- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No. If you want to defend yourself from it by going Adorjani, you just use Freedom Lets Go to flense away the Intimacy.
General Exalted Thread
Or wouldn't that just be having very high ranked principled that you can use to oppose it? It wouldn't be as effective as the charm, would make you functionally insane, and would likely falter if the 3rd circle's effect was able to grow with time, but it seems like that would just be a more extreme version of what you're already doing in game.
Well, it's more that the English language defaults to he when dealing with people of uncertain gender than anything else on my part.
I admit that I unconsciously defaulted to thinking of it in its male form, though. Not sure why; the female form gets more wordcount, with the baby stealing being the final mention in regards to gender.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It wouldn't make you "functionally insane", though at 4 or 5 dots it would make you decidedly weird. It just wouldn't help if you took any more Background dots from it than that Principle was rated, since the "Gratitude/Slavish Adoration" one would overwhelm and quite possibly erode it.
Yeah. That would be the interesting example of gender bias in action.
IMO, English doesn't really have a pronoun that I feel appropriate to describe the Shashalme.
"He and She" don't really fit since the Shashalme shifts between them.
"It" feels.....inappropriate to apply to a being like a Third Circle Deva. It is most commonly used to refer to objects and animals and comes with a (slightly inappropriate in this context but we're going with it anyways) dehumanizing connotation.
"They" gets closer, but still feels off. It implies a plurality that the Shashalme doesn't really seem to have. Rather than being a Two-In-One sort of being, where the Shashalme's genders represent greatly different aspects, he/she is a more singular existance that is the Shashalme regardless of current masculinity or femininity.
Thinking on it, languages in Creation probably do have a pronoun for beings like the Shashalme. I'm sure that there's others that fit(Luna springs the forefront of my mind. Probably other gods or spirits too).
Side question for out of setting, how did the Shashalme get his/her name? I mean, I remember ES once mentioning that he basically messed around with the spelling of words from some other language(Bulgarian, I think it was?) to come up with the names for First Circles with the words in question being ones that were basically those First Circle's roles. I'm always interested in how people come up with names for stuff like this.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
That's all you, buddy.
Singular they isn't new.
It might not be new, but it certainly isn't a common enough usage to sound right to most people. In fact, outside of legal documents and older literature I can't recall the last time I've seen They used in the singular manner.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"If someone wants to come in here, they'll have to go through me."
"Whoever the killer was, they made one key mistake."
"I don't care what your client says! They have no authority to do this!"
"Should anyone here present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."
Etc. All valid uses of the gender-neutral singular pronoun "they".
I stand corrected, but must note that it still seems odd to my ears compared to su.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Solar Larceny or - Moral Relativism and the Chosen Of the Sun!
Ahhh, now we come to possibly one of the most borgstromantic Solar Charm sets in the Core rulebook. Amusingly, in context of Exalted as the 'Anything-But-DnD', Nights come closest to being the exception's exception.
Or, less pretentiously- Nights by their abilities (Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth) look the most like the Rogues and Thieves they're trying to subvert. This is evidenced most clearly by Larceny the Ability.
A Brief Introduction to Solar Larceny
The point of Solar Larceny, is to be the incredible thief- not the impossible thief. Impossible thievery is the domain of Lunars and Sidereals, who can steal far stranger things like locations and memory. Solars instead are the Incredible Thief, the one who can steal a treasure attached to a thousand bell-strung wires without tripping a single alert. Theirs is the skill to disguise themselves so well, even a loyal guard dog has a difficult time telling if the Solar is not in fact their master.
Solar Larceny is, as you'll see below, the statement that there is no obstacle between a Solar and where they want to go.
Larceny the Ability
As an Ability, Larceny covers a fair handful of actions. Lockpicking, Disguise, Predigistation (it means sleight of hand, magic), Forgeries, Con Games, Gambling, and other 'Illegal' actions.
It notably does not cover anything like running an actual criminal organization- you need Bureaucracy for that. I'll explain some of the further issues when I get to the Eclipse Essays, as it'd be easier to convey alongside Bureaucracy- Anyway, to ze charms!
Solar Larceny
Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise
Larceny 4, Essence 2
Here we have the very first charm you see in Larceny, weighing in at 7 motes and requiring a whopping Larceny 4 to purchase, alongside any Larceny Excellency. Fortunately, this is one of those charms that creates a roll, meaning the excellency isn't wasted if you put in a combo or grab Larceny Essence Flow.
