Ok, here's some of the tenative stuff I've got based on both our discussions and in reading over like 200 different MA charms :P
STILL NEEDED: More exact mechanics for some charms. Possibly some mote cost adjustments as well. Needs a form weapon. Armor (probably so?)
Air: Charm stores an MA form weapon in Elsewhere. If you know an Immaculate MA Style, this charm can also store one additional MA weapon for that style (Max of 6 weapons if you know all 5 MA styles). This charm also allows the user to quickdraw the weapon from either Elsewhere or from somewhere on their person at some mote cost (probably 1m). The storage cost is probably 5m with 1 committed per weapon stored and takes the normal 6 ticks for a Simple charm.
Earth: Exactly as Body of War Meditation from Celestial Monkey Style:
BODY OF WAR MEDITATION
Cost: 4m or 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2;
Type: Simple
Keywords: Obvious, Stackable
Duration: One scene
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Exalt practices a meditative prana for about 20
minutes (1 scene :P), channeling powerful Essence. Doing so suffuses her
muscles with fluid suppleness, and her bones and skin are
fortified with power and fl exibility. For the rest of the scene,
faint pulses of golden Essence radiate from the martial artist’s
core chakras in time with her heartbeat, running down her
arms and legs and up to the crown chakra in the center of
her forehead. The Exalt’s caste mark also becomes visible.
For every four motes of Essence the martial artist spends, add
one temporary dot to her Strength or Stamina; or for every
six motes of Essence, add one temporary dot to her Dexterity.
Body of War Meditation can be used more than once
for the same scene, but it cannot be used once the character
enters combat. The effects are cumulative, and the Exalt’s
Attributes can be raised thus above trait maximums. The
character cannot raise any of her Physical Attributes by more
dots than she has permanent Essence, however.
Visually, instead of pulsing chakras, the user is surrounded by the relevant element. Increases Strength would surround the user with Earth and Fire, Dexterity evokes Air and Water, and Stamina conjures Wood and Earth. This plates the user in a manner similar to armor in the sense that it surrounds him, but is not armor and is purely visual in effect.
Fire: Inferno Fist Technique from HLS's Blazing Corona Style, but modified slightly to be more appropriate for a Celestial-level charm:
Inferno Fist Technique
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 4)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
The martial artist concentrates his Essence into his fist, creating a painfully bright corona of flame arond it. He selects a target and strikes, sending a searing fireball across the battlefield. This attack is aimed with Dexterity + Martial Arts, has a base damage of (Martial Arts+[Essence/2])L, and a Range of (Essence x 20) yards.
Water: Exactly as Demure Carp Feint from Dreaming Pearl Courtisan Style:
DEMURE CARP FEINT
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1;
Type: Refl exive (Step 2)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: One action
The character opens a fan, twirling it and waving it in a
distracting way. (This does not need to be a war fan as long
as it is used only for distraction.) The Exalt’s movements
become as graceful and unpredictable as cherry blossoms in
a gust of wind. While using this Charm, the Exalt adds either
her Essence or +2 (whichever is greater) to her DVs.
Wood: Exactly as Harmony in Opposition Stance from Silver-Voiced Nightingale Style minus the bits about discovering Intemacies
HARMONY IN OPPOSITION STANCE
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 1; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Basic
Duration: Varies
When a Silver-Voiced Nightingale uses this Charm, she
moves in perfect counterpoint to her opponent. A brief kata
and several sharp notes allow her to sound him out, using
a (Perception + Martial Arts) roll with a diffi culty equal to
his Essence. For every success on this roll (to a limit equal
to her own Essence score), the martial artist may reduce his
Dodge or Parry DV against her attacks by one and add one
to her own Dodge or Parry DV against him. The DV adjustments
last as long as the martial artist continues to fi ght this
opponent and no one else.
FORM-TYPE CHARM:
Elemental Hero Form
This charm gives +1 Acc, Dam, Dodge DV, and Bashing/Lethal soak and also allows the user to optionally do Bashing or Lethal damage and parry Lethal attacks unarmed. Visually, the user assumes a stance that varries greatly depending on whether they are attacking or defending, evoking the philosophies of different elements as needed. As a special effect available to Dragon-Blooded (or possibly only Celestial Dragons) that learn this charm, they are also able to independently activate each of the Immaculate Form-type charms in a manner similar to Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Form.
Elemental Aegis: Some sort of semi-perfect defense charm. Cheyne said that 'working only on attacks that originate from someone with an Essence equal or lower than your own' was not broad enough. I'm open to suggestions. It has to work pretty much all the time EXCEPT in some very specific circumstance.
Wrath of the Elements: An extra action charm of some type. I favor one that simply allows a magical flurry, costs 3m/action (many charms are like this) and has a DV penality of the highest DV action taken in the flurry (this is like Metal Storm from VBoS Style). Maximum number of attacks equal to MA.
