The Lightning-Charged Diva tugs softly on the edge of her mint-green gloves, past her elbow as she walks up the darkened stage. The dull murmur of the excited crowd eager to see them runs through the audience chamber; she hears the sound of the rest of her band taking their positions behind her. She inhales, air filling her strong lungs, Essence infusing her vocal chords. Not even the utter lack of voice caused by having traded it two thousand ago to a demoness to have a magical war-banner made from it can silence the Lightning-Charged Diva.
The band behind her starts to play; the crowd goes wild, and the lights come up, a spotlight from above revealing her glorious mane of crimson hair. She stretches her hand towards the crowd, and the power of her voice drowns out the sound of the cheering crowd, even as they go wild, their eyes locked on her, cheering her name; every man wanting her, every girl wanting to be her as the intense power of her voice vibrates through the crowd, through the stage, through the buildings of the Patropolis, through the very body of the Titan they live within.
Breath of Lightning[]
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 3;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Most operas begin with a single, powerful voice narrating the beginning. It wouldn't do for this voice to begin after another singer or instrumentalist. Spending four motes of Essence, she instantly fills her lungs with air, becoming ready. This Charm replaces the Diva's Join Battle/Debate/War roll, she simply acts on the first tick in which any of her allies act.
| Breath of Lightning is a good, simple Charm, meant to lead up to much bigger things, but in combination with devastating charms like Shrike-Saving Discretion, could easily find a place in just about any group- even one that doesn't use the Power of Rock. - Fabs |
| Fabs came up with the name, and I pitched the concept that became this, and the concept that became Hold the Lightning at him simultaneously. He said we should keep both, and I agreed. -Nate |
Hold the Lightning[]
Cost: #4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 3;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Breath of Lightning
The performance builds up anticipation - or takes the crowd by surprise. The Lightning Diva rolls to Join as usual, but she acts on tick six regardless of however many successes she earned on Join Battle/War/Debate. She is treated as if she had automatically succeeded on her opposed stealth versus perception roll to conceal her battle/war/debate-readiness; when she finally sings, she catches the crowd off-guard, adding the successes she rolled to Join to her first attack's roll, which is Unexpected. This Charm is explicitly allowed to supplement rolls made with other abilities.
| This was my original entrant for Breath of Lightning, but Fabs said the name 'Hold the Lightning' and I agreed immediately it deserved to be a separate Charm. It trades Join Battle successes for a powerful Unexpected attack on the Sixth Tick, and until then it looks for all the world like you're not involved in the battle, so a fair storyteller would have non-psychopathic NPCs ignore you until then. You could say that somebody who's seen you use the Charm before (and lived) would be expecting it next time, but there's no need to neuter the Charm that way. Anybody with a completely basic surprise negator will more or less ignore it anyway. -Nate |
| Big Deadly Fun! Unexpected attacks are always welcome, and in combination with some of the prep charms later, you can inevitably bring in both noise and funk while the hapless Immaculate is left wondering what the number of the cart that hit him was. -Fabs |
Bond-Forming Sonnet[]
Cost: 3m Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 3;
Type: Simple (6 ticks), Synergy
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Synergy Duration
Prerequisite Charms: Breath of Lightning
The ability to manipulation emotions with music is a staple of the singer's craft. The Bond-Forming Sonnet creates a magically-reinforced Intimacy in all of the Diva's allies to his or her bandmates of (band is family), and in all bystanders (including an audience when this Charm is used in concert) towards the Diva of (starry-eyed desire) for those capable of desiring her and (brief envy) for those who do not. While this Synergy effect is active, members of the band may invoke any Counterattack Charms they possess in response to any member of the band being attacked as if they themselves had been attacked, inserting their own counter into Step 9 of combat resolution.
| The first Synergy charm I put to words, the Bond-Forming Sonnet is a simple basic, but in a group set up properly with Counterattack Charms and willing and able to use them smartly this can become devastating as attacking any member of the band invites immediate reprisal from all the others. Most characters will, however, have to look outside their musical styles for the counterattack goodness. -Nate |
| Vicious, especially if your circle already hangs together. A decent counter to Instant Murder Flash. -Fabs |
Words-As-Weapon Method[]
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 3;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Scene Length
Prerequisite Charms: Breath of Lightning
Like a ventriloquist, the Diva learns to throw her voice; unlike a ventriloquist's tricks, however, the Diva's thrown voice wracks the body of the person who hears her like a punch or a kick - literally. This Charm allows her to throw her voice up to (MA+Essence)*Stamina yards away, without changing the apparent source of her voice. Instead, the target she focuses on clearly hears her song over any din whatsoever. In concert, a Diva will use this to target particularly attractive members of the audience in the hopes they may climb up on stage for a brief moment of glory sharing her spotlight, or wait for her to have her way with after the concert. In combat, the Diva uses this Charm to throw lyrics so powerful that they are literally like being punched or kicked; she may effectively make unarmed attacks at that range, at the usual statistics for her unarmed punch or kick, substituting her Charisma + Manipulation for her Strength score when determining damage.