Anyway, the actual charm is a Simple Action that takes 6 Long Ticks (minutes, usually). Note that normally disguises can take at the high end, weeks to create just the stuff like makeup, physical props and so on. The charm's duration lasts 'until the character sleeps', so you have a very good chance of ensuring you can rest, reapply the charm the next morning, and nobody is the wiser.
Related to that, Disguise as a mechanic both as this Charm and the base rules assume that you're working on disguising your body, like makeup for your skintone or something to change your eyes. The charm itself doesn't actually generate clothing or props.
As for what the charm itself does, is that it waives the need for any resources, allowing the Solar to just spend 6 minutes and a Larceny Roll to effect wide-ranging, intensely physical changes down to their scent. Skin texture and color, eye color, apparent age within half his current age or double that. (a 20 year old Solar can make themselves look ten). They can even adjust their height by 10% in either direction!
The changes don't end there- they can change their voice, accent, and speaking style as well. That's pretty freaking awesome if I do say so myself. Trying to see through the disguise is also no easy feat.
For one, all mundane Awareness and Investigation actions to discern the character's identity fail automatically. If you're not spending motes, using an artifact or have superhuman senses, you cannot see through this disguise. If you do have superhuman senses, like Keen Scent Technique, you can make the normal perception+awareness/investigating rolls as normal- but at a difficulty equal to the Solar's threshold successes plus difficulty 4.
So, the absolute minimum difficulty for a superhuman sensor to see through this disguise is 4. (Rolled 1 success on the disguise action) That requires a dice pool of around 10 to have a decent chance of beating, but i'd be more comfortable with 12 or 15 myself.
Now, if someone does manage to see through your disguise (and rolling successes equal to difficulty is still a successful action), they will see the Solar as 'an imposter who happens to naturally look almost exactly like the target the character is impersonating'.
What this basically means is that being caught doesn't turn off your disguise, but once you are caught, at least the person who found you out won't forget you as the imposter. More importantly, it prevents onlookers from accurately identifying you. As long as you don't do something like flare your Anima, you can escape and try a new disguise later!
So now that you all know the basics of the charm, I can tell you why this is one of the most Borgstromantic things in the Solar Charm set.
It has no Keywords.
Well, more specifically it doesn't have Illusion, Compulsion, Shaping or other relevant keywords. The reason for this is very simple- the moment you apply a Charm Keyword to an effect, it becomes part of the inevitable design arms race that metastasized throughout Exalted 2nd Edition.
If Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise had the Illusion Keyword, UMI defenses designed around breaking Illusions would trigger and reveal the disguised character. That's fine for anyone but Solars, but here, the lack of keyword is not a mistake, not an oversight. Instead it's a deliberate design decision that requires another degree of Borgstromancy to approach.
Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise lacks a breakable Charm keyword, but it still has action keywords, pseudo-keywords and system terms. The act of 'Disguise' is a categorical term, and effects that interact with 'Disguise' work just fine, as long as they account for the clauses laid out above; Mundane Senses/Non-Magical actions fail outright, and magical investigation occurs at +4 Difficulty. This is why Eye of the Unconquered Sun is worded the way it was- it defeats disguise effects, in addition to everything else it covers.
Wow, that was.. a lot of writing for just one charm. Onward!
Perfect Mirror
Larceny 5, Essence 3
The successor to Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise, this charm trades a shorter duration and being slightly more expensive for a much more complete 'impersonation' effect.
Summarizing, Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise is for you trying to pass around incognito. Perfect Mirror is for when you really need to be someone specific. It functions much in the same way as FID, with the same basic roll, but some extras.
The first big extra, is that it lets you either double or halve your apparent Essence rating for the purposes of supernatural sensory magic like All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight. Further, related to this, is the Solar can emulate most supernatural traits- the book gives the example of emulating an Essence 8 god with animated hair and floating off the ground. The Solar won't float, but everyone will think they are floating. Enough to convince people they are who they're claiming to be.
The second big extra, is that if you have enough information on a subject, and their appearance is within the limits of this Charm, you can perfectly imitate their characterization to the point of being indistinguishable from the real thing. Like with FID, mundane Awareness and Investigation rolls to see through the disguise fail automatically, and as the charm states, superhuman senses such as Sorcerer's Sight, or even bound demons have to roll at +4 Difficulty. Note that AESS would add Perfect Mirror's Permanent Essence in dice to the roll to see through it- but it wouldn't tick over as 'oh you're in disguise' until after succeeding on that roll.
