Resources for Exalted Second Edition
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By Flagg
Submitted on 07 Oct 2008 at 11:11:45 AM EDTLast updated on 07 Oct 2008 at 12:12:06 PM EDT
Level 5 Artifact
The Five-Destinies Staff was not always called such. In the days before the Great Contagion it was simply “Starmetal Wrackstaff 2045A4”, a mass-produced weapon buried in the vast armories of Yu-Shan. However, when the Fair Folk tore the world asunder, it became something far greater.
Whether this happenstance occurred by the design of Fate or by the sheer random chance of the Wyld, the Maidens do not tell, and heavenly scholars have debated it ever since. What is known is this: When the Fair Folk stood on the doorstep of the Shogunate, and the strands of Fate began to unravel and snap, the threads of four other great weapons became entangled with the destiny of 2045A4. In their mad rush to stitch the failing Tapestry back together, the pattern spiders wove these five tattered threads into one.
The other four weapons no longer exist. Not even the memories of the gods can recall them, but a small fragment of each of their destinies have been bound into the Five-Destinies Staff, lying dormant until an essence wielder awakens them.
This staff’s original destiny, that of a simple starmetal wrackstaff, is obvious. The first Sidereal to wield this weapon in the Age of Sorrows discovered the four additional destinies bound to it, and named them thusly:
• Destiny of the Whirling Monk (Permanent)
This effect reduces the target number for attacks rolled with the staff to 6.
• Destiny of the Unyielding Guardian (Instant)
This effect allows the wielder to perfectly parry an attack as a reflexive action during Step 8 of the attack resolution, after damage has been rolled but before it is applied. Invoking this effect costs the wielder three motes and inflicts three dice of Paradox. If the character is not a Sidereal, he gains a Paradox track and suffers its effects as per the normal rules. (Fluff wise, this allows the character to look ahead a split second into the future, see the predetermined outcome of the attack, and then choose whether or not to invoke the perfect block)
• Destiny of the Nimble Thief (Instant)
With a successful Martial Arts attack against the character who invoked it, the wielder can cancel one persistent Charm effect by paying the same cost the target paid, plus one point of temporary Willpower. The attack inflicts no damage. This effect can only be used once per scene, and the target may re-invoke the effect during his next action, or at any time thereafter by paying the normal cost.
• Destiny of the Wandering Scholar (Indefinite)
The wielder can disguise the weapon, making it appear as a staff of mundane ash. This miscellaneous action costs one mote, which remains committed. As this is an effect imposed and enforced by the Loom of Fate, the disguise is impenetrable even by essence sight, though Sidereals and beings outside of Fate can penetrate the effect effortlessly. Should the wielder invoke the Destiny of the Unyielding Guardian or the Destiny of the Nimble Thief while this Destiny is in effect, it is immediately negated and the staff is revealed as its true self, inflicting one die of Paradox. If the character is not a Sidereal, he gains a Paradox track and suffers its effects as per the normal rules.
The Five-Destinies Staff uses the same rules and material bonuses as a standard starmetal wrackstaff (SotM, p.160). For rules concerning Paradox, see MoEP: Sidereals, p.209.
Use of these Destinies do not count as Charms, and may be activated in the same action as Charms without the need for a Combo.
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