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Sable Disposition of Being Style

By Wordman

Submitted on 27 Nov 2006 at 01:00:49 PM EST
Last updated on 28 Nov 2006 at 12:26:11 AM EST

Default Trait: Martial Arts

Practitioners of the Sable Disposition of Being wield paintbrushes as weapons, using art to alter, shape and control reality. Portraits are particularly utilized, but any painting can be made representing how the practitioner wants the subject to be, and the charms of this style realize these wishes. While practitioners wielding brushes as weapons are considered to be unarmed for the purposes of charms in this style, most practitioners prefer to fight barehanded or else not at all. This style is incompatible with armor.

Intended for Second Edition, this style makes use of (and manipulates) the social combat rules in some cases. Some of the charms in the style can be used both during social combat and standard combat. Listed speeds refer to standard combat. Unless otherwise specified, charms used in social combat have a speed of one long tick. The style is intended to be quite fast in social combat, but fairly slow in standard combat.

Charms of this style usually make use of images of the specific target to be affected. Such images can be painted ahead of time or rendered on the spur of the moment. Any person, place or object recognizably and specifically represented in either type of painting is referred to as “imaged” in the charm descriptions below. The image may be sparse and stylized, even quick cartoon, but to be used for imaging, a painting must recognizably illustrate the specific target, demonstrate the charm’s the specific desired effect and must have been crafted by the artist. A single painting may be made of more than one subject, but only one subject may be affected at a time. Both Mail & Steel and social units are considered single targets by these charms. Images created ahead of time are referred to as “prepared”, while those created on the fly are called “impromptu”.

A prepared image may be used more subtly and quickly, but since images used in this style must represent a specific target and specific effect, this approach requires good planning, so is less flexible. Prepared images are created somewhat similarly to prayer strips. Proper materials (Resources ••) are used over six hours to construct the portrait using a Dexterity + Martial Arts or Dexterity + Craft (Air) test, with a difficulty of 2. Prepared images can also be made during social combat by spending a Miscellaneous Action and making the same test with a difficulty of 4 (such creation is usually obvious). When using a prepared image to invoke a charm, the caster need only have the image on his person or otherwise be in physical contact with it for it to be effective, so charms cast like this tend to be nearly unnoticeable. All charm stats below assume the use of prepared images unless otherwise noted.
An impromptu image can be created in the same action as the charm invocation, provided the practitioner has proper materials—such as a brush, paint, a paintable surface such as paper, the floor, a wall—and the freedom of motion to paint. This adds the Obvious keyword to that invocation of the charm. If the charm is used as part of the artist’s action, creating an impromptu image as part of that action increases its speed by 4 (if appropriate) and reduces DV by 1. No roll is needed for the creation of the image, with any rolls needed by the charm itself assumed to include that.

Some charms may be used to “enchant” images, empowering the image to deliver an effect to a specific target at a later time. Charms used in this manner are considered to have a duration of a year and a day unless otherwise noted. As such, motes powering such charms remain committed until the charm is triggered and expended. The artist may also release the motes, which are considered spent and must regenerate normally, at any time, rendering the painting a mundane piece of paper.

Lastly, some of the charms in this style may generate Paradox for the artist or the target. When this occurs, the person gains a Paradox track, even if they are not sidereals. Those who accumulate 10 or more points of Paradox are subject to pattern bite (Sidereals, pg. 214) as normal. Non-sidereals dissipate Paradox the same way sidereals do (Sidereals, pg. 215). This may includes the use of rituals to speed the process, but non-sidreals do not automatically know these rituals, or even that such rituals exist.

Lesser Sutra of Creativity: A maiden was once an artist…

Bringing the Canvas to Life (updated about 1 year ago)
Capturing the Moment (updated about 1 year ago)
Drafting of Soldiers (updated about 1 year ago)
Establishing Artistic License (updated about 1 year ago)
Impressing the Landscape (updated about 1 year ago)
Kiss of Pigment (updated about 1 year ago)
Life Imitates Art (updated about 1 year ago)
Pleasing Aesthetic Stance (updated about 1 year ago)
Representing Heaven (updated about 1 year ago)
Sable Disposition of Being Form (updated about 1 year ago)
Significance Capturing Stroke (updated about 1 year ago)
Silencing the Critics (updated about 1 year ago)
Sincerest Flattery (updated about 1 year ago)
Tortured Artist's Curse (updated about 1 year ago)
Wreaking Nuance (updated about 1 year ago)

Ratings

Submission Rating: Description: +2 | Rules: +1 | Originality: +2

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Description: +1 | Rules: +1 | Originality: +1 - Jukashi (about 1 year)

I'm not familiar with Sidereal styles, unfortunately, but this style is, at least, very interesting. Rewriting Creation througyh martial arts brushwork is a very cool concept.

Description: +1 | Rules: +0 | Originality: +1 - Flagg (about 1 year)

While I think some of the mechanics could use some work, the concept and description of this Style is AWESOME.

List

Resources for Exalted Second Edition

Sable Disposition of Being Style

By Wordman