So with both of these charms, we have another example and demonstration of the Solar's 'biased rolloff' mechanic. Also I should stress that neither of these charms actually replace the Disguise rules. When either charm ends, all the changes wrought by makeup, posture, props and acting remain just as they were.
The last important thing of Perfect Mirror, is that it lets you act like someone, but it doesn't tell you things only they know like passwords or proper procedures. You can however faultlessly stay in character when someone tries to make you grill you for things you should know.
Flawless Pickpocketing Technique
Larceny 2, Essence 1
Going to the much lower end of the Ability/Essence Scale, this is a very simple cantrip of a Charm, ensuring automatic success on a very specific action, but in sufficiently grand Solar Style.
This Charm supplements the existing Pickpocketing action, and it requires that action be Valid, or Applicable. Items in use are not valid targets for this effect, nor are things that aren't pickpocket-able anyway as per the normal rules. Remember how I said 'Incredible' Thief? That's what I mean, the limit here is things you could have done without the charm.
It does have a little rider about stealing artifacts with motes committed to them as attunement. This basically means that artifacts without attunement, such as a collar of dawn's cleansing light, can be stolen from anyone. If it is attuned, the attuned collar can only be stolen if the target happens to be an Extra.
Now, 'stealing artifacts' gets into a very prickly design space, for one simple reason. Artifacts are Traits. Stealing an Artifact is effectively stealing dots off someone else's sheet, like stealing limbs. This is very much one of those 'Figure out what your table finds fun' questions, because stealing an artifact from a PC means the player has to get it back, which can be a wonderful plot.
It can also be obnoxious as all hell, or even un-fun, if a character hasn't diversified into other traits enough to make up for losing a primary tool they get through the game with. Proceed with calm deliberation and encourage communication in what kind of game tone you want!
As for what the charm itself does, you spend 3 motes when close enough to a target to pick their pocket. The magic guarantees an automatic success on the pickpocketing roll. If a Supernatural Awareness effect like Keen Sense Technique or some other magic contests the Larceny Charm, the Solar adds their Essence in automatic successes in the normal [Attribute+Larceny] roll against the defender's own relevant pool.
I should stress that this effect can only target a single object per pickpocket attempt, roughly defined as a handful, I wouldn't force repeated activations for stealing a single coin at a time.
And, a pattern begins to form- mundane awareness actions to notice the theft automatically fail, and superhuman senses roll at +4 Difficulty.
An Aside:
You'll notice a handful of Solar Larceny Charms have fluff text to the effect of 'It is the Lawgiver's Right to confiscate goods in service to the Unconquered Sun'. This both is and is not a Borgstromantic statement.
What those fluff blurbs try to say, is that a Solar's moral or ethical position is set entirely by the solar and their player, not the world. you have power, so you can use power. in reality, there is no extrinsic power or force in Creation that gives Solars the right to steal from random pockets, or even to feel justified in doing so. The Creation Ruling Mandate exists, but most Solars don't even know of it.
As a Lawgiver, the Solar is who decides what is right and wrong, not some distant god on the throne of the sky.
Stealing from Plain Sight Spirit
Larceny 5, Essence 2
Here's a doozy- it doesn't need much Permanent Essence, but high Larceny, speaking to a focused scope of stealing one item at a time, but at a truly fantastic level of skill.
The main limitation of Flawless Pickpocketing Technique, is that it requires the Solar to actually be standing right next to their target like regular pickpockets. Plebeians.
For 5 motes, the Solar may steal an object in plain sight that's no more than [Essence] Yards away from him. 6 feet at the earliest time of purchase is no mean feat. It has the same basic limitations on pickpocketing as the previous charm- only things you can legally pickpocket. As with FPT, if contested by pickpocket defense magic, the Solar adds their Essence in automatic successes to their [Dexterity+Larceny] rolloff. This charm and Pickpocketing has a lot of roll-offing involved.
Mundane senses, as with the previous charms, are automatically denied from seeing the actual act of theft itself. This is for system terms, an 'Opposed roll' that the charm renders Automatically Successful on the Solar's Behalf.
The next bit, is that unlike the previous charm, which merely prevents the target from perceiving the theft in the instant it occurs (they can check their pocket right after), SfPSS actually prevents people from noticing the theft for a number of DV refreshes equal to the Solar's Essence. This is an unopposed roll to notice the theft, before the magic is involved.
Depending on the time scale used in the scene, that could be anywhere from 10 seconds to several hours. (Not that DV refreshes much under Dramatic Actions but edge cases are a thing).