Artifacts (such as a Pectoral of Resplendent Speeches) and Charms which increase the range of her voice by a given value add that value to the number of yards she may throw her voice. Those which multiply multiply the value by their Artifact or Essence rating.
| This is the staple of the Lightning-Charged Diva's offensive capabilities. It's more or less expected that this one's going into her start-up combo. My original thought was that this would target MDVs instead of DVs, but that raised the question of how in the hell armor could be effective against it. Since Fabs convinced me it would be a bit too powerful, too soon, to target MDVs and ignore armor, we dropped that in favor of folding the 'targets MDVs' bit into a later Resonant Cacophonous Aerosmith Synergy charm. Strength was subbed out for Cha + Man in the damage calculation because unarmed attacks are pissweak in this game and you can't just put on God-Kicking Boots or Smashfists for your voice, and I wanted to throw a bone to No Moons Lunars and Alchemicals who favor talky attributes. The name was originally Charged Voice Projection, but we couldn't resist making a pun on the Sol-Awful charm Words-As-Workshop Method, which needs to die in the same fire you burn Scroll of the Monk in. -Nate |
| I- Okay, I can't resist a pun, you know this already. I have no commentary on it, though. -Fabs, rendered speechless by the awesome pun. |
Essential Sonorous Projection[]
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 3;
Type: Simple (Speed 6)
Keywords: Synergy, Combo-Basic
Duration: Synergy Duration
Prerequisite Charms:
A vocalist is the difference between some yobos flailing about on instruments and a band that performs. A Lightning-Charged Diva is the epitome of that, amplifying the effects of the whole band. Her voice lends the band the power to move people with their music; or to move their music to the people. This Charm doubles the distance at which all of her band's attacks may take place; those with melee weapons may strike as if they had ranged weapons, those with reach weapons such as Grand Daiklaives instead strike at four yards' distance, and those with ranged weapons double the range.
| Compared to Triple-Distance Attack Technique, this is very powerful, being two-thirds of the effect of that Charm, for the whole band, for as long as this Synergy buff holds out. However, with the recent Ink Monkeys crusade against the primacy of ranged attacks, I question just how powerful Triple-Distance Attack technique really is. Either way, I'm convinced this doesn't really represent anything terribly overpowered, especially considering the heights of overpoweredness to which I'm prepared to let players working together in harmony soar. -Nate |
| Essential Sonorous Projection doesn't sound like much to look at it- an expensive version of Triple-Distance Attack Technique that isn't as good- but that's because it can be maintained by your bandmates. This philosophy is at the heart of the Power of Rock. -Fabs |
Lightning-Charged Diva Form[]
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3;
Type: Simple, Combo-Basic
Keywords: Form-Type
Duration: Scene Length
Prerequisite Charms: Essential Sonorous Projection, Words-as-Weapon Method, Bond-Forming Sonnet, Hold the Lightning
Air rushes through the Lightning-Charged Diva's throat as she fills her lungs, her esophagus tingling with motes of Essence and the essential nature of her status as a classy touch on a group which is rough and powerful. She cannot be silenced, add her Martial Arts + Performance + Essence score as automatic successes to the roll-off if any affect attempts to silence her. It automatically restores the power of speech to her for the scene if she had previously lost it, uncaring of the source of the loss or any keyword(s) it may carry, even if the Diva voluntarily traded her voice away forever of her own free will. Nothing may silence the Lightning-Charged Diva. She may be heard over any din or attempts to prevent another from hearing her voice, even in an environment in which sound propagation is impossible, such as vacuum.
