Because I am bored and don't have any ideas for my other projects at the moment, I'm going to do a borgstromnatic/gameplay analysis of the Style most assuredly does not exist.
Now, it's a 2nd edition style, from Scroll of the Monk, no less. We know this. I'm just going over it because it's fun for me and I hope you all find something useful.
So without further ado-
White Veil Style
For good or ill, one thing Scroll of the Monk did, was provide a lot of interesting if mechanically questionable stuff to add to your games. Like all splat books in Exalted, the subculture and concepts described in the book are not obligatory.
White Veil Style, interestingly enough, is actually a wholecloth 2nd edition Martial Art. It also carries with it one of the more amusing and memetic backstories, being the style that does not exist and most assuredly does not in fact extend its influence throughout the Realm and other regions. It is an elementally neutral Terrestrial Martial Art, so it rarely goes above Essence 3 and does not incur the out-of-aspect surcharge.
It's also the (only) style to use the Hand-Needle and Garotte as form weapons. And, logically as the 'socialize assassin' martial art, you can't use its charms while wearing armor. Fittingly to, you must have Socialize 2, and then two dots in Larceny, Presence or Stealth.
So at the core, this Style tells us that you need to at least be as good as mortal average in two of those four abilities, to even qualify for the Charms.
Birdsong Over Blades
One of the first Charms in the Style, Birdsong Over Blades is, in a lot of ways, a foundational effect. Almost everything in this style follows from this Charm into the other effects.
Now, this is a 2m Reflexive Charm, requiring Martial Arts 3 and Essence 1. Remember, White Veil is a Terrestrial Martial Art, so before houserules, DBs get free Reflexive Charms. Even then, the Charm has a duration of [Martial Arts] Actions.
The intent of this Charm is to allow the attacker to deal no damage, while still counting as dealing damage for the purpose of on-damage effects. The attacker may deals no actual levels of damage, but still 'wound' the enemy with penalties or successfully administer poisons and infections.
The most important part however, is that even if a character is affected by an attack that deals no damage, they do not know they have been hit with anything else.
Basically, this is the "the lightest touch brings great pain and suffering' technique. This charm also clearly makes White Veil one of the least combo-friendly Styles in 2nd edition, because almost every other Martial Art is focused on dealing damage with a handful of notable, high-Essence exceptions.
Alehouse Memory Stance
A 3m Supplemental with the same minimums as Birdsong Over Blades, Alehouse Memory Stance is designed to supplement ambush mechanics, as opposed to straight Unexpected Attacks.
Like Birdsong, Alehouse Memory Stance has a duration of [Martial Arts] Actions. Interestingly (vexingly), it is a Supplemental- but it does not say what Action it supplements. Logically, it should be Reflexive, or remain Supplemental and have a duration of Instant.
Either way, it invokes the corebook mechanics for making an Ambush Attack without being under Stealth first. This is one of those 'this probably should have been worded more clearly' Charms, but it negates the +2 difficulty modifier.
An arguably simpler take would be something like "This charm supplements an Establish Stealth action, making it Reflexive and negating the +2 difficulty penalty for establishing stealth without cover."
Regardless, the intent of the Charm is fairly clear- you are intended and expected to punch-poison people in situations without breaking into open combat. This segues nicely into Birdsong, which as mentioned, prevents people from noticing they've been attacked.
Owl Clutches at the Night
Building off the first two charms, OCatN is unique in that it invokes one of the then-new 2nd edition mechanics: Step 4! As far as I'm aware (and please correct me), 3rd Excellency was not a thing in 1st edition, so re-roll mechanics (or even the re-roll step) was novel.
This Charm is essentially a highly specialized 3rd Excellency, in that it allows the user to take their attack back and reset to a more advantageous position. You'll recall how the first two charms had long durations? This Charm among others is why.
Now, due to the way the ten steps work, you declare everything in Step 1 and 2, Offense and Defense. You roll in Step 3. Reroll in Step 4. Apply to DV in Step 5. A lot of people forget this, in favor of rushing through combat. I don't blame them! But rushing does actually hurt the mechanics. It's kind of a catch-22: You go slow, it's boring but accurate. You go fast, it's more fun but stupid stuff happens.
