Breath-Draining Prana

Cost: 1m; Mins: Lore 5, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Will-Feasting Onslaught

This Charm enables a deathknight to feed at a distance without breaking her victim's skin. The deathknight can target creatures up to (Essence x 10) yards away with an unexpected attack using a (Perception + Lore) roll. The victim suffers lethal damage equal to the number of successes, soakable only with Stamina, while the deathknight gains one mote per level of damage inflicted. A victim feels the attack only as a sudden weakness or twinge of pain. Without magical perception, a victim can recognize the source of this attack through a reflexive (Wits + Awareness) roll at difficulty 5, rolled with each attack. Success means the victim recognizes the Abyssal as the source of his sudden weakness, allowing him to dodge attacks that are no longer unexpected. Otherwise, the victim remains clueless as to what is wounding his soul. Alternatively, the deathknight can target another creature's Essence pool and directly steal one mote per success on the attack roll. The Charm becomes Obvious, however, as stolen energies glimmer in faint contrails from the victim to the Abyssal's mouth.

Latest errata:

Any motes granted by this Charm are attunement motes. These special motes are not added to the Abyssal's Essence pools, but can be committed to any unattuned artifact he has on his person, allowing him to reflexively attune to it if its cost is paid in full with attunement motes. Alternatively, he can commit attunement motes to an attuned artifact he possesses, replacing the motes he has committed to it from his own pools. At the end of the scene, all attunement motes are lost. The Abyssal may reflexively replace them with his own motes to sustain the attunement of artifacts empowered by them.