legion outflanked in hostile territory, supply lines cut and stores running low, the order was given to execute the Helot labourers after they had finished constructing the camp fortifications, as there were insufficient rations to keep supporting them. She had been secretly ministering to her nascent flock in storehouses in the dead of night, and now as the flames climbed the walls of what passed for their quarters she led them in a prayer to the Sun for deliverance. Her prayers were met only with the screams of the dying and the sickly sweet incense of charring human flesh. The flames consumed her flesh but not her hope, for by the time smoke inhalation had mercifully rendered her unconscious her hope had long since died. Yet what has died may rise again, though were it by chance to pause a moment and turn to glance at that dark mirror through which it passed it likely would not recognize what gazed back at it.

When the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires offered her a chance at vengeance against the gods for their perfidy and callous sloth what was once called hope clawed free of its grave as undying hatred and gave its enthusiastic assent. She and her flock rose and, flesh sloughing from their bones in the blistering heat, smashed free of their pyre-tomb and tore the dutiful Citizen-Soldiers limb from limb. She no longer had a tongue to speak, but found her sermons no less persuasive, for after her tender ministrations she stirred something in the souls of her erstwhile tormentors and they enthusiastically joined her growing flock.

The young Winglord in her shining Jade was a credit to her Gens. She stood in heroic defence of those under her command, fighting valiantly to her last breath against the Anathema and the encroaching darkness. Were she against Epiphany alone she may have prevailed, but two freshly damned Anathema bolstered by the unholy surge of power that inevitably follows were simply too much. Though she inflicted ruinous damage, Epiphany's hate fuelled corpse-body simply refused to stop, and it was not long before Whispers from the Darkness' sword struck home and the Winglord's glorious standard was stained with her noble blood.

In the aftermath a lifetime of deference to the Soldier class carved deeply into her psyche reasserted herself, and she silently and meekly followed Whispers from the Darkness on their journey through the Underworld to the Southern fortress of the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires. She paused only once at the first mirror still lake they passed to look at her reflection. She fell to her knees and screamed for almost ten full minutes, before silently rising to her feet and carrying on at Whispers' insistence. She has never spoken of it again, but shatters any reflective surface she lays eyes on.

The Deathlord was not equally pleased with her two hard-won prizes snatched from under the watchful eyes and grasping claws of the Walker in Darkness and Mask of Winters. Bearer of the Epiphany Kindled in Pyreflame was a broken doll. Unable to speak, rarely willing to communicate, she spent long periods in near catatonia, standing perfectly still in strange poses staring at nothing, listening to voices only she could hear. She would react suddenly and with shocking violence to loud discordant sounds, cover walls with essays written in the script of Oblivion that shredded the souls of perfectly useful ghostly servants, and neglect training exercises to dance while playing heartrending melodies on a sanxian that would bring the entire fortress to a halt for hours. Perhaps most infuriatingly of all, when in these states she would only listen to commands from Whispers from the Darkness, often refusing to acknowledge her Liege's existence.

Enraged by the waste of resources, the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires cast her into the Labyrinth. Either the Neverborn would forge her into something useful, or she would die and free up her precious Exaltation. Following the will of the roaring cacophony that splintered her mind, Epiphany made her way to the court of the Hekatonkheire Atropos, the Gatherer of Ten Thousand Strings. Amidst the stately morbid grandeur of its dancing corpse-shade marionettes it spoke to her in a language she could comprehend: Music. The woodwinds were screams torn from the raw throats of tortured ghosts, the percussion the tearing of their flesh and snapping of their bones, the strings drawn out over their taut tendons, the chorus sung by their torturers, Mortwights chanting in the dark glossolalia of Oblivion. It was an acquired taste, to be sure, but acquire it she did. It taught her to comprehend the ceaseless barrage of hate that assailed her every waking hour, and slowly reassemble the shattered fragments of her mind; It taught her to incorporate artful slaughter into her dances, that she might for a few brief moments quiet the malevolent chorus that drowned out her thoughts; and it taught her how to communicate, for it would be a travesty to deny Creation the depths of her hate and the artistic genius they fuelled.