Anyway, you activate this Charm and roll [Wits + Martial Arts] against the target's Perception+1. So for most Exalted opponents, that is at most going to be 6 in the rarest cases. More likely 3-4. If you win the roll, the attack never happens- resolution ends immediately. Motes are still spent. Observers with Perception higher than your rolled successes may notice something odd.
White Veil Form
Ahh, Form Charms. Beauty and Bane of the 2nd edition model.
As a scene-long, a lot of the 2e Form Charms have clever if sadly under-utilized fluff text. This one describes that your character can be so disarmingly at ease, they can fight for their lives as if they were discussing the weather.
This is so disconcerting that it subtracts one die from incoming attack rolls. The Form also lets them trade Attack Dice for Stealth Dice, when re-establishing surprise. This is done 'backwards', basically, where they ask for up to [Essence] bonus stealth dice, and then pay it back with that many to-hit dice on the next Unexpected Attack.
Lastly, and interestingly, the Form applies a -1 external penalty on witnesses attempting to Join Battle. They believe the fight is play-acting, or otherwise not serious, even if one side is trying their hardest to murder the martial artist.
Characters who know White Veil Form are immune to this penalty.
That last sentence? That's a very clear communication: gang up on your foes.
Blinded By Laughter
This Charm builds on the tactics granted by the previous Charms. Birdsong and Alehouse make it easier to set up the ambush, as does White Veil Form. Blinded by Laughter is essentially 'Birdsong Over Blades but More'.
The charm it self supplements an Unexpected Attack, and so long as that attack deals no damage and the Stealth attempt ensures no one else Joins Battle (this is entirely possible), Blinded By Laughter ensures that no one is aware of the attack, even after the fact.
Fun fact- as far as I'm aware, you are always allowed to use Step 7 defenses even if you are not aware of the incoming attack, your character might not be aware having used the defense, especially with this Charm in play!
The Dragon Dies in Bed
Here we have a Poison-Keyworded Charm, and serves as something like a triumvirate capstone of the whole Style. It's a Simple Charm, which lasts [Essence] Actions. Now remember, a lot of this Style is all about setting up that perfect kill shot- that one touch to end a man.
The next successful attack against the target inflicts a Poison effect. Unless otherwise stated, Poison must be inflicted with HLs of damage. I'm sure there are Touch-based poisons, but this one is not. Depending on your table, minimum damage may or may not count.
But I digress- The poison itself is really nasty, though there are worse poisons in the game elsewhere. It at minimum inflicts 12 levels of damage over 12 minutes- one die per minute- that's what the L tag means next to toxicity. Toxicity is the difficulty it applied against the defender's [Stamina + Resistance].
So against joe Heroic Mortal, even one with a great pool of like 8 dice, this is going to hit him an average of 6-7 levels of damage. If they roll 3 successes, they remove the L tag and take it as Bashing Dice. If they roll 6 or more, they negate that interval's worth of damage.
Now, this is a supernatural poison, so it does more than just damage. For one, it actually tell the target to not roll against it immediately. It waits for one to three weeks, undetectable short of magical diagnosis, and only affects the victim while they are asleep. Because it has no associated Penalty, the victim never feels it, or wakes up from it. Remember, a heroic character is knocked unconscious after their incapacitated level is filled, and this poison inflicts at least 12 damage.
Now, the defender can invoke Charms, as long as they are given the resistance roll. Since this poison waits until they are asleep (inactive), they cannot activate Charms baring those which specifically say so, like Body-Mending Meditation.
Alternatively, the user of this Charm can program it with different [Wits+Medicine] Rolls, and they have several options. They can choose which week the poison strikes; and if the poison will kill them or not. In the latter case, it stops once their Incapacitated level is filled, and will re-activate to keep that level full until the poison exhausts itself. Doing both takes a Difficulty 3 roll.