Speaking of edge-cases, this charm does point out in an example that you can steal a flagstone from an arch, forcing it to collapse. Immediately this gives the charm some interesting action-scene utility. In such cases where 'collapse' or 'rapid change' happens from stealing something, the 'DV refreshes' clause doesn't apply.
In the case of the Opposed Larceny Roll to register the theft mentioned above, supernatural senses roll at +4 Difficulty to tell that something was stolen. After the [Essence] actions have elapsed, Supernatural Awareness rolls on on the stolen object are now Applicable, but even then, they are taken at +8 difficulty on top of a normal Awareness Action.
Joe Lunar with Hawks eyes has to wait 2 actions to even try to see that someone stole his lunch. And then he has to roll against a minimum difficulty of 8 or 9. You need something like 17-25 dice to beat that consistently I think!
Finally, the charm has a 1wp surcharge option. If you want to steal something you physically couldn't reach- like keys through a wire mesh for example or something lost in a storm drain, you pay 1wp. Handy!
So whew, that was Stealing from Plain Sight- but wait, one last thing? Still no Charm keywords! Everyting this charm does is Borgstromantically hooked into applicability, not Keywords. This is how Solar Magic works. Not by being the biggest numbers (though they have big numbers), but by stacking the deck in their favor at the systemic level.
Lock-Opening Touch
Larceny 3, Essence 1
Man, these charms are starting to look so similar- still, home stretch! This 3 mote supplemental works on Lockpicking Actions, which are oddly enough, explicitly a Miscellaneous Action, which means it can be flurried fairly conveniently.
Anyway, you use this charm for 3 motes, and it renders a lock-picking attempt automatically successful. If you lack tools, the charm becomes Obvious as you apply Raw Skill with a bit of Magic to make tools out of sunlight.
If the lock is magical in some way, LOT adds the Solar's Essence in automatic successes on the contested Larceny roll.
Again, no Keywords, and it doesn't even obviate the base system- if you HAVE to roll to pick the lock, you're using the rules + whatever exceptions the competing magic puts down.
Door-Evading Technique
Larceny 5, Essence 4
Okay, it's the big boy. The logical expression and extension of Solar Larceny. All three pairs of Charms had their 'Theme to Greater Theme' progression, and they all reflected the classic Solar design of 'Removing obstacles'. the Disguise Charms removed the need to spend Time and resources on a disguise, as well as removing mundane failure states. Pickpocketing progressed from 'I pickpocket' to 'I pickpocket from across the room'. Lockpicking went from 'I pick locks' to 'I don't even bother with doors.'
By spending 10 motes and 1 Willpower, the Solar supplements their normal Reflexive Move Action (the charm itself is Reflexive. Technically it creates a Move Action but you can't stack them, it's funky). Regardless, you Move [Dexterity +/- Modifiers] Yards over the course of a single Tick.
So the charm's active- Now you can literally walk through doors, so long as you can end your move action out in the open. Basically the charm fizzles if you try to walk through a 6+ yard thick door, which definitely exist in Exalted!
Any physical 'portal' like a gate, doorway, etc. Anything intentionally designed for people to enter or exit through. You can't use it to squeeze through an inch-wide hole in the wall, or even a closed window- but only if that window was not designed to be used as an entrance/exit! Ninja windows are fair game.
You can't use the charm to root around inside containers either, sorry.
Now, the charm's cost is pretty meaty. You're not expected to use it constantly. Instead, using it judiciously allows you to sneak through the doors you can't afford to pick through the normal way- doors that might set off alarms if they're opened or something.
And, yet again, no Keywords other than Combo-OK. It's not even Obvious! This charm handily defeats almost all kinds of security magic as well, letting you simply pass through even Sorcerous wards without issue. Also important to note- you are not become Immaterial, which is a very specific thing in Exalted.
What I want you to all to take away from Solar Larceny, is that 'Solar Power' is again, not in big numbers, but in decisive, far-reaching use of the system mechanics. It's about isolating and removing variables until the only thing left is you and your objective.
Next essay is Solar Stealth. I am pumped.
Ahhh, now we come to possibly one of the most borgstromantic Solar Charm sets in the Core rulebook. Amusingly, in context of Exalted as the 'Anything-But-DnD', Nights come closest to being the exception's exception.
Or, less pretentiously- Nights by their abilities (Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth) look the most like the Rogues and Thieves they're trying to subvert. This is evidenced most clearly by Larceny the Ability.
