I really like this, but I think for a charm that doesn't cost essence and is only a 1 dot, it's a bit too powerful. Maybe instead limit it to one roll in a category per scene? It doesn't really have activation conditions, and it's reflexive, so it would still be quite good.
I like the idea of the city-related ability categories in general. Very flavorful.
We should probably work out what "themes" our Courts have for the charm purposes. So far I see the following:
1) The turning of the Wheel. Things to do with the passage of ages, rebirth, restoration through destruction, change. This also plays
2) Unity of aspects. Thematically this would be contracts, different aspects of one thing, cooperation, civilization, constructive competition and conflict. That's both the cities and the Inner-Outer Wilds clashing to create the livable forest.
3) Imprisonment and sanctuary maybe? Stuff to do with Labyrinth. That I really need to think about.
I'll have some charm ideas later.
Had another thought on this topic.
My general goal here is to make charms like our mote free difficulty reducers/dice adders that pay for their utility in use condition for the FCF. They're pretty bullshit, but the number and degree of effects like this they have is one of the infernal calling cards. Most of the charm sets they have possess at least one option in this category.
I think that SSS is distinctly less powerful than BSM, but doing it from the dice adder angle might be more playable.
Instead of the replacement mechanic tied to the scene, make it an always on like WHWH but with different restrictions.
The user has to adopt and act exclusively within the confines of a particular spiritual alignment - that is to say only actively use abilities from their set
and applications within their themes - the more successful they are at it the more benefits they get up to a cap.
If the user ends the shift they reset to zero, and you must end one shift to begin another.
It needs to be balanced relative to the effort and avoid a bookkeeping nightmare, so maybe something like this:
Five Paths, One Ring
The infernal finds her footing on the five pillars of her soul, dancing among them under the life giving light of the will that encircles them all.
System:
By leaning into the essence of one of the five pillar-cities of her soul the infernal may enter a shift centered on its themes. So long as she acts in tune with that nature success builds on itself; each overall check she passes using the relevant skills will add +1 dice to the pool for all of them up to +3.
She may only adopt one shift at a time, and actively using abilities in the domain of another city immediately resets the bonus and pushes her to that city's shift.
Rolls that use skills other than those outlined below do not end a shift, but only benefit from the bonus if clearly in line with the one currently in use.
The Red City: Law, Leadership, Intimidation, Melee, Alertness, firearms
The Emerald City: Academics, Occult, Science, Technology, Craft, Computer
The Sapphire City: Expression, Politics, Performance, Subterfuge, Athletics, Larceny
The Amethyst City: Medicine, Investigation, Empathy, Finance, Etiquette, Stealth
The Golden City: Survival, Brawl, Awareness, Streetwise, Animal Ken, Drive
This also sort of draws on WBS for inspiration.
It doesn't cost essence, but to use it we have to lean into a particular approach and changing it resets the charm. Which gives real consequences for choosing to shifting gears and provides a hypothetical mechanism for playing against it.
You counter BSM by drying the infernal out, WHWH by turning up the temperature, and FPOR by inducing doubt.
Presented with uncertainty in our purpose, actions, or the situation, to the point that we choose to act on it and it decreases Molly's power.
Which seems like a fun twist for an infernal whose personal issues are in large part anchored in the need for certainty and the things that go wrong when she's too sure she knows what she's doing.
I'm tempted to make the bonus more significant because of the WBS style build up component and the fact that it has stricter requirements for using it than WHWH, but +3 is pretty good already and I don't want to make it more complicated by adding rules for additional benefits.