The power of the lightning-Charged Diva Form harmonizes with the spirit of the Style, and harmonizes the Lightning-Charged Diva and her Style with the rest of the band. At any point, Reflexively, she may 'pass' the Synergy charm she has active to a consenting character in the band who does not have a Synergy charm active or is willing to drop their own Synergy Charm to accept hers; this frees the Diva to activate another Synergy of her own. This costs half the activation cost of the Charm being passed in motes, but does not itself count as a Charm activation, and has no effect on the Synergy duration.
| When Fabs first proposed the idea of 'passing' a Synergy Charm to someone else, I was skeptical, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. So many of this Style's Synergy Charms are very much in the vein of "I would be so damn broken if I could have more than one of these at once." Then it hit me: with the Form style's power, you can actually have as many up at once as you have bandmates without Synergies they think will help in this situation, or who think your Synergies will help more. We're going to have to make the other Styles' Synergies beef enough that this won't be a no-brainer option, which can only result in Awesome. -Nate |
| As with so much of this style, this relies on the teamwork of your bandmates. If your Ten String Thunderer can't seem to find a good point of attack, pass him one of the later Charms and send out one of the big Synergies to give everyone in the group a huge kick in the pants. -Fabs |
Chorus-Leading Clarion Voice[]
Cost: 2m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 4;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Solo
Duration: 1 tick
Prerequisite Charms: Lightning-Charged Diva Form
The Diva summons all the musical clout the band has produced so far, collapsing it into a singularity of excellence in her voice, seeming to drown out all other sounds as the band goes quiet and she sings a few lines of heart-wrenching profundity (as opposed to gut-wrenching profanity, which are the domain of the Green Hellfire Roarist.) This is the chorus from every song that everyone remembers, the words that those who hear find themselves singing in the shower years after they've forgotten the rest of the song or even its name or who sung it. This is the bit of the song where the entire audience sticks up their hands and sings along, and it sounds good. Bringing this much power into herself, the Diva collapses the Synergy effect, causing it to end on the tick after she invokes this Charm. When the Duration of this Charm expires (which coincides with the cessation of the Synergy effects,) everyone in the band regains (Synergies)*2 motes of Essence, and (Synergies -1) temporary willpower. The recipients of this Essence can funnel it into any Essence pools in which they have room, including Personal, Peripheral, Overdrive, and any other miscellaneous pools which might be empty, regardless of those pools' possible specifications for mote sources.
| This Solo is basically screaming the MMORPG command "Go Live," directing everyone else to begin using their best abilities without regard to efficiency. In this respect, it's assuring the Diva's band-mates that they may spent Essence like a drunken sailor spends his credits on shore leave, as they'll be replaced in one tick. On its own it's probably not worth ending a Synergy with this Charm (as opposed to extending it, if possible, especially given that this is the Diva,) but if enough band members' actions line up one one tick to be worth going live, it can let them unleash an incredible burst of energy - preferably their own Solo Charms! - requiring their enemies to spend motes just as drunkenly to defend themselves. -Nate |
| "Rallying the troops and turning the tides of battle is the province of the leader of the Five Man Band. In the case of this charm, that province is utterly covered. Synchronize with a bunch of other Solos to regain all the motes you lost Soloing." -Fabs |
Multiplicative Echo Chant[]
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lightning-Charged Diva Form
The Diva begins to sing, her voice echoing, seeming to be singing the same sequence from two places, three places, four places all at once, creating an incredible, echoing reverberation with herself. This Charm enhances an unarmed attack, giving it an area of effect, hitting all hostile targets (and only hostile targets) within her Essence*MA in yards. If she has Words-as-Weapons Method in place, the area is centered not on her but on the person she targets. She rolls the attack once, and resolves against all targets using the result of that roll.
| Simple, expedient. This is the Charm that puts the 'power ballad' into the power ballad. The heavy metal instruments put in the power, and the opera singer puts in the ballad, but this is where you get both at once. -Nate |
| This is the first purely combative Charm in Lightning-Charged Opera style. Kinda funny how that worked out, the style is mostly not combative at all, buffing and letting others do the heavy lifting, except... -Fabs |
Enduring the Eternal Opera[]
Cost: 5m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4;
Type: Simple (Speed 6)
Keywords: Synergy, Combo-Basic
Duration: Synergy Duration
Prerequisite Charms: Lightning-Charged Diva Form
The hardest part of being an opera singer is endurance; not normally a trait one thinks of for a singer, but a long opera can leave a singer struggling to stand and dripping with sweat. For the Exalted, they can be dripping with spent Essence from all the music they're making, but when the Lightning-Charged Diva steps in and brings forth this spirit-lightening song, her voice sets up a reinforcing resonance cascade in the essence of her band-mates, alleviating their burdens and making their Synergy charms as light as a feather to invoke. Enduring the Eternal Opera reduces the essence cost of all Synergy charms invoked afterward by one mote per Synergy already in effect, to a minimum of one.