A Brief Introduction to Solar Larceny
The point of Solar Larceny, is to be the incredible thief- not the impossible thief. Impossible thievery is the domain of Lunars and Sidereals, who can steal far stranger things like locations and memory. Solars instead are the Incredible Thief, the one who can steal a treasure attached to a thousand bell-strung wires without tripping a single alert. Theirs is the skill to disguise themselves so well, even a loyal guard dog has a difficult time telling if the Solar is not in fact their master.
Solar Larceny is, as you'll see below, the statement that there is no obstacle between a Solar and where they want to go.
Larceny the Ability
As an Ability, Larceny covers a fair handful of actions. Lockpicking, Disguise, Predigistation (it means sleight of hand, magic), Forgeries, Con Games, Gambling, and other 'Illegal' actions.
It notably does not cover anything like running an actual criminal organization- you need Bureaucracy for that. I'll explain some of the further issues when I get to the Eclipse Essays, as it'd be easier to convey alongside Bureaucracy- Anyway, to ze charms!
Solar Larceny
Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise
Larceny 4, Essence 2
Here we have the very first charm you see in Larceny, weighing in at 7 motes and requiring a whopping Larceny 4 to purchase, alongside any Larceny Excellency. Fortunately, this is one of those charms that creates a roll, meaning the excellency isn't wasted if you put in a combo or grab Larceny Essence Flow.
Anyway, the actual charm is a Simple Action that takes 6 Long Ticks (minutes, usually). Note that normally disguises can take at the high end, weeks to create just the stuff like makeup, physical props and so on. The charm's duration lasts 'until the character sleeps', so you have a very good chance of ensuring you can rest, reapply the charm the next morning, and nobody is the wiser.
Related to that, Disguise as a mechanic both as this Charm and the base rules assume that you're working on disguising your body, like makeup for your skintone or something to change your eyes. The charm itself doesn't actually generate clothing or props.
As for what the charm itself does, is that it waives the need for any resources, allowing the Solar to just spend 6 minutes and a Larceny Roll to effect wide-ranging, intensely physical changes down to their scent. Skin texture and color, eye color, apparent age within half his current age or double that. (a 20 year old Solar can make themselves look ten). They can even adjust their height by 10% in either direction!
The changes don't end there- they can change their voice, accent, and speaking style as well. That's pretty freaking awesome if I do say so myself. Trying to see through the disguise is also no easy feat.
For one, all mundane Awareness and Investigation actions to discern the character's identity fail automatically. If you're not spending motes, using an artifact or have superhuman senses, you cannot see through this disguise. If you do have superhuman senses, like Keen Scent Technique, you can make the normal perception+awareness/investigating rolls as normal- but at a difficulty equal to the Solar's threshold successes plus difficulty 4.
So, the absolute minimum difficulty for a superhuman sensor to see through this disguise is 4. (Rolled 1 success on the disguise action) That requires a dice pool of around 10 to have a decent chance of beating, but i'd be more comfortable with 12 or 15 myself.
Now, if someone does manage to see through your disguise (and rolling successes equal to difficulty is still a successful action), they will see the Solar as 'an imposter who happens to naturally look almost exactly like the target the character is impersonating'.
What this basically means is that being caught doesn't turn off your disguise, but once you are caught, at least the person who found you out won't forget you as the imposter. More importantly, it prevents onlookers from accurately identifying you. As long as you don't do something like flare your Anima, you can escape and try a new disguise later!
So now that you all know the basics of the charm, I can tell you why this is one of the most Borgstromantic things in the Solar Charm set.
It has no Keywords.
Well, more specifically it doesn't have Illusion, Compulsion, Shaping or other relevant keywords. The reason for this is very simple- the moment you apply a Charm Keyword to an effect, it becomes part of the inevitable design arms race that metastasized throughout Exalted 2nd Edition.
If Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise had the Illusion Keyword, UMI defenses designed around breaking Illusions would trigger and reveal the disguised character. That's fine for anyone but Solars, but here, the lack of keyword is not a mistake, not an oversight. Instead it's a deliberate design decision that requires another degree of Borgstromancy to approach.
Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise lacks a breakable Charm keyword, but it still has action keywords, pseudo-keywords and system terms. The act of 'Disguise' is a categorical term, and effects that interact with 'Disguise' work just fine, as long as they account for the clauses laid out above; Mundane Senses/Non-Magical actions fail outright, and magical investigation occurs at +4 Difficulty. This is why Eye of the Unconquered Sun is worded the way it was- it defeats disguise effects, in addition to everything else it covers.