When Bearer of the Epiphany Kindled in Pyreflame returned from the Labyrinth almost a year later bearing a letter of introduction from Atropos, the Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires was not entirely displeased with the result. No one could claim Epiphany was less unhinged, but she was certainly more usefully unhinged. Epiphany's manner of communicating only through beautiful blood spatter calligraphy was eccentric but a marked improvement from her infuriating reticence. She returned wearing the Hands that Pull the Heartstrings of Oblivion, a pair of claws tipped with kunai attached to internal spools of almost imperceptibly thin Soulsteel filament, and once Deliverer of Dark Dreams and Desires realized she could cause Epiphany to demonstrate the terrifying power of this weapon simply by requesting she dance while anything living was present, her Liege was for the first time optimistic something of value might be salvaged from this Exaltation. Now the Deathlord instead had difficulty getting her to shut up when a suitable supply of blood-filled victims and surfaces to write upon were present, but this was a much easier problem to manage. There were always more ghosts to clean essays off the walls and wash the tapestries, and she had to admit the calligraphy really did add a certain something to the aesthetic of any room.

Arcs:
Epiphany will probably progress from a more naive and emotional hatred of the gods for forsaking her towards a more rigorous and principled philosophy of: "The Gods created mortals purely to suffer to encourage prayer to fuel the Games of Divinity. The cycle of reincarnation is a cruel and endless torture to prop up a corrupt regime, and it cannot be allowed to continue. Oblivion is a fatal wound Creation was never designed to be able to heal, and it will inevitably be consumed by it. The only chance of restoring the Neverborn and rebuilding a new, permanent, better designed Creation is to collapse the current one into Oblivion and begin anew from the Wyld." This will be a slow process as she gains dots of Lore and Occult (which will probably start at 1 each). Right now she doesn't even know what the Games of Divinity are, let alone the rest, but her crippling Whispers rating occasionally gives her uncanny insights into things she really ought not to know.

Codependence on Whispers from the Darkness vs Independence. Epiphany will shift from a natural deference to Whispers out of ingrained respect for her superior rank to respect for her as the purest expression of the will of Oblivion if Whispers exemplifies this, or if she doesn't Epiphany will instead shift towards distancing herself and becoming a more complete independent being. Epiphany is useful but can be difficult to manage, so it's a toss-up whether Whispers will want to continue to control her or not.

Probably some other obvious ones if I ponder it some more. Maybe adherence to the will of the Neverborn vs rebellion. If she ever learns the Primordials and not the Gods created mortals purely to suffer for prayer, and the Gods are merely exploiting the situation for all it's worth, it might shatter her worldview and prompt a crisis of faith.
First (Ability) Excellency 1 m per die Reflexive (1/2) Instant Add dice, Max = Attribute + Ability Ex2, 183
Infinite (Ability) Mastery 2 m or more, 1 wp Simple One scene Excellency cost reduced by 1m per 2m spent Ex2, 185
Stealth
Shadow Cloak Technique None Permanent Permanent Mirror Abys2, 171
Unseen Wisp Method 4 m Simple One hour Avatar (1), Combo-Basic, Spectral Abys2, 171
Resistance
Spirit-Hardened Frame 2 m Reflexive (7) Instant Combo-OK, Dusk, Mirror Abys2, 147
Walking Cadaver Grotesquerie 1m+ Reflexive (7) Instant Combo-OK, Mirror, Obvious S:Err
Ox-Body Technique None Permanent Permanent Mirror, Stackable Abys2, 149
Athletics
Spider Pounce Technique 3 m Reflexive One scene Combo-OK, Mirror Abys2, 165
Raiton's Nimble Perch 3 m Reflexive One scene Combo-OK, Mirror Abys2, 164
Performance
Morbid Fascination Style 5 m Simple (4 LT, -1) One scene Combo-OK, Compulsion, Mirror, Obvious, Social Abys2, 141
Inescapable Massacre Technique 5 m, 1 wp Reflexive One scene Combo-OK, Compulsion, Mirror, Obvious Abys2, 141
Thrown
Aid of Ill Wind 2 m Supplemental Instant Combo-OK, Mirror Abys2, 132
Five Birds, One Stone 2 m per attack Extra Action Instant Combo-OK, Mirror, Obvious Abys2, 132
Linguistics
Blood Calligraphy Technique 4 m Supplemental Instant Combo-OK, Mirror Abys2, 174