Capstone Charm: The Elemental Avatar
I'm not sure what this does yet, but the inspiration for the visual effect I want comes from the final battle of the Avatar series. It should involve all 5 elements whirling about the user and being used for both attack and defense to some degree. The charm will probably have a fairly high cost, at least 10m and 1wp and probably a limited duration, maybe MA actions or MA+Ess actions. Some sort of health level cost may also be appropriate depending on how awesome it is. It should probably enable ranged attacks of some sort along with damage and defense benefits, and maybe some mobility enhancements as well. It should be awesome, its the capstone of a hero style. Reference other capstones for power level approximations :P
If it helps for balancing purposes:
Body of War meditation in its normal tree has no pre-requisites. Each use of Body of War Meditation is a Simple Action that can only add one dot to an attribute. Body of War Meditation is Stackable, so repeated uses may boost more than one attribute, or boost more than one dot to an attribute. I feel that the fact that each use only grants one dot helps a lot for its balance. You can get a lot out of it if you have time to buff before combat, but if not, you may not use it at all or will only be getting minimal benefit.
An alternative for the Earth slot would be something like Stone Dragon's Skin, which is a few motes for a temporary (until next action, I think) boost to soak. I hesitate to exactly duplicate any of the mechanics of existing Immaculate charms since Elemental Hero practicioners are likely to already have such charms, so I'll see if I can find something different but somewhat similar.
Body of War meditation in its normal tree has no pre-requisites. Each use of Body of War Meditation is a Simple Action that can only add one dot to an attribute. Body of War Meditation is Stackable, so repeated uses may boost more than one attribute, or boost more than one dot to an attribute. I feel that the fact that each use only grants one dot helps a lot for its balance. You can get a lot out of it if you have time to buff before combat, but if not, you may not use it at all or will only be getting minimal benefit.
An alternative for the Earth slot would be something like Stone Dragon's Skin, which is a few motes for a temporary (until next action, I think) boost to soak. I hesitate to exactly duplicate any of the mechanics of existing Immaculate charms since Elemental Hero practicioners are likely to already have such charms, so I'll see if I can find something different but somewhat similar.
Ok, rewrite time:
Unstoppable Avalanche Method (pretty much exactly like Hungry Tiger Technique, and many other charms in the same mold)
Cost: 1m: Min: Mart Arts 2; Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK; Duration: Instant
This charm allows the player to count extra successes on the attack roll twice for the purposes of determining raw damage.
This charm takes the place of Body of War Meditation at the base of the tree as the Earth basic charm.
The Fire Charm: Inferno Fist Technique, should (upon further consideration) have a range of (Essencex10) yards instead of x20. It should also have a damage of either Str+Essence or possibly Dex+Essence, as that just makes more sense.
Once all 5 base-level charms are obtained, the character qualifies to learn the Form charm. The form charm was not clearly specified. It should probably be 5-7motes to activate, and a Simple charm that lasts for the scene (like most other Form charms).
After the form, there are 3 charms.
At this point I'm frustrated enough with trying to come up with a good condition for Elemental Aegis that I think we should just take a hint from the Temperance style. It should be 3m+1wp to activate and carry either the Temperance or Valor Flaw of Invulnerability (they feel the most elemental-y to me). Mechanically this is a perfect parry. Visually it involves the user holding out a hand (or a weapon, if wielding one) and using some manifestation of one of the five elements to ward of the attack. There's a flash of fire, earth shoots up from the ground, water pushes it aside, etc. Opens up some good stunt opportunities.
Wrath of the Elements is as described above.
Body of War Meditation also gets moved here, but should probably be buffed a bit, just because its a post-form charm now. Maybe 3m and 5m for the increases. Alternately, I'd also favor some sort of mote-regeneration type charm, since DB's don't really have an in-combat charm that can do this sort of thing.
Finally we have the capstone: The Elemental Avatar.
We've said a fury/rage type charm may be appropriate. I'd suggest a charm mostly based off the solar one, but with queues from the Lunar one.
Make it 10m+1wp; Simple; Keywords: Obvious; Duration 1scene
Add 2 extra dice to all combat-related actions (which does count as dice added from charms), increase dice adding ability to (Ability+Essence). Subtract one from wound penalties and ignore fatigue completely. Allows the user to make MA-based attacks out to a range of (Essencex2) feet (blasts of fire, rain of hail, electric bolts, etc). Ranged attacks do (Str+Essence) damage. If normal attacks are made instead, add a bonus of (Essence) to the raw damage of the attack. As with other fury/rage type charms, the character can only take combat-based actions (including the activation of Form-type charms) and cannot end this charm until no enemies are left to attack. The character must spend another point of Willpower to pre-maturely end this charm.
Unstoppable Avalanche Method (pretty much exactly like Hungry Tiger Technique, and many other charms in the same mold)
Cost: 1m: Min: Mart Arts 2; Essence 1; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK; Duration: Instant
This charm allows the player to count extra successes on the attack roll twice for the purposes of determining raw damage.
This charm takes the place of Body of War Meditation at the base of the tree as the Earth basic charm.
The Fire Charm: Inferno Fist Technique, should (upon further consideration) have a range of (Essencex10) yards instead of x20. It should also have a damage of either Str+Essence or possibly Dex+Essence, as that just makes more sense.