Wow, that was.. a lot of writing for just one charm. Onward!
Perfect Mirror
Larceny 5, Essence 3
The successor to Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise, this charm trades a shorter duration and being slightly more expensive for a much more complete 'impersonation' effect.
Summarizing, Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise is for you trying to pass around incognito. Perfect Mirror is for when you really need to be someone specific. It functions much in the same way as FID, with the same basic roll, but some extras.
The first big extra, is that it lets you either double or halve your apparent Essence rating for the purposes of supernatural sensory magic like All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight. Further, related to this, is the Solar can emulate most supernatural traits- the book gives the example of emulating an Essence 8 god with animated hair and floating off the ground. The Solar won't float, but everyone will think they are floating. Enough to convince people they are who they're claiming to be.
The second big extra, is that if you have enough information on a subject, and their appearance is within the limits of this Charm, you can perfectly imitate their characterization to the point of being indistinguishable from the real thing. Like with FID, mundane Awareness and Investigation rolls to see through the disguise fail automatically, and as the charm states, superhuman senses such as Sorcerer's Sight, or even bound demons have to roll at +4 Difficulty. Note that AESS would add Perfect Mirror's Permanent Essence in dice to the roll to see through it- but it wouldn't tick over as 'oh you're in disguise' until after succeeding on that roll.
So with both of these charms, we have another example and demonstration of the Solar's 'biased rolloff' mechanic. Also I should stress that neither of these charms actually replace the Disguise rules. When either charm ends, all the changes wrought by makeup, posture, props and acting remain just as they were.
The last important thing of Perfect Mirror, is that it lets you act like someone, but it doesn't tell you things only they know like passwords or proper procedures. You can however faultlessly stay in character when someone tries to make you grill you for things you should know.
Flawless Pickpocketing Technique
Larceny 2, Essence 1
Going to the much lower end of the Ability/Essence Scale, this is a very simple cantrip of a Charm, ensuring automatic success on a very specific action, but in sufficiently grand Solar Style.
This Charm supplements the existing Pickpocketing action, and it requires that action be Valid, or Applicable. Items in use are not valid targets for this effect, nor are things that aren't pickpocket-able anyway as per the normal rules. Remember how I said 'Incredible' Thief? That's what I mean, the limit here is things you could have done without the charm.
It does have a little rider about stealing artifacts with motes committed to them as attunement. This basically means that artifacts without attunement, such as a collar of dawn's cleansing light, can be stolen from anyone. If it is attuned, the attuned collar can only be stolen if the target happens to be an Extra.
Now, 'stealing artifacts' gets into a very prickly design space, for one simple reason. Artifacts are Traits. Stealing an Artifact is effectively stealing dots off someone else's sheet, like stealing limbs. This is very much one of those 'Figure out what your table finds fun' questions, because stealing an artifact from a PC means the player has to get it back, which can be a wonderful plot.
It can also be obnoxious as all hell, or even un-fun, if a character hasn't diversified into other traits enough to make up for losing a primary tool they get through the game with. Proceed with calm deliberation and encourage communication in what kind of game tone you want!
As for what the charm itself does, you spend 3 motes when close enough to a target to pick their pocket. The magic guarantees an automatic success on the pickpocketing roll. If a Supernatural Awareness effect like Keen Sense Technique or some other magic contests the Larceny Charm, the Solar adds their Essence in automatic successes in the normal [Attribute+Larceny] roll against the defender's own relevant pool.
I should stress that this effect can only target a single object per pickpocket attempt, roughly defined as a handful, I wouldn't force repeated activations for stealing a single coin at a time.
And, a pattern begins to form- mundane awareness actions to notice the theft automatically fail, and superhuman senses roll at +4 Difficulty.
An Aside:
You'll notice a handful of Solar Larceny Charms have fluff text to the effect of 'It is the Lawgiver's Right to confiscate goods in service to the Unconquered Sun'. This both is and is not a Borgstromantic statement.
What those fluff blurbs try to say, is that a Solar's moral or ethical position is set entirely by the solar and their player, not the world. you have power, so you can use power. in reality, there is no extrinsic power or force in Creation that gives Solars the right to steal from random pockets, or even to feel justified in doing so. The Creation Ruling Mandate exists, but most Solars don't even know of it.
As a Lawgiver, the Solar is who decides what is right and wrong, not some distant god on the throne of the sky.
Stealing from Plain Sight Spirit
Larceny 5, Essence 2
Here's a doozy- it doesn't need much Permanent Essence, but high Larceny, speaking to a focused scope of stealing one item at a time, but at a truly fantastic level of skill.
The main limitation of Flawless Pickpocketing Technique, is that it requires the Solar to actually be standing right next to their target like regular pickpockets. Plebeians.
For 5 motes, the Solar may steal an object in plain sight that's no more than [Essence] Yards away from him. 6 feet at the earliest time of purchase is no mean feat. It has the same basic limitations on pickpocketing as the previous charm- only things you can legally pickpocket. As with FPT, if contested by pickpocket defense magic, the Solar adds their Essence in automatic successes to their [Dexterity+Larceny] rolloff. This charm and Pickpocketing has a lot of roll-offing involved.
Mundane senses, as with the previous charms, are automatically denied from seeing the actual act of theft itself. This is for system terms, an 'Opposed roll' that the charm renders Automatically Successful on the Solar's Behalf.
The next bit, is that unlike the previous charm, which merely prevents the target from perceiving the theft in the instant it occurs (they can check their pocket right after), SfPSS actually prevents people from noticing the theft for a number of DV refreshes equal to the Solar's Essence. This is an unopposed roll to notice the theft, before the magic is involved.
Depending on the time scale used in the scene, that could be anywhere from 10 seconds to several hours. (Not that DV refreshes much under Dramatic Actions but edge cases are a thing).
Speaking of edge-cases, this charm does point out in an example that you can steal a flagstone from an arch, forcing it to collapse. Immediately this gives the charm some interesting action-scene utility. In such cases where 'collapse' or 'rapid change' happens from stealing something, the 'DV refreshes' clause doesn't apply.
In the case of the Opposed Larceny Roll to register the theft mentioned above, supernatural senses roll at +4 Difficulty to tell that something was stolen. After the [Essence] actions have elapsed, Supernatural Awareness rolls on on the stolen object are now Applicable, but even then, they are taken at +8 difficulty on top of a normal Awareness Action.
Joe Lunar with Hawks eyes has to wait 2 actions to even try to see that someone stole his lunch. And then he has to roll against a minimum difficulty of 8 or 9. You need something like 17-25 dice to beat that consistently I think!
Finally, the charm has a 1wp surcharge option. If you want to steal something you physically couldn't reach- like keys through a wire mesh for example or something lost in a storm drain, you pay 1wp. Handy!
So whew, that was Stealing from Plain Sight- but wait, one last thing? Still no Charm keywords! Everyting this charm does is Borgstromantically hooked into applicability, not Keywords. This is how Solar Magic works. Not by being the biggest numbers (though they have big numbers), but by stacking the deck in their favor at the systemic level.
Lock-Opening Touch
Larceny 3, Essence 1
Man, these charms are starting to look so similar- still, home stretch! This 3 mote supplemental works on Lockpicking Actions, which are oddly enough, explicitly a Miscellaneous Action, which means it can be flurried fairly conveniently.
Anyway, you use this charm for 3 motes, and it renders a lock-picking attempt automatically successful. If you lack tools, the charm becomes Obvious as you apply Raw Skill with a bit of Magic to make tools out of sunlight.
If the lock is magical in some way, LOT adds the Solar's Essence in automatic successes on the contested Larceny roll.
Again, no Keywords, and it doesn't even obviate the base system- if you HAVE to roll to pick the lock, you're using the rules + whatever exceptions the competing magic puts down.
Door-Evading Technique
Larceny 5, Essence 4
Okay, it's the big boy. The logical expression and extension of Solar Larceny. All three pairs of Charms had their 'Theme to Greater Theme' progression, and they all reflected the classic Solar design of 'Removing obstacles'. the Disguise Charms removed the need to spend Time and resources on a disguise, as well as removing mundane failure states. Pickpocketing progressed from 'I pickpocket' to 'I pickpocket from across the room'. Lockpicking went from 'I pick locks' to 'I don't even bother with doors.'
By spending 10 motes and 1 Willpower, the Solar supplements their normal Reflexive Move Action (the charm itself is Reflexive. Technically it creates a Move Action but you can't stack them, it's funky). Regardless, you Move [Dexterity +/- Modifiers] Yards over the course of a single Tick.
So the charm's active- Now you can literally walk through doors, so long as you can end your move action out in the open. Basically the charm fizzles if you try to walk through a 6+ yard thick door, which definitely exist in Exalted!
Any physical 'portal' like a gate, doorway, etc. Anything intentionally designed for people to enter or exit through. You can't use it to squeeze through an inch-wide hole in the wall, or even a closed window- but only if that window was not designed to be used as an entrance/exit! Ninja windows are fair game.
You can't use the charm to root around inside containers either, sorry.
Now, the charm's cost is pretty meaty. You're not expected to use it constantly. Instead, using it judiciously allows you to sneak through the doors you can't afford to pick through the normal way- doors that might set off alarms if they're opened or something.
And, yet again, no Keywords other than Combo-OK. It's not even Obvious! This charm handily defeats almost all kinds of security magic as well, letting you simply pass through even Sorcerous wards without issue. Also important to note- you are not become Immaterial, which is a very specific thing in Exalted.
What I want you to all to take away from Solar Larceny, is that 'Solar Power' is again, not in big numbers, but in decisive, far-reaching use of the system mechanics. It's about isolating and removing variables until the only thing left is you and your objective.
Next essay is Solar Stealth. I am pumped.
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
No kidding...
And my ST calls them boring.
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
I have never said that.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Solars are straightforward. Not quite the same thing.
greensun
You shall all burn beneath my light!!!
Solar's aren't to everyone's taste though; I prefare Infernals and Alchemicals and TAW Lunars over the Solar Exalted. I just don't find them all that intresting, at least in comparison to the others i mentioned. I find them too straightforward for my liking and they lack the whole 'I'm becoming something other than I was' that the TAW, Infernals and Alchemicals have.
Oh no, I'm talking about a different game. I didn't mean you.
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I do really dislike at a mechanical level the Solar use of inapplicability in the way a lot of Solar Larceny uses it. It produces nonsensical output when interacting with people with superhuman enhancements of their own, and plays very badly with the rest of the system (which is the design intention - I just hate that intention). Like, it is actually really dumb that someone with an Illusion defence intensely watching something stolen with Stealing from Plain Sight Spirit doesn't notice it's missing. The Charm is producing a false belief that the object is still there and is not missing. It's a binary check - is that thing there there, or not? The charm affects the minds of onlookers, preventing them from noticing it. It is the charm producing the belief, because it wouldn't be happening if the Charm hadn't been used. Therefore it should be Illusion keyworded.
And even if it's an mundane expression of the Solar's superhuman skill [1], it should still be an Illusion. Because just because something isn't magical doesn't mean it's not an Illusion. Mundane social interactions produce Illusions too.
(and this ties in to quite a few other more general objections to the way Solar things in the setting are implemented - it's not actually that Solars are great and can do things no one else can, it's that everyone else gets beaten with the nerfstick. Like the fucktarded "Dragonblooded Charms don't work against Celestials" clauses, which just means DBs have been maliciously sabotaged. But that's a different story.)
[1] Which it's not, because it's a Charm and only works because of the magical superweapon attached to the Solar's souls.
I see it in sort of the same light as a 'standing where no one's looking prana' stealth charm, and saying that the solar's not invisible, he's just standing where no one is looking, and so something that saw the invisible and broke illusions wouldn't work.
Yes, that falls in the same category as "just as bad use of inapplicability". Because the Charm is attempting to bypass the entire resolution mechanic. It's the same reason I strongly dislike Invisible Statue Spirit - you are literally standing in plain sight and forcing people to not notice you with any sense save touch.
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
The problem here, of course, is that the moment you tag something Illusion keyworded it becomes an Attack. Since changing a persons perceptions changes their minds you then can evoke IFIO and illusion defeating Charms instantly work.
Which means that you shouldn't bother buying any Charm such as Stealing in Plain Sight or Invisible Statue Spirit because every tom dick and harry with an anti-illusion keyword defense will instantly negate it. It's only utility is against the kind of people who can't contest it in the first place.
Correct. It is in fact entirely my preference that you only get to no-sell someone who is not a member of the very limited range of inhabitants of Creation with comprehensive anti-Illusion defences, and if you're up against one of them you can't get away with just standing out in the open with no cover. And the Charm should therefore be balanced around that, and provide a separate, non-inapplicability-based defence which incentivises actually playing like you're in a stealth game.
You know, like not trying to steal the gems when Velara the All-Seeing, Solar Savant of the Three Kingdoms is looking directly at them and maybe waiting until she's not in the same room and only her elite guard are present, and if you're getting into place to ambush a cruel Lunar tyrant, it might be a good idea to conceal yourself in the terrain or to disguise yourself as one of their adoring worshippers.
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Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
Silly ES, why would you ever want to play a stealth game where you have to plan?