First Thrown Excellency
Infinite Thrown Mastery
Thrown

AID OF ILL WIND
Cost: 2m; Mins: Thrown 2, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Triple-Distance Attack Technique; Exalted, p. 196)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Chill gusts from the Underworld carry the Abyssal’s weapon
to his prey. These winds dissipate on impact, leaving wounds that smell faintly of funereal incense or wilting flowers.

FIVE BIRDS, ONE STONE
Cost: 2m per attack; Mins: Thrown 5, Essence 2;
Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Wind Full of Knives; follows), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Aid of Ill Wind
Once released, the Abyssal’s weapon scythes from target to target in a path of destruction. This Charm is a magical flurry of up to (Thrown) attacks with no multiple-action penalties, all of which must be aimed at targets within the weapon’s range. Because the attacks all use a single Thrown weapon, the flurry ignores the weapon’s Rate and has a DV penalty of the highest penalty for any attack. This Charm is particularly spectacular in conjunction with Crypt Bolt Attack (see p. 134), firing chain lightning or summoning tentacles of obscene energy that twist and arc from victim to victim.

First Performance Excellency
Performance

MORBID FASCINATION STYLE
Cost: 5m; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple (Speed 4 in long ticks)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Mirror (Respect Com- manding Attitude; Exalted, p. 202), Obvious, Social Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
When Abyssals speak, few dare to interrupt. Unlike its Solar Mirror, all listeners subjected to this Charm understand that a supernaturally terrifying orator addresses them. The maximum number of Willpower points required to resist this Charm for a scene, however, is four rather than three.

INESCAPABLE MASSACRE TECHNIQUE
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Performance 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Compulsion, Mirror (Face the Light; follows), Obvious
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: Morbid Fascination Style
When Abyssals come to kill you, they will find you and they will kill you. Why prolong the inevitable? Upon activating this Charm, the Exalt’s player rolls (Charisma + Performance), adding the character’s Essence in bonus successes. For the rest of the scene, everyone with a Dodge MDV lower than the successes rolled suffers an unnatural compulsion to remain whenever they attempt to leave or avoid any combat, mass combat or social combat in which the deathknight visibly participates. Falling back to make ranged attacks is not retreating. Resisting this compulsion for the rest of the scene costs three Willpower.
Like moths to the flame, afflicted Fair Folk cannot resist. Conversely, afflicted individuals compelled to flee by a botched Morale check or some other fear-based effect must spend Willpower to escape if they have it available, but otherwise collapse in helpless terror for the duration of the effect.
New Solar Charm: Face the Light (Prerequisites: Respect Commanding Attitude; Exalted, p. 202). This Charm works through awe rather than a sense of futility, but otherwise functions identically to its Mirror.

Stealth

SHADOW CLOAK TECHNIQUE
Cost: —; Mins: Stealth 3, Essence 1; Type: Permanent Keywords: Mirror (Easily Overlooked Presence Method; Exalted, p. 230)
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
It is not merely the judgment of the Unconquered Sun
that makes Abyssals creatures of darkness. Shadows are their element, hiding them from their prey until it’s too late. Pur- chasing this Charm gives Abyssals an artificial +3 specialty “In Darkness” for Stealth, though this bonus is not cumulative with normal specialties. Furthermore, whenever this artificial specialty applies to an action, Shadow Cloak Technique also doubles all bonus dice and/or successes received from stunts or Stealth Excellencies, although Excellency use remains capped by the usual limits for bonuses added by Charms.

UNSEEN WISP METHOD
Cost: 4m; Mins: Stealth 5, Essence 2; Type: Simple Keywords: Avatar (1), Combo-Basic, Spectral Duration: One hour
Prerequisite Charms: Shadow Cloak Technique
The Abyssal blurs and fades into the darkness between the strands of the Tapestry, outside fate and completely invisible except to those who share her insight into the Neverborn’s madness (i.e., those with a Whispers rating). This invisibility imposes a -2 external penalty to any attempt to notice or attack her. Ranged attacks against her become impossible (she is not a valid target) without the aid of magic or a stunt. The bonus adds two successes to contested Stealth rolls to avoid notice instead of adding to the onlooker’s dif- ficulty (such as when reestablishing surprise).
As an additional benefit, the Abyssal is outside fate for purposes of Sidereal astrology. While the Charm lasts, the deathknight cannot be found on the Loom of Fate, astrological blessings and curses do not affect her, and she sees through the false identities created through resplen- dent destinies.
It is still possible for the Abyssal to be detected, making effective Stealth rolls as important as ever. The fact that the Abyssal may use that Stealth even in the absence of cover or concealment, however, provides a significant tactical opportunity for repeatedly setting up unexpected attacks.

Resistance

Cost: —; Mins: Resistance 1, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Mirror (Ox-Body Technique; Exalted, p. 208), Stackable
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm works exactly the same way for Abyssals as for Solars, though deathknights prefer to give it names like “Corpse-Body Resilience.”
A player may purchase this Charm up to once per dot of the Resistance Ability the character possesses. Each purchase provides one of the following:
One -0 Health Level
Two -1 Health Levels
One -1 and two -2 Health Levels [X]

Cost: 3m; Mins: Resistance 2, Essence 1;
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Durability of Oak Meditation; Exalted, p. 206)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Having returned from death, an Abyssal sneers at feeble attacks. The Abyssal adds (Essence + Resistance) to his bashing and lethal soak against a single attack.

Walking Cadaver Grotesquerie
Cost: 1m+; Mins: Resistance 3, Essence 2;
Type: Reflexive (Step 7)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Spirit Strengthens the Skin), Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Hardened Frame
The Abyssal’s body goes horrifically limp as he is struck, bending and distorting under the force of the blow far more than any flesh or bone should be able to. His foes can only gape in shocked silence as they witness him laughing off his unbleeding wounds, or popping dislocated limbs back into place. Every mote spent on this Charm removes one die from the post-soak damage of an attack against the Abyssal, to a minimum of one die.
The attacking character gains an Intimacy of fear towards the Abyssal if they have a Dodge MDV lower than the number of motes spent on this defense, as they realize the true nature of the undying horror they face. Resisting this unnatural Emotion effect costs one Willpower.

Athletics

Cost: 3m; Mins: Athletics 1, Essence 2; Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Graceful Crane Stance; Exalted, p. 222)
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
Deathknights move like the ghosts they lord over, stepping lighter than a bird over all obstacles.
This Charm lets the Exalt automatically succeed on any valid Athletics action to keep her balance. Moreover, this Charm allows the Exalt to keep her footing on any surface at least as strong and wide as a human hair. She treats it as a three-foot-wide ledge capable of supporting a thousand pounds of weight when determining what movement and Athletics actions she can take and what penalties to them might apply.

3m, scene long
Double jump length
Jump with movement action

Linguistics

BLOOD CALLIGRAPHY TECHNIQUE
Cost: 4m; Mins: Linguistics 1, Essence 1; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Combo-OK, Mirror (Whirling Brush Method; Exalted, p. 232)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Abyssal writes with superhuman speed and exquisitely
elegant penmanship, using his finger like a stylus to unnaturally scribe the words in sanguine ichor. Unlike its Solar Mirror, this Charm provides a writing implement and unlimited ink in ad- dition to superior writing ability, but no one who sees the text can miss the fact that it appears to be written in blood.
Health Levels
-0 [ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
I [ ]
Dying [ ][ ][ ][ ]

Essence: 4
Personal: 18
Peripheral: 44 / 36
Committed: 8
Willpower: 10

Join Battle: 2

Dodge DV: (Essence 4 + Dodge 5 + Dexterity 5)/2 = 7
Parry DV: (Dex 5 + MA 1 + Defense 4)/2 = 5

Natural Soak: +2L/+4B
Charm Boosted Soak: +11L/+13B

Movement
Move: 5 yards per tick
Dash: 11 yards per tick
Jump: 16H/8V (32H/16V with Spider Pounce)

Social Combat:
Join Debate 2
Dodge MDV 9
Attack Speed (Honesty Attack/MDV) (Deception Attack/MDV) Rate
Presence 4 (5 2) (4 3) 2
Performance 6 (10 5) (9 5) 1
Investigation 5 (5 2) (4 3) 2

Soulsteel Hands that Pull the Heartstrings of Oblivion
Thrown: Speed 4, Accuracy +6, Damage +8L, Defense +0, Rate 5, Range 50 yards, Attune 8
Claws: Speed 5, Accuracy +4, Damage +6L, Defense +4, Rate 3
Soulsteel weapons drain a number of motes of Essence equal to the wielder's Permanent Essence whenever it strikes a target and inflicts at least one health level of damage.
Soulsteel claws, each finger tipped with kunai attached to spools of almost imperceptibly thin soulsteel filament. The filaments are quite capable of slicing through flesh and bone on contact, and the spools can retract to quickly pull the wielder to whatever the blade has become lodged in. Once the kunai is lodged in an inanimate target it's next to impossible to remove until the wielder wills it to retract. This allows the use of the kunai as grappling hooks for climbing and swinging.

This faceted rod is made of silvery crystal. It allows the bearer to summon deep shadows around himself. At the bearer’s command, these shadows can have a diameter of up to two yards, but can also be made smaller. Only magical light can pierce these shadows, but they are not completely opaque. The bearer can see out of them and anyone looking in can see vague shapes. This shadow increases the difficult to spot or recognize anyone inside by 2, higher if the surroundings are also relatively dark. In any well-lit area, however, the shadow itself becomes exceedingly obvious. Regardless of location, this shadow also increases the bearer’s Dodge and Parry DVs against all ranged attacks by 1. Anyone else who enters the shadow-zone does not gain this advantage against the bearer, though: the hearthstone’s owner can see perfectly well in the zone of darkness (though the hearthstone grants no benefit in seeing through darkness beyond that area).

This flattened sphere is patterned like the skin of a leopard. The stone prevents its bearer from leaving tracks, even in thick mud or fine dust, and eliminates all traces of her scent and the scent of anything she wears or carries. These benefits also extend to any animal she rides and to anyone she carries, but do not extend to any companions moving on their own. If the bearer moves in a slow and stealthy fashion, the stone also mutes any noises she makes and bends shadows to her advantage, increasing the difficulty of all Awareness rolls to notice her presence by 1.

This prism-shaped carnelian allows the bearer to inflame passions in others. The bearer can amplify any emotion, turning vague resentment into raging jealousy, slight nervousness into unbridled terror or mild attraction into panting lust. The bearer of a prism of focused passion gains three additional dice on all Presence or Performance rolls designed to inflame emotions. Also, for purposes of resisting these inflamed passions a target’s Temperance is treated as if it were two points less than it is (to a minimum of 1). The latter effect works only on a single target at a time.
Attribute: Rating x4
Favored or Caste Ability: (Rating x2) -1
Out-of-Caste Ability: Rating x2
Essence: Rating x8
Virtue: Rating x3
Willpower: Rating x2
New Ability: 3
Specialty: 3
Favored/Caste Charm: 8
Out-of-Caste Charm: 10

Xp Banked:
Essence 3 -> 4: 7 BP
Willpower 5 -> 10: 5 BP
Conviction 3 -> 4: 1 BP
Abilities: 7 BP

Dice Abyssals - Dark Future - Characters

Psychie

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Psychie

Princess Psychie

Sherwood

Luna's Concubine

Rykon

Four Thousand Club

D. Rex

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Random Word

Three Thousand Club

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