Once all 5 base-level charms are obtained, the character qualifies to learn the Form charm. The form charm was not clearly specified. It should probably be 5-7motes to activate, and a Simple charm that lasts for the scene (like most other Form charms).
After the form, there are 3 charms.
At this point I'm frustrated enough with trying to come up with a good condition for Elemental Aegis that I think we should just take a hint from the Temperance style. It should be 3m+1wp to activate and carry either the Temperance or Valor Flaw of Invulnerability (they feel the most elemental-y to me). Mechanically this is a perfect parry. Visually it involves the user holding out a hand (or a weapon, if wielding one) and using some manifestation of one of the five elements to ward of the attack. There's a flash of fire, earth shoots up from the ground, water pushes it aside, etc. Opens up some good stunt opportunities.
Wrath of the Elements is as described above.
Body of War Meditation also gets moved here, but should probably be buffed a bit, just because its a post-form charm now. Maybe 3m and 5m for the increases. Alternately, I'd also favor some sort of mote-regeneration type charm, since DB's don't really have an in-combat charm that can do this sort of thing.
Finally we have the capstone: The Elemental Avatar.
We've said a fury/rage type charm may be appropriate. I'd suggest a charm mostly based off the solar one, but with queues from the Lunar one.
Make it 10m+1wp; Simple; Keywords: Obvious; Duration 1scene
Add 2 extra dice to all combat-related actions (which does count as dice added from charms), increase dice adding ability to (Ability+Essence). Subtract one from wound penalties and ignore fatigue completely. Allows the user to make MA-based attacks out to a range of (Essencex2) feet (blasts of fire, rain of hail, electric bolts, etc). Ranged attacks do (Str+Essence) damage. If normal attacks are made instead, add a bonus of (Essence) to the raw damage of the attack. As with other fury/rage type charms, the character can only take combat-based actions (including the activation of Form-type charms) and cannot end this charm until no enemies are left to attack. The character must spend another point of Willpower to pre-maturely end this charm.
i like everything, though a few tweaks may be worthwhile.
Changing the cost on body of war is fine.
the perfect dodge... up the cost, but add in a flurry break roll, that way DB's will have a chance against combos. and it sorta makes sense.
add an essence adder after the form type, not sure what it would be.
add one more post form type charm. again, i'm not sure what that should be... actually, what about "elemental wave" or something? an AoE attack.
for the avatar state, i would suggest adding in an effect that decreases cost on the elemental themed attacks (to a minimum of 1), or perhaps just the cost of charms from this and the immaculate styles. not sure on the cost decrease, but i'm sure you can think of something balanced... also, you might add some sort of mental resistance to it. u should up the willpower cost to 2 or more if you add in the essence cost decrease and mental protection.
Changing the cost on body of war is fine.
the perfect dodge... up the cost, but add in a flurry break roll, that way DB's will have a chance against combos. and it sorta makes sense.
add an essence adder after the form type, not sure what it would be.
add one more post form type charm. again, i'm not sure what that should be... actually, what about "elemental wave" or something? an AoE attack.
for the avatar state, i would suggest adding in an effect that decreases cost on the elemental themed attacks (to a minimum of 1), or perhaps just the cost of charms from this and the immaculate styles. not sure on the cost decrease, but i'm sure you can think of something balanced... also, you might add some sort of mental resistance to it. u should up the willpower cost to 2 or more if you add in the essence cost decrease and mental protection.
Threading the Gerbil since 1982
Note that its a perfect parry, not a dodge - not sure if that negates the flurrybreak aspect. We could also just make the flurrybreak a seperate charm or something, I suppose. I'll note that the basic DB dodge tree does contain a flurrybreaking charm (though I think it does have some sort of limitation...)
I'll need time to think of some sort of essence recovery charm appropriate to the style/elemental theme.
As for the capstone, that's pretty easy. Since they're the only type of Celestial Exalt that lacks some sort of Infinite (Ability) Mastery charm, we can use that mechanic. In addition to the above effects, add 1wp to the cost and for every additional 2m committed to the charm, reduce the cost of Immaculate MA charms and any charm with the Elemental keyword by 1m, max of (Ability) reduction in motes, minimum of 1m cost for charms. Mental protection in physical combat is often irrelevant. If necissary we can have it simply treat any command as an unacceptable order or something - I think thats what the other fury charms do.
I'll need time to think of some sort of essence recovery charm appropriate to the style/elemental theme.
As for the capstone, that's pretty easy. Since they're the only type of Celestial Exalt that lacks some sort of Infinite (Ability) Mastery charm, we can use that mechanic. In addition to the above effects, add 1wp to the cost and for every additional 2m committed to the charm, reduce the cost of Immaculate MA charms and any charm with the Elemental keyword by 1m, max of (Ability) reduction in motes, minimum of 1m cost for charms. Mental protection in physical combat is often irrelevant. If necissary we can have it simply treat any command as an unacceptable order or something - I think thats what the other fury charms do.