| This Charm seems kind of lackluster to those who can't think of what good it would be to reduce the cost of a Charm you've already used. These people need to remember the limited duration of Synergy effects and that the way to extend them is to invoke another Synergy effect. If you have six singers, one of whom is a Green Hellfire Roarist maintaining two Synergies, that reduces the cost of Synergy charms by -7, which will put most of them down to a cost of 1 mote. Even the most basic stunt at that point makes you mote-positive, and activating the really heavy Synergies becomes much, much easier. If your opponents get this Charm up and they have a stable with good synergies who know how to work as well, you're in trouble. For this situation, I recommend immediate retreat. -Nate |
| Enduring The Eternal Opera is a nice charm for starting up- or maintaining- a lot of other Synergy Charms, but it's main use is to discount Synergy Charms in preparation for the big mother at the pinnacle. -Fabs |
Crowd-Winning Heartthrob Solo[]
Cost: 8m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Solo, Combo-Basic, Emotion
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Enduring the Eternal Opera, Multiplicative Echo Chant, Chorus-Leading Clarion Voice
She sings, and the crowd goes crazy; the mosh pit becomes a hazard to life and limb, undergarments are hurled to the stage, every adoring face locked on the Diva's, trembling with need, with desire, with love. The unbelievers are won over, the believers become fanatics. The gravitas of the Diva is enough to rival that of the glorious Solar Exalted, and when the Diva is one of the Chosen of the Sun her golden brilliance threatens to melt every heart forevermore.
This intense solo spotlights the Diva, regardless of whether there's any source of light or even if light is being suppressed magically in the area. This powerful Solo charm attempts to win converts; it targets a number of foes equal to the number of Synergy effects currently in play (minimum 1). Each target is hit with an unblockable, undodgeable emotion effect; this emotion is always something powerful and positive, directed towards the Diva specifically or her band (at her discretion,) and the exact nature is also up to her (ranging from adoration to burning desire.) The cost to resist this effect is a number of Willpower equal to the number of synergy effects in play divided by 3 and rounded up, with a minimum of one.
If this emotion is successfully imposed on a character, they immediately gain an appropriate intimacy strong enough to make them stop fighting (at minimum) and induces a compulsion effect to defend the Diva and her band: depending on the personality of the 'turned' character and their other intimacies, they may take measures ranging from attempting to convince their friends to stop and failing that step between them and the Diva, up to and including lethal force.
| Given what's coming next, one might rightly ask why in the name of Sol Invictus anybody would blow the group's Synergy load on a Solo. Well, this is why. -Nate |
| ... Remember that exception I talked about earlier? This is it, and it's devastating to just about any party you could mention. A band of six, with the six different Power of Rock styles, can deliver this effect to seven people at a 3 will cost. That's a horrendous cost in willpower for the middle of a combat, even to Exalts. And if you don't, you end up with friendly fire incidents- especially among people who don't have social-fu. -Fabs |
Lightning-Charged Celeritous Song[]
Cost: 12m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 5;
Type: Simple (Speed 6)
Keywords: Combo-Basic, Solo
Duration: Synergy Duration
Prerequisite Charms: Crowd-Winning Heartthrob Solo
She takes the step forward, to the edge of the crowd, and turns her back to them, throwing her head back, face up and exulting; not the crowd, whom she has been singing to the entire time, but to the ones who matter: her bandmates, and they respond by going wild for her, their eyes on her, their music playing for her. This charm increases the dice cap from Charms for her bandmates by the number of Synergies currently in play.
| The point of the Power of Rock, for me, is that the band toys with the bad guys, playing music and stunting musical attacks, as they cascade their Synergies and buffs up, until they reach a singularity of buffitude. Taking this Charm with seven Synergies and a Solar who as an applicable dice pool of 10, a Specialization and an Accuracy 0 weapon, if he can put up his Infinite Mastery, he's throwing 30 die 0m attacks. That's lethal even with basic attacks. Throw in what will be happening when the group coordinates a solo spooge on the bad guys, and the fight is pretty much over. That's the power of heavy metal. -Nate |
| This might not seem so bad as to justify 12m, until you realize that pretty much every other style in the Power of Rock has a Synergy that adds dice from Charms to an action or DVs or something else for as long as you're willing to string it along. And they all have this same format. This Charm is deadly. -Fabs |
Charm Template[]
Charm Name[]
Cost: #m, #wp; Mins: Martial Arts #, Essence #;
Type: type
Keywords: words
Duration: duration
Prerequisite Charms: