Melee Charms
Excellency
Stoking Bonfire Style
Cost: 1m/die or 2m/+1 Parry; Mins: Melee 1, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental (Any roll) or Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Balanced, Excellency, Fire, Uniform
Prerequisite Charms: None
You swing your soul with fiery passion.
Add 1 die per 1m spent, or add +1 Parry per 2m spent.
When you land an attack on an opponent or successfully block an attack, the cost of this Charm is lowered cumulatively by 1 for each subsequent round. If you miss an attack, fail to parry, or don’t use this Charm in a round, then the discount resets to 0.
Essence 1
Burning Fury Wreath
Cost: 3m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental (Damage); Duration: Instant
Keywords: Balanced, Decisive-only, Fire
Prerequisite Charms: None
You superheat your blade and slice cleanly through armor.
Ignore (Strength / 2, round up) Hardness. Ignore 1 additional Hardness for every 10 you roll.
FIRE AURA – Double the Hardness you ignore.
Flame-Borne Interception
Cost: 4m; Mins: Melee 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Until next turn
Keywords: Balanced, Fire, Uniform
Prerequisite Charms: None
Your weapon glows with fire and grows hotter with every strike.
Gain +1 Parry until your next turn.
Every time you block an attack, this increases by 1. This bonus resets if you are hit or if you defend using an Ability other than Melee.
Blinding Spark Distraction
Cost: 1m, 1i; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Balanced, Fire, Uniform, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Flame-Borne Interception
A cascade of brilliant sparks flash off your weapon and into the eyes of your foes.
When you successfully block an attack or win a clash, your opponent is blinded until his next turn. He can avoid this by passing (Stamina + Resistance) versus your own (Essence + the successes he missed by).
Graceful Flowing Defense
Cost: 2m, 1i; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Perilous, Uniform, Water
Prerequisite Charms: Flame-Borne Interception
Your weapons flow like water and glow with black Water Essence.
Ignore a single point of penalty on your Parry.
WATER AURA – Ignore (higher of Essence or 3) points of penalty instead.
Essence 2
Crimson Fang Bite
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental (Damage); Duration: Instant
Keywords: Dual, Fire
Prerequisite Charms: Burning Fury Wreath
You channel the fury of wildfire to strengthen your strikes.
Withering
Add (higher of Essence or Strength) to your raw damage.
Decisive
Double (Strength) 10s on your damage roll.
Demon-Crushing Wolf Bite
Cost: 4m, 1i; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental (Damage); Duration: Instant
Keywords: Perilous, Withering-only, Wood
Prerequisite Charms: Crimson Fang Bite
Your weapon explodes into thorns and vines as you strike.
Add (Stamina) Overwhelming to an attack.
WOOD AURA – Also add (Stamina) to the raw damage.
Oncoming Storm Stance
Cost: 1a 1i/2 motes gained; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Air, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Crimson Fang Bite
Through focused breathing and supreme clarity, your anima condenses into lightning on your blade.
When you aim, you may spend up to (Perception/2, round up) Initiative in order to get 2m back per point of Initiative you spend. These motes are lost if you don’t use them next turn and can only be used to enhance the attack that you are aiming.
Unerring Lightning Razor
Cost: 6m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental (Aimed Attack); Duration: Instant
Keywords: Air, Uniform
Prerequisite Charms: Oncoming Storm Stance
The lightning arcing from your blade strikes with deadly force, coursing through the target and their armor, if they are wearing any.
AIM – Reroll up to (Essence) failed dice that didn’t come up as a 1. Add (Essence / 2), round up, damage. If your enemy is wearing metal armor (including artifact armor with magical metals), reroll up to (Essence + target’s mobility penalty) dice and add up to (Essence + target’s mobility penalty / 2) damage instead.
Crossfire Flash
Cost: 5m; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental (Clash Attack); Duration: Instant
Keywords: Balanced, Fire, Uniform
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding Spark Distraction
Your weapon roils with flame, scorching your foe from the heat.
Reroll (Essence) failed dice that didn’t come up as a 1. Any reroll that comes up as a 10 subtracts 1 success from your opponent in addition to counting as 2 successes for you.
Rumbling Earth Rebuke
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Decisive-only, Earth
Prerequisite Charms: Blinding Spark Distraction
Your weapon is infused with Earth Essence, as unstoppable as an avalanche. It applies an unstoppable force, ripping your opponent’s weapon from his hands.
Use this Charm after you successfully Parry or clash an attack against you from close range. You may reflexively make a disarm gambit against your attacker.
EARTH AURA – Your gambit inflicts -2 Onslaught instead of the normal -1. You may choose to destroy mundane weapons instead of disarming them.
Flame Warden Stance
Cost: 3m, 2i; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple; Duration: One scene
Keywords: Fire, Perilous
Prerequisite Charms: Flame-Borne Interception
Your blade flashes between blinks and seconds, always just where it needs to be to keep your allies safe.
Take a Defend Other action. This action extends its benefits to the whole scene without needing to take it again and again every turn. You may only defend your ward if they are within close range; if you move away, you cannot defend them until you return.
FIRE AURA – Add a bonus die to your next attack each time you successfully defend your ward.
Wrath-Grounding Guard
Cost: 4m; Mins: Melee 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Balanced, Earth
Prerequisite Charms: Flame-Borne Interception
You ground an incoming attack to your weapon, channeling it away from you.
Get +1 Parry against an attack which is purely elemental or magical. If it is unblockable, you may apply your Parry + 1 against it anyway. Every 1 that your attacker rolls removes a success from his roll.
EARTH AURA – You may expend your Aura to use this Charm to defend an ally within medium range as if you are using Defend Other. If the attacker beats your Parry, they may only deal damage to you, not to your ward.
Lightning-Drinking Blade
Cost: –; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent; Duration: Permanent
Keywords: Earth
Prerequisite Charms: Wrath-Grounding Guard
Your weapon transforms the incoming attack, dispersing the energy back into your anima as it sparks to life.
Whenever you successfully block an attack using Wrath-Grounding Guard, you get 1m for every 10 your opponent rolled in his attack. You cannot gain more than (higher of Essence or 3) motes this way. If you were using Wrath-Grounding Guard to defend an ally, get an additional 1m.
Dragon-Scale Shield
Cost: 1m, 1i; Mins: Melee 4, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Perilous, Uniform
Prerequisite Charms: Flame-Borne Interception
Your anima springs up around you, blocking against incoming harm.
Gain one of the following effects based on your Aspect:
- AIR: +1 non-Charm Parry against an incoming ranged attack.
- EARTH: +1 non-Charm Parry against a disarm attempt. If you block with a heavy weapon, get +2 non-Charm Parry instead, which you may use against any kind of attack.
- FIRE: If you successfully defend against an attack at close range, your attacker loses 1i, plus 1i for every 1 he rolls. You don’t gain this Initiative.
- WATER: If you successfully defend against an attack at close range while in a Full Defense, your attacker gets a -1 Onslaught penalty.
- WOOD: If you successfully defend against an attack at close range, your attacker is poisoned with the following poison:
Poison: damage 1i/round (L), duration (your Parry against the attack) rounds, penalty -1.
You may repurchase this Charm to gain 2 more elements. You may stack this Charm with different elements as long as you have purchased them.
Blazing Interception
Cost: 4m; Mins: Melee 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive; Duration: Instant
Keywords: Counterattack, Decisive-only, Fire
Prerequisite Charms: Flame Warden Stance
Your flaming spirit lashes out at your foes in a counterstrike.
After you successfully Defend Other, make a decisive counterattack against the attacker.
FIRE AURA – Your ward can make a reflexive Distract gambit to give you more Initiative before you make your counterattack. This doesn’t count as an action for them.