So basically, if you have 12-20+ bashing levels, get someone down to Incap, it can keep them unconscious for another 5-13+ days, depending on your Essence level.
The Dragon Dies Screaming
Oh boy, a Sickness Effect! It has the same activation restrictions as the previous Charm. Scroll of the Monk expanded upon Supernatural Diseases with this style and the updated Citrine Poxes of Contagion.
Virulence is how hard it is to resist infection on initial contact, so [Essence] against the defender's [Stamina + Resistance]. It incubates in the target for [Target's Essence] days (meaning spiritually strong beings take longer to show symptoms), and has inflicts -1 internal penalty due to discomfort.
Now, where Dragon Dies Screaming gets nasty, is what happens after the incubation period. Their condition gets really bad really fast, demanding a [Stamina + Resistance] roll every hour the disease lasts- remember this is Difficulty 5 for untreated cases, so expect a lot of failures short of Excellencies or other Charms. Failure on this roll inflicts 1 Autolevel of unsoakable Bashing Damage.
Unlike dealing with regular diseases, like the ones in the back of corebook, this disease requires three consecutive successful resistance rolls to shake off. There are more mechanics worth mentioning, but they're on page 129 of the 2e corebook. Explore them at your leisure.
The entry for this Charm points out that White Veil stylists actually add additional poisons to their attacks in addition to this Charm, to ensure their victim is weak and unable to fight off the infection. Penalties from sickness and poison do not affect their own roll to resist, but they do affect each other's. And wound penalties ding everyone equally.
Now, diagnosing this Charm's disease is Difficulty 3, and treating it is Difficulty 3 for mundane means, and 1 for Magical. Once the Incubation period ends, the victim starts rolling against Morbidity (Difficulty 5) or Treated Morbidity (Difficulty 3). Exalted always use Treated Morbidity for this disease.
The Dragon Succumbs
Last Charm in the Style- You'll note that TMAs tend to be Short and sweet, with a few exceptions. And, this ends at Essence 3!
The Dragon Succumbs is a Crippling Effect, similar to the first two in use. When the target is struck by the attack, the Martial Artist makes a second [Dexterity + Martial Arts] roll against the defender's Stamina. If successful, the victim subtracts a number of dice equal to the Martial Artist's Essence from their pools to resist poison and infection as a Crippling Effect.
Now, this charm only penalizes poisons/sicknesses already in the subject's system. It is also very specific that it does not care who inflicted what. As long as you get the timing right, a handful of White Veil Stylists can quite thoroughly load a target up with poisons and then ensure they will die a gruesome, undignified death.
Closing Thoughts
The last three Charms of this Style create a kind of self-contained toolbox of poison/sickness that is intended to make up for lack of resources or cater to specific needs, compared to more mundane poisons available to a character.
You are allowed to, with the charms up to Blinded By Laughter, happily dose people with whatever you can fit on your hand needle or imbue by touch. Which leads me to an interesting thought experiment: Why not Yozi Venom?
Yozi Venom is the deadliest poison listed in corebook. It deals 1 unsoakable Aggravated damage per minute, over 10 minutes, is Difficulty 5 to resist, and inflicts a -5 penalty on all actions other than resisting it.
The sticking point, is that -5 penalty. Yozi Venom is patently obvious. Using a poison like that is foolish for a socialite assassin, because your victim will double over in unimaginable pain seconds after you brush by them.
Consider the -4 wound penalty. Yozi Venom hurts worse.
Now, the reason Dragon Dies In Bed works the way it does, is because it does not have a Tolerance trait. Tolerance is 'how many doses of this can I take per interval before taking damage'? Arsenic in Corebook has a tolerance of [Stamina]/Month. Meaning if you're Stamina 3, you need 4 doses per month to start taking damage. (This means trying to poison your stamina 4-5 hubby with arsenic is a long-term plan).
On paper, long-term poisoning is meant to take advantage of Tolerance, but magical poisons simply skip that in favor of 'This happens when I say it happens'.
With that, I hope you can enjoy this analysis of White Veil Style that most assuredly does not exist.
