Resources for Exalted Second Edition
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By Wordman
Submitted on 13 Dec 2006 at 04:28:06 AM ESTLast updated on 13 Dec 2006 at 09:29:59 AM EST
Level 3 Artifact
The monk walked serenely over the cobblestone. The dawn had not yet had a chance to burn off the fog and the streets were empty and silent, only the slight “click…click…click…” of his worry beads as he worked them around his hand giving any evidence of his passage. He knew the attack was coming sometime today, of course, he just hadn’t expected it so soon. He had heard them plotting the night before. “It’ll be easy,” they had said. “He wears no armor, he carries no weapons.” When one objected, raising the specter of the monk’s magic, the others assured him. “He’s powerful, but his magic is slow. Why do you think he talks so much before he fights? It takes him ten, even fifteen seconds to get ready. More than enough time for all of us to take him down. We just have to be fast.”
They were fast. The monk had to give them credit for that. One of them was only a few steps away when the monk first noticed him. The clicking of his beads stopped, as he let the power they stored rush into him.
The merchant heard all the yelling and commotion outside but, by the time he looked outside his door, it was all over. Seven young men littered the street. A couple were writhing in pain and one was on his knees, dumbly watching blood from his nose pool in his hand, but the rest were unconscious. The merchant could see their weapons strewn about haphazardly, but of their assailant he saw no sign. From up the street, deep in the fog, the merchant could barely hear a soft “click…click…click…”.
Predisposing Beads are made of any of the five magical materials, fashioned into regularly shaped beads about as wide as a man’s thumbnail, connected by a chain. The chain can be open-ended, but is usually connected to a small piece of metal to which another short chain with one more bead and/or a tassel of chain or silk cord is connected. Used as either prayer beads or just something to fiddle with, mundane versions of these worry beads are popular, mostly with men, in the Realm and other parts of Creation so, apart from their materials, Predisposing Beads appear to be fairly mundane. They may be found in many different designs and with variable numbers of beads, though rarely less than seven and almost never more than 17.
Collectively, the beads are used to store certain charms. Only charms that a) affect solely the caster and b) have a duration of one action or longer may be stored within the beads, making them a favorite of martial artists. To store a charm, the caster concentrates on the beads while activating it, paying an additional two motes in addition to the normal cost of the charm. The charm does not activate, but is instead stored within the beads for as long as all costs to activate it (including willpower, health levels and the additional mote) remain committed. If these costs are uncommitted, the charm dissipates harmlessly.
By spending one mote of essence, all of the charms stored in the beads may be retrieved at once, pulled back into the caster. All of the charms then activate at the same time. Essence powering the charms remains committed to power the charms, but the additional motes paid are considered spent. The beads are then considered empty, so charms must be recast to be stored again. Retrieving the charms requires a dice action, and pools may not be split on the turn it is used; however, retrieval does not count as charm activation for the turn. The caster must empty all the charms at once.
Mechanically speaking, since the charm cost must be committed, the only difference between using stored charms during a given combat vs. activating them one at a time is:- It costs more
- All the charms activate in a single action
- Reflexive charms can be used on the same action
- Activation does not cause anima flare when released (it does, of course, happen when charms are first stored)
The quality of the chain is also important, as it places a limit on the required Essence rating of the charms that can be stored in the chain. Artifact • chains are feathersteel, holding no more than seven beads which can only store charms with a required Essence of two or less. Jade chains are Artifact ••, storing Essence 3 charms in no more than 12 beads. Chains of celestial metal are Artifact ••• and can store Essence 4 charms in no more than 17 beads.
Any of these chains can hold beads of any magical material. While the material of the chain limits the power of the charms this artifact can hold, the material of the beads limits their type. Only charms matching the material can be stored in a given bead. Terrestrial charms require jade, solar require orichalcum and so on. As a result, most of these artifacts use a single type of bead material. Some Eclipses, however, have been known to mix bead types. Other than this, there is no magical material bonus for this artifact. Beads of any material can hold terrestrial martial arts, but celestial materials are needed to hold celestial martial arts. Only startmetal can hold sidereal martial arts charms.
Example: The solar Varden has an Artifact ••• set of Predisposing Beads. The chain is moonsilver, but the beads are orichalcum, all 17 of them empty. A few days ago, he stored Mantis Form, Flow Like Blood, Iron Kettle Body and Increasing Strength Exercise (3 points) into the beads. The combined minimum ability ratings for these charms is 15, so they squeeze into the beads with two to spare. Their required Essence rating is from two to three, so the moonsilver chain handles the load easily. The charms cost 24 motes, 2 willpower and storing them another 8 motes. He paid for all of these with peripheral essence, causing his anima to go iconic. His anima has calmed since, but the motes and willpower have remained committed into the beads, preventing him from recovering either. Now, however, he is being attacked from out of the blue. His assailant acts first, but Varden reflexively dodges using Leaping Dodge Method. Varden uses his own action to retrieve the charms from the beads, paying a single mote. All of the charms activate at once, the 24 motes and 2 willpower still committed to powering them. The mote he just spent, however, and the 8 previously committed to the beads are now spent, so could be restored with Essence Gathering Temper or similar effects.
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